Multnomah-Marion County OR Archives Biographies.....Giesy, M. D., Andrew Jackson October 19, 1853 - 
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Ila L. Wakley iwakley@msn.com May 19, 2010, 9:05 pm

Source: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. III, Published 1928, Pages 303 - 304
Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company

     DR. ANDREW JACKSON GIESY has long held a place in the front rank of the 
medical men of Portland, where for the past forty-three years he has 
tirelessly and unselfishly devoted his efforts to the amelioration of human 
suffering and to prolonging life, and no citizen here holds a higher place in 
public confidence and esteem. He was born at Fort Steilacoom, Pierce county, 
Washington, on the 19th of October, 1853, and is a son of Christian and Emma 
(Wagner) Giesy, the former a native of Switzerland and the latter of 
Pennsylvania. Christian Giesy was a little lad of five years when brought by 
his parents to the United States, the voyage being made in an old time sailing 
vessel which consumed six weeks in crossing the Atlantic. The family home was 
established twelve miles from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where Andrew Giesy, 
the paternal grandfather of Dr. Giesy of this review, reared his family of 
fourteen children. In 1845 he joined a colony going to Shelby county, 
Missouri, residing there until 1855, at which date he removed with his family 
to Washington, making the trip by way of the Isthmus of Panama. He located 
near the Willapa river in the Golden state and there passed away in 1860. His 
widow, Mrs. Barbara Giesy, then removed to Marion county, Oregon, where she 
died in 1866. Christian Giesy, son of Andrew and Barbara Giesy and father of 
Dr. A. J. Giesy, was a farmer by occupation. He met a tragic death, being 
accidentally drowned in the bay near Oysterville, Washington, in 1857. His 
widow, Mrs. Emma (Wagner) Giesy, and her children, together with the mother of 
Christian Giesy, subsequently took up their abode in Aurora, Marion county, 
Oregon, where the latter died, as above stated. Mrs. Emma Giesy passed away in 
Portland in 1916.

     Andrew J. Giesy, who was but three years and eight months old when he 
lost his father, was reared on a farm in the Willapa country of Washington to 
the age of eight, when, in 1861, he came to Oregon to make his home with an 
uncle. He early engaged in farm work and when a youth of sixteen obtained a 
clerkship in a country drug store at Aurora, where he was thus employed for 
four years. During this period he had the advantage of the instruction and 
counsel of Christian Wolff, a graduate of the university at Goettingen, 
Germany, and a minister of the gospel, who took an interest in the youth and 
taught him much that proved of value to him in his later life. Having 
determined to devote his life to the healing art, Andrew J. Giesy matriculated 
in the medical school of Willamette University, at Salem, from which he was 
graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1876. He first located for 
practice in Aurora, Oregon, where he engaged in the work of his chosen 
profession for five years, and then went to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for 
post¬graduate study in the Jefferson Medical College. In March, 1882, he 
returned to Salem, Oregon, where he remained for three years. He was appointed 
assistant physician at the Oregon State Hospital (Salem) under the 
superintendent, Dr. H. Carpenter, and thus served for two years or until his 
resignation in October, 1885, at which time he located in Portland, where for 
forty-three years he has rendered able and appreciated service to his 
fellowmen in the field of medicine and surgery.  He has a well equipped office 
in the Oregonian building and has always commanded a large and representative 
practice, serving as family physician to many of the old families of this 
community. He has been medical director of the Oregon Life Insurance Company 
since its organization.

     On the 10th of November, 1886, in Salem, Oregon, Dr. Giesy was united in 
marriage to Miss Ida Harriet Church, who was born at Harrisburg, Oregon, in 
1862. They are the parents of a son, Paul Church, born in Portland, September 
29, 1887, who is now manager of the Marvin Hall Safe Company. The Doctor is a 
member of the Arlington Club, belongs to the Multnomah County Medical Society, 
the Oregon State Medical Society, the American Medical Association, the 
American College of Physicians and Surgeons, and is a member of the medical 
staff of the Good Samaritan Hospital. He has shown an active and effective 
interest in everything relating to the welfare of his city and was a member of 
the city board of health during the administration of Dr. Harry Lane as mayor. 
To Dr. Giesy, Dr. George F. Wilson and R. C. Yenny belongs the credit for the 
enactment of the state law requiring the inspection of dairies, and in various 
other ways Dr. Giesy has shown a practical interest in the general welfare of 
the public. He has always been a close student of his profession, keeping in 
touch with the latest advances in the healing art, is frequently called into 
consultation by his professional colleagues and is regarded as one of 
Portland's most capable physicians and skilled surgeons. Kindly and affable in 
manner, he possesses the ability to inspire confidence on the part of his 
patients and his uniform success in practice has won for him the sincere 
respect of all who know him.

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