Colusa County
Biographies
A. W. KIMBALL, M.D.
When the Mayflower made its historic voyage
to the shores of America among its passengers was an Englishman bearing the
name of Kimball. A large number of the name now living in the
United States trace their lineage back to Richard Kimball, one of the earliest
settlers of Ipswich, Mass. The next generation was represented by John,
a son of the English emigrant, and through him the line descends successively
to John, Jr., Jacob, Moses, Nathaniel, and Erastus B. (a blacksmith, born in
Connecticut), to E. N. Kimball, who was born at Uncasville, New London county,
Conn., March 30,1828. The last-named joined the westward tide of emigration
after the discovery of gold in California, and about 1850 became a pioneer in
the development of this region where he was engaged principally at contracting
and carpentering. When somewhat advanced in years he retired from business
cares and started east to visit relatives and the friends of his boyhood, but
he was never afterward heard from and his fate is unknown. After coming to
California he had married, in Vallejo, Mrs. Elizabeth (Davis) Vivian, a native
of St. Austell, England, With her first husband,
William Vivian, a miller, she left England for Australia, and thence came to
California in 1849. Shortly afterward Mr. Vivian was drowned in the bay. Later
she became the wife of E. N. Kimball, whom she survived some years, dying at
Marysville, Cal., in 1875. Of her three sons, E. N. Kimball, Jr., and A. W.,
the eldest and youngest, are residents of Williams, Colusa county,
while the second son, Albert A., makes Marysville his home.
While his parents were residents of
Marysville, Yuba county, Cal., A. W. Kimball was born
April 28, 1858. At ten years of age he accompanied the family to San Francisco,
but two years later returned to Marysville, where in 1879 he was graduated from
the high school. The year after completing his high-school course he took up
the study of medicine, which he had selected for his life work. Following a
course of lectures in Cooper Medical College he went east to Kentucky and
completed his medical education in the Kentucky School of Medicine at
Louisville, from which in 1882 he received the degree of M. D. Desiring to
supplement his theoretical knowledge by more thorough practical experience he
matriculated in the medical department of the University of the City of New
York, from which he was graduated in 1883. During his course in the eastern
institution he had the advantage of varied clinical work in the hospitals of
New York, where his experience in the treatment of intricate and complicated
diseases, as well as in general surgical cases, proved of inestimable value to
him. On returning to California he opened an office at Williams in 1884 and is
now one of the oldest practicing physicians in Colusa county,
where he has an excellent reputation for skill in diagnosis and accuracy in the
treatment of disease. In addition to his private practice he is retained as
surgeon for the Southern Pacific Railroad. At the time of first coming to
Williams he did not anticipate becoming a permanent citizen of the town, but
the location proved satisfactory and his practice steadily increased, so that
he has had no reason to regret his decision in remaining a practitioner of the
place.
The attractive residence owned by Dr.
Kimball is presided over by his wife and brightened by the presence of three
children, Marjorie Fairbairn, Alexine Fairbairn and
Edward Fairbairn. Mrs. Kimball was formerly Miss Helen M. Fairbairn and was
born in Chico, Cal., but at the time of her marriage made Oakland her home. The
family to which she belongs traces it ancestry to Scotland. Her father, Rev.
Alexander Fairbairn, was a pioneer minister of the Presbyterian denomination in
California and died at Williams, this state. Fraternally Dr. Kimball is
connected with the Woodman of the World, Independent Order of Foresters, and
Tuscan Lodge No. 261, F. & A. M., of Williams, in which he was made a Mason
and of which he officiated as master for two terms. Both he and his wife are
devoted Christians and contribute to movements for the spiritual upbuilding of
the people. As secretary of the board of trustees and in other official
capacities he has been intimately associated with the work of the Methodist
Episcopal Church in his home town.
Transcribed By: Cecelia M. Setty.
Source: "History of the State of
California and Biographical Record of the Sacramento
Valley, Cal.," J. M. Guinn, Pages
445-446.
The Chapman Publishing Company, Chicago, 1906.
© 2017 Cecelia M. Setty.
Golden Nugget
Library's Colusa County Biographies