Dr. John McMechan
Dr. John McMechan died at Darrtown, Butler County, on Sunday, March 21, 1880, of consumption, aged sixty-nine years and eight months, having almost reached his "three-score years and ten." He was born in Ireland in the year 1810, and came to America with his parents when he was but six months old. Being a very delicate child, and sick when he sailed from the Emerald Isle, his parents expected to bury him at sea; and, in order to keep him as long as possible from being swallowed up by the "briny deep," they took the precaution of bringing a tiny coffin and shroud along with them, to be prepared for the trial. But he landed safely with his father, mother, brother, and sisters – Mrs. Margaret Gilmore, of the "Beech," and Mrs. Dr. Winton, of Wabash, Indiana. His father, David McMechan, settled in Seven-Mile, Butler County, in 1810, and lived there the rest of his life.
At that early day there were no schools convenient where he could have his children educated, and as John was the one he had chosen, of his three sons, to educate for some of the learned professions, he sent him to Hamilton when he was quite young, to board with his aunt, Mrs. Margery McMechan, who was the sister of his mother. His aunt had a son named John, and two Johns in one family made it a little awkward; but as one of the Johns was very tall and the other rather short, they were familiarly called "Big John" and "Little John." Dr. McMechan was very nearly related to the late Mrs. C. K. Smith, and to Mrs. Jesse Corwin, of Hamilton, their fathers being brothers, and their mothers sisters. His father sent him from the Hamilton school to Oxford, to the Miami University, where he graduated in the second class. One of his class-mates was General Robert C. Schenck, and one of his room-mates was Caleb B. Smith, once Secretary of the Interior. He then went back to Hamilton, studying medicine with Drs. Dunlevy and Rigdon, and began the practice of his profession in 1835. He graduated at the Ohio Medical College in Cincinnati, in 1854, and married Miss Sarah Bacon, the mother of Dr. J. C. McMechan, of Cincinnati, who was his only child. His mother died when he was but an infant. His father married for his second wife Mrs. Mary Leopold, who survives him. Dr. John McMechan was a kind and genial gentleman, always in good humor, and making sunshine wherever he went. He was an excellent physician, and had built a large practice all over Butler County, and, until the last few years of his life, when his health and energy had failed, was kept very busy. He was a physician for the poor as well as for the rich.
Oxford did not become settled as early as most of the other townships. It was a grant from the general government, and its first residents were squatters, who moved there before they could get legal title to their lands. They were of the very poorest class, and by no means intellectual or industrious. Neither were they exempt from the common vices, such as drunkenness, and horse and hog stealing. The opening of the Miami University began to have its effect, and gradually the first class of settlers began to migrate westward, and a somewhat better class to take their place. The early physicians of the township certainly had a hard time to keep body and soul together. Just who they were can not now be told. The first of whom we can gain any positive information was Dr. James R. Hughs, whose father, the Rev. Mr. Hughs, was pastor of the Presbyterian Church, and conducted the grammar-school that preceded the university. Dr. Hughs died on the 8th of August, 1839, and a funeral sermon, which was afterwards published, was preached on the occasion by the Rev. Dr. Bishop. He had been a resident there for more than twenty years, and was for a long time the sole physician of the place. He took a deep interest in the neighborhood, and in everything that could promote its interests. He was twice married, by the first union having three children. Residents of Oxford can still recollect him, with his old appearance, curved spine, and great hump back. He was the first preceptor of Dr. R. C. Huston.
From A History and Biographical Cyclopædia of Butler County Ohio, With Illustrations and Sketches of its Representative Men and Pioneers, Western Biographical Publishing Company, Cincinnati Ohio, 1882.