Difference between revisions of "James Edwin Littlefield"

Revision as of 04:04, 28 October 2018

Optometry

Dr. James Edwin Littlefield was born in 1860, the son of jewelers.   He gave birth to three successive generations of optometrists.  He founded the Kansas Association of Opticians, in Topeka, Kansas.¹  He also served as the founding president of the Kansas School of Optics in 1901² , a correspondence school offering post-graduate courses, having been teaching since  1879.    Additionally, in 1905, while living in Topeka, Kansas, he served as an official of the National Board of Optometry, as a keynote speaker for a Los Angeles banquet for members of the California State Board of Optometry.⁶  

He wrote a book The Littlefield System of Eye and Nerve Measurement that helped standardize the practice.   

In the book, he states that he held the honor of being the first registered Doctor of Optics to have his degree confirmed by an act of the Legislature, and passing a medical board in the Science of Optometry.  He also claimed to have written a bill to recognize optometrists in Kansas, and coining the term.  

He retired on May 1, 1921,³ and built one of the first homes in the Atascadero, California  community at 12-13 Z.A. Atascadero Avenue.⁴    He also assisted with planting thousands of acres of orchards for what he expected to become one of the larger fruit-growing colonies in the area, winning regional awards for gigantic cauliflower and cabbages in 1916.⁵

In an article for January 8, 1920 of the Optical Journal and Review, a letter was included of his regarding the fruit growing, and he wrote, "I have raised on one-quarter of an acre over four tons of potatoes, cabbage that weighed over 25 lbs. to the head.  I sold today over ten tons of carrots that I have on about one-quarter of an acre... it will be five years, January 1st, since I put out the first garden in Atascadero... In March, I set out my orchard and this year I have apples, pears, apricots, several varieties of plums and peaches, quince, grapes, raspberries, blackberries, Loganberries, strawberries, almonds, and some others.  With chickens, rabbits and pigeons I did not feel the pinch of "H.C.L."

Family

James Edwin Littlefield was born in October 1860 in Maine where he spent his childhood in Saco, York County.  His parents were James Woodberry (1833-1927) & Roxanne E. Cook (1835-1907) Littlefield who were also birthed (and died) in Maine.  James & Roxanne were married January 26, 1859 in Hopkinton, MA.  He was a merchant in jewelry, and hats. 

James E. had a younger sister Alice Louise (1862-1945) who never married, and a younger brother Ralph (1872-) who became a machinist. 

James had five children, the eldest three were Ralph Edwin Littlefield (b. 1886), who followed James into optometry, as did Ralph's son Lawrence, and Lawrence's son who is in current practice.  Then there was Earl C. (b. 1887), who also followed James into optometry, working for the C.B. Norton Jewelry Company at least by 1918, as reported by a jewelry magazine. 

Then James W. (1889-1918), who died of pneumonia while an Army Sergeant, while at Camp Zachary Taylor, in Louisville, Kentucky, at the age of 28.  I think their mother was named Clara Etta Bomgardner, and according to a 1900 census, they were living in Topeka, Kansas at the time.  Then on February 4, 1905, James had married May A. Sawyer (b. 1874) on with  children: Hugh F. (1906-1912), Elizabeth Alden Littlefield Williams (b. 1908-), and had moved back to Saco, Maine.  

In 1917, he had opened up an optical practice inside a large general store in Atascadero, and was active in the first businessman's association there.  

Sources

1. Jewelers Circular and Horological Review, 1901
2. 2016 Martin City Telegraph article on 100+ years in the optometry industry
3. "The Optical Journal and Review": January 19, 1922; 
4. California Board of Optometry Directory: 1921-1922; 
5. https://archive.org/stream/birthofatascader00trav/birthofatascader00trav_djvu.txt The Birth of Atascadero by Marguerite A. Travis; 1960's
6. Jeweler's Circular and Horological Review 1905-1906 

• The Jeweler's Circular Weekly: October 23, 1918  WW1
• Jeweler's Circular and Horological Review 1905-1906
• Hindsight Journal of Optometry History: July 2010: "James E. Littlefield, Author of Optometry - The Littlefield System of Eye and Nerve Measurements", by David A. Goss;