USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Professional and industrial history of Suffolk County, Massachusetts, Volume III > Part 26
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Dalhonde, Lawrence. Toner spells the name Dalhounde. He sided with Dr. Douglass in the controversy with Dr. Boylston regarding inoculation in 1421. Wyman is authority for the statement that Elizabeth Delhonde, a daughter of Lawrence and Elizabeth Delhonde, of Boston, married 28 February, 1444, at Boston, Dr. John Sprague, and had a son, John.
The Boston Gasette of November 25, 1446, records that :
Yesterday died here at an advanced Dr. Lawrence Dahonde a noted and skillful physician among us.
In the Shepard Genealogy, it is stated that Dr. John Delhonde, a French Protestant refugee, came first to Boston, went thence to Salem ; was born ?1 May, 1716, and married, 1 December, 1737, Elizabeth Pike ; died 10 December, 1793. He was probably the son of Dr. Lawrence Dalhounde.
Danforth, Samuel, was the son of the Hon. Samuel Danforth, judge of probate for the county of Middlesex at the time of the Revolution ; he was born in Cambridge on 4 August, 1440, and graduated at H. C.
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in 1458. He studied medicine under Dr. Rand, of Charlestown. He first resided in Weston, then went to Newport, R. I., where he remain- ed a few years, but finally settled permanently in Boston.
Eliot writes :
Dr. Samuel Danforth was then (1780) rising to an eminence in the profession which has not been exceeded in Boston. Setting theories aside, he formed one of his own; he endeavored to enlist no man, but he persevered in it himself till he ac- quired a very great confidence in his judgment, and was probably consulted in more cases than any other physician in his day.
He was one of the founders of the Massachusetts Medical Society, and its president 1795 to 1798, having previously served as vice-presi- dent He was A. M., M. D., hon., 1790, of Harvard; Fellow American Academy ; Cor. Memb. Med. Soc. of London. His death occurred at the age of eighty-seven from a paralytic affection, 16 November, 1821.
Davis, William, of him we learn but little. In the Boston Gasette or Weekly Journal we find this notice of his death :
On Friday last died here, aged about fifty-eight years, Dr. William Davis, a gen- tleman much improved and greatly beloved among us, a skillful physician and sur- geon, and was held in Esteem for his strict Piety. We hear his funeral will be tomorrow.
The bond given by the administratrix of the estate was dated March 28, 1746. An inventory of his property contained among the items "Druggs [{] 284:4:4;" "Chirorgical Instrum'ts of all Sorts 120;" "3 Glass Cases of Veins & Anat: 50." This appraisal was made ac- cording to the paper money of New England, which at that time was much depreciated; and it would be difficult to calculate the gold value.
Dexter, Haron, the son of Richard and Rebecca (Peabody) Dexter, was born at Malden, 11 November, 1450, graduated at Harvard College in 1776. He studied medicine with Dr. Samuel Danforth. He made several voyages to Europe as a medical officer, once having been made a prisoner. At the close of the Revolution he settled in Boston. In 1783 he was elected Erving Professor of Chemistry and Materia Medica in the medical department of Harvard College, continuing as such until 1816, when he was made professor emeritus. In 1786 he received from his alma mater the honorary degree of M. D., Dartmouth College con- ferring the same in 1805. He died at Cambridge, 28 February, 1829, at the age of seventy-nine. He was a contributor to the early volumes of the communications of the Massachusetts Medical Society, of which
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he was one of the founders and its first treasurer, serving but one year when he became the society's librarian, an office he held for ten years. He was a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society and a Fel- low of the American Academy.
Doubt, Nyot. He inoculated and attended gratis fifteen patients, and agreed to discontinue inoculation after the 20th of April, 1264. His wife's name was Sarah, and they had a son, Nyot, born 16 September, 1761. He died 11 June, 1764.
Douglass, William. Dr. Douglass was a Scotchman who came to Boston as early as the year 1716, for he was elected a member of the Scots Charitable Society, ? February, 1716, of which he was vice-presi- dent in 1421 until elected president 1:36, which office he held at the time of his death. An extended biographical sketch has been published in the communications of the Massachusetts Medical Society. He re- ceived his medical education in Paris and Leyden; was a man of fine intellectual parts, and a versatile writer. He knew astronomy and could calculate eclipses; he had a taste for natural history, and was withal an excellent botanist. He studied his medical cases, and took careful notes by the bedside. With a large practice, he wrote on a great ยท variety of subjects, and it is not strange that occasionally he was inexact in his statements. It was wittily said of him by some one that he was always positive and sometimes accurate. He had little tact, and it is not surprising that he found himself continually in controversy. He was the leader of the opponents of inoculation during the epidemic of small-pox which occurred in the summer of 1721. At that time he was the only regularly graduated physician in the town. Some of the ministers were the peers of the doctors in medical knowledge, though with less clinical experience. In this state of affairs, it can readily be understood that it was a free fight whenever there was a medical con- troversy. He died on 21 October, 1754, having passed his whole pro- fessional life in Boston, where he had much influence as a physician ; and in the small-pox epidemic of 1752, even Dr. Douglass both prac- ticed inoculation and spoke of it as a " most beneficial improvement."
He published in 1236 an essay on epidemic fever, and later, 1749 and 1755, a work entitled "The British Settlement in North America," in two volumes.
In 1743 Dr. Douglass bought Rev. William Cooper's house, and when Dr. Douglass died, in 1754, mention was made of his mansion in Green Dragon lane. In 1753
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Catherine Kerr, a sister of Dr. Douglass, conveyed the house to St. Andrew's Lodge of Freemasons, and it afterwards became famous as the Green Dragon Tavern.
Eliot, Ephraim, was the son of the Rev. Andrew Eliot, D. D., pastor of the New North Church in Boston, and brother of the Rev. John Eliot, D. D., author of the " Biographical Dictionary," etc. He was graduated at Harvard College in 1780, with the degree of A. M., studied medicine with Dr. Isaac Rand, but did not graduate in medi- cine or join the Massachusetts Medical Society. For many years he was a well known druggist. He was interested in historical matters, and a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society. He died in September, 1821, aged sixty-five, leaving a sketch in manuscript of the physicians of Boston during and after the Revolutionary war, embrac- ing a notice of the formation of the Massachusetts Medical Society. This is printed in the Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 1863-1864 (vol. VII, p. 127), and from it I have freely quoted.
Euslin, John Frederick, resided on Batterymarch street in 1796, and this is all I have been able to find about him.
Eustis, William. This distinguished man was born in Boston, 10 June, 1753. He studied at the Boston Latin School, and was grad- ttated at Harvard College in 1772. He studied medicine with Dr. Joseph Warren, . nd at his request was commissioned surgeon of Gridley's artillery regiment 19 April, 1225. 1 January, 1777, he was commis- sioned hospital surgeon and physician, and served as such during the rest of the war for independence, taking a high position as an officer. At the close of the war he commenced practice in Boston. He joined the Massachusetts Medical Society in 1785, and resigned his fellowship in 1813. In 1786-8? he was a volunteer surgeon in the army which put down Shays's rebellion. In 1788 he became a member of the General Court, serving six or seven years with distinction. He was a member of Congress from 1800 to 1805, and was appointed secretary of war by President Madison in 1809, holding the office till 1812, when he resigned. In 1815 he was appointed minister to Holland. In 1821 he was again elected to Congress, and became governor of Massachu- setts in 1823, which office he held until his death in 1825.
He received the honorary degree of LL. D. from Harvard College in 1823, and high honors from other colleges. He was for a long time vice-president of the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati. His
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elegant mansion in Roxbury, close to the Dorchester line, was a con- spicuous object until recent years.
Fay, Nahum, in 1796 lived on Fleet street, and in 1198 on Garden Court street. He was graduated at Harvard College A. M. in 1790; M. B. in 1993. He died in 1804.
Fleet. John. He was born 9 September, and baptized 15 September, 1:34, at Old South Chapel. His wife's name was Elizabeth; they had one son, John, born 29 April, 1466.
Flect, John, jr., was born April 29, 1766. He graduated at Harvard College in 1485; received degree of M.B. in 1788, and M.D. (hon.) in 1795. His residence was at 5 Cornhill. He joined the Massachusetts Medical Society in 1796; was its recording secretary from 1198, serving tinti' 1802. At the time of his death, in 1813, he was the society's librarian. He was the first to receive a medical degree from Harvard University.
Gardiner, Sylvester, was a rising young surgeon who had studied his profession in London and Paris. He began the practice of medicine in Boston, where he also lectured on anatomy, which he illustrated by reparations brought from Europe. His enterprise led him to establish .L.l apothecary's shop, in which he carried on an extensive wholesale and retail business. His career as a physician and surgeon was at- tended with remarkable success, and he soon acquired from his profes- sion both fame and fortune. His prosperity, however, was interrupted by the political troubles which preceded the Revolution, and during the struggle he took sides with the mother country. He thus became odious to the patriots, and when Boston was evacuated by the British troops, he was compelled to leave his native country and pass eight or ten years in exile. He finally returned, and died at Newport, R. I., 8 August, 1786, in the eightieth year of his age.
The following advertisement appears in The Boston Gasette, 19 June, 1744:
Just imported in the Ship from London, And to be sold by Mr .. Sylvester Gar- diner, At the sign of the Unicorn and Mortar in Marlborough-Street.
All Sorts of Drugs and Medicines, both Chymical and Galenical; where all Doctors, Apothecaries or others, may be supply'd with the very best and freshest of Either at the lowest Price; and Captains of Ships with Doctor's Boxes put up in the neatest and best Manner; with printed Directions: Likewise all Merchants may be fur- nished at the same Place with Surgeons Chests put up in the same Manner, and at the same Price, as they are for the Royal Navy, at the Apothecary's Hall in London;
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where only are to be Sold by Appointment of the Patentees, the true Doctor Bate- man's Pectoral.
As early as March, 1761, Dr. Sylvester Gardiner had made a propo- sition to the town of Boston to build at his own cost an inoculating hospital on a piece of land, northward from the building which he had previously put up during the French war for sick and wounded sailors; but it does not appear that the offer was accepted. In the account, as printed in the "Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical So- ciety," for June, 1859, it is stated that-
No person in town is to pay more than four dollars for inoculation, medicines, and attendance, and three dollars per week for diet, nursing, and lodging, during his or her illness.
Toner says Dr. Gardiner was a native of Kingston, R. I. He died 1486, aged sixty-eight.
Eliot says of him, that his rep tation was high as an operator in surgery, and that he did the largest business as a druggist of any per- son in Boston.
He was one of those proscribed in 1778 as an enemy of the new State.
Gardner, Joseph, was a son of Rev. John Gardner; he was born at Stow, Mass., 24 May, 1727; he practiced in Boston, and died about 1488.
" Was employed," writes Eliot, "both as a physician and surgeon, probably more than any other gentleman in the profession. He pre- tended to look upon learning as superfluous; that the bedside was the only school for a physician; but he did study, and was a more learned man than he chose to appear. He was witty and satirical, and very greatly esteemed."
In 1776 he was a representative from Boston. He was one of the founders of the Massachusetts Medical Society.
Gelston, Samuel. Samuel Gelston, son of Judge Hugh and Mary (Maltby) Gelston, was born Southampton, L. I., 24 March, 1721. Mar- ried a Miss Oliver, of Boston, and resided at Nantucket. We find in Sabine's " Loyalists " that
Samuel Gelston, Physician, Jany 1776, held to answer before joint committee of the Council and House: During the proceedings escaped to Rhode Island, where he was apprehended and brought back.
While here engaged in inoculating, Drake says, he resided constantly at Noddle's Island.
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Godfrey, Phillip, was born in 1624. Toner says, he was in practice in Boston in 1764, and in good repute. I am inclined to think this is an error for Dr. Phillip Godfrey Kast.
Greenleaf, John, son of Rev. Daniel Greenleaf, was born at Yarmouth, Mass., 8 November, 171 ?. He was invited to accompany the selectmen on a visitation of the free schools ? July, 1463, and 24 June, 1774. He died 27 August, 1978, and is supposed to have been buried under Brat- tle Square Church. He was a druggist but bore the title of "Doctor," although he was not a practicing physician.
Hall, George Holmes, son of Willis and Sarah Hall, was born in Med- ford, Mass., 8 January, 1763. He was graduated at Harvard College in 181, and in 1288, with John Fleet he received the degree of Bach- elor of Medicine from Harvard. These were the first medical degrees conferred. He soon went to Brattleborough, Vermont, where he kept a drug store. He died 1807.
Hayward, Lemuel, was born in Braintree, 22 November, 1749, was graduated at Harvard College 1768, and received the honorary degree of M.D. in 1808. For one year after graduating he taught the public school at Milton, and subsequently commenced the study of medicine under Dr. Joseph Warren. Having completed his studies, by the advice of his preceptor, he settled at Jamaica Plain, where he acquired a large and lucrative practice. In 1775 he was appointed a hospital surgeon by Congress, but resigned his commission on the removal of the army southwards. In 1283 he removed to Boston, and in 1784 was elected member of the Massachusetts Medical Society. He died 22 March, 1821.
Homans, John. He was the second son of Capt. John and Elizabeth (Alden) Homans. Captain Homans came to this country from England about 1720, settled in Dorchester, and became 4 January, 1:73, by vote of the town one of the Committee of Correspondence.
Dr. Homans was born in Dorchester, 8 April, 1753. He studied for college at the Boston Latin School, was graduated at Harvard College in 1412, and studied medicine with Dr. Joseph Gardner, of Boston. He was commissioned surgeon of the Sixteenth Regiment (Col. Paul Dudley) 1 January, 1276, and from 18 December, 1776, to 4 August, 1781, was surgeon of Second Regiment Light Dragoons (Colonel Sheldon). He was in many engagements, notably at Harlem, White Plains, and in the campaign against Burgoyne. He resigned in 1781 and practiced
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in Boston till June, 1800, when he started on a voyage for his health, but soon died at sea. His name is still ably represented by members of the family active in the profession.
Hill, Dr. The " selectmen's minutes " of a meeting held ?? Novem- ber, 1:44, read :
This Day information was given by Dr. Hill, Surgeon of the 59th Regiment that a Child belonging to that Regiment in a Barrack at Doans Wharf was broke out with the Small pox, upon which Dr. Jarvis was directed to examine into the circumstances of said Child.
Dr. Jarvis soon after Reported, that he was of opinion that the Child had not the Small Pox.
Hunt, Ebeneser, was born in Northampton, 144; H.C., 1164; studied with Dr. Pynchon, of Springfield. He was a son of Deacon Ebenezer Hunt of, Northampton, and was born there, but lived in Boston, and the stones erected to him and his wife are in the Granary Burying Ground. He was many times member of the Legislature, an elector of the pres- ident of the United States; practised physic for more than half a cen- tury. He died 26 December, 1820, aged seventy-six years.
Jackson, Hall, was the son of Dr. Clement Jackson, of Portsmouth. Dr. Jackson resided at Boston two or three months, and carried several classes safely through the small-pox by inoculation; a large number came from Portsmouth to put themselves under his care. He was one of those who, in 1264, agreed with the selectmen not to inocu- late after the 20th of April. It is recorded that he inoculated thirty- three patients. He had had the disease in 1443 at the Essex Hospital.
Jackson, William, joined the Massachusetts Medical Society in 1295, and died in 1800, aged thirty-five years.
Jarvis, Charles, was the son of Colonel Leonard Jarvis, born in Boston, 1148, was a Latin School boy, and a graduate of Harvard Col- lege in the class of 1466; a member of the American Academy. After finishing his medical studies in Boston, he went to England and took practical courses in medicine and surgery. On his return he established himself in Boston, where he enjoyed a large and successful practice. Dr. Jarvis gave but little medicine, and to-day would be considered a good representative of the "expectant school " of the profession. He took a prominent part in public affairs, and was a "Jeffersonian " in politics.
Dr. Eliot says :
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He stood high in rank, and deservedly; his practice would doubtless have been large if he had not chosen to devote himself to political life, which prevented him attending to his profession as was desired. The style of a gentleman which marked his conduct in the chamber of the sick, and the tender sympathy which he evinced when attending to his surgical practice, endeared hin in a peculiar manner to his employers.
He studied medicine with Drs. William Lee Perkins and Joseph Gardner. He was one of the founders of the Massachusetts Medical Society, and Dr. Ebenezer Alden, in his sketches of them, says he re- ceived the degree of M.D. in 1793, but certainly this could not have been from his alma mater, as no such record appears in the catalogue. He was a powerful and impressive orator, and in the Legislature re- ceived the sobriquet of the "bald eagle." During the presidency of Thomas Jefferson he was appointed physician and surgeon to the Marine Hospital, then situated at Charlestown, and died there 15 November, 1807, aged fifty-nine years. His wife was the granddaughter of the first Baron Pepperille.
Jeffries, John, the son of David and Sarah Jeffries, was born 5 Feb- ruary, 1744 (David for thirty-one years was the town treasurer of Bos- ton), graduated at Harvard College in the year 1763, with the highest honors of his class, and began at once his medical studies under Dr. Lloyd. Subsequently he studied in England, and took his degree of M. D. at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, 169; hon. M.D. from Harvard, 1819. He returned from his studies at Aberdeen just as our strife was opening and entered the British naval service; went with General Howe as surgeon to the forces in Nova Scotia. He returned to England, and while there crossed the British Channel in a balloon, and came back, 1789, to practice his profession in Boston. His name appears on a list of inhabitants of Boston who, on the evacuation by the British, March, 1476, removed with the army. He died 16 Sep- tember, 1819, deeply lamented by his friends. He was buried in the Granary Burying Ground.
Jeorku. Dr. Ephraim Eliot, writing of the time he began his pro- fessional studies in 1280, says:
To the credit of the country, there was not a quack or empirical physician in this place. Such persons were always frowned upon by the people, and soon hid themselves. The only one I recollect who had a footing here was a German, named Jeorku. It was said he had been a dresser in the British military hospital in Quebec. He removed into Boston and got some business among the Dutch inhabitants and
MEDICAL HISTORY.
their posterity. He was never acknowledged by the physicians as a brother ; but he dressed a wound and applied a bandage with great dispatch and neatness. I never knew him to perform an operation, and [he] was thought to be a very ignorant man.
Kast, Philip Godfrid, was of Salem, before coming to Boston, as will be seen by the following advertisement from a Salem paper in 1768:
Philip Godfrid Kast at the sign of the Lion and Mortar.
The famous anadyne necklace for children while teething; Dr. Hill's pectoral bal- sam of honey; British oil; Turlington's balsam of life used forty years ago; Green- ough's tincture for preserving the teeth; extract of hemlock for cancers, etc. Dr. Anderson's and Dr. Lockyer's pills.
He married a daughter of Joseph Proctor. In settling an estate on Prince street, he mentions " Elizabeth Proctor, the great-grandmother of infant son Thomas." In 1449 he lived in Queen street. Eliot says that, being a very old man in 1480, he had "retreated " from practice. His wife's name was Anna; they were attendants at King's Chapel, where their child Marie was baptized in 1756. He lived in Bradford, Mass., long enough to have the birth of one child recorded. He had also a son, Thomas, a physician.
By the diary of John Thomas, under date of 1 July, 1755, published in the "New England Historical and Genealogieal Register," 1879, we learn that Drs. Kast and Whitworth went to Novia Scotia in Winslow's expedition against the Acadians.
Kast, Thomas, the son of Dr. Philip Godfrist Kast, with whom he studied, was born in Boston, 12 August, 1750. He graduated A. B. at H.C. in 1769, receiving his A. M. in 1774. In 1470 he was appointed surgeon's mate of the British ship Rose, and continued as such for two years, then for an equal length of time attended lectures at Gray's and St. Thomas's hospitals in London. He returned to Boston in 1744, and began a practice which lasted until 1804, when he was attacked by a severe illness. To improve his health he visited Europe in 1810, and remained until 1812, when he again returned to Boston, dying here 20 June, 1820. He was a founder of the Massachusetts Medical So- ciety, and its second treasurer, serving from 1783 and 1798.
Dr. Thomas Kast had a large practice among the lower and middling classes of people, with whom he was a great favorite. He accumulated much property, mak- ing every one pay him something; and being an economist he turned it to much advantage .- (Eliot.)
Kennedy, Hugh, was a Scotchman, and of him our knowledge is very meagre. Hugh was baptized at the New Brick Church, 10 February,
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1439-40. He married, 28 December, 1720, Mary Wyer, and ? Novem- ber, 1739, Susanna Pico.
Latham, Dr. At a meeting of the selectmen, 23 November, 1664. "'Dr. Latham attended and informed the selectmen that a soldier of the Main Guard House of the Fifty-ninth Regiment is broke out with small-pox." In an advertisement which the selectmen published in several newspapers, they stated that they were made acquainted with this outbreak by a surgeon of the army; we therefore conclude that Dr. Latham was a medical officer of the troops stationed here.
Leavitt, Josiah, was born in Hingham, 21 October, 1444, the son of Hezekiah and Grace (Hatch) Leavitt. He practised his profession in his native town until 1724, when he sold his house and removed to Boston. Here he did not practise but engaged in the business of build- ing organs. He died in March, 1804, aged fifty-nine years.
Lloyd, James, the son of Henry and Rebecca (Nelson) Lloyd, was a native of Oyster Bay, Long Island, where he was born 24 March, 1428. His preliminary education was obtained at Stratford and New Haven, Conn. He began his professional studies in Boston, under the guid- ance of Dr. William Clark, with whom he remained nearly five years. At the end of this time he went to England, where he enjoyed the most favorable opportunities of seeing the practice of the best physicians and surgeons of that time, occupying for one year the place of first dresser of wounds to Mr. Warner. He returned to Boston in the year 1752, and at once entered upon the duties of his chosen profession, in which he soon became eminent. He has the name of being the first educated obstetrician in the country, as well as the credit of introducing the prac- tice of amputation by the flap operation, or double incision, as it was then called. Dr. Lloyd was a man of many accomplishments, and dur- ing the latter half of the last century the prominent figure of the profes- sion. He died 14 March, 1810, at the advanced age of eighty-two years.
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