A Life Chronology of A. T. Still

I introduce to you, perhaps for the first time, Andrew Taylor Still. He was much more than the founder of Osteopathy. He was the son of a Methodist minister and frontier medical doctor. He was a farmer, expert hunter, medical doctor, inventor, machinist, state legislator, soldier, patriot, Civil War veteran, abolitionist, feminist, temperance supporter, Freemason, father, husband, and dedicated family man. This was a self-taught, highly motivated, and incredibly creative man. In a “modern” society that values educational degrees and titles over wisdom and experience perhaps the thought of a 19th century self-educated country doctor founding and guiding the Osteopathic profession is untenable. I suggest that our profession could only have been founded by an individual such as Andrew Taylor Still. This was a man with deep intuitive abilities and vast life experiences. He made mistakes, and learned from them. He suffered great tragedy and persevered. He triumphed, not out of sheer will, but due to his genuine respect and trust in the laws of nature.