John Sprague (1718–1797) was an early American physician.
Born in 1718, he was graduated from Harvard College in 1737.[1] Around 1770, he moved to Dedham, Massachusetts.[1]
He married Elizabeth Dalhonde[a] in 1745.[2] After Elizabeth died in 1757, he married Esther Harrison[b] in 1770.[2] He had a son, Lawrence, who was an assistant to William Montague at a school in Dorchester.[3]
Sprague owned two homes in Dedham's Low Plains, both of which burned in 1765.[4] He then built a mansion, 75 by 25 feet (22.9 m × 7.6 m).[4] He died in 1797.[1]
He lived in Cambridge and studied medicine in Boston with Doctors Louis Dalhonde and William Douglass.[1] He later opened his own practice in Boston.[1] While living in Dedham, he treated Faith Huntington for depression.[5]
He had a reputation as an excellent diagnostician.[1] He was a charter member of the Massachusetts Medical Society.[1]
He was active in the patriot cause and was friends with John Adams and Robert Treat Paine.[1] He was a delegate to the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention of 1779–1780.[1] He was a member of the Sons of Liberty.[6]
On January 9, 1777, John Adams stayed at Sprague's home as he rode to Baltimore, Maryland to attend the Second Continental Congress.[7]