Silas Weir Mitchell was born on February 15, 1829, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to John Kearsley Mitchell and Sarah Henry Mitchell. A prominent Philadelphia physician and graduate of Jefferson Medical College, Silas Weir Mitchell, M.D., developed the rest cure for neurasthenia in the 1870’s. In 1866, he published a short story in the Atlantic Monthly resting upon both somatic and psychological insights entitled “The Case of George Dedlow”. He wrote juvenile stories and prose fiction of varying merit which earned him a leading place among American authors at the close of the 19th century. He died on January 4, 1914 in Philadelphia and is interred at The Woodlands Cemetery.
