Howard Leigh Stitt, M.D.
The physician of today is a far more efficient servant of the people to whom he ministers than ever before in the history of medicine. He must be broader and more intelligent, have keener insight into the psychology of his patients, and with a technical skill which the old practitioners never had. The young physicians who are beginning to practice todav, if they have had the training of our best medical schools, are usually more reliable than the old-school physicians who had nothing but their experience to fall back on. Among the younger physicians of Fayette county, who are forging to the front in their profession is Dr. Howard Leigh Stitt, of Washington C. H. Although lie has been out of school but a short four years, yet he has already demonstrated his ability to handle his large and increasing practice in a satisfactory manner.
Dr. Howard Leigh Stitt, the son of Joseph Young and Mattie F. (Morris) Stitt, was born in Blooniingburg, Ohio, February 3, 1885. His parents were natives of this county and his father is still living in Bloomingburg, where he is the manager of a drug store. In his younger days Joseph Y. Stitt was a school teacher and later became a druggist in Bloomingburg and now has the oldest established business in that town. His wife died in May, 1906, at the age of forty-one. Joseph Y. Stitt and wife were the parents of two children, Howard L. and Ercell Gertrude. The father and mother were both members of the Presbyterian church.
The paternal grandparents of Doctor Stitt were William and Ellen (Holland) Stitt, both natives of this county. William Stitt was a farmer living northeast of Bloomingljurg, in Paint township, and later moved to Bloomingburg. where he died. William Stitt and wife reared a family of six children, James, John, Charles, Joseph V., Hugh and Ella. The maternal grandparents of Dr. Howard Stitt were Robert and Ellen (Miller) Morris, natives of Ohio and early settlers in Paint township, Fayette county. Robert Morris died in Washington C. H. at the age of seventy-one, and his wife is still living at the age of seventy-two. They reared a familv of eight children. John, Mattie F., Charles, Gertrude, Frank. Corda, Maude and Earl.
Dr. Howard Leigh Stitt was reared in Bloomingburg, and after graduating from the high school in that place entered Miami University in order to take the course necessary to enter a medical college. After doing the required amount of work in Miami University he entered the Medical College of Cincinnati, an institution which was later merged with the Ohio Miami Medical College and is now a part of the University of Cincinnati. From this institution he graduated with honors in 1910. and served for a year as interne house physician and surgeon in the Good Samaritan Hospital in Cincinnati. In 1911 he came to Washington C. H. and opened an office for the active practice of his profession, at No. 114 East Market street. While he has been engaged in the practice only a short time, yet he has won the confidence of the people to a marked degree, and is rapidly securing his share of the patronage of the city and the surrounding territory.
Doctor Stitt was married October 21, 1912, to Margaret McClure, the daughter and only child of Robert D. and Henrietta (Eyler) McClure. Mrs. Stitt was born at Rarden, Scioto county, this state, both her parents being also natives of Ohio. Her mother is deceased and her father is now living at Peebles, Ohio, although for many years he was a resident of Washington C. H.
Doctor Stitt and his wife are loyal and consistent members of the Presbyterian church. Fraternally, he belongs to the Free and Accepted Masons and the Knights of Pythias. While at Miami University he was initiated as a member of Alpha Chapter, Sigma Chi. and has always retained an active interest in his college fraternity. He is also a member of the Nu Sigma Nu, a Greek-letter medical fraternity, which had a chapter at the Medical College of Cincinnati. He also holds his membership in Fayette County, Ohio State and the American medical associations.
From History of Fayette County Ohio - Her People, Industries and Institutions by Frank M. Allen (1914, R. F. Bowen & Company, Inc.)