Dr. Charles Delucena Meigs (#219) was born on February 19, 1792, in St. George, Bermuda, to Josiah (#98) and Clara (Benjamin) Meigs.

When he was two, the family moved to New Haven, Connecticut, where his father was a professor at Yale College. "The domestic and social atmosphere of a small town in New England, the seat of a great school of learning, with the added influences belonging to the household of a professor of mathematics, must have had great influence in the formation of his moral and mental character. Here he must have imbibed much of the strong sense of duty which he carried through life. Honesty, honor, love of country, inflexible uprightness, liberality of mind, and love of knowledge were here implanted in him." (1)

In 1801, the family moved to Athens, Georgia, where his father became the president of the University of Georgia. Here he studied the classics, French and English studies, graduating from the University in 1809, at 17 years of age. He pursued courses in medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and graduated from their in 1817. In 1818 he was awarded an honorary degree of M.D. from Princeton. He set up practice in Augusta, GA, "where he soon acquired a good practice, but owing to his wife's aversion to slavery, after two years residence in Georgia, he removed to Philadelphia." (2) Meigs specialized in obstetrics and was for a long time the acknowledged leader in this branch of medicine.

His practice and income grew, consequently, in 1835, he moved to Chestnut Street above 10th street, where he lived until 1850. With his success in practice and as an author, his reputation also grew. Many of his writings reached a third and fourth edition. In 1841, he w3as elected professor of obstetrics and diseases of women in the Jefferson Medical College, which he filled until 1861, when he retired.

Upon retirement, "he built himself not only a house, but a barn and stable, a tenant-house, a spring house, an icehouse, a workshop, and all in the prettiest and most agreeable styles. And when all was finished, his house and land [37 acres] had cost him but about fifteen or sixteen thousand dollars. He now sought a name for his new domain, and amongst others, wished to call it Paraclete, the Comforter; but my mother objected to what might seem at least an impropriety in the use of so holy a word, and he chose the Indian name of a small river in Connecticut, hard by which he forefathers, had settled, and he called it Hamanassett." (3) "Here he gave himself up almost entirely to agricultural pursuits, literature, and the contemplation of philosophy." (4)

His son John (#400) writes that his father loved his retirement home and never liked to leave it. He recounts one time when his father had to return to town, "My mother accompanied him to the gate, which she held open as he passed through, miserable and sad at leaving her and his country home. As he passed through, he turned and said, sadly, 'Mary, I feel now as Adam must have felt when he left the garden of Eden, and the angel standing at the gate.'" (5)

Another of his sons, Samuel (#405), wrote, "My father was an industrious student in many branches of learning, master of many languages, with a beautiful imagination and charming manners and with great energy and application. A conscientious practitioner and teacher of medicine, he died at seventy-seven years of age, honored and respected by those who know him. My mother had great intellectual powers and common sense, with a strong love of justice and was very obedient to her sense of duty; she was an admirable wife, mother and friend." (6)

Meigs died in his sleep on June 22, 1869. He married Mary, daughter of William Montgomery of Philadelphia, on March 15, 1815.

Children
Meigs #	Name	Birth	Death
No. 398	Montgomery Cunningham	05-03-1816	01-02-1892
No. 399	Charles Delucena	07-23-1817	1895
No. 400	John Forsyth	10-03-1818	12-16-1882
No. 401	William Montgomery	12-31-1819	03-21-1824
No. 402	Henry Vincent	06-19-1821	1897
No. 403	Emily Skinner	09-29-1824	11-22-1905
No. 404	William Montgomery	04-16-1826	09-06-1897
No. 405	Samuel Emlen	07-16-1828	09-14-1917
No. 406	Franklin Bache	11-10-1829	12-25-1881
No. 407	Mary Craythorne	08-19-1838	02-16-1917

ENDNOTES

1. John F. Meigs, "Memoir of Charles D. Meigs, M.D.," Trans. College of Physicians of Philadelphia, 1876.
2. "The National Cyclopedia of American Biography," Volume 6, J. T. White and company, 1896, page 390.
3. Henry B. Meigs, "Record of the Descendents of Vincent Meigs," 1901, page 234.
4. "The National Cyclopedia of American Biography," page 390.
5. Henry B. Meigs, page 234.
6. Henry B. Meigs, page 234.

Copyright (c) by Rick Meigs