- Source: John Sprague (doctor)
John Sprague (1718–1797) was an early American physician.
Personal life
Born in 1718, he was graduated from Harvard College in 1737. Around 1770, he moved to Dedham, Massachusetts.
He married Elizabeth Dalhonde in 1745. After Elizabeth died in 1757, he married Esther Harrison in 1770. He had a son, Lawrence, who was an assistant to William Montague at a school in Dorchester.
Sprague owned two homes in Dedham's Low Plains, both of which burned in 1765. He then built a mansion, 75 by 25 feet (22.9 m × 7.6 m). He died in 1797.
Career
He lived in Cambridge and studied medicine in Boston with Doctors Louis Dalhonde and William Douglass. He later opened his own practice in Boston. While living in Dedham, he treated Faith Huntington for depression.
He had a reputation as an excellent diagnostician. He was a charter member of the Massachusetts Medical Society.
Politics
He was active in the patriot cause and was friends with John Adams and Robert Treat Paine. He was a delegate to the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention of 1779–1780. He was a member of the Sons of Liberty.
On January 9, 1777, John Adams stayed at Sprague's home as he rode to Baltimore, Maryland to attend the Second Continental Congress.
Notes
References
Works cited
Ames, Nathaniel (1998). Hanson, Robert Brand Hanson (ed.). The Diary of Dr. Nathaniel Ames of Dedham, Massachusetts, 1758-1822. Picton Press.
Hanson, Robert Brand (1976). Dedham, Massachusetts, 1635–1890. Dedham Historical Society.
Slafter, Carlos (1905). A Record of Education: The Schools and Teachers of Dedham, Massachusetts, 1644–1904. Dedham Transcript Press. Retrieved September 12, 2023.