Abraham (1830-1919) and Mary Putnam (1834-1906) Jacobi, husband and wife, were foreign-born American physicians and humanitarians who greatly improved medical care in the United States.

Abraham Jacobi was born into a poverty-stricken family in Westphalia, Germany. With work and sacrifice, he was able to begin studying medicine at the University of Greifswald in 1848. He continued at the University of Göttingen but received his medical degree from the University of Bonn in 1851. Involved in the revolutionary movement in Germany in 1848, he was a friend of Karl Marx; his outspoken support led to imprisonment, but he escaped to England, where he tried unsuccessfully to establish a practice. In 1853 Jacobi arrived in Boston. He finally settled in New York City.

First American Pediatrician

Jacobi had always been concerned about diseases of infants and children. In 1857 he became a lecturer on the pathology of infancy and childhood at the College...