ZINA PITCHER was born at Fort Edwards, Washington County, New York, April 14, 1797. He received a common-school education, and at the age of twenty went to the Castleton school to attend a course of medical lectures After having completed his term at Castleton he went to Woodstock, Vermont, where he graduated in 1822, and was shortly afterwards appointed by President Monroe Assistant Surgeon in the United States Army. He was subsequently promoted by President Jackson to the position of Surgeon. While in the army he saw much service in the far southwest, the south and the southeast, as well as in the country of the Great Lakes In 1835 he became President of the Army Medical Board, and upon his resignation, after fifteen years' service, his rank was within two or three of that of Surgeon-General, In 1836 he fixed his permanent residence in Detroit and from 1837 to 1852 served as Regent of the University of Michigan, and took an active role in the organization of the Medical Department. In 1840, 1841 and 1843 he served as Mayor of Detroit; in 1845 as County Physician; in 1847 City Physician, and from 1848 to 1867 he was the physician and surgeon of St. Mary's Hospital, from 1857 to 1861 of the United States Marine Hospital. During all these years he did not neglect his engagements as a private practitioner, and found time to prepare various professional and literary papers for publication, and to attend at least nine of the annual meetings of the American Medical Association, and was president of the meeting held in Detroit. As a physician he was a type of the best produced—careful, skillful, gentle, kind and courteous; his very presence was reassuring to patients, and few, if any, ever had occasion to regret that they were under his care. Throughout his long residence in Detroit he possessed the confidence of the whole people. His integrity, probity and faithfulness to every obligation were proverbial. He died on April 4, 1872, leaving two children; Nathaniel Pitcher and Mrs. L. E. Higby. His name is fitly preserved in the name of our streets and in the Pitcher School. Source: History of Detroit and Wayne County and Early Michigan By Silas Farmer 1890 Zina Pitcher - Headstone photos by Josh Perry at Find-A-grace Portrait from Bill McKern