Information
Sheet
R McComb, James, 1832-1926.
238 Papers, 1852-1926.
Eight
folders.
MICROFILM
These are papers of Dr. James McComb, an
early physician of Laclede County,
Missouri. The papers include medical notebooks and
treatment records, Civil War papers, McComb’s autobiography, and family
correspondence following his death.
James McComb was born on 12 March 1832
near Jacksonville
in Morgan County, Illinois. His family
moved to Missouri in 1837, settling on the Osage River near Bagnell.
The elder McComb died there shortly after their arrival. James McComb was educated at schools in Bagnell,
High Point, and Warsaw,
and then received medical training at Columbia
and St. Louis. He opened a practice in Laclede County
at Dry Glaize in 1858. He married Mary
L. Holman (1840-1921) at Dry Glaize in 1860.
McComb served as an assistant surgeon in
Gen. Parson's division of the Missouri State Guard at the beginning of the
Civil War. He returned home in 1862, and
moved for a short time to California, Missouri, to
practice. In 1864 McComb was at Rolla,
where he served as examining surgeon for a company of militiamen. In October 1864 he went to the Jefferson Medical
College in Philadelphia for additional training,
graduating in 1865. He returned to Missouri to reside in Lebanon, where he practiced until
his death in 1926. He was a member of
the Masonic Lodge and Christian Church in Lebanon,
as well as the Laclede County and Missouri
state medical associations.
McComb’s papers are organized in two sections:
medical notebooks and personal papers.
Of the medical material, the memoranda book, 1852-1859 (folder 1) and an
undated notebook (folder 4) appear to contain notes made by McComb during the
course of his medical education. Two
other notebooks (folders 2 and 3) contain records of his practice in Laclede County.
The treatment record in folder 3 will be of particular use to
genealogists and students of medical history.
The personal papers contain military
documents pertaining to McComb’s service in the Missouri State Guard, and a
pass through Union lines in Missouri
in 1864. Other materials include
McComb’s autobiography, written in three installments, 1907-1924; miscellaneous
newspaper clippings concerning his family, career, and death; and condolences
to family members after McComb’s death in 1926.
Shelf List
for this collection
Index
cards for this collection
Questions? Use our
Researcher Registration Form
Return to
WHMC-Rolla's home page.