McMECHEN, mak-mek'en, W. Va., city in Marshall County, five miles south of Wheel ing, on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. It is a residential town and practically a suburb of Benwood. Pop. 2,921.
McMICHAEL, Morton, American journal ist, politician and orator: b. Burlington, N.
2 Oct. 1807; d. Philadelphia, Pa., 6 Jan. 1879.
After education in the public schools, he studied law at the University of Pennsylvania and be came a member of the Philadelphia bar in 1827. The year previously he became editor of the Saturday Evening Post, and as an active poli tician served for several years on the alder manic bench in Philadelphia. From 1831 to 1836 he was editor-in-chief of the Saturday Courier and later was eonnteted with the Satur day News, the Saturday Gazette, the North American and United States Gazette, in 1847 consolidating the last two in one journal, of which he was sole proprietor from 1854 until his death. He was mayor of Philadelphia from 1866 to 1869; president of the park commission from its organization in 1867 until his death; and in 1873 was appointed a delegate to the Fourth Constitutional Convention of Pennsyl vania. His speeches on public occasions were renowned as models of oratory. A bronze statue was erected to his memory in Fairmount Park.
McMICHAEL, William, American soldier and lawyer : b. Philadelphia, Pa., 4 March 1841; d. New York City, 20 April 1893. The third son of Morton McMichael, he graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1859, but left his law studies in April 1861, to enlist as a private when President Lincoln issued his first call for troops. He attained rapid promotion to the grade of colonel and served under Generals Thomas, Rosecrans and Grant. He resumed his interrupted law studies after the war and in 1865 became a member of the Philadelphia bar. During General Grant's first tenure of the Presidency he was appointed solicitor of internal revenue of the Treasury Department, but resigned the office in 1871 on his 'appoint ment as United States Assistant Attorney General. In 1877 he was appointed United States district attorney for the east district of Pennsylvania, but resigned shortly after to go into private practice. President Garfield ap pointed him a member of the United States Board of Indian Commissioners; in 1882 he was a candidate for Congress on the Independ ent Republican ticket ; and later became a mem ber of the bar of New York City. Like his father, he was renowned for his oratorical gifts.