Dr. Simon Gratz Moses

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/11164846/simon-gratz-moses

Physician. Born in Philadelphia, Dr. Moses obtained his early education at Clermont Seminary. He then entered the University of Pennsylvania and graduated in 1832. Immediately after receiving his degree, he began the study of medicine with Dr. Isaac Hays, the distinguished physician who became widely known throughout the United States as editor of the "Journal of the Medical and Physical Sciences," and as the author of medical and scientific works. After graduating from the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania in the class of 1835, he soon began his practice in New Jersey.

He was engaged in active practice in Bordentown, when at the suggestion of Professor Nathaniel Chapman, he became the private physician to Joseph Bonaparte, ex-King of Spain and brother of Napoleon the Great, who had a country estate near Bordentown. He accompanied Bonaparte to Europe, and through this historical professional connection was brought into contact with many of the most renowned men of the Old World.

Upon his return to the United States, he spent a little time in Philadelphia and then moved to St. Louis in 1841, where he again engaged in general practice. In addition to his labors as a successful and popular practitioner, he at once became identified with the educational and charitable work associated with his profession. Along with Dr. J. H. Johnson, Dr. William McPheeters and others, he established the first regular dispensary in St. Louis. He also served as health officer and became connected with the Medical Department of Kemper College as lecturer on obstetrics and diseases of women. Later he was elected to the chair of obstetrics at Missouri Medical College and held that position until he resigned in 1853.

During the Civil War he openly expressed sympathy with the Confederate cause, and the fact that his two sons enlisted in the Confederate Army, caused him to be arrested and thrown into the St. Louis military prison by order of the Federal provost marshal. After a few days' imprisonment with several other prominent St. Louisans who were also "Southern sympathizers," he was sent under guard inside the Confederate lines. He at once volunteered to assist in the care of the sick and wounded Confederate soldiers, and was on duty in the hospitals at Savannah, Georgia until near the end of the war.

After the war he returned to St. Louis and resumed his practice, continuing to hold high rank among the physicians of the city for many years thereafter.He was an active member of the St. Louis Medical Society, and one of the founders of the Obstetrical and Gynecological Society, and also of the Medico-Chirurgical Society.

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Simon Gratz Moses was born on October 6, 1813 to Rachel Gratz and Solomon Moses in Philadelphia. He attended medical school at the University of Pennsylvania, and began a private practice in Bordentown, NJ. In 1839, Dr. Moses served as a private physician to Napoleon Bonaparte's oldest brother in Europe. In 1840, he returned to Philadelphia, and in 1841 moved to St. Louis, MO. His career in St. Louis involved working as a President for the first public dispensary, teaching at Kemper College, and becoming a founder of the St. Louis Obstetrical and Gynecological Society. In the Civil War, he was arrested for having Southern sympathies and sent to Savannah, GA to care for the sick. He resumed his private office in St. Louis at the war's completion. Dr. Moses had two sons and two daughters by his first wife, Mary Porter Ashe, and after her death,married Mrs. Marie Atchison, a widow. He died February 21, 1897.

A handwritten diary by Simon G. Moses kept during his medical studies at the University of Pennsylvania. The diary contains observations of daily life, Jewish life on the frontier, of relations with Moses' family, and insights into the practice of medicine in the early and mid-nineteenth century. Included within the diary are loose letters written by a family member (undated) and Simon G. Gratz in Savannah, GA (1864). A fragment newspaper clipping of his obituary and his funeral hymn are also enclosed.

From Guide to the Simon Gratz Moses diary, undated, 1832-1833, 1842, 1864, 1897

P-775

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