"A PATRIOTIC man has passed away;
"a noble-hearted, able, and faithful physician is no more,"
were the universal expressions of sorrow and regret when the papers of
June 5, 1874, announced that Dr. George Mendenhall had died the
day previous. All classes felt that a public loss had been
sustained— none more so than the hundreds of families who had learned
to lean upon him when sorely tried by sickness and affliction.
While descended from a most excellent and
substantial family, it can truly be said that. Dr. Mendenhall, was a
self-made man, starting in life with his brains, integrity, and industry
as his only capital.
Dr. Mendenhall was born on the 5th of
May, 1814, in the beautiful little town of Sharon, Beaver County,
Pennsylvania; but when only three years of age the family removed to
Salem, Columbiana County, Ohio. Here the boy grew up, his only chance
for an education being home culture and the private school of the town;
but the pupil took advantage of every opportunity offered, and
when only seventeen years of age he commenced the study of medicine with
Dr. Benjamin Stanton, of Salem.
In 1833 young Mendenhall. crossed the
mountains on horseback, and, arriving at Philadelphia, matriculated as a
student in the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania,
where he graduated in 1835, at the head of his class, when not quite
twenty-one years of age.
Returning to Ohio, the young doctor,
opened an office in Cleveland, which had only about five thousand
inhabitants. The task laid out was a difficult one; but the man was
equal to the occasion, and soon surmounted all obstacles.
After spending some months in the
hospitals of Philadelphia, carefully studying the nature and progress of
diseases, in the month of October, 1838, he was married to Miss
Elizabeth S. Maule, of Richmond, Virginia, and at once returned to
Cleveland and renewed his practice.
In 1843 Dr. Mendenhall removed to
Cincinnati, which was afterwards to be not only his home, but also the
scene of his greatest triumphs and prosperity. Here it may be said that
he began work in earnest, commenced real life. He studied, thought,
wrote, and labored. His toil was incessant, and it was not long before
he enjoyed one of the largest and most lucrative practices here. Besides
publishing the standard work, "Mendenhall's Medical Student's Trade
Mecum," he was one of the editors of the Medical Observer, and
wrote many articles for the press upon the passing topics of the hour.
When Professor R. D. Mussey, the greatest of our surgeons, founded the
Miami Medical College, with a faculty of extraordinary ability, to Dr.
Mendenhall was assigned the chair of Obstetrics and Diseases of Women
and Children, which he retained up to his death, the latter part of the
time being the dean of the faculty, having succeeded to the place at the
death of Professor Mussey.
Having achieved the highest possible
honors, that of being made the president of the National Medical
Association, and secured an ample fortune, in the Fall of 1872, feeling
that rest was necessary, Dr. Mendenhall visited Europe, everywhere being
received by the profession with the most signal respect, being made a
Fellow of the Royal Obstetrical Society of England, and other marks of
distinction.
Returning home, expecting to enjoy quiet
repose for the remainder of his life, Dr. Mendenhall was suddenly
stricken with paralysis, from which he suffered up to the time of his
death, June 4, 1874.
In the sick-room Dr. Mendenhall always
brought sunshine; his very presence gave assurance and hope, if hope
there could be. While firm in having his orders implicitly obeyed,
yet so quiet were his words that it was a pleasure to heed his advice.
During the civil war, Dr. Mendenhall
immediately and unfalteringly gave his whole energy to the Union cause,
serving as the president of the Cincinnati Branch of the United States
Sanitary Commission, while his most excellent wife and helpmate filled a
similar position in the Ladies' Soldiers' Aid Society, both of which
societies did much to relieve the sick and wounded soldiers of both
armies.
Professor Mendenhall left a widow and
several children, who are held in the highest esteem by our citizens,
proving themselves to be worthy children of an illustrious sire.
