In the 1800s injuries from cutting trees, working fields and handling animals were commonplace. With no life squads and only a handful of hospitals in the area, the best chance for medical attention lay with the local country doctor. Among the early doctors in Campbell County were a father-son team, James J. and Claude Youtsey.

James Youtsey was born in Campbell County before the Civil War on Oct. 26, 1855. He was the son of John Stuart Youtsey and Eliza Beggs Youtsey.

Tradition has it he attended local schools before deciding in 1875 to take up the practice of medicine. There were few medical schools at the time. Youtsey enrolled in the Louisville Medical College. He graduated in two years and opened a medical practice in Alexandria in 1877. There he met Clara Todd, the daughter of John and Maria Shaw Todd of Alexandria. They married in 1880.

In the 1880s, to encourage doctors to locate throughout the county, the Campbell County Fiscal Court designated doctors by district to make sure all areas of the county had medical care. Alexandria, being one of the larger cities in the county at the time, had two district doctors in 1884. One was Dr. B. R. Rachford; the other was Dr. James Youtsey.

An account in the Kentucky State Journal in 1885 said Youtsey was paid $50 a year to handle charitable cases in the Alexandria area. That was twice what other rural district doctors were paid in such communities as Grants Lick, Cold Spring and Carthage.  James Youtsey was apparently reappointed district doctor several times. His last appointment came in 1888. By this time Youtsey and Dr. J. F. Houston were each being paid $75 a year, while the other district doctors still only received $25 a year.

Despite that salary, James Youtsey apparently felt there was more opportunity in the city and sometime prior to 1900 he moved his family to Newport, where they were listed as living at 403 Washington St. in the 1900 City Directory. Youtsey and his wife would have two sons, Sol and Claude. Claude would follow in his dad's footsteps, also choosing a medical career.

Born on Sept. 26, 1881, in Alexandria, Claude Youtsey attended Campbell County High School and the Normal School in Lebanon, Ohio, before entering the Medical College of Ohio, from which he was graduated in 1903. He joined his father's medical practice in Newport.

Sol Youtsey also got into the medical business, serving for a period as administrator of Speers Memorial Hospital in Dayton. Speers at the time was the main hospital in Campbell County. Sol Youtsey also worked as an auditor for the Donaldson Lithograph Co. in Newport, which made large posters for businesses such as circuses. James Youtsey would serve on the board of trustees and the visiting physicians board at Speers Hospital. He also was a member of the Kentucky Medical Society and served on Campbell County Board of Health.

James Youtsey also was a member of the Knights of Pythias fraternal organization and a member of the Courthouse Commission, which oversaw the operations of the Campbell County Courthouse in Newport.

James Youtsey died Dec. 7, 1921, from complications after surgery for intestinal problems at Speers Hospital. At the time he lived at 721 Washington St. in Newport. He was 66 years old. His wife, Clara, died in April 1929.
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Kentucky Genealogy and Biography Biographical Sketches Volume 6-8

Kentucky History by Perrin, Battle & Kniffen 1887

DR. J J YOUTSEY was born in Campbell County Oct 26, 1855 and is a son of John S and Eliza (Beggs) Youtsey.  He was educated at the common schools and began the study of medicine in 1875 attended lectures at the Louisville Medical College where he graduated in March 1877, taking a special course in practice.  Immediately after graduating he located at Alexandria where he has since resided, engaged in the practice of his profession. 

In 1880 he married Clara Todd, of Alexandria, daughter of John and Maria (Shaw) Todd.  Two children were born to this union, only one of whom is living; Claude.  Dr. Youtsey casts his vote with the Democrats.
 

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