Butte County Biographies

JOHN DUDLEY MENG, M.D.  

Transcribed by Betty Wilson

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            Members of the trades unions may have fixed 
wages and limited hours, but all hours are alike to the physician, and his 
reward, sometimes lacking, is often the gratitude of those who have nothing else 
to give, for the successful physicians answer the appeals of the lowly as well 
as of the exalted, and the practitioner who looks at each patient through the 
medium of the almighty dollar is unworthy of his calling, for he has lost the 
ability to receive the highest reward that can come to anyone—the satisfaction 
of doing for another that which can never be paid for.  Although a resident of 
Chico, Cal., but a few years, Dr. Meng has done his part toward alleviating the 
sufferings of his fellow-creatures and it may be said of him that he has not 
allowed commercialism to overrun the obligations peculiarly his to the poor and 
helpless.
            Born in Callaway county, Mo., June 23, 1856, Dr. Meng descended from 
a prominent Virginia family, whose history is closely interwoven with the 
history of that state, and later with the history and development of 
Pennsylvania.  The Meng family is of pure Holland extraction, and the paternal 
grandfather of the doctor, Woolery Meng, was a Virginian by birth and was a 
general in the Revolutionary war.  He afterward removed to Pennsylvania and died 
in that state at an advanced age.  His son, Charles A., the father of the 
doctor, was also born in Virginia, but in early manhood took up his residence in 
Kentucky, where his marriage took place.  About 1832 he came west as far as 
Missouri, locating on a farm in Callaway county.  He became prominent in this 
state and for twenty years was superior judge of Callaway county, serving as 
such during the Civil war.  In politics he was a Douglas Democrat, a 
Constitutional Unionist, a Liberal, and sympathetic toward the south, and he was 
twice elected to the state legislature.  He was united in marriage with Miss 
Catherine Lewis, who was born near Bowling Green, Ky., and twelve children, five 
sons and seven daughters, blessed their union.  The parents died at the old home 
in Missouri.
            Being the youngest of the family, John Dudley was equipped with a 
common-school education in the public schools, after which in 1873, he entered 
the state university at Lexington, Ky., where he continued his studies for a 
couple of years.  In 1875, he entered the medical college at Iowa City, Iowa, 
and was graduated from this institution in 1878.  Soon after his graduation Dr. 
Meng engaged in the practice of his chosen profession at Warsaw, Mo., and during 
the several years of his residence there he built up a comfortable practice.  In 
1882 he removed to a broader field at Sedalia, and after a couple of years’ 
successful practice there, he resumed his professional studies for a time.  
Taking a post-graduate course in the St. Louis Medical College in 1884, this was 
supplemented by a similar course the following year in the College of Physicians 
and Surgeons in Chicago, Ill.  In 1887 he entered upon a hospital course in New 
York city, where he received practical training.
            Being now thoroughly equipped, Dr. Meng proceeded to the western 
slope, locating about a year in Los Angeles, Cal., and in 1889 proceeding to San 
Jose.  It was not until 1899 that he located permanently in Chico.  Ever a 
student, he keeps abreast of the times and keeps in close touch with his brother 
physicians as an active member not only of the Santa Clara and Butte County 
Medical societies, but also as a member of the State Medical Association.  By 
his marriage Dr. Meng was united with Miss Sarah Rice, formerly of Missouri, and 
they have one son, Charles Anderson, who is attending Heald’s Business College 
in San Francisco.  In his political convictions the doctor is a Democrat, and he 
is among the most active politicians in his section, having served for a number 
of years as chairman of the Democratic central committee.  While a resident of 
Missouri, in 1886 he was a candidate on the Democratic ticket for nomination for 
state auditor, but lacked one vote to secure the nomination.  Dr. Meng is too 
deeply engrossed in his professional career to care for political honors, but 
too good a citizen to shirk the responsibility devolving upon every American.
 
History of the State of California and Biographical Record of the Sacramento 
Valley, California, by Prof. J. M. Guinn, Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago, 1906