Richard Bayley
Encyclopedia
Richard Bayley was a New York City physician and chief health officer.

Biography

He was born in 1745 in Fairfield, Connecticut
Fairfield, Connecticut
Fairfield is a town located in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It is bordered by the towns of Bridgeport, Trumbull, Easton, Redding and Westport along the Gold Coast of Connecticut. As of the 2010 census, the town had a population of 59,404...

. In 1766 he was apprenticed to John Charlton. Charlton was a physician who lived and worked in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

. Bayley married John's sister, Catherine Charlton and had three children, including Elizabeth Ann Bayley
Elizabeth Ann Seton
Saint Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton was the first native-born citizen of the United States to be canonized by the Roman Catholic Church . She established Catholic communities in Emmitsburg, Maryland....

. In 1777 his wife died, and in 1778 he married Charlotte Barclay, and they had four children.

His treatment for Diphtheria
Diphtheria
Diphtheria is an upper respiratory tract illness caused by Corynebacterium diphtheriae, a facultative anaerobic, Gram-positive bacterium. It is characterized by sore throat, low fever, and an adherent membrane on the tonsils, pharynx, and/or nasal cavity...

 cut his patients' mortality rate in half. In 1788 a mob attacked his laboratory during the "Doctors Riots", protesting his use of human cadavers in medical demonstrations. Around 1796 he was appointed head of the Quarantine Station for the port of New York
Port of New York and New Jersey
The Port of New York and New Jersey comprises the waterways in the estuary of the New York-Newark metropolitan area with a port district encompassing an approximate area within a radius of the Statue of Liberty National Monument...

 at Tompkinsville
Tompkinsville, Staten Island
Tompkinsville is a neighborhood in northeastern Staten Island in New York City in the United States. Though the neighborhood sits on the island's eastern shore, along the waterfront facing Upper New York Bay — between St...

 (now St. George
St. George, Staten Island
St. George is a neighborhood on the northeastern tip of Staten Island in New York City, where the Kill Van Kull enters Upper New York Bay. It is the most densely developed neighborhood on Staten Island, and the location of the administrative center for the borough and for the coterminous Richmond...

) where he later contracted Yellow Fever
Yellow fever
Yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease. The virus is a 40 to 50 nm enveloped RNA virus with positive sense of the Flaviviridae family....

 after checking a ship
Ship
Since the end of the age of sail a ship has been any large buoyant marine vessel. Ships are generally distinguished from boats based on size and cargo or passenger capacity. Ships are used on lakes, seas, and rivers for a variety of activities, such as the transport of people or goods, fishing,...

 that was contaminated with it. He contracted the disease and died of it August 17, 1801.

Legacy

Bayley Seton Hospital
Bayley Seton Hospital
Bayley Seton Hospital is a hospital in Staten Island, New York City. it is primarily a psychiatric and social services outpatient hospital, operated jointly by Richmond University Medical Center and Saint Vincent's Catholic Medical Center.-Location:...

, once located in the Clifton
Clifton, Staten Island
Clifton or Park Hill is a neighborhood in northeastern Staten Island in New York City in the United States. It is an older waterfront neighborhood, facing Upper New York Bay on the east...

 section of Staten Island, was named for both Richard Bayley and his daughter, the first American-born Roman Catholic Saint, Elizabeth Seton. It was founded and run by the Sisters of the congregation she founded until 2006.
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