Francis Delafield
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Francis Delafield (1841-1915) was an American physician, born in New York City. His father, Dr. Edward Delafield, was the son of the prominent John Delafield who had emigrated to America from London, England in 1783 carrying the provisional peace treaty between England and The United States. While his father Edward graduated Yale in 1812, Francis graduated at Yale (1860) and at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University (1863), and after further study abroad practiced medicine in New York. Francis was appointed to the staff of Bellevue Hospital (1874), and to the chair of pathology and practice of medicine in the College of Physicians and Surgeons (1875-82). Francis Delafield resided for many years at 5 West 50th Street in Manhattan, New York.[1]
In 1886, Francis was the first president of the Association of American Physicians. Over his life, Francis illustrated and published:
- Handbook of Post-Mortem Examinations and Morbid Anatomy; Lectures on Practical Medicine and Pathology (1872; new edition, 1903)
- Handbook of Pathological Anatomy and Histology (1885; new edition, 1904), with Prudden
- Textbook of Pathology (1911)
Contents |
[edit] Wife and Family
Francis married Katherine Van Rensselaer, grand daughter of Dutch Patroon Stephen Van Rensselaer III. They had three daughters: Elizabeth "Bessie" Ray, Julia Floyd, Cornelia Van Rensselaer, and one son: Edward Henry Delafield (1880-1955) who graduated Yale class of 1902.
[edit] Delafield Island
Between 1859 and 1865, his father Dr. Edward Delafield, assembled a 154 acre tract of land in Darien, Connecticut. After his parents died (in the summer of 1879) Dr. Francis Delafield inherited the entirety of the property in Darien then called "Delafield Farm". After the death of Francis, the property was looked after by his spinster sister Emma Harriot Delafield. When she died in 1921, the property then went to the only son of Francis: Edward Henry Delafield. After the 1929 stock market crash, Edward partitioned and parcelled off the land over the ensuing years. In an effort to sell land, the name was changed to "Delafield Wood" then "Delafield Estates" until Edward settled on the current name "Delafield Island". Edward Delafield had four daughters and lived on Delafield Island until his death in 1955.
[edit] Terms
- Delafield's hematoxylin — a strong solution of hematoxylin crystals, 4 cc.; 95 per cent alcohol, 25 cc.; saturated aqueous solution of ammonia alum, 400 cc.; expose in an unstoppered bottle to sun and air three or four days; filter and add 100 cc. of glycerin and 100 cc. of 95 per cent alcohol.
-
- Dorland's Medical Dictionary (1938)
[edit] Father and Grandfather
From London, Francis' Grandfather(John Delafied) emigrated to what was then New Amsterdam(NYC). The ship upon which he took passage bore letters of marque, and captured a French vessel. John Delafield volunteered in the action, and shared the prize money to the extent of £100. He landed in New York City, 5 April 1783, and found himself especially welcomed as the bearer of a manuscript copy of the text of the treaty of peace, which had been handed him at the moment of sailing by an official in the British service. The conditions of peace were known, but the text had not yet been made public in England; and, although the official copy had been forwarded, the "Vigilant" had outstripped the bearer of the government dispatches by some days.
John Delafield was a founder and director of the Mutual insurance company, established 15 June 1787, that being the first company organized to take risks against fire in the City of New York after the Revolution. On 12 January 1792, he was appointed director of the branch of the U. S. bank, and was afterward elected to the same office. He was one of forty gentlemen who subscribed $10,000 each, and founded (1 February 1796) the United insurance company, also acting as a director, and serving as president for many years. His summer residence on the East River, opposite Blackwell's Island, known as" Sunswick," built in 1791, was one of the largest and best appointed private houses near New York. John Delafield had nine sons and four daughters. Two of his sons died young.
Francis' father Edward Delafield was born in New York City, 17 May 1812; died there, 13 February 1875. Edward was graduated at Yale in 1812, and at the College of physicians and surgeons in 1815. He served as a surgeon in the U. S. army in 1814. In 1817 he sailed for London, studied under Sir Astley Paston Cooper and Dr. Abernethy, and passed several months in the hospitals of Paris. In 1820, in connection with Dr. J. Kearny Rodgers, he founded the New York eye and ear infirmary, of which institution he was attending surgeon until 1850, and consulting surgeon until 1870. He soon afterward entered into partnership with Dr. Borrowe, and almost immediately found himself possessed of a large and lucrative practice. In 1834 he was appointed one of the attending physicians of the New York Hospital, and in 1835 became professor of obstetrics and diseases of women and children in the College of physicians and surgeons, but resigned both offices in 1838 on account of his increasing private practice. In 1842 he organized the society for the relief of widows and orphans of medical men, serving as its first president. He was a founder (1865) and first president of the New York Ophthalmological Society, and in 1858 was chosen president of the College of physicians and surgeons, remaining at its head until his death. From 1858 he was the senior consulting physician of St. Luke's Hospital, and from its establishment in 1872 senior consulting physician of the Woman's hospital, and president of the medical board. From its foundation in 1854 he served as president of the medical board of the Nursery and child's hospital. At the organization of the Roosevelt hospital, in 1867, he became a member of the board of governors, and was afterward chosen president, retaining the office during his life.
[edit] Francis Delafield Hospital
In 1948, in recognition for his career in medicine, the Francis Delafield Hospital opened as a cancer research center for Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center.
[edit] The Delafield Commission
Francis Delafield was the nephew of Major Richard Delafield. In 1855, Secretary of War Jefferson Davis dispatched Maj. Richard Delafield, Maj. Alfred Mordecai, and Capt. George B. McClellan to the battlefields of Crimea to observe the European military in action. American military commanders had studied European armies before, but the Delafield Commission was the most ambitious military observation mission up to that time and the first to observe an ongoing war. Major Delafield procured illustrations of Crimean weaponry that informed designs for the United States Civil War.
[edit] Attended William McKinley
Francis Delafield was the primary physician who was consulted following the shooting of United States President William McKinley in September 1901. While Francis argued to use the X-Ray machine to photograph McKinley's organs and asses the damage, he met opposition from others unwilling to use the new technology. Some attribute this inaction to contributing to McKinley's ultimate demise.
[edit] Lineage
Francis Delafield was of the family of Count de la Feld, which dates back to the darkest period of the Middle Ages (about Sixth Century) and seated at the Chateaux of La Feld, in Alsace (extensive ruins still remain). Hubertus De La Feld from Alsace-Lorraine near Colmar, was the first of the family that emigrated to England. Because of his service in Hastings during the 1066 invasion of England, Hubertus De La Feld received large grants of land from William the Conqueror and settled near Halifax. In England, the family rose in stature when John Delafield distinguished himself in the imperial service against the Turks: having taken a standard from the enemy at the Battle of Zenta in Hungary was in 1697 created a Count of the Holy Roman Empire by Emperor Leopold I.
[edit] Positions
Francis Delafield has filled the following offices: surgeon in the New York eye and ear infirmary, and physician and pathologist to the Roosevelt Hospital (1871); physician to Bellevue Hospital (1874); adjunct professor (1875), and subsequently (1882) professor, of pathology and the practice of medicine in the New York College of physicians and surgeons; consulting physician to Bellevue Hospital (1885); and (1886) first president of the Association of American Physicians and Pathologists.
[edit] References
- ^ Fifth Av. History In Razed Buildings, New York Times, September 25, 1932, pg. RE1.
Irish and Anglo-Irish Landed Gentry, by John O'Hart|
Reflections, by Edward V.R Spurgeon, 2001|
The Delafields and Delafield Island, by Robert W. Baylis, 1981|
Encyclopedia of Heraldry or General Armor, Edition of 1844 by John Burke|
A Genealogical & Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage & Baronetage of the British Empire, 1853|
 |
This article about a United States writer of non-fiction is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
- This article incorporates text from an edition of the New International Encyclopedia that is in the public domain.
