Jewett, George B.

George B. Jewett was born in Lebanon, Me. in 1818 and died in Salem in 1886. He studied at Salem Latin Grammar School and later Amherst College, becoming a professor of Latin and modern languages there from 1850-54. He became an ordained minister in Nashua, N.H. and in Salem Mass.

An interesting side note is that he developed a new artificial limb that was used for veterans after the Civil War. According to a blog written by Brendan I. Koerner "George B. Jewett enjoyed dabbling in prosthetics whenever he had a spare moment. His great innovation, patented just months after the Confederacy’s surrender at Appomattox, was a novel artificial leg that featured something truly remarkable: a self-oiling mechanism, which allowed the limb to maintain maximum flexibility despite inclement weather or owner neglect."

Jewett’s company was headquartered at the corner of Park and Tremont Streets in Boston, but he had offices in Salem as well. He ran the company from 1863-1871.

Jewett's Patent Leg Company was chosen for the state contract in North Carolina, which ran a program for veteran's artificial limbs. North Carolina became the first of the former Confederate states to offer artificial limbs to amputees. The contract called for Jewett to set up shop in Raleigh. In five years, 1,550 vets contacted the state for help with their artificial limbs.

See Also

Vertical File in Salem Collection - Jewett, Rev. George

"Death notice Rev. George B. Jewett" Salem Evening News, June 10, 1886.