Biographical Sketches
HOMER CUTLER CROWELL, M. D.
Is numbered among Kansas City's successful physicians. One of the native sons of the Green Mountain state, he was born in Westminster, January 14, 1852, and is a son of Ransom and Emily (Cutler) Crowell, the former a native of Vermont and the latter of Nova Scotia. Their family numbered 4 sons and 1 daughter, as follows: Homer C.; Highland R., a resident of Northfield, Massachusetts; Henry L., of Bernardston, Massachusetts; Preston R., a Congregational minister of Greenfield, New Hampshire; and Jennie, who died at the age of 2 ½ years. The father of this family carried on agricultural pursuits in his early life, but for the past 25 years has engaged in merchandising in Bernardston, Massachusetts. He is a prominent citizen of that community, and for a quarter of a century has served as justice of the peace - a fact that well indicates his fidelity to duty and the confidence reposed in him. Both he and his wife are members of the Congregational church.
The parental grandfather of our subject, Levi Crowell, was born on Cape Cod, and was one of a family of 9 children, all seafaring people in early life, but afterward following farming in the neighborhood of Westminster, Vermont. The grandfather was a man of sterling character, a stanch republican, and a great reader. The maternal grandfather of the Doctor was Rev. Abel Cutler, a native of Massachusetts, born in Waltham in 1781. He was graduated at Andover University in 1810, and was considered one of the best scholars in his class. He was twice married and had 2 daughters. His death occurred in 1859.
Dr. Crowell was reared on the old home farm and began his education in the district schools. Subsequently he attended Powers' Institute, of Bernardston, and the academy at Meriden, New Hampshire, also the Methodist College at Montpelier. About 1870 he took up the study of medicine, was graduated at the University of Vermont, at Burlington, and entered upon practice at Syracuse, New York, in 1875. He remained there for 6 years, after which he went to Idaho for his health. The following year he took a trip to South America, spending 1 ½ years in gold mining in that country, and subsequently made 2 other trips to that country, where he still had valuable mining properties. The year 1887-8 he passed in New York City, and in 1888 he came to Kansas City, Missouri, where he has practiced continuously since, doing a very large and lucrative business.
In February, 1880, the Doctor was joined in wedlock with Miss Anna Fisk, daughter of Hiram Fisk. She was a member of the Methodist church, and died in September, 1880. The Doctor holds membership in the Congregational church. Socially he is a Scottish rite Mason, and in politics he is republican.
The Doctor's office is located in the Young Men's Christian Association building on 9th Street. He is a skilled physician, making a specialty of genecology and abdominal surgery. He has performed some most difficult operations, which have been attended with success, and is considered high authority on all matters pertaining to his specialty. He has made liberal contributions to the medical literature of the day, and his writings are widely copied and quoted. By thorough study and persistent effort he has won a place in the ranks of his profession that secures him the patronage which comes from a wide area, being by no means confined to his adopted city. His rank as an abdominal surgeon is such that he is classed with the most distinguished members of the profession devoted to that specialty, in a work now being prepared by the granddaughter of Ephraim McDowell, who was the first to practice ovariotomy.
The Doctor is now serving as president of the Jackson County Medical Society, and was the 1st vice president of the Academy of Medicine of Kansas City, in fact was instrumental in its organization. He was also one of the vice-presidents of the State Society in 1894, and is now vice-president of the Western Gynecological Society. He is also president of the Kansas City Polyclinic Post-Graduate School of Medicine, an institution devoted to clinical teaching exclusively and admitting as matriculants only graduates of medicine. The Doctor is also connected with several of the hospitals as surgeon in the department of gynecology.
Aside from his profession Dr. Crowell is also a man of excellent executive and business ability, and his interests are quite varied. He is a director in the Bankers' Life Insurance Society of Kansas City, and is president of the Whittaker Phosphate Company. He is vice-president of a coffee plantation in New Mexico, and has a clay and coal farm in southern Missouri, which he is now developing for the manufacture of paving brick; also mining coal for gas purposes and numerous other enterprises. He is a vice-president of the gold mining company organized for working the Tamana gold mines in Antioquia, United States of Colombia. He possesses the determination which overcomes obstacles, and industry that never falters, and to these characteristics he owes his success in life.
This page was last updated August 2, 2006.