William Maclay Awl

American politician

William Maclay Awl


Born	24 May 1799 Harrisburg
Died	19 November 1876 (aged 77) Columbus
Position held	President of the American Psychiatric Association (1848–1851)

William Maclay Awl (May 24, 1799 – November 19, 1876) was a psychiatrist, a politician and a mental health hospital administrator.^[1]

Biography

He was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to Mary (Maclay) Awl and lawyer and Senator Samuel Awl. He studied basic medical concepts under a local physician. At age 20 he entered the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania. Failing to graduate, he began a temporary practice in his hometown, specializing in anatomy and surgery, but later accompanied a knapsacker to Lancaster, Ohio, in 1826. In 1830 he married Rebecca Loughey. He then practiced his profession in many towns within Ohio, but finally settled in Columbus, Ohio, in 1833 where he stayed for the rest of his life. He was the first surgeon west of the Allegheny Mountains to tie the left Common carotid artery.^[2]^[3]

In Columbus he quickly specialized in treating mental disorders and management of people suffering from insanity. He was once stated that if he could fix his eyes on those of even the most violent lunatic he could control him without difficulty, an accomplishment which he succeeded in doing several times. He was a common witness in court to cases of doubtful insanity. Both he and Marmaduke B. Wright were members of the Ohio General Assembly. Together they promoted a bill which later became law in 1835 in which Ohio insanity cases would come under the care of the state.

William Maclay Awl then was acting superintendent of the "State Hospital", which opened in 1838. Also in 1838 he was president of the Association of Superintendents of Asylums for the Insane of the United States and Canada. He held this position until 1851. He headed a bill which founded schools for the education of the blind and feeble-minded in Ohio. In addition, in 1846, he, Daniel Drake, and other leading members of his field to establish the Ohio State Medical Society.

Notes

^ Kelly, Howard A.; Burrage, Walter L. (eds.). "Awl, William Maclay" . American Medical Biographies . Baltimore: The Norman, Remington Company.
^ Lancaster Gazette, March 20, 1827
^ Western and Physical Journal, October 1827

References

Johnson, Allen, ed. Dictionary of American Biography. New York:Charles Scribner's Sons, 1936.

v
t
e

Presidents of the American Psychiatric Association

1844–1900

Samuel Bayard Woodward (1844–1848)
William Maclay Awl (1848–1851)
Luther Vose Bell (1851–1855)
Isaac Ray (1855–1859)
Andrew McFarland (1859–1862)
Thomas Story Kirkbride (1862–1870)
John S. Butler (1870–1873)
Charles Nichols (1873–1879)
Clement Walker (1879–1882)
J. H. Callender (1882–1883)
John P. Gray (1883–1884)
Pliny Earle (1884–1885)
Orpheus Everts (1885–1886)
H. A. Buttolph (1886–1887)
Eugene Grissom (1887–1888)
John B. Chapin (1888–1889)
W. W. Godding (1889–1890)
H. P. Stearns (1890–1891)
Daniel Clark (1891–1892)
J. B. Andrews (1892–1893)
John Curwen (1893–1894)
Edward Cowles (1894–1895)
Richard Dewey (1895–1896)
Theophilus O. Powell (1896–1897)
Richard Maurice Bucke (1897–1898)
Henry Mills Hurd (1898–1899)
Joseph G. Rogers (1899–1900)

1900–1925

Peter M. Wise (1900–1901)
Robert J. Preston (1901–1902)
A. B. Richardson/G. Adler Bloomer (1902–1903)
A. E. Macdonald (1903–1904)
T. J. W. Burgess (1904–1905)
C. B. Burr (1905–1906)
Charles G. Hill (1906–1907)
Charles P. Bancroft (1907–1908)
Arthur F. Kilbourne (1908–1909)
William F. Drewry (1909–1910)
Charles W. Pilgrim (1910–1911)
Hubert Work (1911–1912)
James T. Searcy (1912–1913)
Carlos Frederick MacDonald (1913–1914)
Samuel E. Smith (1914–1915)
Edward Nathaniel Brush (1915–1916)
Charles G. Wagner (1916–1917)
James V. Anglin (1917–1918)
Elmer Ernest Southard (1918–1919)
Henry C. Eyman (1919–1920)
Owen Copp (1920–1921)
Albert Moore Barrett (1921–1922)
Henry W. Mitchell (1922–1923)
Thomas William Salmon (1923–1924)
William Alanson White (1924–1925)

1925–1950

C. Floyd Haviland (1925–1926)
George M. Kline (1926–1927)
Adolf Meyer (1927–1928)
Samuel Orton (1928–1929)
Earl D. Bond (1929–1930)
Walter M. English (1930–1931)
William L. Russell (1931–1932)
James Vance May (1932–1933)
George H. Kirby (1933–1934)
C. Fred Williams (1934–1935)
Clarence O. Cheney (1935–1936)
Charles Macfie Campbell (1936–1937)
Ross McClure Chapman (1937–1938)
Richard H. Hutchings (1938–1939)
William C. Sandy (1939–1940)
George H. Stevenson (1940–1941)
H. Douglas Singer/James King Hall (1941–1942)
Arthur H. Ruggles (1942–1943)
Edward Adam Strecker (1943–1944)
Karl M. Bowman (1944–1946)
Samuel W. Hamilton (1946–1947)
Winfred Overholser Sr. (1947–1948)
William Claire Menninger (1948–1949)
George S. Stevenson (1949–1950)

1950–1975

John C. Whitehorn (1950–1951)
Leo H. Bartemeier (1951–1952)
Donald Ewen Cameron (1952–1953)
Kenneth E. Appel (1953–1954)
Arthur Percy Noyes (1954–1955)
R. Finley Gayle Jr. (1955–1956)
Francis J. Braceland (1956–1957)
Harry C. Solomon (1957–1958)
Francis J. Gerty (1958–1959)
William Malamud (1959–1960)
Robert H. Felix (1960–1961)
Walter E. Barton (1961–1962)
C. H. Hardin Branch (1962–1963)
Jack R. Ewalt (1963–1964)
Daniel Blain (1964–1965)
Howard P. Rome (1965–1966)
Harvey John Tompkins (1966–1967)
Henry W. Brosin (1967–1968)
Lawrence Kolb (1968–1969)
Raymond W. Waggoner (1969–1970)
Robert S. Garber (1970–1971)
Ewald W. Busse (1971–1972)
Perry Clement Talkingten (1972–1973)
Alfred Freedman (1973–1974)
John Patrick Spiegel (1974–1975)

1975–2000

Judd Marmor (1975–1976)
Robert W. Gibson (1976–1977)
Jack Weinberg (1977–1978)
Jules H. Masserman (1978–1979)
Alan A. Stone (1979–1980)
Donald G. Langsley (1980–1981)
Daniel X. Freedman (1981–1982)
H. Keith H. Brodie (1982–1983)
George Tarjan (1983–1984)
John A. Talbott (1984–1985)
Carol Nadelson (1985–1986)
Robert O. Pasnau (1986–1987)
George H. Pollock (1987–1988)
Paul J. Fink (1988–1989)
Herb Pardes (1989–1990)
Elissa P. Benedek (1990–1991)
Lawrence Hartmann (1991–1992)
Joseph T. English (1992–1993)
John S. McIntyre (1993–1994)
Jerry M. Wiener (1994–1995)
Mary Jane England (1995–1996)
Harold Eist (1996–1997)
Herbert S. Sacks (1997–1998)
Rodrigo A. Muñoz (1998–1999)
Allan Tasman (1999–2000)

2000–

Daniel B. Borenstein (2000–2001)
Richard K. Harding (2001–2002)
Paul S. Appelbaum (2002–2003)
Marcia Kraft Goin (2003–2004)
Michelle Riba (2004–2005)
Steven Sharfstein (2005–2006)
Pedro Ruiz (2006–2007)
Carolyn Robinowitz (2007–2008)
Nada Stotland (2008–2009)
Alan F. Schatzberg (2009–2010)
Carol A. Bernstein (2010–2011)
John Oldham (2011–2012)
Dilip V. Jeste (2012–2013)
Jeffrey Lieberman (2013–2014)
Paul Summergrad (2014–2015)
Renée Binder (2015–2016)
Maria A. Oquendo (2016–2017)
Anita Everett (2017–2018)
Altha Stewart (2018–2019)
Bruce J. Schwartz (2019–2020)
Jeffery Geller (2020–2021)
Vivian Pender (2021–2022)
Rebecca W. Brendel (2022–2023)

frontpage hit counter