Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

On June 15, 1840 he married Amelia Lee Jackson who was the daughter of Justice Charles Jackson at King’s Chapel in Boston. The couple had three children - Amelia Lee Jackson, Edward Jackson Holmes and Oliver Wendell Holmes who was an officer of Civil War and an American jurist. His wife died on February 6, 1888.

He died on October 7, 1894 while in sleep. He was buried in the ‘Mount Auburn Cemetery’ in Cambridge, Massachusetts beside his wife.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. was born on August 29, 1809 in Cambridge, Massachusetts to Reverend Abiel Holmes and his second wife Sarah Wendell. His father an enthusiast in history was a minister of the ‘First Congressional Church’ and his mother was the daughter of a wealthy merchant.

Since childhood he suffered from asthma. He was considered a bright and talented boy. He used to visit his father’s library often and explored the writings of the likes of Oliver Goldsmith and John Dryden. He wrote his first poem at thirteen.

He was taught by William Bigelow and Dame Prentiss and was later enrolled in the ‘Port School” in Cambridgeport. His teachers often scolded him for reading stories at school.

At fifteen Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. was sent to ‘Phillips Academy’ in Andover in Massachusetts by his father who wanted Holmes to follow his footsteps. The academy was renowned for its traditional Calvinist teachings but Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. did not want to be a theologian and thus did not savour the year he spent at the academy.

At sixteen he joined the ‘Harvard College’ and completed his graduation in 1829.

In 1830, he penned down many poems of which he gave twenty five to ‘The Collegian’ a publication formed by his Harvard friends. Four of these were counted among his best writings. His other poem ‘The Last Leaf’ was considered as one of his finest works. Abraham Lincoln was all praise about the poem.

His two essays under the title ‘The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table’ were published by the ‘New England Magazine’ in November 1831 and in February 1832 detailing life as observed from his boarding’s breakfast table. The two essays came out to be one of his most finest and popular works.

Post his graduation he joined ‘Boston Medical Society’, ‘Boston Society for Medical Improvement’ and ‘Massachusetts Medical Society’.

In 1837, he won the ‘Boylston Prize’ from the ‘Harvard Medical School’ after placing a paper on the benefits of stethoscope. Thereafter, he joined the ‘Boston Dispensary’. He and his peers set up the ‘Tremont Medical School’ in Boston which was afterwards merged with the ‘Harvard Medical School’.

In 1838, he became a Fellow of the ‘American Academy of Arts and Sciences’.

He wrote a patriotic poem, ‘Old Ironsides’ which was published in the ‘Boston Daily Advertiser’ on September 16, 1830 opposing the dismantling and scrapping of the 18th century old Navy frigate ‘USS Constitution’. The poem garnered national attention and brought him praise resulting in preserving of the historic ship.

His essay ‘The Contagiousness of puerperal fever’ published in 1843 and re-published in 1855 as ‘Puerperal Fever as a Private Pestilence’ was considered one of his remarkable and revolutionary contributions to medical science and its practices.