Sacramento County
Biographies
FRANK J. BETHEL, D.D.S.
Familiarity
with every department of dentistry brings to Dr. Bethel an enviable position
not only in the city of Sacramento,
but also throughout the entire valley. Enjoying early educational advantages of
a high order, he supplemented these by later independent researches and thus
gained a critical knowledge of his chosen profession. Indeed, it may be stated
with justice that he owes his splendid mental attainments to self-culture
rather than to university training, although he received exceptional advantages
in one of the most popular state educational institutions of the central west.
Not content to be only a practitioner of past methods, he has continued to be a
diligent student of dental progress and has kept in touch with every modern
phase of development in the science. As a result of years of intense
application, supplementing an active practice and broad experience, he has
become a specialist of note and is accorded an unsurpassed reputation as a
diagnostician in dentistry.
Born
in Mapleton, Bourbon county, Kans.,
June 13, 1868, Dr. Bethel
passed the days of youth in his native county, where he attended the public
schools of Fort Scott.
Very early in life his aspirations were turned toward the dental profession. It
became his ambition to acquire a practical knowledge of the science. With that
object in view he matriculated in the Iowa
State University
at Iowa City and there continued
his studies until he graduated in 1890 with the degree of D.D.S. The first two
years of experience were gained while engaging in the practice at Denver,
Colo., from which city he came to California
and opened an office at Bakersfield.
During the five and one-half years of his residence in that city he built up a
large practice and won a high reputation for professional skill. A later
identification with San Francisco was followed in 1903 by removal to Seattle,
Wash., where he engaged in practice for six years and meanwhile won an enviable
standing among his confreres in that growing city of the northwest. During 1909
he established the organization known as the United Dentists, of which he since
has officiated as president and which ranks among the leading professional
organizations of Sacramento. In its
creation the principal object in view was the giving of skilled, efficient and
satisfactory service to patrons at reasonable prices, and this has been the
secret of the growing business and enviable reputation.
During
the previous period of the Doctor's residence in California he was honored with
an appointment, May 28, 1901, by Governor Henry T. Gage as a member of the
state board of dental examiners, and he continued to devote considerable time
and attention to the duties of the office until 1903, when the necessity of
superintending some interests and investments in the state of Washington cause
him to remove to Seattle, and he then resigned from the position. Throughout
his active life, notwithstanding the pressing duties associated with
professional practice and continued study, he has found leisure for
co-operation with the Masonic activities and also has been a leading local
worker with the Elks. While not connected with any denomination, he is in
sympathy with Christian efforts and has contributed frequently to movements for
the religious and moral upbuilding of the community,
as well as to such measures as will advance local educational interests. The
Republican party has had the benefit of his ballot in
national elections, but his interest in public affairs has not developed a
partisan spirit or a desire for office, being rather that of the progressive
and public-spirited citizen, whose aim is the advancement of his city along
every worthy line of progress.
Transcribed by Sande Beach.
Source: Willis,
William L., History of Sacramento
County, California, Pages 609-610. Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA. 1913.
© 2005 Sande Beach.