Erastus Bradley Wolcott was born in Benton, New York, 18 October 1804 to Elisha and
Ann (Hull) Wolcott. He earned his medical license from the Yates County Medical
Society in New York in 1825. He worked as a surgeon in North Carolina and South
Carolina until returning to school in 1830 at the College of Physicians and Surgeons
of the Western District of New York. Wolcott graduated from there in 1833. He then
received a commission as a surgeon in the U.S. Army on 1 January 1836. He was first
assigned to General Winfield Scott who was tasked with removing the Cherokee to land
west of the Mississippi, now known as the Trail of Tears. After that, Wolcott was
ordered to Fort Mackinac in the Territory of Michigan as post surgeon. There he met
and married his first wife, Elizabeth J. Dousman. They had five children, two of
which survived to adulthood. Elizabeth died in 1860.
Dr. Wolcott and his family moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin sometime between 1838 and
1839 and he practiced medicine there until his death. Wolcott was a founder of the
State Medical Society in 1841 and the Medical Society of Milwaukee County in 1846.
During the Civil War, Dr. Wolcott was named Surgeon General of Wisconsin. During his
time in Milwaukee, Wolcott was also Chief Surgeon at St. Mary's Hospital in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In 1861, he assisted Dr. Charles Stoddard on the first
nephrectomy (kidney removal) on medical record. Though the patient died, the first
successful nephrectomy was not performed until 1869.
Also in 1869, Wolcott married Dr. Laura J. Ross, the third woman to earn a medical
degree in the United States and the first woman to become a doctor in Wisconsin.
Wolcott advocated for equal rights in the medical profession and helped Dr. Ross
become the first woman admitted to a Wisconsin medical society. Wolcott also served
in other capacities, such as a director and vice-president of Northwestern Mutual
Life Insurance Company, manager of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer
Soldiers, director of the Milwaukee and Mississippi Railroad Company, and was an
unsuccessful candidate for Milwaukee County Sheriff in 1848. Wolcott died in
Milwaukee 5 January 1880.
