Annals of the Medical Society of the County of Albany, 1806-1851 : with biographical sketches of deceased members / Sylvester D. Willard.

  • Willard, Sylvester David, 1825-1865.
Date:
1864
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annals of the Medical Society of the County of Albany, 1806-1851 : with biographical sketches of deceased members / Sylvester D. Willard. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

    306/398 (page 284)
    of E. C. Delavan, Esq. His health becoming infirm, he soon after relinquished the practice of his profession and retired to a farm in Galway, Saratoga county. While living here he spent several winters in Florida, as the med- ical attendant of invalids whom he accompanied thither from the north. After a residence of some years in Galway, Mrs. James was attacked with a cancerous aifection which rendered it expedient to leave the farm. Their next permanent residence was Utica, where Mrs. James died. While residing at Utica the Doctor spent several sum- mers in succession at the Red Sulphur Springs of Virginia, where his health received needed annual renovation, and his professional skill was in constant requisition and highly appreciated. In 1842 he married Angelica G. Macbeth, niece and adopted daughter of the Hon. Ezekiel Gilbert, of Hudson N. Y. About 1851 he removed to the village of New Hartford, near Utica where he spent the remaining years of his life. He died January. 31st, 1861. Dr. James belongs preeminently to the class of self-edu- cated men. His opportunities for intellectual training so far as seminaries of learning were concerned, were limited to those furnished by the common school more than half a century ago, and of these he was able to avail himself only occasionally. Up to the age of twenty-one his days were given to the labors of the field, chiefly too, in a new country in which the demands upon the pioneer cultivator were severe and incessaut. The few books that he was able to procure could thus be read or studied only in the evening, during hours which most young men in his posi- tion would have spent in listlessness or sleep. But these short intervals were systematically improved, nor were his days lost in mere corporeal labor. He was by nature a close and accurate observer and found healthful intellect- ual exercise in noting, experimenting, and reasoning upon