KELLEY, SAMUEL WALTER, M.D. (15 Sept. 1855--20 Apr. 1929), a pediatrician and pioneer in the study of diseases of CHILDREN AND YOUTH, published "The Surgical Diseases of Children" (1909), the first such treatise by an American surgeon. He chaired the American Medical Association's section on the diseases of children (1900-01) and was the first president of the American Association of Teachers of Diseases of Children (1907-08). He was born in Adamsville, Ohio, to Walter and Selina Kaemmerer Kelley. Educated in public schools in Zanesville, Ohio, and St. Joseph, Michigan, Kelley worked as a farmer, sailor, cowboy and other jobs before turning to medicine. He graduated from the Western Reserve University (see CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY) Medical School in 1884 and did post-graduate work in London, England.
Kelley spent his entire career in Cleveland. He served as: chief of the department of diseases of children in the "polyclinic" of Western Reserve University (1886-93); professor at the Cleveland College of Physicians and Surgeons (1893-1910); pediatrician at Cleveland City Hospital (1893-1910), where he was both secretary (1891-99) and president of the of the medical staff (1899-1902); chief surgeon at SAINT LUKES MEDICAL CENTER (1927-29) and surgeon for Holy Cross Home for Crippled and Invalid Children. He was commissioned a brigade surgeon, as a major, in the SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR and served with French forces and the American Red Cross in WORLD WAR I.
Kelly edited the Cleveland Medical Gazette (1885-1901) and was president of both the CLEVELAND MEDICAL LIBRARY ASSN. (1929) and the Ohio State Pediatric Society (1896-97). In addition to medical articles, Kelley published two volumes of poetry and an historical novel about MEDICINE, In the Year 1800 (1904).
Kelley married Amelia Kemmerlein in Wooster, Ohio on 2 July 1884; they had two children, Walter, who died in infancy, and Katherine Mildred (Mrs .William) Taylor.
Last Modified: 17 Jul 1997 03:30:42 PMSamuel Walter Kelley, M.D., Papers, Dittrick Museum of Medical History.
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