ROBERT THOMPSON STRATTON

 

 

ROBERT THOMPSON STRATTON, a physician and surgeon of Oakland, was born here January 22, 1862, a son of James and Cornelia A. (Smith) Stratton, both still living in this city.  The father, born in Thompsonville, Sullivan county, New York, in 1830, embarked very early in his life career as surveyor, being an assistant on the survey of the Erie Canal, at age of fourteen .  He came to California in 1850, and was for sometime engaged in mining, but soon took up his profession as surveyor and engineer.  In 1854 he went East, was married, and returning to California engaged again in his professional business.  He was United States Surveyor General for California for some years, about 1876, and of late years has been occupied chiefly as the land attorney.  The mother was also born in New York State, about 1835, a daughter of Captain Isaac C. Smith, whose family settled near Sing Sing, New York, even before that village was founded.  At this place, where Captain Smith lived the greater part of his life, his memory is still greatly respected as an honorable citizen.

 

The original home of the Strattons in America, was Massachusetts, whence part of the family moved to Connecticut, and later settled in Sullivan County, New York, Stephen Stratton, a Revolutionary soldier, being one of the founders of Thompsonville.  Jonathan Stratton, the son of the above, and grandparent of the subject of this sketch, was a well-to do merchant and manufacturer of Thompsonville, a member of the Legislature,--in the days when political position was an honor,--a prominent candidate for the National Congress, and held many public and private trusts.  He served in the war of 1812, and later became a Colonel of the State Militia.  Through the wife of this gentleman, Dr. Stratton is directly descended from the Hon. William A. Thompson, formerly of Connecticut, a graduate of Yale (1782) and for many years Judge of the counties of Ulster and Sullivan, New York.  He also attained some distinction as a geologist, and was an honorary member of the Geological Society and Royal Institute of France.  His father, Hezekiah Thompson, was a distinguished lawyer and prominent citizen of Connecticut, whose ancestors left England in 1637 and settled and lived many years near what is now New Haven and Woodbury.

 

R. T. Stratton, the subject of this writing, was graduated at the Franklin grammar, and later at the Oakland high school at the age of eighteen, and took one term in the University of California.  He then began the study of medicine in the Cooper Medical College of San Francisco, and afterward in the Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia, from which he received a degree of medicine.  He then took a course in the Post-graduate Medical College and Hospital of New York.  Returning to his native State, he first began his professional work in Calistoga, where he immediately acquired a successful practice.  He remained there eighteen months, but seeking a larger field, in 1887 he settled in this city in the permanent practice of his profession, where he ranks well as a physician and surgeon.  In 1890 he received the appointment of County Physician.  Dr. Stratton is a member of the Alameda County Medical Society, and of the University of California, chapter of the Beta Theta Pi Fraternity.  He was married November 20, 1888, to Miss Gertrude A. Walker, born in Minnesota in 1867 a teacher of several years' experience, and belonging to a long line of educators.  She is the daughter of John and Frances (Murray) Walker, who settled in Napa Valley in 1876.  Dr. and Mrs. Stratton have two children, Robert Walker Stratton, born in Calistoga, September 9, 1889, and Irene Stratton, born in Oakland, January 4, 1891.

 

 

Source: "The Bay of San Francisco" (and Its Cities And Their Suburbs) Vol 1. Lewis Publishing Company 1892. Page 441-442.

Submitted by: Nancy Pratt Melton.