USA > New Jersey > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, New Jersey, 1664-1920, Volume I > Part 30
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Biographical Sketches of Middlesex Founders of the State Society :
ROBERT MCKEAN, Perth Amboy, was in 1757 ordained to the Mission of New Brunswick, by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. He removed to Perth Amboy in 1763. Previous to his settlement in Amboy, his mission embraced the towns of Piscataway and Spotswood. He devoted himself to the conscientious discharge of his duties, as far as a somewhat delicate constitution would permit, and made occasional visits to Readingtown, twenty-five miles distant. He was also a practicing physician. That he was distinguished as such and for his zeal in promoting the science of medicine, is illustrated by the fact that he was one of the original seventeen medical men who organized the New Jersey Medical Society in July, 1766. He was the first signer to its "instruments of Association and Constitutions," and received the honor of being its first president.
In a letter dated October 12, 1767, Rev. Dr. Chandler, of Elizabeth- town, informed the Society that "wasted away with tedious disorder, the worthy, the eminently useful and amiable Mr. McKean is judged by his physicians to be at present at the point of death." He adds, "a better man was never in the Society's service." He died October 17, 1767, and he was buried in the graveyard of St. Peter's Church in Amboy. His mon- ument now stands there, erected by Hon. Thomas Mckean, an early Governor of Pennsylvania, bearing the inscription :
In memory of Robert Mckean, M. A., Practitioner of Physic, etc., and Missionary from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, to the City of Perth Amboy, who was born July 13, 1732. N. S., and died October 17th, 1767. An unshaken friend, an agreeable companion, a rational Divine, a skillful Physician and in every relation in life a truly benevolent and honest man. Fraternal love hath erected this monument.
Dr. Stephen Wickes, in History of Medicine in New Jersey and of its Medical Men, says: In the early history of the colonies, the practice of the healing art was chiefly in the care of the clergy. Many of them were men of profound minds and highly educated.
JOHN COCHRAN, of Scotch-Irish ancestry, was born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, September, 1730. About the time he completed his medical education, the war of 1758 between England and France began in America. As there were no great hospitals in the Colonies he realized that the army would be a good school for improvement in medicine and surgery. He obtained appointment of surgeon's mate in the hospital department and continued in that office during the war, enjoying the friendship and advice of several English physicians. While lying off Oswego in a British vessel during that war, a shot from the French fleet entered the place where he was operating and carried away the operating table and his instruments. He at last quitted the service with a high reputation as a practitioner, and settled first in Albany, New York, where he married a daughter of General Schuyler. In a short time he removed to New Brunswick, New Jersey, where he continued to practice medicine with great success. He rented and maintained a house, "within three miles of New Brunswick," for the reception of patients who wished to be inoculated for smallpox, and he attended over 400 there during the winter and spring of 1774. He was one of the founders of the State Medical Society in 1766 and in 1769 was elected its president. He became a zealous Whig and when hostilities commenced in the War of
Mid-17
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the Revolution, he was driven from New Brunswick by the British, who burned his house. The Doctor offered his services in 1776 as a volunteer in the hospital department. General Washington appreciated his ability and recommended him to Congress in the following words :
I would take the liberty of mentioning a gentleman whom I think highly deserving of notice, not only on account of his ability, but for the very great assistance which he has afforded us in the course of this winter, merely in the nature of a volunteer. This gentleman is Dr. John Cochran, well known to all the faculty. The place for which he is fitted, and which would be most agreeable to him is, Surgeon-General of the Middle Department. In this line he served all the last war in the British Service and has distin- guished himself this winter particularly in his attention to the smallpox patients and the wounded.
He was appointed April 10, 1777, Physician and Surgeon General in the Middle Department. In October, 1781, Congress commissioned him Director General of the Hospitals of the United States and he was attached to headquarters, to General Washington's staff. His pay was five dollars per day. After the war the cordial relations formed in the war between General Washington and Dr. Cochran were continued, as appears from a letter from the former which is published in Irving's "Life of Washington," Vol. III, page 477. The historian remarks: "It is almost the only instance of sportive writing in all Washington's corre- spondence." It was concerning an invitation to a dinner party at head- quarters, West Point, 1779, at which Mrs. Cochran and Mrs. Livingston were to dine with him. He was often addressed by Washington and Lafayette as "Dear Doctor Bones." Soon after the war he removed to New York and resumed practice of his profession. Upon the adoption of the new constitution, President Washington, retaining "a cheerful recollection of his past services," nominated him to the office of Com- missioner of Loans for the State of New York. A stroke of paralysis subsequently caused him to resign and he went to Schenectady, where he died on April 6, 1807.
MOSES BLOOMFIELD, Woodbridge-He was born December 4, 1729; was for forty years a practitioner of medicine at Woodbridge, New Jersey ; he was a man of more than ordinary ability ; was considered one of the best physicians of his day. He became a member of the State Society in 1776 and was active and efficient in its service. He was its secretary in 1767; its president in 1785. He was a representative in the Provincial Congress and the General Assembly. He was commissioned surgeon United States Hospital, Continental Army, May 14, 1777 ; was an upright magistrate; an elder in the Presbyterian Church. He died August 14, 1791. The "New Jersey Journal" of August 31, 1791, in an obituary notice of him, said : "He maintained an eminent character as a scholar, a physician and a Christian. He served in civil offices of trust and honor. * * He was benevolent and liberal to the poor, religious without bigotry. * * In his death the State has lost a worthy citizen and the Presbyterian Church an important member."
JAMES GILLIAND, New Brunswick, was born in that city. Was one of the founders of the State Society in 1766; the following year, as he proposed to embark for Europe, the Society gave him credentials as a member in good standing and well qualified as a practitioner of medicine. We have found no other records of him.
JOHN GRIFFITH was born November 19, 1736. He resided in Rahway- then in Middlesex county, where for many years he practiced medicine
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and was lugnly esteemed as a physician and citizen. He was one of the founders of the State Society, was elected its president in 1790, delivering the following year an able dissertation on pulmonary con- sumption. He died August 23, 1805. He had a son, Thomas, who practiced medicine many years in Newark, who was a member of the State Society.
ISAAC HARRIS was born and educated in East Jersey in 1741. He settled in Quibbletown-now New Market, where he practiced several years and where he owned an elegant residence and farm. He removed to Salem county in 1771 where he practiced many years. He was one of the founders of the State Society in 1766 and was elected its president in 1792. In the Revolutionary War he was commissioned Surgeon in Gen- eral Newcomb's Brigade, State Troops. One son-Isaac-practiced in Salem county, another son-Samuel-in Camden, and a grandson- Henry S .- in Belvidere. The doctor died in 1808; on his tombstone it is stated, "He sustained the character of an eminent physician, an upright civil magistrate and a faithful elder and deacon of the Church of Christ."
THOMAS WIGGINS was born in Southold, Long Island, in 1731. Gradu- ated at Yale College in 1752. He removed to New Jersey and settled in the practice of medicine at Princeton, New Jersey, where for many years he was greatly esteemed practitioner of medicine and Christian gentle- man. He was one of the founders of the State Medical Society in 1766, was its president in 1774 and its secretary in 1781 and 1782. He was treasurer of the College of New Jersey in 1786-7. He was an elder in the Presbyterian church, to which he bequeathed a house and a tract of land, which for many years was used as the manse. When the Con- tinental Congress was in session in Princeton, he extended the hospitali- ties of his house to General Washington and his lady. He died in Prince- ton on November 14, 1801.
Organizers of the Middlesex County Medical Society :
LEWIS DUNHAM was born in New Brunswick in 1754; he was the great- great-grandson of Edmond, who was the first white child born in Mid- dlesex county. His father, Azariah, was an active Revolutionary patriot. In 1775 he was a member of the Colonial Assembly from Middlesex ; was a delegate to the Provincial Congress. He commenced practice in New Brunswick and continued it until the breaking out of the war; was commissioned surgeon of the Third Regiment February 21, 1776; sur- geon Third Battalion November 28, 1776. He became a member of the State Medical Society in 1783, and was one of its most active members ; was secretary in 1883 and 1884; was elected its president in 1791, and again in 1816. He died August 26, 1821.
The inscription on his monument in the Presbyterian graveyard contains these words : "Few men have ever shown greater energy of character wisely and uniformly directed in all the relations of life. Truely a patriot during the whole war of Independ- ence, he was to his country a devoted son. In peace he resumed his profession and dur- ing a practice of more than forty years he was indefatigable beyond expression," etc.
JACOB DUNHAM was a brother of Lewis; was born in New Brunswick, September 29, 1767. He attended lectures in Philadelphia when he was twenty years of age ; was a classmate of the eminent Dr. W. P. Dewces and there was always a close intimacy between them. The doctor's practice was an extensive one, covering a wide territory. He was
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elected a member of the State Society November 6, 1792; was its treas- urer from 1808 to 1815. He died August 7, 1832.
ENOCH WILSON-We have not been able to trace Dr. Wilson historically, but we have found in the State Society transactions that he was corre- sponding secretary of the State Society in 1815; in 1816 and 1817 he was one of the managers; also in 1816 and 1817 he was vice-president of the State Society and one of the censors for Middlesex county. He was very regular in attendance at the State Society meetings.
MATTHIAS FREEMAN was born in Woodbridge, where he practiced many years ; he was very highly esteemed; was elected a member of the State Society in 1808; was regular in attendance and served on important com- mittees ; was a member of the Board of Managers; a censor for Middle- sex county several years.
CHARLES SMITH was born near Princeton 1768; graduated from Prince- ton College 1786; studied medicine with Dr. Moses Scott; received the degree of M. D. from Queen's (now Rutgers) College in its first class to graduate 1792; became Dr. Scott's partner and married his daughter. He served as surgeon in State troops during the Whiskey Insurrection in 1794 ; was elected a trustee of Rutgers College 1804. He was a skilled and successful practitioner, one of the most accomplished of his day ; was elected a Fellow of the College of P. & S., New York City in 1814. He was corresponding secretary of the State Society 1807 and 1808; vice-president in 1810 and president in 1811. He died May 7, 1848. He left an estate of about $150,000. Our State Society took action on his death which characterized him "One of the most learned and skillful members of the profession in the State."
NATHANIEL MANNING is said to have belonged to the family that came to Perth Amboy in the "Caledonia" from Scotland in 1715. He received his medical education under the tuition of the "Faculty of Philadelphia ;" he presented testimonials from them as to his proficiency in medicine when he joined the State Medical Society in 1767. He first practiced in Metuchen and was considered an able physician. He graduated from the College of New Jersey in 1762, and is noted in its catalogue as a clergyman. In 1771, being about to leave the province, he applied to the State Society for a certificate of character as a physician, which was granted. He went to England in 1771 and was soon afterward ordained by the Bishop of London for Hampton Parish, Virginia. In 1775 he was its incumbent.
RALPH P. LOTT studied medicine with Dr. Hezekiah Stites of Cranbury ; he attended lectures in Philadelphia ; attended as a delegate from Mid- dlesex county several meetings of the State Society; was one of the committee appointed to organize the Middlesex County District Society. He had a large practice and accumulated considerable property. He died September 17, 1845, in the seventy-fifth year of his age.
JOHN VAN CLEVE was born at Maidenhead, now Lawrence, Mercer county, 1778; graduated from Princeton in 1797; studied medicine with Drs. Stockton and Maclean; graduated from the College of Physi- cians and Surgeons, New York City, in 1819, was associate in partner- ship for several years with Dr. Stockton. He was held in great respect as a man of talent and skill in his profession, so much so that at a meeting of the college trustees held September 27, 1825, the following resolution was adopted: "Resolved, That the president and faculty be empowered to make such a temporary arrangement with Dr. Van Cleve
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for the introduction of lectures on medicine, or the auxiliary branches of knowledge, as they may think proper, and to make thereon at the next meeting of the board." This was intended to be merely preliminary to the establishment of a medical department in the college, with Dr. Van Cleve as its head. His death the following year put an end to any further action.
Van Cleve joined the society at the time of its reorganization June 23, 1807, and was ever thereafter one of the most active and influential members. He was corresponding secretary 1810-15; president 1815, again in 1818; recording secretary 1820-24. He was for many years a ruling elder of the Presbyterian Church of Princeton, a trustee of the college and a director in the Theological Seminary. He died December 24, 1826.
Prominent Deceased Physicians in Middlesex :
MOSES SCOTT was one of the noblest of the early physicians of Middlesex county. He was born in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, in 1738. At seventeen years of age he went with the unfortunate expedition under Braddock. At the capture of Fort Du Quesne he had risen to be a com- missioned officer, but he resigned his position and began the study of medicine and at about 1774 commenced practice at New Brunswick and soon gained a high reputation as a practitioner. But he was a patriot and he entered the service on February 14, 1776, commissioned sur- geon of the Second Middlesex Regiment, and subsequently surgeon in the General Hospital, Continental Army. He procured from Europe a large supply of medicines and surgical instruments, but most of it fell into the hands of the enemy on their sudden invasion of New Brunswick when he barely escaped capture, as they entered his house and ate his prepared dinner. In 1777 Congress having taken the entire direction of the medical staff, commissioned Dr. Scott as Senior Physician and Sur- geon of the Hospitals and Assistant Director General. He was at the battles of Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine and Germantown and was near General Mercer when he fell at Princeton. On the restoration of peace he resumed practice at New Brunswick. He became a member of the Medical Society of New Jersey in 1782 and was very active in its work; was elected its president in 1789. In 1814 he was made a Fellow of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York. In early life he made a profession of religion, was ever loyal to the church and for many years a most efficient elder, as well as treasurer of the Board of Trustees of the Presbyterian Church. He died on December 28, 1821. One daughter married Dr. Charles Smith, another daughter married Dr. Ephraim F. R. Smith, both of New Brunswick.
HEZEKIAH STITES, of Cranbury, was descended from one of the original emigrants to New England who lived to the extraordinary age of 122 years. Little is known concerning the doctor's early years. When the State Medical Society was formed in 1766 he was 40 years of age and had been in practice several years; he became a member of the State Society in 1767 and was elected its president in 1775.
MELANCTHON FREEMAN was born in Piscataway, New Jersey, in 1746. He practiced several years in Metuchen. He was commissioned "Sur- geon of State Troops, Colonel Forman's Battalion, Heard's Brigade, June 21, 1776." A son and a grandson, each bearing his name, were physicians.
HENRY DRAKE was born in New Brunswick in 1773. His father was James Drake, the proprietor of the famous Indian Queen Hotel, where
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several noted travelers by the stage route between New York and Phila- delphia rested en route. The State Medical Society often met "at the house of James Drake." Though a man of some skill, Dr. Drake soon abandoned practice and assumed management of the hotel, doubtless without any regret expressed by the profession as he was not a man of high moral character.
JOHN LAWRENCE was born in Monmouth county, graduated from Princeton College in 1764 and from the University of Pennsylvania in 1768, being one of the first to receive a medical degree in America. He began practice in Perth Amboy in 1776, where he was very successful for a few years when he went to New York, but in 1783 returned to New Jersey and settled in Freehold, where he died April 29, 1830, aged 83 years.
CHARLES A. HOWARD studied medicine with Dr. Alex. Ross in New Brunswick and after the death of his preceptor in 1775, married his widow. Being in sympathy with the British he was under guard of the Council of Safety in New York, upon taking the oath of abjuration and allegiance he returned to New Brunswick, settled at "Ross Hall" and engaged in practice, acquiring reputation as a surgeon and was held in high social position. He joined the State Medical Society in 1786. He was a warden in Christ Church in 1790. He died September 21, 1794.
JOHN GALEN WALL was born at Middletown, December 17, 1759. He joined the State Medical Society in 1783. He practiced for a short time at Perth Amboy, then removed to Woodbridge. He was thirteen years in practice in those places. He died in January, 1798.
ISAAC OGDEN, born in 1764, studied medicine and settled at Six Mile Run, where he had an extensive practice. He became a member of the State Medical Society in 1788. About the year 1820 he removed to New Brunswick, where he died in 1829. "He was a man of purest life, a practical Christian, promoting the interests of religion by every means in his power."
EPHRAIM FITZ-RANDOLPH SMITH was born near New Brunswick in 1786; studied medicine with Dr. Moses Scott; graduated from the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania Medical School in 1808 and began practice in New Brunswick. He served as treasurer of the State Medical Society from 1817 to 1829; was elected vice-president in 1830 and president in 1832. He was an eminent physician. For many years he was president of the leading banking institution in the city; served as mayor of the city in 1842. He retired from practice in 1854. He was an earnest Christian man who died in the faith of the Gospel of Christ, May 4, 1865.
WILLIAM VAN DEURSEN was born in New Brunswick, May 16, 1791; after graduating from Queen's College in 1809, he studied medicine and graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, in 1814. He first settled in practice at Imlaystown, but very soon removed to New Brunswick, where he secured an extensive practice; was espe- cially distinguished for his skill in surgery. He had many students who entered the profession from his office. For more than fifty years he was the leading physician of the city. He was elected a trustee of Rutgers College, New Brunswick, in 1814. He had a son, Dr. John H., who practiced in New Brunswick, and also a grandson, Dr. D. Clark Van Deursen, who practiced there a short time and then in Somerset county.
JOHN ADAMS POOL was born in New Brunswick-at the Landing-in 1796. He studied medicine and was licensed by the Medical Society of
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New Jersey, receiving his diploma from Dr. Lewis Dunham, then presi- dent, November 13, 1816. He practiced medicine but to a very limited extent. He was very active in the State and County Medical Societies, often serving in official position. He died May 1, 1860. A grandson, Dr. Eugene H. Pool, is an able practitioner and professor in medical insti- tutions in New York City.
SAMUEL ABERNETHY, of Rahway, was born February 26, 1806; gradu- ated in Medicine from the University of Philadelphia in 1830 and after one year in hospital there settled in Rahway, then in Middlesex county, where he practiced until his death, February 13, 1874; he had an exten- sive practice and was an eminent physician and surgeon.
SOLOMON ANDREWS-The only information we have been able to get concerning him is that he received the degree of M. D. from Rutgers College in 1827; that he was given his diploma by Dr. Isaac Pearson, president of the State Society that year; that he was Collector of the Port of Perth Amboy in 1844-45 and that he was the inventor of the locks used in the United States mail pouches. He died October 20, 1872.
JACOB T. B. SKILLMAN was born at Three Mile Run, Somerset county, March 10, 1794. He graduated from Union College in 1819 and after spending three years teaching he removed to New Brunswick and began the study of medicine, completing the course under Dr. A. R. Taylor ; he was licensed to practice by the State Medical Society, receiving his diploma November 8, 1825. He began practice in Woodbridge, but after three years removed to Rahway and two years later to New Bruns- wick, where for thirty years he had the respect of all who knew him for his ability, modesty, kindness and strict integrity. For several years he was a faithful office bearer in the First Reformed Church of New Brunswick. He died June 26, 1864.
C. MCKNIGHT SMITH was born at Haverstraw, New York, September 29, 1803, son of Samuel Smith, lawyer and on mother's side grandson of Dr. Charles McKnight, a prominent surgeon in the American army during the Revolutionary War. Dr. Smith studied medicine and grad- uated from the Medical College, New York, in 1827; commenced prac- tice in St. Mary county, Maryland, and soon after settled in Perth Amboy, where until the time of his death he was recognized as the most prominent physician ; few underwent more arduous work and exposure than he. President Harrison appointed him Collector of the Port of Perth Amboy in 1842; President Taylor appointed him to the same office in 1848 and President Grant reappointed him in 1869 and again in 1873. For many years he was health officer of the city. For 30 years he was a vestryman of St. Peter's Church, of which the first president of our State Society was formerly the rector. He was an exceedingly active and efficient member and officer of our State Society. He died at Perth Amboy February 3, 1874.
GEORGE J. JANEWAY was born in Philadelphia, October 14, 1806; gradu- ated from the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania in 1830; in 1831 he went to Paris and studied in the French hospitals; returned to New York in 1832 and practiced there during the cholera outbreak there; he removed to New Brunswick in 1847, where he con- tinued to practice over 40 years. He was of a kind and genial disposition, a benevolent, unselfish man, serving devotedly the poor and needy. He was mayor of New Brunswick in 1869 and 1870. He was long a devoted and beloved elder in the First Presbyterian Church. He died September
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16, 1889, aged 83 years. He was the father of Prof. E. G. Janeway, M. D., of New York City.
CLIFFORD MORROGH was born in Ireland in 1821 ; his father, mother and their ten children came to America in 1834. He studied medicine and graduated from the University of the City of New York in 1847; came to New Brunswick with his brother, Dr. Archibald Morrogh, who prac- ticed here a short time and then went to the West Indies.
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