Dallas County AlArchives Biographies.....Mabry, Albert Gallatin September 7 1810 - February 23 1874
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Ann Anderson alabammygrammy@aol.com May 20, 2004, 1:20 pm

Author: Brant & Fuller (1893)
   ALBERT GALLATIN MABRY, M. D.-To write the history of a good man, who is dead,
imposes upon us two duties--a duty to him in order to testify our appreciation
of the good qualities exhibited by him in his successful career; and a duty we
owe to the living whom he has left behind him, to make use of his example, to
point to them how to follow in his footsteps to a like pinnacle of conspicuous
eminence among their fellow-men. Who more deserving of honor than the dead
physician? Think of the heroism his life portrays. Where is true bravery,
self-reliance, coolness in dangerous emergencies, and all manly traits of
character more necessary than in the career of the physician who maintains his
practice, and his professional and social influence and standing through a long
life time? To such a character this brief memoir is devoted. Albert Gallatin
Mabry was born near the town of Jerusalem, in Southampton county, Va., on the
7th day of September, 1810. His father was a farmer of high standing in the
community in which he lived, but died while Dr. Mabry was a small boy. He was
the only child of his father's second marriage. His mother married a second
time, but her second husband did not prosper in worldly matters, so that the boy
was taught at an early age those habits of enterprise and self-reliance that
bore subquently such admirable fruit. At the age of sixteen years he went to the
town of Jerusalem and engaged in business, but soon became dissatisfied with
this and engaged in the study of medicine, under the direction of Dr. William
Sharp, who rendered him valuable assistance. In later years this early
benefactor, wasted by age and infirmity, spent the closing days of his life in
Dr. Mabry's elegant residence, in Selma. Dr. Mabry graduated in the medical
department of the university of Pennsylvania in 1837, and began practice in
Whitesville, Ga. In 1843 he moved to Selma, Ala., where soon after his arrival
he formed a partnership with Dr. Drewry Fair, now deceased, a native of
Columbia, S. C. They remained together in active practice for many years, until
Dr. Fair moved away from Selma. Dr. Mabry soon became a member of what was then
known as the Alabama Medical society, but which is now known as the Dallas
county Medical society; was elected secretary of it in 1844, and president in
1850. While he was secretary the records of the society were accurately kept,
and the medical discusssions were reported with considerable detail and
thoroughness. In 1845, Dr. Mabry was married to Mrs. Martha Riggs Tartt, widow
of Thomas E. Tartt, formerly head of the firm of Tartt, Stewart & Co.,
commission merchants, Mobile. Mrs. Tartt had by her first marriage one child, a
daughter, who married Capt. Catesby ap Roger Jones, of the Confederate navy. Mr.
Tartt was pecuniarily very well off. Six children were the offspring of her
marriage with Dr. Mabry, five sons and one daughter. Two of the sons are dead.
In 1845, Dr. Mabry was awarded a silver cup, as a prize, by the Selma medical
society, for the best essay on congestive fever. In this essay he announced two
doctrines which were new at that time and which he tenaciously advocated until
his death. One was that malaria acted primarily on the nervous system. The other
was that quinine properly administered was a specific remedy for all malarial
fevers. In 1847, a resolution was passed by the society requesting the
secretary, Dr. Mabry, to make inquiries respecting the fitness of the old state
house, at Tuscaloosa, for a lunatic asylum, and the probable amount it would
cost to fit it up for that purpose. This was the beginning of the movement that
resulted in the establishment of the Alabama insane hospital. In 1853, Dr. Mabry
had to confront the great yellow fever epidemic of that year, and contributed an
account of it to the famous report made by Dr. Barton to the New Orleans city
council. As was the fashion in those days, Dr. Mabry believed it to be of
indigenous origin, and due probably to the excavations made on Water and Broad
streets, and the spreading of the excavated earth broadcast of adjacent streets.
About 1857 he retired from practice, and served for ten consecutive years, up to
1867, as a member of the Alabama legislature. In politics he was a states'
rights democrat. After the surrender of the Confederate armies, Dr. Mabry,
bereft of his ample fortune, turned his attention again to the practice of
medicine. But a practice once lost is hard to regain, and his practice never
again became very large. He was one of the prime movers in the organization, in
1847, of the Alabama state Medical association. In this year he was made
vice-president of the association, and presided at the Wetumpha session of 1849,
and also at the Selma session in 1852. He was also active in the re-organization
of the association after the war and was president over the sessions of 1868 and
1869. Amongst the papers contributed by him to the proceedings of the
association are the following: Report on the diseases of Selma and vicinity,
1852; The Medical profession-Presidential address, 1859; miasmatic fever, 1869;
observations on the medical properties of the sulphate of quinine, 1870; a case
of hemorrhagic malarial fever; reply to Dr. Osborn's criticisms of his paper on
quinine, 1872. He died in Selma, on the 23d day of February, 1874, of pneumonia.
He was a man of medium size, about five feet eight inches in height, and
probably never exceeded 140 pounds in weight. His health was never robust. He
was one of those small, wiry, dark haired men, so often met with, who are hardly
ever quite well, and hardly ever seriously sick, always careful of the laws of
health, and who seem to live by sheer force of will. In his habits he was
necessarily somewhat of a valetudinarian. He never used tobacco. In his latter
days it was his custom to have wine on his table at dinner, but he was
abstemious in the use of it. He took an active interest in everything promising
to promote the prosperity of Selma; at one time he was vice-president of the
Selma, Rome & Dalton railroad; and was director in the Selma & Meridian
railroad. He was a consistent and prominent member of the Protestant Episcopal
church, and was for thirty years a member of the vestry of St. Paul's church,
Selma. The facts of this are sketch taken from the memoir contributed by Dr. B.
H. Riggs to the transactions of the State Medical association for 1878.



Additional Comments:
from "Memorial Record of Alabama", Vol. I, p. 886-888
Published by
Brant & Fuller (1893)
Madison, WI

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