Dr. Dewey was born in Forestville, New York, received his M.D. (1869) from the University of Michigan, interned at the Brooklyn (NY) State Hospital, then went to Germany to serve as an assistant surgeon in the German Army during the Franco-Prussian War. Discharged from military service in 1871, he remained abroad for several months to study microscopy and pathology in Virchow’s laboratory.
In 1872, he was appointed assistant physician at the Elgin State Hospital for the Insane (IL), where he remained for seven years. A new hospital was built at Kankakee, IL, in the “cottage” plan advocated by Dr. Dewey, and he became superintendent in 1879, where he remained for 14 years. Political problems resulted in his resignation. He opened an office in Chicago for private practice and served as Professor of Mental and Nervous Diseases at the Chicago Post-Graduate Medical School (1893–2009).
In 1895, he became Medical Director and Physician-in-Chief of the private Milwaukee Sanitarium in Wauwatosa, WI. (1895–1921). Dr. Dewey loved music, composed and published songs, and was a poet. He was an editor of the American Journal of Insanity (1894–97) and served as President of the American Medico-Psychological Association (1895–96).