BIO: Samuel L. McCARTHY, Huntingdon County, PA

Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Denise Phillips

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Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of the Juniata Valley: 
Comprising the Counties of Huntingdon, Mifflin, Juniata and Perry, 
Pennsylvania, Containing Sketches of Prominent and Representative 
Citizens and Many of the Early Settlers.  Chambersburg, Pa.: J. M. 
Runk & Co., 1897, pages 91-92. 
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  SAMUEL L. McCARTHY, M.D., Eighth avenue and Fourteenth street, Altoona, 
Blair county, Pa., was born in Brady township, Huntingdon county, Pa., March 
28, 1844, and is a son of John R. and Eleanor (Lane) McCarthy.  He was 
reared in Brady township, Huntingdon county, and attended the common schools 
of his neighborhood, where he laid a foundation on which he continued to 
build by his own unaided efforts, until he had acquired a good English 
education and a fair knowledge of Latin.  He began reading medicine in 1867, 
in the office of Dr. George W. Thompson, then a prominent physician of Mill 
Creek, but now residing at Mount Union, Huntingdon county.  Mr. McCarthy 
afterwards entered Jefferson Medical College, at Philadelphia, graduating 
with the class of 1870.  He began practice the same year in Mill Creek, 
Huntingdon county; he was in continuous and successful practice in the same 
county for sixteen years, the greater part of which time he spent in Mill 
Creek.  In 1884 he removed to Altoona, and for the past thirteen years has 
been in general practice in that city.  Dr. McCarthy has always been a 
diligent student, keeping abreast of the progress in medical science, and 
making himself familiar with all the new discoveries and theories of the 
day.  He has been very successful in his treatment of patients, losing but 
few cases, and those of the most severe types of disease, throughout his 
experience of nearly thirty years.  His success in cases of typhoid fever 
and membraneous croup has been most noteworthy.  The Doctor is a member of 
the Pennsylvania State Medical Society, and of the Altoona Academy of 
Medicine; he is president of the Blair County Medical Society, to which 
honorable position he was elected in January, 1897.
  The political principles of Dr. McCarthy are Republican, but the exacting 
duties of his profession leave him but little time for pursuing other lines 
of thought or effort, and he has so far contented himself with performing 
the duties of good citizenship, leaving to others the turmoil attending 
practical politics.
  Dr. Samuel L. McCarthy was married at McVeytown, Mifflin county, Pa., June 
28, 1867, to Lettie, daughter of Robert and Lucinda Way, both natives of 
Centre county, Pa., the latter still living, and residing in Altoona.  Of 
the three children of Dr. and Mrs. McCarthy, on is deceased.  The elder of 
the surviving children is Ida Blanche, wife of F. M. McCullough, Esq., a 
prominent lawyer of Altoona.  Mrs. McCullough is a charming singer, and has 
delighted large audiences by her remarkable musical talent, and her rich, 
melodious voice.  She is a graduate of the Altoona high school.  S. Lloyd, 
her brother, appears to be endowed with great talents.  He is a student in 
high standing in the high school at Altoona, and a youth of more than 
ordinary promise.  The Doctor and his family are valued members of the 
Presbyterian church; he is an active supporter of all its interests.
  As has already been intimated, Dr. McCarthy ranks among the most 
successful men of central Pennsylvania.  Much of that success he ascribes to 
the zeal, the honorable ambition, sympathetic courage, wise counsel and 
sustaining influence of his devoted wife.  Through the trials and triumphs 
of a quarter of a century she has stood by his side and alike in joy and in 
sorrow, has shared his experiences, comprehended his purposes, and 
demonstrated the possibility of that ideal comradeship which rounds out 
life, and proves the truth of the Divine declaration that "it is not good 
for man to be alone."