George C. Jameson Papers, c. 1937-1940 | Oberlin College Archives

Jameson, George C. (1865-1948)

George Chauncey Jameson was born on August 31, 1865 in Avon, Ohio.  He was the son of William and Delia Stevens Jameson, both from pioneer families to northern Ohio, from Avon and Massachusetts, respectively.  He attended primary school in Avon and grew up on the farm there, and then attended Elyria High School, from which he graduated in 1885.

Jameson enrolled at Oberlin College, and received his B.A. in 1890, and his M.A. in 1892.  While still an undergraduate student, Jameson decided to pursue a career in medicine.  After graduating from Oberlin, he went to the University of Pennsylvania to study medicine, and received his M.D. in 1893.  In December of that same year, he returned to Oberlin and married Nellie Hulbert (OC 1890), a classmate from Elyria High School, who was then the head cataloguer at the Oberlin College Library.

Despite insistence from Oberlin physicians that the town held few financial prospects for another doctor, Jameson opened a private practice at 13 W. College Street, where he worked until just two weeks before his death.  He specialized in eye, ear, nose and throat services, but also kept a general practice.  Unlike other Oberlin practitioners, he focused on preventative medicine, and tried to steer his practice away from purging and unnecessary blood letting.  He could often be seen riding his bicycle to make house calls, until 1917 when he purchased his first automobile.  In 1908, along with Charles H. Browning, Jameson founded the Oberlin Hospital Association.  This organization was responsible for raising the funds necessary to build the first community hospital, and then to endow the Allen Memorial Hospital.  In 1926, Jameson became chief of staff at Allen, a position he held until his retirement in 1944.

Through all of his medical work in Oberlin, Jameson also maintained an interest in public health and sanitation.  He was extremely influential in the city council’s decision to pass an ordinance regarding the testing and inspection of milk.  Additionally, Jameson served on the trustee boards of the First and Second Congregational churches in Oberlin.

George and Nellie had three sons, John H. (OC ’18), Donald T., and Malcolm (OC ’23).  George Chauncey Jameson died on February 29, 1948, of complications from pneumonia, in the Allen Memorial Hospital.

Author: Emma Anderson