# William Maclay Awl

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American politician

William Maclay Awl Born May 24, 1799 Harrisburg Died November 19, 1876 (aged 77) Columbus Position held President of the American Psychiatric Association (1848–1851)

**William Maclay Awl** (May 24, 1799 – November 19, 1876) was a [psychiatrist](/source/Psychiatrist), a [politician](/source/Politician) and a [mental health hospital](/source/Mental_health_hospital) administrator.[1]

## Biography

He was born in [Harrisburg, Pennsylvania](/source/Harrisburg%2C_Pennsylvania), to Mary (Maclay) Awl and lawyer and [Senator](/source/United_States_Senate) Samuel Awl. He studied basic medical concepts under a local [physician](/source/Physician). At age 20 he entered the [medical department of the University of Pennsylvania](/source/Perelman_School_of_Medicine). Failing to graduate, he began a temporary practice in his hometown, specializing in anatomy and surgery, but later accompanied a knapsacker to [Lancaster, Ohio](/source/Lancaster%2C_Ohio), in 1826. In 1830 he married Rebecca Loughey. He then practiced his profession in many towns within Ohio, but finally settled in [Columbus, Ohio](/source/Columbus%2C_Ohio), in 1833 where he stayed for the rest of his life. He was the first [surgeon](/source/Surgery) west of the [Allegheny Mountains](/source/Allegheny_Mountains) to tie the left [Common carotid artery](/source/Common_carotid_artery).[2][3]

In Columbus he quickly specialized in treating mental disorders and management of people suffering from [insanity](/source/Insanity). He was once stated that if he could fix his eyes on those of even the most violent lunatic he could control him without difficulty, an accomplishment which he succeeded in doing several times. He was a common witness in court to cases of doubtful insanity. Both he and [Marmaduke B. Wright](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marmaduke_B._Wright&action=edit&redlink=1) were members of the [Ohio General Assembly](/source/Ohio_General_Assembly). Together they promoted a bill which later became law in 1835 in which Ohio insanity cases would come under the care of the state.

William Maclay Awl then was acting superintendent of the "State Hospital", which opened in 1838. Also in 1838 he was president of the Association of Superintendents of Asylums for the Insane of the United States and Canada. He held this position until 1851. He headed a bill which founded schools for the education of the blind and feeble-minded in Ohio. In addition, in 1846, he, [Daniel Drake](/source/Daniel_Drake), and other leading members of his field to establish the Ohio State Medical Society.

## Notes

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Kelly, Howard A.; Burrage, Walter L. (eds.). ["Awl, William Maclay"](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/American_Medical_Biographies/Awl,_William_Maclay). [*American Medical Biographies*](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/American_Medical_Biographies). Baltimore: The Norman, Remington Company.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** *Lancaster Gazette*, March 20, 1827

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** *Western and Physical Journal*, October 1827

## References

- Johnson, Allen, ed. *Dictionary of American Biography*. New York:Charles Scribner's Sons, 1936.

v t e Presidents of the American Psychiatric Association 1844–1900 Samuel Bayard Woodward (1844–1848) William Maclay Awl (1848–1851) Luther Vose Bell (1851–1855) Isaac Ray (1855–1859) Andrew McFarland (1859–1862) Thomas Story Kirkbride (1862–1870) John S. Butler (1870–1873) Charles Nichols (1873–1879) Clement Walker (1879–1882) J. H. Callender (1882–1883) John P. Gray (1883–1884) Pliny Earle (1884–1885) Orpheus Everts (1885–1886) H. A. Buttolph (1886–1887) Eugene Grissom (1887–1888) John B. Chapin (1888–1889) W. W. Godding (1889–1890) H. P. Stearns (1890–1891) Daniel Clark (1891–1892) J. B. Andrews (1892–1893) John Curwen (1893–1894) Edward Cowles (1894–1895) Richard Dewey (1895–1896) Theophilus O. Powell (1896–1897) Richard Maurice Bucke (1897–1898) Henry Mills Hurd (1898–1899) Joseph G. Rogers (1899–1900) 1900–1925 Peter M. Wise (1900–1901) Robert J. Preston (1901–1902) A. B. Richardson/G. Adler Bloomer (1902–1903) A. E. Macdonald (1903–1904) T. J. W. Burgess (1904–1905) C. B. Burr (1905–1906) Charles G. Hill (1906–1907) Charles P. Bancroft (1907–1908) Arthur F. Kilbourne (1908–1909) William F. Drewry (1909–1910) Charles W. Pilgrim (1910–1911) Hubert Work (1911–1912) James T. Searcy (1912–1913) Carlos Frederick MacDonald (1913–1914) Samuel E. Smith (1914–1915) Edward Nathaniel Brush (1915–1916) Charles G. Wagner (1916–1917) James V. Anglin (1917–1918) Elmer Ernest Southard (1918–1919) Henry C. Eyman (1919–1920) Owen Copp (1920–1921) Albert Moore Barrett (1921–1922) Henry W. Mitchell (1922–1923) Thomas William Salmon (1923–1924) William Alanson White (1924–1925) 1925–1950 C. Floyd Haviland (1925–1926) George M. Kline (1926–1927) Adolf Meyer (1927–1928) Samuel Orton (1928–1929) Earl D. Bond (1929–1930) Walter M. English (1930–1931) William L. Russell (1931–1932) James Vance May (1932–1933) George Hughes Kirby (1933–1934) C. Fred Williams (1934–1935) Clarence O. Cheney (1935–1936) Charles Macfie Campbell (1936–1937) Ross McClure Chapman (1937–1938) Richard H. Hutchings (1938–1939) William C. Sandy (1939–1940) George H. Stevenson (1940–1941) H. Douglas Singer/James King Hall (1941–1942) Arthur H. Ruggles (1942–1943) Edward Adam Strecker (1943–1944) Karl M. Bowman (1944–1946) Samuel W. Hamilton (1946–1947) Winfred Overholser Sr. (1947–1948) William C. Menninger (1948–1949) George S. Stevenson (1949–1950) 1950–1975 John Clare Whitehorn (1950–1951) Leo H. Bartemeier (1951–1952) Donald Ewen Cameron (1952–1953) Kenneth E. Appel (1953–1954) Arthur Percy Noyes (1954–1955) R. Finley Gayle Jr. (1955–1956) Francis J. Braceland (1956–1957) Harry C. Solomon (1957–1958) Francis J. Gerty (1958–1959) William Malamud (1959–1960) Robert H. Felix (1960–1961) Walter E. Barton (1961–1962) C. H. Hardin Branch (1962–1963) Jack R. Ewalt (1963–1964) Daniel Blain (1964–1965) Howard P. Rome (1965–1966) Harvey John Tompkins (1966–1967) Henry W. Brosin (1967–1968) Lawrence Kolb (1968–1969) Raymond W. Waggoner (1969–1970) Robert S. Garber (1970–1971) Ewald W. Busse (1971–1972) Perry Clement Talkingten (1972–1973) Alfred Freedman (1973–1974) John Patrick Spiegel (1974–1975) 1975–2000 Judd Marmor (1975–1976) Robert W. Gibson (1976–1977) Jack Weinberg (1977–1978) Jules H. Masserman (1978–1979) Alan A. Stone (1979–1980) Donald G. Langsley (1980–1981) Daniel X. Freedman (1981–1982) H. Keith H. Brodie (1982–1983) George Tarjan (1983–1984) John A. Talbott (1984–1985) Carol Nadelson (1985–1986) Robert O. Pasnau (1986–1987) George H. Pollock (1987–1988) Paul J. Fink (1988–1989) Herb Pardes (1989–1990) Elissa P. Benedek (1990–1991) Lawrence Hartmann (1991–1992) Joseph T. English (1992–1993) John S. McIntyre (1993–1994) Jerry M. Wiener (1994–1995) Mary Jane England (1995–1996) Harold Eist (1996–1997) Herbert S. Sacks (1997–1998) Rodrigo A. Muñoz (1998–1999) Allan Tasman (1999–2000) 2000– Daniel B. Borenstein (2000–2001) Richard K. Harding (2001–2002) Paul S. Appelbaum (2002–2003) Marcia Kraft Goin (2003–2004) Michelle Riba (2004–2005) Steven Sharfstein (2005–2006) Pedro Ruiz (2006–2007) Carolyn Robinowitz (2007–2008) Nada Stotland (2008–2009) Alan Schatzberg (2009–2010) Carol A. Bernstein (2010–2011) John Oldham (2011–2012) Dilip V. Jeste (2012–2013) Jeffrey Lieberman (2013–2014) Paul Summergrad (2014–2015) Renée Binder (2015–2016) Maria A. Oquendo (2016–2017) Anita Everett (2017–2018) Altha Stewart (2018–2019) Bruce J. Schwartz (2019–2020) Jeffery Geller (2020–2021) Vivian Pender (2021–2022) Rebecca W. Brendel (2022–2023) Petros Levounis (2023–2024) Ramaswamy Viswanathan (2024–2025) Theresa Miskimen (2025–2026)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [William Maclay Awl](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Maclay_Awl) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Maclay_Awl?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.