James Read Chadwick

Chadwick was born in Boston on November 2, 1844. He was a son of Christopher Chamberlain Chadwick (1821–1871), a Boston merchant, and Louisa (née Read) Chadwick (1821–1913).{{cite book |last1=Librarians |first1=Association of Medical |title=Medical Library and Historical Journal |date=1906 |pages=113–114 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-LVXAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA113 |accessdate=30 March 2020 |language=en}} His sister, Elizabeth (née Chadwick) Whittier, was married to Brig. Gen. Charles A. Whittier.{{cite news|title=Obituary Notes. Mrs. ELIZABETH C. WHITTIER|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1906/01/29/archives/death-list-of-a-day.html|accessdate=16 May 2018|work=The New York Times|date=January 29, 1906}}

He received a B.A. at Harvard in 1865, an M.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1871, studied obstetrics in Europe from 1871 to 1873, and then worked as a gynecologist in Boston.

[http://www.msa.md.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc4800/sc4800/000001/cordell/pdf/cordell-345.pdf Biography at Medicine in Maryland 1752–1920] Accessed on 24 March 2009.

From 1874 he worked at the Boston City Hospital, helping to found the gynecological department, and taught at Harvard Medical School.[http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/ww/people_chadwick.html Women Working 1800–1930] Harvard University Library. Accessed on 24 March 2009. He helped to found, and became secretary and president of the American Gynaecological Society.{{cite book|last1=Rutkow|first1=Ira M.|title=The history of surgery in the United States : 1775-1900.|date=1992|publisher=Norman|location=San Francisco|isbn=9780930405489|page=114}} He was a founder of the Boston Medical Library Association in 1875, and worked as the librarian until his death. He was voted president of the Association of Medical Librarians in 1904. He was the first president of the Harvard Medical Alumni Association in 1891. He was a supporter of women in the practice of medicine, writing a report which cited the contributions of women in medicine.James R. Chadwick, M.D. [http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/ww/outsidelink.html/http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:FHCL:135315 The Study and Practice of Medicine by Women] 1879. Harvard University Library. Accessed on 24 March 2009.{{cite book |title=Medical Library and Historical Journal |date=1907 |publisher=The Association |page=49 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ozFKAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA49 |accessdate=30 March 2020 |language=en}}

A strong advocate of cremation, he was president of the Massachusetts Cremation Society from 1894 until his sudden death in 1905.{{Americana|wstitle=Chadwick, James Read|inline=1}}James Read Chadwick. In Memoriam: A Brief Sketch of His Life. Medical Library and Historical Journal. 1906 March; 4(1): 112.2–114. [https://archive.today/20120715224714/http://ukpmc.ac.uk/articlerender.cgi?artid=852551 Full text] Accessed on 24 March 2009.

He contributed many articles on his specialty to the Transactions of the American Gynecological Association, the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, the American Journal of Obstetrics, among others.

On May 11, 1871, Chadwick was married to Katherine Maria Lyman (1848–1889) in Boston. Maria was the daughter of Dr. George Hinckley Lyman and his wife, Maria Cornelia Ritchie Austin. Her younger brother was George H. Lyman, chairman of the Massachusetts Republican state committee and Collector of Customs for the Port of Boston, and her great-grandfather was Elbridge Gerry, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and Vice President of the United States (under President James Madison). Together, they were the parents of three daughters and two sons, including:

• Nora Chadwick (1873–1961), who married Julian Codman, a grandson of merchant Russell Sturgis and nephew of architect John Hubbard Sturgis.{{cite journal |title=Society |journal=Boston Home Journal |date=1902 |page=6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sl6XY8Y5_ngC&pg=RA26-PA6 |accessdate=30 March 2020 |language=en}}
• Margaret Chadwick
• Elizabeth Lyman "Bessie" Chadwick (1875–1912), who married Douglas H. Thomas (1872–1915) in 1901.{{cite journal |last1=Converse |first1=David |title=The World of To-Day |journal=Boston Home Journal |date=1904 |page=4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0t5gvSr0ZIUC&pg=RA7-PA4 |accessdate=30 March 2020 |language=en}}
• James Read Chadwick Jr. (1877–1879), who died young.
• Elbridge Gerry Chadwick (1881–1945), who married Dorothy Curtis Jordan, a granddaughter of Eben Dyer Jordan (co-founder of the department store chain Jordan Marsh).{{cite book |last1=Association |first1=Theodore Roosevelt |title=Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal |date=1990 |publisher=The Association |page=63 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NyEhAQAAMAAJ |accessdate=30 March 2020 |language=en}}

His wife died on July 13, 1889, in Birmingham, England. Chadwick died from a fall from a piazza roof at his summer home in Chocorua, New Hampshire, on September 23, 1905.{{cite news |title=DR. J.R. CHADWICK KILLED.; Supposed to Have Fallen from Piazza Roof of His Country Home. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1905/09/25/archives/dr-jr-chadwick-killed-supposed-to-have-fallen-from-piazza-roof-of.html |accessdate=30 March 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=25 September 1905}} He was buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge.

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• {{find a Grave|76901149|Dr James Read Chadwick}}

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Category:1844 births

Category:1905 deaths

Category:American gynecologists

Category:Librarians from Massachusetts

Category:Harvard Medical School alumni