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{{Short description|American scientist (1841–1938)}}
{{good article}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2011}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Joseph Widney
| image = Joseph P. Widney celebrates 90th birthday.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Widney in 1931
| birth_name = Joseph Pomeroy Widney
| birth_date = {{birth date|1841|12|26}}
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1938|7|4|1841|12|26}}
| death_place =
| known_for = co-founding Los Angeles Medical Society and the Church of the Nazarene
| occupation = Doctor, educator, historian, religious leader
}}
'''Joseph Pomeroy Widney''', M.D. D.D. [[Legum Doctor|LL.D]] (December 26, 1841 – July 4, 1938), was an American doctor, educator, historian, and religious leader.
After the [[American Civil War]] led him to medicine, he followed his brothers to [[California]] where he received his medical degree. He saw southern California as a "Garden of Eden". In Los Angeles he was a founder of the Los Angeles Medical Society. He was a strong proponent of the new [[University of Southern California]], and became its second president and the founding dean of its school of medicine. The [[Los Angeles Public Library]] was one of his major interests.
His real estate interests in California flourished, and he was an early environmentalist as well as promoter of the new metropolis. He believed deeply in Los Angeles becoming a major city with a seaport. The city would use water from across local mountains, and would recreate [[Lake Cahuilla]].
He was a founder of the [[Church of the Nazarene]] in Los Angeles, as well as a Methodist pastor. He published many books, mainly on his views about California and its history, but only ''[[Race Life of the Aryan Peoples]]'' was commercially published.
He died at 96, having seen Los Angeles become a major city and seaport. One of the "most conspicuous Southern Californians of his generation",<ref>Starr 78.</ref> Widney was a cultural leader in Los Angeles for nearly seventy years.<ref>IFrankiel, 95</ref>
==Early life==
Joseph Pomeroy Widney was born December 26, 1841, in [[Piqua, Ohio]]. The third son of John Wilson Widney and Arabella Maclay Widney, Widney was a nephew of [[Robert Samuel Maclay]], and [[Charles Maclay]]. His father died of pneumonia at the age of 42, when Widney was 15.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://members.fortunecity.com/kgoofy7/d107.htm |title=My Family |access-date=2008-07-24 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070815184600/http://members.fortunecity.com/kgoofy7/d107.htm |archive-date=August 15, 2007 }}</ref>
After graduating from [[Piqua High School]], he entered [[Miami University]] at [[Oxford, Ohio]] where, for five months, he studied Latin, Greek, and the classics. In 1907, he received an honorary [[Doctor of Laws]] (LL.D.) degree for his ''Race Life of the Aryan Peoples''.
In 1861 he enlisted in the Union Army in the [[American Civil War|Civil War]] (Ohio Volunteers). He served as a medical corpsman on ships on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. He was discharged in 1862 due to physical and nervous collapse.<ref>Starr 90, Joseph Pomeroy Widney: physician and mystic, Rand, Sanders, Hastings Foundation, Anderson, Ritchie & Simon, 1970</ref>
With the encouragement of his two older brothers and his uncle, [[Charles Maclay]], in California, Widney sailed to San Francisco via [[Isthmus of Panama|Panama]], arriving in November 1862. He travelled throughout California, visited missions and lived with the Spanish-speaking inhabitants.
He returned to university in 1865, receiving a [[Master of Arts]] degree from the California Wesleyan College (later the [[University of the Pacific (United States)|University of the Pacific]]). In January 1866, he moved to San Francisco. On June 4, 1866, he began the third session of the medical course at the [[Toland Medical College]] (later part of the [[University of California, San Francisco]]), graduating at the head of his class with a [[Doctor of Medicine]] (M.D.) degree on October 2, 1866.
Widney married twice. His first wife was Ida DeGraw Tuthill Widney on May 17, 1869, in [[San Jose, California]]. They lived in the [[Bunker Hill, Los Angeles|Bunker Hill]] area, next to his brother Judge [[Robert M. Widney]]. Ida died in Los Angeles on February 10, 1879, and is buried in the Los Angeles City Cemetery.<ref>[http://www.scgsgenealogy.com/LA-City-Cem-Alpha2.htm Southern California Genealogical Society: Los Angeles City Cemetery Burial Journal] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929070400/http://www.scgsgenealogy.com/LA-City-Cem-Alpha2.htm |date=September 29, 2007 }}. Scgsgenealogy.com. Retrieved on December 2, 2011.</ref>
His second wife was Mary Bray, whom he married on December 27, 1882, in [[Santa Clara, California]]. On February 18, 1884, a [[Los Angeles River]] flood caused the loss of 43 homes, including his own.<ref>Gumprecht 158</ref> Dr. and Mrs. Widney moved to 150 W. Adams Boulevard (formerly S. 26th Street), nearer the new [[University of Southern California]]. As founder of the Flower Festival Society, she organized flower festivals to raise money for the Woman's Home, a home for poor working women.<ref>Jaher 640</ref><ref>[http://www.intranet.csupomona.edu/~reshaffer/chartx.htm chartx.htm] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070610125624/http://www.intranet.csupomona.edu/~reshaffer/chartx.htm |date=June 10, 2007 }}</ref> Mary Bray Widney died on March 10, 1903, at their home at 150 W. Adams Boulevard, Los Angeles. Widney never remarried.
==Medical career==
He graduated from Toland Medical College, then the only one in California, on October 2, 1866. He re-enlisted in the army as a military surgeon. He was posted to [[Drum Barracks]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.drumbarracks.org/Drum%20Barracks%20History.htm |title=Drum Barracks History |access-date=2007-07-05 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070708000544/http://www.drumbarracks.org/Drum%20Barracks%20History.htm |archive-date=July 8, 2007 }} Drum Barracks History</ref> in [[Wilmington, California]], for a month in 1867, and was named Acting Assistant Surgeon for the [[Arizona Territory]] during the [[Apache Wars]].<ref>[http://mojavedesert.net/people/carleton.html] Major General James Henry Carleton</ref>
In 1868, he was discharged and moved to Los Angeles. He began his medical practice on October 8, 1868, sharing offices with [[John Strother Griffin]] (1816–1898). General [[William Tecumseh Sherman]] and Mexican bandido [[Tiburcio Vasquez]] were among his patients.<ref>ETW 44:4, 294.</ref>
Before the "Anti-Quackery Law" was enacted in 1876, doctors were not licensed. Medical practitioners would advertise their medical skills.<ref>[http://www.cpmc.org/services/eye/about/history.html] History of California Pacific Medical Center and its Department of Ophthalmology</ref> On January 31, 1871, Widney helped found the Los Angeles County Medical Association, the oldest such association in California.<ref>Rand 31.</ref>
The founders wanted to establish medical schools and publications, and raise medical standards<ref name=autogenerated1>Jaher 637.</ref> Widney advocated aid to "the sickly poor" as a facet of public health and civic philanthropy.<ref name=autogenerated1 /> From 1876 to 1901, medical licensing was done by the State Medical Society. In 1901, the State Board of Medical Examiners was created. Widney was one of the first licensed by the medical society. He became its president in 1877.<ref>Charnock 458; ETW 44:4, 294–295.</ref> On May 12, 1937, a bust of Widney commissioned by the Los Angeles County Medical Association was placed in the lobby of their headquarters.<ref>[http://www.usc.edu/hsc/nml/lib-information/artwork/seletz/widney.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070505115408/http://www.usc.edu/hsc/nml/lib-information/artwork/seletz/widney.html |date=May 5, 2007 }}.</ref>
He believed in scientific medicine, and opposed faith healing or "mind cure" practitioners. In 1886, Widney, then professor of the principles and practice of medicine in the college of medicine of the University of Southern California, proposed a structure for the study of medicine. He advocated the creation of the Los Angeles and California Boards of Health, and was Los Angeles' first public health officer.
In 1884, he helped re-organize the Southern California Medical Society. In 1886, he helped establish the ''Southern California Practitioner'', the society's monthly journal, and served as an editor for the first few years.<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20060505042803/http://www.calarchives4u.com/history/losangeles/socal1890-784.htm]}} Los Angeles County History</ref>
==
In 1872,
Other than his two-volume [[masterpiece|magnum opus]], ''[[Race Life of the Aryan Peoples]]'', published in 1907 by Funk and Wagnall,<ref>[Widney, Joseph P., ''[[Race Life of the Aryan Peoples]]'' New York: Funk & Wagnalls. 1907 In Two Volumes: Volume One – ''The Old World'' Volume Two – ''The New World'' {{ASIN|B000859S6O}}:
** [https://books.google.com/books?id=okNDAAAAIAAJ Race Life of the Aryan Peoples Vol. 1 – "The Old World":]
** [https://books.google.com/books?id=s9UKAAAAIAAJ Race Life of the Aryan Peoples Vol. 2 – "The New World":]</ref> he published his own works.<ref>Rand 95.</ref>
Widney said in ''Civilizations and Their Diseases'' (1937),<blockquote> I have never written for money. The sole object has been the carving out of broader lines for the human race. For more than fifty years of careful historical study, I have thought, and planned, and worked to this end. This ultimate purpose has run through all my publications. </blockquote>
While at Drum Barracks and in Arizona, Widney became interested in climatology and conservation. He was chairman of the Los Angeles Meteorological committee for several years. Widney credited white settlement with improvements in the Southern California climate, including less variation in temperature, milder winds, and increased rainfall.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/eh/8.1/nash.html |title=Linda Nash | Finishing Nature: Harmonizing Bodies and Environments in Late-Nineteenth-Century California | Environmental History, 8.1 | the History Cooperative |access-date=2007-06-25 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070625225049/http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/eh/8.1/nash.html |archive-date=June 25, 2007 }}.</ref> He was concerned about water conservation, and warned what is now called [[smog]], identifying it as a concern in 1938, well before it gained official recognition in Los Angeles.<ref>[https://www.pbs.org/now/science/smog.html ''LA Times'' April 3, 1955]. Pbs.org (December 5, 2002). Retrieved on December 2, 2011.</ref>
Widney sought the preservation of three great forest areas for future generations.<ref>ETW 44:4, 294; ETW 44:5, 400.</ref>
In January 1873, Widney suggested the [[Colorado Desert]] be flooded to re-establish [[Lake Cahuilla]].<ref>See David Hellyer, "He Planned to Change the Desert Climate" ''The Desert Magazine'' 12:8 (June 1949):5–8, https://www.scribd.com/doc/2295858/194906-Desert-Magazine-1949-June; Pat Laflin, "The Salton Sea: California's Overlooked Treasure", ''The Periscope'' (1995; Coachella Valley Historical Society, Indio, California):7–8, {{cite web|url=http://www.saltonsea.ca.gov/ltnav/library_content/Hydrology/cal_orverlooked_treasure_lafin.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2010-06-01 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101118210143/http://www.saltonsea.ca.gov/ltnav/library_content/Hydrology/cal_orverlooked_treasure_lafin.pdf |archive-date=November 18, 2010 }}.</ref><ref>Erik R. Bluhm, "The Mysterious Lost Ship of the Desert", ''Great God Pan'' 13 (1999), http://www.greatgodpan.com/2004/06/the_mysterious_lost_ship_of_th.htm {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927024738/http://www.greatgodpan.com/2004/06/the_mysterious_lost_ship_of_th.htm |date=September 27, 2007 }}</ref><ref>Meyer 100; "The Colorado Desert Lake: Long and Expensive Dikes Necessary to Keep Out the Water", ''The New York Times'' (# November 1891):3, https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1891/11/03/103347004.pdf; John Wesley Powell, "The New Lake in the Desert", ''Scribner's Magazine'' (1891):10; 467; ''Los Angeles Times'' (August 22, 1891):4; September 7, 1891, 4; September 21, 1891, 4; April 4, 1892, 4.</ref>
Horace Bell criticized the proposal in ''Reminiscences of a Ranger''.<ref>See Horace Bell, ''Reminiscences of a Ranger: Early Times in Southern California'' (Los Angeles, CA: 1881):438–447.</ref>
In his 1935 book, ''The Three Americas'', Widney said that [[Atlantis]] was in the area where the [[Bahamas]] are located. He thought it was a [[semi-tropical]] island, inhabited by peoples from the Americas rather than from Europe.<ref>''The Three Americas'', 236.</ref> He also believed that there was a submerged lost continent in the South Pacific Ocean.<ref>''The Three Americas'', 107–108, 215–236, 239.</ref>
==California development==
Widney saw the potential of Los Angeles on his first visit in January 1867 while posted to Drum Barracks. His brother, [[Robert Maclay Widney]] (1838–1929), had arrived in Los Angeles in 1868, and was a lawyer, and later judge, as well as the city's first real estate agent.<ref>Roseman 90.</ref> Robert Widney was also the publisher of ''The Real Estate Advertiser.'' Joseph Widney invested in real estate in the Los Angeles area, which made him financially independent, and allowed him to retire from the practice of medicine at 55. In 1900, the ''Los Angeles Times'' called him "an extensive property owner in this city".<ref name=latimes19000603>''Los Angeles Times'', June 4, 1900.</ref> At one time he owned the Widney Block on First Street, another Widney Block at Sixth and Broadway, and a property at the corner of Ninth and Santee streets, where he erected the Nazarene Methodist Episcopal Church.<ref name=latimes19000603/> He also owned a building at 445–447 Aliso Street, where the first college of medicine for the University of Southern California was located from 1885 to 1896.
His investment in land started early. Between April 29, 1869, and August 28, 1871, he bought thirty-four lots in Wilmington near the [[San Pedro, Los Angeles|San Pedro]] harbor area and another {{convert|60|acre|m2}} near the [[San Gabriel Mission]] (Rand 28). He owned the parcel of land where the [[Los Angeles City Hall]] now stands, as well as much of [[Mount Washington, Los Angeles]], where his last home (a Victorian mansion at 3901 Marmion Way) stood.
During the Los Angeles boom in 1885, Widney bought {{convert|35000|acre|km2|0}} of land ({{convert|75|mi|km|0}} northeast of Los Angeles) comprising the relatively undeveloped township of [[Hesperia, California]]. Widney formed the Hesperia Land and Water Company to create a town.<ref>[http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/Environment/info/edaw/ElPaso/pdf/4setting%20final.pdf Executive Summary]. (PDF) . Retrieved on December 2, 2011.</ref> [[Horace Bell]], in his ''On the Old West Coast'', a personal reflection on that period, critiqued the boomers, as a "speculative conspiracy against all that was honest." No houses were built in "Widneyville."<ref>Bell, ''Old West Coast'', 267–270.</ref>
The ''Los Angeles Times'' of June 2, 1887 said that Widney had purchased a hotel and several bath houses in the town of Iron-Sulphur Springs, once known as Fulton Wells and now as [[Santa Fe Springs]], {{convert|15|mi|km|spell=in}} east of downtown Los Angeles.<ref>Cecilia Rasmussen, "Cities named for missions, smoke signals, even a poet", ''Los Angeles Times'' (Sunday, August 26, 2007): https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-aug-26-me-then26-story.html; in print edition B-2.</ref> In 1886 the springs were purchased by the Santa Fe Railroad, which renamed the town after itself.<ref>[http://www.laalmanac.com/cities/ci74.htm] City of Santa Fe Springs</ref>
Widney said, "We may look lovingly back on log cabin days, but the looking back must be done over a multi-lane highway, not along a cow track".<ref>J.P. Widney, quoted in Rand 68.</ref> He supported the development of Los Angeles even at the age of 95. In 1937 he wrote "A Plan for the Development of Los Angeles as a Great World Health Center." To develop Los Angeles, Widney proposed roads and tunnels to cross the [[Sierra Madre Mountains (California)|Sierra Madre Mountains]], linking the city and the interior desert. According to Carl Rand, Widney postulated: <blockquote>The whole future of the city lies within our own hands. Los Angeles Harbor (which ought to have been larger and deeper); the great Desert City which may be; and the Colorado River water system; these are the three factors which will settle the future of the City of Los Angeles. And the time to strike is now!<ref>Widney, quoted in Rand 67.</ref></blockquote>
Jaher lists Widney as among those Los Angeles entrepreneurs who were the "most avid civic boosters ... [who] made sanguine by their triumphs, they expect urban growth to bring further gains ... [who] predicted that the city would become a great metropolis".<ref>Jaher 628.</ref> Widney envisioned Los Angeles "developing into the health capital of the world, a heliopolis of [[holistic]] health culture".<ref>Landauer 14, Starr 91.</ref>
He was a member of the [[Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce]] from October 1888. His first two books promoted California. In ''California of the South'' (1888), described by David Fine as "one of the earliest booster tracts"<ref>Fine 43.</ref> Widney and Walter Lindley wrote: "The health-seeker who, after suffering in both mind and body, after vainly trying the cold climate of [[Minnesota]] and the warm climate of Florida, after visiting [[Menton]]e, [[Cannes]], and [[Nice]], after traveling to [[Cuba]] and [[Algiers]], and noticing that he is losing ounce upon ounce of flesh, and his cheeks have grown more sunken, his appetite more capricious, his breath more hurried, that his temperature is no longer normal, ... turns with a gleam of hope toward the Occident"{{snd}}by which they meant Southern California. Many people followed that gleam and found it something more than hope".<ref>Winter and Gebhard 11.</ref>
==Public service==
Widney helped define the railroad, maritime and commercial policy of Southern California.<ref name=autogenerated18>''History LA County'' 201.</ref> He and Robert were entrepreneurial professionals. They were "effective lobbyists for the Southern Pacific [railroad] and for harbor improvements"<ref>Jaher 595.</ref> and were "active in transport enterprises and in the development of the San Pedro harbor".<ref>Jaher 606.</ref>
In 1871, Widney wanted Los Angeles to have a harbor, and with [[Phineas Banning]] successfully lobbied the United States Congress for funding for the harbor at [[San Pedro, Los Angeles|San Pedro, California]] (the [[Port of Los Angeles]]). He was chairman of the Los Angeles Citizens' Committee on the Wilmington Harbor. He successfully opposed the attempt of the railroad interests of [[Collis Potter Huntington]] and his partners from claiming the state tidelands of the harbor for their own purposes, ensuring these lands remained in public hands.<ref name=autogenerated12>ETW 2:399.</ref>
Widney supported dividing the state of California and establishing the [[commonwealth]] of [[Southern California]]. He was regarded as "one of the ablest and most enthusiastic advocates of the new 'California of the South'".<ref>''History LA County'' 200.</ref> For many years Widney advocated the division of the state of California into at least two states, in order to maximize its representation in the U.S. Senate.<ref name=autogenerated12 /> He indicated in 1880 that "the topography, geography, climatic and commercial laws all work for the separation of California into two distinct civil organizations".<ref>Workman ''SQR'' 145.</ref> In 1888, Widney said that "two distinct peoples are growing up in the state, and the time is rapidly drawing near when the separation which the working of natural laws is making in the people must become a separation of civil laws as well".<ref>McWilliams 17.</ref>
In his book ''The Three Americas'' (1935), Widney suggested that the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa form an [[Anglo-Saxon]] federation with freedom of migration and a common [[citizenship]].
While Republican in general politics, he was "an earnest worker in the cause of temperance".<ref name=autogenerated18 /> In an 1886 ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' [[op-ed]] piece Widney suggested that the [[prohibition|liquor question]] – the restriction of its manufacture and sale – should not only become the subject of a Republican party platform plank but should be the issue around which the party rebuilt itself.<ref>[http://www.intranet.csupomona.edu/~reshaffer/prohix.htm prohix.htm] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070610124728/http://www.intranet.csupomona.edu/~reshaffer/prohix.htm |date=June 10, 2007 }} Phohibition</ref> He was interested in the progress of prohibition, and served as head of the city's nonpartisan anti-saloon league.<ref>Smith, Holiness 82.</ref>
Widney is regarded as "the outstanding early educator of Los Angeles".<ref>Jaher 644.</ref>
He was involved in the University of Southern California from its conception in 1879, and served as a member of the Board of Trustees of USC from 1880 to 1895.
He was heavily responsible for the creation of the USC College of Medicine in 1885 at the beginning of a three-year "boom" cycle in Los Angeles, and served as founding dean, a responsibility he accepted for the next eleven years until his resignation on September 22, 1896. According to Michael Carter, "the University Catalogue for the academic year 1884–85 declared that applicants to the medical school, as to the rest of USC, would not be denied admission because of 'race, color, religion or sex.'"
After the death of USC founding president [[Marion McKinley Bovard]] on December 30, 1891, the board of trustees elected Widney as the second president. After he "recognized a call of the Lord",<ref>ETW 2:397.</ref> he accepted the presidency at a difficult time in the history of the young institution, which had only twenty-five undergraduate students with a focus on providing secondary education.<ref>Jaher 645.</ref>
The College of Liberal Arts was eighteen thousand dollars in debt. He first set up a separate governing board for the College of Liberal Arts, both to refinance the debt and of tying that branch of the institution more closely to California Methodism.<ref>Smith 81.</ref> He raised $15,000, giving his own personal security to back up the loans, saving USC from bankruptcy. The Southern California Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church increased its support for USC in 1893. The Conference "enthusiastically adopted Widney's new financial program for the institution. Two of the church's most distinguished and trusted leaders, Widney and [[Phineas F. Bresee]], were at the helm. By the time of the annual conference of 1894, the university had passed through its financial crisis, and Widney's principal work was done".<ref name=autogenerated6>Smith 82.</ref> In the spring of 1895, Widney resigned after "four years of intensive unremunerated service to the university as its president".<ref>Workman 98.</ref> He announced his intention to spend a year studying in the East. The board finally accepted the resignation, after their benefactor had turned aside repeated requests that he reconsider his decision.<ref>Smith 84.</ref>
In addition to his responsibilities at USC, Widney served several years as a member and president of the Los Angeles Board of Education.<ref name=autogenerated6 />
In October 1894 at the dedication of the Peniel Hall, Widney announced his intention to organize a Training Institute, in which Bible and practical nursing were to be the principal studies.<ref>Smith 40; History LA County 201.</ref>
==Religious interests==
Widney was raised in the Greene Street [[Methodist Episcopal Church]] in [[Piqua, Ohio]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gbgm-umc.org/greene/Historyframe.html |title=History |access-date=2008-07-24 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080618050009/http://www.gbgm-umc.org/greene/Historyframe.html |archive-date=June 18, 2008 }} History of Greene St. Church</ref> His uncle, [[Robert Samuel Maclay]], was the first Methodist missionary to China, and an early Methodist missionary to Japan and Korea.<ref>Kim, Chan-Hie, "Robert Samuel Maclay (1824–1907): The Pioneer of the American Protestant Mission in Korea," ''Methodist History'' 39 (April 2001):167–80.</ref>
In the Los Angeles First Methodist Episcopal Church, the Widneys were members of the "District Aid Committee," an organization devoted to securing better support for underpaid pastors.<ref>Smith 77.</ref>
He supported the Los Angeles City Mission (the [[Peniel Mission]]), founded in 1886 as the Los Angeles Mission<ref>[http://www.whwomenclergy.org/booklets/satisfied.php#mpferguson] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120213134130/http://www.whwomenclergy.org/booklets/satisfied.php#mpferguson |date=February 13, 2012 }} Wesleyan/Holiness Women Clergy</ref> and was non-denominational and nonsectarian.<ref>Frankiel 107.</ref>
Bresee and Widney wanted a church for the poor. They announced a service for October 6, 1895, in [[Improved Order of Red Men|Red Men's Hall]] near the Peniel Mission.<ref>Smith 85.</ref> On October 30, 1895, Bresee and Widney organised the Church of the Nazarene.<ref>Smith 85–86.</ref> Widney suggested the name of the new church.<ref>Smith 86.</ref>
Widney returned to the Methodist church as a pastor and was appointed to the church's City Mission of Los Angeles (formally organized in 1908), where he ministered to thousands over the next several years.
In 1899, he was the pastor of the Nazarene Methodist Episcopal Church. Growth of the congregation led to the building of a 500-seat building. He paid the full cost of construction and ministered without compensation. The new building was dedicated on June 3, 1900.<ref>''LA Times'' June 4, 1900.</ref> In 1903 this church was renamed the Beth-El Methodist Episcopal Church.<ref>The ''Los Angeles Times'' (November 28, 1906).</ref> Widney resigned from the Methodist Episcopal church in 1911.
Widney was influenced by the teachings of preacher [[David Swing]] and [[Thomas Starr King]], a broad-minded, religiously inclusive [[Unitarianism|Unitarian]] minister. Widney described King as "one of the few great and broad-minded spirits of the church" (Frankiel, p30.)[http://content.cdlib.org/xtf/view?docId=ft1z09n7fq&chunk.id=d0e464&toc.depth=1&toc.id=&brand=eschol&query=widney#3 California's Spiritual Frontiers].
==
Widney lamented the decline in influence and power of the original [[Hispanic]] population of California. Widney said, "You could visit the hospitals and almshouses in the late 'eighties and look in vain for the Mexican or the Spaniard."<ref>McWilliams 69.</ref>
Widney in his 1876 ''History'' indicates: "In the spring of 1850, probably three or four colored persons were in the city. In 1875, they numbered 175 souls, many of whom hold good city property acquired by industry. They are farmers, mechanics, or some other useful occupation, and remarkable for good habits".<ref>Beasley 110.</ref>
African-American activist [[W. E. B. Du Bois]] used Widney's ''[[Race Life of the Aryan Peoples]]'' to support his own view of the significance of the contributions of blacks to the development of modern civilization. Widney wrote "They [the Negroes] once occupied a much wider territory and wielded a vastly greater influence upon earth than they do now."<ref>Widney, ''Race Life'' II:238-39, quoted in Du Bois ''Asia'', 11–12.</ref>
In ''The Three Americas'' (1935), Widney suggested that the United States buy [[British Guiana]] from the United Kingdom and give it to the African Americans as [[reparations for slavery]].<ref>Widney, ''The Three Americas'' (1935). In this book Widney also outlines the race life among aryans and others. He believed that "its people [of the West Indies] will remain, in a great degree, under the care and control of the stronger race-life..." he goes on to say that "It is the stronger civilization dominating the weaker. The science and factories of modern life are not found in the tropics." Weather this text is read as international relations or as racial commentary is left to the reader although the fact that the text depends on an aryan supremacy in North America is clear.</ref>
==Later years==
[[File:Widney 1915.jpg|thumb|right|Widney Hall in 1915]]
Widney attributed his longevity to living simply and keeping busy.<ref>Rand 97–98.</ref> At age 94, Widney advocated "no liquor, no tobacco, no drugs. I'm not a fanatic on liquor, but to me it is a medicine. I keep it around and take it when I need it. But there is no excuse whatever for tobacco or drugs".<ref>Rand 99.</ref> He recommended at least eight hours sleep each night and short naps throughout the day.<ref>Rand 97–99.</ref>
He died at 10:50 am on July 4, 1938, in his home in [[Highland Park, Los Angeles]], aged 96. After services held in his home, he was buried at the [[Evergreen Cemetery (Los Angeles)|Evergreen Cemetery]] at [[Boyle Heights, Los Angeles|Boyle Heights]] on July 6, 1938.
In March 1939 the new Crippled Children's High School was renamed the Dr. Joseph Pomeroy [[Widney High School]]. This school is for those aged 13 to 22 with special educational needs. The Widney Alumni House at the University of Southern California,<ref>[http://fmsmaps.usc.edu/mapguide6/upcmaps/Web/cfm/facilities.cfm?OBJ_KEYS='46'] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060917190316/http://fmsmaps.usc.edu/mapguide6/upcmaps/Web/cfm/facilities.cfm?OBJ_KEYS=%2746%27 |date=September 17, 2006 }} Facilities Report</ref> the university's original building, was declared a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument (No. 70) on December 16, 1970.<ref>Floyd B. Bariscale, "Big Orange Landmarks: Exploring the Landmarks of Los Angeles, One Monument at a Time: No. 70 – Widney Hall" (Saturday, September 29, 2007) http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/2007_09_01_archive.html; {{cite web|url=http://www.ceres.ca.gov/geo_area/counties/Los_Angeles/landmarks.html |title=CERES: State Historical Landmarks for Los_Angeles County |access-date=2007-06-14 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070713180504/http://ceres.ca.gov/geo_area/counties/Los_Angeles/landmarks.html |archive-date=July 13, 2007 }} CERES: State Historical Landmarks for Los_Angeles County</ref><ref>[http://www.thesilverlakenews.com/index.php?pageId=47730] Silver Lake : Treasures of Los Angeles Architecture</ref><ref>[http://cityplanning.lacity.org/complan/HCM/dsp_hcm_result_City.cfm] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013162706/http://cityplanning.lacity.org/complan/HCM/dsp_hcm_result_City.cfm |date=October 13, 2007 }} Monument Search Results Page</ref> The University of Southern California honors its distinguished graduates by presenting the Widney Alumni Award. His portrait was painted by American artist [[Orpha Klinker|Orpha Mae Klinker]],<ref>[http://www.edanhughes.com/biography.cfm?ArtistID=1328] California Artist Orpha klinker</ref> and a bust of Widney was sculpted by Emil Seletz.<ref>[http://www.usc.edu/hsc/nml/lib-information/artwork/seletz/widney.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070505115408/http://www.usc.edu/hsc/nml/lib-information/artwork/seletz/widney.html |date=May 5, 2007 }} Norris Medical Library – Artist and Gallery</ref>
==List of works==
===Books (co-authored)===
* Lindley, Walter and Joseph Widney. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=a_0dAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA1 California of the South: Its Physical Geography, Climate, Resources, Routes of Travel, and Health-Resorts Being a Complete Guide-Book to Southern California.]''D. Appleton and Company: 1888; 3rd edition; 1896.
* Warner, J. J.; Benjamin Hayes; and Joseph Widney. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=fUgOAAAAIAAJ&pg=PT67 An Historical Sketch of Los Angeles County, California: From the Spanish Occupancy, By the Founding of the Mission San Gabriel Archangel, September 8, 1771, to July 4, 1876]''. Prepared by a committee appointed by the Literary Committee of the Los Angeles Centennial Celebration. Louis Lewin & Co.: 1876; Reprint ed. O. W. Smith: 1936.
==References==
{{reflist|3}}
==Further reading==
* Dumke, Glenn S., "Joseph Pomeroy Widney", in ''Dictionary of American Biography'' 12 (Charles Scribner's Sons):715–716.
===Books===
* ''An Illustrated History of Los Angeles County, California: Containing a history of Los Angeles County from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, together with glimpses of its prospective future .. and biographical mention of many of its pioneers and also of prominent citizens of to-day.'' Chicago, IL; Lewis Publishing Company (author), 1889.{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20060501110641/http://www.calarchives4u.com/history/losangeles/index.htm ]}} See page 200 re: JP Widney.
* Apostol, Jane, ''The Historical Society of Southern California, A Centennial History 1891–1991''. Sultana Press, 1991. Widney was actively involved in this society.
* Botkin, Daniel B. ''No Man's Garden: Thoreau and a New Vision for Civilization and Nature''. Island Press, 2000. See pp. 220–221 for details re Widneyville.
* Caughey, John Walton and La Ree Caughey. ''Los Angeles: Biography of a City''. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1976.
* Cory, H. T. ''The Imperial Valley and the Salton Sink''. John J. Newbegin, 1915.
* de Stanley, Mildred. ''The Salton Sea yesterday and today''. Los Angeles, CA: Triumph Press, 1966.
* E.T.W. ''Joseph Pomeroy Widney: A biography of Joseph Pomeroy Widney, M.D., founder of the Los Angeles County Medical Association and of the College of Medicine of the University of Southern California, Civic Worker, and Author: Some Biographical Notes on a Colleague, who, at the Age of 95, Still 'Carries On.'' (California and Western Medicine). San Francisco, CA: 1936.
* Kress, George Henry. A'' History of the Medical Profession of Southern California''. Los Angeles, CA: Times-Mirror, 1910.
* Newmark, Marco. "The Community Builders of Los Angeles – Dr Joseph P. Widney", pp. 89–93. In ''Jottings in Southern California History.'' Ward Ritchie Press, 1955.
* Rand, Carl Wheeler. ''Joseph Pomeroy Widney: Physician and Mystic.'' Los Angeles, CA: Anderson, Ritchie & Simon, 1970.
===Theses and dissertations===
* Gay, Leslie F. Jr. "History of the University of Southern California." Masters Thesis, 1910.
* Potter, Edward Lawrence. ''The Widney Family''. 1966; reprinted Nazarene: 1987. "First international archives project of the Church of the Nazarene.". Reprinted by the Church of the Nazarene, 1987. Thesis (M.A.) – Los Angeles : University of Southern California, 1966. Bibliography: leaves [125]-130.
==External links==
{{commons category}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Joseph Widney}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110525014731/http://www.usc.edu/about/history/ History of USC], USC.edu
* [https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?f=l&hl=en&geocode=&q=Franklin+Street+%26+Main+Street&ie=UTF8&near=Santa+Clara,+CA&msa=0&msid=109089790643183887437.0004345c1c8794d5cdeb0 Google Maps of Locations in Life and Ministry of Dr Joseph Pomeroy Widney (1841–1938)]
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