Nevada Genealogy Trails Storey County J. E. Pickard, MD Biography

J. E. PICKARD. M. D. A prominent physician and surgeon of the regular school, practicing his profession at Virginia City, Dr. J. E. Pickard enjoys the admiration and respect which the world instinctively pays to the man whose success has been worthily achieved and whose prominence is not the less the result of superior ability than of an irreproachable life.

A native of Ontario, Dr. J. E. Pickard was born in Kent county, on the 14th of July, 1856, and is descended from an old Pennsylvania family, his ancestors having resided through several generations in the Keystone state. His parents were Elias and Elizabeth (Everett) Pickard, who were farming people and settled in Kent county, Ontario, where they reared their family. They have always been adherents of the Methodist and Presbyterian faith as a family, and the representatives of the name have been people of sterling worth of character. Both the parents have passed away, the father having died at the age of seventy-one years, while his wife departed this life at the age of sixty-two years. Of their family of five children, three are now living.

The son John Everett Pickard is the only member of the family in Nevada. He pursued his education in the Chatham Collegiate Institute and the Ottawa Normal School, and his medical degree of M. D., C. M. was obtained in the Victoria University at Coburg in the year 1885, and his M. D. in Toronto University in the same year. He then practiced his profession in Thamesville for seven years, at the end of which time he determined to try his fortune in the west, believing that he might have better opportunities in this great and growing section of the country. Accordingly he came to Nevada, settling in Virginia City in January, 1892, and here he soon secured a large and remunerative patronage.

He is a member of the State Medical Association and the American Medical Association, and is the county physician for Storey county. He has a large suite of rooms, and has all the latest electrical appliances, including an X-ray machine. He uses the latest and most perfect surgical instruments, and, while he conducts an extensive general practice, he takes especial interest in surgery and has met with eminent success in this branch of the profession. He has a comprehensive and accurate knowledge of anatomy, a nicety of touch and a cool head and steady nerve which have made his surgical work of great benefit to his fellow men. He is a close and earnest student of his profession, discriminating in his reading, and he readily selects the ideas and methods which are advanced that will prove of most benefit to him in his practice. He is an enthusiast in his profession and when called upon to alleviate human suffering he never takes into consideration the financial standing of his patient, but renders his aid as freely to the impecunious as to those who are abundantly able to amply repay him for his work. He has thus made his professional labors a benefit and blessing to his fellow men, and while he has acquired a comfortable competence it has never been with him the paramount issue.

In 1893 Dr. Pickard was united in marriage to Miss Mary Collier, of Sarnia, Ontario, a lady of refinement and culture and a valued member of the Presbyterian church. The Doctor is a Sir Knight Templar, belongs to the Mystic Shrine, and aims to square his life by the tenets of the craft.

Source:
A History of the State of Nevada: Its Resources and People
By Thomas Wren, Lewis Publishing Company
Published by The Lewis publishing company, 1904