An eminent physician of pleasing, attractive personality who has become a most successful specialist is Dr. DeWitt Clinton Bryant, who was born near Cleveland, Ohio, on June 3, 1849, the son of David Bryant, a merchant, and a native of Shortsville, N.Y. He came as a young man to Cleveland and there married Miss Sarah Flanagan of Ohio; and he died about 1872. Mrs. Bryant spent her last days with her son, Doctor Bryant, in Omaha, and died in 1897. She had three children, the subject of our review being the second eldest.
DeWitt Clinton Bryant received his education in the public schools and at Chatham Academy, and after graduation there entered Oberlin College, where he was a student until the close of his third year. Then, on account of his father's death, he returned home to look after and settle up the estate; after which he began the study of medicine, attending the medical department of Wooster University, now the Western Reserve University, from which well-known institution he was graduated in 1875, with the degree of M.D., almost immediately engaging in practice in North Ridgeville, Ohio. In 1879, he went to New York City and attended Bellevue Hospital Medical College, after which he crossed the ocean to England and entered the Royal Ophthalmic Hospital at London, where he made a special study of the eye and ear. He completed the course of study in 1881, and received his certificate of graduation, so highly prized the world over. He returned to North Ridgeville and again practiced medicine.
In 1884, Doctor Bryant located in Omaha, Nebr., then a city of 40,000, and there established himself in the practice of his specialty, the eye and ear; entering upon a career of thirty-two years of uninterrupted success, from which he turned only when the condition of his wife's health made his removal to California a prime duty. During his residence in Omaha, he was one of the founders, in 1892, of the Creighton Medical College, and for twenty-two years he was Dean of the College, from its first session until he resigned to remove to the Pacific Coast. During the same period, he was Professor of Ophthalmology. The institution was very successful, with its $300,000 college building and its hospital erected at a cost of $1,000,000. The attendance grew from fifteen to more than 200 during Doctor Bryant's association there, and he saw Omaha expand so as to boast of a population of over 225,000 persons. As a result of his activity in Nebraska, Doctor Bryant is an ex-President of the Omaha and Douglas County Medical Association, and also ex-President of the Nebraska State Medical Society; and he is a member of the American Medical Association. He was one of the founders of the American College of Surgeons with headquarters in Chicago, and was a member of its first Board of Supervisors. In 1892, the degree of Master of Arts was conferred on him by Creighton University, and the American College of Surgeons conferred on him the degree of Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. During all these years he has contributed liberally to medical literature, particularly in the field of his specialty, and so has gradually become widely known to the medical profession, both in America and abroad.
He made his first trip to California in 1891, and after that he came west repeatedly. For his wife's sake, Doctor Bryant finally gave up his prosperous practice and enviable position in the Creighton Medical College; and having sent his wife here as early as 1914, to seek a milder climate, he followed her in 1916. Soon after he purchased his present place on Amherst Avenue, Claremont, which he improved and beautified with a large modern residence; and besides the beautiful, well-kept grounds, he has an acre devoted to the culture of all kinds of fruit trees grown in California, and many from South America and the Orient, and finds some of his highest delight in watching them grow. He has continued his researches in the science of medicine, and is still interested in Omaha medical affairs, maintaining a certain partnership with others there.
At Chatham, Ohio, Doctor Bryant was married to Miss Sophronia J. Peckham, a native of Ohio, although the Peckhams are of an old New York state family, her mother being a Gridley, of good old Ohio stock. Despite all of his loving ministrations, Doctor Bryant was bereaved of his devoted wife in July, 1918.
Doctor Bryant is a well traveled man. In 1899-1900, accompanied by his wife, he spent a year in Europe, where he studied in the line of his specialty in London, Berlin and Vienna. Some time was also spent visiting the different countries of Europe, excepting Russia. In 1909, again accompanied by his wife, he made a tour of the world. Leaving New York City this trip was via Madeira Islands, Gibraltar, Cairo, Borneo, Philippine Islands, China, Japan, Hawaiian Islands and back to San Francisco, a trip of six months. During this trip he visited the hospitals in the different countries and wrote articles on them for medical journals.
An ardent Republican, Doctor Bryant in 1917 was elected a city trustee of Claremont and was immediately chosen president of the board. He was made a Mason in Omaha Lodge No. 1, A.F.&A.M., as well as a member of the Royal Arch Chapter, Commandery and Consistory, in that place, and is a member of the Tangier Temple, A.A.O.N.M.S., of Omaha. He is also a member of the Omaha Lodge of Elks. From a young man, his religious convictions have made and kept him a member of the Congregational Church.
History of Pomona Valley, California, with Biographical Sketches
of The Leading Men and Women of the Valley Who Have Been
Identified With Its Growth and Development from the Early Days
to the Present
Published in Los Angeles, Cal., by the Historic Record Company
1920
Transcribed by Linda Jackson 9/18/08, Pages 414-416
Los Angeles County Biographies ~ Archive Biography Index ~ Archive Index
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