A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography: Being Chiefly Men of the Time: A Collection of Persons Distinguished in Professional and Political Life, Leaders in the Commerce and Industry of Canada, and Successful Pioneers
History
A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography: Being Chiefly Men of the Time: A Collection of Persons Distinguished in Professional and Political Life, Leaders in the Commerce and Industry of Canada, and Successful Pioneers
dismay and death on every hand. During the prevalence of this fearful
scourge, extending over a period upwards of four months, Dr. Steeves, by
his unswerving fidelity to his professional duties under every
circumstance, and his good measure of success, fairly placed himself
among the leading physicians of New Brunswick. In 1864 he removed to the
city of St. John and erected the fine block of four brick and stone
buildings situated on the corner of Wellington Row and Union street,
which escaped the great fire of 1877, and still stand as a monument to
his success and enterprise, and where he resided until 1875. On the
opening of the General Public Hospital in 1864, the doctor was appointed
upon the staff of visiting surgeons, and was the last of the original
staff retiring. When the late Dr. J. Waddell was about retiring from the
superintendency of the Provincial Lunatic Asylum, Dr. Steeves was
recommended by his professional brethren almost as a body, as a suitable
successor for the position. Under the management of Dr. Waddell the
asylum for the insane had attained a high position for successful work;
and since under the present administration it has not lost a whit, but
has kept fully abreast with the various modern improvements incident to
asylum treatment everywhere. Dr. Steeves is a strong advocate for
segregation, pavilion accommodation, and employment for the insane. By
means of his advocacy with pen and voice, he has induced the government
of New Brunswick to purchase a large farm, and to erect thereon a group
of pavilions for the care and employment of a suitable number and class
of the most healthy, indigent and pauper insane. The establishment is in
full working condition, and is regarded as a complete success, in that
it is far better than the old hospital system for this class of
patients, giving them more freedom and out-door work, and that it is far
more economical both in buildings and maintenance. Dr. Steeves was
elected a member of the first medical council of New Brunswick on the
introduction of the English Medical Registration Act in 1860. He has
occupied the position of vice-president of the Canada Medical
Association; he is an honorary member of the American Medical
Association; he was elected unanimously first president of the New
Brunswick Medical Society under the New Brunswick Medical Act of 1880;
and is past president of the New Brunswick Medical Council. The Dr. was
married to M. A. McMann, daughter of the late Captain L. McMann, of the
city of St. John, in May, 1856; by whom he had born nine children. The
eldest son, Frank H. Steeves, M.D., a very promising young man,
graduated in medicine at Bellevue Hospital College, N.Y., and soon after
went to St. Thomas Hospital College, London, England, in 1880, to
further pursue medical studies. There he contracted acute phthisis, to
which disease he succumbed in March, 1882. The second son, J. A. E.
Steeves, A.M., M.D., is the assistant physician in the Provincial
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