The history of Camden county, New Jersey, Part 44

Author: Prowell, George Reeser, 1849-1928
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : Richards
Number of Pages: 1220

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JAMES H. WROTH is the son of the late James W. Wroth, of Camden, whose widow and her family have removed from the city. Dr. Wroth obtained his medical education at the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated in 1878. He commenced the practice of medicine in Camden, and in 1879 attached himself to both the Camden City and County Societies. While an interne of the Camden City Dispensary the small- pox epidemic of 1880 occurred in that city, during which Dr. Wroth distinguished him- self by his attendance upon the sick (poor) with that disease. He is now a resident of New Mexico.

ISAAC B. MULFORD belonged to an old and influential family in South Jersey. He was born in Millville, N. J., in 1843. He was educated at the West Jersey Academy,

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A HISTORY OF MEDICINE AND MEDICAL MEN.

at Bridgeton, at Monticello Seminary, New York, and at Princeton College, from which he graduated with honor in the class of 1865. He studied medicine with Dr. William Hunt, of Philadelphia, and attended lectures at the University of Pennsylvania. His studies being interrupted by severe illness, he could not receive his degree of Doctor of Medicine until 1871. He began the practice of medi- cine in Camden, and became a member of both the Camden County and Camden City Medical Societies, and was elected treasurer of the former in 1874, and president in 1881. For several years prior to his death he was surgeon of the Sixth Regiment National Guards of New Jersey. He was also phy- sician of the West Jersey Orphanage, a mem- ber of the New Jersey Sanitary Association and the Camden Microscopical Society.1 Dr. Mulford and the Rev. Joseph F. Garri- son, honorary member of the Camden County Society, were the only resident physicians in the county who were ever graduates of the College of New Jersey. Dr. Mulford died in Camden, November 21, 1882. He left a fine library of medical works to the Camden City Dispensary.

WILLIAM G. TAYLOR, a former mem- ber of the Camden City Medical Society, was the son of Dr. R. G. and Eleonora Tay- lor, of Camden. He was born in Philadel- phia, July 20, 1851, and was educated in the public schools in Camden. At the age of seventeen he entered the drug-store of Jo- seph Riley and attended two courses of lec- tures at the Philadelphia College of Phar- macy. He then commenced the study of medicine and graduated at the Jefferson Medical College in 1873. For a short time he was one of the visiting physicians for the Dispensary, but he had been preparing for the work of a missionary under the auspices of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Mis- sions. On June 11, 1873, he sailed from 1 Transactions New Jersey State Medical Society, 1883.

New York for Africa. His station was Ga- boon, on the west coast, and his duty was to visit monthly, or oftener if called upon, the stations between it and Benita, a point one hundred miles north. The mode of travel- ling was by sea in an open boat, five and one-half feet wide by twenty-six feet long. This exposed life and repeated attacks of Af- rican fever broke down his health, and after two years' labor there he returned home, and died April 8, 1877. He was buried in Ever- green Cemetery.

LIVING PHYSICIANS.

[The remainder of the Medical Chapter was prepared by the Publishers.]

JOHN W. SNOWDEN is the oldest living member of the Camden County Medical Society in continuous attendance, having joined it in 1849. He is a native of Phila- delphia, and graduated in the Medical De- partment of the University of Pennsylvania in April, 1844. His health being precarious, he selected the "Pines" of New Jersey as his field of practice, and located near Water- ford, in Camden County, in May, 1846. He was one of the few physicians who passed an examination before the board of censors of the Camden County Medical Society for a license to practice medicine in New Jersey. In 1855 he was elected president of this society, and in the year 1878 he was appointed to be its reporter and chairman of its most important committee, the "Standing Committee," a position he still holds. He is a member of the New Jersey State Medical Society, and was its president in 1882-83. His residence was at Ancora, between Waterford and Win- slow, until 1884, when he removed to Ham- monton, a rapidly-growing town, six miles distant, and just beyond the boundary line between Camden and Atlantic Counties. During a practice of forty years he has seen his section of the State emerge from a wilder- ness into a series of towns, containing an in- telligent, thrifty and progressive people.

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HISTORY OF CAMDEN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

JAMES M. RIDGE, now one of the leading physicians and surgeons of West Jersey, is a son of Moses and Sarah (McFarland) Ridge, and was born in Tinicum township, Bucks County, Pa., October 6, 1826. His father was an intelligent and prosperous farmer, under whose watchful care as an in- structor the rudimentary education of the son was obtained. The grandmother of Dr. Ridge, on his father's side, was a daughter of Edward Marshall, a lineal descendant of a family prominent in the annals of Penn- sylvania His father died in the year 1860, and his mother several years earlier. In 1847, after receiving a preparatory in- tellectual training at home and in the schools of his native township, he entered a boarding- school taught by Solomon Wright, at Bridge- ton, Pa., and in 1849 Dr. Ridge became tlie teacher of the school. In the fall of the same year he determined to take up the study of medicine, and thereupon entered the office of Dr. William S. Hendrie, of Doylestown, Pa., as a student, and remained in this re- lation until his graduation from the Medical Department of the University of Pennsyl- vania, April 2, 1852. Upon receiving his degree and diploma he began the prac- tice of medicine in his native township, continuing there until the year 1856, when he removed to Camden, iu which city he has gained an en viable reputation as a surgeon, and a successful practitioner of medicine. He is well versed in the science and literature of his chosen profession. Dr. Ridge has been promi- nently identified with various medical societies, and has always taken an active part in the discussions of topics at their deliberations. In 1876 he represented the First Congressional District of New Jersey in the International Medical Congress, which met in Philadelphia, and took an active part in its discussions. He Was a member of the Bucks County Medi- cal Society, the Pathological Society of Phila- delphia and the Camden County Medical Society, and has served as president of the last-

named society at various times. As a mem- ber of the State Board of Health he served two years, and then resigned in order to give more direct attention to his practice at home.

In politics Dr. Ridge was a Whig during the days of that party, and since has been identified with the Democratic party. He served as a member of the City School Board for a period of sixteen years, in which position he always showed an active interest in the cause of education. Since 1885 he has served as president of the County Board of Ex- amining Surgeons for Pensions. The doctor is a constant reader, not only of works pertain- ing to his own profession, but of general literature. He has devoted much of his leisure time to the study of the classics aud the most abstruse questions of philosophy and the physicial sciences.

In 1850 Dr. Ridge was married to Sarah, daughter of William B. Warford, by whom he has had three children. Josephine, the eldest, is married to A. G. Wilson, of Brook- lyn, N. Y., and son of a British officer of rank. They have one child, William. Moses M. Ridge, the only son of the doctor, resides in Chester County, l'a. He is married to Rebecca Chew, of New Jersey, and has two children,-Lucretia and Edna. William Ridge, the youngest son, died at the age of three years.

DANIEL M. STOUT was born in German- town Pa., November 4, 1826 ; studied medi- cine under the instruction of Dr. Charles D. Hendry ; in 1844 he matriculated at Jeffer- son Medical College, from which he obtained the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1847, after which he began practice ai Berlin and in its vicinity, and still continues, being the oldest practitioner in that region.

RICHARD CRANE DEAN was born at Har- risburg, Pa., May 26, 1836. His father, Dr. Alexander T. Dean, was a leading phy- sician in that town. Dr. R. C. Dean receiv- ed his education in the preparatory schools

He Gerich Layton

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A HISTORY OF MEDICINE AND MEDICAL MEN.

of his native place and then entered Yale College, from which institution he graduated and received his degree of A.M. He then attended lectures at the Jefferson Medical College and received from it his diploma in 1854. He located in Camden and practiced his profession until 1856, when heentered the United States Navy as assistant surgeon. He had joined both the Camden County and City Medical Societies and was secretary of the former in 1855. After his appoint- ment as a naval surgeon he was made an hon- orary member of them.

Dr. Dean was rapidly promoted in the medical corps of the navy. Six years after his entrance into it he was appointed past assistaut surgeon, and in 1862 he was commis- sioned surgeon. He served during the Civil War as surgeon and fleet surgeon of the At- lantic and other squadrons of the navy. In 1883 he was made a medical director, a posi- tion he now holds. He is at present on duty at the Naval College at Newport, R. I., as professor of hygiene, and is also a member of the Naval Examining Board at Washington, D. C. In 1856 he married Anna, daughter of Dr. Isaac S. Mulford, of Camden.

HENRY E. BRANIN was born January 8, 1836, and obtained his general education at the West Jersey Collegiate School at Mount Holly, N. J., and at the New York Conference Seminary, located at Charlottes- ville, N. Y. He read medicine with Dr. A. E. Budd, of Medford, N. J., commencing in 1855, and graduated from the Jefferson Med- ical College, Philadelphia, in the year 1858. He began practice in the spring of that year at Blackwood and has remained there ever since.

Dr. Branin became a member of the Camden County and the New Jersey State Medical Societies in 1860 and was elected president of the former in 1862. In the year 1879 he was appointed attending physi- cian in charge of the Camden County Insane Asylum and Almshouse, a position he still

retains. In 1881 a severe epidemic of ty- phus fever broke out in the Almshouse, dur- ing the continnance of which Dr. Branin displayed so much courage, intrepidity and professional skill, that the Camden County Medical Society passed a series of resolutions of approval of his services, which were handsomely engrossed and presented to him.

HENRY GENET TAYLOR was born July 6, 1837, at Charmanto, Rensselaer County, near Troy, N. Y., at the residence of his uncle, General Henry James Genet, the eld- est son of "Citizen Genet," the first ambas- sador of France to the United States, and who married the daughter of Governor George Clinton, of New York. The biog- raphy of Dr. H. Genet Taylor's father, Dr. Othniel H. Taylor, has been given previous- ly. His mother, Evelina C. Burrough, be- longed to an old Gloucester (now Camden) County family, whose ancestors came from England to Long Island and from thence to West Jersey as early as 1693. After her husband, Dr. O. H. Taylor, had located in Camden, in 1844, Mrs. Taylor, by her pol- ished manners, refined hospitality and Chris- tian virtues, contributed much to favorably mould for good the character of the cosmo- politan population that were rapidly devel- oping the town into a city.

Dr. Taylor, after attending preliminary schools, completed his education at the Prot- estant Episcopal Academy in Philadelphia, and commenced the study of medicine under his father. He attended medical lectures at the University of Pennsylvania, from which institution he graduated in 1860. He joined the Camden County Medical Society in the same year and in 1861 he was elected its sec- retary, an office he still continues to hold, temporarily vacating it in 1865 to become president of the society.

Upon the outbreak of the Civil War he joined the army and was commissioned Sep- tember 14, 1861, assistant surgeon of the Eighth Regiment of New Jersey Volunteers,

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which was assigned to the Army of the Po- tomac. During the Peninsular campaign he was the only medical officer in his regiment on field duty. After the battle of Second Bull Run he remained for ten days within the Confederate lines and brought his wound- ed safely into Washington. Subsequent to the battle of Antietam he was detailed to the artillery brigade of the Third Corps and held the position of brigade-surgeon of the artillery on the staffs respectively of Major- Generals Hooker, French and Sickles, and continued to fill this position nntil March 15, 1864, when he resigned in consequence of the serious illness of his father. While in the army he was present at and rendered professional services in twenty-five battles and minor engagements.

Upon his return home, Dr. Taylor re- sumed the practice of medicine in Camden. The first draft in Camden under the Con- scription Act was ordered in June, 1864, and Dr. Taylor was appointed assistant surgeon, of the Board of Enrollment of the First Con- gressional District of New Jersey, to assist in examining recruits and drafted men for the army. This office he held until the close of the war, in 1865.

When the National Guard of New Jersey was organized, the headquarters of the Sixth Regiment was assigned to Camden, and in the year 1869, Dr. Taylor was commissioned surgeon of that regiment, a position he filled until June, 1882, when he resigned. In the year 1877 occurred the riots caused by the strike of the railroad employés, when part of the National Guard of New Jersey were ordered to Phillipsburg, N. J., to protect the property there ; Dr. Taylor was then appoint- ed surgeon of the Provisional Brigade, upon the staff of Major-General William J. Sew- ell, commanding the brigade.

Dr. Taylor is a member of the Camden County and City Medical Societies. He was one of the corporators of the Camden City Dispensary and has been its secretary

since 1874. He is a member of the New Jersey State Medical Society and is its sec- ond vice-president. He is also a member of the American Medical Association, Pennsyl- vania Historical Society, New Jersey Sani- tary Society and New Jersey Academy of Medicine. He was president of the Board of Pension Examining Surgeons, established in Camden in 1884, and continued so until a change in administration caused its reor- ganization. He is physician-in-chief of the Camden Home for Friendless Children. Dr. Taylor married, on October 23, 1879, Helen, daughter of Alexander and Hannah C. Cooper, of Haddonfield, and granddaugh- ter of the late Captain James B. Cooper, United States Navy.

J. GILBERT YOUNG, son of the late Rev. Robert F. Young, of Haddonfield, was born at Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia County, Pa., June 21, 1840. He was educated principally in the schools of his native city, graduating both at the Central High School and the University of Pennsylvania. In the former institution he was at the head of his class. He practiced medicine first at South Camden, then at Gloucester City, and subsequently at Haddonfield, where his family resided. In 1866 he moved to Phila- delphia, where he has since resided and prac- ticed. The doctor became a member of the Camden County Medical and New Jersey State Medical Societies in 1863, and still re- tains an honorary membership therein. He is also a member of the Philadelphia County Medical Society and of the American Acad- emy of Medicine.

ALEXANDER MARCY was born at Cape May, N. J., April 16, 1838; studied medi- cine in 1858 with his father, Dr. S. S. Marcy, and entered the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania, from which he was graduated in March, 1861. He at once began to practice in Camden, where he has since continued in his profes- sion with great success. Of the physicians

Buon Stevenson

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in Camden in 1861, he and Dr. Ridge are the only ones now practicing in the city.

Dr. Marcy became a member of the Cam- den County Medical Society in 1864 and its president in 1866. He is also a member of the Camden City and State Medical Societies. He was one of the corporators of the City Dis- pensary and at present is president of its board of managers.

ALEXANDER M. MECRAY was born at Cape May, N. J., October 3, 1839. He studied medicine with Dr. Alexander Marcy, of Camden, and in 1861 entered the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylva- nia, from which he was graduated in March, 1863. He began practice in Cape May Court-House, and in 1865 removed to Cam- den, where he has since continuously prac- ticed his profession. He first located in Sonth Camden, but in a few years removed to his present residence in North Camden. In 1867 he became a member of the Camden County Medical Society, having previously joined the City Medical Society, and was elected president of the former in 1869 and its treasurer in 1883, a position he still holds. He is also a member of the State Medical Society.

JOHN R. STEVENSON .- Cotemporary with the arrival in West Jersey of the early emi- grants from Enrope, there was a migration of Friends of English descent from Long Island to the former. Among these settlers were the Stevensons, whose ancestor, Thomas Ste- venson, of London, England, had settled at Southold, L. I., as early as 1644. His grandchildren for the most part removed to West Jersey, the first one locating at Bur- lington in 1699. They became large land- owners, both in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The unique circumstance that three of the grandsons, brothers, married three sisters, only children of Samuel Jenings, a man of distinction, and the first Governor of West Jersey, together with the fact that some of them became active in public affairs, one of

them being a member of the first General Assembly, has identified the name with the early history of the State.

The connection of Dr. Stevenson's family with the history of Camden County began with his grandfather, Thomas Stevenson, who was born September 6, 1765, at Amwell, Hunterdon County, whose paternal grand- . father had lived on the Jenings homestead, near Burlington (still in possession of the Stevensons); but, inheriting property in Hun- terdon County, had removed to Amwell. About 1790 Thomas Stevenson moved to Haddonfield, and some years subsequently purchased the farm and flour-mill property, between Haddonfield and Ellisburg, known as " Stevenson's Mill," recently purchased by the Haddonfield Electric Light and Water Company from which to supply Haddon- field with pure spring water. In 1795 Thomas Stevenson married Rebecca, danghter of Captain Joseph Thorne, who resided in Had- donfield, and had commanded the Second Battalion of Gloucester County Volunteers (Camden and Gloucester were then one) in the Army of the Revolution. Thomas Ste- venson died at " Stevenson's Mill " Decem- ber 2, 1852.

Samuel Stevenson, second son of Thomas, born April 20, 1803, married, May 16, 1833, Anna, daughter of John Rndderow, of what is now the borongh of Merchantville. The latter gentleman was not of full military age at the time of the Revolution, but he served in the home guards, organized to protect the county from the incursions of the British during their occupation of Philadelphia. Samuel Stevenson died at his residence in Haddonfield July 23, 1835, leaving two sons, one the subject of this sketch, and the other Thomas Stevenson, born May 12, 1835, who, on the outbreak of the Civil War, was a resident of Camden, and engaged in the wholesale drug business in Philadelphia. Relinquishing his business, he entered the army as second lieutenant in the Eighth New

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Jersey Regiment. He served in the Army of the Potomac through the Peninsular cam- paign, and was engaged in the battles of Fredericksburg and Second Bull Run. He rose to the rank of captain, but was killed at the battle of Chancellorsville, May 3, 1863, and was buried on the field of battle.

Dr. John R. Stevenson was born February 12, 1834. He and his brother Thomas were educated in Philadelphia, graduating from the High School. Both of them received from it the two degrees of Bachelor and "Master of Arts." John R. Stevenson, selecting the profession of medicine, entered the office of Dr. O. H. Taylor, of Camden, as a student, and graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in March, 1863. He imme- diately commenced the practice of medicine in Camden.

Upon the passage of the "Conscription Act " by Congress, he was appointed by President Lincoln, May 2, 1863, surgeon of the Board of Enrollment of the First Congres- sional District of New Jersey, then embracing the six counties of Camden, Atlantic, Glouces - ter, Salem, Cumberland and Cape May. This office he held until the close of the war, in 1865. Dr. Stevenson, while a practitioner in Camden, was a member of the Camden City Medical Society and was its secretary for two years, until his removal from the city, in 1867. He was one of the corporators of the Camden City Dispensary and was its first secretary. In 1866 he was chairman of the Medical Sanitary Committee, which suc- cessfully resisted the last invasion of cholera into Camden. Subsequently, in consequence of impaired health, he removed to Haddon- field, his present residence.

Dr. Stevenson is a member of the Camden County Medical Society, New Jersey State Medical Society, New Jersey Historical Soci- ety and is a correspondent of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society. He is a contributor to the publications of these societies, to the press and to some of the

medical journals. He married Frances Strat- ton, daughter of Hon. Charles Reeves, who represented Camden and Gloucester Coun- ties for nine years in the New Jersey Legis- lature.

J. ORLANDO WHITE was born in Atlan- tic County, N. J., May 4, 1847 ; studied medicine with Dr. Richard M. Cooper, of Camden, in 1864, and was the only student the doctor ever received in his office; the next year he entered the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania, from which he graduated in March, 1868, since which time he has engaged in his profession in Camden.

Dr. White joined the Camden County Medical Society in 1870, and was elected its president in the same year. He is also a mem- ber of the State Medical Society and of the Camden City Society. He was one of the visiting physicians for the City Dispensary during the earlier years of his practice in Camden.

HENRY A. M. SMITH was born in Doyles- town, Pa., July 30, 1839, and received his academic education at private schools in his native county. He began the study of medi- cine with Dr. A. N. Cooper, of Bucks County, Pa., and graduated at the Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, in March, 1864.

Dr. Smith was in the United States service for thirteen months, as acting assistant sur- geon, connected with hospital duty, and in 1865 removed to Gloucester, where he has since been actively engaged in practice. He is a member of the District Medical Society of the county of Camden.

JOHN R. HANEY was born at Riegels- ville, Bucks County, Pa., November 3, 1833. He was sent to school at Bath, Northampton County, and then to the Tuscarora Seminary, at Academia, Juniata County, leaving which, at seventeen years of age, he studied medi- cine with Dr. S. Rosenberger, of French- town, N. J., and entered Jefferson Medi-

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cal College, Philadelphia, attending one course, when he entered the Medical Depart- ment of the University of Pennsylvania, graduating in March, 1861. He practiced at Ervenna, Pa., until 1870, when he came to Camden. . Dr. Haney has served as presi- dent of the Camden County Medical Society.

DILWYN P. PANCOAST was born at Mul- lica Hill, N. J., March 11, 1836. He pur- sued his medical studies under Dr. Alfred Smith, of Yardleyville, one year, and enter- ed the Medical Department of the Univer- sity of Pennsylvania, from which he was graduated in March, 1859, having graduated in pharmacy the year previous. He began · his practice at Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, and, in 1863, entered into army service, from which he retired in December, 1865; practiced in Philadelphia until 1869, when he moved to Camden, and now practices his profession and also owns a drug-store.

WILSON H. IRELAND was born in Atlan- tic County July 27, 1845; studied medicine with Dr. E. B. Richmond, of Millville, in 1863, and in 1864 became a student in the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania and was graduated in 1867, after which he practiced in Millville and Di- viding Creek, and in the fall of 1870 moved to Camden.

He became connected with the Camden County and City Medical Societies in the same year, and at present he is president of the former. He is also a member of the State Medical Society.

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The history of Camden county, New Jersey, Part 44

Author: Prowell, George Reeser, 1849-1928 Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Philadelphia : Richards Number of Pages: 1220

Author: Prowell, George Reeser, 1849-1928
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : Richards
Number of Pages: 1220