Memorials of Deceased Members. DR. LOREN J. AMES.-BY NORMAN SEYMOUR, The Livingston County Medical Society was organized in May, 1821. Its officers and members were Dr. Chas. Little, of Avon, President; Dr. Justin Smith, of Lima, vice-President; Dr. Samuel Daniels, of Livonia, Treasurer; Dr. Cyrus Wells, Jr., Secretary; Dr. Jared D. Ensworth, of Avon, Dr. Avery Benedict, of Lima, Drs. Eli Hill and Elkanach French, of Livonia, Dr. Royal Tyler and John W. Leonard, of York, Dr. David McMillen, of Freeport, (now Conesus.) The annual meeting was to be held on June 26th of each year. At the annual meeting in June 1844, after much discussion, the society by a resolution adjourned sine die. On September 28th, 1852, the physicians of the county convened at the American hotel in Geneseo and re-organized; the following were present: Drs. H. Bissell, T. Morse, J. B. Purchase, A. S. Gilbert, S. L. Endress, W. E. Lauderdale, W. C. Dwight, W. H. Sellew, E. W. Patchin, B. L. Hovey, Z. H. Blake, A. W. Mercer, A. H. Hoff, L. J. Ames, B. F. Fowler. A. H. Hoff was chosen president and B. F. Fowler, secretary. Of this number now living are Dr. W. E. Lauderdale, of Geneseo, and B. L. Hovey, of Rochester. Since the organization of the County Medical Society in 1821, the number of members have been about 220. Dr. Loren Jesse Ames was born in South Royalton, Vermont, in July, 1815. On attaining his majority, he came to Rochester in 1836, and taught in the Free Academy of that city, residing during that time in the family of the late William Alling. In 1838 he removed to Geneseo and at once entered the office of W. E. Lauderdale as a student of medicine. He attended lectures at the Medical Institution at Geneva, and graduated, receiving his diploma in 1843. The same year he located in Mt. Morris and commenced practice, which he continued up to his last illness. On his advent to Mt. Morris he found there Drs. Hiram and Sullivan Hunt, Dr. Abraham Camp, Dr. W. H. Thomas, Dr. D. L. Williams, followed by Dr. Alexander Campbell, Dr. A. H. Hoff and Dr. Z. W. Joslyn, all of whom have passed to their reward. Dr. Ames for nearly half a century was one of the prominent physicians of the county and called in counsel on important and critical cases. A man of good judgment and remarkably conscientious, of unbending fealty and unflinching in his devotion to the school in which he was educated. In observing the rules of etiquette of his profession no man was more firm and unyielding, and some of his friends thought at times he unwisely allowed protessional adherence to effect his counsel and good advice. Though sympathetic, and tender of the feelings of others, he was unusually sensitive, and strong in his condemnation of all systems of quackery. He was fearless and outspoken, inflexible and uncompromising on all questions that his judgment did not approve. The most warm and earnest friend could not induce him to change his opinions. He was well read in his profession and was held in high esteem by his fellow practitioners. He had a wide and extensive practice. No man was more honorable or conscientious in his business relations. In the sick chamber and by the side of suffering humanity he always kept his heart soft and young. He was kind and attentive to the poor and always responded to their calls. His books show the hundreds of calls he attended without fee or reward. The blessings of the poor were his laurels. He was one of the Coroners of Livingston County for about twelve years. During the war, in 1864, he, with Rev. Levi Parsons, was appointed by the Christian Commission, and for several months was stationed at the hospital at City Point. He was postmaster of Mt. Morris from 1873 to 1877. For many years he was one of most efficient members of the Board of Education of this village, and at his death was secretary of the Cemetery Association, secretary of the Board of Trade, and one of the medical examiners of the Pension Board of this Congressional district. His public positions in Mt. Morris and the county have been filled with honor to himself and most acceptable to the people. He was also one of the corporate members of our Livingston County Historical Society, and town committeeman of Mt. Morris. He was one of the early and sturdy abolitionists of the state. In 1855 he joined the Republican party and was active, patriotic and indomitable in its support. He has for nearly fifty years been a faithful and exemplary member of the Mt. Morris Presbyterian church, officiating as trustee and ruling elder, and in the years 1860 and 1886 he was delegate from the Rochester Presbytery to the General Assemblys held at Pittsburg and Minneapolis. He For many years Dr. Ames was a journalist and wrote for the press. His articles were always pertinent, classical and of a high order. In statue he was of the uniform size. his form erect and well proportioned, his manner courteous and gentlemanly. was active in the support of every project for the growth and prosperity of his locality. In his life work if disappointments and perplexities cast their shadows on his pathway he met them with courage, patience and dignity. He was remarkably domestic, given to hospitality, a kind and affectionate husband and father, greatly beloved, and a true and fast friend. He was zealous and faithful to the end; his western sun radiant with the amenities of a long and useful life. He has gone down to posterity as a man of probity, integrity and of a pure life, leaving a record that for all time will be lustrious, and add honor to the profession of which for so many years he was so devoutly attached and so truly adorned. The During the winter months of 1890-91 Dr. Ames had not been in his usual health and he kept the house most of the time. third week in April he had a severe attack of Epistaxis which greatly depleted his system. On Monday, the 27th of that month, he attended the funeral of a son of a former resident, brought from South Dakota to Mt. Morris for interment. The afternoon was cold with a piercing wind; this exposure was too much for him, and soon after arriving home he was taken with what rapidly developed into a severe case of pneumonia. For many days he fought for returning health, and was attended constantly by his four daughters and his medical associates, Dr. Dodge, of Mt. Morris, and Dr. Moyer of Moscow, but as his system was weak and exhausted he had no rallying power, and gradually went down, almost to the last hour conscious of his condition, and on Sunday the 3d of May, 1891, surrounded by his daughters and son Henry, of Chicago, and friends, he quietly passed to his final rest. The announcement of his death, though not unexpected, was a shock to the community, from the fact that an able and kind physician, a public spirited citizen, an exemplary and devoted Christian who for nearly half a century had resided in Mt. Morris, had gone to his reward. His funeral was largely attended from his late residence on Tuesday the 5th, Rev. Dr. Parsons officiating, a number of the medical men of the county in attendance. The bearers were Dr. W. E. Lauderdale, Jr., Dr. M. N. Rowland, of Geneseo; Dr. F. M. Perrine, Dr. Schoonhart, of Dansville; Dr. Moyer, of Moscow; Dr. Dodge, of Mt. Morris. Thus as one after another of our members join the immortal throng, we are led to exclaim: "What are these speeding years, they come and go, The summers' balmy morn, the winters' snow, The budding vernal time, The autums' fruit and rime, All shadowy seem-a fateful, onward train." JOHN HUGH MCNAUGHTON.-BY A. J. ABBOTT. Among the names which will be engraved upon the historic roll of Livingston County's most worthy sons, to remain imperishably there through all future years, will appear the name of Mr. John Hugh McNaughton, musical composer and poet, recently of Caledonia, but now deceased. Mr. McNaughton was a very retiring and modest man, comparatively but little known personally, outside of his immediate home neighborhood, and the circle of warm friends there, who, knowing him well, honored him with sincere respect and friendship. Born among rural beauties, he early acquired an enthusiastic love of nature, and was during his whole life one of her most earnest worshipers. He ever shunned the bustling, noisy crowds of men. From his quiet "Babble Brook" home in Caledonia, he looked out upon a tempestuous world recalling often a favorite passage from Cowper: "Tis pleasant, through the loop holes of retreat Of the great babel, and not feel the crowd; The necessary brevity of this sketch admonishes us to beware of entering upon an extended biography, or critical examination of our poet's life and works. We hope, in common with all citizens of Livingston County, that a suitable history of his life and works accompanying a popular edition of his lyrical and other poems, will be published at an early day by the action, or permission, of his family relatives left behind him. Mr. McNaughton was born in Caledonia, Livingston County, N. Y., July 1st, 1829, and died at the same place December 23rd, 1891. Of a family of six children, he was the youngest. The other five, four sisters and one brother, were natives of Perthshire, Scotland, from whence the father, John McNaughton and Margaret Cameron his cherished wife and gentle and loving mother of his children, emigrated to this country a short time before the birth of our poet. The father belonged to a branch of the Clan McNaughton, a Clan which has honorable place in Scotish history, running through several centuries of stirring events. Of the four sisters of the poet, the two eldest, Mrs. Ann Donald and Mrs. Margaret Robertson, are now deceased; and the other two sisters, Mrs. Katherine Campbell, of Caledonia, and Mrs. Jane Stewart, of Orleans County, N. Y., and his only brother, Donald McNaughton, of Caledonia, N. Y., are still living. He leaves a widow and two daughters. The widow was a daughter of the late Hugh Cristie, one of the pioneers of Caledonia, a man of considerable excentricity, but highly respected and the cordial friend of all who knew him. The two daughters are, Mrs. Dora M. Byam, (wife of William J. Byam, Esq.,) of the City of Niagara Falls, N. Y., and Miss Stella McNaughton, residing with her mother at the Babble Brook Homestead. Two other children were born to him, Hughie Mozart McNaughton, who died at the age of six, and a daughter, Mary Florence McNaughton, who died two years after at the age of five years. Little Hughie inherited the musical talent of his father, and hummed and whistled tunes correctly at the age of three years. His death deeply touched Mr. McNaughton, and we presume, in view of their character, had a very marked influence upon all his subsequent musical compositions. The brother, Donald, owns and occupies the farm upon which the father originally settled as a pioneer and which was redeemed from the primitive wilderness by that father's persevering toil. On this same pleasant and fertile farm, near the center of the town of Caledonia, John Hugh was born; there his infancy and his boyhood years were passed; there he toiled as a farmer's son; there his parents lived for many years, and there they died. There with his father, brother and farm servants, He labored day by day, Planting seeds or plowing fallow, Hoeing corn or making day; Reaping, raking, binding, tossing, A contented, joyous strain. The elements of his education were obtained in the common school near his boyhood's home, and in Temple Hill Academy, at Geneseo; but he was a close student, especially of music and literature, during his long life. He early manifested his love of music and poetry, but the boyish manifestations of his love for them were sternly frowned upon by his practical and hard working father, who could see little use in this toiling world for sweet sounds or beautiful pictures of imagination and fancy. A simple illustration of the father's hostility to what he considered the son's folly, is given us by an eye witness of the incident, a boyhood playmate and life-time friend. The father had made great preparations, upon one occasion, for threshing his wheat, had hired a threshing machine |