Years Served: 1875 to 1879
Alonzo was born in Bristol, Maine on February 17, 1847. He was the only son of David and Margaret F. Wallace. His grandfather, David Wallace, was one of the early settlers of New Hampshire. Wallace went to college in the public schools of his native town, Lincoln Academy, New Castle, Maine, and the Eastport conference Seminary, Bucksport, Maine. He also attended the medical schools at Bowdoin College and in Portland, Maine and then graduated from the Dartmouth Medical School in 1874.
At the age of thirteen he began to follow the sea during the summer season, and at seventeen became a second mate of a bark. Yet despite interests in the sea, he was intent on preparing himself for educational pursuits so he could earn sufficient money through teaching to defray his college expenses. A hard working lad, he devoted his winters to study, and so earnest was he in his endeavors to obtain rapid advancement, that at one time it was his custom to travel on foot ten miles to school on each Monday morning and return in the same manner each Friday evening.
At the age of eighteen he began to teach in his home town, teaching two terms a year, from early fall to late spring, for a period of about three years. At the age of twenty-one he was elected superintendent of Bristol schools and was principal of Bucksport, Maine High School. After graduating from Dartmouth Medical School, in 1869 he accepted the position of assistance teacher in the Boston Reformatory School on Deer Island and, in a short time, was promoted to the principal of the school. His work at the reformatory attracted the attention of Dr. Durgin, then port physician of the Boston Board of Health, who advised him to enter the medical profession.
In 1872 he was a medical student at Bowdoin College. However, by an urgent request of the reformatory management, he was induced to return to Deer Island. He was hired in June 1873 as the second assistant physician in the Northampton Lunatic Hospital located in Northampton, Massachusetts where he was responsible for the health of over 600 lunatics. During his last year of service in that institution, and after holding this position for several years he acquired an enviable reputation for his excellent management. Shortly afterward he resigned in order to resume his studies and, entering Dartmouth College, he graduated in 1874.
After finishing his studies he accepted the position of first assistant port physician of the city of Boston on October 21, 1874 when Dr. William S. Crosby, assistant port physician resigned resigned. When Wallace assumed his new duties the City had established smallpox, yellow fever and ship fever (i.e., typhus) as the only diseases that required quarantine. When Chester Irving Fisher resigned his position as port physician on September 15, 1875, Wallace succeeded him. This post required the approval of the City’s very popular Mayor, Samuel Crocker Cobb, who endorsed Wallace as the City’s seventh Port Physician. In turn Wallace recommended Dr. Thomas Kittredge to become the Assistant Port Physician who was approved by the Board of Health on September 15, 1875. About a year after becoming Port Physician he married Mary F. Maynard on November 2, 1876. Like other Port Physicians, Wallace realized that island quarantine work and marriage were incompatible.
Four years later, on April 6, 1879 Wallace resigned as port physician and moved from Boston to Brookline, New Hampshire where he established himself as a physician in general practice. During his residence in Brookline, he enjoyed a large, lucrative and constantly increasing practice, embracing not only this town, but also all of the towns in its vicinity. His reputation as a physician learned and skilled in his profession being second to none in Hillsborough County.
By 1888 his business had increased to such an extent that it occupied nearly all of his time both by night and by day. His professional calls were urgent and frequent, and they kept him constantly on the move. Exposure to all sorts of weather conditions during his long professional rides and the constant strain on his mental and physical faculties began to have a perceptible effect upon his health. After careful deliberation, he decided that a change from Brookline to some location where he could practice his profession under more favorable environments be both prudent and reasonable. Having decided upon his course of action, he governed himself accordingly, and in 1888 removed from Brookline to Rochester, New Hampshire.
Wallace’s departure from Brookline was sincerely and universally regretted by its citizens who held him in the highest respect and esteem both as a physician and a citizen. He remained in Rochester but a comparatively short time, and finally settled in Nashua, where he developed an extensive practice, covering the towns and cities in a large area of the surrounding country. His reputation as a physician grew over the years, and was ranked with the leading physicians in New Hampshire. He had a wide range of community interests including membership in the Congregational Church, the Order of Odd Fellows, the United Order of the Golden Cross and the New Hampshire Medical Society. He served as Vice President of the Alumni Association of Dartmouth Medical College and as President of the New Hampshire Medical Society.
He died in 1930 at the age of 83. He four children; His oldest son, Arthur Lowell Wallace born in Lowell, MA on October 12, 1877 during the time when his father was still serving as Port Physician in Boston. He is buried in the Edgewood Cemetery in Nashua, New Hampshire.
Sources:
Boston City Document No. 85, Third Annual Report of the Board of Health of the City of Boston, 1875, p. 110. Also see, Public Document No. 21, Twentieth Annual Report of the Trustees of the State Lunatic Hospital at Northampton, for October 1875, Boston, Wright Potter State Printers, 1876, p. 9. For information on his hiring at the Lunatic Hospital, see Public Document No. 21, Nineteenth Annual Report of the Trustees of the State Lunatic Hospital at Northampton, for October 1874, Boston, Wright Potter State Printers, 1875, p. 8.
Boston City Document No. 85, Third Annual Report of the Board of Health of the City of Boston, 1875, p. 33
Medical Notes, Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, Vol. 93, No. 10, September 2, 1875, p. 286. Accessed online: http://books.google.com/books?id=bsgEAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA286&lpg=RA1-PA286&dq=%22Alonzo+S.+Wallace%22,+died&source=bl&ots=It7e5YeICw&sig=FCFlHZ8MZDshCwSf9h1NNji6xdc&hl=en&ei=BKw4TO-FMIGdlgfB5OzUBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CDAQ6AEwCA
Boston City Document No. 53, Fourth Annual Report of the Board of Health of the City of Boston, 1876, p. 45.
Societies, JAMA, Vol. 36, No. 22, June 1, 1901, p. 1576.
Accessed online: http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/boston-mass/medical-directory-of-greater-boston-volume-3rd-edition-tso/page-15-medical-directory-of-greater-boston-volume-3rd-edition-tso.shtml
[7] McDufee, Franklin; Hayward, Silvanus, History of the Town of Rochester, New Hampshire from 1722 to 1890, p. 448. accessed online: http://books.google.com/books?id=YaHbaTX0mDAC&pg=PA448&lpg=PA448&dq=alonzo+Wallace,+physician+died+in+Nashua&source=bl&ots=-kL5x9HGee&sig=UTBQVFMgmuP7gysxyfqVIZhao2g&hl=en&ei=TLI4TOuqMsaqlAeAoIHWBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CDAQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=alonzo%20Wallace%2C%20physician%20died%20in%20Nashua&f=false
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Chester Irving Fisher
Years Served: 1873 to 1875
Chester Irving Fisher was born in Canton, Massachusetts on April 25, 1847. He was the third child of Cyrus Fisher and Caroline Guild. His father was an inventor and builder living in Canton for over 40 years. He became a student at the State Normal school in Bridgewater in 1865; taught school for two years; afterward studied medicine and graduated M.D. from Harvard College June, 1870. He was appointed the tenth port physician of Boston holding that office from February 1873 until September 15,1875 when he resigned to get married and go into private practice.
Like virtually all Port Physicians before him, Fisher realized that married life would be incompatible with the demands of inspecting vessels, contacting a wide range of contagious diseases and living a world away from civilization. Few women dreamed of living in Boston harbor and even fewer had a desire to do so on an island that housed immigrants with the most contagious diseases known throughout the world.
He was twenty eight when he married Clara F. Leonard on September 28, 1875 in Bridgewater, Massachusetts less than two week after resigning his position as Port Physician. His experience as Port Physician certainly increased his range of medical skills and experience and probably facilitated his later success as a physician working in public practice.
In June l883, during the investigation of the State almshouse at Tewksbury, he was asked to take charge of that institution and manage it on a hospital basis. He accepted the call and entered upon the duties August 1st, as superintendent and resident physician, and held that position until 1891. His work as port physician and resident physician at the almshouse prepared him to become one of the leading hospital administrators in New York City which eventually enabled him to influence national hospital design concepts.
The Presbyterian Hospital in New York City appointed him its superintendent in October 1891 and he remained there until retiring on July 1, 1914. Under his administration the hospital was expanded to 315 beds from 100, after a fire that partly destroyed it. Some of New York City’s most famous personalities including Cornelius Vanderbilt, John S. Kennedy and R.W. De Forest were among some of the hospital visitors.
The Presbyterian was one of the few hospitals in New York City under medical superintendence. For whatever unaccountable reason individuals without medical training managed most City hospitals. This arrangement was also true at the Presbyterian Hospital prior to Fisher’s appointment. His selection as Superintendent represented a shift to professonal management of American hospitals. He was also a strong advocate for modernized hospital facilities that took into consideration the special isolation requirements for communicable diseases. While he was a leader in developing hospital controls of nosocomial infections he held some unorthodox views of public health prioroties. For example, he ranked coffee and tea poisoning alongside typhoid, smallpox, malaria and venereal disease as important public health issues of the day.
Fisher was 67 years old when he resigned as superintendent of the Presbyterian Hospital, New York. After nearly a quarter of a century's service as the head of that institution he spent his last years with family and in service to his community. (A Suggestion; As to Heresies in the Practice of Religion. By C. Irving Fisher; Outlook, Apr. 25, 1923.) He died eleven years later at age 78 with services at Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church.
He was a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society, and an active member of the Congregationalist Church. He had two children: Irving Leonard, born in Brookline on Oct. 9, 1876 and Louise Marion, born in Holbrook on Oct. 10, 1878.
Sources:
Hughes, Thomas P., D.D, LL.D, The Conduct of a Hospital, The Independent, Feb. 24, 1898
Marshall, Edward, Most of New York's Illness Is Preventable, New York Times, Mar. 23, 1913.
Western Medical Review, Nebraska Medical Association, Vol. 19, No. 9, 1914, p. 473.
New York Times, April 27, 1924.
Ocean Travelers, New York Times, Feb. 7, 1907
Like virtually all Port Physicians before him, Fisher realized that married life would be incompatible with the demands of inspecting vessels, contacting a wide range of contagious diseases and living a world away from civilization. Few women dreamed of living in Boston harbor and even fewer had a desire to do so on an island that housed immigrants with the most contagious diseases known throughout the world.
He was twenty eight when he married Clara F. Leonard on September 28, 1875 in Bridgewater, Massachusetts less than two week after resigning his position as Port Physician. His experience as Port Physician certainly increased his range of medical skills and experience and probably facilitated his later success as a physician working in public practice.
In June l883, during the investigation of the State almshouse at Tewksbury, he was asked to take charge of that institution and manage it on a hospital basis. He accepted the call and entered upon the duties August 1st, as superintendent and resident physician, and held that position until 1891. His work as port physician and resident physician at the almshouse prepared him to become one of the leading hospital administrators in New York City which eventually enabled him to influence national hospital design concepts.
The Presbyterian Hospital in New York City appointed him its superintendent in October 1891 and he remained there until retiring on July 1, 1914. Under his administration the hospital was expanded to 315 beds from 100, after a fire that partly destroyed it. Some of New York City’s most famous personalities including Cornelius Vanderbilt, John S. Kennedy and R.W. De Forest were among some of the hospital visitors.
The Presbyterian was one of the few hospitals in New York City under medical superintendence. For whatever unaccountable reason individuals without medical training managed most City hospitals. This arrangement was also true at the Presbyterian Hospital prior to Fisher’s appointment. His selection as Superintendent represented a shift to professonal management of American hospitals. He was also a strong advocate for modernized hospital facilities that took into consideration the special isolation requirements for communicable diseases. While he was a leader in developing hospital controls of nosocomial infections he held some unorthodox views of public health prioroties. For example, he ranked coffee and tea poisoning alongside typhoid, smallpox, malaria and venereal disease as important public health issues of the day.
Fisher was 67 years old when he resigned as superintendent of the Presbyterian Hospital, New York. After nearly a quarter of a century's service as the head of that institution he spent his last years with family and in service to his community. (A Suggestion; As to Heresies in the Practice of Religion. By C. Irving Fisher; Outlook, Apr. 25, 1923.) He died eleven years later at age 78 with services at Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church.
He was a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society, and an active member of the Congregationalist Church. He had two children: Irving Leonard, born in Brookline on Oct. 9, 1876 and Louise Marion, born in Holbrook on Oct. 10, 1878.
Sources:
Hughes, Thomas P., D.D, LL.D, The Conduct of a Hospital, The Independent, Feb. 24, 1898
Marshall, Edward, Most of New York's Illness Is Preventable, New York Times, Mar. 23, 1913.
Western Medical Review, Nebraska Medical Association, Vol. 19, No. 9, 1914, p. 473.
New York Times, April 27, 1924.
Ocean Travelers, New York Times, Feb. 7, 1907
Monday, December 28, 2009
Samuel Holmes Durgin
Years Served: 1867 to 1872
Born in Parsonfield, Maine on July 26, 1839, Samuel Holmes Durgin would become one of the greatest public health physicians in 19th century Boston. Durgin attended Dartmouth in 1861 and the following year, the Harvard Medical School. After his graduation in 1864 he was commissionmed asssistant surgeon to the 1st Massachusetts Cavalry. During his military service he was at the Appomattox Court House at the time of Lee's surrender. After the war he returned to Boston and became the port physician serving in that capacity from 1867 to 1872. Although described as a small, dainty, precise and pedantic man, was a brilliant administrator that brought Boston's quarantine system into the modern age. During his days as port physician, he also served as the resident physician at the Deer Island institution where he had direct responsibility for overseeing the Deer Island hospital and the smallpox hospital on nearby Gallop's Island. He kept meticulous records of hospital cases of communicable disease that have been preserved in the archives of the city of Boston. His efforts to segregate cases of communicable disease from other hospital cases on Deer Island was a major step forward in the prevention of smallpox in Boston.
His dedicated service as port physician probably helped him be selected to the three member Boston Board of Health, an institution to which he was appointed from 1873 to 1911. He served as the chairman of the Board of Health from 1876 to his retirement in 1912, a level of public service unrivalled in the history of the city's public health program. Indeed, the editors of the American Journal of Public Health (AJPH) said that "such a length of service as health officer is probably unique in the United States at least, where the demands of politics, rather than qualifications of officials, has been too often the cause of change of officials." Doctor Durgin, according to the AJPH editors, did not hold his position because of his ability as a political trimmer but quite the reverse. Working in a world in which political subservience was expected, he thought only of the public interest and his integrity, high sense of moral purpose and innate leadership abilities won the support of many who secretly desired to use his office for political purposes. He was not merely the leading voice of public health policy in Boston, he was a giant in the field of communicable disease and quarantine practice. Even though his public duties were extremely demanding, he found the time to serve as a lecturer at the Harvard Medical School, hold the high position of president of the American Public Health Association and Vice President of the Massachusetts Association of Boards of Health.
Despite managing the city's quarantine program for over 40 years he still found the time to stay abreast of the latest scientific developments in the fields of sanitation and quarantine practices as they affected his responsibilities as the city's chief public health official. He saw the errors of the old schools of thought that failed to understand the scientific basis of quarantine and the limitations to traditional sanitation practices. It was his constant commitment to the application of the latest scientific principles that enabled Boston to be one of the leading cities in the promulgation of scientific principles of quarantine, the use of baceteriological laboratories to validate the diagnosis of communicable disease and the use of cost effective ship disinfection strategies to thwart a variety of vector borne diseases.
The American Journal of Public Health lauded his adoption of scientific and effective methods of controlling disease in place of the less efficient and burdensome restrictions placed on commerce which he had found in vogue in his early years of public service. As early as 1894, he commenced the manufacture of diphtheria antitoxin. In this same year, at the height of a diphtheria outbreak, one of his signal achievements was the adoption of school inspections, making Boston the first American city to take a comprehensive approach to the eradication of disease in the public school system. His policies were subsequently adopted by cities throughout the United States and Canada.
Sources:
The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Volume XIII, 1906, p. 574.
Americal Journal of Public Health, 1912, May 2(5), pp357-358.
American Journal of Public Health, 1953, June, Vol. 43 (6 pt2), pp. 15-19.
American Journal of Public Health, 1940, January 30(1), pp. 88-89.
His dedicated service as port physician probably helped him be selected to the three member Boston Board of Health, an institution to which he was appointed from 1873 to 1911. He served as the chairman of the Board of Health from 1876 to his retirement in 1912, a level of public service unrivalled in the history of the city's public health program. Indeed, the editors of the American Journal of Public Health (AJPH) said that "such a length of service as health officer is probably unique in the United States at least, where the demands of politics, rather than qualifications of officials, has been too often the cause of change of officials." Doctor Durgin, according to the AJPH editors, did not hold his position because of his ability as a political trimmer but quite the reverse. Working in a world in which political subservience was expected, he thought only of the public interest and his integrity, high sense of moral purpose and innate leadership abilities won the support of many who secretly desired to use his office for political purposes. He was not merely the leading voice of public health policy in Boston, he was a giant in the field of communicable disease and quarantine practice. Even though his public duties were extremely demanding, he found the time to serve as a lecturer at the Harvard Medical School, hold the high position of president of the American Public Health Association and Vice President of the Massachusetts Association of Boards of Health.
Despite managing the city's quarantine program for over 40 years he still found the time to stay abreast of the latest scientific developments in the fields of sanitation and quarantine practices as they affected his responsibilities as the city's chief public health official. He saw the errors of the old schools of thought that failed to understand the scientific basis of quarantine and the limitations to traditional sanitation practices. It was his constant commitment to the application of the latest scientific principles that enabled Boston to be one of the leading cities in the promulgation of scientific principles of quarantine, the use of baceteriological laboratories to validate the diagnosis of communicable disease and the use of cost effective ship disinfection strategies to thwart a variety of vector borne diseases.
The American Journal of Public Health lauded his adoption of scientific and effective methods of controlling disease in place of the less efficient and burdensome restrictions placed on commerce which he had found in vogue in his early years of public service. As early as 1894, he commenced the manufacture of diphtheria antitoxin. In this same year, at the height of a diphtheria outbreak, one of his signal achievements was the adoption of school inspections, making Boston the first American city to take a comprehensive approach to the eradication of disease in the public school system. His policies were subsequently adopted by cities throughout the United States and Canada.
Sources:
The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Volume XIII, 1906, p. 574.
Americal Journal of Public Health, 1912, May 2(5), pp357-358.
American Journal of Public Health, 1953, June, Vol. 43 (6 pt2), pp. 15-19.
American Journal of Public Health, 1940, January 30(1), pp. 88-89.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Jerome Van Crowninshield Smith
Years Served: 1826 to 1849
Dr. J.V.C. Smith, as he was known, was the fifth Port Physician in Boston but the second under the city council form of government. Born July 20, 1800 in Conway, New Hampshire, he took the post at the young age of 26 and was apparently happy to take up residence on Rainsford Island in the summer of 1826. He carved his name and date of becoming the port physician into a rock outcropping on Rainsford Island in the summer of 1826 and this carving still remains visible today. He was a rare individual who combined eminent skills in medicine with considerable literary abilities which he demonstrated as the editor of the New England Journal of Medicine and Collateral Branches of Science, the original name of the New England Journal of Medicine. He studied surgery under Dr. William Ingalls, an eminent surgeon of Boston, and in his spare time took up sculpture, creating busts of Bishop Fitzpatrick and Bishop Eastburn, among others.
He became the editor of the Boston Medical Intelligencer, later known as the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, editing more than forty volumes over this career. While his first public office was that of Port Physician in 1837 he was also elected to the state Legislature and was responsible for putting through a capitation tax on foreigners arriving at any port in Massachusetts, the money targeted to care for the poor and sick immigrants. The U.S. Supreme Court eventually declared this law unconstitutional. He was re-elected to the legislature in 1848 while he continued to hold the post of Port Physician. Smith used his post as Port Physician as a bully pulpit to speak out on a wide range of public health and medical issues. During the 1840’s, when the city of Boston had essentially “moth balled” the maritime quarantine program, Smith was virtually free to use Rainsford Island as a contemplative spot to write his lectures and articles for the New England Journal and Collateral Branches of Science without interruption. After all, the City had built him a comfortable cottage in 1830 which provided him with the ambience he needed to do his literary work.
He maintained his post as Port Physician from 1826 to 1849 at which time he decided that the level of effort required to manage the growingly complex quarantine program was simply too much for his interests. At forty nine years of age he was looking for a new challenge and new turned to local politics. He ran for Mayor in 1852 and lost but two years later was elected Mayor of Boston. While in office he advocated the introduction of pure water at the city’s expense and he also unsuccessfully urged the relocation of the various services for the poor from Deer Island to South Boston. As a physician he brought a sensitivity public health issues that many other mayors had not demonstrated. He died August 21, 1879.
To learn about other Port Physicians that worked on Boston's maritime quarantine program, go to the Port Physician blog: http://portphysicians.blogspot.com/
Sources:
Mayors of Boston, An Illustrated Epitome of who the Mayors have been and what they have done, Boston, MA, 1914, p. 24.
Vidich, Charles, Germs at Bay (forthcoming book on Boston Quarantine)
Dr. J.V.C. Smith, as he was known, was the fifth Port Physician in Boston but the second under the city council form of government. Born July 20, 1800 in Conway, New Hampshire, he took the post at the young age of 26 and was apparently happy to take up residence on Rainsford Island in the summer of 1826. He carved his name and date of becoming the port physician into a rock outcropping on Rainsford Island in the summer of 1826 and this carving still remains visible today. He was a rare individual who combined eminent skills in medicine with considerable literary abilities which he demonstrated as the editor of the New England Journal of Medicine and Collateral Branches of Science, the original name of the New England Journal of Medicine. He studied surgery under Dr. William Ingalls, an eminent surgeon of Boston, and in his spare time took up sculpture, creating busts of Bishop Fitzpatrick and Bishop Eastburn, among others.
He became the editor of the Boston Medical Intelligencer, later known as the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, editing more than forty volumes over this career. While his first public office was that of Port Physician in 1837 he was also elected to the state Legislature and was responsible for putting through a capitation tax on foreigners arriving at any port in Massachusetts, the money targeted to care for the poor and sick immigrants. The U.S. Supreme Court eventually declared this law unconstitutional. He was re-elected to the legislature in 1848 while he continued to hold the post of Port Physician. Smith used his post as Port Physician as a bully pulpit to speak out on a wide range of public health and medical issues. During the 1840’s, when the city of Boston had essentially “moth balled” the maritime quarantine program, Smith was virtually free to use Rainsford Island as a contemplative spot to write his lectures and articles for the New England Journal and Collateral Branches of Science without interruption. After all, the City had built him a comfortable cottage in 1830 which provided him with the ambience he needed to do his literary work.
He maintained his post as Port Physician from 1826 to 1849 at which time he decided that the level of effort required to manage the growingly complex quarantine program was simply too much for his interests. At forty nine years of age he was looking for a new challenge and new turned to local politics. He ran for Mayor in 1852 and lost but two years later was elected Mayor of Boston. While in office he advocated the introduction of pure water at the city’s expense and he also unsuccessfully urged the relocation of the various services for the poor from Deer Island to South Boston. As a physician he brought a sensitivity public health issues that many other mayors had not demonstrated. He died August 21, 1879.
To learn about other Port Physicians that worked on Boston's maritime quarantine program, go to the Port Physician blog: http://portphysicians.blogspot.com/
Sources:
Mayors of Boston, An Illustrated Epitome of who the Mayors have been and what they have done, Boston, MA, 1914, p. 24.
Vidich, Charles, Germs at Bay (forthcoming book on Boston Quarantine)
Thomas Welsh
Years Served: 1790 to 1825
Dr. Thomas Welch was one of the longest serving Port Physicians in the history of the Boston’s island quarantine program. He was born in Charlestown on June 1, 1752 the son of Thomas and Mary Welsh. He was fifth Thomas Welch in an unbroken line of Welch that extended back a century in the town to Sergeant Thomas Welch who was admitted to the Charlestown church in 1650. Thomas Welch went to Harvard and graduated in the class of 1772. He was an excellent student and was the faculty voted him the Hopkins Prize for his scholarly work at the end of his freshman year. His leadership abilities were noted at an early age when his fellow classmates chose him as the Vice President of the Speaking Club and later he was chosen the ensign, the fourth ranking officer, when the student body decided to organize a militia company in 1771.
After graduation he studied medicine with Dr. Isaac Foster (A.B. 1758) of Charlestown and when the Massachusetts Council of War engaged Foster to care for the wounded minutemen in April 1775, Welch assisted him. While he did not have a military appointment he assisted Dr. Foster in his care giving work. On October 21, 1775 he was given an appointment as a surgeon with the Nineteenth Regiment. The following year, he served with the twenty seventh infantry of the Continental Army in the campaign for New York and in New Jersey at the battle of Trenton.
He returned from his service in 1777 to marry Abigail Kent of Charlestown. They were married on December 11, 1777, eleven months after his discharge. His marriage brought him into contact with American royalty since Abigail’s was the first cousin of Abigail Adams. Through this connection the Adams family became good friends and frequent visitors when in Boston. His political connections included the Brooks, Gorham, Otis, and Warren families. Complementing his political affiliations, Welch had a growing number of medical friends especially after he helped form the Massachusetts Medical Society in 1781. He became its treasurer, a position he filled from 1782 to 1798. He later served as its corresponding secretary from 1805 to 1815 and its vice president from 1815 to 1823. Working with Nathaniel Appleton, one of his Harvard classmates, he served as an editor of the first volume of the medical society’s Medical Communications. He also served as the medical officer for the hospital built by the Treasury Department on Castle Island, temporary quarters for Boston’s marine hospital. His range of civic mindedness is revealed by his willingness to serve on the town’s school committee from its creation in 1789 to 1822.
Welch served as the town’s Port Physician, holding that office from 1790 to 1825, longer than any single man in the history of Boston’s quarantine program. He transformed maritime quarantine by establishing medical oversight of quarantine practices on Rainsford Island and relying on consultation with other physicians to improve medical decision making. For virtually the entire 18th century, Island Keepers ran the town’s quarantine station under the direction of the Selectmen. Prior to the Revolutionary War, the Selectmen occasionally brought physicians into consult on quarantine and contagious disease issues. However, after Welch was selected to the port physician post the duties of the island keeper gradually were subordinated to those of the physician and he was made the chief overseer of maritime quarantine affairs. This shift in power would not have happened without an individual with the medical knowledge, political connections and administrative abilities of Welch.
Unfortunately for all of his skills, he was not a great businessman. He tried his hand in commerce and failed miserably, filing for bankruptcy in April 1802. In later years, he relied almost exclusively on his salary as Port Physician to cover his expenses but even this salary was not always sufficient to cover his debts. Welch died in debt at his residence on Sudbury Street in Boston on February 9, 1831. No other physician had more influence on public health policies and quarantine practices in Boston than Dr. Welch.
To learn about other Port Physicians that worked on Boston's maritime quarantine program, go to the Port Physician blog: http://portphysicians.blogspot.com/
Sources:
Wright, C. E., & Hanson, E. W. (1999). Biographical sketches of graduates of Harvard University, in the Classes of 1772-1774. Boston, MA: Massachusetts Historical Society.
Vidich, Charles, Germs At Bay (forthcoming Book on Boston Quarantine)
Dr. Thomas Welch was one of the longest serving Port Physicians in the history of the Boston’s island quarantine program. He was born in Charlestown on June 1, 1752 the son of Thomas and Mary Welsh. He was fifth Thomas Welch in an unbroken line of Welch that extended back a century in the town to Sergeant Thomas Welch who was admitted to the Charlestown church in 1650. Thomas Welch went to Harvard and graduated in the class of 1772. He was an excellent student and was the faculty voted him the Hopkins Prize for his scholarly work at the end of his freshman year. His leadership abilities were noted at an early age when his fellow classmates chose him as the Vice President of the Speaking Club and later he was chosen the ensign, the fourth ranking officer, when the student body decided to organize a militia company in 1771.
After graduation he studied medicine with Dr. Isaac Foster (A.B. 1758) of Charlestown and when the Massachusetts Council of War engaged Foster to care for the wounded minutemen in April 1775, Welch assisted him. While he did not have a military appointment he assisted Dr. Foster in his care giving work. On October 21, 1775 he was given an appointment as a surgeon with the Nineteenth Regiment. The following year, he served with the twenty seventh infantry of the Continental Army in the campaign for New York and in New Jersey at the battle of Trenton.
He returned from his service in 1777 to marry Abigail Kent of Charlestown. They were married on December 11, 1777, eleven months after his discharge. His marriage brought him into contact with American royalty since Abigail’s was the first cousin of Abigail Adams. Through this connection the Adams family became good friends and frequent visitors when in Boston. His political connections included the Brooks, Gorham, Otis, and Warren families. Complementing his political affiliations, Welch had a growing number of medical friends especially after he helped form the Massachusetts Medical Society in 1781. He became its treasurer, a position he filled from 1782 to 1798. He later served as its corresponding secretary from 1805 to 1815 and its vice president from 1815 to 1823. Working with Nathaniel Appleton, one of his Harvard classmates, he served as an editor of the first volume of the medical society’s Medical Communications. He also served as the medical officer for the hospital built by the Treasury Department on Castle Island, temporary quarters for Boston’s marine hospital. His range of civic mindedness is revealed by his willingness to serve on the town’s school committee from its creation in 1789 to 1822.
Welch served as the town’s Port Physician, holding that office from 1790 to 1825, longer than any single man in the history of Boston’s quarantine program. He transformed maritime quarantine by establishing medical oversight of quarantine practices on Rainsford Island and relying on consultation with other physicians to improve medical decision making. For virtually the entire 18th century, Island Keepers ran the town’s quarantine station under the direction of the Selectmen. Prior to the Revolutionary War, the Selectmen occasionally brought physicians into consult on quarantine and contagious disease issues. However, after Welch was selected to the port physician post the duties of the island keeper gradually were subordinated to those of the physician and he was made the chief overseer of maritime quarantine affairs. This shift in power would not have happened without an individual with the medical knowledge, political connections and administrative abilities of Welch.
Unfortunately for all of his skills, he was not a great businessman. He tried his hand in commerce and failed miserably, filing for bankruptcy in April 1802. In later years, he relied almost exclusively on his salary as Port Physician to cover his expenses but even this salary was not always sufficient to cover his debts. Welch died in debt at his residence on Sudbury Street in Boston on February 9, 1831. No other physician had more influence on public health policies and quarantine practices in Boston than Dr. Welch.
To learn about other Port Physicians that worked on Boston's maritime quarantine program, go to the Port Physician blog: http://portphysicians.blogspot.com/
Sources:
Wright, C. E., & Hanson, E. W. (1999). Biographical sketches of graduates of Harvard University, in the Classes of 1772-1774. Boston, MA: Massachusetts Historical Society.
Vidich, Charles, Germs At Bay (forthcoming Book on Boston Quarantine)
Nathaniel Appleton
Years Served: 1787 to 1789
Dr Nathaniel Appleton was one of the first port physicians in Boston, serving in that position from 1788 to 1789. Dr Appleton like most boys with aspirations to attend Harvard went to the town’s Latin school which he entered in 1762. He graduated from Harvard in 1772 and two years later he went to work for Dr. Edward Augustus Holyoke, a cousin to his father who had his practice in Salem. With the exception of brief service as a surgeon’s mate at the siege of Boston, spent the next three years working for Holyoke. The Revolutionary War had a profound impact on medical practices in Boston. Prior to the war there were 21 physicians in Boston but after the British evacuation in the spring of 1776 only nine physicians had a practice there. Physicians were an unregulated profession prior to the war and he was mindful of the dangers such a situation posed to apprentice physicians like himself. Under the guidance of Holyoke, he played a central role in the creation of the Massachusetts Medical Society as its recording secretary. In that capacity he played a key role on various committees dealing with the qualifications for medical licensing and establishing the seal of the organization. He was never considered one of the most prominent physicians in Boston but was still a leader and he managed to build a devoted following including amongst the town’s selectmen who chose him to inspect vessels for contagious disease. He was a member of the First Church of Boston from 1786to 1787and again from 1789 to 1794. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences n 1789.
After a series of illnesses he finally moved to Marietta, Ohio in 1794 and then eventually moved to Washington DC where he caught malaria. He returned to Boston, where he died on April 15, 1795. His obituary exalted him as a “Christian from inquiry and a Patriot from Principle.” His service to Boston’s quarantine program reflected his commitment to public service and this work brought him in touch with a wide range of public officials who came to appreciate his dedication, gentleness of manners and firmness of character.
To learn about other Port Physicians that worked on Boston's maritime quarantine program, go to the Port Physician blog: http://portphysicians.blogspot.com/
Source: Wright, C. E., & Hanson, E. W. (1999). Biographical sketches of graduates of Harvard University, in the Classes of 1772-1774. Boston, MA: Massachusetts Historical Society.
Dr Nathaniel Appleton was one of the first port physicians in Boston, serving in that position from 1788 to 1789. Dr Appleton like most boys with aspirations to attend Harvard went to the town’s Latin school which he entered in 1762. He graduated from Harvard in 1772 and two years later he went to work for Dr. Edward Augustus Holyoke, a cousin to his father who had his practice in Salem. With the exception of brief service as a surgeon’s mate at the siege of Boston, spent the next three years working for Holyoke. The Revolutionary War had a profound impact on medical practices in Boston. Prior to the war there were 21 physicians in Boston but after the British evacuation in the spring of 1776 only nine physicians had a practice there. Physicians were an unregulated profession prior to the war and he was mindful of the dangers such a situation posed to apprentice physicians like himself. Under the guidance of Holyoke, he played a central role in the creation of the Massachusetts Medical Society as its recording secretary. In that capacity he played a key role on various committees dealing with the qualifications for medical licensing and establishing the seal of the organization. He was never considered one of the most prominent physicians in Boston but was still a leader and he managed to build a devoted following including amongst the town’s selectmen who chose him to inspect vessels for contagious disease. He was a member of the First Church of Boston from 1786to 1787and again from 1789 to 1794. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences n 1789.
After a series of illnesses he finally moved to Marietta, Ohio in 1794 and then eventually moved to Washington DC where he caught malaria. He returned to Boston, where he died on April 15, 1795. His obituary exalted him as a “Christian from inquiry and a Patriot from Principle.” His service to Boston’s quarantine program reflected his commitment to public service and this work brought him in touch with a wide range of public officials who came to appreciate his dedication, gentleness of manners and firmness of character.
To learn about other Port Physicians that worked on Boston's maritime quarantine program, go to the Port Physician blog: http://portphysicians.blogspot.com/
Source: Wright, C. E., & Hanson, E. W. (1999). Biographical sketches of graduates of Harvard University, in the Classes of 1772-1774. Boston, MA: Massachusetts Historical Society.
Joseph Whipple
Years Served: 1789 to 1787
Joseph Whipple, born in 1756, was a student of Joseph Gardiner and later in life served as the secretary of the Massachusetts Medical Society (1802 to 1804). He served as Boston’s first port physician serving from 1779 to 1787. He was a mere 23 years of age at the time of his appointment so it is clear that his affiliation with his mentor, Dr. Gardiner, must have played a role in his assignment. During his tenure as port physician, the Selectmen relied on him to inspect vessels and to provide professional opinions concerning the efficacy of routine decontamination procedures for people and goods. He acquired a large professional business in Boston where he resided. He died September 3, 1804 at the age of forty eight.
To learn about other Port Physicians that worked on Boston's maritime quarantine program, go to the Port Physician blog: http://portphysicians.blogspot.com/
Source: American Quarterly Register, Volume 13, American Educational Society, Boston, 1841, p. 86
Joseph Whipple, born in 1756, was a student of Joseph Gardiner and later in life served as the secretary of the Massachusetts Medical Society (1802 to 1804). He served as Boston’s first port physician serving from 1779 to 1787. He was a mere 23 years of age at the time of his appointment so it is clear that his affiliation with his mentor, Dr. Gardiner, must have played a role in his assignment. During his tenure as port physician, the Selectmen relied on him to inspect vessels and to provide professional opinions concerning the efficacy of routine decontamination procedures for people and goods. He acquired a large professional business in Boston where he resided. He died September 3, 1804 at the age of forty eight.
To learn about other Port Physicians that worked on Boston's maritime quarantine program, go to the Port Physician blog: http://portphysicians.blogspot.com/
Source: American Quarterly Register, Volume 13, American Educational Society, Boston, 1841, p. 86
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