|
| Affiliation | Abolition |
|
| |
1840-01-01 |
|
|
| Name | Francis Julius Lemoyne |
| Address |
Washington, Pennsylvania , United States |
| Email | None |
| Website | None |
| Born |
September 04, 1798
|
| Died | October 14, 1879
(81 years)
|
| Contributor | Thomas Walker |
| Last Modifed | Chronicler
Jul 04, 2019 01:26pm |
| Tags |
|
| Info | LeMoyne, Dr. Francis Julius, was born September 4, 1798, in Washington, Penn., where he spent his whole life, dying there October 14, 1879, in his eighty-second year.
The father of Dr. LeMoyne was Dr. John Julius LeMoyne, who was born and educated in Paris, France. He was a practicing physician at the beginning of the French Revolution in 1790, and came to the United States with the French colonists who settled at Gallipolis, Ohio.
Several years later he came to Washington, Penn., and in 1797 married Nancy McCally, who had come over from Ireland with her family when she was a little girl.
The subject of this memoir was their only child.
From the Scotch-Irish side of the house he derived a robust constitution and physical development that was unusual for strength, activity and endurance. As a young man, he had but few equals in all the sports that required strength and nerve.
His school days were spent in his native town, where at the age of seventeen he graduated from Washington College in the class of 1815.
He commenced the study of medicine with his father, and finished his course in Philadelphia.
On his return from Philadelphia in the winter, in an old fashioned stage coach, whose flimsy blinds were insufficient to repel the cold, they stopped, far in the night, at one of the hostelries in the mountains, which was filled with wagoners who occupied all the available space where warmth could be obtained. Not being therefore able to stop, the passengers were literally packed up to their necks in straw within the coach, and started toward Pittsburgh, from which Dr. LeMoyne rode to Washington on horseback in a most terrible storm. It was a dreadful and dangerous ride, and the result was that he was so seriously injured by the exposure as to be a chronic sufferer from rheumatism for the rest of his life.
He commenced the practice of medicine in 1822.
Shortly after his return from the East, he met Miss Madelaine Romaine Bureau, at his father's house, who had accompanied her sister from Gallipolis in order to receive medical treatment. The young Doctor being smitten by the charms of the sprightly young lady, they were married in May, 1823.
About this time his father suffered heavy pecuniary losses by his endorsements for his friends, and his house was sold to meet his liabilities. Francis borrowed the money from two kind friends, Mr. Alexander Reed and Mr. Kerr, who lent him upon his own endorsement, and he bought in the house. Thus he started in life heavily in debt.
In a few years, by hard work and the most economical living, he not only paid off his own debts, but relieved his father from his embarrassments also.
Our subject had eight children - three sons and five daughters.
Feeling deeply interested in education, he early manifested a desire to promote and extend its benefits. On April 2, 1830, he was elected a trustee of Washington College, in which position he remained a prominent and useful member until the union of Washington and Jefferson Colleges, which occurred in 1865.
The Washington Female Seminary was established in 1836, and the Doctor was one of its earliest and firmest friends, and a member of its original board of trustees, where he worked in company with, Alex. Reed, Colin M. Reed, T. McK.T. McKennan, John H. Ewing, Alex. Sweeney, Jacob Slagle, John L. Gow and others.
The Doctor became interested in the anti-slavery question in 1835 or 1836.
He had a reputation of being an able debater, having a fine presence, a good clear voice, a versatile and strongly self reliant mind, and, in addition, a flow of language that made him a very dangerous adversary on the platform.
On one occasion a young man, an early advocate of the anti-slavery cause, appeared in Washington and injudiciously gave a general challenge for a discussion. The challenge at once was accepted, and the day fixed for the meeting. The challenger expected to have Rev. Dr. Blanchard as his champion, but from some mischance the latter had left Pittsburgh before the news could reach him, and the young man came back himself to meet the engagement with forebodings of defeat. In this dilemma an appeal was made to Dr. LaMoyne for assistance, as he was known to be fond of intellectual gymnastics and always ready for a discussion. The Doctor, however, excused himself, had not examined the subject, was not prepared. But on being shown the constitution of the Anti-Slavery Society, which was for the most part a declaration of the rights of man, he was induced to enter the arena as the champion of the slave.
From this time forward he was known as one of the most aggressive of the anti-slavery party, and at the same time an opponent of the American Colonization Society.
LeMoyne was nominated for U.S. Vice President at the Independent Anti-Slavery Party National Convention in 1839 but declined the honor.
After the organization of the Liberty/Abolition Party in 1840, LeMoyne was the party's first candidate for Governor of Pennsylvania (1841) and several times afterwards.
After years spent in advocating the cause of liberty, he had the satisfaction and happiness of seeing the object of his greatest hopes accomplished in the emancipation of the slaves of the United States, and indeed in the whole world.
Having suffered, as we have already related, a severe shock from exposure, Dr. LeMoyne was compelled, when about fifty-five years of age, to relinquish the arduous practice of his profession. So great were his sufferings, which he bore with heroic fortitude, that for twenty-nine years he never occupied a bed to seek a night's repose. Of these matters of personal suffering he was very reluctant to speak, preferring to suffer in silence rather than annoy his friends with his griefs which he knew well knew they could not even alleviate.
The latter portion of his life was devoted to banking, farming and the interests of education. He was a successful business man, and accumulated considerable property.
As a farmer he was very enthusiastic and successful. He was one of the original members of the Washington County Agricultural Society, and maintained an active interest in it during his whole life.
Being a chemist he understood something of the relations of plants to soils, and fertilizers, and it was very instructive to listen to his theories, which were, in many cases, the result of his own observation and experiments.
He was one of the first to appreciate the importance of introducing improved sheep, cattle and horses into the county as a means of increasing the natural wealth of the people. He left a herd of the finest cattle in the State, and an elegant stock horse of superior blood.
For years he was a member of a Farmers Club, that met in Washington for the comparison of views and for the discussion of such topics as concerned their peculiar interests.
In 1866 and 1867, as president of the National Wool Growers Association, he succeeded in harmonizing the views of the manufacturers and producers of wool, and as a result their united
efforts obtained the passage through Congress of the best wool tariff law the country has ever had.
When the erection of the present Town Hall in Washington was first talked of Dr. F. Julius LeMoyne offered, if room in the building was given, to donate the sum of $10,000 to found a public library. When the building project became settled, the offer was accepted, and the two large reading rooms with the vault rooms in them were set apart for the use of the library. Two thousand dollars of the sum donated was used in making fire proof vaults where the books are kept. A like sum was set apart to be invested permanently, the annual interest thereon to be used in making additions of books; the remainder, $6,000, has been expended in the purchase of the body of the library.
The Citizens Library Association, in whose charge the library is, was incorporated in 1870, upon the petition of Dr. LeMoyne and others.
Until his death Dr. LeMoyne was a member and President of the board; he undertook the completion of the library's first catalogue, a multi-year project covering thousands of entries with the title, author, shelf letter and number, and in another the author, title, shelf letter and number.
About the time of his library donation, LeMoyne felt it was his duty to do something for the elevation of the freed people of the South.
He made a donation of $20,000 to the American Mission Society, to be used in the erection and support of a normal school in Memphis TN to educate instructors for black schools. A portion of this sum was devoted to building, and the remainder to the endowment of the institution. The school proved very successful, so much so that the Doctor added $5,000 for its equipment.
His views upon the subject of education were somewhat in opposition to the system under which he was brought up. In the curriculum of his day, a great deal of time was devoted to the study of Greek and Latin, very little to natural sciences and still less to English literature. The practical bent of his mind rebelled against what he deemed a false system of instruction. He was a naturalist by instinct; a keen observer of all the phonmeas of nature; a fine practical gardener; a devoted admirer of flowers; a close botanical student and entomologist. These studies so charming to him were not taught him in school, and it was a matter of regret to him that they had not been. He insisted that the study of the ancient classics, for the unprofessional students, did not afford an equivalent for the time and money spent in their acquisition.
With this idea in view he determined to endow a professorship in Washington and Jefferson College.
In 1872 he paid the treasurer of the college the sum of $20,000 to endow the chair entitled "The LeMoyne Professorship of Agriculture and Correlative Branches," which chair is now filled by Prof. Ed Linton. In July, 1879, he made an additional endowment of $20,000 for a chair of Applied Mathematics, with an additional $1,000 to better equip the said chair and the chair of Agriculture. Five hundred of this last $1,000 gift was appropriated by the local trustees to purchase in part a set of Ward's Casts, which were on exhibition at the Pittsburgh Exposition.
About 1875 the Doctor became interested in the subject of cremation, and in order to show his faith in it as a proper means of disposing of the dead, he in 1876 built a crematory a short distance from town. The first cremation there was that of Baron De Palm, an Austrian, who died in New York. Dr. LeMoyne's wishes in his own regard to his own remains were carried out to the letter, the cremation taking place on Thursday, October 16, 1879.
His ashes are buried in the crematory lot, marked by a monument of granite on which is the following inscription: F. Julius Le Moyne, M.D. born September 4, 1798, died October 14, 1879. "A fearless Advocate Of The Right" The disease under which he finally succumbed was saccharine diabetes. With the eye of a philosopher he watched the progress of the disease for nearly six years, a much longer period than is usually required for this malady to complete its work. An autopsy showed that the conclusions arrived at by himself were in the main correct.
Before the days of political abolitionism Dr. LeMoyne was a member of the Presbyterian Church, but he withdrew when it did not take quicker action against slavery. LeMoyne's advocacy of cremation of the dead as a sanitary measure was cited by some as evidence that LeMoyne had abandoned Christianity, but he always advocated the doctrine of salvation through faith in the merits of the atonement offered by the blood of Christ.
|
 | BOOKS |
 |
|
| Title |
Purchase |
Contributor |
|
| Start Date |
End Date |
Type |
Title |
Contributor |
|
| Date |
Category |
Headline |
Article |
Contributor |
|
| INFORMATION LINKS |
|
|
|
