Mount Mora Cemetery - Saint Joseph, Missouri

� 2008, Mount Mora Burial Records

Record Last Updated On: 4/9/2014
Name: DR HIRAM CHRISTOPHER
Death Date: //1901	Interment Date: JAN/21/1901		Birth Date: //1819
Age at Death: 81y4m29d	Cause of Death: LA GRIPPE
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Sex: M	Nativity: AMERICAN		Ethnicity:
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Brief Biography: HIRAM CHRISTOPHER, M. A., M. D., Dean of the Ensworth Medical College and Professor of Chemistry, has gained prominence, not only in the scientific circles of St. Joseph, where he resides, but also is widely known throughout this section of Missouri as a specialist of rare powers and wide range of information concerning the subjects to which he has devoted a life time of study. Aside from his professional duties, he has become well known in literary circles as the editor of the Medical Herald a monthly publication devoted to the interests of the science of medicine, founded in June, 1891. At Louisville, Ky., Hiram Christopher was born August 22, 1819. His father, Ebenezer, was of eastern birth, and resided successively in New York, Maryland and Kentucky, being a pioneer farmer of the last-named state, where he died in 1826. Mary Sturgiss, as the mother of our subject was known in maidenhood, was born in Somerset County, Md., and died in Kentucky, after having become the mother of eleven children. Hiram, the tenth in order of birth, is the only one now living. He was reared in Louisville, where, at the age of eighteen, he was appointed Assistant Postmaster and occupied this position until he was twenty-two. The literary education of Dr. Christopher was gained in Bethany College, W. Va., which he entered at the age of twenty-two and from which he was graduated in 1845, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Later he was honored with the degree of Master of Arts. After graduating, he entered the Medical Department of the University of Louisville and was graduated from that institution in March, 1847, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He opened an office for the practice of his profession at St. Louis, Mo., where he remained until 1859, meanwhile establishing a good practice and becoming known as a conscientious and skillful physician. In the year above named Dr. Christopher was called to the Chair of Chemistry and Natural History in Bethany College, and this responsible position he occupied with distinguished ability until the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861. The strife between North and South resulted in the closing of the college. The Doctor then came to Lexington, Mo.* where he again commenced an active round of professional duties. In August, 1864, he resumed the practice of his profession at St. Louis, where for fourteen ensuing years he was continuously engaged as a physician and surgeon. In 1878 he was honored by election to the Professorship of Chemistry, Philosophy and Languages in Woodland College, located at Independence, Mo., and for three years he filled this position. In 1882 Dr. Christopher located in St. Joseph, where he soon acquired an enviable reputation as a specialist in diseases of the throat, nose and ear. In 1879 he became Professor of Chemistry in the St. Joseph Medical College, and ten years later accepted a similar position in the Ensworth Medical College, which is one of the best institutions of the kind in Missouri, and has an average of sixty-five students in attendance. Of this college the Doctor was elected Dean in 1891 and is still serving in that capacity. At Fayette, Mo., occurred the marriage of Dr. Christopher to Miss Nannie McGarvey, who was born in Kentucky. They are the parents of three children: Mary, the wife of Doctor West-over, of St. Joseph; Sallie, Mrs. J. A. Lea, of Independence, Mo.; and Fannie, who married Mr. George Bradford, and resides in Independence, Mo. The religious connections of the family are with the Christian church, and they are prominent in that denomination as active workers and generous contributors. The Doctor affiliates with the Democratic party politically. His office is located in the Ballinger Building at St. Joseph. He is a charter member of the Buchanan County Medical Society, and has always been influential in its councils. For two years, 1877-78, he filled the position of Associate Editor of the St. Louis Medical and Surgical Journal, in connection with Thomas F. Rombold. (Source: Portrait and Biographical Record of Buchanan and Clinton Counties, Missouri. Publ. 1893)
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Vault Type:	Burial Number: 4609
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Other Relatives in Plot: s/oEbenezer & Mary Sturgiss Christopher
Lot Owner: HIRAMCHRISTOPHER
Lot Location: SE 1/2 4
Block Location: 21
Section/Range Location: B
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Cost of Interment: $0.00		Date Paid:

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