Born on December 22, 1821, John McAlmont, was a native of Hornellsville, New York and son of Daniel and Samantha Donham McAlmont. At age 17 McAlmont left home to become a teacher. By the age of 21 he attended school at Geneva Medical College in New York for one semester of medical courses which he completed in 1843. Back in this time, this was all the time required in order to legally practice medicine. In 1844 McAlmont established his first practice in Kendall Creek, Pennsylvania. Due to the lack of opportunity and growth potential, he relocated to Ohio for a more promising career the very next year. Following his settlement in Weymouth, Ohio he returned to home to New York and was married to Martha Jane Gregg, a former student and long time friend. John and Martha had two daughters, one of which died as an infant. During the winter of 1848 McAlmont went back to medical school at Western Reserve Medical College in Cleveland, Ohio where he received his medical degree in 1849. He and his family spent the winter in Cinncinati, Ohio and he planned to stay there but the extreme cold climate led him to a change in heart. Caleb Langtree, friend and mapmaker, had told him great things about …show more content…
McAlmont’s experiences in the Army likely prepared him well for his role to mediate a consensus among opposing sides which resulted in the combined effort to create the Medical Department of the Arkansas Industrial University – and what we know today as the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences was born. He was joined in this effort with seven other Arkansas Physicians: Edwin Bentley, MD; Augustus Breysacher, MD; James Dibrell, Jr, MD; PO Hooper, MD; Roscoe Green Jennings, MD; James Henry Southall, MD; and Claiborne Watkins, MD. McAlmont served in numerous roles at the medical school including professor of pharmacology and therapeutics and