Holyoke Square

Edward A. Holyoke worked as the Physician of Salem for many years. He was born on August 1^st, 1728. The following is Edward Holyoke’s biography, found on findagrave.com.

“Physician, Scientist. An early proponent of inoculation against smallpox, it is estimated he vaccinated 600 persons during his career against the dreaded disease. The son of Harvard College President, the Rev. Edward Holyoke, and Margaret Appleton, he graduated from Harvard in 1746. He taught school for two years before apprenticing himself to a practicing physician for two and a half years. Later, while already a long-practicing physician in Salem, he would receive the first MD awarded by the Harvard Medical School, even though he believed physicians did not need a college education. A loyalist before the Revolution, he was so esteemed in fervently patriotic Salem that he was left unmolested during the war, and as the struggle continued began to favor the American cause. He theorized that weather conditions could affect health and specific ailments and throughout his life kept precise weather measurements. He was a founding member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and served as its president for six years. He also led the Massachusetts Medical Society and contributed numerous articles to the New England Journal of Medicine. He was married first to Judith Pickman of Salem, and after her death to Mary Vial of Boston.”