Henry Reed Stiles

Henry Reed Stiles (March 10, 1832 – January 7, 1909) was an American physician who wrote several historical records and genealogical books. As a doctor, he served in various medical positions primarily in New York City, although he spent four years in Dundee, Scotland. He was very interested in genealogical and historical research. As of 2011^[update], his work (including The Stiles Family in America, Genealogies of the Connecticut Family and The History and Genealogies of Ancient Windsor, Connecticut) continued to be widely cited by researchers and remained in print more than 115 years later.

Henry Reed Stiles was born in New York City and had three brothers, Arthur, William, and Samuel, and one sister, Charlotte. Henry Stiles' father Samuel was the son of American Revolutionary War soldier Asahel Stiles from East Windsor, Connecticut. Their ancestors included farmer John Stiles, one of the first settlers of Windsor, Connecticut in 1636. Henry Reed Stiles was a kinsman of Ezra Stiles.

Stiles attended the University of the City of New York beginning in 1848, one year after its founding. He transferred to Williams College in 1849 as a sophomore. His health took a turn for the worse, and he did not finish a degree then at Williams College. Henry Stiles returned to school at the University of the City of New York and the New York Ophthalmic Hospital, graduating from both in 1855. In 1876, Stiles received a master's degree from Williams College.

In 1856 he married Sarah Woodward of Freeport, Illinois. They had two children, a daughter Elliot and a son Charles Butler.

He practiced medicine for a few months in New York City before moving briefly to Galena, Ohio, where he took on a partner, Dr. Timothy M. Wilcox. In 1856 he moved again to Toledo, Ohio where he edited the Toledo Blade newspaper. In July 1856, he began practicing medicine in Brooklyn, New York, and in 1859-63 he expanded his practice to Woodbridge, New Jersey. In 1868-70 he served in the Brooklyn office of the Metropolitan Board of Health as a clerk in the Bureau of Vital Statistics. Two months later he was appointed Chief Clerk. In 1870-73 he was a medical inspector in the Board of Health of New York City.

In 1872, he helped to organize the American Public Health Association in New York City, and founded and became an officer in the Society for Promoting the Welfare of the Insane, an organization that sought to protect the welfare of the mentally ill in New York City. He taught on the topics of hygiene and sanitary legislation in the New York homoeopathic medical college.

On June 17, 1873, he was appointed as a Sanitary Inspector until the next month, when he was made Superintendent of the State Homeopathic Asylum for the Insane in Middletown, New York. He directed construction of its first two buildings. He received a master's degree from Williams College with 1876. In September, 1877, he resigned as Superintendent and from 1877 to 1881 managed a homeopathic hospital in Dundee, Scotland, remaining there until 1881.

In 1881 he and his wife's health deteriorated, and they returned to New York. In January 1882 he established a private practice to treat individuals with mental and nervous diseases at Hill View, New York. He also taught the treatment of mental and nervous diseases in the New York Woman's Medical College and Hospital from 1882 till 1885. He practiced in New York until 1888, when he moved to Hill View on the shore of Lake George, New York. There he continued to treat mental and nervous diseases until 1901.