Richard Owen Currey
Richard Owen Currey | |
---|---|
Born | July 28, 1816 Nashville, Tennessee |
Died | February 17, 1865 Salisbury, North Carolina | (aged 48)
Resting place | Mount Olivet Cemetery |
Occupation(s) | University professor, physician, preacher |
Spouse | Rachel Jackson Eastin |
Parent(s) | Robert Brownlee Currey Jane Grey Currey |
Richard Owen Currey (1816–1865) was an American university professor, physician and Presbyterian minister.
Early life
Richard Owen Currey was born on July 28, 1816 in Nashville, Tennessee.[1][2] His father, Robert Brownlee Currey (1774–1848), served as the Mayor of Nashville from 1822 to 1824. His mother was Jane Grey Currey.[1] He had three brothers, Algernon Sidney Currey (1820–1891), George Washington Currey (1823–1886) and John H. Currey (1831–1902), and a sister, Susannah Elizabeth (Currey) Perkins (1814–1837).
Currey graduated from the University of Nashville and went on to become the first person to receive a PhD in Science from the University of Tennessee.[2] He then studied medicine at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky from 1837 to 1838, and received his MD from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1840.[2]
Career
After teaching at the University of Nashville, Currey became a Professor of Chemistry, Experimental Philosophy, and Natural History at East Tennessee University in Knoxville, where he pioneered laboratory-based botany teaching in Tennessee.[2][3] He also practiced as a physician, and published an almanac.[2] He volunteered for the Tennessee Geological Survey.[2] Additionally, he wrote a book about the geology of Tennessee and another one about the geology of western Virginia.[2]
In 1850, Currey returned to Nashville and taught at the University of Nashville.[2] He continued to work as a physician as well, and was particularly active during the cholera epidemic.[2] In 1851, he published two issues of the Southern Agriculturist, a widely read review for Southern planters, and another almanac.[2] He also opened an apothecary shop in Nashville.[2] The following year, in 1852, he joined the Tennessee State Medical Association and chaired on committees pertaining to the adulteration of drugs and medical botany.[2] The following year, in 1853, he started the Southern Journal of the Medical and Physical Sciences, a medical journal.[2] Over the next five years, he would publish fifty-seven articles, editorials and book reviews on regional geology, medical practice and botany.[2] Shortly after, he helped establish a hospital and the School of Medicine and Surgery for Private Instruction in Knoxville, and became a gynecologist.[2] In 1858, he returned to Nashville to teach at the Shelby Medical College and serve as co-editor of the Nashville Monthly Record of Medical and Physical Sciences, another medical journal.[2]
In 1859, Currey returned to Knoxville to study Christian theology.[2] He became the pastor of Lebanon-in-the-Fork Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, which had been established by J. G. M. Ramsey (1797–1884).[2] Additionally, he directed the Daughter's Collegiate Institute, where he added nude sculptures of women in the garden to teach women about their own anatomy.[2]
During the American Civil War, Currey volunteered as a chaplain-surgeon for the Confederate States Army, as early as 1861. Over time, he also took care of Union soldiers who had been caught by the Confederates.[2] Unfortunately, due to lack of hygiene in the hospital wing of the Salisbury Prison he was operating from, he died four years later.[1][2]
Personal life
Currey married Rachel Jackson Eastin in 1842.[2]
Death
Currey died on February 17, 1865 while serving the Confederate States Army during the Civil War.[1] His body was transported from North Carolina to Nashville, where he was buried in the Mount Olivet Cemetery.[1]
Bibliography
- Iron (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1840).[4]
- Chemical Hall Almanac: For the Year of Our Lord 1852...Calculated for the Horizon of Nashville, Tennessee...Will Answer for Kentucky, Mississippi and Alabama (W.F. Bang, Republican Banner Office, 1851).[5]
- A Sketch of the Geology of Tennessee (Kinsloe & Rice, 1857).[6]
- A Geological Visit to the Virginia Copper Region (1859).[7]
- The Polk County Copper Company of Tennessee: Its Mineral Resources and Mining Prospects (with Matthew Fontaine Maury, Bulletin Book and Job Office, 1859).[8]
References
- ^ a b c d e FindAGrave
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v James X. Corgan, Richard Owen Currey, The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture, December 25, 2009
- ^ Tamara Miner Haygood, Henry William Ravenel, 1814–1887: South Carolina Scientist in the Civil War Era, Tuscaloosa, Alabama: University of Alabama Press, 1987 p. 16 [1]
- ^ Google Books
- ^ Google Books
- ^ Google Books
- ^ Google Books
- ^ Google Books