Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/191

Rh parks in Washington. D. C, by his comrades of the Army of the Tennessee.

Mcpherson, John Roderic, senator, b. in Livingston county. N. Y., 9 May, 1833 : d. in Jer- sey City, 8 Oct., 1897. He was educated in Gene- seo academy, and engaged in farming and stock- raising, removing to tludson City. N. J., in 1858. He was president of the Pludson City board of al- dermen in 1860-3, the principal mover in the estab- lishment of the People's gas company, and served for several years as its president. He was in the state senate in 1870-'3, opposed railroad monopo- lies, and secured the enactment of the general rail- road law of New Jersey. He was presidential elec- tor on the Tilden and Hendricks ticket in 1876, the same year was chosen TJ. S. senator as a Demo- crat, and was re-elected in 1883, and again for a third term in 1889. His course in the U. S. sen- ate was independent and conservative, and he often voted against his party associates on financial and tariff issues. In finance he belonged to the school known as hard-money men and he had no respect for a depreciated currency, whether of silver or paper. On the tariff issue he was classed as a moderate protectionist.

Mcpherson, William, soldier, b. in Phila- delphia, Pa., in 1751 ; d. near there. 5 Nov., 1813. He was appointed a cadet in the British navy at thirteen years of age, became adjutant, and re- signed at the beginning of the Revolution, but his resignation was not accepted until 1779. At this date he joined the American army, with the rank of brevet-major, served as aide-de-camp to Lafay- ette, and in 1781 was appointed by Washington to command an irregular corps of cavalry in Vir- ginia. He became surveyor in 1789, inspector of the revenue in 1792, and from the next year until his death was naval officer of the port of Philadel- phia. During the disturbances in the western counties of Pennsylvania in 1794 regarding the excise law, he commanded the " McPherson Blues," a battalion of militia that was named in his honor. Before the return of the army he was promoted colonel, and subsequently became brigadier-general of Pennsylvania militia. On the prospect of war with France in 1798, the Blues were reorganized, with additional companies, and formed into a le- gion under his command. In 1799 he was ap- pointed brigadier-general of the provisional army, and commanded the troops that were sent to en- force the revenue laws in Northampton county during the Fries rebellion.

Mcpherson, William, lawyer, b. in Boone county, Ky., 15 Feb., 1813 ; d. in St. Louis, Mo., in 1872. He was to a large degree self-educated, studied law, and was admitted to the bar at the age of twenty-one. After practising for several years in Kentucky and Arkansas he removed to St. Louis. The great bridge that crosses the Missis- sippi at this place was built very largely through his exertions, and the first railroad to St. Louis was constructed by his aid. He held high offices in the Baptist denomination, and promoted its be- nevolent objects by generous contributions.

McQUADE, James, soldier, b. in Utica, N. Y., 27 April, 1829 : d. there, 25 March, 1885. He was educated in a Roman Catholic institution in Mon- treal, Canada, where he became an excellent lin- guist. On his return to Utica he studied law, which he abandoned for banking, and subsequent- ly for politics. In 1851-'3 he was assistant clerk of the assembly, and in 1859 he served one term in that body. At the beginning of the civil war he was captain of the Utica citizens' corps, which en- listed as a company of volunteers at the first call for troops, and in April, 1861, he became colonel of the 14th New York regiment. He served at Malvern Hill, and, in consequence of the death of other colonels, took command of his brigade for eighteen months. Although ill at the battle of Chancellorsville, he insisted on doing duty, and participated in the fight until he fell exhausted from his horse. He was brevetted brigadier-gen- eral and major-general of volunteers, 13 March, 1865. After the war he served in various civic ca- pacities, was an active politician, and was de- partment commander of the Grand army of the republic in New York in 1879. He published sev- eral army songs, one of the best known of which is " The Loyal Legioner."

McQUAID, Bernard John, R. C. bishop, b. in New York city, 15 Dec, 1823. He is of Irish par- entage. After studying at Chambly college, near Montreal, Canada, and at St. John's college, Ford- ham, where he finished his classical course in 1843, he was tutor at St. John's for three years, until the Jesuits took charge of the institution. He then studied theology under the Lazarists in a seminary that occupied the site of the present New York cathedral, and afterward under the Jesuits at St. John's college. He was ordained priest, 16 Jan., 1848, in the cathedral of New York, by Archbishop Hughes, and assigned to the mission of Madison, N. J. He built churches at Morristown and Spring- field, and began one at Mendham ; but in Septem- ber, 1853, on the erection of the new diocese of Newark, he was transferred to the future cathe- dral to prepare the way for the incoming bish- op, Bayley. He conceived the idea of founding Seton Hall college and seminary, and it was main- ly to his untiring efforts that the success of the institution was due. He was president of it for ten years — at IMadison and afterward at South Orange — remaining for three years of the time rector of the cathedral at Newark. On 12 July, 1868, he was consecrated first bishop of Rochester. He organized the diocese rapidly and devoted himself to building churches, paying off church debts, erecting parochial residences, and founding parochial schools. To secure teachers for these schools he introduced the Sisters of St. Joseph into the diocese, and the order already numbers 200 members, and has under its care about twenty-two school-houses and orphan asylums. He also found- ed St. Andrew's preparatory seminary. He is best known for the part he has taken in the agitation for religious schools. To justify his course in founding such schools and to impress Roman Catholics with a sense of obligation to support them, he wrote and lectured extensively; and it is mainly to his efforts and influence here and at Rome that the old policy of his church in regard to education has been revived and carried out in this country. It is commonly supposed that the movement which he began tends toward a demand for a share of public money for sectarian schools ; but he maintains simply that it is not the business of the state to educate any children whose parents are able to pay for their education. At the close of a lecture in Boston, 3 Feb., 1876, he declared his principles to be, for " a republic whose citizens are of differ- ent religious beliefs and are votei's needing intelligence " : 1st, The non-interference of the state in religious matters, in church or in school ; 2d, compulsory knowledge, through parents' schools, under parents' control, and at their cost ; and 3d. free trade in education, or no monopoly of the teacher's profession. He was present at the Vatican council in 1869-'70, and has since visited Europe. . He has lectured frequently, delivered addresses on public