USA > New Jersey > Camden County > The history of medicine and medical men of Camden County, New Jersey > Part 2
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In 1812 Dr. Francis Hover settled in Camden, but remained only a short time. He was a native of Salem County and received his license to practice medicine June 4, 1794. He began his professional career in his native town; from thence he removed to near Swedesboro', and then to Camden. From the latter place he returned to Swedes- boro'. In 1821 he changed his residence to Smyrna, Kent County, Del., where he died May 29, 1832.1
1 S. Wickes' History of Medicine in New Jersey.
For a few years Dr. John A. Elkinton was a co-laborer with Dr. Bowman Hendry in Haddonfield. He was a native of Port Elizabeth, Cumberland County, N. J., born October 19, 1801, and was the son of John and Rhoda Elkinton. Selecting the pro- fession of medicine, he attended lectures at the University of Pennsylvania, from which he graduated in 1822. He commenced the practice of medicine in Haddonfield, where he remained until 1828. Being an energetic and active man, this country place did not offer a wide enough field for him, so he removed to Manayunk, a suburb of Philadel- phia, where he resided for a short time. In the same year he moved into the city, where he continued in his profession. In the year 1832 he took an active part in combating the epidemic of cholera. He like- wise became interested in public affairs. For many years he was a member of the Phila- delphia Board of Health. In 1838 he was the projector of the Monument Cemetery in that city, and owned the ground upon which it was laid out. Afterward he was elected an alderman, when he gradually relinquished the practice of medicine. On October 5, 1830, he married Ann De Lamater. He died, December 15, 1853.
Dr. Edward Edwards Gongh practiced medicine in Tansboro' between 1826 and 1835. He was a native of Shropshire, Eng- land, in which country he acquired some knowledge of medicine. In 1824 he lived in Philadelphia, and there he married his wife, Elizabeth Dick. In 1826 he settled in Tansboro', and commenced the practice of medicine, his visits extending throughout the surrounding country. While living there he attended medical lectures at the Jefferson Medical College, but he never graduated. He died in Tansboro' in 1835. His widow is still living, in Indiana.
CAMDEN COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY .- Between the years 1844 and 1846 the phy- sicians of Camden County began to feel the
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need of a closer union. Scattered as they were, they but occasionally met ; sometimes they would pass each other on the road ; sometimes, where their practices overlapped, they would meet each other at a patient's house in mutual consultation.1 To accom- plish this desired object, a petition was drawn up and signed by the legal practitioners in the county for presentation to the New Jer- sey State Medical Society, asking for author- ity to organize a society. As the law then stood, no one was legally qualified to practice medicine, or capable of joining a medical so- ciety in New Jersey, unless he had passed an examination before a board of censors of the State Society, and received a license signed by the board.
In the year 1846 the State Society met at New Brunswick. The petition of the phy- sicians in Camden County being laid before it, they issued a commission, dated May 12, 1846, authorizing the following legally qual- ified persons to form a society, namely : Drs. Jacob P. Thornton and Charles D. Hendry, of Haddonfield ; Dr. James C. Risley, of Berlin ; and Drs. Richard M. Cooper, Oth- niel H. Taylor and Isaac S. Mulford, of Camden. In accordance with this authority, the above-named gentlemen, with the excep- tion of Dr. Mulford, who was detained by sickness, met at the hotel of Joseph C. Shivers, in Haddonfield, on August 14, 1846, and organized a society under the title of " The District Medical Society of the County of Camden, in the State of New Jersey." Dr. James C. Risley was elected president ; Dr. Othniel H. Taylor, vice-pres- ident ; Dr. Richard M. Cooper, secretary, and Dr. Jacob P. Thornton, treasurer. A con- stitution and by-laws were adopted similar to those of the State Society. At this meeting Drs. Thornton, Hendry, Taylor and Cooper were elected delegates to the State Society. A notice of the formation of the society was
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ordered to be published in the county news- papers.
Haddonfield was thus honored by having the first medical society in the county organ- ized within its limits. The rules of the State Society directed that county societies should hold their meetings at the county-seat, yet Haddonfield was not the seat of justice. The county of Camden had, in 1844, been set off from Gloucester County, and the courts of law were held in Camden, and the public records kept there, but the county- town had not been selected. The Legisla- ture had authorized an election to decide upon a permanent place for the public build- ings. The people were divided upon the subject. A most violent opposition had sprung up in the townships against their location in Camden, the majority of the people of the former desiring them to be built at Long-a-coming (now Berlin). It was during this contest that the society or- ganized, and Drs. Hendry and Risley, who had charge of the petition, had inserted in the commission the name of Haddonfield. The second meeting, which had been left subject to the call of the president, was also held in Haddonfield on March 30, 1847. At this meeting Dr. Mulford raised the question of the legality of the place of meeting, and a committee was thereupon appointed to lay the matter before the State Society, who de- cided that these meetings, although irregular, were not illegal, as the county-seat had not yet been definitely fixed) but directed that hereafter the meetings should be held in Cam- den.
The third meeting of the society was a special one, called by the president, and was held on June 15, 1847, at English's Hotel, which was situated at the northeast corner of Cooper and Point Streets, a building which has since been torn down and dwellings erected upon the site. At this time it was decided to hold semi-annual meetings: the annual one on the third Tuesday in June,
1 Dr. R. M. Cooper's MSS., History of Camden County Society.
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and the semi-annual on the third Tuesday in December. These were always punctually held until 1852, when, upon the motion of Dr. A. D. Woodruff, of Haddonfield, the semi-annual meeting in December was dis -. continued. On June 18, 1867, Dr. R. M. Cooper, chairman of the committee on by- laws, reported that the State Society having changed their day of assembling from Jan- uary to the third Tuesday in May, it would necessitate the election of delegates to that society eleven months before it met. The Camden County Society then changed the time of the annual meeting from June to the second Tuesday in May, and this rule still continues. For twenty years the semi-annual meetings had been discontinued, when, in May, 1873, Dr. N. B. Jennings, of Had- donfield, moved that they should be resumed. This was approved, and the second Tuesday in November named as the time for holding them. As the society increased in numbers and its proceedings became more interesting, the propriety of holding more frequent meet- ings began to be discussed, until, in 1884, Dr. E. L. B. Godfrey, of Camden, proposed a third meeting, on the second Tuesday in February of each year. This was adopted in the succeeding year.
At this, the third stated meeting of the society, in 1847, a resolution was passed that caused great excitement in the city and coun- ty of Camden. It read as follows :
" Resolved, That the names of all the regularly licensed practitioners in Camden County be pub- lished in one of the papers of the county, to- gether with the twelfth section of the law incor- porating the Medical Society of New Jersey."
This law imposed a fine and imprison- ment upon any one practicing medicine in the State without a license from the State Society. The insertion of this in a county paper caused the gravest anxiety among the few irregular practitioners and their patrons, and provoked from Dr. Lorenzo F. Fisler a long communication in the Camden Demo-
ocrat. Dr. Fisler, who had been practicing medicine in Camden since 1837, had not joined in organizing the County Medical Society, nor had he taken any part in it. He was a man of more than ordinary ability, active in public affairs and was at one time mayor of the city. He was a writer of considerable force. He took umbrage at be- ing inferentially placed in the illegal class, claiming that he had passed his examination before the board of censors of Salem County in 1825, and had received their certificate therefor, but had never presented it to the State Society for a license, and that the doc- ument had been mislaid or lost. Upon this the Camden County Society made inquiry of Dr. Charles Hannah, of the board of censors of Salem County. He replied that he had been a member of every board that had ever met in the county, and that Dr. Fisler had never received a license from it. The latter immediately went down to Port Elizabeth, Cumberland County, his native place, and among some old papers of his father's found the missing certificate, with Dr. Hannah's name among the signatures. After the dis- covery of this document the society held a special meeting on September 2, 1847, and prepared an address to the public,. explaining their reasons for falling into the error, and disclaiming any unfriendly feeling towards Dr. Fisler.1 Although the doctor obtained the required license from the State Society, he ever after held aloof from it, and never joined the Camden County Medical Society.
In the year 1816 the New Jersey State Medical Society had obtained from the State a new charter, which gave them exclusive jurisdiction over the medical profession in it, with a power of license which alone qualified a person to legally practice medicine. In ac- cordance with this enactment, the State So- ciety appointed boards of censors for differ-
1 Dr. R. M. Cooper's MSS., History Camden County Medical Society.
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ent districts. It was the duty of these boards to examine all applications for mem- bership in the society, and also to examine any one desiring a license to practice, as to his professional qualifications, and if he passed successfully to issue to him a certificate. No one, not even graduates of medical col- leges, was exempt from this examination, un- til the year 1851, when the Legislature passed an amendment to the act of 1816, authorizing the graduates of certain colleges, which were named, to practice medicine in New Jersey by merely exhibiting their diplomas to the president of the State Society, who thereupon was directed to give them a license, which was complete upon its being recorded in the clerk's office of the county wherein the recipient intended to practice, and upon the payment of a fee of fivedollars. Du- ring the period between the organization of the Camden County Medical Society and the passage of this law its board of censors ex- amined thirteen physicians, some of whom were to practice elsewhere in New Jersey. Their names were,-
Examined. Name. Location.
1848. Dr. Bowman Hendry, Camden County.
1848. Dr. A. Dickinson Woodruff, Camden County.
1848. Dr. Daniel M. Stout, Camden County.
1848. Dr. William Elmer,
Cumberland County.
1848. Dr. T. Barron Potter, Cumberland County.
1848. Dr. Theophilus Patterson,
Salem County.
1848. Dr. Edward J. Record,
Camden County. Hudson County.
1849. Dr. John J. Jessup, Atlantic County.
1849. Dr. John W. Snowden,
Camden County .
1850. Dr. Thomas F. Cullen,
Camden County.
1850. Dr. Sylvester Birdsell,
Camden County.
1850. Dr. Jacob Grigg,
Camden County.
Another amendment was enacted by the Legislature in 1854, which permitted a grad- uate of any medical college to practice medi- cine in the State by merely filing his diplo- ma in the clerk's office of the county in which he located. Upon the passage of this law the Camden County Society required, as an eligibility to membership, that the applicant should procure a diploma from the State So-
ciety. This rule continued in force until 1866, the centennial aniversary of the latter society, which had the year previous surren- dered its old charter and obtained a new one which relinquished all powers of licensure. Since then and up to the present time any physician, a resident in the county one year, may apply for membership in the Camden County Medical Society. His application is referred to the board of censors, who report at the next meeting. If he is found to be of good moral character and possesses the professional qualifications required by the American Medical Association, he is recom- mended for election.
The constitution of the society provided that the officers should be elected annually. It was intended to re-elect yearly those who were first placed in office. Dr. Risley was continued as president until a special meet- ing in 1849, when his office was declared va- cant in consequence of a tardiness in settling his financial accounts with the society. Al- though these were afterwards satisfactorily adjusted, he withdrew fron it, and Dr. Isaac S. Mulford was elected to fill the vacancy. Dr. O. H. Taylor, who was the first vice- president, and Dr. R. M. Cooper, the first secretary, were continued until 1850. Dr. Jacob P. Thornton was the first treasurer but he does not appear to have attended the meetings regularly, and in 1848 Dr. Cooper was elected to fill his place. At the meeting held in June, 1850, Dr. Bowman Hendry moved that the president and vice-president be eligible for election for only two years in succession and the by-laws were so amended. In June, 1854, the words "two (2) years in succession " were erased and "one year " substituted. This was done to open the of- fices to new and younger members ; conse- quently, since that date these two officials have held their position for one year, a plan that has proved to be satisfactory and still continues. Dr. Cooper, the first secretary and treasurer, held these offices until 1852,
1849. Dr. Theodore Varrick,
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when he was succeeded by Dr. Thomas F. Cullen, who occupied them for two years ; then Dr. Richard C. Dean filled them from 1855 to 1857; Dr. John V. Schenck, in 1858; and Dr. Henry Ackley from the latter date until 1861. At this time the society had be- come a permanent institution. It had never failed to hold a meeting at the appointed time. Valuable medical and historical pa- pers were accumulating and the want of a suitable person who would permanently take care of them was keenly felt. It was there- fore determined that while under the consti- tution the secretary must be elected annually, it would be well to re-elect him so long as he should satisfactorily perform his duties and would accept the office. Dr. H. Genet Taylor, a young graduate in medicine, who had joined the society the year previous, was elected, and has been continuously re-elected, faithfully performing the duties of his office for twenty-five years up to the present time. During the Civil War he was absent serving his country as surgeon in the Army of the Potomac in the years 1862 and 1863, and in 1865 he was president of the society, when his duties were performed by a secretary pro tempore. Dr. Taylor was treasurer as well as secretary until 1874, when the two offices were separated and Dr. Isaac B. Mulford was made treasurer. This he held until his death, in 1882, when Dr. Alexander Mecray, the present incumbent, was elected to fill the vacancy.
In a few years after the formation of the society there arose a need of collecting each year the medical history of the people and the hygienic condition of the county. At a meeting held June 18, 1852, Dr. Edward J. Record made a motion that a committee of three be appointed " to report of the diseases incident in the county and also interesting cases that may come under their notice." The committee were Drs. O. H. Taylor, A. D. Woodruff and E. J. Record. At the next meeting, in 1853, the name of " Stand-
ing Committee " was given to it and eachı member was requested to transmit to the chairman of it any interesting cases occurring in his practice. Dr. O. H. Taylor was its first chairman. The members of this con- mittee were frequently changed, its number remaining the same until 1875, when it was increased to five members. In 1878 Dr. John W. Snowden was elected chair- man and has been continued until now.
The Camden County Medical Society is entitled to representation in the State Society by delegates to the number of three at large, and one additional for every ten members. It also sends delegates to the American Med- ical Association and to the neighboring dis- trict societies in this State.
One of the most interesting proceedings of the early days of the society was the ordering, in 1851, of an enumeration of all the physi- cians practicing in the county. The com- mittee appointed for that purpose reported at the meeting held June 15, 1852, that the total number was twenty-seven. Of these, one was a botanical, or herb doctor, who was not entitled to, nor did he claim, the privi- leges of an educated physician. Two were homœopaths, one of whom was a graduate of a regular college, and was a licentiate under the law of 1851. The remaining twenty- four were graduates of accepted medical col- leges, twenty-two of them holding licenses from the State Society, although five had ne- glected to register their names in the clerk's office, in accordance with the provisions of the new law. The names of all these doctors have not been preserved. In the year 1872 another census of the county was taken by direction of the society. A report made to it at the annual meeting held on the 14th of May, in that year, stated that the total num- ber of practicing physicians was fifty-three. Of this number, thirty-three were " regular graduates, practicing as such, one regular, but practicing homœopathy at times." There were thirteen professed homœopaths and five
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eclecties. The regular physicians were lo- cated as follows: Twenty-one in Camden City, four in Haddonfield, three in Black- wood, three in Gloucester City, one near Waterford and one in Berlin.
The Camden County Medical Society has always taken an active interest in such pub- lie affairs as legitimately came within its province, and were calculated to be of bene- fit to the county or State, and has never failed to throw its influence in behalf of whatever might conduce to the public wel- fare. As early as 1854 Dr. John W. Snow- den introduced into the society a resolution " that the delegates of this society are hereby instructed to suggest at the next meeting of the State Society the propriety of an appli- cation to the next Legislature for such mod- ification of the present law as shall enforce the registration of all the marriages, births and deaths occurring in the State." This measure has since that time been acted upon by the Legislature of New Jersey, and an efficient system of recording these data is now in operation.
The next publie event that aroused the society was the breaking out of the great Rebellion in 1861, and the calling for troops by the government. To this call the response was prompt. Of the eighteen physicians whose names were registered on the roll of its members at the close of the Civil War, five had enlisted in the service of their country : Doctors Richard C. Dean and Henry Ackley had entered the navy, Doctors H. Genet Taylor and Bowman Hendry in the army, and Dr. John R. Stevenson, in the Provost Marshal General's Department, all as sur- geons. The two in the navy were still on its rolls, having engaged for a life-service. The three who had been in the volunteer service all had honorable discharges.
The society keeps a careful guardianship over its county interests. It having been reported, in 1879, that the Board of Chosen Freehold- ers had inadvertently appointed an incompe-
tent man as resident physician of the County Insane Asylum, at a meeting held May 12th, of that year, Dr. James M. Ridge "moved the appointment of a committee to report what action is, in their opinion, advisable for this society to take in reference to the ap- pointment." Doctors James M. Ridge, Alexander Marcy, N. B. Jennings, D. Ben- jamin, E. B. Woolston, D. P. Pancoast and H. Genet Taylor were appointed. At the next meeting of the society, held November 11th, of that year, the committee reported that they had held a meeting upon June 4th, and had appointed a sub-committee, consist- ing of Doctors D. Benjamin and O. B. Gross, to attend the meeting of the committee of the Board of Freeholders at Blackwood, and that the latter had superseded the late medi- cal incumbent, and had appointed Dr. Jona J. Comfort, a former member of the society, as resident physician of the Insane Asylum. It also recommended that a number of phy- sicians, members of the society, be appointed to visit the asylum, in order that it might be more properly under their inspection. A vote of thanks was tendered to Director Isaac Nicholson, of the Board of Freeholders, and to the members connected with him, for their assistance in procuring the desired change. Dr. Henry E. Branin, of Blackwood, at present has charge of the County Asylum and Almshouse.
A notable feature of the meetings of the Camden County Medical Society is the social gathering which accompanies them. The hour of assembling was, at one time, twelve o'clock, noon, but now it is eleven A.M. After the business is disposed of, a collation is par- taken of, at the expense of the society. It is the custom to invite to these a number of distinguished physicians from other places, who have previously joined in the discussions upon scientific and medical subjects, and have given the members the benefit of their knowl- edge and experience. The meetings have always been held at hotels, where suitable ac-
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commodations could be obtained. As was previously stated, the first two were held at the house of Joseph C. Shivers, in Haddon- field. The next meeting was held at the hotel of Israel English, at the foot of Coop- er Street, and when Mr. English became the landlord of the West Jersey Hotel, the so- ciety followed him to it. Between 1855 and 1857, inclusive, they were transferred to the hotel of James Elwell, at the foot of Bridge Avenue. This building has been demolished, and the site is now occupied by the offices of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. The annual meeting of June 21, 1859, was held at the hotel at Ellisburg, then kept by Stacy Stockton. Returning to the West Jersey Hotel, this continued to be the favorite place until the retirement of Mr. English as hest. Mr. Samuel Archer, who then kept the old house at Cooper's Point, having offered to provide a suitable entertainment, and the Camden and Atlantic Railroad Company proffering the use of their rooms adjoining, for meeting purposes, the society met there from 1873 to 1880. Since then the meetings have been beld three times at Gloucester (Buena Vista House and Thompson's Ho- tel), but otherwise at the West Jersey Hotel.
The expenses incurred by the society were met by an assessment upon each member for a pro-rata share of them, until the death of Dr. R. M. Cooper, in 1874. In his will, which was dated April 28, 1874, and pro- bated June 4th, of the same year, was the following clause, " I give and bequeath to the Camden County District Medical Society, of which I have been a member since its commencement, the sum of three thousand dollars, to be invested by the said Society in the loans of the United States, the State of New Jersey, or the City and County of Cam- den or some other public loan, and the in- terest of said sum to be used by the said So- ciety in the payment of the expenses ordina- rily incurred by the said Society. In case
my executors should think proper to pay said legacy in any securities belonging to my estate, bearing interest at their market value, I do authorize and direct them to pay said legacy in such securities instead of cash." To accept of this legacy, the society, at a meeting held May 10, 1875, determined to appoint two trustees, one for one year and one for two years, who, with the treasurer, should constitute a board of finance. These were elected the succeeding year, and were Dr. John V. Schenck for two years, Dr. Thomas F. Cullen for one year, and Dr. Isaac B. Mulford, treasurer. . Dr. Cooper's executors set aside three one thousand dollar seven per cent. bonds of the West Jersey Railroad Company, which were left with, and are still in the possession of, John W. Wright, who is one of them, who pays the interest as it becomes due.
The New Jersey State Medical Society has three times met as the guests of the Camden County Society. The first time in 1849, when the semi-annual meeting of the former society convened at Elwell's Hotel, on November 13th of that year. The annual meeting, in January, 1864, was held in Camden, at Mor- gan's Hall, on the corner of Fourth and Mar- ket Streets. The reception committee were Drs. R. M. Cooper, T. F. Cullen, J. V. Schenck, O. H. Taylor and A. D. Woodruff. They found great difficulty in finding hotel accommodations for members, some of whom had to go to Philadelphia to secure them. The expenses incurred by the committee were paid by Dr. R. M. Cooper out of his private funds.
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