Henry Janes was born on January 24, 1832, in Waterbury, Vermont, to Henry and Fanny Janes. His father was a prominent lawyer and politician who served in Congress from December 1834 until March 1837. He grew up and attended school in Waterbury, and he graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons around 1855. In the mid-1850s, he worked as a physician in New York and Massachusetts before establishing a practice in Waterbury. By 1860, he owned $1,000 of personal property.
In June 1861, he received a commission as a surgeon in the 3rd Vermont Infantry. According to an early biographer, in “the fall of 1862 he was in charge of a hospital at Burkettsville, and in the winter of 1863 at Frederick, Md.” Union officials later placed him in command of all field hospitals around Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. He spent the final months of the war in charge of Sloan General Hospital in Montpelier, Vermont.
After the war, he spent time in New York, where he made “a special study of injuries to the bones and brain.” He returned to Waterbury in 1867 and resumed his medical practice. He specialized in the “treatment of nervous diseases,” and he published papers on “the treatment of gunshot fractures” and “the incidents following amputations.” By 1870, he owned $3,250 of real estate and $6,000 of personal property. He married Frances B. Hall on December 28, 1882, and they had no children.
He became a prominent member of Waterbury society. He served as surgeon general of the Vermont National Guard, president of Waterbury’s board of trustees, and a member of the state legislature. His wife died on January 26, 1909, and he died of acute nephritis in Waterbury on June 10, 1915.
Image: Henry Janes (The Waterbury Record, 16 June 1915)