Beach, Dr. Erasmus D.

Submitted by Mike Miller

Among the people of the Parish of Orleans, the name of Dr. Erasmus D. Beach, physician, New Orleans, La., is a familiar one; for during the many years he has practiced here he has won an enviable reputation, not only as a practitioner, but as a citizen and friend. He is one of the oldest physicians of New Orleans, and was the first physician elected to the office of coroner in the Parish of Orleans. He was born in Hamilton county, near Cincinnati, Ohio, September 11, 1815. His father, Dr. Solomon Beach, was a native of New Jersey, who after graduating in medicine went immediately to South Carolina, and practiced medicine at Chesterfield, S. C., for some years, and marrying while there Miss Sarah Terry. Although owning slaves, he did not wish to raise his children to be waited upon by slaves; therefore he decided on seeing the West. Traveling by private conveyance he passed through Kentucky and Ohio on his way to New Jersey, and was so well pleased with Ohio, that in after years he located in Hamilton county, purchased a farm and retired from the practice of medicine. Of the four children born to his marriage--two sons and two daughters--only one now survives. Dr. Erasmus D. Beach received his literary education in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Augusta, Ky. Early in life he manifested a strong desire for the study of medicine, and in 1842 graduated from the Ohio Medical College, afterwards practicing for a short time in Lockland, Ohio. In 1846 he came to New Orleans with introductory letters to Dr. Warren Stone, one of the most celebrated surgeons of that time. Since that date Dr. Beach has practiced his profession here, and is one of the prominent physicians of the city. He was a member of the school board of the Second district for some time; was coroner for four years before the war, twice elected, and is at present a member of the Masonic fraternity, having been made a royal arch mason in January, 1862. He was married in 1839 to Miss Jane C. Uslick, of Alabama, and they became the parents of seven children--four sons and three daughters.

The eldest, John T., died at Richmond, Va., from the effects of a wound received during the war. He went out as lieutenant of Second Company Orleans cadets, and was afterward promoted to adjutant of the Fifth Regiment Louisiana brigade. There are living two sons and two daughters. Dr. Beach is a member of the Orleans Parish Medical society, and has been a member of the same almost since its organization. In filling the office of coroner he took a new departure-" id est "-that when human beings lost their lives from accident or otherwise, after inquiring into the cause of death, was to frame an ordinance to prevent loss of life again from same cause.

Among these were railroad accidents, steamboat explosions, and some local causes unnecessary to mention. Most prominent was an ordinance framed by him to make locomotives ring their bells when starting and at every crossing (at that time they never rang their bells); the ordinance was called the Beach plan. In examining into a steamboat disaster it was found that the heads of the boilers were made of cast iron; the expansion and contraction of heat and cold had produced a crack across the boiler head, which finally gave way, destroying the lives of thirty-five men. After that investigation the United States inspectors refused to license any steamer with cast iron heads. No doubt that inquiry has been the means of saving many lives. He was a useful man in that position, and received the praise of all for his good work.

From Biographical and Historical Memoires of Louisiana, volume 2, pp. 270-271.