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Rush Medical College in Chicago was one of the oldest medical schools in the United States, founded in 1837. Photo: RMC Archives
Páll Björnsson began medical studies at Rush Medical College in Chicago shortly after he returned from a famous expedition to Alaska with his friends, Jón Ólafsson and Ólaf Ólafsson from Espihól. He graduated from there, moved to Houston, Minnesota and opened a medical practice there. The 1880 census lists him as a practicing physician in Houston, Houston County, Minnesota.
Páll was one of the first Icelanders to complete medical studies at an American medical school during the Western emigration period.
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Houston, Minnesota at the turn of the century in 1900. Photo: HHS
English version by Thor group.