Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 07.djvu/156

 MACGAHAN

McGARVEY

preacher until his death in 1840. John received his education at home and in the schools of Tennessee, and worked on his father's farm. He was appointed a class leader by the Methodist conference in 1823, and was licensed as an ex- horter in 1824. He joined the Tennessee confer- ence in 1825, became a preacher, and travelled various circuits in Alabama ajid Tennessee, 1825-28. He was a missionary to the Cherokee Indians, 1828-30. stationed as pastor of several churches, 1830-36, and was presiding elder of the districts of Florence, Ala., and Cumberland, Tenn.. 1836-39. He was editor of the Christian Advocate at Nashville, Tenn., 1840-58 : agent for the Methodist Book Concern, 1858-66, and again 1878-87 ; missionary to the Army of Tennessee, 1861-66, and secretary of the board of missions, 1866-78. He was a delegate to the ecumenical conference of the Methodist church in London, England, in 1881, and to the centennial confer- ence in Baltimore, Md., in 1884. He was mar- ried, Sept. 18, 1833, to Almira Avery, daughter of "William V. and Sarah (Johnson) Probart of Nashville, Tenn., and secondly, Nov. 12, 1855, to Cynthia Tennessee, daughter of John Mc- Gavock of Nashville, Tenn. He received the de- gree of D.D. from Randolph-Macon college and La Grange college in 1847. He is the author of a History of Methodism in Tennessee (3 vols., 1870- 72) ; sermons, and contributions to periodicals. He died in Nashville, Tenn., May 10, 1887.

MACQAHAN, JanuariiLS Aloysius, journalist, was born near New Lexington, Ohio, June 12, 1844. After his father's death in 1851, he began to work upon the farm and attend the public stihool. He removed to Huntington, III., wliere he taught school, 1860-62, and engaged as a book- keeper there, 1862-64, and in St. Louis, Mo., 1864-68. During this time he studied law, con- tributed to the Huntington Democrat, and gave public readings from Charles Dickens. He visited London and Paris and took up the study of civil and international law in Belgium in 1869; was war correspondent of the New York Herald in the Franc(v Prussian war, 1870-71, and in Paris, as the only foreign correspondent there, during the occupation of Paris by the German troops. While there his intimacy with Dombrovsky and other communist leaders caused his arrest by the French government, but he was released through the influence of U.S. Minister Elihu B. Washburne. He visited southern Russia in 1871, and was the St. Petersburg correspondent of the New York Herald, 1871-72. He reported the proceedings of the Geneva tribunal of arbitra- tion, December, 1871, and travelled through Caucasus with Gen. William T. ^Sherman, 1872. He was married in January, 1873, to a Russian lady of rank, was ordered to join the expedition

against Khiva by the Herald in 1873, and upon being refused permission by the Russian govern- ment, he travelled alone over the Central Asian desert, overtook the Russian army before Khiva, witnessed the fall of the city, and gained the friendship of Col. Skobeleff. He reported the operations of the Carlist insurrectionists in Spain, 1874-75, was captured during the campaign by the imperial authorities while wearing a Carlist uniform, and was sentenced to be shot, but claiming American citizenship, was saved through the American consul-general. He ac- companied the expedition of Sir Allan Young to the Polar seas, in June, 1875, and in June, 1876. re- ceived a special commission from the London Daily News to investigate alleged Turkish bar- barities in Bulgaria. His reports brought about Russian armed intervention, and when he re- turned with the Russian army, men, women and children kissed his bridle, spurs and even the horse he rode, and regarded him as their deliv- erer. He reported the conferences of the foreign ambassadors in Constantinople in the following- winter. He accompanied the Russian army from the capture of Shipka Pass, in July, 1877, to the peace of San Stefano, concluded in March, 1878,. and while the negotiations of peace were pro- ceeding he remained at Pera, to nurse a friend ill with typhus fever, and fell a victim to the disease. He was buried at Scutari, Turkey in Asia, and the body was afterward removed to- New Lexington, Ohio. Masses are said in every Bulgarian church for the repose of his soul on each recurring anniversary of his death. He is the author of : Campaigning on the Oxus arid the Fall of Khiva (1874); Under the Northern Lights (1876); and Turkish Atrocities in Bulgaria (1876). He died in Pera, Turkey, June 9, 1878.

McQANN, Lawrence Edward, representative, was born in Ireland, Feb. 2, 1852. His father died in 1854 and Lawrence immigrated with his mother to the United States in 1855, and settled in Milford, Mass. He attended the public schools and in 1865 removed to Chicago, III., where he engaged in the lK)ot and shoe trade, 1865-79. He was employed as a clerk in the city service,. 1879-85; was superintendent of streets, 1885-91, and was a Democratic representative in the 52d» 53d and 54th congresses, 1891-97. He was com- missioner of public works, Chicago, 1897-1901, and in 1901 was elected comptroller of the city of Chicago.

McGARVEY, John William, educator, was born in Hopkinville, Ky., March 1, 1829 ; son of John -and Sallie Anne (Thomson ) McGarvey. His paternal ancestors came from the north of Ire- land, and his mother's ancestors were Scotch. He was graduated from Bethany college, Va.,. A.B., 1850, A.M., 1853, and was pastor at Fayette>