George C. S. Choate

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George Cheyne Shattuck Choate (March 30, 1827–June 4, 1896), is a descendant of a family which settled in Massachusetts in 1667^[1]. He was born at Salem, Massachusetts, the son of noted physician George Choate, brother to Joseph Hodges Choate, and nephew to Rufus Choate. Following his father's footsteps, Choate graduated from Harvard College in 1846 and Harvard Medical School in 1849^[2].

With his family, Choate started a boarding school in New Hampshire in 1856—St. Paul's School.

Choate eventually moved to Westchester County, New York where he started his own sanitarium. Choate added a wing to his house for use of his sanitarium to house patients being treated for mental and nervous disorders. One of Choate's most famous patients was politician and New York Tribune founder, Horace Greeley. Following his defeat for the Presidency of the United States in 1872, Greeley checked into Choate’s sanitarium where he died a few weeks later. Choate passed away on 1896, but the Sanitarium remained open for another decade.^[3]

In 1909, Choate’s widow had the wing her husband had constructed moved to its present location—just a stone's throw away from its former location using horses, and at an inch at a time it took about six months to move. Mrs. Choate lived there until her death, at age 95, in 1926. Today, Choate’s sanitarium is now "Marks Hall"[1] and his former residence is now known as "Choate House"[2]; both of which are located on the Pleasantville campus of Pace University.^[4]

George Choate's siblings were^[5]:

• Charles Francis Choate; born on 16 May 1828.
• Sarah Elizabeth Choate; born on 24 September 1829 and died on 1 May 1860, at age 30.
• William Gardner Choate; born on 30 August 1830.
• Joseph Hodges Choate; born on 24 January 1832.
• Caroline Choate; born on 16 October 1834.

Not only did the Choate family establish St. Paul's School, but also the Rosemary Hall School for girls in 1890 and The Choate School for boys in 1896. The two schools formally merged to form Choate Rosemary Hall in 1974 and is located in Wallingford, Connecticut.

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