Amos Twitchell was born on April 11, 1781 in Dublin, N. H. He was the son of Samuel and Alice (Willson) Twitchell, and a descendant of Benjamin Twitchell who emigrated from England to Dorchester about 1630. He was the seventh of nine children. His father, a patriot farmer of 1775, served in the state legislature and established a library in Dublin as early as 1793.
He received the degree of M. D. in Dartmouth College in 1811.
Education
Following a preliminary education in the New Ipswich Academy, Twitchell entered Dartmouth College and, after a struggle against poverty and poor health, was graduated with the degree of A. B. in 1802. While in college he formed warm friendships with Daniel Webster and the elder George Cheyne Shattuck. Stimulated to study medicine by the energetic Nathan Smith, 1762-1829, then forming the medical school at Dartmouth, he became one of Smith's most ardent pupils, and later his life-long admirer and friend. He recieved the degrees of A. M. and B. M. in 1805,
Career
In 1805, Twitchell first practised medicine in Norwich, Vt. , then in Marlborough, N. H. , and finally in Keene, N. H. , where he settled in 1810 and remained until his death.
Twitchell became an outstanding figure in his time at an early age, owing to a bold and dramatic operation. At the age of twenty-six, on Oct. 18, 1807, while in practice at Marlborough, he saved the life of a man severely injured by a gun-shot wound in the neck, by tying the carotid artery, an operation not previously thought possible without fatal results.
The scene in the farmhouse, with the mother holding open the wound and the young surgeon acting under great pressure in the dire emergency, was modestly but effectively described by Twitchell many years later (New England Quarterly Journal of Medicine and Surgery, October 1842). Only once had this operation been performed before, by a surgeon in the British navy, unknown to Twitchell.
In Keene, Twitchell led the life of a country practitioner, performing many operations with exceptional skill.
He traveled by chaise, with frequent changes of horses; known throughout the countryside, "the doctor" got the best and fastest horse, and he often covered a hundred miles or more a day.
Honors came to him, and he was offered many teaching positions in medicine, all of which he refused in order to continue his arduous practice.
He became an overseer of Dartmouth College in 1816.
He died in Keene, May 26, 1850, after a period of over forty years as the leading surgeon of northern New England.
Achievements
Politics
He was a staunch upholder of the best of American medical traditions, although a frequent advocate of conservative reforms in the American Medical Association during its period of formation.
Membership
He served as president of the New Hampshire Medical Society (1829 - 30), and held membership in the American Medical Association, the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, and the National Institution for the Promotion of Science (1841).
Personality
His health, never very good, was carefully guarded by a rigorous diet, total abstinence from tobacco and alcohol, and frequent short rest periods.
Connections
He married Elizabeth, daughter of Dr. Josiah Goodhue, one of his teachers, in 1815; there were no children.