David Jameson (185)

David Jameson (c. 1715–1801?) was a physician, wartime surgeon, and a member of the American Philosophical Society via his 1768 election to the American Society. Born in Scotland and a graduate of medicine at Edinburgh, Jameson landed in York, PA before 1755 and soon took an appointment as a military surgeon during the Seven Years’ War (1754–63). Jameson was well-suited for service, distinguishing himself as a medic and as a soldier, rising from ensign (1755–56) to captain (1756–57), major (1758–60), and lieutenant colonel (1760–63). Besides returning to medicine, he took a commission as a justice of the peace beginning in 1764 with a special commission to adjudicate crimes by African-Americans, free and enslaved, beginning in 1768. He received something of a symbolic appointment as a colonel in the militia of York County in 1777; he rendered more practical service as a justice of the peace under the Revolutionary regime starting in 1777. Five of his six sons became physicians. (PI)