H. D. McGill, M.D., was born in Henderson County, Tenn., in 1858 and is one of a family of eight children born to E. T. and Sarah (Meals) McGill. The father was born in Giles County, October, 1825 and was of Scotch-Irish extraction. He was reared on a farm by a Mr. William Legg, of Alabama, and had no advantages for an education. In 1849 he was married and December of the same year removed to Henderson County. He was engaged in the mercantile business for many years at Metropolis, Huntingdon and other places and also dealt somewhat largely in cotton. In 1870 he went to Nashville and engaged in the cotton business there for McCray & Co. He is now acting as traveling salesman for a firm in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Our subject received a good academia education and finished at Nashville. In 1875 he began the study of medicine under Dr. J. B. Stephens, of Nashville, and in 1877 entered Nashville Medical College and graduated from this institution in 1878. He soon located at McLemoresville and practiced there two years, after which he came to Clarksburg and has continued there ever since. In 1884 and 1885 he attended a course of lectures at the University of Tennessee where he graduated in 1885. Since his residence at Clarksburg he has established an extensive and lucrative practice and is fast becoming one of the most popular and successful physicians of the county. January 12, 1881, he married Gracie McDowell, daughter of Rev. J. L. and M. S. McDowell. Mrs. McGill died September 29, 1885, leaving three small children: Arthur, Maggie May and Gracie M. Mrs. McGill was a consistent member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, a fond parent and a true companion. Our subject is a Republican in politics and cast his first presidential vote for Gen. Garfield.
Transcribed by David Donahue
Source: History of Tennessee from the Earliest Time to the Present: Together with an Historical and a Biographical Sketch of Carroll, Henry and Benton Counties, Besides a Valuable Fund of Notes, Original Observations, Reminiscences, Etc., Etc. Easley, S.C.: Southern Historical Press, 1978.