History of Goshen, (Clermont County) Ohio United States of America

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John A. Thacker, Editor of the Medical News, was born in the village of Goshen, Clermont county, Ohio, at a point about twenty miles distant from Cincinnati, January 1st, 1833. His father, John Thacker, was also a physician, whose father moved to Ohio from the State of New York at an early date. On the paternal side there exists a family record which dates back to 1750. His forefathers were highly respectable farmers in easy circumstances. On the maternal side the family history extends to a period preceding for many years the revolt of the colonies, to a Mr. Gardner, who came from England, and purchased the island in Long Island Sound known as "Gardner's Island." His maternal grandmother, whose maiden name was Lucretia Willis, was a cousin of the wife of General Greene, of Revolutionary celebrity. In his earlier days he attended the common schools of his village, and also the Wittenberg College, of Springfield, Ohio. On the completion of his general literary education, he commenced the study of medicine under the preceptorship of a second cousin, Dr. Townsend Thacker, of Goshen, Ohio, and March 1st, 1856, graduated at the Miami Medical College. The day succeeding the reception of his diploma, he, with a number of other competitors, was examined in order to ascertain his fitness for an important position in the St. John's Hospital, of Cincinnati, now known as the Good Samaritan Hospital. On this occasion he was one of the two successful candidates. His stay in the hospital was, however, of limited duration, for, receiving the appointment of Physician to the Hamilton County Lunatic Asylum, he at once removed to that institution. At the expiration of ten months he resigned his position in the asylum, and entered on the practice of medicine in Cincinnati, where he has since resided. While engaged in the Asylum, although nominally the assistant physician, the superintendence of the entire establishment devolved on him, the nominal superintendent not residing on the premises, and visiting the house but a few times per week, his visits averaging in duration from a half hour to an hour. During the early period of his practice he acted for a time as Secretary of the Academy of Medicine of Cincinnati, and prepared its proceedings, embodying lengthy discussions from month to month, for publication in the medical journals. He is a ready writer, and has contributed extensively to both literary and medical journals. During the existence of the Quarterly Journal of Psychological Medicine, of New York, edited by Professor W. A. Hammond, M. D., he published in its columns many interesting and valuable articles on subjects of Psychology. Several of those contributions attracted much attention, and received highly eulogistic notices from the press--one of them afterward appearing in an English Quarterly. He has also been a contributor to the London Lancet; and in the Monthly Microscopical Journal of London, for April, 1875, is a lengthy article written by him, copied from the journal which he at present edits, the Cincinnati Medical News, on the performance of microscopic lenses of various powers. During the years 1861-62, he edited the Cincinnati Medical and Surgical News, and in 1868 was made editor of the Medical Repertory, which journal he continues to edit, its name having been changed to the Medical News. His vigorous editorial writings contributed importantly to the breaking down of the almost entire monopoly of the Cincinnati Hospital by a single medical college, and was the cause, in a great measure, of the establishment by the trustees of the institution of a rule by which college professors were rendered incapable of holding a position upon the hospital staff. And this was the first time in the history of the hospital that all the regular medical colleges enjoyed its clinical advantages on an equal footing. During the years 1863-64 he held the Chair of Anatomy in the Cincinnati College of Medicine and Surgery, lecturing through two terms. Although he taught anatomy acceptably, he resigned its professorship in consequence of the chair not being in accordance with his tastes. In the fall of 1867 he was made Professor of Psychology and Diseases of the Mind in the same institution, a branch of science congenial to his taste, and in whose cultivation he has expended much time and attention. In 1871, upon a reorganization of the faculty, he became Professor of the Principles and Practice of Medicine, vice Dr. B. S. Lawson, resigned, and has since occupied that chair. He has also devoted his attention closely and persistently to microscopy, and has probably the greatest number of fine lenses of eminent makers throughout the world of any private individual in the United States. He possesses also a very large and rich cabinet of microscopic objects, and the Medical News contains a microscopic department (a need met by no other journal in the country), to which many of the most distinguished microscopists contribute. He is an honorary member of several microscopic societies, in Memphis, San Francisco, etc., and is a member also of various medical societies.

From: The Biographical Encyclopedia of Ohio of the Nineteenth Century. Columbus, OH, USA: Galaxy Publishing Co., 1876.

History of Goshen, (Clermont County) Ohio

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