Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Curtiss, Romaine J, M D ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/il/ilfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com November 10, 2007, 1:22 pm Author: Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County ROMAINE J. CURTISS, M. D. Those who possess originality of mental attributes form striking figures in local or general history. In keenness of perceptive qualities, in clearness of mind and firmness of convictions, Dr. Curtiss has a leading position among Joliet physicians and surgeons. His record is that of a man fearless in the defence of truth, firm in the expression of his opinions, even when these convictions are diametrically opposed to the views of his co- laborers. A constant student of his profession, he has kept in touch with every development that has been made in the medical science, and has himself been a leader in the forward march of discovery and research. Many generations gone by, in the remote past, the Curtiss family emigrated from Spain, where its members had long lived in peace under their own vine and fig tree, and settled in the less genial England. From there three brothers came with the Cambridge colony to America, settling in Connecticut and Massachusetts. During the Revolutionary war the family was represented at the front. Zurial Curtiss, a native of Connecticut, removed to Cayuga County, N. Y., where his son, Newell, was born. Later he settled in the timber near Plymouth, Richland County, Ohio, where he reared his family on a farm and spent his remaining years. Newell Curtiss was a farmer, and also owned a saw and grist mill, and engaged in the manufacture of lumber and flour, having his mill near New Haven, Huron County, Ohio, where he moved soon after the birth of his son, Romaine J. After a busy and active life he retired to the quiet of his home and is now living at Norwalk, Ohio, at the 28 age of more than ninety years. He married Marilla Sage, who was born in Oswego, N. Y., and is still living; her father, Roswell, was a farmer in New York. Of four children Dr. Curtiss was the eldest, and is now the sole survivor. He was born near Plymouth, Ohio, October 1, 1840, and was reared in Huron County. At seventeen years of age he entered Hillsdale (Mich.) College, where he remained for two years. He then took up the study of medicine under Dr. Charles Richards of New Haven, after which he entered the Buffalo Medical College with the intention of completing his course there. However, the Civil war came on and he enlisted as a medical cadet in the army. He was assigned to duty on a hospital boat containing the wounded from Vicksburg who were being taken to St. Louis, and made several similar trips until illness forced him to resign. In 1864 he graduated from Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati as an M. D., and shortly afterward entered the navy as assistant surgeon on the United States flagship ''General Burnside," assigned to the Mississippi squadron, eleventh division. At the close of the war he returned home on an extended furlough, and four months later was discharged. For seven years Dr. Curtiss practiced at Andover, N. Y. While there, through an accident on the railroad, eighty people were killed and sixty wounded. After the accident he was the first on the ground, and was given charge of the wounded. Later he was made surgeon for the Buffalo & Erie (now the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern) Railroad, being the first railroad surgeon ever appointed in the United States. In September, 1873, he came to Joliet and opened an office for practice. He soon built up a reputation for efficiency and skill. For years he was surgeon for the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern, and the Santa Fe roads; for ten years was surgeon in charge of St. Joseph Hospital, and also acted as surgeon for steel wire mills, etc; He was the first health commissioner of Joliet and organized the health department, also wrote all of the ordinances for the same. On the reorganization of the Will County Medical Society he was its president for a year, and later served as secretary for thirteen years, but in 1895 resigned. Fraternally he is connected with the Masons, Odd Fellows and Grand Army, and in religion he is a Catholic. The thoroughness of the researches which Dr. Curtiss has made in the realm of bacteriology and in hygiene have brought him into prominence. After long years of study, investigation and experiment, he came to the conclusion that disease is incurable, but its prevention is possible, and therefore he has advocated hygiene and prevention rather than cure. Logically, he practices the prevention of disease and is an ardent hygienist. In explanation of his theory and in proof of its validity, he has contributed papers frequently to medical journals, and these have been studied by members of the profession throughout the entire country. Recently considerable attention was attracted to him through his letter to Andrew Carnegie, inviting him to invest a princely adequate sum of money in the erection of a great technical school where people might be taught the science of hygiene and longevity. In 1882 he was elected to the chair of bacteriology and hygiene, and the chair of general pathology in the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Chicago. After he had commenced to lecture there he took up the germ theory as being the true cause of disease. The other twenty members of the faculty at first opposed his theory, but in time they were converted to the principle; meantime, however, the struggle was a hard one for him, as he was denounced by many, and only the influence of Dr. Senn, the famous surgeon, saved him from being asked to resign. After ten years in the college he withdrew to private life. Like all discoverers of new ideas, he has made enemies in his professional career, but he has also made many warm friends and, by his originality of thought and force of character has won for himself an honorable position in the world of thought. Additional Comments: Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County Illinois Containing Biographies of Well Known Citizens of the Past and Present, Biographical Publishing Company, Chicago, 1900 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/will/bios/curtiss1164gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/ilfiles/ File size: 6.6 Kb