Dr James Walter Douglas, MD

1800 - 1886  (85 years)

• Name	James Walter Douglas
  Prefix	Dr
  Suffix	MD
  Birth	20 May 1800	Brechin, Angus, Scotland
  Gender	Male
  Death	14 Apr 1886	Canada
  	Died aged 86 He was prostrated by a stroke of paralysis on April 10th, 1886, and died on April 14th, without recover ing consciousness. He rests in the cemetery at Mount Hermon, Quebec, which he was instrumental in creating.
  Burial	Mount Hermon, Quebec
  Person ID	I195427	First tree
  Last Modified	5 Nov 2024

  
  

  Father	Rev George Douglas,   b. 1769   d. Abt 1854 (Age 85 years)
  Mother	Mary Mellis,   b. Abt 1769   d. Yes, date unknown
  Marriage	4 Jul 1799	Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
  Family ID	F71514	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Hannah Williams,   b. 1803   d. 28 Sep 1830, Canada (Age 27 years)
  Marriage	1824	Utica, Oneida, New York, USA
  Children	1. James Stuart Douglas, Jr.,   b. 4 Nov 1837, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada d. 30 Jun 1918, Manhattan, New York, U.S.A. (Age 80 years)   2. Son Douglas,   b. Abt 1828   d. Yes, date unknown
  Family ID	F47411	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	5 Nov 2024

  
  

• Notes

  Dr. James Walter Douglas Sr. was born on May 20, 1800, in Brechin, Forfarshire, Scotland, to Rev George Douglas, aged 36, and Mary Mellis, aged 17. In 1824, he married Hannah Williams in Utica, Oneida, New York. By 1880, he resided in Phoenixville, Chester, Pennsylvania. Dr. Douglas passed away at the age of 85 on April 14, 1886, in New York City, New York, and was buried in Sillery, Sainte-Foy--Sillery--Cap-Rouge, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. Elsewhere, he is recorded as being born in 1799, but this seems unlikely given his parents date of marriage. Dr. James Douglas, took his career in his own hands at an early age. After attending school for a time in Scotland, he was placed by his father in the Methodist Academy, Woodhouse Grove. Complaining that the standard of education was below that to which he had been accustomed, he ran away when twelve years old and was indentured to a physician. After serving his term of six years and spending one season in Edinburgh, he entered the Medical Department of Edinburgh University. From the beginning he showed great aptitude for his chosen profession. His first summer holiday was spent as surgeon to a Greenland whaler. He was graduated as a surgeon at Edinburgh and London, first entering the services of the East India Company, but returned to England to take medical charge of Sir Gregor MacGregor's fatal colony to the Mosquito Coast of Central America. More dead than alive, he was rescued from the Black River by a Yankee skipper and taken to Boston, where he was months recovering his health. Later, while travelling through New York, he was held up at Utica by a break in the Canal, and, seeing the need of that locality, practised surgery there for several years. His success led to his appointment as Professor of Anatomy in the Auburn Medical College, where his duties "involved him in practices not then provided for in a legitimate manner," and he was obliged to go to Canada in the dead of winter, taking his young wife with him. In Canada he had a large practice, was noted for his scientific attainments and liberal benevolence and was the founder of the first public institution in the Dominion for the care of the insane.