My Genealogy Hound

JOSIAH ALEXANDER IRELAND, M. D., was born September 15, 1824, in Jefferson County, and is a son of William and Jane (Stone) Ireland, the former of Scotch and the latter of English ancestry. He is the eldest of three surviving children, and received a good English education, with a fair knowledge of Latin and Greek. At the age of seventeen he commenced the study of medicine with Dr. James F. Pendergrast, of Jefferson County; but subsequently continued his studies in Louisville under Drs. Bullitt and Cummins. He attended his first course of lectures in the winter of 1845, in the medical department of the University of Louisville; in 1851 he graduated from the Kentucky School of Medicine, and at once commenced the practice of his profession in Louisville. He was elected, in 1864, to the chair of obstetrics and diseases of women and children in the Kentucky School of Medicine, which position he held until the school was merged into the University of Louisville, and was elected at that time professor of clinical medicine in the University. Upon the re-establishment of the Kentucky School of Medicine, he was again elected professor of obstetrics and diseases of women and children, a position he resigned upon being elected to the chair of diseases of women and children in the Louisville Medical College in 1870; in 1875 he was elected to the same chair in the Kentucky School of Medicine. In 1876 he was a delegate to the International Medical Congress at Philadelphia; and at the meeting following of the Kentucky State Medical Society he was appointed a delegate to the American Medical Association. He is a member of the Medico-Chirurgical Society, and has taken an active interest in the local and State organizations of the profession. Dr. Ireland was licensed to preach in 1848, in the Baptist Church, and for many years was pastor of several churches, in addition to attending to his professional duties. He is a life member of the General Association of Kentucky Baptists, and is regarded as a substantial, earnest and valuable member of his church. During his active professional labors, he has found time for literary pursuits, and has written some for the press, both religiously and in connection with his profession. He is a man of quiet, unassuming habits, and void of any disposition for personal display. Few men in his profession have done more hard and successful labor, and few physicians enjoy a more wide-spread reputation in his section of the State, and especially in that branch of the medical profession relating to the diseases of women and children; and in the church, in which he has been an active member for over forty years, he has been a zealous worker, and a pillar of strength. He is a man of fine personal appearance, above six feet in height, and weighing over two hundred pounds. He is exceptional in all his professional, social and personal habits; agreeable and attractive in manner; broad and liberal in his treatment of men; free from personal and selfish enmities; takes an active interest, not only in everything relating to the good and advancement of his profession and the church, but also to the community at large. He was married in 1846 to Miss Sarah E. Cooper, daughter of Levin Cooper, Esq., of Jefferson County. By this marriage he had one son, Henry Clay Ireland, a graduate of two medical colleges. In 1859 he was married to Susan M. Brown, daughter of the late Furtney Brown, of Louisville. By this marriage he has one son, William F. Ireland. Dr. Ireland holds sacred in memory the names of his teachers while at two medical colleges. While at the University of Louisville, he was taught by such men as Samuel D. Gross, M. D., Henry Miller, M. D., Charles Caldwell, M. D., Charles W. Short, M. D., Lansford P. Yandell, M. D., Daniel Drake, M. D., Jedediah Cobb, M. D. While at the Kentucky School of Medicine, he was instructed by Joshua B. Flint, M. D., James M. Bush, M. D., Henry M. Bullitt, M. D., Robert Peter, M. D., Ethelbert L. Dudley, M. D., Samuel Annan, M. D., Llewellyn Powell, M. D., and others, all of whom at that time enjoyed a national reputation as great teachers of the different branches of medicine and surgery. Dr. Ireland’s success in life has been largely due to the sound and thorough teaching he received from the above named accomplished gentlemen and scholars.