Nathan Smith (1762 - 1829)

Born 30 Sep 1762 in Rehoboth, Massachusetts

Husband of Elizabeth (Chase) Smith — married 16 Jan 1791 in Cornish, Sullivan, New Hampshire, United States

Husband of Sarah Hall (Chase) Smith — married 18 Sep 1794 in Cornish, Sullivan, New Hampshire, United States

Descendants

Died 26 Jan 1829 at age 66 in New Haven, Connecticut

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Biography

Nathan Smith is Notable.

Surgeon, physician, professor of theory and practice of physic and surgery at Yale. He was the son of John and Elizabeth (Ide) Hills Smith. ^[1]

He married, firstly, Elizabeth "Betsey" Chase on January 16, 1791, in Cornish, Sullivan County, New Hampshire. ^[2]

Paternal line of ancestry:
1 Henry Smith [Henry and his 3 Sons were Immigrants] b. ___Hingham, Norfolk Co. ENG - d. Nov 1647 Rehoboth MA -WILL arr: 1638 ship 'Diligent' m [poss. 2nd wife] Judith Cooper/Cowper = 3 Known SONS (Judith was kin to a Nicholas Stanton of Ipswich, Suffolk Co. ENG)
-2 DANIEL (c1630 ENG - 1692 MA) m Esther Chickering = 5 Sons
--3 Daniel (1672 -1724) m Mary Newman & Abigail Preston = 5 Sons
---4 John (1719 -____) m Elizabeth Butterworth & Elizabeth Ide Hills = 6 Sons
. ---5 Nathan Dr *Revo (1762 MA-1829 CT) m Sarah Hall/Hull Chase = 4 Sons

DNA

Descendant of yDNA group NE47 Henry Smith-5522 (b? -1647 MA) m poss. Judith Cooper. See SmithConnections Northeastern DNA Project. ^[3]

Nathan Smith was one of New England's best-known and respected physicians. He was a skilled surgeon, teacher, writer, and practitioner. At a time when most American physicians were poorly educated, he single-handedly founded Dartmouth Medical School and co-founded the University of Vermont Medical School, the medical school at Bowdoin College, and the Yale School of Medicine, leading historians to dub him the "Johnny Appleseed of American medicine". Smith first began work as a surgeon in Chester, Vermont at age 21. He later went to the Harvard College's medical department where he obtained his MB in 1790. Smith was the third graduate of Harvard's medical department. He was later awarded an MD by Harvard in 1811. In 1803 Smith had gone to the University of Edinburgh where he attended medical classes for a year.

He developed important scientific principles in relation to the pathology of necrosis, on which he founded a new and successful mode of practice. Using the procedure he saved from amputation the leg of the future Mormon prophet, Joseph Smith, who was then a child.

He was ahead of his time in insisting that doctors practice "watchful waiting" and emphasizing patient-centered care.

He published Practical Essays on Typhus Fever in 1824. His Medical and Surgical Memoirs, published posthumously by his son Nathan Ryno Smith in 1831, recounted his extensive experience as a physician in America during its formative years as the United States. Smith's four sons all became physicians, the most prominent being Nathan Ryno Smith.

Sources

1. ↑ Dictionary of American biography by American Council of Learned Societies, Published 1943. Vol 17 page 324
2. ↑ "New Hampshire Marriages, 1720-1920", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FD2S-6WY: 24 January 2020), Betsay Chase in entry for Nathan Smith, 1791.
3. ↑ SmithConnections Northeastern DNA Project, haplogroup Q Henry Smith-5522.