Dr. Jesse L. Blakemore, a physician and surgeon of Muskogee since 1891 and now president of the Physicians and Surgeons Hospital of this city, was born in Greenwood, Arkansas, and after acquiring a public school education continued his studies in the Emory and Henry College of Virginia, there completing his course with the class of 1885.
His liberal literary training has served as an excellent foundation on which to build the superstructure of professional knowledge. Desiring to become a physician, he matriculated in the medical department of Vanderbilt University at Nashville, Tennessee, and was graduated with the class of 1888. He has further pursued his studies in the New York City Polyclinic College and private reading and research into the standard literature of the profession have also greatly promoted his efficiency.
In the year 1891 he opened an office in Muskogee and through the intervening period, covering three decades, he has remained in general practice here. He is most careful in the diagnosis of his cases and most conscientious in the performance of all professional duties and by reason of his ability, his sympathy and his helpfulness he has become the loved family physician in many of the leading households of the city. He has also done splendid hospital work as one of the promoters of the Physicians and Surgeons Hospital, of which he is now the president. His standing among his contemporaries and colleagues in the profession is shown in the fact that he has been honored with the presidency of the Muskogee County Medical Society. He also belongs to the Oklahoma State Medical Society and to the American Medical Association.
Dr. Blakemore was married to Miss Mamie Buchanan, a native of Emory, Virginia, and they became the parents of a son, John Augustus, who is now following farming in the Old Dominion. Dr. Blakemore lost his wife in March, 1895, and her passing was the occasion of deep and widespread regret to many friends, as well as to her immediate family.
Dr. Blakemore belongs to the Masonic fraternity as a Knights Templar and Consistory Mason and as a member of the Mystic Shrine. He is also connected with the Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. In club circles, too, he is widely and favorably known, belonging to the Country Club and the Wauhillau Club and he is a most congenial companion on a fishing or hunting trip, in which he finds great enjoyment and needed recreation from the onerous professional duties that devolve upon him.