CARPENTER, A. M., M.D., PROF., was born in Lincoln Co., Ky., Dec. 12, 1835; his father, John Carpenter, Esq., died when the subject of this sketch was 2 years old. Prof. Carpenter received his education at Centre College, Ky.; he studied medicine under Wm. Pawling, M.D.; graduated at the University of Louisville, Ky., in 1854, and located at Keokuk in 1855, where he soon acquired a prominent position in the profession; in 1865, he was appointed to the Chair of Theory and Practice of Medicine in the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Keokuk, which position he still holds. The school, in 1865, had an attendance of some forty students, but for the last few years the classes have averaged over 200. Prof. Carpenter is also a member of the American Medical Association, ex-Vice President of the Iowa State Medical Society, ex-Secretary of the Keokuk Medical Society, ex-President of the City Board of Health, and a Medical Director of the Iowa Life Insurance Company. In 1876, the President of the American Medical Association appointed Prof. Carpenter Chairman of a committee of medical men to organize a State Board of Health, and, at one of the largest meetings of the society ever held in the State, he was elected President and still occupies the position. Dr. Carpenter is a frequent contributor to the medical literature of the country, and enjoys the credit of first publishing the effects of the use of carbolic acid in the sore throat of scarlet fever; he possesses an intellect quick and incisive as well as comprehensive, and a presence and address forcible and impressive; in his lectures, he finds no necessity for notes, but speaks extemporaneously; in politics, a subject in which he takes a deep interest, he is a Democrat of the old school.
(Ref: Lee County History, Biographical Sketches, Keokuk, City)