Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

has made his home there ever since. He
specializes in diseases of the eye, ear,
nose and throat, and although he is one
of the younger representatives of the pro-
fession in Hartford, he has a reputation
for skill and ability that many an older
medical practitioner might well envy.
Possessing a broad and comprehensive
understanding of the principles of the sci-
ence of medicine and surgery, and with a
varied experience, and also by keeping in
touch with the progress that is being
made toward perfection in the line of
medical and surgical science, his future is
bright with promise. Dr. McClellan is
serving as opthamologist, rhinologist,
laryngologist and otologist to St. Fran-
cis Hospital, the Babies' Hospital, Hartford
Dispensary and Newington Home
for Crippled Children, and is also consult-
ing otologist to the Hartford Contagious
Hospital. In addition to this he has an
extensive private practice, his patients reposing
in him the utmost confidence. He
is a Fellow of the American College of
Surgery, licentiate of the Royal College
of Physicians and Surgeons of London,
member of the Hartford County Medical
Society, Connecticut Medical Society,
American Medical Association, Mississippi
Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted
Masons, of Almont, Province of Ontario,
Canada, the Hartford Club, Hartford
Golf Club, and the New Haven Yacht
Club.
FLOYD, Marcus Lawson,
Tobacco Expert.
One of the most active, successful and
progressive business men of Hartford.
Connecticut, Marcus L. Floyd, general
manager of the American Sumatra Tobacco
Company, and the pioneer in the
raising of tobacco by the shade grown
process, was born in Quincy, Florida, in
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
348
i860, son of Matthew B. and Martha A.
(Dalton) Floyd.
Matthew B. Floyd, his father, was engaged
in agriculture on an extensive scale,
and the son, Marcus L., worked on the
farm of his father when not attending the
district schools of Quincy. Later he engaged
in the growing of leaf tobacco, and
in 1898 went to Washington to accept a
position with the Department of Agriculture
as a tobacco expert. Mr. Floyd was
appointed by Secretary James Wilson of
the United States Department of Agri-
culture as a delegate to the International
Agricultural Congress held in conjunction
with the Universal International Exposition
at Paris in 1900. He had been
honored with this commission by virtue
of his expert knowledge and wide experi-
ence in the culture of tobacco. At the
request of the United States Government,
Mr. Floyd visited the countries of Eu-
rope in order to ascertain the conditions
of the tobacco industry. He made careful
notations of his observations, and
after several months' travel on the Con-
tinent submitted a report covering the
desired information, with the recommendation
that tobacco be placed under government
inspection, and that it be prop-
erly and honestly graded. This sugges-
tion was acted upon with very gratifying
results.
After his return to the United States,
Mr. Floyd took up experimental work for
the government, and the experiment of
growing the tobacco by the shade process
was tried in Connecticut. They produced
nearly one thousand pounds of wrapper
tobacco that was pronounced by experts
to be equal to any wrapper tobacco grown
in the world. This lot of leaf was sold at
an average of one dollar and fifty-nine
cents per pound, and the experiment indi-
cated such commercial possibilities that a
boom was started and several hundreds