American Medical Biographies/Huntington, Elisha
Huntington, Elisha (1796–1865).
Elisha Huntington, Mayor of Lowell, Massachusetts, lieutenant-governor of the state, and author of a memoir of the eminent Dr. Elisha Bartlett (q. v.) (1856), was born in Topsfield, Massachusetts, April 9, 1796. He was the son of the Rev. Asahel Huntington, minister of that town for nearly twenty-five years, and of his wife, a daughter of Dr. Elisha Lord of Pomfret, Connecticut. Entering Dartmouth College at fifteen, he graduated in 1815 and studied medicine with Dr. Bradstreet of Newburyport, later attending the Yale Medical School and getting his M. D. there in 1823. He settled in Lowell the following year and enjoyed a large practice, soon being drawn into the public service. While Lowell was yet a town, Dr. Huntington served on the board of selectmen and the school committee. After being three times elected an alderman, he filled the office of mayor in 1839, and was re-elected seven times. Having declined to be again a candidate, the "great panic" of 1859 led the citizens to nominate him unanimously, such confidence had they in his ability to manage the city in a time of stress. For one year, 1853, he was lieutenant-governor of the state under Governor Clifford; for two years president of the Midlesex North District Medical Society, and in 1855–57 he presided over the Massachusetts Medical Society.
One of his last acts was to attend the fiftieth anniversary of his class at Dartmouth, even though in impaired health. He died at home, December 13, 1865.