Los Angeles County, CA, Biographies

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


FREDERICK C. GRESHAM, M. D., 
 
ranks among the most prominent physicians and surgeons of Sierra Madre and the 
San Gabriel Valley. He is a native of England, and dates his birth in London in 
1850. His father, John F. Gresham, was a prominent barrister at law in that 
city, ranking high in his profession and filling many positions of trust and 
honor. He is now (1889) chief justice of the Island of Grenada, West Indies, an 
honorable position he has filled for the past twenty‑five years. Dr. Gresham was 
reared in the city
of his birth, receiving his education in its schools and colleges. At the age of 
nineteen years he commenced his medical studies under the tutorship of Dr. John 
Stopford-Taylor, a prominent physician of Liverpool, and also entered upon a 
course of study in the best medical institutions of England. He pursued his 
studies with a zeal born with a love of the profession and an ambition to excell 
in his calling. In 1874 he graduated with honor at the Royal College of Surgeons 
of England, and also at the Apothecaries Hall of London, and the next year 
received a degree from the Queen's University of Dublin. The Doctor has been 
justly honored by the medical institutes of his country, and is the recipient of 
silver medals for medicine, surgery and pathology, and also medal for midwifery, 
diseases of women and children and forensic medicine. He gained prizes for 
chemistry, comparative anatomy and zoology. The years of arduous study pursued 
by the Doctor necessitated a relaxation and change of climate. He therefore, in 
1875, accepted the position of Surgeon in the Pacific Steam Navigation Company, 
and was employed on the R. M. S. Aconcagua for a year or more, after which he 
located in Bromley Common, Kent, near London, and there established himself in 
the practice of his profession. The close attention and skill displayed in his 
calling soon gained recognition and he built up a large and lucrative practice 
which he conducted until 1884. His failing health then demanded a complete 
change of climate and a suspension of his professional duties, and in the fall 
of that year he came to California and took up his residence in Los Angeles, 
arriving October 23, 1884. He commenced the practice of medicine and surgery in 
that city, but was compelled to suspend operations and seek a more congenial 
climate. Sierra Madre offered such, and in January, 1885, he took up his 
residence in that colony. He purchased an eight-acre tract on the north side of 
Grand View avenue, upon which he erected a comfortable cottage home and added to 
his professional calling that of a horticulturist. In 1887, desirous of a more 
central location in the town, the Doctor took up his residence on Central 
avenue, west of Baldwin avenue, where he has since resided. Dr. Gresham is well 
known throughout his section of the San Gabriel Valley. His professional skill, 
rare scholarship and many genial qualities have gained him a large circle of 
friends. He has taken a deep interest in building up Sierra Madre, and has been 
a liberal supporter in the establishment of the public library, town hall and 
churches. He is a member and warden of the Episcopal Church of Sierra Madre. In 
1877 Dr. Gresham was united in marriage with Miss Julia M. Thorne, a native of 
London. There are three children from this marriage, whose names are as follows: 
Francis T., Charles D. and Ivy May. Mrs. Gresham's mother, now Mrs. Julia E. 
Ayles, is a resident of Sierra Madre.
 
An Illustrated History of Los Angeles County, California �  Chicago, The Lewis 
Publishing Company, 1889   Page 476
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler