Friday, January 11, 2013

Photograph of Young Man: Nova Scotia native Percy Loraine Dodge, Physician in the United States


Photograph of a young man identified on the reverse as Percy L. Dodge.  The photograph was taken by a Natick, Massachusetts studio.  The young man went on to lead a meaningful life.



From online research, hopefully correct: [corrections welcome!]

Percy Loraine Dodge was born 5 January 1883 in Nova Scotia, the son of Samuel A. and Annie E. (Croft) Dodge. 

I believe Percy's paternal grandparents were James and Phoebe Allen (West) Dodge.  His maternal grandparents were Jacob and Jerusha (Davison) Croft. 

Percy's family emigrated to Massachusetts in the 1890s, where he  became a United States citizen on 23 July 1904.  He graduated from Tufts University in 1908 and served as a doctor in both the military and private sectors in Massachusetts, New York, Georgia, Florida and possibly elsewhere.  

Either from the beginning of his medical work or as the result of training he received in the military during World War I, Dr. Dodge gravitated toward the field of mental health.  He served at hospitals such as Boston Pyschopathic Hospital, Boston State Hospital, the Worcester Insane Asylum, Hudson River State Hospital in New York and at the US Veterans Hospital at Boston.   

While at Hudson River State Hospital, he entered the armed services in 1917 and was detailed to take a course in neurology and psychiatry at Philadelphia, after which he was transferred to Camp Wheeler in Georgia.

At some point before the enumeration of the 1920 Census, Dr. Percy Loraine Dodge married a Massachusetts native named Margaret.  I don't know if the couple had children or not.

During the 1920s he was a physician at the US Veterans Hospital in the Boston, Massachusetts, area.  He's listed in Boston directories as late as 1926.

By 1927 the couple had moved to Florida, where Dr. Dodge is listed in a 1927 Miami Directory.  The 1930 Census shows the couple living at Coral Gables.  By 1940 they had moved to Miami.

While in Florida Dr. Dodge reversed the medication treatment that Everglades authority Marjory Stoneman Douglas had been receiving, to the point that she went from what was felt was the brink of death at the hospital, to her home with renewed vigor.  Dr. Dodge is mentioned several times in her book Marjory Stoneman Douglas: Voice of the River.

The book also mentions that Dr. Dodge had moved to Florida from Boston as a result of his arthritis.

Dr. Dodge wrote articles and books on mental health, such as "Environment as it Influences the Development of the Juvenile Delinquent",  published in 1922.

Margaret died in 1961 and Percy in 1963, both in Florida.

If you have corrections to the information above or can fill in the missing portions, such as his wife Margaret's maiden name and parents and any children Dr. Dodge and Margaret may have had, please leave a comment or contact me directly.  Thanks!

Needham, Massachusetts


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