CLASS OF 1877

Dr. Joseph Foster Land died suddenly of heart disease October 29, at the home of his only surviving son, Freeman P. Land, in Erie, Pa. Dr. Land was the son of John Foster and Elizabeth (Barker) Land, and was born at West Dennis, Mass., June 2, 1838. He early removed to Yarmouth, Maine, and followed the sea for a time, going around the world three times in sailing vessels before he became of age. He studied at the academies of Litchfield and Yarmouth, Me. August 9, 1862, he was commissioned first lieutenant of Company G, Twentieth Maine Volunteers, in the following January was promoted to be captain of Company H, and served as such until he was mustered out, June 4, 1865, having been brevetted major in the preceding March. Captain Land and his regiment saw much service, participating in the battles of Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg, besides many minor engagements. Not long after his medical graduation he established himself in the city of New York, and practiced there some thirty years, being prominently connected with the Homeopathic Medical Societies of the county and state, and with the American Institute of Homeopathy. He had been attending physician at the Home for the Friendless. Dr. Land was a Mason, an Odd Fellow, and a member of the Loyal Legion and the Grand Army of the Republic. For many years he was an active member of Pilgrim Congregational church, New York, and had been a member of the board of managers of the New York Bible Society. He was actively interested in all good works, and possessed unusually attractive and lovable traits of character. Dr. Land was married in Yarmouth, Me., October 6, 1864, to Phebe Bucknum Pratt. She died March 21, 1909, and after her death Dr. Land gave up practice and removed to Erie to make his home ,with his son. Two other children, a son and a daughter, had died before their parents.