San Diego County Biographies
                        
ALEX DeBARRA, A. M., M. D.

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
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One of the eminent representatives of the medical profession in Elsinore, is a 
Fellow of Society of Science, Letters and Art, of London, England, a society 
that stands at the head of all such societies in the world. The Doctor was born 
in the north of Norway, of Russian parents. While in his infancy his parents 
removed to Moscow, where he was reared and educated in the schools and colleges 
of that country. During the latter years of the reign of Nicholas and while the 
Crimean war was being vigorously carried on, the students in the colleges were 
in great excitement over it and the affairs then engrossing the minds of the 
people. The college society to which he belonged took an exciting part in the 
discussion, and for that, he with many other young men like himself, was exiled 
to Siberia for a term of six years. When in an inhospitable region they were 
thrown wholly upon their own resources to get a living. He resolved to try for 
liberty, and followed the river Lena northward through the ice and snow of that 
inclement climate, subsisting on what he could find that he knew was not poison 
until he fell in with some Esquimeaux who were kind to him, and for six months 
he remained with them and followed until at last they reached a trading point 
where he took a ship for South America. While suffering with the exposure in 
Siberia he contracted diseases from which he has never recovered, and in order 
to find relief he has traveled a good deal of his time in search of a climate in 
which to prolong life. After several years travel he went to Savannah, Georgia; 
then he tried the Bermudas, where he remained a year or so; he then went to 
Crystal Springs, New York, where he established a hospital and practiced his 
profession for fifteen years. While there he was a frequent contributor to most 
of the scientific papers. While in New York he was often called upon as an 
expert in court and before State and Senate committees to give testimony on 
scientific matters, and in such cases always gave his testimony without regard 
to consequences, or who was pleased or displeased. In the great Guiteau trial 
the Doctor differed from the other physicians who treated the lamented President 
Garfield, and believes that the facts were with him in both cases. Garfield 
could have been saved had the doctors not been mistaken in the location and 
track of the bullet. The Doctor has been obliged to battle constantly with his 
throat trouble and has finally brought his family to the sunny clime of southern 
California, but as yet has not tried the climate long enough to know how much 
benefit he will receive. In Elsinore he has found a congenial clime, and water 
loaded with mineral substances valuable for medicinal purposes to a remarkable 
degree. He also sees in this vicinity large quantities of mineral wealth in an 
unimproved and undeveloped condition, and it only remains for capital to develop 
to make those interested in it very satisfactory returns.
        The Doctor was married to Miss Mary Flemming, of Havana, New York, and 
their union has been blessed with two children, a boy and a girl, viz.: Horace 
Phelps, now seven years old, and Mary Alma, five years old. The Doctor's 
connection with a college secret society caused his exile, and he has since 
avoided all secret societies and in his lectures has advised all men to refrain 
from societies that would tend to keep them from their families at night. 
Politically he has been a Republican, but is in favor of free trade. He lived 
twenty-one years in the United States before asking for naturalization papers, 
and is of the opinion that is as soon as a foreigner should vote. He is a 
believer in God and morality, and is educating his children in the way of truth 
and religion. Through his scientific attainments and long practice of his 
profession he has shown himself eminently fitted to treat the suffering and 
perform surgical operations that require the highest order of talent and skill. 
He is now largely interested in the development and prosperity of southern 
California.
 
SOURCE:  An Illustrated History of Southern California:  Embracing the Counties 
of San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the Peninsula of Lower 
California� Chicago:  The Lewis Publishing Company, 1890.  p.-  131-132