Franklin Aylesworth Handrick, M.D.
Franklin Aylesworth Handrick, M. D. Without the inscrutable wisdom which sees life in all its compensations and adjustments, humanity will express special regret and grief when some of the noblest lives are cut short in the midst of their most useful service and expression. This was true in Cleveland when the community suffered by death the loss of Dr. Franklin Aylesworth Handrick, one of the most brilliant physicians and surgeons of the city, who died there September 20, 1901, at the early age of thirty-three.
Doctor Handrick was born in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, in 1868, and in his brief life he gave much to mankind and added lustre to the dignity of an old American name. He was the son of Dr. E. L. and Martha D. (Leet) Handrick. His mother's family gave their name to Leet Island off the coast of Massachusetts, and the Leets have been prominent for 300 years in the affairs of Connecticut and other New England colonies and states. Doctor Handricks's great-grandfather, Capt. Luther Leet, was a soldier and officer in the Revolutionary war. His grandfather, Dr. Calvin Leet, was a successful physician and surgeon, and Doctor Handrick inherited his profession also through his father, who became one of the best known doctors in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. Dr. E. L. Handrick was born in Susquehanna County, in Jessup Township, June 9, 1840. He was educated in local schools, and was graduated from the Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia. He began practice during the Civil war in the Borough of Friendsville, and was in active practice there for many years. He finally took up his residence at Friendsville, Pennsylvania. Dr. E. L. Handrick's father was Urania Stone Handrick. The Handricks are of Holland-English descent.
About the time Dr. E. L. Handrick located at Friendsville he married Miss Martha D. Leet, daughter of Dr. Calvin D. Leet, of Friendsville. She died there April 3, 1907, while Dr. Handrick died November 5, 1916. Both are buried in the old Quaker Cemetery at Choconut, Pennsylvania.
Dr. Franklin Aylesworth Handrick was graduated from the same institution as his father, Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia. In 1895 he located at Cleveland, Ohio, and for the six years until his death, September 20, 1901 was in active practice. April 5, 1899 he married Miss Gertrude M. Foran, a daughter of Judge Martin Foran. Doctor Handrick left two children surviving him. A sketch of Mrs. Gertrude M. Handrick appears below.
For one year Dr. Handrick served as house physician at the St. Alexis Hospital, for two years was district physician and for two years physician at the workhouse. His distinguishing traits were intense passionate love for his family, true, sterling honesty, and the deepest devotion to the daily duties of a doctor's life. Even his brief lifetime left its impress on many lives and encouraged loftier aims, purer thoughts and nobler deeds. Dr. Handrick was the only child of his parents, and he was laid to rest in the old Quaker cemetery in Pennsylvania where his father and mother lie buried.
From Cleveland - Special Limited Edition, The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago & New York, 1918 v.1