The biographical encyclopœdia of Ohio of the nineteenth century:

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
-named Ashe with a French alias. The doctor was very
partial to the French, and this man gained his confidence,
was intrusted with the bones to convey them to Europe,
and there disposed of them and was never heard of more.
Nor was this by any means the only instance in which his
good nature was imposed uro)n by adventurers and sharpers.
He was the special patron of those engaged in seeking for
precious metals, and such persons never neglected to
quarter themselves upon his family while having their
"specimens" examined through his agency. He was very
fond of associating with French people, and sympathized
warmly with refugees from that (then) distracted country.
His own polite manners and faultless precision in dress, no
doubt, commended him to these exiles from the "land of
etiquette." This admiration of the French and his love of
change led him to conceive the idea of taking up his resi dence in Louisiana, which had lately been purchased by the
United States, and which was a place of refuge for large num bers of these exiles. Accordingly, in I807, he departed on a
flat-boat for the lower Mississippi. Soon after his arrival
he was elected a Parish Judge, and the Creoles of Attacapas
elected him a member of the convention to form a cocnsti tution for the new State. During the invasion of Louisiana
by the British he was an Assistant Surgeon in the American
army. Eventually he became dissatisfied with his prospects
and associations in the South, and longed for Cincinnati.
From letters he wrote, this dissatisfaction must have
amounted to actual disgust. He arrived in Cincinnati in
May, I8i6, after a voyage by river of eight months. Dur in g this journey, which for some reason he had protracted
to great length, he contracted a disease fi'om which he
never recovered. He met with a flattering welcome firom
the citizens, and at once resumed his popularity. But he
was not destined to remain long with them. lie died irt
the spring of I8I7, regretted by the entire community, to
every man, woman and child of which his face and figure
were familiar. He was the second physician to die within
the limits of Cincinnati, Dr. Allison being the first. He
was very original, if not eccentric, in manner. He dressed
with great care, and never left the house until his hair had
been powdered and his gold-headed cane grasped in his
left hand. He was devoted to the Masonic fraternity, and
invariably adorned his signature with some of its emblems.
Dr. Daniel Drake, his distinguished pupil, says of him that
,,he had the most winning manners of any physician be
ever knew." Although so many years have passed since
his death, there are yet living quite a number of citizens
of Cincinnati who remember him, and his memory is
preserved not only by those who actually recollect the
As the introducer of vaccination in Cincinnati, and, prac tically, therefore, in the West, he is entitled to high
distinction among his professional brethlren, and to the
grateful remembrance of the whole community. In all
I ~i OFORTH, WILLIAM, M. D., was b orn in the
scol wr city of New Yo rk, in I 766. His preparatory
mor,o etduca tion was tolerably good. In medicine his
of 7 H private p recep tor was Dr. Joseph Young, a phyet My e sician of some emin ence. He also enjoyed the
more substantial teachings of Dr. C h ar le s McKnight, then a public lecturer in New York. In their
midst, howe ver, he a n d other students of the forming
school wer e d ispe rsed by a mob rais ed against the promnot ers of ana tom ical investigati on. This was in the winter
of I787-88. He at onc e resolv ed to go B dest, and landed
at Maysville, Kentucky, then called Limestone, on th e ioth
o f June, I788. Eventually settling in Washington, four
m i les from the river, he soon acquired popularity and a
large practice. He remained at this place eleven years,
and then determined to go to C incinnati, being very fond
of change. In t he sp r ing of i8oo he re ached his desination, in the meantime having tarried several months at his
father's home in Columbia. His father was Judge Goforth,
one of the earliest settlers of the -State. He occupied the
Peach Grove House, formerly the residence of Dr. Allison,
who had left the city, and succeeded to his practice. His
high reputation and good family connections brought him a
large practice. In I8OI he introduced vaccination in Cincinnati, the infection having been brought from Europe to
Eastern cities the year previous. In I803, at great expense, he dug up a mass of huge fossil bones at Bigbone
Lick, Kentucky, but was imposed upon by an Englishman
2
9
the heart of tl-ie good Archbishop a presentiment that it
would be his lot to assist the murderer in his last moments.
After a six months' journey through Europe be arrived just
two days before the coulit's execution, in Pournay, Belgium.
The count had steadily refused the assistance of any priest
connected with the government, but he was ready to listen to
a missionary. On seeing the Archbishop his first question
was: 11 Have you been sent by the king, or by the Pope? "
11 By neither," was the reply; 11 I come by the providence
of God." 11 You are the man I want," he said, kissing the
cross and the Archbishop's hand with emotion, and begged
him to leave him no more. He complied with. his request,
and on the igth of September, 185i, he accompanied him
to the scaffold. Ii-i i862, 01-1 the invitation of the Holy
Father, the Archbishop visited Rome for the fourth time,
in order to be present at the canonization of the Japanese
martyrs. In iS67 Archbishop Purcell repaired once more
to Rome, and again, in i869, to take part in the great
-General. Council of the Vatican. The fiftieth anniversary
of his priesthood was celebrated on the 2ISt Of May of the
present-year (i876). Such is in short a synopsis of the life
of the Most Rev. Archbishop John B. Purcell, w ose spirit
will live forever with the public he has so greatly benefited.