CHAPTER XXIX.
SOME FORMER RESIDENTS OF SHELBY COUNTY AND THEIR ACHIEVEMENTS. (CONT'D)
DR. THOMAS A. BURCHAM.
Dr. Thomas A. Burcham was born July 6, 1881, at Harlan, and is a son of Mr. and Mrs. John Burcham, his mother being a daughter of J. W. Chatburn, the famous pioneer miller of Shelby county, prominent in the early political and religious life of the county. Entering the Harlan high school, Doctor Burcham graduated in June, 1902, and in the fall of that year entered Drake University, from the medical department of which he was graduated in June, 1906. While Doctor Burcham was in Drake University, he was president of the freshman class and a famous member of the football teams of the university for four years, beginning in 1902. He began playing football on the Harlan high school team. In 1905 he was captain of the team. In one of the games against the University of Michigan he had the honor of making, by a drop kick from the field, the only score made by his team. He was a member of the spring track teams of the university for four years, beginning in 1903. After he graduated from the university he served one year in the Iowa Methodist Hospital as interne from June, 1906, to June, 1907. In 1908-9 he served as county physician of Polk county and also did general practice in medicine and surgery. After serving as county physician, he pursued the general practice of medicine and surgery in the city of Des Moines. At the present time he has charge of the X-ray department at the Iowa Methodist Hospital and is also a member of the staff of physicians of that hospital, which position he has had for three years. In 1911 he took the examination for the Medical Reserve Corps of the United States army and in June, 1911, received a commission in the army. When the Sixth Cavalry, stationed at Fort Des Moines, was ordered to the Mexican border in February, 1911, he was ordered on active duty as surgeon at Fort Des Moines, which position he yet holds.
Following his graduation from Drake, Doctor Burcham studied in and visited the larger clinics in Chicago, and took some special work in X-ray at St. Mary's Hospital. Rochester, Minnesota, under the celebrated Doctors Mayo, and also attended their surgical clinics. Doctor Burcham is a member of the Polk County, Iowa, and American Medical Associations, and is now living at Ft. Des Moines as a surgeon of the United States army.
Transcribed by Cheryl Siebrass, October, 2023 from the Past and Present of Shelby County, Iowa, by Edward S. White, P.A., LL. B.,Volume 1, Indianapolis: B. F. Bowen & Co., 1915, pg. 560-561.
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