CHARLES ADDISON HURD, M. D.

Dr. Charles Addison Hurd, an able and successful representative of the medical profession in Northwood, was born in Mitchell county, Iowa, April 7, 1861, a son of Mr. and Mrs. John W. Hurd, who were among the first settlers of Mitchell county, where they took up their abode in 1854. The father was of English lineage, his mother being a descendant of General Putnam of Revolutionary war fame. On the maternal side he came of the Fessenden family, a relative of William Pill Fessenden, statesman and secretary of the treasury under Lincoln. The mother of Dr. Hurd is a niece of General Bragg and a grandniece of General Lee. The father of Dr. Hurd died at the age of eighty-four years and his mother is still living at the age of eighty-two. The family numbered eight children, of whom seven survive.

Dr. Hurd supplemented his early education, acquired in the public schools, by study in the Cedar Valley Seminary and in the State University of Iowa, where he won his professional degree upon graduation with the class of March 8, 1888. He is now a member of the County, State and National Medical Societies and in this way keeps in close touch with the trend of modern professional thought and scientific investigation. He is most conscientious in the discharge of his professional duties, is very careful in the diagnoses of his cases and his ability is manifest in the excellent results which have followed his labors. For thirty years he has been health officer of Northwood, was commissioner of insanity for twenty years and also coroner for eighteen years.

On the 3d of September, 1887, Dr. Hurd was married in Miller, South Dakota, to Miss Delia L. Gray, a daughter of Willis W. and Elizabeth Gray, of Marion, Iowa. Mrs. Hurd is descended in the maternal line from Captain John White of the Mayflower. She had great-uncles in the Revolutionary war and many relatives that achieved distinction in later wars. Her people, the Whites, Grays and Evans, have all enjoyed unusual mental gifts and are today among the noted professional men and educators of this country. Dr. and Mrs. Hurd had two children of their own: Irving Gray, who passed away in 1903; and Ferris Evans, now twelve years of age. They have also reared three adopted children: Lois, now the wife of L. O. Schmidt; Stella, the wife of John A. Draegert; and William, who is now at Camp Dodge as a member of the United States Army.

The religious faith of the family is that of the Baptist church. Politically Dr. Hurd is a republican and gives stalwart support to the party, but the only offices which he has consented to fill have been in the strict path of his profession. Fraternally he is a Mason and belongs also to the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Brotherhood of American Yeoman. He has served as master workman at various times and also as worshipful master of the Masonic lodge in 1901 and 1902. Dr. and Mrs. Hurd are well known socially in the city where they make their home and where for many years he has occupied an enviable position of professional prominence.

SOURCE: HISTORY OF MITCHELL AND WORTH COUNTIES, IOWA, 1918, VOL. II; Pages 469 & 470

Transcription by Gordon Felland, 10/10/2006