Dr. Henry H. Hewett - I'm Out to Find You

 

Post by Doris McCraw aka Angela Raines

Photo property of the Author

Have you ever run across something while researching that just won't let go? It happened when I started on the journey of early Colorado women doctors after reading an obituary in a newspaper. It happened again as I finished the short book about the early women doctors buried in Evergreen Cemetery here in town. 

What you may ask happened this time? Well, I came across the name of an early doctor, not a woman, by the way, that seems to want to keep his identity hidden. His story is intriguing and I just may have to write a fiction piece if I can't find much more.

Here's what I've found to date:

Name: Henry H. Hewett

Birth: 1846 - (+or- a year or two) in New York

He may have enlisted in the Union Army at age 18 in September1864 with the 148th New York Infantry, Company I. He was mustered out in June of 1865 in Richmond, VA.

or 

He lived in Colorado in 1860 during the early gold rush in this state, left and studied medicine in Ohio, returning in 1869

or

He was a combination miner, Doctor., Deputy US Marshal, and Deputy Provost Marshal here in the Colorado territory. From 1863 to 1866 he lived in California Gulch and from there moved to Georgetown where he had some success as a miner. In 1878 he was in Leadville, and then in the early 1880s, he moved to Aspen.

The only information I have about his death was that he was injured in a stagecoach accident between Aspen and Glenwood Springs. He died from his injuries in Denver.

The last piece of information I've located about Dr. Hewitt is that he was the first County Physician appointed for Lake County Colorado.  

Much like the joy and frustration I've encountered in telling the stories of the early women physicians, I feel this will be another such journey. Dr. Henry H. Hewett, I'm on the hunt and I will find you. 

Doris McCraw