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Tuesday, February 05, 2002

Dr. Francis J. LeMoyne was born in 1798 in Washington County. He was the son of a Paris-trained physician and was prominent in the anti-slavery movement in the early part of the 19th century. LeMoyne was a scientific farmer, an advocate of the public library system and the founder of the practice of cremation in the United States.

LeMoyne attended Washington College near his home and apprenticed medicine with his father. He later graduated from Jefferson Medical School in Philadelphia. In the 1820s and 1830s, LeMoyne was active in the anti-slavery movement and attained national recognition as a candidate on the Liberty Party ticket as a vice presidential nominee in 1840.

Politically, he was active in the cause of freedom and ran for governor of Pennsylvania on three occasions on Abolitionist Party tickets, although he never won. He joined the Republican Party when it formed in Pittsburgh in 1850.

LeMoyne was forced to give up his medical practice at the age of 55; he suffered throughout his life with disabling arthritis. It was then he began a program of scientific farming, improving crop production and increasing wool production. His public library interest is demonstrated by a $10,000 grant to the Washington library, and his $20,000 grant to the LeMoyne Institute for Blacks in Memphis. He also endowed Washington and Jefferson College for professorships in math and agriculture.

Learning of cremation practices on a visit to Europe, LeMoyne returned to establish the first American crematorium, which still stands in Washington, Pa. He died in 1879 and was cremated there. His house now is home to the Washington County Historical Society

-- By Dr. E. Kenneth Vey, History Center Library and Archives volunteer