GEORGE HEWSTON, M. D., whose
office is at No. 1132 Sutter street, San Francisco, has been a
resident of California since 1861, and has been engaged in
practice of medicine since 1850. He was born in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, in 1826, and his early education was received in
the private schools of that city until his fourteenth year, when
he was admitted to the high school of Philadelphia, being the
youngest pupil who had ever at that time been admitted. He
graduated at that institution in 1845, after a four years’
classical coarse, receiving his degree as Bachelor of Arts. In
1845 the faculty of that high school, by virtue of authority
vested therein, by act of the Legislature of Pennsylvania,
conferred on Dr. Hewson the degree of Master of Arts.
In 1845 he commenced the
study of medicine, under the preceptorship of Dr. James
McClintock of Philadelphia, with whom he studied for five
years. In 1847 he entered the Philadelphia College of Medicine,
where he was graduated in 1850, after a full three years’
course, receiving his degree as Doctor of Medicine. After his
election Mr. Hewston was immediately elected Prosector of
Surgery and Demonstrator of anatomy of that college. In 1853 he
was elected to the Chair of Anatomy, which he held until 1858.
In 1851 he commenced his private practice, continuing until
coming to California in 1861. During a number of those years
Dr. Hewston occupied the Chair of Anatomy and Physiology in the
Wagner Free Institution of Science in Philadelphia. In 1860 he
received, after having completed the course of study required, a
further degree of Doctor of Medicine from the medical department
of the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Hewston has been from 1851 to 1860, one of the surgeons
of the Philadelphia Fire Department, and before coming to
California in 1861
dressed the wounds of members of the
Sixth Massachusetts Infantry Regimental Band, who was
wounded while passing through Baltimore on their way to
Washington in the
first
hand-to-hand
skirmish of the war, (not to be confused with skirmish at
Fort Sumter a week before), which was the "Pratt Street" or
"Baltimore" Riot.
(Some of the militia walked back to Philadelphia and apparently
it was some of the band members among this group who were
treated by Dr. Hewston in Philadelphia.)
(Reference: Http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~npmelton/sfbhews.htm)
The Doctor came with his
family to this State in 1861, where he has since resided and
practiced medicine in San Francisco. During a portion of that
time he has occupied the Chair of Theory and Practice of
Medicine at the University of California. He was for seven
years Surgeon on the staff of Major General Allen, commanding
the State Militia from 1863 to 1870. In 1873 Dr. Hewston was
elected one of the Board of Supervisors, and in 1875 was elected
by the board as Mayor of the city, to fill the unexpired term of
James Otis. He was appointed by the United States Government in
1875 as a member from the Pacific coast of the Assay Commission,
a medal commemorating his services having been presented to him
by the Government in that year. In 1876 he was appointed by the
commissioners of the Centennial Exposition as one of the Board
of Judges for the International Centennial Commission of 1876.
Of this board Dr. Hewston was elected chairman of Group No. 18.
In recognition of his services rendered the administration of
the International Exhibition of 1876, he was awarded a special
bronze medal by the commission. Dr. Hewston was one of the
reorganizers in 1870 of the California State Medical Society, of
which he was elected Corresponding Secretary, which position he
resigned after holding it one year. He is also a member of the
American Medical Association.
Dr. Hewston is of English and
Scotch, descent, his father and mother both having been natives
of the North of Ireland, of English and Scotch parentage. His
father, John Hewston, was a business man of Philadelphia for
many years, and died in that city in 1869, at the advanced age
of eighty seven years. Dr. Hewston’s grandmother died in
Philadelphia in 1851, at the age of ninety-eight years. During
the storming of Fort McHenry at Baltimore by the British in the
war of 1812, Dr. Hewston’s mother, then a young girl, with other
ladies of Baltimore, supplied the American troops in the fort
with provisions from that city, one of the ladies on an
expedition being struck by a shell from one of the British ships
and killed instantly.
The Doctor is a fluent
speaker, and has delivered many brilliant, scientific and
medical public lectures to large and appreciative audiences,
both in Philadelphia and San Francisco.
Transcribed by Joyce and
David Rugeroni.
Source: “The Bay of San
Francisco,” Vol. 2, Pages 372-373, Lewis Publishing Co, 1892
