Person:Thomas Mayham (1)

Watchers
Thomas Friend Mayham
m. Abt 1818
  1. William Mayham1819 - 1879
  2. Isaac Oscar Mayham1821 - 1855
  3. Stephen Lorenzo Mayham1823 - 1908
  4. Unknown MayhamAbt 1825 -
  5. Louisa Mayham1826 - 1913
  6. Lourena Mayham1828 - 1906
  7. Thomas Friend Mayham1830 - 1907
  8. Jay Mayham1832 - 1873
  9. Charlotte Catherine Mayham1834 - 1924
  10. Henry C. Mayham1836 - 1855
  11. Mary Elizabeth Mayham1838 - 1906
  12. John Banks Mayham1841 - 1890
m. 26 Dec 1860
Facts and Events
Name Thomas Friend Mayham
Gender Male
Birth[1][2] 21 Jan 1830 New York, United States
Occupation[3] 1850 Teacher
Other[3] 1850 Blenheim, Schoharie County, New York With ParentsResidence 1
Occupation? 1860 Physician
Marriage 26 Dec 1860 Fond du Lac County, Wisconsinto Mary Elizabeth Baker
Death? 21 Jan 1907 Fond du Lac, Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin
Burial? Rienzi Cemetery, Fond du Lac, Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin

Thomas read medicine with his brother, Isaac, and was a leading physicianin Fond du Lac and was for eight terms its mayor. When he first went toFond du Lac a number of people became ill of a mysterious malady. Hediscovered that a crack in the grindstone of the mill had been mendedwith lead and that the illness of the people was due to lead poisoning.This added to his reputation. He was a surgeon in the Army during theCivil War.

Military Honor Roll, Civil War: Thomas was a surgeon in the Army during the Civil War.

Note: July 19, 1997 received the following information from Susan Spies:E-Mail: spezewiz@lvnworth.com The following is from 'History of Fond du Lac County' 1880, p.838:

T. F. MAYHAM, physician and surgeon; was born at Schoharie Co., N.Y.,whence he came to Fond du Lac Nov. 22, 1854. Dr. M. graduated fromMichigan University, and attended a full course at the Albany, N.Y.,Medical College; after which he taught school three terms in Empire, andwas engaged in introducing school-books until he began the practice ofhis profession in 1859; he was hospital surgeon at Cairo, Ill., threesyears from the fall of 1863. Dr. M. is a member of the State MedicalSociety, Chairman of the Democratic County Committee, member of the Boardof Supervisors; has been in the City Council four terms, in the Board ofEducation several years, and held other local offices. He was married atFond du Lac, Dec. 26, 1860, to Mary E., daughter of Col. Abner Baker, whosettled in Empire in 1847; she was born in Washington Co., N.Y.; theyhave one child - Bessie.

Found the following on the internet - www.Ancestry.com: Source Information: Library of Congress. "Pioneering the Upper Midwest:Books from Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, ca. 1820-1910. [databaseon-line] Washington: Library of Congress, 1999. Aiken, Andrew J. "Men ofProgress, Wisconsin". Milwaukee, WI: Evening Wisconsin Co., 1897. Wisconsin Men of Progress

MAYHAM, Dr. T. F., who as a citizen, public official and physician ofFond du Lac, has long had a strong hold upon the affections of the people in the community with which he hasbeen identified since his early manhood, was born in Blenheim, Schohariecounty, New York, January 30th, 1830. His grandfather, who was a nativeof the North of Ireland, came to New York in his youth, grew up there,and married a wife whose ancesters came to this country from Holland.John Mayham, the father of Dr. Mayham, married Betsey Ferguson, whosename evidences her Scotch ancestry on the paternal side. On the maternalside she was of mingled English and French extraction. A prosperousfarmers in that portion of New York state which is noted for its dairyproducts and the thrift and intelligence of its inhabitants, John Mayhamcarried on an extensive farming and dairy business, and his son, T. F.Mayham, received in early life a thorough industrial and economictraining. While his education was not neglected, he was brought up towork, and the habits of industry and intense activity which he acquiredas a result of this discipline, have enabled him to perform a prodigiousamount of work, when duties and responsibilities of various kinds crowdedupon him in later years. His father's family being a large one, a privateteacher looked after their education a portion of the time, and thesubject of this sketch also had the advantage of attendance at thedistrict schools. That he was a precocious student is evidenced by thefact that he began teaching school when only fourteen years of age, andwhen fifteen was in charged of a school with an enrollment of fifty orsixty pupils, two-thirds of whom were older than himself. There was nomistaking the bent of his mind, even in early childhood. As a boy he wasdelighted with the study of anatomy, and the earliest dissections he evermade were those of domestic animals, and his curative powers werefrequently tried on the same class of patients.

After quitting the common schools he continued his studies for a time atStanford academy in Delaware county, New York, and completed his preliminary education at Carlisleseminary. He then began the study of medicine in the office of Dr. IsaacMayham, an elder brother, who was practicing in Carlisle. While readingmedicine he also occupied, for two years, the chair of chemistry, geologyand botany in Carlisle seminary.

In the fall of 1852 he entered Albany Medical College, and, afterattending two full courses of lectures, was graduated in the class of1854. His college course completed, he found himself so much broken downin health, as a result of over-work and continuous application, that hislife was despaired of, both by his friends and eminent physicians withwhom he consulted. Violent hemorrhages frequently threatened to terminatehis existence; and, diagnosing his own case, he determined that nothingbut heroic treatment would save his life. It was this determination whichbrought him to Wisconsin in the fall of 1854, and for more than a yearthereafter he gave himself up wholly to the effort to regain his health.Rest, recreation, living in the open air, constant watchfulness and agrim determination to get well, brought a victory over disease.

In the winter of 1855-56 he taught school in the town of Empire, Fond duLac county, and, the following spring, was elected superintendent of schools in that town. This officehe held for three successive years, teaching school during the winters of1856-57. During those years, when not engaged in the discharge [p.213] ofhis official duties or teaching school, he traveled over the state,introducing a uniform system of text-books into the schools of the state.

In the fall of 1858 he decided to begin the practice of the professionfor which he had labored so earnestly to prepare himself, but beforedoing so he took a post-graduate course in the medical department of theUniversity of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, and in the spring of 1859 receivedhis diploma from that institution. His intention at that time was to seeka location in one of the states farther west; but upon his return to thetown of Empire he was called to render professional services to some ofhis old friends, and very soon he had entered upon a practice whichcontinued until the fall of 1863, when he went to Cairo, Illinois, aspost surgeon of the government military hospital there. He remained thereuntil early in 1866, when the close of the war, and the consequentdismantling of the hospitals, ended his term of service as a militarysurgeon. Returning to Wisconsin he located in Fond du Lac the followingsummer, and has practiced his profession in that city ever since withmarked success. In 1868 he took the Ad Eundem course in Chicago MedicalCollege, receiving the degree incident thereto in the spring of 1869, andkeeping in touch thereby with the advanced thought and most approvedmethods of practice in the profession.

It required but a short time for him to build up a general practice oflarge proportions in Fond du Lac, and his readiness to respond to everydemand made upon him, and thorough equipment for any emergency, hasbrought him to a constantly widening circle of patrons.

Quick in the diagnosis of cases and prompt in administering the properremedies, his methods of practice have been such as to commend him topatrons, and to enable him at the same time to perform an unusual amountof work. A sympathetic nature, and kindly, generous impulses, havecombined to make him always a welcome visitor in the sick-room, and to alarge proportion of the community with which he has been so longidentified, he has sustained the relations of family physician, counselorand friend.

The esteem in which Dr. Mayham is held by the people of Fond du Lac notonly been evidenced in a generous recognition of his professional ability, but by such frequentelections also to important official positions as have hardly been meted out to any other resident of thecity. He has served as a member of the country board of supervisors fourterms, was for many years a member of the city board of aldermen, and forsix years president of the council. For several years he was a member ofthe board of education, and was chosen president of the board four times.In 1882 he was first elected mayor of the city, and has since beenre-elected, serving in all eight terms as head of the city government.

During his incumbency of the office of mayor he was a most activepromoter of public improvements calculated to enhance the beauty, healthfulness and attractiveness of thecity. The water-works and sewerage systems, electric lighting and streetpaving improvements [p.214] were mainly constructed during hisadministrations, or as a result of movements set on foot with hisofficial sanction and assistance.

His first vote was cast for Franklin Pierce for President, in 1852, andhe has ever since affiliated with the Democratic party, wielding an important influence in local and statepolitics. In 1896 he refused to endorse the Chicago platform or to givehis support to the candidates nominated thereon, was a delegate to theIndianapolis convention that nominated as candidates Generals John M.Palmer and Simon B. Buckner, and gave his hearty support to and voted forthose candidates at the election. He is also a member of the Masonicfraternity and of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

In religion he is inclined to liberalism, but at the same time has been agenerous friend and patron of the churches of all denominations. Philanthropic in his instincts, charitableunder all circumstances, and equally ready to assist the unfortunate orto aid in promoting the general welfare of the community through publicenterprises and improvements, the testimony of those most competent tojudge of his merits is, that he has been a most worthy and useful citizen.

He was married in 1860, in the town of Empire, to Miss Mary E. Baker, whowas a native of New York state, and has on child, Bessie M., a young lady whose rare musicaltalents promise to achieve for her more than local celebrity.

References
  1. 1900 U.S. Census, Wisconsin, Fond du Lac County, Fond du Lac, T623 1788, Book 2, Page 120.
  2. 1880 U.S. Census, Wisconsin, Fond du Lac County, Fond du Lac, 1st Ward, T9 1425, Page 152A.
  3. 3.0 3.1 1850 U.S. Census, New York, Schoharie County, Blenheim, M432 595, Page 190.