A Pomona physician of long experience who can summon a volume of personal reminiscence and is noted not only for his learning and skill, but for his many good stories of early days, is Dr. Rollin T. Burr, who came from Mt. Vernon, Knox County, Ohio, where he was born on August 10, 1843. He was reared in Louisiana, however, and in 1869 graduated with the degree of M.D. from the New Orleans Medical College. For two years, during his studies, he was interne at the New Orleans Charity Hospital. After his graduation, for six years he practiced in Central Texas. Leaving there in pursuit of health, he rode horseback from Texas to the Colorado River, a distance of 1,500 miles, 1,000 miles alone, with saddle bags and rifle.
In 1877 Doctor Burr passed through Pomona, going from Arizona en route to visit his family in Texas, and so had a good chance to see the now flourishing city when it was only a village, or perhaps rather a small cluster of houses and homes. The impression, however, was sufficiently favorable to induce him to return to Southern California, when he resigned from the Army service, to locate first in El Monte, until in 1883 when he came to Pomona. He is thus the oldest doctor in age and point of service in Pomona Valley, for when he located here there was only one house north of the railroad track.
From the first, Doctor Burr practiced all over the Valley, riding horseback with saddle bags, and as there was a dearth of drug store facilities, he carried with him his own medicine chest of over one hundred varieties, and thus became a kind of traveling drug store. After a while, he was appointed by the board of supervisors town health officer, and in one year, during a smallpox scare, he vaccinated two thousand persons, never losing a life.
In 1898 Doctor Burr was appointed by President William McKinley, surgeon of the U.S. Volunteers in the Spanish-American War, and joined the Seventh Regiment from St. Louis, a regiment of immunes from the yellow fever. In 1899 he also saw service as civilian surgeon in Cuba, continuing there for eight years, and accomplishing much for science and the good name of America.
It was not long before Doctor Burr's pronounced ability and exceptional experience became somewhat widely known, and in 1905 he was sent to the Panama Canal Zone, where for four years he was district surgeon under General Gorgas, and for forty-eight or fifty months he did not lose a day's work. This is a record of which he is and may justly be proud, for those were trying times in the Canal Zone, due to climate and disease.
In 1909 Doctor Burr left the Canal Zone, resigned from the service and for twenty-two months traveled through Europe, Asia and Africa. In 1911 he visited in Cuba, and there he remained until 1915. In 1917 he returned to Pomona, where he is once again in active and successful practice. On his retirement, Doctor Burr had the rank of a first lieutenant of the U.S.A. Volunteers, a status the more interesting because Doctor Burr was a private soldier in the First Louisiana Cavalry and therefore a Confederate veteran, and one of the original members of the Ku Klux Klan in New Orleans. During his fourteen years of service for the United States Army, he never lost a day from ill health from the performance of his duty, and for five years, while in the Army, never had leave of absence.
Doctor Burr, whom to know is to admire for his strong and attractive social qualities, was twice married. His first wife, now deceased, was Mollie Virginia Adams, a native of Tennessee; and four of her children have survived. Rollin T., Jr., lives at Tucson, Ariz., William H. and Ella May are in Los Angeles, and Mary Bell is Mrs. Wallace of Santa Ana. His second wife, whom he married in 1901 and is still living, was Elisa M.M. La Madriz before her marriage, a descendant of a historic Spanish family. She is a granddaughter of a famous Spanish-American poet, and inherits those intellectual gifts always so charming in a woman.
Doctor Burr was one of the first subscribers to the Pomona Public Library, and donated a subscription for Harper's Monthly. The library was then in a small room upstairs in the Ruth Block at Third and Main Streets, and the librarian was a Mrs. E.P. Bartlett. About the time when Doctor Burr made this contribution toward the founding of one of the most beneficient institutions in Pomona, the people's great fountain of general knowledge, he also invested in Pomona real estate; and he still holds some of the property he thus fortunately acquired.
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 8/21/08, Pages 234-236
Los Angeles County Biographies ~ Archive Biography Index ~ Archive Index
Copyright © 1996-2009; This Web page is sponsored by Supporters on behalf of the California portion of The USGenWeb Project by The Administrative Team of the CAGW. Although believed to be correct as presented, if you note any corrections, changes, additions, or find that any links provided on this page are not functioning properly please contact the Archive Coordinator for prompt attention to the matter.