Looking Back
Thurmont Loses Long-Time Doctor
by James Rada, Jr.
The Bessie Darling murder. The Spanish Flu pandemic. The wreck of the Blue Mountain Express. The Blue Blazes Still Murder. In the early 20th century, if there was a death or serious illness in the Thurmont area, Dr. Morris A. Birely was usually involved.
Not in the killing or initiation of the illness, but in the aftermath and the healing.
On October 5, 1947, he was the one who needed medical attention because of a cerebral hemorrhage, but he couldn’t get it in time.
“After listening to a radio broadcast of the World Series game Sunday afternoon, Dr. Birely ate his dinner and appeared in his usual good health. He was stricken about 8:30 o’clock and expired about 10 o’clock,” The Frederick Post reported. With his passing, generations of Frederick County residents lost the reason that they were alive.
Birely had celebrated his 75th birthday on September 1.
He had spent more than 50 years working as a doctor in Thurmont, and The Frederick Post called him “one of Frederick County’s best known citizens.” Besides acting as a general physician in the north Frederick County area, he was also a physician at St. Joseph’s College in Emmitsburg and for the Western Maryland Railway.
“Dr. Birely always said his profession was his hobby and he took pride in the number of infants he had ushered into the world,” The Frederick Post reported.
One of the last children he delivered was Joan Louise Wivell near Motter’s Station in July 1947. She was the youngest child of Roy J. Wivell and his wife. They had 18 children: 12 boys and 6 girls. Birely had delivered all of them.
Thurmont was not his hometown nor that of his wife, Bertha, but they had both made it their home and set about doing what they could to make life better for its residents.
Born in 1872, Birely was actually a native of Ladiesburg. He attended school in Thurmont, as well as Ladiesburg, and then graduated from the Cumberland Valley State Normal School at Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, in 1890. Normal schools were typically colleges that trained teachers. However, following his graduation, Birely had entered the University of Maryland Medical School and graduated with his medical degree in 1894.
“He immediately began practice in Thurmont and became active in community affairs there,” according to The Frederick Post.
Besides his medical duties, at varying times, he was one of the organizers of the Citizens’ Electric Light and Power Company of Thurmont, a president of the Mechanicstown Water Company, a director of the Thurmont Bank, and a director of the Frederick Industrial Loan Company. He served as president of the Frederick County Medical Society and was a member of the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland, the American Medical Association, and the Southern Medical Association. During World War II, he was a physician with Draft Board No. 2, examining all the draftees in the area to ensure they were healthy enough to serve. He was also a member of a number of civic groups.
Despite his civic activities and his activity in the Frederick County Republican Party, he never ran for a public office. He found that he could be of more help serving citizens behind the scenes, as evidenced by the number of groups he was active in.
Besides his wife, Birely was survived by his son, Morris Franklin Birely, who shared more than a name with his father. They had practiced medicine together in Thurmont.
Rev. Charles H. Corbett officiated at Birely’s interment in Blue Ridge Cemetery in Thurmont.
The Birely House in Thurmont.
The house used to be next to the Guardian Hose Company on N. Church Street.
Dr. Morris A. Birely’s grave marker at Blue Ridge Cemetery in Thurmont.
Photo Courtesy of Findagrave.com
