San Joaquin County
Biographies
GEORGE AUGUSTUS SHURTLEFF, M. D.
GEORGE AUGUSTUS SHURTLEFF, M.
D.--Among the representatives of the learned professions mentioned throughout
this volume, some have achieved State and even National prominence to such an
extent as to render biographical mention of them worthy of works of much wider
scope than any local history. An example in point is the gentleman whose name
heads this sketch. Yet so intimately identified has he been with Stockton from
the pioneer days, and so much of his lifework has been accomplished here, that
more than passing notice of his career and of his antecedents becomes valuable
and indeed essential in a history of San Joaquin County. From manuscripts and
published records of undoubted authority this genealogical and biographical
sketch has been for the most part compiled.
Dr. G. A. Shurtleff was born on the
ancestral estate in Carver, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, August 5, 1819, a
son of Charles and Hannah (Shaw) Shurtleff. On both sides he is descended,
without admixture, from old settlers of New England, members of the first
successful colony, that of Plymouth. The name Shurtleff has been found in old
records of the Plymouth Colony, spelled in various forms, and therefore at time
incorrectly, something which often occurs when those doing clerical work write
names from sound. The natural evolution of the language may also have cut some
figure. In some cases the name is quite distorted by the spelling, and it
appears in different places respectively as Chyrecliff, Shiereliff, Shirtleff,
Shirtley, Shurtlef and Shurtleff.
The founder of the family in this country
was William Shurtleff, who was born in England (probably in Yorkshire) about
1619. He landed at Plymouth, Massachusetts, some time prior to 1635, a youth in
his ‘teens. He is on record as having been enrolled for military duty there in 1643,
and also as having been “married unto Elizabeth Lettice, October 18, 1655.”
While at Plymouth his estate was at Strawberry Hill, near the Reed Pond, not
far from the boundary line of Kingston. He afterward moved to Marshfield, where
his name is of record in 1664. He died there June 23, 1666, being killed in a
severe tempest by a stroke of lightning. In the marriage record referred to,
his name is written Shirtley. He is said to have written it with one fine “f”,--Shurtlef,--and
one of this grandsons added an “f”, since which the name has been spelled, as
now, Shurtleff. It is so spelled on the tombstone, at Plymouth, of William
Shurtleff, the eldest son of the above first settler, who died in 1729.
William and Elizabeth (Lettice) Shurtleff
had three sons--William, Thomas and Abiel. The latter, born in June, 1666, at
Marshfield, was married in January, 1696, to Lydia Barnes, a daughter of
Jonathan and Elizabeth Barnes, of Plymouth, who bore him seven sons and three
daughters. Their son, Benjamin (1st), who was born in 1710, was the
great-grand-father of the subject of this sketch. To supplement this
genealogical record it will be necessary at this point to turn back and refer
to other of the original families of the old colony. Isaac Allerton and his family
came in the Mayflower to Plymouth in 1620, among whom was a daughter, Mary. She
in due time was married to Thomas Cushman, who, at the age of fourteen years,
came in the ship Fortune in 1621 with his father, Robert Cushman. Among the
children of Thomas and Mary (Allerton) Cushman was Elkanah, who has a son named
Josiah Cushman; and of the children of Josiah Cushman was a daughter named
Susannah Cushman, who was married to the aforenamed Benjamin Shortleaf (1st),
and was great grandmother of the subject of this sketch.
Thus it will be seen that by this union
the veins of this branch of the Shurtleff family received an affluent from a
conspicuous source, more remote in the past than the point to which the family
name can now be traced. Isaac Allerton and Robert Cushman were leading and
historic characters in connection with the Puritans, not only as regards their
settlement in the “old Colony” of Plymouth, but in their native England, and in
their chosen exile at Amsterdam and Leyden. They lived in the Elizabethan age.
Thomas Cushman, son of Robert, was born in 1607, the year in which, according
to Shakespearian commentators, “Anthony and Cleopatra” and “Timon of Athens”
were written, and nine years before the death of Shakespeare. Hence his father,
Robert Cushman, was strictly a cotemporary with Shakespeare. Charlotte S.
Cushman,-- mentioned because so widely known,--who honored the stage more than
any other woman America has produced, was a descendant of these Cushmans.
To resume the original thread, Benjamin (1st)
and Susannah (Cushman) Shurtleff had a son, Benjamin (2d), who was born in
1748, and who, being an only son, inherited his father’s estate in Carver, on
which his life was spent. His son, Charles, the father of our subject, was born
there, October 20, 1790. He was reared on his father’s farm. Soon after his
marriage to Hannah Shaw, he removed to New Hampshire and entered upon a
mercantile career. Abandoning this, he returned to Carver, Massachusetts, where
he died at about the age of fifty, being an exception in the Shurtleff family,
most of whom have reached the scriptural three-score years and ten, or more.
The above is a mere genealogical outline,
necessary in introducing the sketch of a pioneer of California, a descendant of
some of the first settlers of the Atlantic coast, and of necessity brief,
though much of interest could be written of members of the family who have
attained more than local distinction in various walks of life, especially in
literary and professional pursuits. Rev. William Shurtleff, a grandson of the
first settler, was a graduate of Harvard about 173 years ago (1717), when such
an education was a distinction. Roswell Shurtleff was a graduate in 1799 and
also a professor of Dartmouth College during the period when Daniel Webster and
his brother Ezekiel were students there; and his reminiscences of the college
life of these famous alumni are published in one of the biographies of the
great statesman. Dr. Benjamin Shurtleff, an eminent physician of Boston, a
brother of the father of our subject, was the founder of Shurtleff College, at
Alton, Illinois, to an extent which caused his surname to be given to the
institution. His son, the late Dr. N. B. Shurtleff, was mayor of Boston two
terms and did much in aid of the progress of the city, but is more
distinguished for his exhaustive genealogical and antiquarian researches and
for the accuracy and value of his writings on these topics. Our subject has had
two uncles, five cousins and a brother who were regular graduates in medicine--the
latter the well known Dr. Benjamin Shurtleff, of Napa, who has been in practice
in this State over forty years, having been in the meantime a State Senator, a
member of the last Constitutional Convention, and who has been for many years
past, and still is, the President of the Board of Directors of the Napa State
Asylum for the Insane.
Dr. G. A. Shurtleff, with whose name this
sketch commences, began his education in the local schools at Carver,
Massachusetts, and afterward attended Pierce Academy, at Middleborough. He
taught school two years, and meanwhile commenced the study of medicine in the
office of his cousin, Dr. Samuel Shaw, of Wareham, Massachusetts. He then
entered the Berkshire Medical Institution, in Pittsfield, Massachusetts (which was
connected with Williams College at Williamstown,) and afterward the Vermont
Medical College in Woodstock, from which he graduated in 1845. He practiced
medicine in Wareham, Massachusetts, nearly four years, and while residing there
served upon the Board of Education, a post with which he had been honored in
his native town when just past his majority. The California gold fever struck
him with sufficient force to induce his joining the tide of emigration then
setting in for the western shores. He left his eastern home April 19, 1849, for
California on the ship Mount Vernon, of Matapoisett, by way of Cape Horn, and
arrived in San Francisco, October 2, 1849, and in Stockton the 12th
of the same month. He went to Tuolumne County and tried his luck in mining for
a few weeks, then came to Stockton, remaining a short time. Returning again
early in 1850, he has made this city his home ever since. He was elected a
member of the first city council. From the original certificate of his
election, the following copy is made:
“We, the undersigned Judges and Clerks of
the election held in the city of Stockton, on the first day of August, eighteen
hundred and fifty, do hereby certify that at that election G. A. Shurtleff was
duly elected Councilman.
“B. A. Hoxey,
“John M. Burdsall,
“George R. Howell, Judges.
“F. C. Andrew,
“T. S. Manley, Clerks.
“Stockton, 3d August, 1850.”
Having completed his term in that capacity
the Doctor was again elected a member of the second city council of Stockton,
but soon after resigned.
In those early days of California, society
had not settled down into homogeneous shape and thus it came about that
university graduates and men educated for the professions were for some years
hardly to be distinguished, if those were judged only by their vocations, from
those trained for and accustomed to less pretentious callings. Dr. Shurtleff
was not altogether an exception to the general rule though he never entirely
relinquished the practice of his profession.
He became, however, connected with an association
of men who had come to the country together, possessing ventures in various
kinds of property, who had formed what was styled the “Mount Vernon Company,”
which was engaged in merchandising and various other branches of business; and
it fell to him not only to assist in managing the affairs of the company, but
to close them up after its active business had ceased, and its members had
mostly departed.
He was elected Recorder of San Joaquin
County in 1855, for two years, and after the completion of his term as a county
officer, gave his undivided attention to the profession of medicine, his
practice theretofore having been done more as an accommodation to friends than
as a means of financial advancement. About this time he formed a professional
partnership with the late Dr. Samuel Langdon.
In 1856, his connection with the State
Insane Asylum at Stockton commenced. In that year, the Legislature having twice
failed to elect directors for the institution, owing to partisan disagreements,
the official authority and existence of the sitting board terminated. Whereupon
Governor J. Neely Johnson appointed a new board of directors, of which Dr.
Shurtleff was one, his commission being dated April 28, 1856. He served for
about a year in that capacity, or until the new board was seated.
The Legislature of 1863 elected the
Doctor, to a place on the board of directors once more, and he was commissioned
by Governor Leland Stanford May 1, 1863. On that board he was elected
president, and served in that capacity as long as he was a member. For the
information of the Legislature of 1864-’65, replying to adverse criticism which
portended ill for the asylum he prepared a paper on the conduct of the
institution generally, which disarmed the adverse assaults, and created a revolution
in sentiment of that body. One weapon of the assailing party was the alleged
unhealthfulness of the Stockton climate, but the Doctor effectually squelched
this objection with the others. From that time on, his recommendations and
suggestions for the welfare of the asylum were accorded that respect and
attention so necessary in the management of a great public charge.
On the 1st of August, 1865, at
a joint meeting of the board of directors and the board of medical visitors, he
was elected Medical Superintendent of the institution, and by virtue of said
election, it being to a State office, he was also commissioned to the same by
Governor F. F. Low. Having resigned his office as director, he assumed the
duties of the new position on the 5th of August. On the first
Tuesday of April, 1869, he was re-elected, and commenced upon another term of
four years. However, the Legislature of 1870 passed a new law governing the
matter, which was approved April 4 of that year, and by its terms the time of
election for medical superintendent was changed so that a new election for
medical superintendent was changed so that a new election was necessary on the
10th of June, 1870, which resulted in the Doctor being again chosen
to the position. He was re-elected in 1874, again in 1878, and finally in 1882.
He held the position until October, 1883, when declining health and weakened
energy admonished him to resign, thus closing a career of usefulness in
connection with the institution which will always stand as one of the brightest
in its history, for it was during this time that the State Asylum for the
Insane at Stockton took rank among the best conducted in the country.
The great value of Dr. Shurtleff’s service
as superintendent is a matter of universal recognition as well as of historic
record in connection with the institution.
His resignation was accepted by the board
of directors with profound regret, and the action of the board thereon, and the
note of the secretary is here given, with the resolutions which it accompanied:
“Stockton,
October 16th, 1883.
“Dr. G. A. Shurfleff, Napa,
California.
“Dear Sir:--At the meeting of the Board of
Directors of the State Insane Asylum, held on the 10th instant, the
subject of your resignation being under consideration, Mr. Cutting introduced
the accompanying preamble and resolutions, which, on motion of Mr. McLellan,
were unanimously adopted, and the Secretary ordered to spread them upon the
minutes of the Board and to transmit a copy to you.
“Yours very respectfully,
“N. M. Orr, Secretary.”
The
following are the resolutions:
“Whereas, Dr. G. A. Shurtleff, for many
years the faithful and efficient Superintendent of the State Asylum, has
presented his resignation, and asked to be released from the cares and
responsibilities of that important position; there fore,
“Be it resolved by the Board of
Directors, That it is with feelings of sincere regret that we are compelled
to accept the resignation of so competent and trusted an official, and to allow
him to sever his connection with the institution whose interests he has so
carefully guarded by his unselfish devotion to duty, and untiring labors for
the unfortunate who have been the objects of his care.
“That his management of the Asylum over
which he has so long had control merits not only the approbation of this Board,
but has the unqualified endorsement of the whole people of the State, whose
interests he has zealously guarded and whose wards he has attended with
parental care.
“That by his retirement the State loses an
able and faithful public officer, and all who have held relations with him in
an official capacity an intelligent adviser and a genial and courteous friend.
“That the members of this Board gratefully
acknowledge the innumerable acts of courtesy and kindness extended them by the
retiring Superintendent, and return him their sincere thanks for his untiring
efforts in aiding to make the direction and management of this institution a
success, and acceptable to the people of the State.
“That it is with regret that we realize
that the arduous labors, together with the heavy responsibilities borne by Dr.
Shurtleff during the long period of his connection with this institution, have
caused an impairment of his physical health; and we sincerely hope that a
release from his onerous duties may cause a speedy recovery, and that he may be
granted many more years of happiness and usefulness.”
While his direct labor in connection with
the asylum during so many years were heavy, many other demands were made upon
his time and attention from other sources in the line of his profession, which
it has always been his aim to promote, and much has been accomplished as a
result of his efforts. He was author of the bill which was passed by the
Legislature of 1872, providing for a second asylum for the insane of
California, and providing for its proper government. On the 10th of
April, of the same year, in pursuance of this act, he was appointed by Governor
Booth one of the three commissioners to select a location for it, which
resulted in the establishment of the “Napa State Asylum for the Insane,” his
colleagues being the late Judge Swift, of Sacramento, and Dr. E. T. Wilkins,
the present Superintendent.
In 1872 he was elected president of the
“Medical Society of the State of California,” and as such recommended in his
annual address in April, 1873, an addition to its organic law, providing for a
Standing Committee on Mental Diseases and the Medical Jurisprudence of
Insanity, which was promptly adopted. He had previously assisted in the revival
of said society, after its years of suspension, and was its first vice-president,
upon its reorganization in 1870.
On the 2d of June, 1873, he was elected
Professor of Mental Diseases and Medical Jurisprudence in the Medical
Department of the University of California, which appointment is understood to
have been made on the recommendation of the then president of the university,
D. C. Gilman, now president of the John Hopkins University, and at the request
of the medical faculty of the department. Not accepting the position at once
and taking time to prepare for its duties, he delivered his first course of
lectures in 1875, and continued his lectures annually until his sudden failure
of health in 1883, when he was compelled to withdraw from the active duties of
his chair. But his resignation was not accepted until March 2, 1886, when, at
the date of its acceptance by them, he was appointed by the Board of Regents to
be Emeritus Professor of Mental Diseases and Medical Jurisprudence, which
honorary position he now holds. In addition to the foregoing it may be added,
to correspond with the official reports of the University, that on the
reorganization of the medical faculty, in 1878, Dr. Shurtleff was re-elected
to, or continued in, the chair he had been occupying.
As a member of the Association of Medical
Superintendents of American Institutions for the Insane, he attended and took
an active part in the meeting of the association held, respectively, at
Madison, Wisconsin, in 1872, Baltimore in 1873, and New York in 1880.
He took a leading part in the organization
of the “San Joaquin Medical Society,” in 1875, and was its first president.
As an active member of the “American
Medical Association,” he was elected, in June, 1876, the sole delegate for the
State of California to the “International Medical Congress as their
representative therein, for and during the year from the 6th day of
June, 1876.” But owing to the demands upon his time as the medical
superintendent of the asylum under his charge, he did not attend this congress
of medical representatives of all nations.
He helped organize the San Joaquin Valley
Society of California Pioneers, and was its first president. He is also a
member of the “California Society of Pioneers,” San Francisco, and of the
“California Historical Society.”
At the time of the organization of St.
John’s Protestant Episcopal Church, in 1851, he was elected vestryman, and he
has been elected every year since, making a service for the extra-ordinary
period of thirty-nine years.
He belongs to other organizations for
charitable and humane objects, and has held official stations therein. But,
they not being public in their operations, a detailed recount of his connection
therewith may be without interest or importance to the general community.
Dr. Shurtleff has been an occasional
contributor to the literature of his profession for many years, especially to
that branch of it which has so long been his specialty.
His communication already alluded to,
designed to convey more full and correct information concerning the State
Insane Asylum and the climate of its locality, to the Legislature of 1864-’65,
was published by that body. His address before the State Medical Society in
1873 on the subject of “Medical Jurisprudence of Insanity,” was ordered
published for distribution by a vote of the society without reference to the
usual committee, to the extent of 3,500 copies. In 1876 he read a paper before
the same society on the “Obscure Forms of Epilepsy and the Responsibility of
Epileptics,” which was published in the proceedings in full. In 1877 he read a
paper before the San Joaquin County Medical Society on “Suicide,” which was
published by the society.
In 1878 he delivered the annual address in
behalf of the faculty at the commencement exercises of the Medical Department
of the University of California, taking for his subject the “Elements of
Professional Success,” which was published in the medical journals and in
pamphlet form by request.
His official Asylum Reports, respectively,
either as director, in behalf of the board, or as medical superintendent, in
all cover a period of twenty-one years, his first being the directors, report
for the year 1856.
During the time embraced in the above
statement he contributed a number of other papers, reports and communications
to the State and to the county medical societies, and to other channels of
publication, on medical and sanitary subjects. But his systematic and more
important services of this kind, were preformed in the delivery of his annual
courses of lectures, while filling the chair of Mental Diseases and Medical
Jurisprudence, in the Medical Department of the University, between the years
1874 and 1883, as before stated.
The Doctor was married August 5, 1846, to
Mary Jane Nye. His wife was the daughter of Rev. Jonathan Nye. She was born in
Claremont, New Hampshire, in 1822; but her father was a native of Wareham,
Massachusetts, a graduate of Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, and a
clergyman, settled in Claremont at the time of her birth. Her mother was
English or Anglo-Canadian, whose maiden name was Rhodes. Mrs. Shurtleff died in
Stockton April 13, 1882. She was a devoted and efficient member of St. John’s
Protestant Episcopal Church. She was prominent in the organization and
dispensation of non-sectarian aid to the poor and needy.
Since his withdrawal from the labors and
responsibilities of his great charge, Dr. Shurtleff has lived retired from
business cares, enjoying a well-earned repose. Having lived in Stockton since
the pioneer days and been intimately associated with the city and its people during
all that time, he has a place in the hearts of her people such as is held
probably by no other man, and on account of his many traits of character, is
regarded with an esteem amounting almost to affection.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
An Illustrated History of San Joaquin County,
California, Pages 281-287. Lewis Pub.
Co. Chicago, Illinois 1890.
© 2008 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
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