Short Biography of George W. Spencer

GEORGE WARREN SPENCER, Cleveland, Ohio, was born at Shalersville, Ohio, December 8, 1850, son of Alexander P. and Mary E. (Thomson) Spencer. His ancestors for several generations have been New Englanders and descendants of sturdy English stock. His maternal great-grandfather, Samuel Thomson, was the founder of the botanic system of medicine, now called the "Physeo-Medical School." He was born in Vermont, February 19, 1769, and early developed his knowledge of native plants and their medicinal properties ; and he did more than any other one man in America in developing the medical properties of indigenous plants. Before his death he established botanical societies in nearly every state in the union, many certificates of membership in such societies still being extant. Dr. George Warren Spencer was educated in Hiram and Oberlin colleges, and later took up the study of medicine in the "regular" department of the University of Michigan, and still later in the Cleveland Homœopathic Medical College. He practiced in Collinwood, Ohio, twenty-six years, in Shelby, Ohio, three years, and has practiced in Cleveland twenty-one years. In 1897 he took a special course in experimental physiology in the Columbia University laboratory in New York city, and in the summer of 1902 took further post-graduate work in St. Louis Hospital, Paris, France, also in the London. Skin Hospital and St. John's Hospital, London, devoting his entire attention to the study of skin diseases. He is dermatologist to the Cleveland Homœopathic and the Cleveland City hospitals, and professor of dermatology and physiology in the Cleveland Homœopathic Medical College. He is a member of the Ohio State Homœopathic Medical Society, the American Institute of Homœopathy and of the Northeastern Ohio Homœopathic Medical Society ; also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Dr. Spencer married January 29, 1879.

Source: "History of Homeopathy and Its Institutions in America; their founders, benefactors, faculties, officers, hospitals, alumni, etc., with a record of achievement of its representatives in the world of medicine." ¹⁵³⁸

GEORGE WARREN SPENCER, M. D.

Dr. George Warren Spencer, who for more than a quarter of a century has been continuously engaged in the practice of medicine at Cleveland, has made a specialty of dermatological work since 1891. He was born in Portage county, Ohio, on the 8th of December, 1850, a son of Alexander and Mary (Thomson) Spencer, who were natives of Poughkeepsie, New York, and Ohio respectively. The father was eighteen years of age when he took up his abode in Portage county, Ohio, where he gave his attention to general agricultural pursuits until the time of his demise, passing away in 1889 at the age of sixty-eight years. His wife, who was born on the same farm which was the birthplace of their son, George W., survived him for but three weeks.

George Warren Spencer remained on the home farm until twenty-two years of age and obtained his early education in the district schools. Subsequently he attended Hiram College and afterward pursued a course in Oberlin University, studying and teaching alternately from the age or nineteen until he took up the study of medicine in 1874. He first spent two years in the office of Dr. E. Hahn at Latonia, Ohio, and then entered the department of medicine and surgery of the University of Michigan, from which institution he was graduated in June, 1878, winning the degree of M. D. The following August he located for practice at Collinwood, now a part of Cleveland, where he continued for two years. He then practiced at Shelby, Ohio, until the spring of 1883, when he returned to Cleveland and has here since remained, his patronage constantly growing in volume and importance. He took the chair of dermatology at the Cleveland Medical College in 1891, but resigned in 1893 in order to accept the chairs of dermatology and physiology at the University of Medicine and Surgery, which he has since held. The two institutions were later combined under the name of the Cleveland Homeopathic Medical College, and there he has built up the most complete working physiological laboratory in the country. In 1897 he pursued a post graduate course at the Columbia University of New York in laboratory work in physiology, while in 1902 he attended the St. Louis Hospital of Paris and also took a course in dermatological work at the London Skin Hospital. He has made a specialty of dermatology since 1891 and is very successful m this branch of practice. He has been on the staff of the Huron Street Hospital for many years and also on the city hospital staff for some years. Broad minded and liberal in his views, he has labored rather for the advancement of the medical science in general than for his particular school and has been a frequent contributor to medical journals, having written many valuable articles which have been favorably received by the profession. He belongs to the Cleveland Homeopathic Medical Society, the Northeastern Ohio Homeopathic Society, the Ohio State Homeopathic Society and the American Institute of Homeopathy.

On the 29th of January, 1880, at Collinwood, Dr. Spencer was united in marriage to Miss Lulu Thompson, of Red Oak, Iowa. They now have four children, as follows : Harry A., twenty-eight years of age, who is connected with the George Worthington Company of this city ; Myrtle, at home ; Stanley, a young man of twenty-four, who is in the employ of the Lake Shore Railroad Company; and George W. Jr., twenty-two years of age, who is still under the parental roof. The family residence is at No. 2196 East One Hundredth street.

Dr. Spencer is fond of travel and has visited many points of interest both in this country and abroad. He has membership relations with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Phi Kappa Psi and the Euclid Avenue Christian church. In professional and social life he holds to high standards and enjoys in large measure the confidence and trust of those with whom he is brought in contact in every relation of life.

Source: "A History of Cleveland Ohio" ¹⁵³⁹