Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1879-10-22
DEA TIL OF DIR. F. j. LEMO YNE.
THE AMERICAN APOSTLE OF CREMATION
! TO BE CONSUMED IN HIS OWN FUR
MACE ON THURSDAY-sKETCH
OF HIS CAREER.
Especial to the Commercial Gazette

for six or eight days had been con
fined to his bed. He passed away
peacefully to-day. This evening DIR
Grayson, Dr. McKennan and Dr. Franz
LeMoyne, of Pittsburgh, son of the
deceased are holding post mortem
examination on the body. Dr. LIE
Moyne directs in his will, and also in
one of his last expressed wishes that
his body be cremated. These wishes
and directions will be respected and
the cremation will be conducted on
Thursday. There will be no process
sion of public demonstration over the
cremation, though there will be held
at the family residence services such
as are usual on such occasions Mr.
John Dye, the gentleman who built
the crematory, tonight started fire in
the furnace Thirty-six hours will be
required to properly heat the crema-
tory
The dead body of DR.. LeMoyne
weighs over 200 pounds. 1t will be
encased in a plain rosewood coffin of
extra size Precautions will doubtless
be taken by the friends to prevent any
undue demonstration at the cremation.
DR. LEMoYNE's AFFLIcTIoN-HIs EARLY
LIFE
Yesterday morning a busy and
eventful life came to an end. The
name of DR.. Francis j. LeMoyne is
one that has been prominently before
the public of this country for two gen.
erations, and even in continental
Europe his name has become distin-
guished in recent times on account of
his connection with the cremation doc
trine, of which he was the acknowl-
edge American apostle. At the time
of his death DR.. LeMoyne had attained
to ripe old age. He was eighty-one
years, one month and ten days of age.
He had been a partial invalid for
twenty years. For the past summer
his health had been very much i'm
paired, although his mental powers
retained their activity almost to the
end. He was able to converse with
his friends until last Friday. Dr. Lee
Moyne was the son of F. j. LeMoyne,
a native of France, who emigrated to
this country at the close of the last
century in company with colony of
his countrymen, who originally located
at Gallipolis, Ohio. Afterward he
removed to Washington, Pa, where
the subject of this sketch was born in
1898.
In early life the subject of this
sketch became associated with his
father in the drug business and was
graduated as physician of medicine.
He was married to Miss Madeline
Bureau, of Washington, Pa. Eight
children survived him, as follows i:
Mrs. John A. Wills, of Washington,
d. c.; Mrs V. Harding, Washington,
Pa; Mrs. Wade, Washington, Pa;
and two single daughters Misses Jane
and Madeline; Mr.. John LeMoyne, a
resident of Chicago, prominently con-
nected with the growth of that city,
formerly member of Congress; Ju-
Illus, who resides on his fathers farm
near Washington, and DR.. Frank a
prominent physician in this city.
The parents of DR.. LeMoyne were
greatly respected in the adopted home.
When the former died an innovation
was made in the ancient custom of
dressing the deceased in a shroud
DR.. LeMoyne's body was buried in
the clothes which he had worn in life,
the first departure from the old custom
in the conservative borough Of Wash
ington. Mrs LeMoyne, who survived
her husband several years was greatly
attached to her son.
HIS ABoLITIoNIsT RECORD.
When he had grown to manhood he
began to form decided convictions on
the evils of American slavery which
he did not scruple to express, though
he was thereby subjected to severe
denunciations His old mother often
said the proudest boast of her life was
that she had born son who was an
Abolitionist. While pursuing his
chosen profession of druggist and
physician he felt called upon to be-
come an advocate of the rights of the
enslaved blacks. With Wendell Phil
lips and others he travelled through the
Northern States addressing meetings
whenever permitted to do SO in behalf
of the Abolition cause. At national
convention of the Abolition party
November 13, 1889, held at Warsaw,
n. Y, he was chosen as q candidate
for the Vice Presidency of the United
States, with James G. Birney as Pres
idential candidate. 1t is presumed,
though not much reliable data can be
had, that he was an active stakeholder
in the underground railroad, now a
defunct corporation. In early life he
was an active member of the Presby-
terian Church, but after he had as
sumed the championship of abolition
ism his attachments to the church be-
came loosed, until finally he cut loose
altogether from ecclesiastical connec-
tions, declaring that if the Bible ad-
vocated slavery, as many professed,
then it was lie and he was done with
it. He was henceforth regarded as an
infdel, as were many others of like
political sentiments with himself He
was the first candidate for Governor ol
the Abolition party in this State.
DEEDS OF CHARITY. 4,
1t is said that by close attention to
business and through the most rigid
economy, DR.. LeMoyne amassed the
snug sum of 100000. SO careful and
systematic was he in every outlay that
it is said he burned candles instead
of gas, although one of the principa
stockholders in the gas company, by
reason of the comparative cheapnes'
of candles over gas. Although ex
ceedingly close in his personal expen
| Gitures he was no miser Every cause
which commended itself to his judg
ment as worthy of support received
| from him the most liberal benefactions
| Resides innumerable small amounts