Allen DeVilbiss Sr (1841 - 1917)

Born 5 Dec 1841 in Alexandria, Licking County, Ohio, USA

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Died 1 Oct 1917 at age 75 in Toledo, Ohio

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Biography

ALLEN DeVILBISS, M. D. Allen DeVilbiss was born in Licking county, Ohio, December 5, 1841. His father and mother moved to Spencerville, Indiana, in 1843. He secured his elementary education in the public schools of Auburn, DeKalb county, after which he studied a term at the University of Michigan. Then he entered the Miami Medical College at Cincinnati, where he laid the foundation of his professional career. He graduated with the class of '68 with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Dr.Clark of Middletown had befriended him and helped him through his medical courses at Cincinnati. When he finished school he returned to Middletown and Doctor Clark fitted him out with a horse and saddlebag and gave him the Williamsport territory, across the river from Middletown. Here is where he married Miss Lydia A. Lipes, August 13, 1868, at the home of the bride. Here the first three of the five children were born. For a time Dr. DeVilbiss was interested with Dr. R. S. Knode in a drug store at New Haven. When Dr.Clark of Middletown died, Dr. DeVilbiss returned to Middletown to settle the Clark estate. He now took up Dr. Clark's practice. While here he took trips into Fort Wayne to lecture as professor of anatomy in the Fort Wayne Medical School. It was during these years that the Grand Rapids and Indiana railroad was built through this territory of Middletown, but instead of coming through Middletown it came three miles east at Hoagland. The coming of the railroad interested Dr. DeVilbiss in Hoagland. He bought the remaining portion of the farm on which the town of Hoagland was built and laid out another addition to the town. He moved his family into the log house on the farm during the time he was building a new house. It was in this log house that his son Thomas was born. Almost five years of practice was carried on at Hoagland. While here he went to St. Louis and took special studies in nose and throat disease. In 1883 he moved into Fort Wayne. In Fort Wayne he set up an office above a drug store at the corner of Calhoun and Berry streets, the present location of the old National Bank. Dr. Knode of New Haven became interested in his location and bought a half interest in his work. After about three years' work he gave Dr. Knode his share in the business and moved with his family to Toledo to a larger field of opportunity. This was in 1887. At Toledo he made a specialty of diseases of the ear, nose and throat. He was one of Toledo’s first specialists in this line, and has done as much toward the perfection of this branch of medical science as any member of the profession. As a practitioner he enjoyed a highly successful career, both from the pecuniary standpoint and in the treatment of patients, commanding to the fullest extent the confidence of his patrons and the respect of his fellow practitioners, and keeping abreast of the mark of progress in the field of medical research, and doing much toward the advancement of surgery. When Dr. DeVilbiss began to practice the atomizers employed in surgical operations were capable of applying medication in but one direction, thus necessitating the use of several of these instruments in a single application. Being of an ingenious turn of mind, he devoted a great deal of time and study to the situation, and finally invented and perfected an atomizer which would allow the treatment to reach all the affected portions by turning an adjustable tip. He also became deeply interested in brain surgery, to which he devoted considerable study, and invented an instrument which not only replaced the old chisel and mallet formerly employed in surgery, but enables operations to be performed in much less time and without the injury and shock formerly experienced by the patient. It is now used in operating on various flat bones of the body, and has been adopted by the United States government and many of the world’s foremost surgeons. In 1890 Dr. DeVilbiss withdrew from the active practice of medicine, having previously embarked in the manufacture of the above instruments of his own invention. In 1900 his son, Thomas A., purchased half interest in the business, which was then expanded so as to include the manufacture of a general line of spraying and surgical instruments and supplies. In June, 1905, they incorporated as the DeVilbiss Manufacturing Company, of which Dr. DeVilbiss was president until his death. While he was president his son, Thomas A.,was vice president and general manager and Frank C. Penoyar secretary. The company enjoys an extensive and lucrative patronage, and with a branch factory in Canada and offices established in several foreign countries it has extended its marketing operations practically to all parts of the globe. 'Dr. DeVilbiss was affiliated with the Toledo Post and the Grand Army of the Republic. He had enlisted in the Civil War August 10, 1862, as a corporal in Company A, 100th Indiana Infantry; and took part in the memorable siege of Vicksburg and other engagements of less importance in Mississippi, Kentucky and Tennessee. He received an honorable discharge from the service August 10, 1863, just a year after the date of enlistment. He was a member of the American Medical Association and other similar societies and a trustee of the Lucas County Academy of Medicine. Though he was always greatly interested in the support of civic activities, it was not his want to aspire to personal preferment and public honors.” For a number of years prior to his death he did not take an active part in his business. These winters were spent in Florida. His death occurred October 1, 1917, at his home in Toledo, Ohio. -Thomas D DeVilbiss. History of The DeVilbiss Family in The United States of America 200 Years.

Sources

• "Ohio Deaths, 1908-1953," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X8J5-ZFV : 8 March 2021), Allen Devilbiss, 01 Oct 1917; citing Toledo, Lucas, Ohio, reference fn 65933; FHL microfilm 1,984,115.
• "United States Deceased Physician File (AMA), 1864-1968", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:WDKH-C9MM : 14 December 2020), Allen Devilbiss, 1917.