The Scottish American History Club Newsletter
October 2000
William Holmes McGuffey
William Holmes McGuffey is best known for the reader
textbooks he wrote. They became the virtual universal
readers in the expanding public school system of 19th
century America. More than 122 million copies were sold
in many editions. The McGuffey readers had a profound
impact on the moral teaching of schoolchildren of the
time because of their high ethical tone stemming from
McGuffey’s strict Calvinistic faith. In 1829, he was
ordained as a minister in the Presbyterian Church.
McGuffey was born September 23, 1800 in western
Pennsylvania, a descendant of the Scottish pioneers who
flowed into the Quaker state throughout the 18th
century. With little formal schooling, he learned
rapidly and by age 13 was teaching in a rural Ohio
school. He received his bachelor’s degree with honors
from Washington College in 1826.
McGuffey went to Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, as a
professor of foreign languages. During the 11 years he
was at Miami, he took a great interest in public
education. He assisted local teachers and set up a model
elementary school. In 1835 he contracted with a
Cincinnati publisher to write four school readers
published in 1836. A fifth reader was published in 1844.
A sixth was added in 1857. The Readers took leadership
in the midwest and south from their first appearances.
They were read in all the states of the Union, widely in
thirty-seven states, and almost exclusively in many. His
brother, Alexander Hamilton McGuffey, added a spelling
book to the McGuffey series in 1846. The books were an
astonishing success.
McGuffey served as president of Cincinnati College
during the years 1836-39. He left Cincinnati to become
president of Ohio University staying there until 1843.
McGuffey was one of the three founders of the common
school system of Ohio. In 1845 he was appointed
professor of philosophy at the University of Virginia, a
post he filled with distinction until his death May 4,
1873. “Among the student body, he was the most discussed
teacher; some feared him, many loved him, all respected
and revered him. They cherished his proverbial sayings
and his perennial enthusiasm.”
He was married to Harriet Spinning of Dayton, Ohio in
1827. Five children were born of this marriage. Harriet
died in 1850. In 1851 he married his second wife, Miss
Laura Howard, daughter of Dean Howard of the University
of Virginia. One child was born of this union. She died
when four years of age. His grave and that of his second
wife are in the university burying grounds,
Charlottesville, Virginia.
McGuffey is a member of the
Scottish American Hall of
Fame located in Heritage Hall at the Scottish Home.
George Grant Elmslie
Someone You
Should Know
One of the least celebrated Chicago architects of the
twentieth century is George Grant Elmslie. He was a
disciple of Louis Sullivan and did more than anyone to
promote the Sullivanesque ideal in architecture. Elmslie
was born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, near the town of
Huntly.
His formal education began in the Riggens School in
Gartly and continued in the famous and highly
disciplined duke of Gordon School in Huntly. In 1884, he
and his mother left Scotland to join their father in
Chicago who was employed by the Armour Company. After a
brief period in a local business school, George Elmslie
followed his parents advice and began the study of
architecture.
Those of you who live in Chicago will know of the Carson
Pirie Scott store on State Street and the beautiful
ironwork entrance. That ironwork is the product of
Elmslie who also did the interior finish. Among his
other work in the Chicago area includes the People’s Gas
Light and Coke Company at 4839 Irving Park Road, Healy
Chapel in Aurora, and the First Congregational Church in
Western Springs. His office was in the People’s Gas
Company building on Michigan Avenue across from the Art
Institute.
Perhaps the most Scottish inspired of his buildings is
the Maxwelton Braes Resort Hotel in Baileys Harbor,
Wisconsin. He also designed
The
Airplane House at Woods
Hole, Massachusetts. The house is now being restored and
should be completed by 2004. Pictures of his work are
now on the Internet. You can see the Airplane House, the
Purcell-Cutts House in Minneapolis, Minnesota and the Merchant’s Bank of Winona, Minnesota.
Most of the search engines will take you to George Grant Elmslie.
There is no known evidence that Elmslie was a member of
our St. Andrew society, but his office was in the same
building with John Williamson and other Scots employed
by the People’s Gas company. He is shown to be one of
the donors to the building of The Scottish Home.
George Elmslie died in 1952 and is buried in Graceland
Cemetery in Chicago along with his mentor, Louis
Sullivan.
Plan New Home for Aged Scots
“Plans are now underway to provide a permanent home
for the old Scotch people of Illinois. John Williamson,
engineer of the People’s Gas Company and President of
the St. Andrew’s Society is at the head of the movement,
which includes the purchase of a site near Chicago and a
home to cost not less than $50,000. The present home
with its fourteen inmates is located in a leased
building at 43 Bryant Avenue, which is wholly inadequate
for the purpose.”
“It is proposed first, to have a series of
entertainments, the proceeds from which will make the
nucleus of the fund, after which bonds will be issued
for the remainder if not secured by contributions. The
first of these entertainments will be held at Library
Hall, Austin, Tuesday, April 20, and is expected to
attract the Scotch people of Oak Park, Austin and the
far west side. Chief Bailiff, Thomas M. Hunter of the
Municipal Court will act as chairman.”1
McGuffey’s Fifth Eclectic Reader
Last July I drove from Bristol, Tennessee to Boone,
North Carolina, to attend the Grandfather Mountain
Highland Games. Approaching Boone, I saw a sign which
read “Used Books and Cigars”. It was a small store with
used books and fresh cigars. Behind a locked cabinet was
a McGuffey’s Fifth Eclectic Reader.
It had been given to Frances Herndon of Princeton,
Kentucky on October 17, 1892. Thanks to the Don Buik
book fund, I was able to purchase the edition for our
museum. There are two families still living in
Princeton, Kentucky, by the name of Herndon, but in a
recent telephone conversation, neither family knew of
Frances Herndon.
Today, the Supreme Court would declare the reader
unconstitutional because of its many references to God
and the Bible. There are 117 reading exercises the last
one entitled “My Mother’s Bible” by G. P. Morris. One
story on Page 156, entitled “the Relief of Lucknow”
caught my attention. Every generation that goes to war
has their memories of great battles. My generation
remembers “The Longest Day” or the battle of Iwo Jima.
At the turn of the last century it was the Lucknow. In
1854, Sir Colin Campbell and the 93rd Highlanders had
won a great battle at Lucknow which came to be known as
the “Stand of the Thin Red Line.”

Lucknow, a city in India, was part of the British
Empire. In 1857, the native troops mutinied and Lucknow
with a garrison of 1700 men was besieged by 10,000
mutineers. After a siege of twelve weeks, British troops
forced an entrance and the town was held until relieved
three weeks later by the arrival of the 93rd Highlanders
led by Sir Colin Campbell.
McGuffey tells of Jessie Brown, the wife of a corporal,
who along with the other women had expected to die. They
were all weary from the long siege and Jessie was having
periods of delusion. She suddenly began to shout “Dinna
ye hear it? Dinna ye hear it? Ay. I’m no dreaming: it’s
the slogan o’ the Highlanders!” And, sure enough, in the
distance “That shrill, penetrating, ceaseless sound,
which rose above all other sounds...the blast of the
Scottish bagpipes.” They were playing “the well-known
strain that moves every Scot to tears, ‘Should auld
acquaintance be forgot.’” The inhabitants of Lucknow
were saved!
Sir Colin Campbell is buried at Westminster Abbey.
McGuffey, on page 158, defines Pi’broch as a “wild,
irregular species of music belonging to the Highlands of
Scotland; it is performed on a bagpipe.”
Poem "The
Relif of Lucknow"
More information is available from the
Defence Journal
Clippings from the British American
1923
Mr. William F. Dickson appointed John McLachlan,
“well-known Pullman Scot” chairman of the 1923 Banquet
committee. “This will be the 78th annual feast of the
Chicago Society which is the oldest organization of its
kind in the state. The Marshals this year will be Gen.
James E. Stuart and John J. Badenoch.” Five separate
committees were appointed.
Samuel Insull
(see July 2000)
was to respond to the toast, “The Land We Live in.”
1927
Attendance at the “banquet” was 1,200. The speaker was
Gen. Charles H. Mitchell, University of Toronto, Ont.,
Canada. The toastmaster was Col. George B. Buckingham.
Music was provided by the Chicago Highlanders Pipe Band,
Ambrose Wyrick, Chicago tenor, and Cameron McLean,
baritone, of Detroit, Michigan. It was announced that
the endowment fund of the Scottish Old People’s Home had
reached $175,000. Among those active on committees were
James B. Forgan, Jr., Douglas Stuart, Luke Grant, James
R. Glass, William Cameron, James B. Campbell, John
McLachlan, Dr. W. F. Dickinson, and James B. McDougal. A
picture of the speaker’s table shows Mrs. James B.
Mcdougal and Mrs. W. A. Craigie.
Pigboats
The pigboat is a unique type of vessel designed for
the Great Lakes. These vessels, no longer in existence,
once traveled in the oceans of the world. "The life of
Alexander McDougal is one to be upheld in history. He
was born in Scotland in 1845 to a very poor family.” He
had little education but lots of ambition. His family
moved to Canada when he was 13 and at 16 he ran away
from home to become a deck hand on the Lakes. His
determination made him a Captain while still in his
early 20s.
After marriage he settled in Duluth, Minnesota. “All
this time, he had dreams of building an iron ship that
would be fast, seaworthy, cheap to build and efficient
to operate. Wood ships were still the thing.” His dream
ship was unorthodox and brought him a great deal of
ridicule. “His whaleback design, with its snout bow and
cigar-like hull was said to look like a pig.” However,
they became very popular because of their speed and ease
of loading, and efficient cost to build.
Over a ten year period, Alexander McDougal would build
43 whaleback vessels at his shipyard. His finest ship
was the Christopher Columbus, his only
passenger vessel, built in 1891. It was 362 feet long,
with three decks above the hull, a 3,000 horsepower
coal-fired steam engine with a capacity of 7,500
passengers. “Over its lifetime of 46 years, it would
carry more passengers than any other ship on the Great
Lakes and probably the world. It was scrapped in 1936.”
The last of the whalebacks is the Meteor. It is
now a museum on Barkers Island, Superior, Wisconsin.
Alexander McDougal was a highly inventive man and held
patents on 40 inventions for ship construction and items
connected to the shipping trade. “But for all his
ventures and inventions, he will always be most known
for his whaleback and they were all built in a ten-year
period, 1888 to 1898.
Pictured: The Meteor
References:
1. This newspaper article was sent by Dorothy B.
Stewart of Chicago. It was found in her mother’s Bible.
2. Information taken from “The Superior Signal”, a
quarterly newsletter of the Keweenow County Historical
Society of Eagle Harbor, Michigan. My thanks to Mrs. Hy
Fish of Chicago who sent this article
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