Thursday, April 4, 2024

A to Z Challenge 2024 -- Professionally Speaking -- D is for Doctor

 So far, I have found two individuals with doctoral degrees of one sort or another among my ancestors.  And there's an added note at the end.

Great-granduncle Herbert Roy Packard (1876-1964) was a dentist.(1)  He practiced in California.  I have not yet determined where he received his degree.

Charles Packard (1812-1883), a great-great granduncle, was a physician.(2)  I do not have a great deal of information about him, either.  One of his daughters, seven years old at the time of the source census, was born in Massachusetts.  Did Charles get his medical degree at Harvard?  An older daughter, eleven years old, was born in Canada.  Did Charles get his medical degree there?  That will require future searching.  He practiced in Bloomington, Illinois.

Finally, one note I have to add, not about an ancestor, but about a descendant, my daughter Marti Meyers.  In April of 2022, she received her Doctor of Audiology (Au.D.) degree from the University of Florida.  Our daughter, the doctor!  She is, obviously, not the first doctor in the family, but she is the first female doctor in our tree.

(1)  1930 U.S. census,   population schedule, Los Angeles, enumeration district (ED) 19-1208, sheet 1B,  dwelling 25, family 25, Packard, Herbert R.; NARA microfilm publication T626.

(2)  1870 U.S. census, population schedule, Bloomington, enumeration district (ED) not recorded, printed page number 98, dwelling 457, family 468, Packard, Charles, NARA Microfilm publication M593, Roll 258.

2 comments:

Torie Lennox said...

Congratulations to your daughter! That's no easy feat. But it's also fun to know that some of her ancestors shared a similar passion!

Anne Young said...

The research is bever ending - as soon as we have some answers we want to know more - it is not enought to know the profession but where did they get their education ...