izing this department. He threw himself vigorously into the work of perfecting the school, and being surrounded with associates who ably assisted in executing his plans, at the end of the fourth year had succeeded in establishing a medical college which is now recognized as one of the leading institutions in America. To the medical department of Cornell University and to special surgical work in diseases of women, Dr. Polk subsequently gave all of his time and attention.
Dr. Polk was at various periods, president of the American Gynecological Society, of the New York Obstetrical Society, of the New York Academy of Medicine, a member of the county medical society, the Medical Society of the State of New York, the American College of Surgeons, the New York Academy of Medicine, the Medical and Surgical Society, Practitioners' Society, the Pathological Society, and corresponding fellow of the Société Obstétricale et Gynécologique of Paris, France, and of many other foreign medical societies. He was also a member of the Century and Metropolitan Clubs and a vestryman of Trinity Corporation of the City of New York. In 1893 the University of the South conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws.
Dr. Polk held for many years the position of consulting gynecologist to St. Luke's, St. Vincent's, the General Memorial and the Lying-In Hospitals of New York.
Dr. Polk was married, November 14, 1866, to Ida Ashe Lyon of Alabama, who died a number of years before him. Subsequently he was married to Maria H. Dehon of New York. Of the two sons by his first marriage, the elder, Frank L. Polk, a prominent member of the bar, was Counsellor of the Department of State; the younger, Dr. John M. Polk, died several years before his father.
Dr. Polk was a frequent contributor to the American Journal of Obstetrics, and to the proceedings of the American Gynecological Society, and was also the author of a biographical work, "Leonidas Polk, Bishop and General," his well-known father, who met his end in 1864, while in the service of the Confederacy.
An eloquent speaker, a man of broad views, Dr. Polk was one of the honored names in the group of eminent medical men of the past generation, a scholar and a gentleman, loved and respected by his pupils and associates, whose life and works constitute his most enduring monument.
Pomeroy, Charles G. (1817–1887)
Charles G. Pomeroy, one of the founders of the New York State Medical Society, was born in Madison County, February 22, 1817.
Shortly after his birth his parents took him to Ontario County, where they settled on a farm, near the village of Canandaigua.
In this village and in Rochester, young Pomeroy attended school until he was seventeen, then studied under Dr. Post. Four years later the censors of Ontario Medical Society granted him a license to practise, then followed a few months' experience in Monroe County, before forming a partnership with Dr. Alexander McIntyre, of Palmyra. Dr. Pomeroy again changed his home to practise for eight years in Fairville; then moved to Newark, Wayne County, New York, where he founded the State Medical Society and was an organizer of the Wayne County Medical Society and many times elected as its president. He was also president of the Medical Association of Central New York. As governor, trustee and resident physician of the New York State Custodial Asylum for Feeble-minded Women Dr. Pomeroy worked until his impaired health obliged him to resign.
He married twice. His first wife dying in early life, he married a second time in 1850.
Dr. Pomeroy died of granular disease of the kidneys with cardiac complications, in Newark, December 14, 1887.
Pomeroy, Oren Day (1834–1902)
Oren Day Pomeroy, otologist and ophthalmologist of New York, was born in Somers, Connecticut, October 11, 1834, and died of apoplexy at Whitestone, Long Island, March 19, 1902. He was educated at a boarding-school in Ballston, New York, at the high school in Somers, Connecticut, and at Monson Academy, Massachusetts; he studied medicine at the Berkshire Medical Institution, Pittsfield, the University of the City of New York and at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, where he took his M. D. in 1860. Settling in practice in New York he devoted himself to diseases of the eye and ear; through Dr. C. R. Agnew (q. v.) he was appointed assistant and chief of clinic of the eye and ear department in his alma mater at the organization of the department in 1866; he was assistant surgeon in the Manhattan Eye and Ear Hospital from its foundation until 1873, when he was elected a surgeon and director, holding the positions until his death. Other positions he occupied were: consulting
