WILLIAM G. MEACHEM, M.D., Sec. 20; P.O. Racine; was born at Axbridge, Somersetshire, England, Oct. 7, 1829. His father, Thomas MEACHEM, who had met with financial reverses in the cloth manufacture, was at this time conducting a private school at Axbridge. His mother was a member of the GOLDESBROUGH family, of some local note, a daughter of Mr. Henry GOLDESBROUGH, a silk manufacturer of the cathedral city of Wells. One of her paternal uncles, the Rev. Mr. GOLDESBROUGH, D.D., a graduate of Oxford, attained some celebrity in the Established Church; another was an Admiral in the Royal Navy; of Oxford, still another was a prominent physician. In 1831, Thomas MEACHEM emigrated with his family to this country, and made his first residence at Skancateles, Onondaga Co., N.Y. Entering the ministry of the Protestant Episcopal Church, he labored zealously and successfully in several pastoral fields until his death, which occurred in the 55th year of his age. Early discovering in his son William a propensity to books, the father fostered it by every means in his power, furnishing him with able instructors, and other wise encouraging him in the pursuit of knowledge. Among his instructors was Miss Mary James HAWES, afterward Mrs. HOLMES, the well-known authoress. At the age of 14 he matriculated at Geneva College, now entitled Hobart College, at Geneva. Though the youngest pupil in the institution, he ranked among the foremost in his class, in both mathematical and classical studies. Too close application so impaired his health, however, that he was obliged to abandon his college course when only half completed. After some years of valetudinarianism, his health being measurably re-established, he studied medicine under the preceptorship of his brother, Dr. J. G. MEACHEM, of Warsaw, N.Y. Having attended a course of medical lectures at the Philadelphia College of Medicine, he commenced practice, at the age of 24, at West Middlebury, N.Y. In the spring of 1855 he graduated at the Medical Department of the University of the City of New York. With the intent of perfecting himself for the Army Board medical examination (the most rigid medical examination known in the country), preparatory to applying for a position on the Military Medical Staff, he took another course of lectures at the New York University, the following winter, and in the autumn of 1856 presented himself before the Board at Newport Barracks, Ky., where he passed a searching and satisfactory scientific examination; but the lack of robustness of constitution thwarted his expectations in this direction. In the spring of 1856 he formed a co-partnership for practice with his brother and preceptor, at Warsaw. After the dissolution of the copartnership, in 1857, he practiced alone in the same place. In 1862 he married Miss Jessie M. ROBERTSON, daughter of Daniel ROBERTSON, of London, England, and step-daughter of the Hon. James SPRAGUE, of Warsaw. In 1864 he obtained a commission as Assistant Surgeon to the 162d Regt. N.Y.V. He followed the fortunes of his regiment in the memorable Shenandoah Valley campaign, under the gallant Sheridan. He was for a time detailed to the medical charge of the 133d and the 165th N.Y.V., the latter one of the famed Zouave organizations. At the close of the war he settled for practice at Livonia, Livingston Co., N.Y., remaining there until 1869, when, finding his failing health inadequate to the labors and fatigues of medical practice, he removed to Racine, Wis., where he has since resided in retirement. Dr. MEACHEM, in his student life and earlier years of practice, was a contributor to various medical journals, among them the New York Journal of Medicine and the Buffalo Medical Journal. He has also written no inconsiderable amount of verse. Many of his poems have been published in various periodicals, as the Philadelphia Dollar Newspaper, the Rural New Yorker, and some local papers. His unpublished MSS. are also numerous. His muse is usually in a serious, even a religious mood. At times, however, she sighs an amatory ode or chants a martial strain. Now and then she is satirical; nor is she always devout of quiet humor. Dr. MEACHEM still writes an occasional poem. He has been, moreover, a diligent translator of classical authors, having prepared a literal and a free translation of the greater part of the writings of the poet Horace, his Odes, Epodes, Satires, etc.; of the Eclogues of Virgil; of part of Livy's History, a translation of the Antigone of Sophocles, etc. Of Dr. MEACHEM's five brothers, the three who attained to manhood, like himself, graduated in medicine. Thomas G., the eldest, after ten years of practice, was ordained to the ministry of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and died at Auburn, N.Y., in 1875. The second, Edward H. G. is practicing in Milwaukee. The third, John G. is a leading practitioner in Racine and for the last three terms has been Mayor of the city.

Carol Holmbeck