Elisha Griffin Burnett (1827 - 1894)

Born 1 May 1827 in Gouveneur, St. Lawrence, New York

Husband of Roxana Maria (Eaton) Burnett — married 27 Sep 1855 in Chaplin, Windsor, Connecticut

Descendants

Died 6 Mar 1894 at age 66 in Webster, Worcester, Massachusetts

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Biography

This biography is a rough draft. It was auto-generated by a GEDCOM import and needs to be edited.

User ID

User ID: 24C94BCA44CBEF439FEF8F50AD7C3278836C

Note

Note: THE DOCTORS OF DUDLEY AND WEBSTER MASSACHUSETTS

LESLIE R. BRAGG, M.D. Found at http://www.oldewebster.com/history/doctorsofDudley,Webster.htm

DR. ELISHA GRIFFIN BURNETT

1827--1894

Born May 1, 1827. Died March 6, 1894.

Age 66 years, 10 months, 25 days.

Cause of death -- "Stomach trouble and general breaking up of the system."

Dr. Elisha Griffin Burnett was one of the seven children of David and Asenath (Mosley) Burnett and he was born in Gouveneur, St. Lawrence County, New York, on the 1st of May, 1827.

Among the effects of Doctor Burnett, after his death, was found a "well thumbed New Testament" which contained the following genealogical information: John Alden and his wife Priscilla Mullens; their seventh daughter, Ruth, married John Bass; Sarah, his seventh child married Ephraim Thayer; Ruth, their eighth child married John Capen; Sarah, their eighth child married Nathaniel Mosley, Deacon of the First Congregational Church of Hampton, Conn., of which her father was a Pastor. Emil, son of Nathaniel married and had three daughters; Asenath, second daughter, married David Burnett, of Hampton, Conn., and had six sons and one daughter. Elisha Griffin Burnett, the fourth son married at the age of twenty eight, Maria Eaton, of Chaplin, Conn., and had three daughters."

Dr. Burnett's early education was obtained in the public schools, after which he was one of the first pupils in the Watertown Institute, one of the best preparatory schools in the state.

In 1851 he was graduated from the Jefferson Medical School, Philapdelphia, with the degree M.D., and the reputation of being a "grind" with a remarkable memory.

In 1856, at the age of 28, he was married at Maria (Roxanna) Eaton, of Chaplin, Conn., as noted above.

Three children were born to Doctor and Mrs. Burnett. Cara, married Judge Isaac M. Mills of Mt. Vernon, New York. Judge Mills was born in Thompson, Conn., in the house opposite the schoolhouse at Brandy Hill.

The second daughter, Julia, married Clarence Smith of Williamstown, Massachusetts.

Mary. the third daughter, never married. She became a Social Worker in Spain. After some years, she returned to America and died in New York.

After his graduation from Jefferson, Dr. Burnett practiced for two years in Arlington, New York, and in 1854 moved to Webster, where he remained until his death in 1894. At first he was associated with Doctor Barrows who was in poor health and lived but a short time.

As is the case of many of the early physicians, little record of his medical career remains. Judging by such scattered facts as have been gathered we may assume that, being a well educated man, he enjoyed a good practice until the latter part of his life, when his sight failed and he became almost entirely blind. Early in his career in Webster, he bought the Drug Store which stood at the corner of Chase Avenue and Main Street. Later this became the E. N. Bigelow Drug Store, which like its proprietor was a landmark in town. Always interested in politics, Dr. Burnett was a member of the School Committee in 1856, 1861-64, 1872-74, and selectman in 1880. He served also on many Town Committees. One who remembers the Doctor well says that he was a very convincing speaker and on one occasion at a town meeting spoke for over an hour, holding the attention of the voters until the end. Aside from his medical and political activities, Dr. Burnett was interested in real estate. He built houses on Main, School and High Streets.

He died at his home on School Street after a long period of failing vision and some apparently poorly understood disease.

A friend and former patient remembers the time when as a young man he was taking music lessons and his teacher "insisted that he take notes that were too high for him and he strained his neck so that it hurt him severely to turn his head from side to side." He went to see Dr. Burnett who, after looking at him a while, said, "I guess I can fix you up." A bottle of medicine for local application, with directions for use, was given. A rapid cure was effected as promised, but George remembers that it felt "like circus fire and lightning."

Another Old Settler thinks Doctor Burnett was a fine Doctor but he used the most potent medicine that was used by any Doctor in town. He tells of a patient who went abroad one night with a group of congenial spirits to a notorious tavern. This was before the era of the "night clubs", but barring the absence of the effects of the disastrous mixture of liquor and gasoline, the results obtained were not too much inferior to those which occur at the present time.

At a late hour, and for purposes which were not mentioned by the Old Settler, the driver proceeded upward toward the Church, from whose doors his path had long strayed afar. Either he was "under the influence" of brain fog or the darkness of the night concealed an embankment which caused the wagon to overturn. In due time, the injured member of the ill starred expedition was presented to Doctor Burnett who calmly viewed the wreck and said, "Well, Jim, you certainly got a good one this time but I guess I can fix you." In addition to attending to such physicial damage as needed to be repaired the Doctor gave a bottle of medicine with strict orders that it must be taken only as directed.

With the perversity of the human race which persists, in not infrequent cases, even to this day, the unfortunate young man reasoned that if a little was good more would be better, so he partook of the potent remedy, not wisely but too well.

The Old Settler avers stoutly that the medicine paralyzed the man's throat and, although he lived for years, the man never spoke clearly again.

These two cases seem to prove that the Doctors of years ago used powerful medicine and that it was necessary that they be used with discretion in order to avoid untoward results.

Data Changed

Data Changed:

Date: 9 Feb 2011

Time: 19:07:33

Prior to import, this record was last changed 19:07:33 9 Feb 2011.

Sources

• WikiTree profile Burnett-354 created through the import of BDM7-7-11.ged on Jul 8, 2011 by Brian McCullough. See the Changes page for the details of edits by Brian and others.