Alanson George Aldrich, M.D.
ALANSON GEORGE ALDRICH, M.D., was born in Adams, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, the son of John Rexford and Lois A. Randall Aldrich, and is the grandson of David Aldrich, a well-known New England Quaker preacher. He was educated in the public schools of Adams and under the private instruction of Rev. Geo. Harmon, now of Tufts College, Boston, Mass.
Dr. Aldrich began the study of medicine under the preceptor ship of Dr. H.M. Holmes of Adams, and attended his first course of lectures at the medical department of the University of Vermont. He later entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Baltimore, Maryland, receiving his degree there from in 1879. He practiced medicine in Massachusetts for three years, when he married Flora L. Southard of Westford, New York. In a trip to the Northwest a few months later, when visiting friends in this locality he decided to remain here for a few years. The few years have merged into many, and Dr.Aldrich is still an enthusiastic admirer of the North Star state, making Anoka his home with offices in Minneapolis and Anoka.
Dr. Aldrich devotes his practice exclusively to the specialty of the ye, ear, nose and throat, and is ably "assisted" by his wife, Dr. F.L.S. Aldrich. His preparation for this work has been extensive and thorough. In 1887 he took special instructions under Dr. F.C. Hotz at the Chicago Eye and Ear Infirmary, and in a few months thereafter-another course in the same city. In 1888-89 he took the best courses obtainable in this country at the Manhattan Eye and Ear Infirmary and the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, also special work at the New York Post Graduate Hospital. In 1896 he was appointed clinical assistant to the Royal Ear Hospital, and the Central London Throat Hospital under the renowned Lennox Browne. This was followed by advanced private courses in the hospitals of Paris, Vienna, and other European cities.
Dr. Aldrich is a member of the Hennepin county Medical Society, the State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. He is a frequent contributor to journals of Ophthalmology. He is a thirty-two degree Mason and a Shriner. He is an enthusiastic lover of field sports and of country life. His home, "Colonial Hall," at Anoka is largely maintained in order to bring him nearer the pleasures he so much enjoys. His private kennel always contains the finest breeds of hunting dogs, all well trained. Both he and his wife are advocates of the simple life; both are enthusiastic students of natural sciences, and their home life is ideal. Dr. Aldrich politically is a radical Democrat and an independent thinker. Among his friends he is known as "a royal good fellow at all times."
source: History of Anoka County by Albert M. Goodrich – published 1905
