El
Dorado County
Biographies
W. AUGUSTUS RECKERS, M.D.
The
dean of the medical profession at Placerville, California, is Dr. W. Augustus
Reckers, who has practiced his profession of medicine and surgery for well over
a quarter of a century, and is now enjoying the fruits of well merited
success. There were years filled with
hardship, of lonely night rides, of miles on foot or horseback, long vigils,
and countless other experiences which only a pioneer mountain doctor can
have. His career, however, has been most
interesting, and filled with professional achievement which only one of his
native fortitude, ambition and judgment could have accomplished. He established and is now the owner of the Placerville
Sanatorium, a strictly modern hospital of twenty-three beds.
W.
Augustus Reckers was born on a farm in Colusa County, California, March 6,
1876, a son of Augustus and Theresa (Westcamp) Reckers. The father was a native of Germany, and after
he came to the United States, first settled in Pennsylvania. About 1866 he went to Colusa County,
California, where he engaged in farming, and there resided until in death in
1889. His widow survived him until 1917. They were the parents of eight children.
W.
Augustus Reckers attended the rural schools of the Fairview district in Colusa
County, then entered the State Normal School at Chico, California, but did not
remain long, as he had determined to make the practice of medicine his life’s
work. With this end in view, he entered
the Cooper Medical College at San Francisco, and in 1901 received his degree of
Doctor of Medicine from this institution.
For one year following his graduation, he served as an intern in the San
Francisco City and County Hospital, then another year in the Southern Pacific
Railroad Hospital at Sacramento. In 1903
he came to Placerville, and here has served the people continuously since that
date. Dr. Reckers is the oldest
physician, in years of service, in the city, and is respected and beloved over a
wide territory. His political
affiliation is with the Republican Party, and he is a member of the Benevolent
Protective Order of Elks at Grass Valley.
Professionally he belongs to the Sacramento County Medical Association,
the California State Medical Association, and the American Medical
Association. He enlisted in October,
1917, and served till 1918, being engaged in surgical duty at the Letterman
Hospital at San Francisco. He finds rest
and relaxation from his professional labors in travel, and he indulges in this at
every opportunity.
Dr.
Reckers was married to Miss Florence Turney Allen, of Sacramento, California,
and they have become the parents of the following: Evelyn, who died in infancy; Stanley William,
now studying law at Harvard University; and Florence Louise, now at the
University of California at Berkeley, majoring in history.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Wooldridge, J.W.Major History of Sacramento Valley
California, Vol. 3, Pages 46-49. Pioneer Historical
Publishing Co. Chicago 1931.
© 2010
Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden
Nugget Library's El Dorado County Biographies