C.H. Wilkinson Physician Network dba CHRISTUS Medical Group

Who was C.H. Wilkinson?

On an evening stroll in Galveston in the late fall of 1866, a young man named Cary Wilkinson was led by chance to an area under construction on the east side of the city. There he happened to meet a friend, Father Louis Chambodut, parish priest of Galveston and Vicar General of the Diocese. Father Chambodut explained that the main building under construction was to be Charity Hospital. The adjacent facilities were the convent and chapel. He pointed with pride to the new shell roof that had just been placed on the chapel. With great excitement, Father Chambodut said that three Sisters, Mother Blandine, Sister Ange and Sister Joseph, who were to operate the hospital, had recently arrived in Galveston and were guests of the Ursuline nuns.

Dr. Wilkinson, an intern at Galveston’s Old City Hospital, later wrote, “This little episode impressed me very forcibly at the time, and proved afterwards to be an important epoch in my life.” Indeed this was the start of a beautiful relationship with the hospital, later to be called St. Mary’s Infirmary, and with the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word.

Cary Hamilton Wilkinson was born at Benten, Mississippi, on December 23, 1844. His father was Dr. Benjamin Fush Wilkinson of Charles City, Virginia, and his mother was Eliza Smith, a native of Maryland. Young Cary received a preliminary education at Benten and in 1857, was sent to St. Joseph’s College, Bardstown, Kentucky. He remained at school until his college was closed by the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861.

Returning to Mississippi, he joined the Confederate Army under General Albert Sidney Johnson. He enlisted as a private in Darden’s Mississippi Battery, and with his command went through the battles of Shiloh, Furireesboro and Chickamauga, as well as through numerous lesser engagements during the war.

He had two narrow escapes from death near Decatur, Alabama. On October 26, 1864, while under fire, a shell from the enemy’s battery exploded a few feet from him and when the smoke cleared away, every companion with him and the six horses of his gun were found dead. He was standing up at the time of the explosion and escaped with a scratch, while his comrades were lying upon the ground and were instantly killed.

Two days later, on the 28th, he fared worse. A shell from the enemy’s battery exploded a caisson chest filled with ammunition, and around which he and six others had gathered. The result was that every one in his detachment was either killed or wounded, he amongst the latter being severely injured about the face.

After the war, he took up the study of medicine and during the winter of 1865 attended lectures in the Medical Department of the University of Louisiana at New Orleans. In March of 1866 he attended lectures in the Galveston Medical College. It was during his studies that he first saw what was to become St. Mary’s Infirmary. Recalling that sighting, he later wrote, “Arriving at the place I found a newly constructed, two-story frame building, fronting west, in readiness for occupation, and to the north of it a small octagonal chapel was nearing completion.” He added that these Sisters, invited to Galveston by Bishop Claude Dubuis, “whose heart and soul had been wrapped up in this little hospital enterprise, were truly the pioneers in a work that was destined to become, in later years, a living active influence all over Texas.”

Dr. Wilkinson graduated from Galveston Medical College in 1867 and became House Surgeon of the Island City Hospital under Dr. Greensville Dowell Lessee, and remained such for the next twelve months. During that same year, Galveston was struck by the worst yellow fever epidemic in the city’s history. It was during this epidemic that Mother Blandine Matlin, the first Superior of the Congregation, died. Among those developing yellow fever and surviving were Sister Ange Escude, another of the original three Sisters, and Dr. Wilkinson.

Approximately 230 yellow fever victims were admitted to Charity Hospital during the epidemic. Following the death of Mother Blandine and the illness of Sister Ange, Sister Joseph, who was only 27 years old, worked tirelessly caring for those suffering. However, after the epidemic passed, the number of patients coming to the hospital dramatically decreased. In 1868, Charity Hospital closed as a home for the sick, and the building became a school for children. Sister Joseph and Sister Ange agreed to help nurse patients in the City Hospital for a modest recompense for their time and services. Despite the promises by city authorities to pay the Sisters, no funds were ever released.

The situation was looking bleak for the future of the young Congregation when Dr. Wilkinson returned from Philadelphia. He had traveled east, following his recovery from yellow fever, to continue his study of medicine and received the “ad eundem” degree from Jefferson Medical College.

Once back in Galveston, Dr. Wilkinson inquired about Charity Hospital. Finding it had been closed, he “went at once to work to effect its reanimation,” according to his own writings. Working closely with Father Chambodut, Dr. Wilkinson began a plan of action to revive the hospital. Through contacts in Washington, he was able to facilitate a contract with the government in which the Sisters would provide care and treatment of marine patients at the rate of $1 per day. The contract was awarded July 1, 1869.

At that time, the name of the hospital was changed to St. Mary’s Infirmary. Mother Joseph became Superioress in charge, and Dr. Wilkinson was employed as the medical officer in charge. More Sisters arrived from France. Due to the excellent care provided by the Sisters at the hospital, the ability of Dr. Wilkinson to secure patients and the continuing support of Father Chambodut, more patients were now coming into the hospital. To ensure a steady source of paying patients, the Sisters inaugurated what must have been one of the first hospital insurance plans for private patients. The plan was straightforward and was described by the Galveston Semi-Weekly Bulletin:

Any person paying the small amount of 25 cents a week---a dollar a month---in advance during health, or $13.00 a year, is entitled to a bed for himself when ill, with medical attendance, nursing, food and all necessaries. We all know that next to a wife or a mother, the Sister of Charity is the best of all nurses…Of course it is not to be supposed that this small sum will pay the bills, but it is hoped that other donations will be given, and that many who subscribe will never have occasion to use the institution until that enterprise may be self-supporting.

The County Court of Galveston awarded all of the sick and destitute cases of the county to the care of St. Mary’s at the rate of 75 cents a day. In addition, private patients now began to be admitted. Within two months after the hospital was re-opened, St. Mary’s Infirmary was operating on a good financial foundation.

The following year, Dr. Wilkinson married Miss Eliza Towsey, daughter of an English physician.

As the Sisters began seeing more patients at the small facility, the physicians at the other hospital in the city began seeking ways to capture some of the patients from St. Mary’s. One of the physicians at City Hospital was able to secure the contract of the marine patients that has been so vital to the initial success of St. Mary’s. In 1871, Mother St. John, the Superior of the Congregation, received notice that in accordance with instructions received from the U.S. Treasury Department, the marine patients would no longer be sent to St. Mary’s. This was an unexpected blow as the Sisters relied on this income and in fact were expanding the hospital in order to give better care to these patients.

Dr. Wilkinson, along with Father Chambodut, advised Mother St. John, who was then the Superior, to ask the customs official to compare the facilities at St. Mary’s with those of the lower bidder to whom the contract had been awarded. As referenced in Serving With Gladness by Sr. Loyola Hegarty, “Colonel Patten inspected both hospitals. Afterward, according to Dr. Wilkinson, he expressed himself in ‘short, inelegant and emphatic’ terms upon the merits of the rival institution and re-awarded the contract to St. Mary’s.”

This was not the last battle that the Sisters were to face in keeping the marine and county contact. Fortunately, Dr. Wilkinson was always there to use his influence, knowledge of the law, and insight into local politics to checkmate every attempt to remove this important source of income. In 1877 the first Board of Health ever organized in Galveston was put in operation under Mayor D.C. Stone, and Dr. Wilkinson was elected by this board to serve as Health Physician of Galveston.

Dr. Wilkinson had helped take St. Mary’s Infirmary from its infancy into a healthy childhood, but he also enjoyed a great deal of control over it. In 1896, Mother M. Benedict and her Council decided to build an annex next to the hospital and “to select a good staff of physicians and surgeons for the care of the sick in our hospital in order to help the progress of our institution.” As expected, Dr. Wilkinson was not pleased with the organizing of a staff of physicians at the hospital. He decided to sever all ties with the hospital when the staff was organized.

In the capacity of Chief Medical Officer, he had remained with the Infirmary continuously for twenty-seven years. Starting out with but a single patient in 1869, he treated more than 22,500 patients by the time he resigned his office in 1896. It appears that he harbored no lasting resentment and twenty years later contributed the principal historical essay to the Golden Jubilee Commemorative Booklet of St. Mary’s Infirmary.

Dr. Cary Wilkinson died on Monday, February 4, 1920 at 4:30 in the afternoon. He was 76 years of age. The people of Galveston mourned the death of this prominent physician, as did our Sisters, whose early footing in health care was secured in no small part by this man.

Back to top.