John Jeffries II (March 23, 1796– July 1876) was an American ophthalmic surgeon who co-founded the Massachusetts Charitable Eye and Ear Infirmary in 1824 with Edward Reynolds. This organization, which began life as the Boston Eye Infirmary, became officially incorporated in 1826 and maintained that name until 1924 when it became Massachusetts Eye and Ear. Jeffries and Reynolds were the only surgical staff until 1833 when the staff was expanded to include other assistant surgeons as well as an apothecary. Jeffries resigned from this position in 1842 and had no other official interaction with the institution until his son Benjamin was named Surgeon of the Infirmary in 1867.

Early life and education

Jeffries was born in Boston. His father was the physician and meteorologist

John Jeffries John Jeffries (5 February 1744 – 16 September 1819 using Old Style Dating, 5 February 1745 – 16 September 1819 using New Style) was an American physician, scientist, and military surgeon with the British Army in Nova Scotia and New York du ...

. He attended

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

at 15 and graduated in the class of 1815. He received a Doctor of Medicine degree from Harvard in 1819 and became a fellow of the

Massachusetts Medical Society The Massachusetts Medical Society (MMS) is the oldest continuously operating state medical association in the United States. Incorporated on November 1, 1781, by an act of the Massachusetts General Court, the MMS is a non-profit organization t ...

in 1826. He married in 1820, and was the father of three daughters and five sons, one of whom was Benjamin Joy Jeffries, one of the creators of the New England Ophthalmological Society. The family had a summer residence in East Boston in a neighborhood now known as Jeffries Point.

References

1796 births 1876 deaths Ophthalmology Harvard College alumni Harvard Medical School alumni {{Ophthalmology-stub