My Genealogy Hound

JOHN R. PIRTLE, M. D., belongs to one of the prominent families of Louisville, a family that has produced some very eminent men. He was born May 20, 1830, and is a son of Henry and Jane (Rogers) Pirtle, natives of Washington and Boyle Counties. The former was born in 1798, and died in 1880. He was circuit judge when but twenty-six years of age of the Louisville district, and when the judiciary was appointed. He served for years, and afterward was Judge of the chancery court, serving in that capacity for two terms. He served in the State Senate from 1840 to 1843. He continued his law practice until within a few years of his death. He was a zealous Union man during the late war, and was one of the commissioners sent to the Border State Convention in 1861. The subject of this sketch is the eldest of three sons, all of whom are living in Louisville. After receiving his education he began reading medicine with his maternal grandfather, Dr. Coleman Rogers, one of the eminent surgeons and physicians of this city, and of a very large and distinguished family. Dr. Pirtle, the subject, graduated from the medical department of the University of Louisville in 1852, and commenced practice with his uncle, Dr. Lewis Rogers, which he continued until 1861, when the storm of war called him to the defense of his country. He enlisted under General Rousseau (Federal), and was mustered into the service as major. He served as colonel in rank; afterward resigned and accepted the post of surgeon. He resigned in December, 1862, on account of ill health, but acted as assistant surgeon throughout the war. He served as head of a dispensary in 1857, when it was first established. In 1865 he adopted the medical view of homoeopathy.