Sacramento County
Biographies
DR.
FREDERICK WINSLOW HATCH
DR. F. W. HATCH, deceased.--No exponent of the medical profession in Sacramento ever occupied a higher place in the hearts of his brethren than did the late Dr. F. W. Hatch. Though not a pioneer, yet he came to California during her early days, and his name was well known throughout the State. Dr. Hatch was a native of Virginia, born at Charlottesville, March 2, 1822. His boyhood days were passed in Washington, District Columbia, where his father, an Episcopal clergyman, was Chaplain of the United States Senate for twelve years. His literary and classical education were obtained at Union College, Schenectady, New York, where he was graduated with honors at the age of nineteen. Having determined to study medicine, he at once repaired to the metropolis, where the largest opportunities were presented for the furtherance of his purpose, and entered the medical department of the New York University. Here he received the instructions of such men as Drs. Mott, Revere, Post, Payne, and Bedford, and he was graduated M. D. March 10, 1844. He was married to Sarah R. Bloom, in Charleston, South Carolina, June 12, 1844, and located almost immediately afterward for the practice of medicine at Beloit, Wisconsin. He afterward moved to Southport (now known as Kenosha), Wisconsin, where he soon acquired an extensive and lucrative practice, and was regarded as being one of the most competent and reliable physicians. In 1851 he came to California, locating at Sacramento in the fall of that year. He at once engaged in the practice of his profession, and was in early days associated with the late Dr. J. F. Morse. But because of his attainments as a scholar and his love of education, he was soon singled out as a representative, and was elected for several successive terms, both City and County Superintendent of Schools, and member of the Board of Education. He was elected Secretary of the State Board of Health March 3, 1876, and held the position until his death. His labors in this capacity, and his reports to the Legislature, are the best evidences of the wisdom of the board in their selection. He was an active member of the City Board of Health for more than twenty years; was its president for several years, and its secretary for the eight years preceding his death. For several years he was Professor of the Theory and Practice of Medicine in the medical department of the University of California, and for the last four years of his life was Professor of Hygiene in the same institution. He was also an active contributing member of the American Public Health Association, and shortly before his death, was appointed, at the meeting of the Association at St. Louis, a member of its advising council. He was the first president of the Sacramento Society for Medical Improvement, holding that office for five years, and being mainly instrumental in giving to that society such a high rank that membership in it was regarded throughout the State as a synonym of professional standing nowhere else to be obtained in California. His death occurred in 1884, and from the address of that grand physician, Dr. W. R. Cluness, on his old friend, Dr. Hatch, before the Sacramento Society for Medical Improvement, the material for this sketch obtained. Dr. Hatch was an ornament to a noble profession, and his name will always live in the history of Sacramento.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Davis, Hon. Win. J., An Illustrated History of
Sacramento County, California. Pages 735-736. Lewis
Publishing Company. 1890.
© 2007 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.