From "HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY,"  Vol. I, pages 574-576.
Brant & Fuller, 1890.


S. P. HULLIHEN

S. P. Hullihen was born in Northumberland county, Penn., in 1810, and 
died in Wheeling March 27, 1857, of typhoid pneumonia.  He was of 
Irish extraction, and his father a farmer.  His early educational 
advantages were only such as were afforded by the district school.  
At an early age he manifested a love for medicine and surgery, and 
his vigorous pursuit of these studies was shown by his success in 
after life.  He commenced the practice of dentistry at Canton, Ohio.  
In 1835 he married and removed to Wheeling.  He never practiced 
general medicine; his great success and usefulness appeared in 
surgical operations, these being chiefly confined to operations about 
the face.  Patients of all classes, confiding in his skill and frank 
character, came in great numbers from the surrounding country, so 
that the value of his services, as well as the influence of his 
reputation, were considered the common property of Wheeling.  Dr. 
Hullihen was a man of genius, and gifted in overcoming difficulties 
by original conceptions.  He possessed a discriminating mind, rapid 
eye and cunning hand, all acting in harmony to produce the best 
results in practice.  These qualities, the marks of a great surgeon, 
soon impressed the community, and inspired with confidence all who 
came to him for relief.  He had a roughness of manner at times that 
almost terrified those who failed to read him well and know his warm 
and generous heart.  Dr. Hullihen successfully performed numerous 
surgical and dental operations of the most delicate character, but 
those were not such as are known to surgeons as capital operations.  
In addition to his surgical work, he published many valuable papers 
on surgical subjects, among them in 1839, "An Essay on Odontalgia"; 
in 1844, "A Treatise on Hare-lip, and its Treatment"; in 1845, "An 
Essay on Cleft-Palate, and its Treatment"; in 1846, an essay on " 
Abscess of the Jaws and its Treatment"; in 1849, "Report of a case of 
Elongation of the Under-jaw, with Distortion of the Face and Neck, 
caused by a Burn, successfully treated."  He was the inventor of many 
new forms of instruments of great value to the dentist and surgeon.  
He had, by his success as a surgeon, his kindness to the poor, and 
his whole-souled generous nature, so endeared himself to the 
community that his death caused profound sorrow throughout the city.  
The medical profession, the city council, and the Wheeling Hospital 
association passed appropriate resolutions, and at a public meeting 
of citizens held at the court house the following were adopted: 

Resolved, That we have heard with profound sorrow of the death of Dr. 
Hullihen, and have assembled to express the universal respect of the 
community for his memory.  His decease, in the prime of life, in the 
midst of an honorable and useful career, and in the full vigor of his 
rare intellect, has impressed us with a deep sense of the unusual 
calamity.  Eminent in his profession, and exalted in his personal 
character, he achieved a noble fame, in which gratitude for his 
benefactions was mingled with admiration for his genius.  To us he 
was endeared by long association, by nobility of nature, and by many 
generous and estimable qualities.  By those who knew him best, he was 
most beloved.  For his loss we feel the peculiar grief of friends 
added to the general sorrow for the decease of a distinguished 
citizen.  

Resolved, That we will erect a suitable monument for the deceased in 
testimony of our respect for his memory, and that a committee be 
appointed by the chairman to carry this resolution into effect.

This monument has long since been erected with the following 
inscription, it marks his resting place at Mt. Wood cemetery: 
"Erected by the citizens of Wheeling to the memory of one, who had so 
lived among them, that they mourned his death as a public calamity."


(Linda Fluharty)