Brief Notice

Thomas A. McNamara was an old-style family physician, whose story is lovingly told by his last-born son, the archivist of the Diocese of Rochester, New York. The narrative is based primarily on the reminiscences of the author, his relatives, and the doctor's former patients and their families. His life was part of the American Catholic experience, and illustrates the struggle of immigrants and their families for homes, jobs, education, and acceptance. Thomas's father was Patrick McNamara, a humble railroader who came from County Limerick, Ireland, around 1850. Patrick settled not in an Irish big-city ghetto, but in Adrian, a tiny hamlet in the quiet Yankee countryside of upstate New York. He joined an Irish Catholic parish, married an Irish Catholic, and raised seven children, including Thomas.

Fresh from medical school, Thomas settled in Corning, New York, which had a population of nearly 5,000. He married, in succession, two Irish Catholics, who bore a total of eight children. His office was in their home, which had a "speaking tube" running from his front porch to his bedroom doorway, so people could summon him for nighttime emergencies. House calls, at first made on foot, by horse and buggy, or by sleigh or bicycle, sometimes became all-night vigils, during which he might pray quietly. He practiced all branches of medicine, but favored obstetrics, delivering at least 4,000 babies, sometimes administering emergency baptism. "Doc Mac" handled many emergency accident cases for two railroads. He performed the first local appendectomy and the second local Caesarean section. He helped establish Corning Hospital and was the first chief of medical and surgical staff. Sometimes he also served as county coroner, city mayor, and draft board chairman. Fourteen pages of photographs complete this enjoyable picture of a skilled physician, a devout Catholic, and a decent man.