Thomas & Helen had six children;
Thomas K. Salmon
Edwin A. Salmon
Richard Salmon
Russell Salmon (1907 - 1981)
Helen (Salmon) Forester (1910 - 1974)
Barbara (Salmon) Johnson (1911 - 1971)



From the Putnam County Courier (Carmel, N.Y.) August 19, 1927

DR. T.W. SALMON DIES IN LONG ISLAND SOUND

FELL OVERBOARD FROM YACHT

Noted Alienist Was Starting on a Cruise, Practiced in Brewster For a Few Years

The many friends of Dr. Thomas W. Salmon, who for three years was a practicing physician in Brewster, were shocked to learn of his tragic death by drowning last Friday night in Long Island Sound near Duck Island. It is believed that while endeavoring to gauge the depth of water, he fell overboard. Although a constant search for his body had been made it was not recovered until Wednesday and then found 25 miles from the spot where he went into the water.
Dr. Salmon, who was 51 years old, and one of the leading mental and nerve disease specialist in the East and professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University, left Belle Isle Friday on his 42 ft two-masted auxiliary schooner in company with Dr. Dana W. Atchley, of New York, and Rodney W. McNeil, of Gloucester, Mass., for a two weeks' cruise along the New England coast to Bar Harbor, Me. About eight o'clock Friday night there being very little wind. Dr. Salmon attempted to start the engine but found there was no gasoline. Dr. Atchley and Captain McNeil rowed to shore to obtain a supply and during their absence Dr. Salmon fell into the water. Upon their return the boat was drifting and Dr. Salmon could not be found. They returned to the shore and enlisted the help of the state police and Coast Guard.
Dr. Salmon was born in Lansingburg, N.Y., the son of Thomas H. and Annie E. Salmon. He was graduated from the Albany Medical College in 1899 and came to Brewster as a practicing physician in 1900 and opened an office in rooms over W.E. Smith's store. Three years later he left Brewster and entered the United States Health Service and for several years has made his home in Larchmont.
Surviving Dr. Salmon are his widow, who before her marriage was Miss Helen Potter Ashley, of Lansingburg. She was in Europe and started for America as soon as the news of the tragic death of Dr. Salmon reached her. He also leaves five children.
Funeral arrangements will be made as soon as she returns.


The following information provided by findagrave member Annie D (Thank You Annie)

Thomas William Salmon was an advocate for the mentally ill. He tried to convince immigration officials to provide better conditions for immigrants barred due to mental illness at Ellis Island. Appointed Medical Director of the National Committee on Mental Hygiene (started by Yale grad Clifford Beers to advocate for the mentally ill). After WWI, Salmon helped start the VA to provide better treatment for shell shock & other war-related illnesses. Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University. Drowned in a sailing accident. American Journal of Public Health, October 2006, Vol 96, No. 10.