Almon, William James

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY: Lois K. Kernaghan, “ALMON (Allmon), WILLIAM JAMES,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 5, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/almon_william_james_5E.html
  • DCB profile notes:
    • Physician, surgeon, and apothecary; b. 14 Aug. 1755 in Providence, R.I., son of James Almon and Ruth Hollywood; m. 4 Aug. 1785 in Halifax, N.S., Rebecca Byles, eldest daughter of the Reverend Mather Byles, and they had six children; d. 5 Feb. 1817 in Bath, England.
    • Little is known of William James Almon’s life until 1771, when he was apprenticed to Andrew Anderson, a physician in New York City. With the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, Almon joined the British forces, where he probably received additional medical training from William Bruce, physician with the hospital staff. He is supposed to have tended the wounded at the battle of Bunker Hill in 1775. The next year he went with General Sir William Howe’s forces to Halifax, later serving with them at the capture of New York City.
    • He retired from the latter post some time after 1800, but retained the honorary position he had received as surgeon general to the Nova Scotia militia. While serving as a military surgeon, Almon established after 1783 a private practice which was to become the largest and most popular in Halifax.
    • Much of Almon’s medical knowledge derived from his extensive private library, since he was a well-read man with keen scientific interests. During the 1790s he served as vice-president of the local society for the promotion of agriculture, and he also belonged to an exclusive literary, scientific, and social group often patronized by Prince Edward Augustus.
  • United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=11381
  • Find A Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/206981542/william_james-almon