John M. Bigelow, M.D.

John M. Bigelow, M.D., Ph.D., was born in Albany on the 32d day of August, 1S47, and descends from one of the oldest and most respected families in American colonial history. His ancestors migrated from Braintree, Essex county, England, and settled near Boston, Mass., soon after the landing of the Pilgrims in 1620. From that time until the present they have been conspicuous in professional, commercial, civil, military and social affairs, many of them holding high official posts in the array, the State and the nation. They were especially prominent in developing the early history of New England and in shaping the destinies of the Massachusetts colony. Among Dr. Bigelow's ancestors are Dr. Jacob Bigelow and Dr. Henry J. Bigelow, D.C.L., of Boston; Hon. John Bigelow, secretary of state; Harriet Beecher Stowe, the famous authoress ; and Hon. Alpheus Bigelow, justice of the Supreme Court ; and many who were active as soldiers, officers or civiUans during the war of the Revolution. On his mother's side he is of pure German stock, being a descendant of Jacob von Zimmer, a general in the army of Frederick the Great, who settled in America in 1732. Another famous ancestor was Frederick Basslaer, a professor in the University of Berne, Switzerland, who came to the United States in 1740. The late T. S. Doolittle, D.D., LL.D., vice-president of Rutgers College, was also connected with
the family.

Dr. Bigelow's great-great-grandfather. Dr. Josiah Bigelow, of Weston, Mass., was born in 1730 and died in 1810, and was a prominent physician, as was also his son. Dr. Uriah Bigelow, of Worcester, N. Y., who was born in 1765 and died in 1842. His grandfather, Dr. Uriah Gregory Bigelow, sr., of Worcester, and son of Dr. Uriah, was born in 1794, married Miss Henrietta Barnes in 1816, became a member of the New York State Medical Society, and died in 1850. Dr. Bigelow's father, Dr. Uriah Gregory Bigelow, jr., was born in Worcester, N. Y., in 1821, married Lovina von
Zimmer in 1843. settled in Albany in May, 1844. and died here in February, 1872; he was at one time president of the Albany County Medical Society, curator of the Albany Medical College, member of the New York State Medical Society, and was one of the leading physicians of the city.

Dr John M. Bigelow inherited the sturdy characteristics and rare mental endowments of this splendid ancestry, and ably represents the fifth of five generations of talented physicians and surgeons. From early youth he has worked assiduouslv, first, to secure an education, and afterward to practice those principles which hard And continued study enabled him to master. He was graduated from the Albany Boys' Academy with full diploma in 1863 and won several prizes, among them the Van Rensselaer classical medal. In 1864 he entered the junior class of Williams College, where he made rapid progress in his studies, and from which he was graduated with the degree of A.B. in 1866. Soon afterward he began the study of medicine at the Albany Medical College and later entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York city, and received the degree of M.D. from each institution in 1870. He became a practicing physician in Albany, by license in 1869.

Dr. Bigelow was among the first physicians in the United States to make a specialty of diseases of the throat and nose, in the treatment of which he has had a wide and valuable experience. There are few practitioners in the State who are better known or enjoy a higher reputation. His work in colleges and hospitals has been varied. He was professor of materia medica and therapeutics and of diseases of the throat and nose in the Albany Medical College from 1870 to 1896, when he resigned the former chair to devote his attention to the latter. He has been attending physician to the Albany City and St. Peter's Hospitals since 1870, and the Old Men's Home •since 1874, and is now attending physician and surgeon for the diseases of the throat and nose to each of these institutions. In therapeutics he is a recognized authority in this country. His lectures, which are mainly extempore, embody the most advanced and tenable thoughts and facts of the science and art of medicine of the present age, and the remark is often made that they have the finish of a book. They are certainly combined with and illustrated by a long and successful practice, and are remarkable for their command of language and clear, concise presentation of the subject. His connection with the Albany Medical College has been of inestimable value to that institution and to the hundreds of students who have pursued their professional education under his able and conscientious teachings.

Ur. Bigelow was county physician in 1871, has been president, and for twenty-seven years a member of the Albany County Medical Society, and is a member of the New York State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. He has been a member of the International Medical Congress, was one of the honorary presidents of the Pan-American Congress, and is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa and Alpha Delta Phi college fraternities, and of Masters Lodge No. 5, F. & A. M., of Albany. He is a life member and ex-president of the Young Merl's Association, an honorary member of the Albany Burgesses Corps, a charter member of the Albany Club, an associate member of the Albany Press Club, a member of the Unconditional Republican Club, and an honorary member of several other organizations. In March, 1893, Rutgers College conferred upon him the degree of Ph.D.

On February 14, 1874, Dr. Bigelow was married to Miss Sara A., daughter of the late Thomas P. and Amelia T. Crook, of Albany, where she was born January 11, 1848. She died September 21, 1879. Their only son and child, Albert Stewart Bigelow, died November 26, 1876.

American Civil War Medicine & Surgical Antiques

John M. Bigelow, M. D., Ph. D.

Alphabetical Index for American Civil War Surgical Antiques