Harold Alfred Blaisdell, M. D.

Representative of one of new England's oldest Colonist families, the descendants of whom still till the soil of the farm at Cherry Creek, near Jamestown, New York, which was settled by Stephen Blaisdell in 1827, Harold Alfred Blaisdell, practicing physician of Jamestown, is among the rising practitioners of his progression in this part of the State. He is a young man of exceptional natural attainments, of cultured manner and ingratiating personality, and has entered upon his professional career equipped with a thorough training in its intricacies and impressed with the responsibilities of his task. Dr. Blaisdell has shown that he appreciates the urgency of a company of high class physicians and surgeons in any community, and has been a constant student of his profession during his practice and has kept up with the progress of his fellows and the leaders in prevention, invention and cure. There are great rewards or the scientist whose work is beneficial to mankind and it is not unlikely that Dr. Blaisdell, in his progress through life, will win a just share for the excellence of his work in the field of his choice.

He was born in Cherry Creek, Chautauqua County, New York, April 28, 1897, a son of Alfred and Bertha (Waite) Blaisdell, and was educated in the public schools, after ward attending the University of Buffalo, from which he was graduated in 1923 with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He then took one year as an interne of Roosevelt Hospital, New York City, and at Yale University Hospital, New Haven Connecticut, coming to Jamestown in January, 1924, and establishing himself in practice specializing in surgery. Tracing the ancestry of his family back to early settlers in New York State, it appears that his pioneer ancestor was Stephen Blaisdell, great-grandfather of Harold Alfred, who was born in Vermont and came from Lyndon in that State to Cherry Creek, where he took up farming and founded the business of agriculture in addition to his calling as a minister of the Christian church. In his religious work he served a large district in this part of the State, where he was highly regarded as a devout and industrious example of the best traditions of the New England pioneers, from whom he had sprung. His son, William S. Blaisdell, was also born in Vermont, and came with his parents to New York. He married Mary Harris, of Gerry, was active in Democratic political affairs and served his fellow-citizens in several local public offices to which he was chosen. He followed farming as a profession and was the incumbent of the original farm during his lifetime. His son, Alfred Blaisdell, followed in his footsteps in almost every way, becoming an active member of the Cherry Creek Lodge of the order of Free and Accepted Masons, which had been organized by William S. Blaisdell, who was its first Master and of which he also became Master. He was also a valuable member of the Grange, being active in all its councils. His father-in-law, maternal grandfather of Harold Alfred, was John Waite, a veteran of the Civil War, and a direct descendant of Sampson Waite, who was born in England in 1607 and came to America in his youth, one of the pioneers of New England, and a man of fine character, who left his impress upon the pages of history there.

Dr. Harold A. Blaisdell scrupulously upholds the high standard handed down to him through these genealogical lines, his goal set at the top, which he gives every indication of reaching. He is a member of the staffs of both hospitals in Jamestown and belongs to the American Medical Association, and to the New York State and Jamestown Medical Societies. He is also a member of the Buffalo Academy of Medicine and a Junior Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. His military career began with enlistment in the American Expeditionary Forces, July 3, 1917, when he was assigned to the 106th Field Artillery, 27th Division, and with which contingent he served overseas from June, 1918, to April, 1919, participating in major engagement at St. Mihiel, the Meuse-Argonne and elsewhere. He was seriously injured by powder burns and was confined to the hospital for six months, finally being honorably mustered out of service at Camp Union, New York, May 14, 1919. He now holds the commission of a first lieutenant in the Officers' Reserve Corps. Heis a member of the American Legion, Post No. 149; Rotary Club; Lodge No. 384, Free and Accepted Masons; Western Sun Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; is president of the University of Buffalo Club of Jamestown; director of the Young Men's Christian Association; member of the Moon Brook Country Club, and member of the Executive Council of Local Boy Scouts. His resident is in Houston Avenue, Jamestown, New York. He attends the First Baptist Church.

Dr. Harold Alfred Blaisdell married, June 25, 1925, Florence Phillips, and they are the parents of one child, Betsy Lou.