Dr. Walter G. Tyzzer, a physician and surgeon of St. Louis, was born in Wakefield, Massachusetts, August 8, 1863. His father, the late George It. Tyzzer, a native of England, came to America in 1846 with his parents, Josiah and Mary Ann (Roberts) Tyzzer, who settled in Wakefield, Massachusetts, where George R. Tyzzer was reared and educated. In the latter part of his life he engaged in carriage manufacturing and passed away in Wakefield, February 4, 1904, when seventy-one years of age, his birth having occurred in Cornwall, England, December 18, 1832. In early manhood he wedded Matilda J. Edwards, who was also born in England, a daughter of John and Johanna (Mayne) Edwards, both now deceased. Her mother came to America from Cornwall, England, in 1846, the family settling in Roxbury, Massachusetts. The parents of Dr. Tyzzer were married in Wakefield and to them were born five children, three sons and two daughters, all of whom are yet living, namely: George A., who is a school teacher of Boston, Massachusetts; Isabel M., the wife of A. Fremont Oliver, living at Wakefield; Walter G., of this review; Jennie R., the wife of Martin L. Cunningham, likewise living at Wakefield; and Dr. Ernest E. Tyzzer, a prominent physician who is now a professor in the Harvard Medical School.
At the usual age Walter G. Tyzzer became a pupil in the public schools of his native city and later attended the Will Mayfield College at Marble Hill, Missouri, where he was graduated in 1899 with the Bachelor of Science degree. He next entered the Barnes Medical College of St. Louis and won his professional degree in 1903. Following his graduation he became superintendent of the Mayfield Hospital of St. Louis, thus serving from 1899 until 1919 or for a period of twenty years. He has throughout this time also engaged in general practice and has won an enviable name and place as a representative of the medical profession in St. Louis. He came to Missouri in 1893, having in the meantime spent four years from 1888 until 1892 in Y. M. C. A. work at Gloucester, Massachusetts, and in the Charlestown branch of the Boston association. The following year he was an evangelistic singer for the Baptist church and for a time was also associated with the Rev. Dwight L. Moody, now deceased. He then came to Missouri and from 1893 until 1899 was pastor’s assistant of the Third Baptist church of St. Louis. He has never ceased to feel the deepest interest in the work and purposes of the church and for the past three years has served as chairman of the board of deacons and is now moderator of the St. Louis Baptist Association, a position which he has occupied since 1907. Dr. Tyzzer has labored for the physical and moral welfare of his fellowmen and in both lines has accomplished good results. After the death of Dr. Mayfield he became president of the Mayfield Sanitarium. In 1905 he established a hospital in Burmah, India, which at the time of its founding was the most modern and progressive hospital of that country. He and Dr. Mayfleld also raised funds for two hospitals in China, one in the northern part of that country and the other in the southern section of China. The hospital in Burnish is known as the Emily Tyzzer Hospital, while the one located In northern China is called the Mayfleld-Tyzzer Hospital and the one in southern China is known as the Will Mayfleld Hospital. The value of Dr. Tyzzer’s efforts in this direction is almost incalculable. He carried to those countries modern methods and the thoroughly progressive ideas of the western world and thus aided in establishing new standards productive of great good.
Dr. Tyzzer was married at Wakefield, Massachusetts, April 6, 1886, to Miss Emily E. Seaver, a native of that place and a daughter of George A. and Susan (Bowman) Seaver, representatives of old New England families and both now deceased. Dr. and Mrs. Tyzzer became the parents of three children: Marian R., who is a Red Cross nurse; Dr. Robert N. Tyzzer, a physician and surgeon of St. Louis, who during his college days at the Barnes University was elected captain of the University football team; and Margaret L., now the wife of William F. Sewell, Jr., of St. Louis. The wife and mother, who was born in 1866, passed away in St. Louis, December 4, 1903, when thirty-seven years of age. It was in her honor that the Emily Tyzzer Hospital of Burnish, India, was so named.
Dr. Tyzzer belongs to the New England Society of St. Louis, of which he is now the vice president. Fraternally he is connected with Mount Moriah Lodge, No. 40, A. F. & A. M., and the rules that govern his conduct are further manifest in his membership in the Third Baptist church. The purposes and activities of his life have ever measured up to the highest standards of Christian manhood and while he has ministered to the diseased body big life, his example and his teachings have been of inspirational value in the adoption of higher standards of living by many who have known and been associated with him.