DR. J. W. BARSTOW '46 ONE OF OLDEST COLLEGE MEN

Our own Dr. J. W. Barstow '46 passed into his 97th year June 21, 1922, but there are others older. John A. Stewart, Columbia University '4O will be 100 on August 22, 1922; Cornelius Cole, Wesleyan University '47, is 100 years old and Brown University has a graduate of '42 who is near 100.

W. W. Eggleston '91 has sent to the ALUMNI MAGAZINE the following brief article concerning Dr. Barstow.

JOSIAH WHITNEY BARSTOW

Dartmouth '46, Dartmouth Medical College '52

For some time this name has been at the head of Dartmouth graduates, and Dartmouth Class Secretaries. My attention was first called to Dr. Barstow at Commencement June 21, 1921, when he was announced as our oldest graduate whose 95th birthday and 75th anniversary from College occurred on June 21. Later while investigating the career of Dartmouth's greatest botanist, Alphonso Wood '34, my attention was called to the fact that Dr. Barstow had known Prof. Wood, as a boy, in the forties at his father's home in Keene and later in the seventies in his mature life, they had been botanical friends when both resided in New York.

Prof. Wood died in 1881 in his seventy-first year, and very few men are now alive who knew Alphonso Wood; therefore a man who knew Prof. Wood for a period ranging forty years was a find, and a correspondence was begun with Dr. Barstow.

Mrs. Barstow was my correspondent, since the Doctor had had a slight shock two or three years before which affected his motor nerves and muscles, but has left his mind in fine condition.

Early in January a half hour interview was held with him at his home in. Flushing, where I found him reading The Dartmouth'. In April I called again and a short talk at lunch with Mrs. Barstow gave me new data on the Doctor.

Doctor Barstow's medical life has all been in New York City, where he first qualified as a skilled surgeon until an accident to his right hand caused him to abandon his surgical career; then as an expert on mental diseases, being at the head of the Hospital for the Insane in Flushing for forty years. He has three daughters, the married one, Mrs. M. M. Hopkins. Mrs. Hopkins has a daughter at Smith College, in whom the Doctor is very much interested, and a son of fifteen or sixteen who looks to be a fine candidate for Dartmouth College in the near future.

An elder brother of Dr. Barstow's graduated at Dartmouth in '42, studied medicine, and settled in California, living until over 80. Doctor Barstow's father was a clergyman in Keene, N. H., for fifty-two years, being a trustee of Dartmouth for 37 years. The elder Doctor Barstow, although a graduate of Yale, gave his sons their choice of Yale or Dartmouth.

I had another call on Dr. Barstow in September. He seemed to be in fully as good condition as he was in the spring. He now lives at No. 165 Jamaica Ave., three blocks from the depot in the house that his wife's father owned and where he and Mrs. Barstow were married over 62 years ago.

Now, here is the serious side for us Dartmouth men. Doctor Barstow has survived all the men he knew in College, and the Medical School, and in a way, is alone in the world. He is a very loyal Dartmouth man, who is glad to meet Dartmouth graduates. It is only a short trip from the Pennsylvania Station in New York to Flushing, L. I. and the Doctor lives on Jamaica Avenue, one block from the station. A convenient train leaves Pennsylvania Station a few minutes before 1 p. m. It will be better to write Mrs. Barstow in advance of the trip, since Dr. Barstow is not always well enough to receive callers, but a half hour's visit with him will be enjoyed by any good Dartmouth man.

The records of the College show that two graduates to have lived into their 104th year, one other died in his 100th year, one in his 98th, and three in their 97th year, two in the 96th year, five in the 95th year, 10 in the 94th, 7 in the 93rd, 13 in the 92nd, 29 in the 91st, and 27 in the 90th year.

Of the 3,379 graduates of Dartmouth up to the year 1861, 101 have lived into their 90th year or beyond, and 44 more lived into their 89th year.