The Doctor Is In

THROWBACK THURSDAY/ AUGUST 20TH, 2020

Today we are going to look at a doctor who was part of the O’Hara family and the many interesting developments in his story.

On the 21st of September in the year 1830 James O’Hara and his wife Mary Healey O’Hara welcomed their fifth child into the world in the town of Madoc.

John grew up in Madoc and trained to be a baker in nearby Belleville. In September of 1851, John married Frances(Fannie) Snyder (1831-1915) and went on to move to Fulton, New York, where John established his own bakery.

In 1856, the couple moved to Galesburg Illinois where John finished his medical studies and set up his own practice. He later practiced in Carbondale Illinois.

John and his wife had two sons, Frank E. (1854-1916) and George M. They also had three daughters, all of whom died at a young age.

Dr. John O’Hara was a very political man. As a Democrat he made many enemies and as a result did not do well financially in his profession, living and dying a poor man.

A quote from a newspaper article written after his death describes him as follows:

“ Without question Dr. O’Hara was the most remarkable man ever living in this community - remarkable in his idiosyncrasies, his pessimism and his capabilities. With a full knowledge of his peculiarities, he cultivated all of them and gloried in them. While he hated eccentricities in others, he indulged them to the fullest extent. While he professed to doubt all things, yet he believed almost everything. While in some respects he was simple and weak as a child, yet in others he was a giant in strength. The man who sought to impress his personality upon others was sure to have his feathers ruffled when he came in contact with Dr. O’Hara.”

Dr. John O’Hara’s death, in the year 1900, was one of great suspicion within the community of Carbondale. It was believed at first that he had died from overdosing on morphine administrated by himself. However, these suspicions were removed when a number of respected physicians confidently said that there was no evidence of morphine in his body at the time of death.