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LOUIS PIERRE DORAIS, M. D.--The
genealogy of the Dorais family extends back to a long line
of French ancestors in the old Province of Normandy, but the
Doctor himself was born in the county of Huntingdon,
Province of Quebec, not far from the New York state line, on
the Canadian side of the boundary. In boyhood he became
familiar with the French language and the traditions
associated with the land of his forefathers, but at the same
time his early education was in the English language. At the
age of fourteen he was sent to the Montreal public schools
for a year. Next he spent four years as a student in the
Jacques Cartier Normal School of Montreal after which he
continued the classical studies for two years in
L'Assomption College, an institution affiliated with the
Laval University of Quebec. On the completion of the regular
course he was graduated in 1886 with high honors. Having
been qualified by his studies for the work of an educator he
turned his attention to teaching school and was thus engaged
in Essex county, Ontario, Canada, for four years. Meanwhile
he had heard much concerning the Pacific coast section.
Favorable reports caused him to relinquish the interests
that held him in Canada and remove to the western coast. On
the 6th of January, 1891, he arrived at Spokane, Wash., from
which point he proceeded to Oregon. For three years he
remained in that
state, alternating school teaching with work on a farm.
A decision to enter the medical profession led the young
French-Canadian to California in 1894, and later he worked
his way through the College of Physicians and Surgeons in
San Francisco and was graduated with the degrees of M. D.
and Ph. D. In 1902 and 1903 he held the important position
of
oculist and aurist at the French hospital in San Francisco,
but his health having been impaired by too close attention
to his specialties, he resigned in the summer of 1903 and
removed to Humboldt county. Since then he has been engaged
in the practice of his profession at Eureka, where he is
also associated with the Union Labor Hospital and has built
up an enviable reputation for remarkable skill in the
treatment of diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat.
In 1912 the Doctor made an extensive tour of the United
States and Canada, and on his return he decided to take a
more active interest in the civic affairs of his home town.
He was one of the organizers of the Eureka development
Association, a body which has for its purposes the general
welfare of the city of Eureka. He drafted the by-laws of
this organization, served on its first board of directors,
and on several important committees. But it was by his
thorough and efficient research work of the true sanitary
conditions of the Eureka Water Company's water supply that
he rendered his most valuable assistance to Eureka when this
municipality acquired its own water system in 1914. Along
the line of his profession, Dr.Dorais is identified with the
Humboldt County and California State Medical Associations,
while in the fraternities he is a Mason of the Royal Arch
Chapter, past chancellor commander of the Knights of Pythias
and a member of the Humboldt Club. On March 6, 1906, he was
united in marriage with Miss Clarissa Hanna, and three sons,
Sydney Pierre, Wilfred Leon and James Jasper, have blessed
their union. Mrs. Dorais was born in Arcata and has been a
lifelong resident of Humboldt county, where her ancestors
were early settlers. Her paternal grandfather, the late
Judge Hanna, was an honored and influential pioneer of
Eureka, and her maternal grandfather, Sheriff Lothian, was
elected in 1853 to serve as the first sheriff of the newly
organized county of Humboldt, filling the office with
fearlessness and tact at a time when its responisbilities
were heavy and its duties the most arduous.
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A Tribute to the Memory of
Clarissa Sydney Hanna Dorais
By Ida May Anthony
The passing of Mrs. Louis Pierre Dorais, nee Clarissa Sydney
Hanna, former Humboldter and a member of a prominent pioneer
family and of the Humboldt County Historical Society,
occurred in late January at a nursing home in Marin
County.
Born in Arcata on May 13, 1878, she was the second daughter
of the late Mr. and Mrs. James Hanna, her mother being a
daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Peter Lothian, of
Arcata.
Mrs. Dorais was the widow of Dr. Louis Pierre Dorais,
prominent eye specialist who practiced in Eureka many years
before failing vision on his part forced his retirement. Dr.
Dorais preceded his wife in death several years ago after
the family had resided in San Francisco for a number of
years.
Mrs. Dorais is survived by three sons, Sydney Pierre Dorais
of Sherman Oaks, Wilfrid Lothian Dorais of San Francisco and
James Jasper Dorais of Greenbrae in Marin. County; a
half-sister, Mrs. Scott Boyer, nee Annette Davies of Eagle
Point, Oregon. Two sisters, Miss Olive E. Hanna, R.N., and
Mrs. Otto Rudolf, nee Louise Hanna, of Portland, Oregon, and
two half-brothers, Alexander and Wesley Davies, both of
Oakland, California, preceded her in death. After the death
of James Hanna, Mrs. Hanna married J.N. Davies, teacher in a
number of schools in Arcata, Eureka, Hydesville, Janes and
Orick.
Mrs. Dorais attended public school at Arcata and Janes
Creek, and was a member of the first graduation class of the
Arcata High School. She was a namesake of her father's
sister, Clarissa Sydney Hanna, who became the wife of the
pioneer explorer, L.K. Wood, Sr. Surviving grandchildren of
the L.K. Wood family, cousins of Mrs. Dorais, are Mrs. Earle
Johnson of Warren Creek, Mrs. W.E. McClelland and Edward
Foster of Eureka and Mrs. Mildred Kuhnle of Oakland,
children of the late Mr. and Mrs. Ambrose Foster, Mrs.
Foster being Elizabeth (Dolly) Wood of Eureka. Another
cousin, Mrs. Bessie Huestis of Oakland, daughter of the late
Mr. and Mrs. William Huestis, survives her, her mother being
a sister of James Hanna.
Also Mrs. Winifred Edwards of Arcata and John Barter of East
Hartford, Conn., and Mrs. Alice Schiller of Castro Valley,
children of the late Mr. and Mrs. Howard Barter, (Mrs.
Barter being Alice Wood, youngest daughter of Mr. Mrs. L.K.
Wood, Sr.) are other cousins.
Through marriage, Mrs. Dorais was linked with many other
pioneer families, including those of the Minor, Nixon,
Henry-Skinner-Brizard, and Denny families of Arcata and the
Kingston family of Eureka. Another Clarissa Sydney Hanna,
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Aquilla Hanna of Eureka, (Hanna
being a brother of James and William Hanna) made a name for
herself as a beautiful and talented young actress, who was
on the stage for many years but who passed away in the East
some time ago.
Note: My mother and the mother of Mrs. Dorais were school
girls together and as close as sisters all of their lives.
Mrs. Dorais and I have shared our birthday, May 13, since I
was four and Clarissa was three. On our birthday when I was
80 and she was 79, her son and wife, Stella, in San
Francisco, had a lovely birthday dinner for us, then we
attended the Humboldt Picnic at Berkeley and the following
day, which was the real birthday date, we were on Mel
Venter's program so we really had a wonderful three days,
the last time we were able to celebrate together. When we
were children there was just a fence between us and our
families always had Christmas together so I have so many
happy memories even if I am the lone survivor of the older
members of bother our families.
The three Dorais boys all graduated from the Eureka Hight
School. Sydney was the recipient of a four year Yale
Scholarship at the age of 15 1/2 years. Then he returned
here and the three boys went to San Francisco following the
1929 depression. Sydney went with National Broadcasting
Company, where he returned after doing his three year
stretch in the service and where he is still Auditor for NBC
of Southern California.
Wilfrid "Bill" Dorais has been a radio announcer on KLX
Oakland, for several years and also at several San Francisco
stations. James "Jim" Dorais has been with the
Whittier-Baxter Adversing Agency in the Flood Building ever
since he left Eureka, except for the time he spent in the
service.
All three are splendid young men and I am proud to have been
the adopted Aunt to them and their lovely wives and
children.14
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