DR. Francis Joel STRATTON, MD

Francis Joel Stratton.....was a physician, and when the war broke out, he joined the federal army and died in Washington, D. C., in 1863.
—Harriet Russell Stratton, 1918 Book of Stratton’s, Vol. 2.
Editor’s Note: The above biographical sketch was created more than sixty years after Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman to receive an M.D. degree from an American medical school. From this, I infer that Harriet Stratton either did not know or did not consider the link between Blackwell and Joel important. See education fact note.
Another source is a published biography of Joel’s father, Frank Nelson Stratton that includes information on Joel:
"....Francis J. Stratton was for some years in the USA secret service, until he was severely wounded, and then practiced medicine in Jeffersonville, Indiana, and for a time was surgeon in the penitentiary. He had formerly practiced in Preble County, Ohio, having moved to Ohio from New York, and it was in Preble County that he was married. On account of poor health, having been wounded through the lungs, he was obliged to resign his position as surgeon in the penitentiary, and through Secretary of State William H. Seward, he received a good position in the patent office at Washington, D. C. He died there in 1863. In the early part of the Civil War, he offered his services to the Union but, because of his wound, he was unable to pass muster and was not accepted. Under these circumstances, he did the best he could; he was active in relieving sickness and suffering among the soldiersin and about Washington. While in the detective business, he succeeded in putting a stop to a large amount of work done by the Stephen Wing gang of counterfeiters on the St. Lawrence River in Canada, capturing the entire gang. The Strattons were intimate with the Steward and Lincoln families."
—Biographical and Genealogical History of Cass, Miami, Howard, and Tipton Counties, Indiana. Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago, IL, 1898 pp. 124-125.
Editor’s Note: The US Secret Service did not exist until 1865. Joel died in 1863 and could not have served “for some years.” This reference could have been for his time as a US Deputy Marshal. It could also have referred to some of his activities during the two years he was in Washington D. C. (1861-1863), where he may have been an operative for Secretary Seward or Allen J. Pinkerton, who called his organization the “US Secret Service” even though Pinkertonworked directly for General George B. McClellan.
It is more likely that he worked for Lafayette Baker, who also headed a group that uncovered Southern sympathizers. (WmFS 15 Apr 2024)

Denied Bounty-28 Apr 1847
STATE OF New York
No. 97
IN SENATE,
April 29, 1847.
REPORT
Of the Comptroller, on the petition of Francis J. Stratton.
COMPTROLLER'S OFFICE,
Albany, April 28th, 1847.
The Comptroller, to whom was referred the petition of Francis J. Stratton,
RESPECTFULLY REPORTS:
That the account of the petitioner, for services and expenses incurred in the pursuit and apprehension of a fugitive from justice, was audited on the 12th inst., at $386.74, after deducting $94.89, being amount charged for servicesand expenses, which appeared from an examination of the executive authority of this State to the petitioner, to demand the fugitive from the executive authority of the State of Virginia, accompanying such account, to have beenunauthorised, inasmuch as it was incurred previously to the date of such instrument . The law in virtue of which accounts of this description are paid, will be found in the 2d volume, of the 2d edition of the Revised Statutes,sec. 45, p. 626, and is in the following words:
" When the Governor of this State, in the exercise of the authority conferred by the Constitution of the United States, or by the laws of this State, shall demand from the Governor of any State or Territory in the United States, orfrom the executive authority of any foreign government, any fugitive from justice, the accounts of the persons employed by him for that purpose, for their services, shall be audited by the Comptroller, and be paid out of thetreasury."
From this language it will be observed that the accounts of the persons employed by the Governor, for the purpose of demanding fugitives, shall be paid out of the treasury. In the case under consideration, some considerable expensewas incurred without the requisite authority, and consequently before the petitioner was employed by the Governor.
Whether the expenses incurred before the Governor was applied to for a requisition should be paid, is respectfully submitted to the wisdom of the Legislature.
A. C. FLAGG

Medical License
The Medical Society of New York
Know all men by these presents, That I Alex H. Stevens, President of the Medical Society of New York, having pursuant to the Law regulating the Practice of Physic and Surgery in this State, received certificates from the GenevaMedical College of New York, that Francis Joel Stratton, a student of Medicine, had been carefully examined by them on the various branches of Medical Science and found duly qualified, agreeably to the provisions of said Law. ITherefore agreeably to the authority in me vested, do hereby authorize the said Francis Joel Stratton to enter upon the Practice of Physic and Surgery in this State.
In Testimony whereof I have hereunto set my name & affixed the seal of said Society at Albany the Fifth day of February in the year of our Lord one thousand Eight hundred and forty-eight.
Alex H. Stevens. Pres. of the College of Physicians and Surgeons and of the Medical Society of the State of New York