American Medical Biographies/Baylies, William
Baylies, William (1743–1826)
William Baylies, physician, was born at Uxbridge, Massachusetts, December 5, 1743, the son of Nicholas Baylies, a native of Shropshire, England, who emigrated to Uxbridge and later moved to Taunton, a town which he represented several years in the General Court. William graduated from Harvard College in 1760 and studied medicine with Dr. Elisha Tobey, of New Bedford, at the completion of his course marrying a daughter of the Hon. Samuel White, of Taunton, speaker of the House of Representatives, and settling as a physician in the town of Dighton.
Dr. Baylies' activities in life were many. He represented Dighton in the Legislature, and in three Provincial Congresses, was a member of the State Convention that adopted the Federal Constitution; a judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and for a long time register of probate, but chiefly he was a doctor, and he was much in demand as a consultant, being particularly noted for his acumen in prognosis. He read much and was prudent and cautious but not timid.
He was one of the original members of the Massachusetts Historical and the Massachusetts Medical Societies and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1807 Harvard conferred upon him the honorary degree of M. D.
He died June 17, 1826. He was the author of "Ulcerated Sore Throat in Dighton, 1785– 6," Communications Massachusetts Medical Society, vol. i, series 1.