Nathan Francis Mossell
Nathan Francis Mossell | |
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(father-in-law) |
Nathan Francis Mossell (July 27, 1856 – October 27, 1946) was the first
Early life and education
Mossell was born in
Mossell's parents met and married in Baltimore after his mother's family return from Trinidad. His father learned the brickmaking trade and saved enough money to buy a house. After the birth of their third child, the couple decided to move to Canada, as free blacks were prohibited from being educated in Maryland and they wanted education for their children. They sold their house in Baltimore and settled in Hamilton, Ontario. His father bought a tract of clay-bearing land and set up his own brickworks.[1][2]
Mossell's siblings were the following:[2]
- May (1848 - ?) born in Maryland.
- Charles (1850 - ) born in Maryland. He graduated from Lincoln University and studied theology in Boston, later becoming a missionary in Haiti.
- Boy, (c. 1853 – c. 1870), born in Maryland and died in Lockport, New York.
- Alvarilla (b. 1857 – ?), born in Hamilton, Canada. She worked with her brother Charles as a missionary in Haiti.
- Sadie Tanner Mossell (1898–1989) became the first African-American woman to receive a Ph.D. in the United States, earning a degree in economics at the University of Pennsylvania.[3]
During the Civil War, the family moved back to the United States, settling in
Later life and medical career
Mossell went on to study at the
After his return to the United States, in 1888 Mossell became the first black physician elected as member of the Philadelphia County Medical Society. That year he also started his private practice. In 1895, he helped found the Frederick Douglass Memorial Hospital and Training School in West Philadelphia, serving as its chief-of-staff and medical director until his retirement in 1933.
Marriage and family
He married
Private practice
After retiring as director of the hospital in 1933, Mossell continued to work in his private practice, which he had opened in 1888.
He died on October 27, 1946, in Philadelphia at the age of 90.[4] He was believed to be the oldest practicing black physician at the time of his death.[4]
References
- ^ a b University of Pennsylvania Archives. Autobiography of Nathan Mossell
- ^ a b c "Aaron Albert Mossell II", Penn Biographies, University of Pennsylvania, accessed 31 March 2011
- ^ a b "Nathan Mossell". University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved 2009-02-18.
- ^ New York Times. October 28, 1946. Retrieved 2009-02-18.
Oldest Active Negro Physician, Uncle of Paul Robeson, Was 90. Dr. Nathan Francis Mossell, said by associates to be the oldest practicing Negro physician in the country, died here yesterday ...