USA > New Jersey > Camden County > The history of medicine and medical men of Camden County, New Jersey > Part 7
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7
JACOB GRIGG is of English descent. His grandfather, Rev. Jacob Grigg, was a Baptist missionary, sent from England to Sierra Leone, Africa, but his health failing, he sailed for America. His son, Dr. John R. Grigg, the father of Dr. Jacob Grigg, practiced med- icine at White Marsh, Pennsylvania, where the latter was born, June 23, 1821. He read medicine with his father, and received his diploma from the University of Pennsylva- nia in 1843. In the same year he married Mary, daughter of John Bruner, of Mont- gomery County, in that State, in the mean- while practicing medicine in conjunction with his father. In 1844 Dr. Jacob Grigg removed to Bucks County, and from thence, in 1849, to Blackwood, in Camden County, New Jer- sey. On June 18, 1849, the board of censors of the Camden County Medical Society re-
.
34
ported that Dr. Grigg had passed a successful examination and had received a license to practice in the State. At the semi-annual meeting of the society, held December 19th of that year, he was elected a member. He was burned out in 1852 and removed to Pennsylvania, at which time his name was dropped from the roll of the society. Re- turning in a few months to Camden County, he remained until 1857, when he left this county. and settled in the adjoining one of Burlington. His present residence is Mt. Holly.
ROBERT M. SMALLWOOD belonged to an old Gloucester County family. He was the son of John C. and Mary Smallwood, of Woodbury, and was born August 20, 1827. Adopting the profession of medicine, he en- tered the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated in 1849. He at once located in Chews Landing and continued in practice there for two years. He joined the Camden County Medical Society June 19, 1849. In the year 1851 he entered the United States Navy, and in 1852 was assigned to duty upon the ship " Levant" and sailed for the Mediterra- nean. While upon this cruise his health failed him, and returning home, he died of phthisis, February 8, 1856. He married Mrs. Mary A. F. Gest in 1850, and had four children.
JOHN I. JESSUP .- At a meeting of the Camden County Medical Society held at Camden, June 19, 1849, the society adjourned for a few hours to give the " board of censors an opportunity to examine candidates for a license to practice medicine in the State." At half-past two o'clock Dr. Isaac S. Mulford, president of the board, reported that after a satisfactory examination they had granted licenses to "Dr. Theodore H. Varick, of Hudson County ; Dr. John I. Jessup, of At- lantic County ; and Dr. John W. Snowden, of Camden County." At the semi-annual meeting, held on December 18th, of this year, Dr. Jessup was elected a member of the
society. He was a grandson of Josiah Albert- son, who kept the old hotel in Blue Anchor from 1812 until the Camden and Atlantic Railroad was built, in 1852.
Dr. Jessup graduated at the Jefferson Med- ical College in 1848, and seems to have prac- ticed for a short time in Camden County. Soon after joining its society he removed to Somers Point, in Atlantic County. In 1852 he became prostrated by phthisis, which caused him to return to Blue Anchor, where he soon afterwards died.1
SYLVESTER BIRDSELL'S parentage was of Pennsylvania origin. His father, James Birdsell, married Mary Pyle, both of Ches- ter County, in that State. Their son Syl- vester was, however, born in Baltimore, Md., August 21, 1824. He was of a studious turn of mind, and taught school while at- tending medical lectures at the Jefferson Medical College, from which he graduated in 1848. Dr. Birdsell commenced the prac- tice of medicine at Point Pleasant, Bucks County, Pa. In 1850 he moved to what was then known as South Camden, N. J., where he opened a drug store and began practicing medicine. In the same year he joined the County Medical Society, becoming its presi- dent in 1858. He was one of the organizers of the city society. His knowledge and ability secured for him a professorship in the "Woman's Medical College " of Philadel- phia, a position he held for some time. Dr. Birdsell married Jane B. Laird, whose death preceded by several years his own, which oc- curred May 29, 1883. He was buried in Evergreen Cemetery. He left two daugh- ters and one son, Rudolph W. Birdsell, who for a long time has been connected with the Camden Fire Insurance Association.
WILLIAM G. THOMAS was born in Phila- delphia, January 16, 1826. He was the son of Stephen and Sallie Thomas. He com- menced the study of medicine in Columbia,
1 Somers' " Medical History of Atlantic County."
35
Lancaster County, Pa., under Dr. Filbert, of that place, and attended medical lectures at the Pennsylvania Medical College, in Phila- delphia, from which he graduated in 1854. Although the law did not then require it, he passed an examination before the board of censors of the New Jersey State Medical Society, at Trenton, on May 14, 1854, and then began the practice of medicine in Cam- den. He became a member of the Camden County Medical Society in 1857. He had joined the city society upon his location in Camden and had taken an active interest in its proceedings. Dr. Thomas died of dysen- tery August 17, 1858. He had a hard strug- gle during his short professional career in Camden and after his death the city society paid his funeral expenses. He married, February 7, 1854, Margaret Cramsie, of Phil- adelphia, and left one child.
The three following physicians all practiced in Blackwood, but none of them were ever connected with either the Camden County or City Medical Societies. DR. WILLIAM HOLMES located there between 1845 and 1847. Although he is said to have graduated at the University of Pennsylvania, his name is not in the list of graduates of that institution. He removed to Greenwich, N. J. DR. F. RIDGELEY GRAHAM was a physician in the same town between 1850 and 1858. He was a native of Chillicothe, O., where he began the study of medicine, completing his education at the Jefferson Medical College, from which he graduated in 1850. He removed to Ches- ter, Pa. The third one was DR. ALEX- ANDER J. MCKELWAY, son of Dr. John McKelway, of Trenton, N. J., who was born in Scotland December 6, 1813. He graduat- ed at the Jefferson Medical College in 1834. Between the years 1858 and 1861 he pursued his profession in Blackwood. On September 14th of the latter year he entered the volun- teer service as surgeon of the Eighth New Jersey Regiment and continued with it until April 7, 1864, when he.resigned. He died
at Williamstown, Gloucester County, N. J., November 8, 1885.
Within the same decade DR. JESSE S. ZANE SELLERS, son of Jesse and Rebecca Sellers, of Philadelphia, opened an office in Camden. He had received his medical education at the University of Pennsylvania, from which institution he graduated in 1852. He be- came a member of the Camden City Medical Society in September, 1854, and faithfully served through the cholera epidemic of that autumn. Soon afterward he removed to Minnesota and engaged in mining. He lived only a few years after his removal to the West.
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE JENNINGS Was twenty-eight years a member of the Camden County Medical Society and was its president in 1861. He died of phthisis at Haddon- field, April 17, 1885. The doctor was the son of Stacy and Sarah Jennings, and was born at Manahawkin, N. J., April 22, 1831. He was educated at the Woodstock Academy, Connecticut, and then entered the office of Dr. Budd, of Medford, N. J., to pursue the study of medicine, and graduated at the Jef- ferson Medical College, of Philadelphia, in 1856. He immediately entered upon the practice of medicine in Haddonfield, where he soon gained the confidence of the com- munity by his professional attainments and his excellent social qualities. He was pos- sessed of a singularly genial nature, which overflowed in kindness to all and gained for him the universal good will of the communi- ty in which he lived and practiced for nearly thirty years, and attained for him one of the largest practices ever secured by a physician in West Jersey.
He married Mary, daughter of Joshua P. and Amelia Browning, of Haddonfield, who survives him with a family of seven children. He was a consistent member of the Protest- ant Episcopal Church.
HENRY ACKLEY virtually belonged to Camden, although born in Philadelphia, Jan-
36
uary 29, 1837. His grandfather, Thomas Ackley, as early as 1800, kept the old store at the foot of Federal Street, which was demolished a few years ago. His mother, née Barclay, the widow of Lieutenant-Comman- der McCauley, United States Navy, married Thomas Ackley, cashier of the State Bank at Camden. Dr. Ackley received a liberal education, and studied medicine with Pro- fessors E. Wallace and William Keating, of Philadelphia, and graduated at the Jefferson Medical College in 1858. He began prac- tice in Camden and joined the county and city societies, and was secretary of the former in 1859 and 1860. At the commencement of the Civil War he entered the United States Navy, as surgeon, on July 20, 1861, and was assigned to duty in the Philadelphia Navy-Yard. Towards the close of the year he was ordered to the United States ship " Wissahickon," of the East Gulf Blockad- ing Squadron, and served under Admiral Porter in the capture of New Orleans and in the campaign against Vicksburg. In 1863 he was transferred to the flag-ship " San Jacinto," and was acting surgeon-in- chief of the squadron. While on this vessel he was attacked with yellow fever, which so impaired his naturally feeble constitution that he was ordered to the United States receiving ship "Vermont," at New York, in 1864. He died in Camden, of phthisis, December 1, 1865. The year previous he married Sallie, daughter of Hon. Richard Wilkins, of Camden. He left one son, who died in infancy.
WILLIAM S. BISHOP, surgeon of the United States Navy, an honorary member of the Camden County Medical Society, died De- cember 28, 1868. Dr. Bishop was connected with the navy from an early period of his professional life. He had seen service in most parts of the globe. Several years ago, while on duty with the squadron on the coast of Africa, he suffered from a severe at- tack of coast fever, from the effects of which
he never entirely recovered. He was pro nounced by a medical commission unfit for further sea service, but was employed on shore duty at the various naval stations. At the breaking out of the Rebellion Dr. Bishop was on duty at the navy-yard at Pensacola, Fla., where, in common with the other naval officers, he was obliged to give his parole not to engage in service against the Confederacy before he was permitted to return North. When not employed in service, he resided in Camden for a number of years previous to his death. Shortly after his return to the latter place he was ordered to the navy-yard at Mare Island, in California, where he re- mained during the whole period of the war. He came home much impaired in health, but was employed again on naval medical com- missions of great responsibility ; he was finally ordered to the United States Naval Asylum, at Philadelphia, as chief surgeon, at which post he died on December 28, 1868, of a complication of diseases, ending in general dropsy.1 Dr. Bishop was a member of the Camden City Society as well as the County Society.
THOMAS J. SMITH became a member of the Camden County Medical Society on June 18, 1867. He was born in Salem, N. J., April 21, 1841, and is the son of Peter and Elizabeth Smith. He was educated at Williams College, Massachusetts, graduating in 1862. He attended medical lectures in the University of Pennsylvania, and received his degree of M.D. in March, 1866. He began the practice of medicine in Camden. He joined the Camden City Medical Society in March, 1867, and became its secretary the same year, continuing in office until his re- moval to Bridgeton, early in the year 1868. Dr. Smith is a member of the New Jersey State Medical Society and is chairman of its standing committee. He married, March 28, 1871, Mary L., daughter of Rev. Elisha V.
1 Transactions of New Jersey State Medical Society, 1869.
37
and Matilda B. Glover, of Haddonfield. Dr. Smith is a prominent practitioner in Bridge- ton.
JOSEPH W. MCCULLOUGH fell a victim to the severest epidemic of typhus fever that ever attacked the almshouse in Blackwood, Camden County, literally dying at his post of duty, of that disease, March 15, 1881, after a service of nine years as attending physician at that institution. He was the son of Andrew and Eunice Mccullough, and was born in Wilmington, Del., August 12, 1837. He studied medicine with Dr. Chand- ler, of that city, and graduated at the Jeffer- son Medical College in 1860. When the Civil War broke out, in 1861, he was one of the first to offer his services to the govern- ment, and was appointed surgeon of the First Delaware Regiment. After the close of the war he joined the regular army, and was sent to New Orleans, and thence to Alabama. In consequence of impaired health he resign- ed, and in 1866 located as a practitioner of medicine at Blackwood. In 1880 he and Dr. Brannin, his co-laborer, were appointed phy- sicians to the County Insane Asylum. Dr. Mccullough joined the Camden County Medical Society in 1871. He married, March 9, 1876, Sarah E., only daughter of Richard C. Stevenson, of Blackwood. His widow and two children survive him.
CHARLES F. CLARKE practiced medicine for over forty years in Gloucester County. He retired in 1868 and moved to Camden, becoming an honorary member of the City Society in 1869 and continuing his connec- tion with it until his death, in 1875. He was" born near Paulsboro', Gloucester County, N. J., August 12, 1800. He was educated at Woodbury and at Burlington, and then entered the counting-room of Mr. Hollings- head, in Philadelphia. In the year 1820, being in poor health, he went as supercargo to the West Indies : returning, he commenced the study of medicine and graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1823. In
connection with his cousin, Dr. John Y. Clarke, of Philadelphia, he opened a drug store at the corner of Fifth and Race Streets, in that city. This he soon abandoned, and then began the practice of medicine in Clarksboro', Gloucester County, N. J., thence he went to Paulsboro', and in 1835 to Wood- bury, in the same county, where he lived for thirty-two years and attended to the largest practice in that section of the county. Dr. Clarke accumulated a considerable fortune. One of his daughters, Eva C., married Dr. Randall W. Morgan. His son, Dr. Henry C. Clarke, succeeded to his father's practice and is one of the leading physicians in Gloucester County.
RANDAL W. MORGAN was born near Blackwoodtown, Camden County, June 5, 1848, and was a son of Randal E. and Mary (Willard) Morgan. He attended the West Jersey Academy, at Bridgeton, and later the University of Lewisburgh, Pa. In 1864 he was appointed midshipman at the Naval Academy at Annapolis, which position he was obliged to resign because of an attack of typhoid fever, from which he never fully re- covered. Shortly afterward he commenced his medical studies under Dr. Brannin, of Blackwoodtown, continuing them at the University of Pennsylvania, and graduating from that institution in 1870. Two years later he took the degree of Doctor of Phil- osophy. In 1877 he was elected county physician, an office he held for five years. During the small-pox epidemic, in 1872, he had charge of the small-pox hospital, and labored unselfishly among the victims of that disease. In 1881, much broken in health, he sailed for Europe, and was much benefited by his sojourn there ; but upon returning to practice soon succumbed again to ill health, and in August, 1883, was obliged to re- linquish the duties of his profession. He sailed again for Europe in 1884, intending, while there, to visit some of the hospitals in the cholera-infested portions of France and
1
38
Italy, but, owing to aggravation of his mala- dies, abandoned the project, and sailing for home, died when three days out from Liver- pool, October 20, 1884.
Dr. Morgan was a very active man, dili- gent in the practice of his profession, studious and quite successful. Speaking of his skillful management of the small-pox hos- pital, heretofore alluded to, Dr. R. M. Cooper, in his report to the New Jersey State Medical Society, said : “ We have obtained (from Dr. Morgan) some valuable statistics in regard to the disease and its mode of treatment ; and it is but just to him to state that the ratio of mortality of the cases under his care compare very favorably with other small-pox hospitals."
He carried on for several years a drug- store, and was a member of both the Camden County and Camden City Medical Societies.
He was married January 15, 1876, to Eva, daughter of Dr. Charles F. Clarke, late of Camden, who survives him.
JAMES A. ARMSTRONG was born in Phila- delphia, June 12, 1835, and was the son of James and Mary Armstrong. He was edu- cated in the public schools, and graduated from the Philadelphia High School. He engaged in the drug business and obtained a diploma from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy in 1855, and then purchased a drug store at the corner of Fourth and Thompson Streets, in his native city. Subse- quently he studied medicine, graduating from the University of Pennsylvania in 1861. In September of the latter year Dr. Armstrong was appointed assistant surgeon in a Penn- sylvania regiment, and was assigned to the Army of the Potomac, in Virginia. After three years of military duty in the field he returned home, and was attached to the Satterlee Hospital until the close of the war. He then removed to Camden, and purchased a drug store on Federal Street, above Third, which he afterwards moved to Market, above the same street. In a few years he relin-
quished the drug business, began the practice of medicine and joined the Camden County Medical Society in 1876. He was surgical examiner for pensions in Camden since the close of the war, and when the United States Board of Pensions was established in that city, in 1884, he was appointed one of its three members. In 1871 he was coroner of Camden City. Dr. Armstrong was an elder in the Presbyterian Church. He died of apoplexy on October 30, 1885, leaving a widow and three daughters.
J. NEWTON ACHUFF was a native of Germantown, Pa. He commenced his medi- cal education with Dr. Lemuel J. Deal, of Philadelphia, and completed it at the Jeffer- son Medical College, graduating in 1867. He at once commenced the practice of his profession in South Camden, and in the same year (1867) joined both the Camden City and County Societies. He was at once appointed a visiting physician of the Camden City Dis- pensary. In the year 1869 he left Camden and entered the service of the government as a contract surgeon, and was assigned to duty in Alaska, and subsequently in California, in which State he died about 1872.
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,
39
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.
1 Transactions New Jersey State Medical Society, 1883.
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 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.
.
R285
Sxx
Stevensoy
History of Medicine- Camden-N.J.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.