Gideon A. Weed

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Gideon "Giddy" A. Weed
Gideon A Weed.jpg
9th Mayor of Seattle
In office
1876–1878
Preceded byBailey Gatzert
Succeeded byBeriah Brown
Personal details
Born(1833-03-07)March 7, 1833
New Providence, New Jersey
DiedApril 22, 1905(1905-04-22) (aged 72)
Berkeley, California
Spouse(s)Adaline Melinda Willis

Gideon Allen Weed (March 7, 1833 – April 22, 1905) was a two time mayor of Seattle, Washington from 1876 to 1878, first elected in 1875, and serving as an independent.

He took part in the anti-Northern Pacific agitation and was an officer in the Home Guards during the anti-Chinese riots in Seattle. For ten years Dr. Weed served as a regent of the University of Washington.

Dr. Weed founded the King County Medical Society in 1888, helped to organize the Medical Society of Washington and the State Medical Board. Gideon carried through pioneer medical legislation that was much needed in the new state of Washington.

Born in New Providence, New Jersey, Weed received his medical training at Rush Medical College, from which he graduated in 1856.[1] Dr. Weed practiced in California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington State.

Weed, a doctor by profession is credited with greatly reducing the impact of a smallpox epidemic in 1877, acting as the city's health officer and even paying for treatment of patients from his own pocket.[2] Weed and his wife, Adaline, also a doctor, had settled in Seattle in 1870 after previously practicing hydropathy in Nevada and Oregon, one of the first few to practice it in the United States. Dr. Weed suffered a paralytic stroke which forced him into inactivity for the last 10 years of his life. Before his stroke he was one of the most prominent figures in the medical profession in the Northwest.

Dr. Weed was survived by his widow, Dr. Adeline M. Weed. Adeline was born in Illinois and moved to the west coast after her marriage to Gideon in New York in 1857. Adeline and Gideon met as students at New York Hygeio-Therapeutic College where they both became doctors. Their marriage deserves special mention... "A Wedding on Hydropathic Principles" took place between Dr. Gideon Allen Weed and Dr. Adeline M. Willis. Classmates at Trall’s Hygeio-Therapeutic College, they "have now united in hands, hearts, fortunes and diplomas." The ceremony took place in the lecture room before the professors and students.[3]

Adeline and Gideon traveled to the west coast via the isthmus of Panama. They lived in Nevada, Oregon and California until 1870, when they moved to Seattle.

Dr. and Dr. Weed were survived by a daughter, Miss Mabel Weed, who was connected with the Carnegie library of Berkeley, and Ben Weed, who achieved fame as the discoverer of the natural amphitheater back of the university, which for years was called "Ben Weed's Theater" and is now the Greek theater.[4][5]

Dr. Gideon Weed died in 1905 at his home in Berkeley, California.[1]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b Stedman, Thomas L., ed. "News of the Week: Obituary Notes", p. 783, Medical Record (journal), May 20, 1905. William Wood & Company, 1905. Accessed September 10, 2015. "Dr. GIDEON A. WEED, a pioneer physician of the Pacific Coast, and a man who, as twice Mayor of Seattle, and a prominent citizen of Washington State, did much toward the upbuilding of the Northwest, died at his home in Berkeley, Cal., on April 21. He was born in New Providence, N. J., in 1833 and was graduated from the Rush Medical College Chicago, in 1856."
  2. ^ "HistoryLink Essay:Voters re-elect Gideon A. Weed as mayor of the City of Seattle on July 9, 1877". Historylink.org. Retrieved 2012-06-24.
  3. ^ Cayleff, Susan (2010-05-18). Wash and be Healed: The Water-Cure Movement and Women's Health. ISBN 9781439904275.
  4. ^ http://www.medicine.nevada.edu/dept/hom/2008/fall.pdf[permanent dead link]
  5. ^ http://www.medicine.nevada.edu/dept/hom/2009/Spring.pdf
Political offices
Preceded by
Bailey Gatzert 		Mayor of Seattle
1876–1878 		Succeeded by
Beriah Brown
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