Zina Pitcher, Amateur Botanist and Doctor, Remembered by Patient Decades Later

April 12, 1797

On this day, the American physician, politician, educator, and naturalist Zina Pitcher was born.

During his life, Zina Pitcher was an amateur botanist. He loved the natural world.

Professionally, Zina was a doctor.

Here's a poignant story about a good deed he performed as a young man - and how it was paid forward.

In the early 1840s, a Northern Michigan boy arrived in Detroit with a badly broken arm.

His condition had grown so grave that the doctors prepared to amputate.

But at the last minute, even as the boy was strapped down for surgery, Dr. Zina Pitcher was consulted.

After a careful examination, Zina said he would try to save the arm.

Zina's intervention succeeded, and the boy, Peter White, grew up to be a regent of the University of Michigan, like the doctor who had saved him.

After Zina's death, Peter ensured that his Detroit grave was planted with flowers every spring.