Los Angeles County
Biographies
FRANCIS MARION POTTENGER
POTTENGER,
FRANCIS MARION, Physician, Los Angeles, Cal.,
was born at Sater, Ohio,
September 27, 1869.
His father was Thomas Pottenger and his mother
Hannah Ellen (Sater) Pottenger. On his mother’s side his ancestry runs direct
to Oliver Cromwell. April 5, 1894, Dr. Pottenger married Carrie Burtner,
of Germantown, Ohio, and August 29,
1900, married Adelaide Gertrude Babbitt, at Sacramento,
Cal.
By his second wife there are three children, Francis Marion, Jr., Robert
Thomas and Adelaide Marie Pottenger.
Dr. Pottenger, one of the leading lung specialists in Southern
California, and one of the world’s leading crusaders in the fight against
tuberculosis, was born on an Ohio
farm. He began his studies in the public
schools of Sater and in the Preparatory Department of
Otterbein University, Westerville, Ohio,
for his higher education, from 1886, to 1888.
He then entered the collegiate department of Otterbein, remaining until
1892, when he was graduated with the degree of Ph. B. He obtained the degree of A. M. in 1907, and the honorary degree of LL. D. in 1909. Determining upon medicine for his life work,
he spent the next year at the Medical College of Ohio. Another year in the Cincinnati College of
Medicine and Surgery and he received his degree of M. D.,
graduating with the highest honors of his class and wining the first gold
medal.
He left school
April 3, 1894, two days later was married, and before the end of the month was
in Europe, where he spent his honeymoon and did post-graduate work in leading
hospitals of the old world, particularly those of Vienna. Returning in December, 1894, he began
practice at Norwood, Ohio, and
became assistant to Dr Charles A. L. Reed, a noted
surgeon of Cincinnati. About the same time he was made assistant to
the Chair of Surgery of his alma Mater.
In 1895, his wife
developing tuberculosis, Dr. Pottenger surrendered
his practice and went to Monrovia, Cal.,
where he re-engaged in practice. His
wife’s health failing to improve, he gave up his work a second time and
returned to her home, near Dayton, Ohio,
there to devote all his time to her care, until she died, in 1898. It had been Dr. Pottenger’s
intention to specialize in diseases of children and obstetrics, but when his
wife died he decided that much more important work could be done in
tuberculosis, and he took up tuberculosis as a life study. He returned to California
to resume practice, but in 1900 suspended temporarily while he did
post-graduate work in New York. Returning to California
in 1901, he opened offices in Los Angeles as a
tuberculosis specialist, the first ethical physician on the Pacific
Coast to specialize in this
line. In 1903, in the picturesque and
healthful environs of Monrovia, he
established the Pottenger Sanitorium
for Diseases of the Lungs and Throat, which has grown to be one of the famous
institutions of the world. From a
capacity of eleven, it has grown until now it houses more than one hundred
patients. The success of the institution
as a scientific life saving station has been due to the personal efforts of Dr.
Pottenger, who has continually strived for better
methods. With this thought in mind, he
has visited the leading sanitoria of Europe and America,
attended many scientific gatherings and associated with the leaders of the
universe in the war against the plague.
He has written a book on the subject, in addition to about seventy-five
separate papers, and has delivered numerous lectures on the subject.
Through Dr. Pottenger’s efforts the Southern California
Anti-Tuberculosis League was founded, and he was its President for three years.
Among the noted
and learned societies of which he is a member, the following are given: The Los
Angeles County Medical Association, the Los Angeles Clinical and Pathological
Society, the Southern California Medical Society, the Medical Society of
California, the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Medicine,
the American Therapeutic Society, the American Climatological
Association, the Mississippi Valley Medical Association; Los Angeles,
California, National and International Associations for the Study and
Prevention of Tuberculosis, the American Sanatorium Association, the American
Academy of Political and Social Science, the Archaeological Institute of
America, and the National Geographical Society.
He is a member of
the California Club, the University Club and the Gamut Club, of Los
Angeles.
In August, 1911,
he was appointed First Lieutenant in the Medical Reserve Corps, of the United
States Army.
Transcribed 1-13-09
Marilyn R. Pankey.
Source: Press
Reference Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Page 175,
International News Service, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles,
Boston, Atlanta. 1913.
© 2009 Marilyn R. Pankey.
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