Los Angeles County
Biographies
THOMAS JAMES ORBISON
ORBISON, THOMAS JAMES, Physician, Los Angeles, California, was born in Rawul Pindee, (sic) India, November 13, 1866, the son of James Orbison and Nancy Donlop (Harris) Orbison. He married Virginia Gile at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, February 25, 1901, and to them there have been born two daughters, Virginia and Joan Winsor Orbison. Dr. Orbison is descended from the old Scotch-Irish stock, his father’s family having been represented in the days of the Normans, when the name was spelled Od’Baldeston. On the maternal side the names of many of the men have been prominent, among them Colonel James Donlop, James and John Harris, John Elliott, William Ashman and others. Dr. Orbison’s father and mother were both missionaries in the Presbyterian Church and were prosecuting their work in India when he was born.
Dr. Orbison was brought to the United States in early childhood, the family settling in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania. He attended the academy there and followed with attendance at Haverford College. He was there four years and left just before graduation, in 1888.
His first work after leaving school was in the employ of the Centre Iron Company, of Bellefonte, it being his early intention to learn and follow the iron manufacturing business. He remained there about three years and then, in 1891 accepted an opportunity to go to New York in the electrical engineering department of the Union Switch & Signal Company. While in that position he took part in the transformation of the New York Central Railroad’s signal and switching system from the old hand lever methods to the electrical and pneumatic.
Dr. Orbison left the company in 1893 and the following year enrolled in the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia. After four years of study he was graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1898. The war of the United States against Spain then being in progress, he enlisted with the famous City Troop of Philadelphia as a private and saw active service on the Island of Porto Rico (sic). The City Troop is one of the oldest and most celebrated military organizations in the United States, having been the first body of men organized to oppose the British in the Revolutionary War. It was then known as the First Troop, Philadelphia City Cavalry, and served as Washington’s bodyguard.
In 1899, upon his return from the war, Dr. Orbison entered the Pennsylvania Hospital at Philadelphia, the oldest institution of its kind in America and served there for two years as Resident Physician. Upon leaving there he began private practice in Philadelphia, specializing in the treatment of nervous diseases. In addition, he was on the staff of the University, Polyclinic and Orthopedic Hospitals, of Philadelphia.
He practiced in Philadelphia for approximately six years. In 1907, however, he decided to move to California, and locate at Los Angeles.
He has been a close student at all times and has been a liberal contributor to the literature of his profession, having written numerous papers on neurological subjects for the Journal of Mental and Nervous Diseases and the American Journal of Medical Sciences and other journals.
Dr. Orbison is Professor of Therapeutics in the Los Angeles Medical Department of the University of California. He is a member of the leading professional societies and served in 1911 as President of the Pasadena Branch of the Los Angeles County Medical Society. He belongs to the American Medical Assn., the Philadelphia Neurological Society and the Los Angeles Clinical and Pathological Society. He is a Phi Kappa Sigma man, University of Pennsylvania Chapter, and belongs to the University Barge Club of Philadelphia.
Transcribed 6-20-09
Marilyn R. Pankey.
Source: Press
Reference Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Page 299, International
News Service, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston,
Atlanta. 1913.
© 2009 Marilyn R. Pankey.
GOLDEN NUGGET'S LOS ANGELES BIOGRAPIES