William Duncan (American physician)

William Duncan (January 4, 1840 – December 27, 1900) was a prominent 19th-century American physician from Savannah, Georgia.[1] During the American Civil War, he was the Confederate States Army's assistant surgeon with the 10th Georgia Infantry Regiment, and went on to become dean of Savannah Medical College and an alderman of the city.[2]

William Duncan
BornJanuary 4, 1840
Savannah, Georgia, U.S.
DiedDecember 27, 1900(1900-12-27) (aged 60)
Savannah, Georgia, U.S.
Resting placeLaurel Grove Cemetery, Savannah, Georgia, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
OccupationPhysician

Life and career

Duncan was born in Savannah, Georgia, to William Duncan (1799–1879), a native of Scotland, and Elizabeth McClellan.[1] His mother died, aged 30, when Duncan was exactly one month old.[3]

He studied at Chatham Academy, Springfield Academy and Oglethorpe University.[4] He then graduated as a Doctor of Medicine from Savannah Medical College in March 1861 and, four years later, from Rotunda Hospital in Dublin, Ireland. After further studies at King's College Hospital in London and in hospitals in Paris, he settled back in his hometown of Savannah in 1866.[5]

During the American Civil War, he was assistant surgeon in the Confederate States Army, and served in field hospitals in both Savannah and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.[5]

Duncan became a member of both the Medical Association of Georgia and of the Georgia Medical Society.[5]

He succeeded Dr. J. D. Fish as dean of Savannah Medical College in 1872, a role in which he remained for nine years.[5] He had been professor of clinical medicine.[6]

For twenty years, Duncan was chief surgeon of the Savannah, Florida & Western Railway, and for thirty years he was superintendent and a manager of the Savannah Hospital.

In July 1876, Duncan was the first doctor to treat J. W. Schull, the first victim and believed source of the yellow fever epidemic to hit Savannah and the United States that summer.[7]

Duncan was an alderman of Savannah for twelve years, and was also a member of the city's Board of Sanitary Commissioners.[5] He was elected a member of the Georgia state legislature in 1896, serving one term.[5]

Georgia governor Allen D. Candler appointed Duncan a member of the Board of Commissioners of Georgia's State Lunatic, Idiot, and Epileptic Asylum in Milledgeville, Georgia, a role in which he remained until his death.[5]

Duncan was a 32nd Degree Freemason.[8]

Death

Duncan died on December 27, 1900, aged 60. He was interred in Savannah's Laurel Grove Cemetery beside his parents.[4] He bequeathed around $80,000, one half of his estate, to Savannah Hospital.[9]

References
  1. "William Duncan letters". ghs.galileo.usg.edu. Retrieved 2022-12-02.
  2. "Dr. William Duncan papers, 1861-1873". America's Turning Point: Documenting the Civil War Experience in Georgia. 1873.
  3. Savannah, Georgia, Cemetery and Burial Records, 1852-1939.
  4. Transactions, Volume 52. Medical Association of Georgia. 1901. p. 38.
  5. Transactions, Volume 52. Medical Association of Georgia. 1901. p. 38.
  6. Jones, Charles Colcock (1890). History of Savannah, Ga: From Its Settlement to the Close of the Eighteenth Century. D. Mason & Company. p. 455.
  7. Memoirs of Georgia: Containing Historical Accounts of the State's Civil, Military, Industrial and Professional Interests, and Personal Sketches of Many of Its People · Volume 2. Southern Historical Association. 1895. p. 115.
  8. Memoirs of Georgia: Containing Historical Accounts of the State's Civil, Military, Industrial and Professional Interests, and Personal Sketches of Many of Its People · Volume 2. Southern Historical Association. 1895. p. 386.
  9. The Philadelphia Medical Journal, Volume 7. Philadelphia Medical Publishing Company. 1901. p. 99.
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