Caleb Winslow collection

Dr. Caleb Winslow was a prominent family physician who practiced in North Carolina and Baltimore, Maryland. Winslow was born on January 24, 1824 to Nathan and Margaret FitzRandolph in Belvidere, North Carolina on Piney Woods Plantation. While practicing Quakers, the Winslow family owned slaves, which caused his father to be disowned by the community. Throughout Winslow’s childhood, his father continued to expand the farm and purchase slaves and became wealthy.

After attending local schools, Winslow studied at Haverford College in Pennsylvania and graduated in 1842. He decided to go to medical school at the University of Pennsylvania after he fractured his clavicle and became interested in practicing medicine. He finished in 1849 and went on to have a very successful medical career. He became known for his skill in gall bladder surgeries and amputations.

Winslow married Jane Paxson Parry (1829-1910) in 1852 in Philadelphia and returned to North Carolina to live. They had eight children, five of which died in childhood: Randolph (1852-1937), Olive Parry (1855-1860), John Randolph (1856-1860), Nathan (1857-1858), Edward Randolph Parry (1859-1862), Julianna Randolph (1861-1928), Margaret FitzRandolph (1863), and John Randolph (1866-1937).

Winslow did not fight in the Civil War because of his faith and paid for draft exemption. However, he was arrested during the war for alleged involvement in a fight and imprisoned on Roanoke Island. In 1866, Winslow moved to Baltimore to get away from the destroyed South. In Baltimore, he worked as a general physician, but often returned to North Carolina to care for patients and perform gallstone surgery. He died in 1895.