William Aspinwall (physician)

William Aspinwall ( – ) was an American physician who was an early practitioner of smallpox inoculation. He was also a Massachusetts state politician. William Aspinwall was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, May 23, 1743. His ancestor, Peter, one of the immigrants from England, settled in Dorchester, Massachusetts, in 1630 and moved to Brookline about 1650. Peter's farm in Brookline was the region about Aspinwall Avenue. William, the sole survivor of three generations, was born in the old house situated in later years on Aspinwall Avenue near St. Paul's Church. It was built by Peter in 1660 and was torn down in 1891. Dr. Aspinwall was fitted for college by the Rev. Amos Adams, a minister of Roxbury, and graduated from Harvard College in 1764. He studied medicine with Dr. Benjamin Gale, of Killingsworth, Connecticut, completing his medical education in the Pennsylvania Hospital, Philadelphia, where he spent seven months in study under Dr. William Shippen, who granted him a certificate of proficiency dated May 27, 1769. He settled in practice in his native town. On the breaking out of the American Revolution he was induced by his friend and kinsman, Dr. Joseph Warren, to enter the medical department of the provincial army, although his inclinations led him in the direction of fighting in the ranks. In the beginning he followed his bent and as a volunteer at the Battle of Lexington conducted himself with distinction, bearing from the field the body of the commander of the Brookline Company, Isaac Gardner, father of his future wife. Receiving the appointment of surgeon to Gen. Heath's brigade and later deputy director to the army hospital in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, he rendered valuable service during the war.