Tulare County Biographies

GILBERT B. FURNESS, M. D.

Transcribed by Kathy Sedler

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm


        Dr. Gilbert B. Furness, one of the leading physicians and surgeons of 
Visalia, California, is a native of the Empire state, born in Ogdensburg, New 
York, October 24, 1873. After attending the public schools and Ogdensburg Free 
Academy, he enrolled as a student in the medical department of the University at 
Ann Arbor, and was graduated with the class of 1896, receiving the degree of M. 
D. For a few months after graduating he was connected with the North Michigan 
Hospital, in Traverse City, but in 1897 he located in Mandan, North Dakota, as 
district surgeon of the Northern Pacific railroad and also began the work of 
building up a private practice.
        While in North Dakota, Dr. Furness was a member of the Morton County 
Board of Health, of which he was also vice president; city health officer of 
Mandan; a member of the commission of public health; and division surgeon for 
the Northern Pacific Railroad. In 1913 he came to California. After taking a 
postgraduate course in Los Angeles, he practiced a short time in Ocean Park and 
then came to Visalia.
        Although a comparatively recent addition to the population of Visalia, 
Dr. Furness has become intimately identified with some of the city's most 
important interests. He is now (1925) serving his second term as a member of the 
city council ; a director of the Visalia Chamber of Commerce ; a director of the 
Home Builders, and a member of the Kiwanis Club. He was one of the founders and 
is president of the Kaweah Hospital and has been active in many movements for 
the advancement of his adopted city.
        On July 11, 1899, Dr. Furness was married to Miss Grace Hamilton, of New 
York state, and they have four daughters : Margaret, a graduate of the 
University of California and now a teacher in the public schools of Exeter; 
Dorothy, a student in the University of California ; and Grace and Marian, at 
home. Dr. Furness is a republican in politics, and religiously the family are 
affiliated with the Episcopal church. The Doctor is a member of the charter 
committee that drew up the city charter and the city is now under the city 
manager plan. He is also president of the Masonic Building Association. He is 
well known in fraternal circles. In Masonry he has attained the degree of Knight 
Templar, and while in North Dakota he became a Noble of the Mystic Shrine at 
Fargo. He is also a member of Visalia Lodge No. 1298, Benevolent Protective 
Order of Elks.
 
Source:  History of Tulare County and Kings County, California � Kathleen 
Edwards Small & J. Larry Smith, Vol. II, Chicago, The S. J. Clarke Publishing 
Company, 1926., p. 207