Bancroft, Edward (09 January 1744–08 September 1821), physician, scientist, and spy, was born in Westfield, Massachusetts, the son of Edward Bancroft and Mary Ely, farmers. The elder Bancroft died in 1746 of an epileptic attack suffered in a pigpen, two months before the birth of his younger son, Daniel. His widow married David Bull of Westfield in 1751, and the family moved to Hartford, Connecticut, where Bull operated the Bunch of Grapes tavern. Edward Bancroft was taught for a time by the recent Yale graduate ...
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Bancroft, Edward (1744-1821), physician, scientist, and spy
Gordon E. Kershaw
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Berkman, Alan (4 Sept. 1945–5 June 2009), global AIDS activist, physician, and political prisoner
Susan Reverby
Berkman, Alan (4 Sept. 1945–5 June 2009), global AIDS activist, physician, and political prisoner, was born in Brooklyn, New York as the second of four sons of Sam Berkman, a plumbing supply store owner, and Mona Osit Berkman, a homemaker.
Raised in the small upstate New York town of Middletown during the cold war and after the Holocaust, Berkman expected to meld his intellectual and physical prowess to bring pride to his family, the Jewish community, and country. His classmates at Middletown High School voted him “the boy most likely to succeed” when he graduated in ...
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Burnet, William (1730-1791), physician, judge, and member of the Continental Congress
Maxine N. Lurie
Burnet, William (02 December 1730–07 October 1791), physician, judge, and member of the Continental Congress, was born in Lyon’s Farms, a town located between Newark and Elizabethtown, New Jersey, the son of Ichabod Burnet, a physician who emigrated from Scotland, and Hannah (maiden name unknown). He was educated at the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) when it was located in Newark under Rev. ...
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Church, Benjamin (24 August 1734– January 1778?), physician, poet, and traitor
Edward W. Hanson
Church, Benjamin (24 August 1734– January 1778?), physician, poet, and traitor, was born in Newport, Rhode Island, the son of Benjamin Church, a vendue master, and Hannah Dyer. By 1740 the family had moved to Boston, and in 1750 young Benjamin entered Harvard College. It was at Harvard that Church first developed his writing skills, sharpening his talents through biting satires on his classmates and the professors. After graduating in 1754, Church studied medicine and for several months in 1757 served as surgeon aboard the Massachusetts snow-of-war, the ...
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Dale, Thomas (1700-1750), physician, jurist, and poet
David S. Shields
Dale, Thomas (1700–16 September 1750), physician, jurist, and poet, was born in Hoxton, England, to a gentry family with medical interests. His parents’ names are unknown. He attended Brasenose College, Oxford University, from 1717 to 1720 and in 1721 began study at the University of Leyden, from which he received a medical degree on 23 September 1723 for ...
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Elmer, Jonathan (1745-1817), physician, jurist, and legislator
David J. Fowler
Elmer, Jonathan (29 November 1745–03 September 1817), physician, jurist, and legislator, was born in Cedarville, Cumberland County, New Jersey, the son of Daniel Elmer, a surveyor, and Abigail Lawrence. Jonathan was born into a locally prominent family. Because he was physically frail, it was decided to give the boy a classical education. He was probably tutored by his grandfather, the Presbyterian minister Daniel Elmer, and also by the Reverend William Ramsay, whose death Jonathan eulogized in print in 1772. Ramsay apparently instilled in him the dual influences of republican ideology and New Light presbyterianism....
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Marsh, John (1799-1856), California ranchero and physician
Michael Magliari
Marsh, John (05 June 1799–24 September 1856), California ranchero and physician, was born in Danvers, Massachusetts, the son of John Marsh and Mary “Polly” Brown, farmers. After graduating from Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, in 1819, Marsh received his B.A. from Harvard in 1823. That year he accepted an appointment as a tutor at Fort St. Anthony (later Fort Snelling), in Michigan Territory. For two years Marsh taught school and studied medicine under the guidance of Edward Purcell, the post surgeon. Purcell died without giving his apprentice a certificate, but this did not prevent Marsh from successfully practicing medicine years later in California....
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Ordronaux, John (1830-1908), medico-legalist
James C. Mohr
Ordronaux, John (03 August 1830–20 January 1908), medico-legalist, was born in New York City, the son of John Ordronaux, a businessman, and Elizabeth Charreton. The elder John Ordronaux, a native of France, had commanded an American privateer during the War of 1812 and remained after the war in the United States, where he acquired and operated a sugar refinery. On his father’s death in 1841, eleven-year-old John was adopted by John Moulton of Roslyn, New York, who assumed the rest of his upbringing....
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Redmond, Sidney Dillon (1871-1948), physician, attorney, and political leader
E. C. Foster
Redmond, Sidney Dillon (11 October 1871–11 February 1948), physician, attorney, and political leader, was born in Holmes County, Mississippi, near the town of Ebenezer, the son of Charles Redmond, a former slave and blacksmith, and Esther Redmond, a former slave. In 1871 large numbers of blacks were elected to state and local government positions. Less than two years earlier a new state constitution had been put into effect that promised to make democracy a reality for both black and white Mississippians. Moreover, abolition of slavery in the United States had occurred six years before Redmond’s birth. After leaving the farm near Ebenezer along with the rest of his family, Redmond settled in Holly Springs, Mississippi, where he later attended Rust College. Upon graduation from Rust College in 1894, he entered the field of education and served both as a principal at Mississippi State Normal School in Holly Springs and as a mathematics instructor at Rust College....
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Tarnower, Herman (1910-1980), physician
Terence Hines
Tarnower, Herman (18 March 1910–10 March 1980), physician, was born in New York City and grew up in Brooklyn, New York. He was one of four children of immigrant parents from Poland. His father was a seller of hats. He attended high school in New York City and, after college, obtained an M.D. from Syracuse University in 1933, at twenty-three years of age. Interested in internal medicine, he did his internship and residency in that specialty at New York City’s Bellevue Hospital. Following his years at Bellevue he worked overseas, his travels supported by a fellowship from the New York Academy of Medicine....
