Elias Fisher ~ Waynesville Physician (January 10th, 1808-August 25th, 1870)

Dr. Elias Fisher was one of the brothers of Dr. Sylvanus Fisher, who founded the The Waynesville Academy. Dr. Elias Fisher was one of the founders of The Lebanon Medical Society that was established on October 28th, 1827. Other Quakers in the founding group were Dr. Aron Wright (who later founded Miami Valley Institute ~ A Hicksite Quaker College in Springboro, Ohio in 1870) and Dr. Jesse Harvey (the founder of the Harveysburg Academy). Dr. Elias Fisher was president of the Medical Society in 1852 (The History of Warren County, Ohio (Chicago: W. H. Beers & Co., 1882), pp. 307-309). He also served on the Boards of the Waynesville Academy and The Harveysburg Academy.

Another Fisher brother, Dr. Isaac Fisher also practiced in Waynesville and in Lebanon.

Elias Fisher was married three times, first to Letitia Haines, the daughter of Noah Haines and Anna Silver Haines, a prominent Quaker family in Waynesville on June 25th, 1835. All their children were born in Warren Co., Ohio: Virginia, Joseph, James Haines, and Anna Charlotte. Letitia Haines Fisher was buried in the Friends Graveyard, Sixth Row #32 on April 13, 1845, the day after her death.

His daughter, Anna Charlotte Fisher, married Abijah Porter O’Neall, the grandson of Abijah, one of the first settlers of Waynesville, on January 4th, 1875. Abijah P. O’Neall died on August 12th, 1895 in Waynesville after being injured in a buggy accident a week earlier. He is buried next to his wife in Miami Cemetery (Section F). The burial was on August 14, 1895.

Elias' second marriage was to Eliza Halsey and his third marriage was to Sarah F. Steddom on June 14, 1857 in Waynesville. He practiced in Waynesville for 20 years.

The 1850 Federal Census of Warren County lists Elias at the age of 42 married to Eliza Halsey, a Baptist, with one child from his previous marriage, Anna who was six years old. Elias and Eliza had one son, Alonzo Bud Fisher who died as an infant. Eliza Fisher died on October 24th, 1853. Her death notice reads:

“Died on the 24th inst., Mrs. Eliza Fisher, of consumption, in the 34th year of her age. She was the wife of Dr. Elias Fisher, and was a devoted and consistent member of the Baptist church, a kind wife, good neighbor, and possessed of the amiable traits of character which distinguished the true lady.~Lebanon Star” (The Miami-Visitor, November 2nd, 1853).

Elias and Sarah Steddom had three children: Herschel, Alice Leatitia and Bruce Elias Fisher.

Elias moved to Lebanon for a while and then on to Marshalltown, Iowa. He was the first president of the Iowa Central Medical Society in 1856. He returned east and settled in Richmond, Indiana where he lived until his death on September 25, 1870 at the age of 62 (Waynesville’s First 200 Years: 1797-1997 (Copyright 1996 The Waynesville Historical Society, p. 110). He was buried on August 29, 1870 in Maple Grove Cemetery, Richmond, Indiana (http://homepages.rootsweb.com/
~joneall/stangene/jon00001.htm).