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COLUMBIA LIBRARIES OFFSITE HEALTH SCIENCES STANDARD
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The history of medic
THE
RECAP
HISTORY OF MEDICINE
AND
MEDICAL MEN
OF
CAMDEN COUNTY,
NEW JERSEY.
BY
JNO. R. STEVENSON, A. M., M. D.
PHILADELPHIA: L. J. RICHARDS & CO. 1886.
- 1
R285 St 4
Columbia University in the City of Remo Dork
College of Physicians and Surgeons
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THE
HISTORY OF MEDICINE
AND
MEDICAL MEN
OF
CAMDEN COUNTY,
NEW JERSEY.
" At the annual meeting of the Camden County Medical Society, held at Gloucester City on May 11, 1886, on motion it was Resolved, that Dr. John R. Stevenson, of Haddonfield, be appointed a Committee of one to prepare a History of Medicine and Medical Men in Camden County and report the same at the next semi-annual meeting in November."
Two hundred years ago, in 1686, seven years after the first settlement in what is now Camden County, there was not a medical man in it. The few settlers were located along the shore of the Delaware River, and on Coopers, Newton and Little Timber Creeks, where the water formed the only means of easy communication with each other. There were no roads, no bridges to cross the streams, and the trail of the Indian was the ouly route through the wilderness. A few medicinal herbs brought from home had been transplanted into the gardens. With the virtues of these they were familiar. The new country abounded in native plants, - whose healing powers had been for ages tested by the aborigines, and a knowledge of
whose properties they conveyed to their white neighbors. Each autumn the careful house- wife collected the horehound, boneset, penny- royal, sassafras and other herbs to dry for future use. This custom is still pursued in the remote parts of the county, and to-day a visit to the garrets of many farm-houses will reveal the bunches of dried herbs, a knowl- edge of whose merits has been handed down from generation to generation,-a knowledge that has spread beyond its neighborhood, and has been incorporated in our Pharmacopcias and Dispensatories.
In each settlement there was some elderly matron of superior skill and experience in midwifery who kindly volunteered her ser- vice in presiding at the birth of a new colonist.
" 3
a.S.P
2
In the bark canoe around by the water-way, or seated on a pillion strapped behind the saddle of the patient's messenger, riding double through the woods, this obstetrician would be conveyed from her own home to that of her suffering neighbor. When a wound was received or a bone broken, there was no surgeon to dress the former or set the latter. The wound, bound up as best it might be, was left for the cool water of the brook or spring to allay the pain and inflammation. The broken bone was placed at rest in that posi- tion least painful to the patient, to await the process of nature to make an indifferent cure. As soon as Philadelphia had grown sufficient- ly to attract physicians, one was called from there to attend important cases of surgical injuries, and as highways were opened and the settlers increased in wealth, the most thriving of them would send for the city doctor in other serious illness. This practice has continued even to our time.
AN OLD-TIME DOCTOR.
Such were the primitive means and methods of medication in Camden County at the beginning of the eighteenth century, when John Estaugh, arriving from England, married, in 1702, Elizabeth Haddon, the founder of Haddonfield. Although not a physician, he " had some skill in chemistry and medicine," and made himself useful in his neighborhood, especially by his attend- ance upon the poor. His first residence was upon the south side of Coopers Creek, about four miles from Camden, but in 1713
he removed to the vicinity of Haddonfield, where he died in 1742.
The permission to practice medicine was a prerogative that belonged to the crown, under English law, and when a charter was granted, in 1664, to the Duke of York for the prov- ince of New Jersey, this prerogative, im- plied or expressed, was granted to him and to his successors in the persons of the Gover- nors. On March 5, 1706, Governor Richard Ingolsby, at Burlington, issued the following license : " To Richard Smith, Gentleman, greeting ; Being well informed of your knowl- edge, skill and judgment in the practice of chirurgery and phesig, I do hereby license and authorize you to practice the said sciences of chirurgery and phesig within this her Majes- tys province of New Jersey, for and during pleasure." On May 24, 1706, a similar license was granted to Nathaniel Wade. 1 In 1772 the New Jersey State Medical Society procured the passage of an act, limit- ed to five years, which provided that all applicants to practice medicine in the State shall be examined by two judges of the Supreme Court (they calling to their assistance any skilled physician or surgeon), to whom they may issue a certificate. This law was re-enacted in 1784, and continued in force until 1816, when a new charter granted to the State society transferred the power of licensure to it.
The first record of a physician in the county is in the "Town-Book " of Newton township, among the minutes of a meeting held on September 29, 1731. The record says,-"and to pay themselves ye sum of four pounds twelve shillings and two pence being due to them from the township upon acct. of the poor, and to pay Doctr. Kersay for administg physic to sd. Hart." The person referred to here was one of the Drs. Kearsley, of Philadelphia. The elder, Dr. John Kearsley, was a native of England, and
1 Hon. John Clement's MSS.
3
came to this country in 1711. He was the third physician to settle and practice medi- cine in Philadelphia, and was a prominent and able man, both as a practitioner and a citizen. He was a member of the Colonial Assembly and a popular orator. He died in 1732. There was a younger Dr. Kearsley, a nephew of the first-named, who succeeded to his uncle's practice. He espoused the cause of the proprietors and crown against the rights of colonists, a proceeding that made him very unpopular, and caused him to be subjected to such gross indignities as to induce chronic insanity. As Newton town- ship then embraced the territory bordering on the river-shore opposite to Philadelphia, it is probable that the practice of both these physicians extended across the river into this county.
The next notice of a physician in Camden County is to be found in the "Registry of Wills," at Trenton. Under the date of 1748 is recorded the will of "John Craig, Doctor of Physick, of Haddonfield." He evidently had practiced medicine there, but whence he came or how long he lived there cannot now be ascertained. There is no positive record of what were the prevalent diseases in early times in Camden County. Small-pox pre- vailed occasionally, and, after the discovery of inoculation in 1721, was combated by. that method of treatment. Inflammatory diseases were common among a population exposed to the vicissitudes of an unaccus- tomed climate. Dysentery occurred in July and August. Although all the houses in early days were built on the streams, there is circumstantial evidence to show that malarial fevers were at first infrequent ; nor did they become prevalent until considerable extent of forest had been cleared away, and the soil of much new ground upturned by the plough. The first information on this sub- ject from a professional source is furnished by Peter Kalm, a professor in the University of Arbo, in Sweden, who, by order of the
Swedish government, visited, among other places, Gloucester County between 1747 and 1749. At Raccoon (Swedesboro') he found that fever and ague was more common than other diseases. It showed the same charac- teristics as are found to-day. It was quotid- ian, tertian and quartan, and prevailed in autumn and winter, and in low places more than in high ones ; some years it was preva- lent throughout the county (Camden County was then included in it), while in others there would be but very few cases. The remedies then employed to overcome it were Jesuit's (Peruvian) bark, bark of the yellow poplar and root of the dog-wood. Pleurisy was also very common, and was fatal with old people. Under this name were classed many cases of pneumonia, a disease not then well understood.
In 1771 Kesiah Tonkins, widow of Joseph, who died in 1765, lived on a farm between Camden and Gloucester City, known as the " Mickle estate." Between that date and 1776 she married Dr. Benjamin Vanleer, who lived with her on this place. She was the daughter of Joseph Ellis, of Newton township. It is supposed that Dr. Vanleer practiced in the surrounding country, as he took an active part in the affairs of the peo- ple, being one of a "Committee of Corre- spondence " for Gloucester County in the year 1775, in relation to the troubles between the colonies and the mother government. He was a man of fashion, dressed in the Continental style, with knee-breeches, and was proud of his " handsome leg." He did not remain long in New Jersey. A Dr. Benjamin Vanleer residing, in 1783, on Water Street, between Race and Vine, Phil- adelphia, is supposed to be the same person.
Although this history is confined to that portion of Gloucester which is now Camden County, yet Dr. Thomas Hendry, of Wood- bury, ought to be classed among its physi- cians, because his field of practice included this section, and for the reason that his de-
4
scendants became practitioners in it. He was born in 1747, in Burlington County, of English parentage, his mother's name being Bowman, from whom her son received his surname. He served in the Revolutionary War, being commissioned superintendent of hospital April 3, 1777; surgeon Third Bat- talion, Gloucester. "Testimonials from Gen- eral Dickinson and General Heard, certifying that Dr. Hendry had served as a surgeon to a brigade of militia, that he had acted as a director and superintendent of a hospital, and recommending that he should be allowed a compensation adequate to such extraordinary services, was read and referred to the hon'- ble Congress." He took an active part in political affairs, and was once clerk of the county. He died September 12, 1822.
The next physician in Camden County was Dr. Benjamin H. Tallman, who prac- ticed in Haddonfield. He probably located there about 1786, the year in which he was licensed to practice in New Jersey. From the year 1788 to 1793 he was the township physician, as it appears that in each of those years he was paid by it for his services in attending the poor. He was elected a mem- ber of the Friendship Fire Company of Haddonfield, September 6, 1792. On October 4, 1791, he read a paper before the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, on the sudden effects of an effusion of cold water in a case of tetanus. He died about 1796.
.
Cotemporary with the above-named phy- sician was Dr. Evan Clement. He was the son of Samuel Clement, who married Beulah Evans in 1758. They had two children, Samuel and Evan.1 The latter was born in Haddonfield, but the exact date is not known, neither is there any record of when or where he studied medicine. He married, April 8, 1795, Anna, daughter of James and Eliza- beth Wills, and lived in the brick house at
the corner of Main and Ellis Streets, re- cently purchased and taken down by Alfred W. Clement. Dr. Clement was in practice there in 1794, and died in 1798. He was the first native of the county to adopt the profession of medicine and practice it in his native place.
It is a noteworthy circumstance that for a hundred years after the settlement of the county no one born in it had studied medi- cine. The poorer classes were unable to procure the means for acquiring the requisite education, while the wealthier ones altogether neglected it. It is true that prior to the found- ing of the University of Pennsylvania, in 1765, the only means of obtaining a knowledge of medicine was either to pursue a course of study under some competent physician, where the student was apt to be considered half a servant, or else by attendance at a medical school in England. The prospects of pro- fessional or pecuniary success in the county were not flattering. But in addition to this, there was a sentiment in this community unfriendly to the medical profession as a calling. In sickness the ministrations of friends and relatives, with their teas and potions, and the quack remedies of popular charlatans, who flourished then as well as now, were deemed sufficient. If, after this medication, the patient died, it was attributed to a " wise dispensation of Providence." The midwives were considered to be adequate to manage obstetrical cases. There still lingered among the people the tradition of their English ancestors, that the red and white striped pole was the sign of the combined office of barber and surgeon. These preju- dices found expression in two diametrically opposite opinions. The stout, robust farmer and the active and alert merchant and me- chanic looked with contempt upon a youth who had aspirations for the life of a physi- cian as one who was too lazy to work. The women, whose remembrances of the midnight ride of the doctor through rains and snow
1 Hon. John Clement's MSS.
5
and chilling winds, thought the hardships and exposure too great for their brothers and sons. These prejudices passed away but slowly.
Dr. John Blackwood, who began his pro- fessional career in Haddonfield, became the successor of Dr. Evan Clement, not only by succeeding to his practice, but by marrying his widow in 1799. He was the son of Joseph and Rebecca Blackwood, and was born at Blackwoodtown, July 28, 1772. His wife was a member of Friends' Meeting, but was disowned for marrying out of it. Dr. Blackwood remained but a short time in Haddonfield. He removed to Mount Holly, where he became prominent in public affairs, serving at one time as postmaster and also as judge of the Court of Common Pleas and Orphans' 'Court of Burlington County.1 He died in Mount Holly March 16, 1840.
Up to the close of the eighteenth century Haddonfield may be considered as having been the medical centre of the territory of Camden County. It was not only the oldest town in it, but it was the third oldest in the State. All the physicians who had practiced within the limits of the county had either lived in Haddonfield or Newton township, of which it was the seat of authority. For nearly half a century later it still retained its pre-eminence, until the growth of Cam- den, and its becoming the seat of justice for the county, transferred the supremacy to the latter.
In more recent times Haddonfield has had the doubtful honor of being the seat of one of the notorious John Buchanan's (of Phila- delphia) bogus medical colleges. Between 1870 and 1880 the doctor owned a farm on the Clement's Bridge road, about four miles from the place, upon which he spent a por- tion of his time. During this period diplo- mas of the mythical " University of Medi- cine and Surgery of Haddonfield, N. J.,"
were offered for sale by his agents in Eu- rope.
The period now being considered was a transition one for the nation, which was then being developed from the former colonies, through a confederation of independent States, into a great empire. The science and practice of medicine here participated in this change. At this time there appeared in Camden County a physician, who was des- tined to be its Hippocrates for forty years, and whose memory, though dead for half a century, is still preserved green in the farm- houses and hamlets of this county. This was Dr. Bowman Hendry, son of Dr. Thos. Hendry, of Woodbury.
Dr. Bowman Hendry was born October 1, 1773. He was educated at the Woodbury Academy, pursuing his studies under a Mr. Hunter, a classical scholar and a man of high literary attainments. At the age of seventeen he commenced the study of medi- cine, under the preceptorship of his father, and then attended lectures at the University of Pennsylvania, residing, as a pupil, in the house of Dr. Duffield. When about twenty years of age, and still a student, the Whiskey Insurrection broke out in Pennsylvania, and troops being called out for its suppression, young Hendry joined the ranks as a private soldier, and marched with them to Lancas- ter. The influence of his father, with Pro- fessor James, the surgeon of the troops, se- cured his release from the ranks, a prema- ture examination at the University, which he successfully passed, and his appointment as assistant surgeon of the troops. This was a bloodless war, and soon ended. Dr. Hendry now began to look around for a field for practice, finally selecting Haddonfield. He began his active life as a physician in 1794, and upon the death of Doctors Tallman and Clement, and the removal of Dr. Blackwood to Mount Holly, he became the only doctor in the place. His practice now increased very rapidly, and stretched over a large ex-
1.S. Wickes' History of Medicine in New Jersey.
6
tent of territory, extending from the Dela- ware River to the sea-shore, a distance of sixty miles. He was a man of indefatigable industry and indomitable perseverance in the pursuit of his calling. Kind-hearted and gen- erous, he possessed that suaviter in re which won the affection of his patrons. Many are the anecdotes that are recorded of him.
For fifteen years he made his visits on horseback, having no carriage. At length he procured at a vendue an old sulky, which was only an ordinary chair placed upon wooden springs, without a top to protect him from the sun or rain. The price paid for the vehicle and harness was thirty dollars. An old " Friend " witnessing this extravagance, remarked, " Doctor, I fear thee is too fast in making this purchase. Thee will not be able to stand it, and make thy income meet thy expenses." This gives ns an idea of the life of a physician in those days, and of the value of his services in the public estima- tion. In his journeys through the " Pines " on the Atlantic slope he would sometimes become lost at night, and be compelled to sleep in the woods, tying his horse to a tree. He was always prompt to answer every call, no matter whether the patient was rich or poor, and being a furious driver, he had been known, in cases of emergency, to break down a good horse in his hurry to quickly reach the bedside, and that, too, in a case where he knew that he would not receive any pay for his services. It has been estimated that, in the course of forty years, he wore out over two hundred horses. He risked his life and gave his services in all cases. A family of negroes, living seven miles from Haddon- field, were attended by him for typhus fever, and, although warned that they were vaga- bonds, thieves and utterly worthless, yet he not only continued his visits, but gave them medicine and sent them provisions from a neighboring store.
Notwithstanding the arduous duties of such an extensive private practice, Dr. Hen-
dry found time to attend to public duties. For many years he had charge of the Glou- cester County Almshouse. He served as surgeon of Captain J. B. Cooper's volunteer cavalry in 1805, formed from the young men of Haddonfield and Woodbury. He took an active part in religious affairs. He was a member and vestryman of St. Mary's Pro- testant Episcopal Church, Colestown, until its congregation was drawn away from it by the building of new churches in the growing towns of Moorestown and Camden. Dr. Hendry was one of the originators of St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal Church in Cam- den, and was chairman of the first meeting held in the city hall, in that city, March 12, 1830, whereat the organization of this church was completed. At this meeting he was elected one of its vestrymen.
Dr. Hendry was a physician of great abil- ity, and one who kept pace with the growth of knowledge in his profession. He stood pre-eminent in this county, both as a physi- cian and surgeon, and his services as a con- sultant were in frequent request. He pos- sessed those magnetic personal attributes which endeared him to the people to such an extent, that when his barn, horses and equip- ments were destroyed by an incendiary fire, they raised a subscription for him and quickly rebuilt the building and replaced the destroyed personal property. With these he combined the sterling qualities of the true physician. No doctor in this county has done more to elevate the practice of medicine from a trade to a profession. By his exam- ple he taught this community that there was attached to it a philanthropy and a benevo- lence that widely separates it from other oc- cupations, and, by dying a poor man, when so many opportunities offered to secure gain. he illustrated the fact that the services of such men cannot be measured by money.
Dr. Hendry married, June 7, 1798, Eliz- abeth, daughter of Dr. Charles Duffield, of Philadelphia, and had seven daughters and
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two sons,-Charles H. and Bowman Hendry, both physicians in Camden County.
Cotemporary with the early portion of Dr. Hendry's career, and located at Colestown, three miles distant from him, was Dr. Sanı- nel Bloomfield, who lived in a small hip-roof frame house on the road from Haddonfield to Moorestown, just north of the church. This house was torn down a few years since. Dr. Bloomfield, born in 1756, was the second son of Dr. Moses Bloomfield, of Woodbridge, N. J., and younger brother of Joseph, who became Governor of New Jersey. In 1790 the doctor applied for admission to the State Society, but did not press his application, and his name was dropped. It is not known how long he followed his profession here, but his practice must have been limited in consequence of his convivial habits, and the great popularity of his competitor. He died in 1806, and was buried in St. Mary's ' Churchyard, now Colestown Cemetery. Two of his sons who survived him fell in the War of 1812.
There is no record of any physician hav- ing settled in Camden prior to the nineteenth century. Its proximity to Philadelphia seems to have made the village dependent upon its neighbor for its medical attendance. It is probable that some doctor may have attempted to practice there for a short time, but, not succeeding, moved away, leaving no trace behind him, not even as much as did a Dr. Ellis, who, in 1809, had an office on Market Street, above Second. The only fact preserved of him is that in this year he dressed the wounded forearm of a child, but first bled the patient in the other arm before binding up the wound, yet the child recovered.
Dr. Samuel Harris was the first physician to settle permanently in Camden. As he was the connecting link between the old- fashioned practitioners of the last century and the association known as the Camden County
Medical Society he is worthy of especial consideration. His father was Dr. Isaac Harris, born in 1741, who studied medicine and practiced near Quibbletown, Piscataway township, Middlesex County, N. J. From there he removed to Pittsgrove, Salem County, about 1771. Here he pursued his profession successfully for many years, and died in 1808. He possessed a good medical library. While a resident in Middlesex he was one of the pioneers in the organization of the New Jersey State Medical Society, being the sixth signer to the "Instruments of Association," and became its president in 1792. In the Revolutionary War he was commissioned surgeon of General New- combe's brigade. His brother, Dr. Jacob Harris, also a surgeon in the same army, dressed the wounds of Count Donop, the Hessian commander, who was defeated and mortally wounded at the battle of Red Bank, and who died in an adjacent farm-house.2 Another brother, Dr. Benjamin Harris, practiced and died in Pittsgrove. Dr. Isaac Harris had two wives. The first was Mar- garet Pierson, of Morris or Essex County ; the second, Anna, daughter of Alexander Moore, of Bridgeton, Cumberland County. By the first he had four children ; one, Isaac Jr., studied medicine and practiced in Sa- lem County. By the second wife he had nine children, one of whom, Samuel, is now under consideration.
Dr. Samuel Harris was born January 6, 1781. He studied medicine with his father. It is said that he attended medical lectures at the University of Pennsylvania, but his name does not appear in the list of graduates of that institution. He began the practice of medicine in Philadelphia, at the northeast corner of Fourth Street and Willing's Alley, but indorsing for a relative, he lost all his property. He then determined to settle in Camden, and grow up with the place. He
1 Hon. John Clement's MSS.
" Wicke's History of Medicine in New Jersey.
8
located in 1811 in the old brick building on Cooper Street, above Front. While he prac- ticed medicine in Camden he still retained some of his patients in Philadelphia, and to visit them was compelled to cross the river in a row-boat, the only means of crossing at that time. In 1825 he purchased the large rough-cast house at the southeast corner of Second and Cooper Streets, which had been built by Edward Sharp. Here he kept his office and a small stock of drugs, it being at that time the only place in Camden where medicine could be purchased. Dr. Harris was a polished gentleman and a man of ability, and had a large practice in the town and in the surrounding country. He held to the religious faith of the Protestant Epis- copal Church, and was one of the founders of St. Paul's Church in 1830, and was a vestryman in it until his death. Dr. Harris married Anna, daughter of John and Keziah Kay, and granddaughter of Captain Joseph Thorne, of the army of the Revolution. He died November 25, 1843, and is buried in Newtown Cemetery. His widow died July 16, 1868. He had no children. He bequeathed his estate, which was large, to his adopted daughter and wife's niece, Miriam Kay Clement (now wife of Dr. Charles D. Maxwell, United States Navy), to niece Harriet (wife of Colonel Robert M. Arm- strong), to niece Anna M. (wife of Richard Wells) and to niece Eliza T. (wife of Rev. Thomas Ammerman).
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