Presidential Physician: William Wallace
Presidents
Notes
- Wallace was the husband of Lincoln's wife's sister, i.e. Lincoln's brother-in-law. He was the Lincoln family doctor while they lived in Springifled, IL. The Lincolns named their third son after him. Presumably, Wallace cared for the Lincolns' second son, Eddie, who died at age 3 years 10 months after a 52-day illness.
- Wallace operated on Lincoln's son Robert for crossed eyes, and it is said that he also operated on son Tad for a cleft palate [Kunhardt p257]. The latter cannot be true, as palate surgery was little different from awake-butchery in that era, and there is no surviving account in the recollections of any close family member of the Lincolns of what would have been a horrific experience.
References
- Kunhardt DM, Kunhardt PB Jr. Twenty Days: A Narrative in Text and Pictures of the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln and the Twenty Days and Nights That Followed. New York: Castle Books, 1965.
- Neely ME. The Lincoln Family Album. New York: Doubleday, 1990; 56. Includes photograph of Wallace.