William Lafayette Crosthwait was born near Houston, MS and financed his education through teaching. In 1898 he received his medical degree from the University of Louisville and moved to Holland, TX, where he practiced medicine for 12 years. While there he met and married Roberta Eugenia Wiseman; they had 2 children. He took several post-graduate courses during this period, including one at Mayo Clinic. While in Chicago in 1900, he helped secure a $50,000. relief train for the victims of the Galveston flood disaster from William Randolph Hearst.
In 1911 he moved to Waco where he practiced surgery for 50 years. From 1912 to 1916 he lectured weekly on medical jurisprudence at Baylor Medical School in Dallas. He was a captain in the American Expeditionary Forces from 1917 until his discharge in February, 1918.
Crosthwait was chief of the surgical sectionat Hillcrest and Providenc Hospitals, president of the staff at Hillcrest, president of both the McLennan County Medical Society and the Texas Surgical Society, and secretary of the State Board of Medical Examiners. He was also one of the founders of the American College of Surgeons. He served as a delegate to county and state democratic conventions for 50 years. He was a Presidential Elector from his district in 1940, and as a member of the Texas State Democratic Executive Committee from 1948 to 1950. His autobiography, The Last Stitch, was published in 1956. Source: Handbook of Waco and McLennan County, TX

William Lafayette Crosthwait was born near Houston, MS and financed his education through teaching. In 1898 he received his medical degree from the University of Louisville and moved to Holland, TX, where he practiced medicine for 12 years. While there he met and married Roberta Eugenia Wiseman; they had 2 children. He took several post-graduate courses during this period, including one at Mayo Clinic. While in Chicago in 1900, he helped secure a $50,000. relief train for the victims of the Galveston flood disaster from William Randolph Hearst.
In 1911 he moved to Waco where he practiced surgery for 50 years. From 1912 to 1916 he lectured weekly on medical jurisprudence at Baylor Medical School in Dallas. He was a captain in the American Expeditionary Forces from 1917 until his discharge in February, 1918.
Crosthwait was chief of the surgical sectionat Hillcrest and Providenc Hospitals, president of the staff at Hillcrest, president of both the McLennan County Medical Society and the Texas Surgical Society, and secretary of the State Board of Medical Examiners. He was also one of the founders of the American College of Surgeons. He served as a delegate to county and state democratic conventions for 50 years. He was a Presidential Elector from his district in 1940, and as a member of the Texas State Democratic Executive Committee from 1948 to 1950. His autobiography, The Last Stitch, was published in 1956. Source: Handbook of Waco and McLennan County, TX