The Gale Family

Doctor Gale had the distinction of being the grandson of an English dragoon who was of Irish birth, who came to the American Colonies previous to the American Revolution. He remained in the Colonies, and evidently was an enthusiastic admirer of the great leader of the War of the Revolution, since he named one of his sons George Washington Gale. In 1820, the Gale family moved over the Alleghany Mountains to Raven Rock, in what is now West Virginia, just six miles above the present location of Newport, Ohio. The old English soldier still later moved on further west and spent his last days at Cape Girardeau.

George Washington Gale, the pioneer of the family in the medical profession, was born on the Potomac River in Hampshire County, now West Virginia, in 1798. He started medicine in Baltimore under the famous physician, Dr. Nathan R. Smith, who was associated with the University of Maryland. While his home was over the river in West Virginia, his practice from the first extended to the country on the Ohio side, including what is now Newport in Washington County and finally in 1840, he moved to that town and lived there until his death in 1876.

He was a fine type of the old country physician and surgeon, a man of rugged physique and great endurance with the utmost devotion to duty. His practice extended up and down both sides of the river for a distance of forty miles, extending will back into the hills. His trips frequently took him away from home for days at a time, and he crossed back and forth over the Ohio River in canoes, swimming his horse behind. In spite of the exposure and hardships of such an occupation he reached the good old age of seventy-nine. He was a democrat in politics; the family then, as now were Catholic.

Dr. George Washington Gale married Katherine Wells, who died at the age of sixty-seven. Her father was Nicholas Wells, a farmer at Long Reach, West Virginia. Six sons and six daughters were born to George Washington Gale and his wife. The five now living are: Alcinda B. and Rachel, who occupy the old family home at Newport; Nicholas Wells Gale, a retired farmer; Constantine, who graduated from the Jefferson Medical College at Philadelphia, and practiced at Pittsburgh and New Brighton, Pennsylvania, and now is retired; and George Thomas.

Four of the sons of George Washington Gale are members of the medical profession. Of those deceased, one was Dr. John Whitten Gale, who graduated from Jefferson Medical College, practiced for some years at Hamilton, Ohio, and was serving as coroner of Butler County when his official duties included the inquest over the noted attorney Vallandigham who in 1871 met death in the accidental discharge of a pistol in his own hand in the courtroom, with which he was illustrating his theory of the manner in which a homicide had taken place. The other deceased children of George Washington Gale were: Mary who died at the age of twenty years; Veronica, wife of Dr. Stephenson of Parkersburg, West Virginia; Ellen, who died when forty-eight; Ada, who was the wife of William Kelley, a foundrymen at Parkersburg, West Virginia; Dr. Hammitt Gale, who received training in Baltimore where he practiced dentistry in that city, and Dr. Bernard Gale, a graduate of Baltimore Medical College, and was associated in practice with his brother, George T., until his death in 1892.

George Thomas Gale acquired his early education in the home schools at Newport, began the study of medicine in his father’s office, and then took his course of lectures in Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia, where he graduated in 1874, just half a century ago. One of his schoolmates was Dr. W. L. West of New Matamoras, Ohio, and they practiced together a year ad have been lifelong friends. Doctor Gale is an accomplished man in his profession and has taken post-graduate work in Philadelphia Polyclinic. He was associated with his father until the latter’s death, and then spent a year with Doctor West in New Matamoras, and afterward he resumed his work at Newport. He has been a member of the Washington County Medical Society since its organization, belongs to the Ohio State and American Medical associations, was for years president of the local school board and has been a member of the Pension Examining Board since the Wilson Administration. He has been county democratic executive committeeman and his family is members of St. Mary’s Church. Doctor Gale was a volunteer during the Spanish-American war. For thirty years he has been successfully identified with oil production in Ohio, West Virginia and Illinois. His hobby is good horses, and his fondness for them has been little diminished by the general introduction of the automobile. Doctor Gale married Miss Myra Hays, daughter of Richard and Maria Greene Hays, who were pioneers in this part of Ohio. Mrs. Gale is a direct descendant of [Judge Philip Greene], and a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Three children were born to them, the only daughter dying in infancy. The son, George Hays Gale, born in 1883, was a graduate of Jefferson Medical College in 1906, at Philadelphia, and is now carrying some of the heavier burdens of practice for his father.

The other son, Larry Richard Gale, attended lectures at Jefferson Medical College, but graduated in medicine from the University at Cincinnati. During World War I, he was in training as a medical officer at Fort Riley, Kansas and at Fort Beauregard, Louisiana, and achieved the rank of Lieutenant in the Army Medical Corps. He rendered notable service and had been ordered for oversees duty with the Army division that had been stationed at Panama, but the influenza outbreak caused him to be detailed for service with the troops in home camps, and he never went overseas. This distinguished physician died September 23, 1923.

Dr. George Hays Gale was chairman of the war board in Newport Township, received a Lieutenant’s commission on October 17, 1918, but the armistice was signed before he was called to duty.