7 May 2000 – Dr. Henry Maynadier Fitzhugh

Several years ago while researching my book about Carroll County during World War I, I quickly became aware of a local physician, Dr. Henry Maynadier Fitzhugh, who was a leading figure in volunteer work. Dr. Fitzhugh served as the chairman of the Council for Defense for Carroll County, an organization that coordinated all local civilian war work activity. After the war, he became a leader in the fields of education and medicine. Tragically, his life was cut short by a fatal disease on January 25, 1935 and his obituary noted his important contributions:

Westminster Physician Dies in University Hospital–Was Widely Known Throughout State—Headed Education Board and Professional Organizations

Dr. Henry M. Fitzhugh, of Westminster, one of the most widely known physicians in the State, died this morning in the University of Maryland Hospital, where he had been a patient since November.

He had been the president of the State Board of Education since 1920, a member of the State Board of Medical Examiners since 1910, and its secretary and treasurer since 1924.  He was the president of the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty in 1930, and was a member of its council and one of its delegates to the American Medical Association at the time of his death.   For the past year he had been the president of the Federation of State Medical Boards of the United States.

Widow, Two Sons Survive

Surviving are Mrs. Fitzhugh who, before their marriage, was Miss Mary Aldridge, of Virginia, and two sons, Robert Tyson Fitzhugh, professor of English of the University of Maryland at College Park, and Henry M. Fitzhugh 3d, a student at the University of Virginia.

Dr. Fitzhugh suffered a deep-seated infection which did not yield to treatment and in November he entered the hospital.  Osteomylitis was the final cause of death.  Mrs. Fitzhugh had been living in the institution and was with him at the time of his death. 

Born in Michigan

Born in Bay City, Michigan, September 16, 1875, Doctor Fitzhugh was the son of Henry M. and Lucy Tyson Fitzhugh.  The family moved to Maryland.  The father was for some time Clerk of the Court of Baltimore County.

Doctor Fitzhugh was a descendant on his father’s side of Col. Henry Maynadier, of Revolutionary fame, who extracted a ball from Lafayette’s leg at the battle of Brandywine.  His mother was descended from the Ellicotts, who settled at the falls of the Patapsco and established flour mills there, and also from the Tysons, who were among the first Maryland Quakers.

U. of M. Graduate

Doctor Fitzhugh was educated in the public and private schools of Baltimore and graduated from the University of Maryland Medical School in 1897.  He was an intern there and resident physician of the hospital and in 1904 entered private practice in this city.

Married in 1904, he and Mrs. Fitzhugh moved to Westminster four years later.  Their home ‘Sunset Hill,’ has become a familiar spot to most of the residents of Carroll county.

Praised for Character

Dr. Fitzhugh’s friends say of him he was one of the finest American examples of the old-fashioned family physician and friend as described in Ian McClaren’s ‘Country Doctor,’ published a generation or more ago.

It is said of him by those who knew him most intimately that he carried into a home where illness had caused distress not only the skill of the medical men of his kind and the capacity to meet all orders of unexpected emergencies, but also qualities of character which endeared him to his patients.

Draft Board Chairman

In the years of the World War he served as the chairman of his local draft board and as chairman of the Carroll county branch of the State Council of Defense.  He was for some years a director of the Union National Bank of Westminster, but retired from that position some years ago.

The service which he gave to the public positions he held was never perfunctory, according to those who knew him.  A man of strong convictions, he did not hesitate to express them.  The period in which he served on the State Board of Education was one in which the whole educational system of the State was reorganized and in which Maryland’s rating in national organizations concerned with education was much improved.

Nationally Known

The year in which he served as president of the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty was the centennial of its library and that celebration was aided much in its success through his efforts.

Because of his attendance at the meetings of the American Medical Association and his attendance at the meetings at the Conference of the Association of American Medical Colleges, he was widely known throughout the United States among educators and members of the faculties of medical schools.  He was a charter member of two groups of physicians organized about thirty years ago for scientific discussion and friendly intercourse, the Avicenna Club and the Splint Club.  He was a member of the Carroll County Medical Society and the University Club of Baltimore.”