W. H. OLMSTEAD, M. D. No calling or profession to which man turns his attention is so fraught with interest and responsibility as that of the physician. No student needs more thorough or painstaking training than does the man who takes up the science of materia medica. The successful physician must be quick of perception, prompt in action, capable, tender and sympathetic. Dr. W. H. Olmstead was born in Dundaff, Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, August 22, 1862, a son of Dr. Johnson C. and Dency (Woodward) Olmstead, and grandson of Osborn and Violette Olmstead, natives of Connecticut, who migrated to Wayne county, Pennsylvania, about the beginning of the nineteenth century, where Osborn Olmstead divided his attention between agricultural pursuits and the operation of a tannery. Of thirteen children, nine of whom attained years of maturity.
Dr. Johnson C. Olmstead (father) was born in New York in 1819. He was a graduate of the University of New York, and for the long period of forty six years was successfully engaged in the practice of medicine, in Susquehanna county. He was a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity. In 1846 he married Dency Woodward. daughter of Jonathan K. Woodward, and the sister of Warren J. Woodward. judge of the supreme court of Pennsylvania. Four children were the issue of this union, Dr. W. H. Olmstead being the only surviving member at the present time (1905). Dr. Johnson C. Olmstead died in 1887, aged sixty.eight years. He survived his wife many years, her death occurring in 1864.
In the schools of his native village Dr. W. H. Olmstead obtained the rudiments of his education, and the knowledge thus obtained was supplemented by attendance at the Keystone Academy, Factoryville, and at Sprague’s Business College, Kingston. In 1887 he took up the study of medicine, the same year entered the Long Island Medical College, later was a student in Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and in 1890 was graduated with Medical College, Columbus, Ohio. The same the degree of Doctor 'of Medicine from Columbus year he opened an office in Dalton, Pennsylvania, where he remained two ‘years, and then located in Fleetville, where he remained four years. In March, 1896, he located in Taylor and since then has devoted himself exclusively to his profession and the best interests of his patients. He is a member of Acacia Lodge, No. 597, Free and Accepted Masons, and the Royal Arcanum.
In 1883 Dr. Olmstead married Miss Sallie Brownell, daughter of Daniel and Hester Brownell, and three children have been born to them: Kate, Nina, and Hawley.
