History of Hunterdon and Somerset counties, New Jersey : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 57

Author: Snell, James P; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1170

USA > New Jersey > Somerset County > History of Hunterdon and Somerset counties, New Jersey : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 57
USA > New Jersey > Hunterdon County > History of Hunterdon and Somerset counties, New Jersey : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 57

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Of the members of this society, three have become fellows of the State Medical Society by virtue of hold- ing the office of president of the latter organization, -- viz., Samuel Lilly* in 1853, John Blane in 1861, and G. H. Larison in 1874.

The following are the names of the first physicians who settled at the several points named, with the dates of their commencement of practice : John Rock- hill, at Pittstown, in 1748; George A. Vescelius, South Branch and Three Bridges, 1749; Rev. John Hanna, Bethlehem, 1760; Oliver Barnet, New German- town, 1765; George Creed, Flemington, 1765; Aaron Forman, Quakertown, 1766; Gershom Craven, Ringos, 1771 ; John F. Grandin, Hamden, 1783; Jacob Jen- nings, Readington, 1784; William McGill, Milford, 1790; - Clark, Oakdale, 1790, or earlier; John Bowne, Prallsville, 1791; William Prall, Reaville,

1791; - Holmes, New Hampton, about 1800; Isaac Ogden, White House, 1800; Richard Kroesen, Lambertville, 1802; Benjamin V. C. Hunt, Clinton, 1810; James Pyatt, Boar's Head, 1812; Jonathan Axford, Clarksville, 1812; John McGloughen, Spring Mills, 1815; Edmund Porter, Frenchtown, 1820; Henry Holcombe, Everittstown, 1821; Henry S. Har- ris, Mount Pleasant, 1827; William R. Hand, Bar- bertown, 1828; Henry Field, Lebanonville, 1831; John Blane, Perryville, 1831; George P. Rex, Clo- ver Hill, 1834; - Dunn, Rocktown, 1838; Rich- ard Mershon, Sergeantsville, 1840; Thomas T. Mann, Little York, 1840; John Barcroft, Rosemont, 1841 ; Henry A. Kirkpatrick, Stanton, 1841; Frederick Gaston, Woodsville, 1846 ; Jacob K. Stryker, Califor- nia, 1849; Joseph Stevenson, Centreville, 1851; George T. Heston, Fairmount, 1853; Robert Fen- wick, Annandale, 1855; Louis Blackwell, Wertsville, 1855; Hoffman, Mechanicsville, 1860 ; John Leavitt, Baptisttown, 1860 ; John S. Linaberry, Mountainville, 1861; O. H. Sproul, Stockton, 1866; Robert Fenwick, Junction, 1866; 'William C. Al- paugh, Cokesburg, 1868; William Hackett, High Bridge, 1869.

Personal sketches of many of the more prominent medical men of Hunterdon County are here given.

JOHN ROCKHILL .- Dr. Blane, in his "Medical History of Hunterdon County," says of Dr. Rockhill that he was the first regular physician in the county of whom there is any reliable record. He was a son of Edward Rockhill, of Burlington Co., N. J .; born March 22, 1726; studied medicine with Dr. Thomas Cadwallader, of Philadelphia. At the commencement of his medical life, in 1748, he migrated to Pittstown, Hunterdon Co., and there was physician to the So- ciety of Friends. He died there April 7, 1798, and was buried in the Friends' burying-ground at Quaker- town. He married (1) a Miss Robeson, whose brother married the doctor's sister, the grandmother of ex- Secretary of the Navy Robeson. In addition to Blane's record, from which the above is derived, we add that he married (2) Elizabeth Potts, widow of Thomas Potts, who was (1772) sheriff of Sussex County and a member of the Provincial Assembly of 1776. The doctor had no issue by his second mar- riage. Her children by a former marriage intermar- ried with his by a former wife, and for several gener- ations the Potts and Rockhill families have heen closely intermarried. Mrs. Rockhill, who survived her husband some years, was a daughter of - Lukens, of Pennsylvania, and sister to the well-known John Lukens, surveyor-general of that State prior to the Revolution. Dr. Rockhill was in some manner related to the old Jersey family of Lambert (Thomas Lambert, who came in the "Shield," 1678). In some family papers he speaks of "Cousin Achsah" (Lam- bert). He was therefore probably related to his pre- ceptor, Dr. Cadwallader, who married into the family of Lambert. Ile entered into some speculations in

* Deceased.

219

THE MEDICAL PROFESSION OF HUNTERDON COUNTY.

land with the latter, Dr. Rockhill doing the survey- ing; the papers are dated 1754-55, and show that Cadwallader was at that date in Trenton. From the " New Jersey Biographical Encyclopaedia" we extract the following reminiscences:

"The range of country over which his functions ware exercised wns enormous, being limited only by the Blue Mountains on the north and the Delaware on the west, and extending on the south and east fairly into the territory covered by the physicians of Burlington, Raritan, and New Brunswick. Owing to the troublous state of the times, his practice was largely surgical, one of his notable cuses being a most dangerous gunshot wound that ho treated with remarkable skill and success. During a foray on the part of the Indiane living to the north of the mountains the house of a settler named Wedges was attacked, plundered, and burned; and, while the family were escaping to the woods, one of the children, a girl of twelve, was shot directly through the lungs. Sho fell, as was supposed, deud; but when her people returned the naxt morning she was found in the brush, vary much exhausted, but yet alive. Dr. Rockhill was sent for,-the distance to Pittstown was nearly forty milles, and the roads little more than blazed tracks through the woods,- anıl by his exertions saved her life. She entirely recovered, and subse- quently married u son of Edward Marshall-the Edward Marsball who took the famous 'long walk' along the Delaware-and rearad a family of twelve children."

Frederick A. Potts lives on a part of the old Rock- hill property.

GEORGE ANDREW VIESSELIUS .- This old-time. physician, familiarly known as the "Red-Checked Doctor,"* was born and educated in Holland or Ger- many, and emigrated to America not later than 1749. He lived on the "Old York Road," half a mile from Three Bridges, in Amwell township. He was an en- ergetie and successful practitioner, and in his prac- tice traversed a large district of country. He died in 1767. His remains were interred on his own land with no monument to mark the spot.

His wife was Miss Psyche Gardiner, of Three Bridges. They had five children,-Hendrick, An- drus, Theodorus, Margaret, Ida. The farm remained in the family until Henry and Catharine, his wife, sold it, May 1, 1797, to Gabriel Carkhoff, who took the old stone building down and built the house now occupied by his son-in-law, Barrillia Robbins.

When Dr. Viesselius died medical advice was so scarce that his widow was frequently called on, and she, with the assistance of a bound boy (Jacob Tidd), often prepared washes, salves, plasters, etc. Jacob afterwards set up business for himself.t

JOHN MANNERS, who was a physician as well as a lawyer, was born in Hunterdon County in 1786. He was the son of John and Rachel Manners. After a full course in the College of New Jersey he entered the Medical Department of the University of Penn- sylvania, from which he received his degree of M. D. in 1812. Soon after, he was licensed to practice in New Jersey. He located at Flemington, but subse-

quently removed to a handsome country-sent near Clinton, this county, to which he gave the name of " Belvoir." Having married (in 1810) a daughter of Dr. Thomas Cooper, of South Carolina, he was brought into intimate relations with many eminent Southerners, which developed in him an admiration for Southern character and customs, and led him to make Belvoir, as near as he could, the model of a Southern homestead. He became a member of the County Medical Society in 1836. His latter years were devoted more to law than to physic. He died June 24, 1853, and by his will he prescribed his place of burial? and his epitaph, which is as follows :

" Erected to tha memory of Hon. John Manners, Esq., A.M., M.D., aud Conasellor-at-Law of the Supreme Court, United States of America. The Friend and Medical Pupil of Benjamin Rush, M.D., LL.D., Philadelphia. The Friend, the I'upil, and the Son-in-Law of Themas Cooper, M.D., I.L.D., etc., of South Carolina; and the Friend and Correspondent of Thomas Jefferson, LL.D., of Virginia, formerly President of the U'ulted States."

JOHN BOWNE studied medicine under the instruc- tion of Dr. Moses Scott, of New Brunswick, and Prof. William Shipman, of Philadelphia. He was licensed in 1791, and commenced at once to practice in Pralls- ville. Four years later (1795) he removed to Ringos, where he followed his profession for over sixty years, and at the same time successfully managed his farm. "He was born Sept. 2, 1767, upon a farm which was in June 28, 1778, the battle-field of Monmouth," the scenes of which battle were indelibly stamped upon his memory, and during which his father and family sought refuge in the woods and two days later re- turned to a desolated home.

"lle was," says Dr. Stephen Wiekes," "intelli- gently conservative in the adoption of new modes of practice. He was a man of cheer, fond of anecdote, quick in reply, and possessed of a temperament which rendered labor light. Business and duty were not hardships to him. He was a member of the Presby- terian Church of Mount Airy, and for more than fifty years one of its ruling elders. In the eventful times in which he lived he was warmly attached to the in- stitutions and liberties of his country, and was ready on all suitable occasions to give expression to his opinions, and to sustain these with argument spiced with the wit and humor for which he was noted. He never descended to the vulgar, nor in any way brought reproach upon the Christian name which he so uni- formly illustrated, and to which so early in life he connected himself."

He became quite wealthy. He died Nov. 4, 1857. on the farm at Barber's Station on which he had lived for nearly sixty-two years, ** and now the resi- dence of his only son, Hon. Joseph G. Bowne. He was a prominent member of the State Medical So- ciety, which conferred upon him the honorary degree

* So called on necount of one of his cheeks being very red, probably a congenital affection .- Blanc.

t The reader is referred to Dr. Blane's " Medical History of Hunterdon County" (p. 80) for an amusing ancedoto Involving Dra, Viesselius and Barnet.

# See sketch with "Beuch and Bar of Hunterdon County," In this work.

¿ Trenton, N. J.

1 Blographical Encycloparlia of New Jersey, pp. 433, 454.

" History of New Jersey Medicine, Wicker, p. 163-64.

a Medical and Surgical Reporter, November, 1859.

220

HUNTERDON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

of M.D. He was also one of the founders, an active member, and for years an officer, of the Hunterdon County Medical Society. He was elected a member in 1818 of the Cliosophic Society of Nassau Hall, Princeton .* His remains were interred in the Barber burial-ground, on the road from Headquarters to Lambertville, where a beautiful engraved obelisk of Italian marble marks his grave, on the shaft of which is :

On the right-hand side :

" JOHN BOWNE, M.D., Born September 2d, 1767. Licensed August 3d, 1791. Died November 4th, 1857. Fifty years a Ruling Elder in the 2d Presbyterian Church, Amwell."

On the left-hand side :

" ANN COOLE, wife of John Bowne, M.D., Born March 5tb, 1770. Died February 18tb, 1856."

"Dr. Bowne was a most remarkable man. Although of small stature, he was blessed with a very robust constitution, was a man of the most indomitable en- ergy. His practice in his palmiest days extended over an area of more than twenty miles long by six miles wide, at a time when public roads were few and far between, his labors heing performed principally on horseback. He might at all times and seasons of the year, in fair weather or foul, be seen emerging from his gate at the earliest dawn on his daily visits to his patients. As a physician he was bold, and at the same time a sound and judicious practitioner. He possessed the regard and esteem of all his profes- sional brethren in a most unbounded degree."t

OLIVER BARNET, born in 1743, was a brother of Dr. William Barnet, of Elizabethtown, who was not only distinguished as a physician, but was a promi- nent Whig and patriot during the Revolution. The home of Oliver was in New Germantown, Hunterdon Co. He was wealthy, endowed with civil offices, and, like his brother, an earnest Revolutionary patriot and successful physician. He was surgeon of the Fourth Regiment, his commission dating Feb. 14, 1776 .; He was one of the associate justices at the trial in West- field of the murderer of Rev. James Caldwell, of Elizabethtown.

Dr. Barnet's name is still remembered in the place of his residence in connection with many anecdotes illustrative of his peculiar character. One is related by the Rev. Dr. Messler, of Somerville. Dr. Barnet

had a colored man, Cuffy, who drove his coach and was a favorite. After building a vault for himself on a sightly knoll, he told Cuffy that when he died he might be put in it with himself and Mrs. Barnet; but Cuffy stammered, 'N-n-no, doctor, I guess not."- "Why not, Cuffy ?"- Well, doctor," said Cuffy, " there will be a resurrection; and if the devil comes for you, he might make a mistake and take me. No, I don't want to be put there." The old doctor laughed and changed the subject. Dr. Barnet died in 1809, aged sixty-six. His remains rest in the vault alluded to, erected on his estate .?

ISAAC OGDEN, born near Elizabethtown, N. J., in 1764 was graduated at Princeton in 1784. Upon enter- ing his profession he settled at Six-Mile Run, near his native town. He there married a daughter of Elder Peter Stoothoff. It was said that he rocked the cradle of his wife when an infant, while as a student he boarded in her father's family. | The only child by this marriage became in early life the wife of Rev. Isaac N. Wyckoff, D.D., then of Somerset County, now of Albany, N. Y. She died in 1827.

Dr. Ogden left his first place of residence, and after being a short time at White House removed to New Germantown. He there succeeded to the practice of Dr. Oliver Barnet, his brother-in-law, about 1809, and during the next few years practiced extensively and successfully. He had considerable celebrity as an ob- stetrician. He was an earnest student of astronomy, and for several years he published an almanae, in which were weather "prognostications" in rhyme, which at the time had an extensive circulation, and of which, preserved as curiosities, copies are still to be found in out-of-the-way country-houses and in the hands of book-collectors. T He became a member of the State society in 1788, and was one of the founders of the District Medical Society of Hunterdon County in 1821. He was president of the latter in 1823 and in 1826, when he removed from the county (to New Brunswick, N. J.), was elected the first honorary member. During the later years of his life he aban- doned the practice of medicine almost entirely, and acted as postmaster. He died suddenly of apoplexy, and was buried in the graveyard of the First Reformed Church of New Brunswick. His memorial stone has the following inscription :

" Sacred to the memory of Dr. Isaac Ogden, who departed this life on the 6th of May, 1829, in the 66th year of his age. A kind husband, an affectionate father, an humblo Christian." **

ABRAHAM BERTRON, OF BERTRAND, was a practi- tioner living on the south branch of the Raritan River, not far from Readington. Tradition locates him there about the year 1784. He lived in a small house on the hill, near Levi Mettler's present resi- dence. In 1786 he kept the tavern at North Branch.

* Biographical Encyclopædia of New Jersey, p. 475.

+ Dr. Blane's Med. Hist. Hunterdon County, p. 26.

# Stryker's Register.

¿ Wickes' Hist. Med. in New Jersey to 1800, pp. 136, 137.

| Ibid., p. 351.

f N. J. Biog. Ency., p. 436.

** MSS. Notes of Rev. Dr. Messler, et aliis.

22]

THE MEDICAL PROFESSION OF HUNTERDON COUNTY.

JACOB EGBERT, born near Flemington, Dec. 25, tice, was esteemed far and wide, and by economy 1771, was brought up there with his father, and en- tered the Methodist ministry at about the age of twenty-one or twenty-two, continuing as an itinerant preacher for several years. He removed to Port Eliz- abeth, Cumberland Co., N. J., married, commenced the study of medicine, and was licensed in 1805. He died at Pemberton, N. J., in the autumn of 1831.

LEWIS R. NEEDHAM read medicine with Dr. Jep- thah B. Munn, and later with Dr. John Blane; at- tended medical lectures, and in 1835 received his doctor's degree. After being examined and licensed he entered into partnership with Dr. Blanc, which association continued until his death. He was a phy- sician of marked ability, and consequently highly successful. He was possessed of genial manners and a kindly disposition. His wife was Susan F. Sayre, of Morris Co., N. J. He was born at East Haddam, Conn., in 1806, and died at Perryville, N. J., Nov. 12, 1841.

HENRY H. SCHENCK, JR., oldest son of Dr. Henry and Ellen ( Hardenberg) Schenek, of Millstone, Som- erset Co., N. J., was born in New York State in 1782 (February). He subsequently removed, with his father, to Neshanie, N. J. He married Jane llerder ; began the study of medicine, but soon after beeame a soldier in the war of 1812. After the war he practiced medieine vigorously and successfully, both at Quaker- town and at Readington, settling at the latter place about 1810, and being in practice there until his death, Dec. 20, 1823. His remains rest in the churchyard at Readington. He left a widow and several children, but none of them in the profession. His name is the twelfth on the roll of members of the medical society of this county. In Readington he resided first in the old parsonage building, about two miles from the church, on the road leading from Readington to White House, later in the old brick Ten Eyck house, on the Old York Road, east of the church, and closed his life in a house a few hundred yards farther east, subsequently occupied by Mr. Titus .*

JOHN HONEYMAN was born near New German- town, Hunterdon Co., Feb. 22, 1798. He was the eldest son of James Honeyman and Mary Miller, and a grandson of John Honeyman, who figured in the French and Indian war under Wolfe, and during the Revolution as "the spy of Washington." While in his " teens" the subject of this notice taught the New Germantown Academy, and afterwards attended Mid- dlebury College, Vermont. He studied medicine with Dr. William Johnson, of White House, attended lee- tures in 1822-23 at the University of Pennsylvania, and commenced practice in his native village in 1824. After a professional career of fifty years, he died Jan. 2, 1874. Ile held numerous offices in the medical so- ciety and the Presbyterian Church, of which he was a ruling elder for twenty years. He had a large prae-

accumulated a competence. His character was so extremely exemplary that it is said of him that he never prevaricated, never told an untruth, never ut- tered a harsh word, never made an enemy. His death ereated a void in the medical profession which will long be felt, for he had the love and respect of the frater- nity. At about thirty years of age he married Miss Elizabeth S. Nevius, daughter of Judge Peter S. Ne- vins, of Pleasant Plains, Somerset Co. They had one daughter, who married Judge H. D. Maxwell, of Easton, Pa., and three sons,-viz., John C., who be- eame a physician ; Peter N., a merchant ; and A. V. D., an attorney, editor, and publisher in Somerville. The children are all living,-John and Peter in New Germantown, their native place. For further details of his life the reader is referred to the "Family Me- morial," published in 1874.

JOHN FORMAN GRANDIN was born May 28, 1792; studied medicine under Dr. Newell, of Allentown, N. J .; practiced his profession all his life at Hamden, where he died in 1811. His grandson, John Forman Grandin, M.D., studied medicine under Hon. John Manners, M.D., at ('linton ; received his degree at the University of Pennsylvania in 1852, and has since practiced his profession in Clinton Township, N. J. For further sketch of Dr. Grandin sce biographical department of Clinton township.

GEORGE P'. REX, born in the city of Philadelphia, Sept. 2, 1813, was educated in the classical schools of that city ; studied medicine in the office of Dr. George MeClellan, and was graduated at Jefferson Medical College in 1834; settled at Clover Hill, N. J., that year, and practiced medicine ; was married in 1836 to Gertrude V., daughter of Jacob Williamson, Esq., and in 1837 moved to Reaville, his present residence. In 1856 he removed to Perry, Pike Co., Ill., and soon after was appointed a member of the State Board of Education, and assisted in building the State Normal University, at Bloomington, Ill., as a member of the building committee. In 1861 he entered the military service as surgeon of the Thirty-third (Normal) Illi- nois Infantry Regiment, and served through the war as division surgeon and medical director; was mus- tered out in December, 1865. He was largely engaged in cotton-planting near Selma, Ala., in 1866-67, and was made post-surgeon of the United States army at Selma, Ala., in September, 1867. In 1868 he was elected high sheriff of Dallas Co., Ala., and in 1869 was appointed by President Grant United States as- sessor of internal revenue for the Second District of that State, embracing twenty-six counties. He re- mained in this position until 1871, when, his health failing him, he returned to Reaville, N. J., where he has since resided and practiced his profession, being one of the three oldest physicians in Hunterdon County. He became a member of the County District Medical Society, May 3, 1836, was its treasurer in 1850, and one of the board of censors from Ists to 1 $53.

· Dr. Blane.

222

HUNTERDON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

JOHN FRELINGHUYSEN SCHENCK, a native of Ne- shanic, Somerset Co. (born June 6, 1799), is of Dutch descent, his ancestors having come from Holland and settled in the Millstone valley. His father, Dr. Henry H. Schenck, was an assistant surgeon in the Revolutionary army. His maternal grandfather was Rev. Jacob R. Hardenberg, first president of Queen's (now Rutgers) College. He commenced reading medicine with his brother, Dr. Jacob R. Schenck, and continued his studies with Dr. Henry Vander- veer; attended the College of Physicians and Sur- geons, New York, and was licensed to practice in 1820. He established himself first at North Branch, but soon removed to Readington ; his stay there was also brief, as he settled in Flemington in 1822, where he has since resided. There, for more than half a century, he engaged in the practice of his profession. In 1870 he retired from regular practice, and since then his professional labors have been confined to an occasional consultation with his son, Dr. W. H. Schenck. When he first established himself in Flem- ington there was but one other physician in the place, and for a long time only the two. Possessing high natural qualifications, a thorough professional training, a zealous enthusiasm, and an unflagging energy, he speedily built up a very large practice, ex- tending over a wide reach of country surrounding Flemington. Since 1820 he has been connected with both the Somerset and the Hunterdon County Medi- cal Societies; has been president, and is now an honorary member, of the latter association. In 1820 he married a sister of Dr. Van Deursen, of New Brunswick, N. J .; she died in 1848, and in 1850 he married Miss Annie M. Churchill, of Portland, Conn., who died in 1865. His son, Dr. William H. Schenck, is one of the leading physicians of the county. Another son, J. Rutsen Schenck, was long connected with journalism in Hunterdon and Somer- set Counties, and died April 1, 1879.

SAMUEL S. CLARK, now of Belvidere, N. J., is a native of Hunterdon County (having been born in Flemington, Nov. 8, 1845), although he never prac- ticed medicine here. After receiving his degree of M.D., in 1848, he located at Belvidere, where he has since resided.

JOSEPH F. SHEPARD was born March 30, 1819, in Raritan (then Amwell) township, Hunterdon Co .; son of the late Joseph Shepard, farmer. He studied medicine with the venerable Dr. Schenck, of Flem- ington, with whom he remained five years, also at- tending the University of New York, from which he was graduated in 1853. He practiced a short time in Hightstown, after which he removed to Phillipsburg, Warren Co., where he settled permanently.

HENRY HOLCOMBE, a native of Hunterdon County, was born Aug. 5, 1797. From the College of New Jersey he was graduated in 1818; with Dr. George Holcombe, his cousin, he read medicine, and subse- quently (1821) received his degree of M.D. from the

University of Pennsylvania. He first settled in the practice of his profession at Rowland's Mills, in Read- ington township, but in 1822 removed to Everitts- town, Alexandria township, where for the ensuing thirty-seven years he was engaged as a physician and surgeon. His practice increased rapidly, and soon extended over almost the entire county and across the river into Pennsylvania. One of the founders (1821) of the County Medical Society, he was for sev- eral years its treasurer, and in 1825 a member of the board of censors ; also an honorary member of the Philadelphia Medical Society. He was interested in agricultural matters, and owned a large farm, which he managed successfully. He died April 7, 1859. His wife was Catherine, daughter of Samuel Case, and his only child subsequently married Baltus Pickel, Esq., of Trenton.

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History of Hunterdon and Somerset counties, New Jersey : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 57

Author: Snell, James P; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885 Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Peck Number of Pages: 1170

Author: Snell, James P; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1170