Saturday, December 10, 2016

Friench Simpson - Years Served: 1924-1927



Friench Simpson Jr. was born October 7, 1877 in Columbus, Texas. He was the son of Friench Simpson and Virginia Ann Harbert. His father held a wide array of jobs including banker, lawyer, capitalist, farmer and a poet at varying times of his life.[1] He was able to send his children to college so Friench went to the University of Texas where he received his MD in 1903.[2] The following year, he completed his internship at St. Mary's Infirmary in Galveston, Texas. [3] He married Ruby Lee Williamson on September 20, 1906 in Colorado County, Texas.[4] Eight days later, he was commissioned an Assistant Surgeon on October 1, 1906. His first assignment was to Baltimore, Maryland.[5] On January 22, 1907 he was detailed to the Revenue Cutter “Perry” on which he traveled to Alaska. [6]
On October 26, 1909, Assistant Surgeon Friench Simpson was detailed to assist Rupert Blue in the work of eradicating plague infected squirrels in California.  Since 1903, the presence of bubonic plague among the ground squirrels was suspected, but it was not proven until the summer of 1908, when four naturally infected squirrels were found. Subsequent investigation during the fall of 1908, and spring of 1909, revealed a widespread epizootic. In April 1909, a well-organized campaign was inaugurated to control the infection and develop a plan for the complete eradication of the squirrel.  In May 1910 Simpson was placed in charge of the eradication program.[7] He achieved the rank of Passed Assistant Surgeon on October 6, 1910.[8] In 1911 he continued his plague work in San Joaquin Valley California where he was responsible for overseeing the work of 117 federal and state inspectors working in eight counties reporting to Rupert Blue who was in overall command.[9]  In 1913 Simpson published Public Health Report Number 122 titled Rat Proofing: Its Practical Application in the construction or repair of dwellings or other buildings.[10]
In fall of 1913 and the spring of 1914, Simpson was detailed to New York City to conduct industrial hygiene assessment of garment workers to determine their health and working conditions.[11] In 1914 Simpson was sent to New Orleans to help with the eradication of bubonic plague that broke out in that city.[12]  He was responsible for sanitary measures in one of nine sanitary districts created by the Public Health Service to fight the epidemic. On May 16, 1916 Simpson was given complete charge of the rat eradication program for the entire city of New Orleans, a duty he held until 1917 while still holding the pay grade of Passed Assistant Surgeon.[13] He registered for the draft on September 10, 1918 while in Columbia, South Carolina.[14] The following year, Simpson served as the Officer in Charge at the Columbia, South Carolina quarantine station where he worked until June 30, 1919. [15] In that same year he co-authored Public Health Bulletin #423 titled, Rodent Destruction on Ships.[16] On November 22, 1918, President Woodrow Wilson appointed Simpson to the position of Surgeon effective October 6, 1918. He was given a one month assignment at the Mobile, Alabama quarantine station in January 1919.[17]  From July 1, 1919 to 1922 Simpson was the Officer in Charge of the San Francisco, California quarantine station on Angel Island.[18] During that time he published an important article titled “Methods of Plague Control” where he urged public health officers across the nation to take action using on-shore strategies to rid American cities of rats.[19] On June 19, 1923, Simpson was assigned to the Rosebank, New York quarantine station where he worked until September 1, 1924.[20]
Friench Simpson served as the Boston quarantine station chief effective September 2, 1924 and ending in 1926.[21] In his first year in Boston the quarantine station consisted of an administration building, power plant,  quarters for the medical officer in charge, the pharmacist, the nurses, and the employees, hospital, laboratory, delousing plant, and barracks. The hospital consisted of two wards and 12 rooms; total capacity, 40. The barracks provided 1,272 bunks and 89 beds. Detention capacity was 1,361. Total capacity, including hospital was 1,401. Water was supplied through a main, and electric and telephone was available by cable from the mainland.  Based on his previous expertise with the plague, in January, 1925, Simpson began keeping records of the location of rats found dead following fumigations. Ninety-two vessels were examined for this purpose. Fifty-five vessels, or 59 per cent, were found without rats upon search after fumigation. The remaining 37 vessels yielded 511 rats, of which 332 were identified as Mus rattus and 179 as Mus alexandrinus.
In 1925, his staff of nurses and one inspector continued inspecting arriving steerage passengers for vermin. Only 15 persons, distributed among eight passenger vessels, were found louse infested in that year. These cases were deloused aboard while in quarantine without being removed to the quarantine station. Simpson attributed the low rate of infestation as compared with former years to the excellent preliminary inspection service conducted by service officers abroad in ports of departure, and to the cooperation of ships' officers who maintained a daily inspection service on-route, delousing vermin-infested steerage aboard before arrival. [22] No vessel arrived with quarantinable or suspected quarantinable disease aboard in 1925 or 1926.  Only one vessel was detained in quarantine. In 1926 Simpson also continued the inspection of third-class passengers for vermin. In 1926, three thousand one hundred and sixty-five persons, approximately 25 per cent, of arriving alien passengers were examined intensively for vermin. Only 15 individuals, all female, were vermin infested.  Simpson felt the thoroughness of the preliminary inspection conducted by medical officers of the Public Health Service abroad and the cooperation of ships' officers in disinfesting passengers on route were the chief reasons communicable disease cases were at an all-time low. [23]
In 1927 Simpson was transferred to the Marine Hospital in Mobile Alabama, a post he held for two years.[24] In 1929 Simpson was in charge of the Tampa, Florida quarantine station but was relieved of this assignment the following year.[25] On July 10, 1930 he was promoted to Senior Surgeon and was stationed in Oslo, Norway at the United States Consulate General.[26] From 1931 to August 31, 1932 he was the Senior Surgeon in Dublin in the Irish Free State.[27] On August 23, 1932 he was promoted to Medical Director and was transferred on September 1, 1932 to Naples, Italy.[28] From 1933 to 1936, the Official Register of the United States and the U.S. Census records indicate he was the Medical Director of the Fort Monroe, Virginia quarantine station.[29] From 1937 to 1940 he was the Medical Director for the Angel Island quarantine station in San Francisco, California – a fact confirmed in the U.S. Census tally of the island’s residents in 1940.[30] By 1943 he was listed as a medical director domiciled to Halletsville, Texas pending orders.[31]
He died of lobar pneumonia on August 21, 1950 and is buried in Odd Fellows Rest Cemetery, Columbus, Texas.[32]



[4] Accessed online: http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Simpson-2047
[14] Accessed online:  World War I Registration Card
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