JAMES FAIRCHILD BALDWIN, M.D., 1850-1936
by GEORGE M. CURTIS, M.D.
James Fairchild Baldwin, surgeon
extraordinary, was born in
the little village of Orangeville, New
York, on February 12, 1850.
He died at Columbus, Ohio, on January 20,
1936, approximately
86 years of age. He had practiced almost
sixty years, and nearly
forty of these as a surgeon. A master of
his craft, this "rugged
individualist" was finally
conquered by one of the surgical dis-
eases of which the least was then known,
i. e., cancer of the lung.
In fact, the first successful removal of
the lung for cancer had
been accomplished by Evarts Ambrose
Graham of Washington
University less than three years
previous to Baldwin's death.
His mother, nee Mary H. Fairchild, died
when he was a boy
of four, and with its keystone gone the
Baldwin family divided.
Two brothers and a sister went west to
Oberlin, Ohio. James was
sent by his father, Cyrus H. Baldwin, to
the home of friends, Mr.
and Mrs. C. B. Allen, in the village of
Otto, Cattaragus County,
western New York. There he obtained his
early schooling and
lived for eleven years.
At the age of fifteen he was ready to
enter Oberlin College
where he matriculated in 1865. There he
became an excellent
student, even though it was necessary to
do extracurricular work
to help finance his further education.
At one time he even was
forced to quit his schooling and teach a
year in a boys' school in
Brownsville, Texas, in order to continue
his studies. He was
graduated in 1870 with the degree of
B.A. from Oberlin College.
He was an honor student and was elected
to Phi Beta Kappa. His
gold key, hanging from his watch chain,
was a familiar sight to
those who saw him daily throughout his
later active life. He re-
ceived an M.A. degree from Oberlin in
1874.
He entered the Jefferson Medical College
of Philadelphia the
same year and received his M.D. degree
in 1876. His graduation
thesis, "The Relation of Ozone to
Disease," won the first prize and
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