DR. ALBERT W. PHILLIPS
DR. ALBERT
W.
PHILLIPS
HOMEOPATHIC PHYSICIAN
FIFTH MAYOR OF DERBY
STATE SENATOR
BUSINESS LEADER
The following information is excerpted
from "Tercentenary Pictorial and History of the Lower Naugatuck Valley."
Dr. Albert W. Phillips was a man of many talents who
counted being a Civil War veteran, the fifth mayor of Derby and the
first chairman of the board of directors at Griffin Hospital among his
numerous accomplishments. He was born in Marcellus, NY in 1838, the son
of immigrant parents from England. He began his medical education when
he went to Syracuse, N. Y., to study medicine in 1857 under the
direction of two prominent physicians, Drs. Kator and Morgan. In 1858 and 1860 he attended the Hahnemann College in
Philadelphia; later he transferred
to the Chicago Hahnemann College, from which institution he was
graduated in its first class, in 1861.
He began his medical practice in Rockport, Ill., but in response to
President Lincoln's first call for volunteers, he returned to Syracuse,
enlisted as a private in the Union cause, and was in the first company
of volunteers to leave his native county. The following month he was
appointed hospital steward of his regiment, the 12th N. Y. Volunteers.
Five months later he was promoted to assistant surgeon and transferred
to the 149th N. Y. Volunteers. With this regiment he served in the Army
of the Cumberland and the Army of the Potomac, participating in the
battle of Gettysburg and many other important battles of the war.
While on duty at the military hospital in Washington he
frequently accompanied President Lincoln on his visits to the wards, and
was deeply impressed with the sympathy and warmth of feeling the Great
Emancipator exhibited towards the wounded soldiers.
After the close of his army service, Dr. Phillips was
offered the chair of surgery at Hahnemann Medical College in
Philadelphia, but declined, preferring the general practice of medicine.
He
located in Derby where he remained in active practice 63 years, in some
families caring for four generations.
Dr. Phillips joined the Connecticut Homoeopathic Medical
Society in 1865. He was always active and for many years took prominent
part in the work of the society, in 1896 and 1897 serving as its
president. The last paper he presented to the society was at its 75th
anniversary, which occurred in 1925.
He was a member and in 1897 was president of the New Haven County
Hahnemann Society. As an evidence of the esteem in which Dr. Phillips
was held by the society, he was tendered a complimentary dinner at the
Hotel Clark and presented with a beautiful loving cup "in commemoration
of 60 years of service."
He was also a member and an honorable senior of the
American Institute of Homoeopathy. For 18 years Dr. Phillips served as a
member of the board of health of the State of Connecticut.
Dr. Phillips was chosen as the fifth mayor of the City
of Derby and served one term, from 1901
to 1902. In 1903 he was elected state senator and served one term. He
was active in the business
life of the city, being for a number of years a director of the Derby
Savings Bank and also of the Derby Gas and Electric Company.
Dr. Phillips lived on Caroline Street and his home still
stands today.
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