Thomas Welsh (medical doctor)

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Thomas Welsh (born June 1, 1752 in Charlestown , Province of Massachusetts Bay , † February 9, 1831 in Boston , Massachusetts ) was an American medic.

Welsh received a bachelor's degree from Dummer Academy in Byfield , Massachusetts in 1772 . He then began studying medicine at Harvard University . In the American Revolutionary War , he took care of the wounded together with William Eustis during the battles of Lexington and Concord (April 19, 1775) . After the lost Battle of Bunker Hill (June 17, 1775) Walsh helped organize an orderly retreat to Cambridge from the escape of the defeated American troops . From October 31, 1775 he was a military surgeon in the 19th regiment, from 1776 he belonged to the 27th Infantry Regiment of the Continental Army , including in the Battle of Trenton . On December 31, 1776, Welsh left the army to settle in Boston as a doctor.

Thomas Welsh was part of the family circle of the influential Adams family . He was married on 1777 to Abigail Kent (1750-1824), a 1st cousin of Abigail Adams (1744-1818), the wife of John Adams (1735-1826). His grandson Charles Francis Adams, Sr. (1807-1886) and John Adams II (1803-1834) lived with the Welsh family while they attended the Boston Latin School between 1817 and 1819 . Welsh also frequented the best Boston circles around the Brooks, Gorham, Otis, and Warren families. So he spoke the eulogy of Nathaniel Gorham (1738–1796).

In 1781 Welsh was one of the founders of the Boston Medical Society , in 1782 one of the founders of the Massachusetts Medical Society , of which he was Treasurer from 1782 to 1798, Secretary from 1805 to 1815, and Vice President from 1815 to 1923. In 1783 Thomas Welsh was selected, a public speech in memory of the Boston massacre . In 1786 he was one of the founders of the Massachusetts Humane Society , was its first secretary and from 1786 to 1798 a member of its trustee society . From 1793 Welsh was an honorary member of the Boston Marine Society , whose hospital on Castle Island he was medical director from 1799. He was also the medical consultant for the Boston Dispensary (now Tufts Medical Center of Tufts University ) and the Massachusetts General Hospital . He was one of the editors of Boston Magazine . In 1795 Welsh was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences , of which he was treasurer from 1796 to 1798. In 1811 he received an honorary doctorate from Harvard University .

In addition to his medical work, Welsh also worked as a businessman, but had to declare bankruptcy in 1802 , from which he no longer recovered economically. As a result, he was repeatedly dependent on support from a fund for veterans of the War of Independence. His son, J. Adams Welsh, a Boston businessman, took on part of his debt. However, Thomas Welsh was subsequently unable to earn a living for himself, his wife, his weak-sighted daughter Harriet and his mentally disabled son Henry, but was dependent on charitable support.

Thomas Welsh died impoverished on February 9, 1831 in Boston.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Conrad Edick Wright: Revolutionary Generation: Harvard Men and the Consequences of Independence. Univ. of Massachusetts Press 2005, ISBN 9781558494848 , p. 84, limited preview in Google Book Search
  2. ^ Charles Francis Adams, Aïda DiPace Donald, David Herbert Donald, Marc Friedlaender: Adams papers: Diaries. Harvard University Press 1964, ISBN 0674203992 , p. 15, limited preview in Google Book Search
  3. ↑ Marc Friedlaender, LH Butterfield: The Adams Papers Diary of Charles Francis Adams. Harvard University Press 1968, p. 63, limited preview in Google Book search
  4. ↑ Book of Members 1780 – present, Chapter W. (PDF; 852 kB) In: American Academy of Arts and Sciences (amacad.org). Retrieved May 24, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Welsh, Thomas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American medic
DATE OF BIRTH June 1, 1752
PLACE OF BIRTH Charlestown , Massachusetts
DATE OF DEATH February 9, 1831
Place of death Boston , Massachusetts