William Bernard Lingo was a prominent physician in Atlanta Georgia from 1908 until he moved to Florida around 1925. He and his wife Maggie May Romoser 1874–1939 had no biological children and no evidence of other close Lingo kin in Georgia. He was from a long line, at least six generations, of Lingos living in Accomack County in eastern Virginia , stretching back possibly to William Lingo I 1660-1733.
In addition to all the success and accolades included below, Dr. W. B. Lingo performed what was probably the first Caesarean operation bringing twins into the world in Atlanta on January 9, 1909
His obituary is included below the biography
A biography written in 1917
WILLIAM B. LINGO, M. D. The City of Atlanta has in Doctor Lingo a distinguished and honored representative of the medical profession and his special prominence is indicated by the fact that he is proprietor of the Dr. William Bernard Lingo Hospital, at 88 Cooper Street. The Doctor has been specially prominent and influential in the educational work of his profession and in the furtherance of humane enterprises in connection with medical and surgical science. He is known and honored as one of the most liberal, ambitious and progressive representatives of his chosen calling in the fair capital city of Georgia, and is especially entitled to specific consideration in this history.
Doctor Lingo was born in Accomac County, Virginia, on the 24th of April, 1874, and is a son of George Robert and Caroline Lovey (Matthews) Lingo, both likewise natives of the historic Old Dominion. George R. Lingo passed his entire life in Accomac County. Virginia, where he died at the age of forty-four years. He was a descendant of Robert Lingo, who was a tanner by trade and who came from Manchester, England, to America prior to the War of the Revolution, in company with his brother John, who was a merchant tailor by trade and vocation. Robert Lingo, who was the great-grandfather of Doctor Lingo of this review, established his home in what is now Accomac County, Virginia, and John settled at Portsmouth, that colony. The grandfather of Doctor Lingo likewise bore the name of Robert and he passed his entire life in Virginia. The mother of the Doctor is still living in Accomac County. After the death of her first husband she became the wife of Francis Ashmead, who likewise is deceased. She was born in Northampton County, Virginia, and is a daughter of Dr. Michael R. Matthews, who received his professional education in the medical department of the University of Georgia and who became one of the leading physicians of Northampton County. Virginia, where he passed the residue of his life. Maria, the wife of Doctor Matthews, was a daughter of Captain Thomas Mister, who was a sea captain. The maternal grandfather of Doctor Matthews was born in England and bore the name of Barlow, this ancestor having become one of the early settlers in the Virginia County of Northampton: he was a man of wealth and influence and his religious zeal and liberality were significantly manifested when he individually contributed the money for the erection of an Episcopal (or Church of England) Church edifice at Bridgetown, Virginia, besides setting apart 600 acres of land from his estate to provide for the support of this church and parish. The edifice, a brick structure, is still standing and in use for the purpose for which it was built and consecrated, while beneath its ancient altar rest the remains of its honored founder.
Doctor Lingo is indebted to the public schools of Virginia for his early educational discipline, which was supplemented by a course in Baltimore, Maryland, his native county being one of the two Virginia counties that constitute the peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the Maryland mainland. In preparation for his chosen profession he entered the Baltimore University School of Medicine, and in this institution he was graduated on the 21st of April, 1903, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. His chief preceptor was Dr. John D. Blake, of Baltimore, a physician of distinction in the medical world. Four years thereafter he was associated in practice with Dr. Joseph E. Clagett, of Baltimore. In 1904 he succeeded Doctor Clagett as local surgeon in Baltimore for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, a position of which he continued the incumbent until 1907. “Within his three years’ service as surgeon for this railroad he was primarily instrumental in establishing on its lines its present effective service of “first aid to the injured.”
In 1907 Doctor Lingo resigned his position with the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company and went to the national metropolis, where he did effective post-graduate work in the New York Lying-in Hospital and the New York Post-Graduate School of Medicine. In August of the same year he established his permanent residence in the City of Atlanta, where he has since been engaged in active and successful practice as a physician and surgeon and where his enthusiasm, earnestness and ability have gained him distinctive prestige.
In 1908 Doctor Lingo became one of the organizers of the Hospital Medical College of Atlanta and he was not, only a member of its original faculty but also became its dean. In 1911 he organized the Southern College of Medicine and Surgery, in which he became dean’of the faculty and professor of surgery. In 1909 the Doctor established the Atlanta Red Cross Hospital, at 201 Capital Avenue, and in 1910 he incorporated this institution, of which be became the president. In the same year he established in connection with the hospital a training school for nurses. In 1911 the hospital was removed to its present well equipped and finely appointed quarters, at 88 Cooper Street, and in 1913 its corporate title was changed to the Dr. William Bernard Lingo Hospital, the institution having fifty rooms and the most modern scientific, sanitary and general appliances. At the hospital Doctor Lingo has generously provided a daily free clinic for the benefit of the poor.
In the Masonic fraternity Doctor Lingo has received the thirty-second degree of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, and he is also affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America, and both he and his wife hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.
On the 2d of September, 1902, was solemnized the marriage of Doctor Lingo to Miss Margaret May Romoser, who was born in the City of Baltimore, Maryland, on the 21st of October, 1874, and who was there reared and educated. She is a daughter of Alexander Frederick and Mary Elizabeth (Causey) Romoser, who still reside in Baltimore, her father being of German lineage. Mrs. Lingo’s maternal great-grandfather, Hugh Bonner, was a coppersmith by trade and vocation and he. had the distinction of placing the copper on the dome of the splendid Catholic Cathedral in Baltimore: he was a native of England and came to America when a young man. The paternal grandfather of Mrs. Lingo was John Philip Romoser, who came from Germany and became the founder of the family in America. Mrs. Lingo is the eldest daughter in a family of seven living children, George, Alex, Rose, Eva, Emma and Hendrix. Her brothers George H. and Alexander F., Jr., have for several years held responsible positions in the post office in the City of Baltimore, and there her sister Rosa is chief operator of Baltimore with the Southern Bell Telephone Company. Hendrix is an expert accountant and is employed by Wise Brothers, a large corporation of that city. Mrs. Lingo has a diploma as a trained nurse and is her husband’s able and valued coadjutor in the work and management of the hospital which bears his name. They have no children.
The above biography is from: Knight, Lucian Lamar. A Standard History of Georgia and Georgians – Volume 6. Vol. 6. Chicago, New York, The Lewis publishing company, 1917. http://archive.org/details/astandardhistor02unkngoog.
Obituary
Dr. William Bernard Lingo, Physician-Teacher, Dies
Tampa Bay Times, St. Petersburg, Florida, 01 Mar 1966, Tue • Page 15
Dr. William Bernard Lingo 3090 Crandvllle St. N., physician and teacher of medical arts died yesterday.
In St. Petersburg for 48 years from Atlanta, Ga., Dr. Lingo retired from active practice in 1953. He put into practice the ideals he expressed in his autobiography “The Man Who Traveled Alone with God” when for many years he offered “paid” receipts for Christmas to any one unable to pay his medical bill.
Always interested in the welfare of others, he established and financed his own hospital in Atlanta, Ga., the Red Cross Hospital and Training School for Nurses. He also practiced medicine in Baltimore, Md and taught as professor at the Atlanta School of Medicine.
He was born in Belle Haven, Va., and was a graduate of the New York Post Graduate Medical School in operative gynecology. He received medical degrees from universities in Atlanta and Baltimore, was a registered pharmacist and received a law degree from the Blackstone College of Law in Chicago.
Dr. Lingo was a member of the Belle Haven Methodist Church; Association of American Physicians and Surgeons; the National Eclectic Medical Association; Florida Board of Pharmacy; Pythagoras Masonic Lodge 123, F&AM, Baltimore; Mount Olive Chapter 161, R.A.M.; Euclid Council 33, R&SM; Georgia Chapter 127, O.E.S. all in Atlanta. He also was a member of the Crusader Commandery 17, Knights Templar, Bainbridge, Ga.; Scottish Rite Grand Consistory 17, Massachusetts, Valley of Boston; Alee Shrine Temple, Savannah; Florida Sheriffs Association and was a 33rd degree Mason and grand orient, New York City,
Survivors include his wife, Lois; a stepdaughter, Mrs. Glen P. Kellam, Norfolk, Va.; a step son, Kenneth L. Blakeslee, Clearwater; a foster son, Dr. Joseph Weaver, Bethesda, Md., two nieces, Mrs. Henry Young, Virginia Beach, Va., and Mrs. Helen White, Coventry, R.I. Anderson – McQueen Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Added notes
In the 1920 Census, the Lingos had ten “Roomers” listed:
- John Freeman – Male 27 Georgia
- Edna Earle Roberts – Female 22 Florida
- Georgia Hill – Female 31 Georgia
- Bessie Hottinger – Female 32 Texas
- Fannie McSweeney – Female 35 Georgia
- Margarite Walker – Female 21 Georgia
- Ben Tanner – Male 69 Georgia
- Walter Floy – Male 36 Georgia
- Charlie Reed – Male 38 Georgia
- Dewey Smith – Male 17 Georgia
My assumption is they they did not need the money, rather had these people living with them for charitable reasons.
In the 1930 Census, they were living in St Petersburg, Pinellas, Florida, with a foster son, Joseph W Weaver, age 16, born in Georgia.
His full obituary is available – See also his FamilySearch page