San Francisco County
Biographies
CORNELIUS
CLIFFORD VANDERBECK, M. D.
Cornelius
Clifford Vanderbeck, M. D., whose office is at No. 405 Eddy street, San
Francisco, has been a resident of California since 1885, and has been engaged
in the practice of medicine since 1872.
He was born in Allentown, New Jersey, in 1852, and received his early
education in the public schools of that city.
Later he attended the Trenton Academy at Trenton, New Jersey, for
several years; then the Hudson River Institute at Claverack, New York; and next
graduated at the Hightstown Classical Institute of Hightstown, New Jersey,
after a course of three years. In 1869
he commenced the study of medicine, under the preceptorship of Dr. A. A.
Howell, of Allentown, New York. with whom he remained
for one year. He then entered the
Jefferson Medical College, where he graduated in 1872, after a full course,
receiving his degree as Degree of Medicine.
He was vice-president of that graduating class, and graduated with
honors. He at once entered into the
practice of his profession in Philadelphia, where he continued for thirteen
years. In 1875, while still conducting
his private practice, he entered the University of Pennsylvania, with the view
of obtaining the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. He continued his studies in that direction
for three years, graduating in 1878 and receiving that degree. In 1875, and while still conducting his private
practice, and also his studies at the university, Dr. Vanderbeck was appointed
Professor of Anatomy, which chair he held for seven years. He then took the Chair of Hygiene, which
chair he held for nine years, being at the same time associated editor of the Half
Yearly Compendium, a medical journal of Philadelphia, and on the editorial
staff of the Medical and Surgical Reporter, one of the leading medical
journals of the United States. He also
held for two years the lectureship on sanitary science at the Medical College
of Philadelphia. In 1879 Dr. Vanderbeck
spent one season in Europe, attending the hospitals. Clinics
and lectures of Edinburg, London and Paris, to perfect himself as far as
possible in his profession. Since
his arrival in California in 1885, the Doctor has practiced continuously in San
Francisco.
In 1888-’89 he
visited the Centennial International Exhibition at Melbourne, Australia, as the
special representative of the San Francisco Chronicle, accompanying the United States
Commissioners appointed by President Cleveland to represent this country at
that exhibition. He did good work for
California in aiding to obtain proper recognition for this State and its
products and manufactures. In 1890 Dr.
Vanderbeck again visited Europe and New York, in further pursuit of improvement
in his profession, and obtained after a regular course at the New York
Post-Graduate School a diploma from that institution. He also made further investigations in the
hospitals and clinics of Europe. These
studies were especially in the direction of gynecology and the treatment of the
diseases of the rectum.
Dr. Vanderbeck
comes from a musical family. His father,
John Calvin Vanderbeck, was in the medical profession, having been for forty
years engaged in the drug business in Allentown. He was Postmaster of that town for
twenty-eight years, four years under an earlier President and from the
beginning of President Lincoln’s term until the day of his death, in April,
1885. He was a musician, in which Dr.
Vanderbeck also excels. The family are of the sturdy old Holland stock, the ancestors of
Doctor Vanderbeck having come to New York about the middle of the seventeenth
century, and being among the earliest settlers of New Amsterdam.
Transcribed
Karen L. Pratt.
Source:
"The Bay of San Francisco," Vol. 1, pages 658-659, Lewis Publishing
Co, 1892.
©
2005 Karen L. Pratt.