Early Career

Erastus Bradley Wolcott was a physician, businessman, surgeon-general of Wisconsin born Yates County, NY in 1804.

He served a medical apprenticeship and was licensed to practice in Yates County in 1825. He served as a mining company surgeon in North Carolina and practiced in Charleston, SC, until 1830 when he returned to medical school. He graduated in 1833 from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Western NY.

In 1836 he was commissioned as surgeon in the U.S. Army, and participated in the removal of the Cherokee west of the Mississippi. In 1839 he resigned his commission, settled in Milwaukee and began his practice there becoming involved in a dispute with the established physicians for giving surgical and consultation aid to homeopathic physicians. In 1842 he was instrumental in organizing the territorial medical society, served as vice-president of the Medical Association of Milwaukee until 1846 and was one of the founders of the Milwaukee County Medical Society.

Accomplishments

In 1850 he was one of the founders of an failed medical college in Milwaukee. During the Civil War he served as surgeon-general of the state, passing upon qualifications for medical appointments with Wisconsin troops. He pioneered the use of several surgical techniques, receiving international acclaim. He was trustee of the state hospital for the insane after 1860, manager of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers after 1866, was Wisconsin delegate to the Universal Exposition at Paris in 1866, regent of the University of Wisconsin after 1850 and vice-president of the State Historical Society in 1861.

Political and Business Careers

In addition to his medical practice, he was active in business and politics. In 1844, he established a flour mill in Humboldt with John Anderson. In 1849 he became active in the Milwaukee and Mississippi Railroad Company, becoming a director. In 1858 he became a director of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, and served as vice-president until 1863. In 1848 he was an unsuccessful candidate for sheriff of Milwaukee County on the Free Soil ticket. After his 1869 marriage to Dr. Laura Ross, a pioneer woman physician, he spent considerable time championing her acceptance with equal rights in the medical profession. He died in Milwaukee in 1880. 

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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]