Biographies - Dr. J. F. Y. Paine

             Dr. Paine is a native of the Pelican State. He was born in West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, August 16, 1840, and is of Scotch-English descent. He received an academic education at Centenary College, Louisiana, and graduated in medicine at the University of Louisiana in 1861, during the services of the immortal Stone.

             On the breaking out of the war between the States, Dr. Paine enlisted as a private soldier in the Fourth Regiment, Lousiana Volunteers. Shortly afterwards he was appointed Assistant Surgeon (December, 1861). After the fall of New Orleans, he served in the hospitals at Corinth and Holly Springs, Mississippi; was examined May, 1862, at Columbus, Mississippi, by the Army Board of Medical Examiners, (the board consisted of Drs. Yandell, Pim and Heustis,) and was commissioned as Surgeon, with the rank and pay of Major of Cavalry; was assigned as Surgeon, Twenty-first Alabama Regiment, which was sent to Fort Morgan, at the mouth of Mobile Bay. By seniority of commission, he took rank as Chief Surgeon of the forces constituting the defense of Mobile Bay. Upon the fall of these forts, in 1864, he was assigned as Chief Surgeon of General Hospital Nidelet, at Mobile, where he served until the surrender of Mobile, in 1865. Thence he was ordered to Gainesville, Alabama, where he took rank as Surgeon in Charge of the general hospital at that post, and remained there until the final surrender of all of the Confederate forces, in June, 1865.

             After the war, Dr. Paine settled in Mobile, and engaged in general practice; removed to Texas in 1874; was elected Professor of Obstetrics and Diseases of Women and Children in the Texas Medical College and Hospital, at Galveston, in 1875: after competitive examination, he was made Dean of the Faculty in 1879; was elected Chairman of the Section on Gynecology in the American Medical Association in 1885; and Chairman of the Section on Practice in 1886; was chosen Secretary to the Section on Gynecology in the American Medical Association in 1885; elected President Galveston County Medical Association in the sameyear;  was one of the Vice-Presidents of Section on Public and International Hygiene in the Ninth International Medical Congress; elected to the Chair of Materia Medica, Therapeutics and Hygiene in the Medical Department of Tulane University, his Alma Mater, in 1885, position he filled one term, to the entire satisfaction of the Faculty and Trustees, and with distinguished credit to himself and to Texas. Resigning this honorable position for private reasons satisfactory to himself, he resumed practice in Galveston, where he has a large clientelle of the wealthier classes, and lives in elegance and comfort in a beautiful home on Broadway, the Boulevard of Galveston, the fruits of his individual labor and industry.

             On resigning his Chair in the University, at the close of the session, after repeated solicitations to reconsider his determination, he was made the recipient of a testimonial from the Faculty in the shape of a set of resolutions expressive ot the high appreciation of his services (which were characterized as eminently satisfactory and valuable) entertained by his colleagues, individually and collectively, and of deep and sincere regret at the necessity which induced him to sever relations so pleasant to them. These resolutions bore testimony to Dr. Paine's professional attainments and ability, no less than to those agreeable social qualities for which he is distinguished, and altogether expressed a sincere regard for him as a teacher, a physician, and a man whom to know is to respect, couched in language as courteous as complimentary.

             Dr. Paine is an honorary member of the Alabama State Surgical and Gynecological Association; a member of the Southern Surgical and Gynecological Association; an honorary member of the Louisiana State Pharmaceutical Association, etc. He has contributed but little to current medical literature, being kept busy by his large practice, the demands of which were such as to prevent his even being present in the hall when his election as President of the Texas State Medical Association was announced, amidst cheers and applause. This honor was conferred upon him at the twentieth annual session of the Association, held in Galveston, in April, 1888. He has contributed some valuable papers, which were read before the Association, to the Transactions of the State Medical Association, notably, his address as Chairman of the Section on Practice. He has also contributed papers to the New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal.

             Upon the reorganization of the Texas Medical College and Hospital, Dr. Paine was elected Professor of Obstetrics and Dean of the Faculty, in 1887, and re-elected in 1888.

             He is a gentleman of polished and dignified manner, courteous and polite, and is a good parliamentarian. One distinguishing trait of his character is scrupulous politeness towards all with whom he is brought in contact. He cherishes a proper appreciation of the rights of others, and is conscientiously considerate of their feelings.