Thomas W Burton, MD

Thomas William Burton, the youngest of 15 children, was born enslaved on May 4, 1860, in Madison County, Kentucky. When he was five, his father, Edward, died. His mother, Eliza, taught him the alphabet, and that remained the extent off his formal education until he was 21. After his mother’s death, when he was 9, he continued working at the plantation for room and board. During this period, Burton learned about Berea College, which was only 20 miles away. It was founded by Rev. J.G. Fee for all men, regardless of color. Hearing about Berea made the “fire of inspiration burn within” him, but he was also discouraged because Rev. Fee was “mobbed on all sides because he took the stand he did . . . and established a mixed school.” Burton himself was careful when on errands to “get back before night came on me too far, as the ‘Kuklux’ were quite thick in that vicinity and did a great deal of harm to the colored people”

He worked his way through school, and at age 32 began medical practice in Springfield, Ohio. The next year, he was commissioned as Assistant Surgeon of the Ninth Battalion Infantry, Ohio National Guard.

After earning his M.D., Burton began practice on April 5, 1892, in Springfield, Ohio. In August of the next year, he married Hattie B. Taylor whom he called “one of the best women that ever lived.” The couple had two children, Gladys and Thomas W., Jr., That same year, Burton was commissioned Assistant Surgeon of the Ninth Battalion Infantry, Ohio National Guard. In 1896 Burton organized a regiment of the State Militia to defend the state of Ohio during the Spanish-American War.

According to his obituary, Burton was the first African American physician in Springfield. He also maintained offices in Zanesville and Xenia, opened a shoe store, was the first African American to open a drug store in Springfield, organized and successfully operated the first African American newspaper there, and at one time operated a hotel and health resort in Michigan. He passed away on March 23, 1939, at age 78.

Source: What Experience Has Taught Me by Thomas W Burton