Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1872-01-16
DIR. JOHN ALEXANDER sTRA1TH,


has lost one of its brightest inc the State
one of her most brilliant cons, and this community
a member in whose memory we may all cherish a
just and honorable pride. Atsthe time when;he was
first struck down by an insidious and fatal disease,
he had just reached thai period in the life of al o.
fessional man, when ordinarily his career fairly
when after the severe systematic training
of study and application he is ready for the field of
active labor, and thence, according to his capacity,
for the broad avenue of ia line. We who here pay our
Euinete tribute to his memory, knew him az school
mate. coiiege-mate, and intimate and confidential
friend up TO the day of his death. He was the cher
ished and only son of our distin guished %fellow-citi-
zen, Dr.J.J b. Straith. who, in those branches of
the profession which he has made his special study,
enjoys now a reputation equal and probably supe.
riur to thato OF any physician whom the Valley of
Virginia has ever produced. Yet the promise of the
lamented con pointed to a career more brilliant
than that of his father.
Al the private schools which he attended in this
county. he uniformly stood among the foremost in
his classes. The first school out OF. the county at
tended by him was the famous Warren Green
Academy. kept by the lnmented Richard NJ. Smith,
and numbering over ono hundred and fifty st1-
dents. DR.. Straith made one off party Of, four boys
who attended that academy in 1850. of whom but
one now RENAME alive. Those dead were Samuel
S. Wright. a ga:iant Confederate soldier who fell
in the service of his country, the second the tate
Brig Gen. Ed win G. Lee. who died within tie last
eighteen months of consumption and the only SUR
vivor of the four is D B. Lucas, Esq. of this coun-
ty. In the short space of three months d.. Straith
rose to the second rank in the whole schoo', and
doubtless had he remained lon ger would soon have
been fret. He next attended DIR. Abbort's celebra-
ted academy at Georgetown. and there took the
gold medal as the first scholar of the school. He
studied medicine subsequently uader his father in
Charlestown and attended one session of the Win
chester Medical College, in which his, father occu
pied the protessorship of obstetrics. In October,
1864. he went to the University of Virginia. to pros
ecuts his profession. and in single year not only
took his degree. but graduated with such unprece-
deuted distinction that DR.. Cabell bore written tea.
timony to the fact that with his experience OF TWEEN.
~ years as a professor at that institution. he was
prepared to pronounce DR.. Straith the first graduate
the University had turned out. Not sa tisfied. how
ever, with , mere diploma. the young graduate. af-
terwards went to Phi!adelphia. where he spent the
winter of 1859 under the best instruction and with
the highest professional advantages which that city
afforded. The winter of 1s60-6l, in company with
DR.. Hunter Mcclure, he went to New Orleans,
where In conjunction they attended the hospitals,
and laugh adjunct classes in the medical college of
that city. They were 30 engaged when the great
war-cloud of 1861 began to obscure the horizon
As the crisis approached they both hastened to vi-
ginia. DR.. St,aith enlisted as a private in Compa-
ny 'tB." of the I'd Virginia regiment, S,oncwan
49, "toS y
pointed Assistant Sur gcon, with the rank of Cap
tain. During the whole progress of Jacl sons WON
deriui campaigns, he remained constantly in the
held, and was promoted to a full surgeoncv and
made Medical Director of the Brigade. When the
battle approached it was his constant practice to go
into the hight with the troops. armed only with his
surgical instruments, ready to render instant and
effective relief wherever it might be needed. IN.
1903 he was made chief Surgeon of the artillery of
Ewei's corps, which position he held until the war.
closed. This was one of the few instances where
promotion rewarded intrinsic merit, unaided by ex-
traneous and meretricious assistance. When the
war closed. he ranked second to very few if any in
the army as a Surgeon. 1t is probable, however.
that suffering aud exposure may have rendered his
constitution an easier prey to the disease which
afterwards attacked HIM with apparently little or
no hereditary predisposition or susceptibility.-
Having married during the war, at its close he
found himself without a location, or practice. lie
however act out Immediately to wrestle with the
general difficulties of the situation with q brave
heart and resolutc detcrniinst ton After having at
tanned no moons. Gcratle practice here in Charles
town, his friends urged him to eek a wider and
more congenial field. Whatever of responsibility
may attach to tho advice no,r, We plead guilty to
having ourselves urged hin, to remove to Ba
rs we had an implicit confidence in his talent, en-
e'gy, and ultimate success We believe still that
only the interveniions of diseaec aud such Provi-
Dental dispensstioas as could not well have been
ioreseen. have cut short a career OF extraordinary
brilliancy, for one in whom we felt the tenderese
aud most nt.ectionate interest.
During his residence in Baltimore a vacancy &C.
Cured in the .Chaie of Obstetrics in the Universitv
OF Virginia. occasioned by the resignation of DR..
Howard DIR. Straith seemed long restrained bv .
hesitation due to his inodesty, Cor perhaps to a feel
ing of despondencyiu hich was the greatest dcfec,
In his charActer.) from pressing his claims for this
vacant chair. Finally, about ten days before the
election, be consented 90 become a candidate. Had
he consented and acted more promptly. his election
we nous feel confident. would have been assured.
aud he would thus have received a compliment such
as no m IN of his then age had received in THE State.
or perhaps iu old Virginia Az il turned ont he
wasdefeated ~ one vote. Among the recL mmepda.
tons that were obta ined for him in this instance.
was one from that eminent surgeon and physician,
DR.. Nathan Smith, of Baltimore, who declared !,
written and unqualified terms that as a lecturer he
never ha" sho"n a man 30 gifted naturally as DR..
Straith.
During the whole of his residence in Balt,rnore
he wss intimately associated with Or. Smith. and
assisted him in mauy difficult and delicate su,pical
operations In the summer of 1865, having los, his
only ehiid' ne returned here to spend the summer
months, and here contracted a violent cold which
terminated in consumption, checking his career of
usefulness at once. and ending in his premature
death.
His friends have. however, the copsol;ns redsc.
ton that, Tor several years past, he had been in the
full and peaceful enjoyment of the consultations of
a steady religious faith, and regular christian com.
munion. While struggling for existence, ,s wa,
natural and proper, we believe that hs resignation
amid al! the suffering and irritation inscpa raiis
from his disease, was complete and perfect.
His loss will be severely felt by this community
and his friends every where. His warm and gen
erous heart endeared him to hls II mily and friends,
while his Extraordinary powers of conversation and
engaging manners made him one of the most fa.ci-
mating members of general society. He was no,
only eminent in his profession, hat ella ssic and
scholarly in general, literary attainment. ano re-.