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Philo K. Stoddard, M.D., was born in the town of Jerusalem, 

 Yates Co., Sept. 28, 1825. The ancestor of the Stoddard family was 

 of English birth, and settled in Northampton, Mass. The great- 

 grandfather Stoddard removed to Danbury, Conn., where he raised 

 seven children, five of whom were sons, and fit for military duty at 

 the time of the Revolutionary war, viz., Benjamin, Joel, Mosely, 

 Cyrenus, and Darius. 



The grandfather, Cyrenus, enlisted in the war for independence, 

 suffered from scurvy, and was for three days and nights at one time on 

 a picket-boat on Lake Charaplain without rations, or once relieved 

 from duty. After the war he was pensioned. He married Candace 

 Mix, lived in Greene Co., N. Y., and afterwards moved to Cherry 

 Valley. Their children are ^abra, Philo, Cyrus, Benjamin, Orra, 

 Olive, and Esther. 



Benjamin, father of Br. Stoddard, was born in 1796, in Cherry Val- 

 ley, Otsego Co., and was the first settler on lot 12 of the Green Tract, 

 in Jerusalem township, Yates Co., and paid therefor six dollars per 

 acre. He was then twenty-one years of age, and had in property, all 

 told, an axe, a gun, a watch, and six dollars in money. 



Armed and endowed with youthful courage and a strong constitu- 

 tion, he entered upon the work of subduing the wilderness, and 

 earning on his land the wherewithal to pay for his title. 



In 1818 he married Hannah Kelly, also a native of Otsego County, 

 and few women have been a better support to a husband than she in 

 the arduous labors of pioneer life and the care of a large family. Mr. 

 Stoddard held a captain's commission in the 103d Regiment Infantry, 

 granted by Gov. Enos T. Throop, in 1828, and a lieutenant's com- 

 mission previously given by Gov. Yates. He also held several town 

 offices. He died June 4, 1878. His wife still survives. Their 

 children are Chester (deceased), Survina, Charles, Philo K., Susan 

 Ann, Esther, and Thomas F. 



Dr. Stoddard received his preliminary education at the common 

 school and at Franklin Academy. At the age of sixteen he was a 

 teacher, by which occupation and by farm labor he acquired sufficient 

 means to enable him to prosecute his studies. He was a teacher for 

 six terms in the common school and one term in the Franklin 

 Academy. 



At the age of twenty he began the study of medicine with Dr. 

 Elisha Doubleday, of Italy Hill. After one year he became a student 

 with Dr. Andrew D. Vorhees, of Prattsburgh, with whom he remained 

 two years in the study of medicine, and also learned dentistry. He at- 

 tended lectures at Geneva Medical College in 1845-46,- subsequently at 

 Buff"alo Medical College, from which latter institution he was gradu- 

 ated M.D. in June, 1848, and the same year settled in Prattsburgh, 

 where he has remained in the practice of medicine, surgery, and 

 dentistry ever since. 



Solicited by the war committee at Elmira, he became a volunteer 

 surgeon in the service of the United States immediately after the 

 second battle of Bull Run, and was for a short time stationed at the 

 Armory Square Hospital, D. C. In September, 1863, he received a 

 commission as assistant surgeon in the 161st Regiment, and was with 

 this regiment until the close of the war; was in the battles of Mans- 

 field, Pleasant Hill, Spanish Fort, and at the capture of Mobile. Sev- 

 eral times Dr. Stoddard was detailed to take charge of hospitals. He 

 had charge of Gen. Bailey's brigade hospital at Vicksburg for a short 

 time \ of smallpox hospital at White River Landing ; and received 

 several complimentary appointments from Gen. Franklin for his well- 

 known faithfulness and sobriety, not less than for his skillful service 

 as a surgeon, and was detailed by him to take charge of a boat-load of 

 three hundred wounded from Grand Ecore to New Orleans, after the 

 battles of Mansfield and Pleasant Hill, and for a short time prior to 

 the breaking up of the war he was stationed at the Dry Tortugas 

 with his regiment. 



During his two years' service. Dr. Stoddard had for eleven months 

 sole charge of the regiment. His faithfulness to duty, and his ability 

 to discriminate between those able to do duty and those who were not 

 was so correct that during the entire time, though he reported nine- 

 teen hundred and twenty-nine cases of sickness and wounds, there 

 was not a single death. At the close of the war he was honorably 

 discharged and resumed his business in Prattsburgh, and has since 

 continuously prosecuted not only the practice of medicine and surgery, 

 but of dentistry. When necessary. Dr. Stoddard assumes grave re- 

 sponsibilities without hesitation, and operates with a skill which 

 knowledge and firm courage alone impart. As an obstetrician he has 

 few superiors. He was the first in town to administer chloroform 

 successfully, and has since used it in all severe operations with highly 

 satisfactory results. He counsels freely with all honorable physicians 

 of whatever school. Besides his professional duties, he is interested 

 in thoroughbred stock, and four years ago introduced the first into 

 Prattsburgh, and now has a fine herd of Alderney and Jersey cattle. 



In 1850, July -4, he married Sarah Jane, daughter of Sebastian 

 Lewis, of Prattsburgh. Of this union was born one son, Philo L., 

 who received his education at the Franklin Academy, and is now in 

 the practice of dentistry with his father. Mrs. Stoddard died July 4, 

 four years after her marriage, and in September, 1856, Dr. Stoddard 

 married Sarah, daughter of Albert Cowing, of the town of Jerusalem, 

 Yates Co. 



Dr. Stoddard has ever been strictly temperate in his habits, and 

 never allowed himself to use either liquor or tobacco. He is a member 

 of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and a contributor to church and 

 kindred interests, and in his professional life the needy receive the 

 same attention as those from whom he expects a fee. 



