Dr. James B. Grooms    

Dr. James B. Grooms was born July 22, 1827, at Carmichael’s, Greene Co., Pa. He was educated at Greene Academy, in Carmichael’s; studied medicine in the office of Dr. John Whitsett, at Washington, Pa., attending the lectures in Cleveland Medical College in the winter of 1852-53. He began the practice of medicine in his native town in 1853, continuing there until the latter part of 1862, when he entered the army as a member of the Ringgold Battalion, which was afterward a part of the Twenty-second Pennsylvania Cavalry. He served in the army three years, part of the time as assistant surgeon, and located in Bridgeport in 1866, where he has since remained, engaged in the practice of his profession. Dr. Grooms is the inventor of the first repeating rifle that was ever successfully operated in the United States, and for which he obtained a patent in 1855. The rifle was tested satisfactorily, in the presence of officers of the army and navy, the same year, in Washington City. Owing to unexpected business arrangements the invention was for some time neglected, the manufacture of the rifle being postponed until others, profiting by the doctor’s invention, brought the improvements they had made thereon before the public and the government, after which no further attention was given to the original invention. In 1858 he also took out letters patent for a rotary steam-engine. The principle involved in this invention has since come into extensive use in the manufacture of steam fire-engines and steam-pumps. The doctor, although the first to apply successfully the valuable principles involved, has, like many other inventors, failed to reap any pecuniary benefit from his labors. He is a member of the Fayette County Medical Society; also of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men Philadelphia: L.H. Everts & Co., 1882, page 479. View the image of this page online - Free Trial  More Fayette County History Books  Search Hundreds of 1880s-1890s Pennsylvania County History Books for biographies and historical information on your ancestors.  View the book page images on line and print them out for your genealogy file!  Free Access to the old history books - plus birth & death records, census images and ALL other records at ancestry.com

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