San Francisco County
OSCAR O. BURGESS, M.D.
Oscar O. Burgess, M.D., whose office is at No. 329 Geary street, San Francisco, has been a resident of California since 1867, and engaged in the practice of medicine since 1857. He was born in Evans, Erie county, New York, in 1831, and is of English descent, he being of the eighth generation from the original members of the family who settled in New England in 1624. His father, Otis Burgess, was a native of Saratoga county, New York, and during the last thirty years of his life was a lumber dealer in Ashtabula county, Ohio.
Oscar O. received his early education in public schools of his native State, and later pursued his studies privately while engaged in self-support. He commenced the study of medicine in 1854, entering the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York, where he graduated in 1857. He at once commenced the practice of his profession in New York city, where he remained ten years, or until he came to California in 1867. In that year he commenced the practice in San Francisco, where he has since been continuously engaged. Dr. Burgess has been connected in various capacities with the California Women’s Hospital, which was established in 1873, and is now a member of the Consulting Staff of that hospital, the Children’s Hospital, and St. Luke’s Hospital. He is also a member of the California State Medical Society, of the San Francisco County Medical Society, and of the Obstetrical Society. He is now (1891), President of the State Medical Society, and has been President of the two others.
Dr. Burgess is eminently a self-made man, having been thrown upon his own resources at the age of sixteen years. He pursued his studies in New York by money earned in various directions, and also acquired the French language. He had always kept the medical profession in view, and when he had accumulated sufficient means to complete his studies he embarked in that profession, in which he has built up a fine reputation. He has been especially successful in the removal of ovarian tumors, and for several years past has made almost a specialty of the treatment of the diseases of women. Dr. Burgess has twice made extensive trips to Europe, both for pleasure and in the interest of the medical profession. In his first visit he made a special study of antiseptic surgery, which was then being introduced, and which has since added so much to the safety of the more serious surgical operations. On his return he performed the first antiseptic ovariotomy ever done on the Pacific coast. In his last visit, which occupied sixteen months, he visited the hospitals and clinics of London, Paris, Vienna, Berlin, etc., paying special attention in Paris to Dr. Apostoli’s method of treating fibroid tumors of the womb by electricity.
Transcribed
by David Rugeroni.
Source: "The Bay
of San Francisco," Vol. 2, Page 229-230, Lewis Publishing Co, 1892.
©
2005 David Rugeroni.