Chatham County GaArchives Biographies.....Train, John Kirk after 1869 - living in 1913
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 October 15, 2004, 12:23 am

Author: William Harden
p. 657-658

   JOHN KIRK TRAIN, M.D., one of the prominent and successful members of the
medical profession of Savannah, Georgia, is a son of one of Savannah's best
known and most highly esteemed citizens, Prof. Hugh Fred Train, who for over
forty years served as principal of the high school in this city. From a review
of his life published a few years ago, Ave make the following excerpt:

   Hugh Frederick Train is a native of the sturdy land of hills and heather,
having been born in Murkirk, Ayrshire, Scotland, June 27, 1831. He was reared
and educated in his native land, where he did efficient work as a university
student and later completed a two years' course in a normal training school in
the city of Glasgow. For five years thereafter he was a successful and popular
teacher in the parish school of Perth. About this time alarming symptoms began
to manifest themselves in the way of incipient disease of the lungs, and as his
brother had died of tuberculosis Mr. Train was admonished by his medical adviser
to seek a less rigorous climate, in order that his life might be prolonged and
the disease possibly averted. Under the care of a friend and former schoolmate
he was induced to come to America and settle in the South. In January, 1857, he
took up his residence in Bluffton, Beaufort district, South Carolina, where he
remained until the outbreak of the Civil .war, being there engaged in teaching.
In 1861, loyal to the cause of the Confederacy, he became a private in the Third
Regiment of South Carolina state troops. His right arm being practically
useless, as the result of an accident encountered when he was a boy, he was not
able to take part in the tactical drill and maneuvers, and consequently, after
two months of irregular service, he was appointed by Col. Charles J. Colcock,
commanding officer, to the position of commissary and acting quartermaster for
the squadron, consisting of three companies, being first in camp at Bluffton and
later at Camp Hartstein, and he was honorably discharged when the state troops
were formally mustered into the Confederate service. After the close of the war
Mr. Train found his home burned to the ground, his schoolroom plundered of
everything movable and the whole country steeped in poverty. He remained in
Bluffton one year, not earning enough to provide for ordinary necessities within
the period, and then removed to Savannah, where, through the influence of Mr.
Mallon, then superintendent of schools, he was appointed principal of the boys'
grammar school. In the following year the board of education conferred upon him
the appointment of principal of the Savannah high school, to succeed "William H.
Baker, who had been made superintendent, and this position he filled until his
retirement in 1910. His long term of service is an unequivocal voucher for the
successful work he performed and the high place he held in the esteem of both
pupils and patrons. Here he now lives in quiet retirement, and he is perhaps
more uniformly loved and respected in Savannah than any one of its most
illustrious upbuilders, and his good work will continue to blossom and bear
fruitage in this community as long as education is prized and knowledge is
rewarded. In politics he is a staunch Democrat, and his religious faith is that
of the Presbyterian church, both he and his wife having for many years been
identified with the First Presbyterian church of Savannah. Mrs. Train was
formerly Miss Elizabeth Frew, being a daughter of James and Mary Frew, of
Savannah. They were married December 29, 1869, and of the six children given to
them, only two are now living: William Frew Train, who is engaged in the
insurance business in Savannah, and Dr. John Kirk Train, whose name introduces
this sketch.

   John Kirk Train was born and reared in Savannah. After his graduation from
the high school he began the study of medicine, which he pursued in the medical
department of the University of Virginia and in Bellevue Hospital Medical
College, New York, graduating from the latter institution with the class of
1900. Following his graduation he spent three years as interne in Bellevue
Hospital. He began the practice of his profession in Savannah in 1904, and from
the time he opened his office has met with success. In addition to conducting a
general practice, he is medical examiner for the Pacific Mutual Life Insurance
Company, the Massachusetts Life and the Penn Mutual Life Insurance companies.

   Doctor Train is a member of various medical societies, including the American
Medical Association. He is ex-president of the District Medical Association of
Georgia (comprised of the counties included in the first congressional
district), and he is on the staff of the Savannah Hospital, St. Joseph's
Hospital, the Telfair Hospital, and the Georgia Infirmary. For three years he
was surgeon, with the rank of major, of the First Regiment of Georgia Infantry.
Outside of Savannah he is a member of the Bellevue Hospital Alumni Society and
of the Southern Society in New York City.

   He is a member, of Ancient Landmark Lodge, F. & A. M., a member of the
Savannah Lodge of Elks, and is president of the St. Andrew's Society of Savannah.

   Doctor Train has a wife and two children, Lilla and John Kirk, Jr. Mrs.
Train, before her marriage Miss Lilla Comer, is a daughter of the late H. M.
Comer, of Savannah, who was president of the Central Georgia Railway, and who
was held in high regard as a leading and influential citizen.



Additional Comments:
From:

A HISTORY OF SAVANNAH AND SOUTH GEORGIA
BY
WILLIAM HARDEN

VOLUME I
ILLUSTRATED
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
CHICAGO AND NEW YORK
1913

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