James Lawrence Cabell papers

James Lawrence Cabell was born August 26, 1813 in Nelson County, Virginia. He attended private schools in Richmond, matriculated at the University of Virginia in 1829, and earned his A.M. in 1833. The following year he continued the study of medicine at the University of Maryland and obtained his M.D degree. To further his education he went to Paris until 1837 when he was offered the chair of anatomy, physiology, and surgery at the University of Virginia. He remained in this capacity until 1856 when a chair of anatomy and material medica was created. He continued to teach physiology and surgery, and for a time comparative anatomy, until the end of the 1888-89 session. He was appreciated for his devotion to teaching and was also an able diagnostician.

In addition to his more than 50 years of service to the University of Virginia, Dr. Cabell was in charge of the Confederate States Military Hospital in Charlottesville during most of the Civil War. A member of the Medical Society of Virginia, he was elected president in 1876. He was the organizer and served from 1879-1884 as the first president of the National Board of Health which was created by an Act of Congress on March 3, 1879. In that year he was also president of the American Public Health Association.

Dr. Cabell married Margaret Gibbons in 1839. He had no biological children but adopted two nieces. He died August 13, 1889 in Albemarle County, Virginia.