History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 65

Author: Ashmead, Henry Graham, 1838-1920
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1150

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Quite early in our annals statutory provision was made respecting the professions, for in the Duke of York's Book of Laws it was declared, so far as this colony was concerned, in 1676, --

"That no Person ar Persons whatsoever Employed about the Bed of Men, women or Children, at any time for preservation of Life or health as Chirurgions, Medicines, Physicians or others, presumo to Exercise or put forth any Arte Contrary to the knowu approved Rules of Art in such mistery or Occupation, or Exercise any force, violence or Cruelty upon, or to the Bodice of any whether Yonng or old ; without the advice and Counsell of the euch as are skillfull in the same Art (if such may be had) or at least of some of the wisest and gravest then present and Con- sent of the patient or patients, if they be Mentis Compotes; mnuch less Contrary to auch Advice and Consent upou such severe punishment as the nature Of the fault may deserve, which Law nevertheless, is not intended to discourage any from all Lawful use of their skill but rather to encourage and direct them in the right use thereof, and to iohabit and restrain the presumptione arogancy of such as through Confidence of their own skill, or any sinister Respect dare bouldly attempt to Exer- cise any violence upon or toward the body of young or old, one or other, to the prejudice or hazard of the Life or Limb of man, woman or child." @

In 1678/9 Dr. Thomas Spry was a witness in at case tried at Upland on March 12th of that year.

In the Journal of Sluyters and Dankers," who visited Tinicum in 1679, it is stated that they met at that island Otto Earnest Cock, a Swede, whom they speak of as "late medicus," indicating that he had been, but was not then, a practicing physician. Before that date, however, we find that at the court held at Upland, Aug. 24, 1672, a petition was pre- sented from certain residents of Amasland, which clearly indicates that the midwife who gave to that

1 It may be questioned whether the date giveu as of Dr. Stiddem's arrival is not erroneons. In the deposition of John Thickpenny ( Now Haven Colonial Record, vol. i. p. 106) it is stated that while George Lamberton and the English settlers, who had been expelled from New Jersey hy Governor Printz in 1643, were at Tinicum, Printz's wife and Timothy, the barber (surgeon), strove to get John Woollen drunk by furnishing him a quantity of wine and strong heer, with the intention, while he was intoxicated, of making him say that George Lamberton " had hired the Indians to cut off the Swedes." If the doctor who came with Printz was " Timothy" Stiddem, then he was in New Sweden teu years before the date given in the text, which is the time mentioned by Professor Keen as the probable date of the doctor'e arrival on the Dela- ware. (" Descendants of Joran Kyo," Penna. Mag. of Hist., vol. iii. p. 337.)

2 " Documents relating to the History of the Dutch and Swedish Settle- ments on Delaware River," vol. xii. p. 424.

3 Penna. Archives, 2d series, vol. vii. p. 697.

4 " Descendants of Joran Kyn," by Professor G. B. Keen, Penna. Mag. of Hist., vol. iii. p. 339 (note).

5 " Documentary History of New York," Penna. Archives, 2d eeries, vol. v. p. 288.

6 Penna. Archives, 2d series, vol. v. p. 305 ..

7 History of Philadelphia, chap. lii. (Sunday Dispatch).

8 Duke of York's Book of Laws, p. 20.

9 Journal of Voyage to New York in 1679-80; Memoirs of the Long Island Historical Society, vol. i. p. 177.

255

PHYSICIANS AND MEDICAL SOCIETIES.

place the name it still has was located in Ridley pre- vious to that year.1 Hence from the number of phy- sicians, or "practioners of physick," already shown to be present in the colony previous to the year 1698, the remark of Gabriel Thomas was hardly true even at that time, that " of lawyers and physicians I shall say nothing, because this country is very peaceable and healthy. Long may it so continue, and never have occasion for the tongue of one nor the pen of the other, both equally destructive to men's estate and lives, besides, forsooth, they hang-men like have a license to murder and make mischief."

Dr. John Goodsonn was a physician in Chester in 1681.2 He was termed " Chirurgeon to the Society of Free Traders," came from London, and settled in Upland for a short time previous to the first visit of William Penn. He subsequently removed to Phila- delphia. Dr. Smith states he " was probably the first practicing physician in Pennsylvania."3 In this re- mark, however, the author quoted is incorrect. In 1694, Dr. Goodsonn was appointed Deputy Governor under William Markham, his commission being signed by William Penn. He resided in Philadel- phia in 1690, for his letter to William Penn is dated from that city, 20th of Sixth month of that year.4 Prior to 1700, Joseph Richards is mentioned as a physician at Chester, where he owned real estate.5

The records of the physicians who practiced in this county during the last century can only be gathered from old letters or accounts filed in estate in the Orphans' Court, where sometimes the physician's name is given among the claims paid.

Isaac Taylor, who had been formerly sheriff of Bucks County in 1693, and was a noted surveyor in primitive days, "at the time of his death was a resi- dent of Tinicum Island, practising the art of surgery." The statement of Professor Keen, just quoted, is di- rectly opposed by that of Gilbert Cope,6 who tells us Dr. Taylor died in Thornbury in 1728. Dr. Isaac Taylor's son John we know was a surveyor and play- sician, as his father had been, but in 1740 lie embarked in the iron business, erected the noted Sarum Forge, at the present Glen Mills, on Chester Creek.

We learn from a petition on file in West Chester that in November, 1736, Alexander Gandonett was located in Chester, and he describes himself as a " Practioner in Physyck." He asked the court to grant him a license for the sale of liquor. He states :

" Your Petitioner, by way of his Practice, is Obliged to Distill several sorts of Cordiall writers and it being often Requested by several of the

inhabitants of this County to sell the same by small measure your Peti- tioner Conceiving that the same be of absolute necessity by way of his Practice yet that it may be Considered to be within the Act of Assem- bly for selling liquor by small prays your honours for the premises."

His application was recommended by Joseph Par- ker (the clerk of the court), John Salkeld, Thomas Cummings, Joseph Hoskins, John Wharton, and thirteen others, most of whom resided in Chester, or close in the vicinity of the borough, and were all prominent citizens. The court, however, did not im- mediately take action on the petition, for it is in- dorsed, "Referred to further Consideration." After this we learn nothing further of the fate of his " Cor- diall waters." The doctor we know was in practice in Chester in January, 1747, for at that time he asked payment from the province for medicine and attend- ance on the sick soldiers of Capt. Shannon's company quartered there.

John Paschall, who is said to have been born in Darby, about 1706, was never regularly educated for the profession, but he acquired considerable medical and chemical knowledge, which made him conspic- uous in his day. He practiced medicine in the county, residing at Darby, and prepared a nostrum called "The Golden Elixer," which was widely advertised as "Paschall's Golden Drops." He died at Darby in 1779, aged about seventy-three years.

Dr. Jonathan Morris was born in Marple, May 17, 1729. He studied under Dr. Bard, of Philadelphia, and after he had graduated located in Marple, where he practiced until near the close of his life, which was extended until within one month of his ninetieth year.

In St. Paul's churchyard, in the city of Chester, is a slab of marble lying lengthwise, which bears this inscription :

" Here lies PAUL JACKSON, A.M. He was the first who received a Degree In the College of Philadelphia. A man of virtue, worth and knowledge. DIED 1767, AQEN 36 YEARS."

Paul Jackson, whose remains repose in the vault covered by this slab, was not only prominent as a physician, soldier, linguist, and chief burgess of Ches- ter at a time when that office was one of great honor, but in his short life had become distinguished as one of the most accomplished scholars in the colony. He was of Scotch-Irish parentage, and became Professor of Languages in the College of Philadelphia (now the University of Pennsylvania). " His Latin composi- tions, which were published, secured for him a repu- tation for correct taste and accurate scholarship." 7

His studious application impaired his health, and when Gen. Forbes led the expedition against Fort Du Quesne he was appointed, May 11, 1758, captain of the Third Battalion of the Pennsylvania Regiment (Gov- ernor William Denny, colonel).8 His active life as a

1 " Amaslaod was first called Amma's land. A midwife formerly lived at the place where Archer's farm now is, heoce that place, and subse- quently the whole tract around it, received the name of Amman's Land, now Amas Land."-Acrelius' History of New Sweden, p. 204; Record of Upland Court, p. 65.

2 Colonial Records, vol. i. p. 429.

3 Smith's "History of Delaware County," p. 465.

4 Penna. Mag. of Hist., vol. iv. p. 192.

5 Martin's " History of Chester," p. 495.

6 History of Chester County, p. 738.

7 Penna. Mag. of Hist., vol. ii. p. 59 (note).

8 Peona. Archives, 2d series, vol. ii. p. 564.

256

HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

soldier restoring him to health, he concluded to study medicine. After he received his degree he came to Chester, where he married Jane, daughter of John Mather, and practiced his profession with marked success. He was, as stated before, chief burgess of Chester. His widow, in three years after his death, married Dr. David Jackson, a brother of her first husband. The latter, during the Revolutionary war, was surgeon-general of the Pennsylvania troops, ap- pointed Sept. 30, 1780. He graduated at the first medical commencement of the University of Penn- sylvania, June 21, 1768, and was recorded as of Chester County.1

The late Dr. Charles J. Morton2 wrote, at the request of the Delaware County Medical Society, an inter- esting biographical notice of the centenarian physi- cian, Bernhard Van Leer, which Dr. Smith has most admirably abridged for insertion in his "History of Delaware County." In the following account of the venerable physician I have largely used the exact words of Dr. Smith's sketch :

Bernhard Van Leer, the son of John George Van Leer, was born near Isenberg, in the electorate of Hesse, in 1686, and emigrated to the province of Pennsylvania when eleven years of age. The family located in Marple, and Bernhard, or Bernhardus, as he was then called, remained a few years with his father, and then returned to Germany for the purpose of studying medicine in his native land. It is said that he was accompanied by a neighboring youth, John Worrell, who had the same object in view. Young Van Leer remained in Europe seven years, and not only studied medicine but also the classics and French. Some time after his return to this coun- try, and shortly after he commenced the practice of his profession, he was married to Mary Branson, the daughter of a wealthy merchant of Philadelphia, who died many years before her husband, after having given birth to five children, two of whom, Branson and Benjamin, became physicians. Dr. Bernhard Van Leer married again, and by the latter marriage there were nine children, one of whom was Dr. Ber- nard Van Leer, of Marple. The elder Dr. Van Leer was a man of great physical vigor. In his one hun- dredth year he rode on horseback from Marple to his Chester County farm, a distance of thirty miles, in one day. In his one hundred and second year he was cruelly maltreated by burglars who entered his house because he refused to disclose his hidden treasure. He did not fully recover from his injuries then re- ceived. He died on the 26th of January, 1790, aged one hundred and four years.

His practice was chiefly conducted in his office. It is said that in the diagnosis of disease he relied very much upon the appearance of some of the secretions that were brought to him for inspection. His reme-

dies for the most part were from the vegetable king- dom, and generally of the mildest form.

This system was certainly not adhered to by his son, Branson, who seems to have located in the bor- ough of Chester, where he acted as the county physi- cian, for the following bill shows that at least one of his patients had her full share of medication :

Chester County to DR. BRANSON VAN LEER, Dr.

1769.

£ s. d.

Jan. 25. Bleeding Ann Gregory ..

026

4 25. A vomit ..

0 0

26. Pleuritec drop ...

0 4 2

26. Six pectoral powders.

0 3

46 26. A cordial julep

27. A cordial julep.

27. Six pectoral powders.

27. A pectoral linetue

3 0

27. Pleuritic drops ..

28. Two blistering plasters

5 0

28. Plaister

1 G

29. Six pleuritic drops ..

1 6

29. A cordial jniep.

30. Purging ingredients

30. Plaister

1 G

30. Six pectoral powders.

3 0

31. A cordial julep.

1. Pleuritec drops ..

1. A cordial julep.

2. Six pictoral powders

2. A cordial julep ...

4. A febrifuge julep

46 4. A pectoral linctus

4. Plaister.

44 4. Purging bolus

4. A pectoral linctue

8. A pectoral linctus ...

8. A cordial julep

0 4

.. 10. A pectoral linctus.

586

Of Dr. Richard Van Leer I have learned nothing other than that he was a physician, while of Dr. Ber- nard Van Leer, he practiced in this county, living on the old homestead in Marple, where he died in Feb- ruary, 1814.

Dr. Benjamin Van Leer settled in New Castle County, Del., for in 1762, in the advertisement of the lottery for St. Paul's Church, Chester, it is stated that tickets can be had of him and several other gentlemen in that locality.3

John Worrall, the lad who accompanied Bernhard Van Leer to Europe, is said to have been a son of Peter Worrall, of Marple, and that he graduated in Germany as a physician, returned to Delaware County, and settled in Upper Providence. In 1724 he married Hannah Taylor, and died while still a young man. His son, Dr. Thomas Worrall, was born in Upper Providence in 1732, and married Lydia Vernon, an aunt of Maj. Frederick and Capt. Job Vernon, who rendered good service to the American arms in the Revolution, and a sister of Gideon Vernon, who was conspicuous during that struggle for his loyalty to the English crown, and whose estates were confiscated by the authorities of Pennsylvania because of his warm espousal of the British cause. Dr. Thomas Worrall in his practice made use largely of our native herbs, as did many of the physicians in

1 History of University of Peonsylvania; Memoire of Penne, Hist. Soc., vol. iii. p. 197.

2 The Medical Reporter, No. vii., April, 1856.

3 Pennsylvania Journal, Jan. 14, 1762.

28. Six pectoral powders

= = =

Feb. 1. Six pectoral powders.

1. A pectoral linctue

29. A purging Bolus.

257

PHYSICIANS AND MEDICAL SOCIETIES.

those days. He died in 1818, aged eighty-six years. Hon. William Worrall, of Ridley, has one of the medical works he frequently consulted in his prac- tice, and in his handwriting on the fly-leaf, in faded ink, can easily be read :

" Thomes Worrall's doctor book, God give him grace to iu it look."

Some of the remedies in vogue in the time of the Revolution would not be accepted by the profession, and hardly meet the approval of the general public of this day. I copy from the manuscript receipt- book of Capt. Davis Bevan,1 used during July and the early part of August, 1779, when enlisting at Chester a crew for the privateer brigantine "Holker," of which vessel Bevan was captain of marines, the following remedy :

" A RECEIPT FOR A SORE MOUTH .- To a gill of vinegar add a spoonful of honey and ten or twelve sage leaves; set these on a few coals in & clean earthen cup and let it boil a little; then buro the inner soal of an old shoe that has beeu lately worn, which when burnt to & coal, rub to a fine powder ; take out the sage leaves and add a thimble full of the powder, with half as much allum powdered. Stop it close in a bottle and wash your mouth twice a day, after breakfast and after supper. It seldom fails to cure in a few days, and will fasten teeth loosened by the scurvey."

Dr. John Cochran, of Chester County, director- general of the military hospitals during the Revolu- tion, does not seem to have practiced in the territory now comprising Delaware County, and the same re- mark is true of Dr. Samuel Kennedy, who was sur- geon of the Fourth Battalion of the Pennsylvania troops and senior surgeon in the military hospital.

Dr. William Currie,2 a native of Chester County, in his youth intended to study theology, but he aban- doned that purpose, read medicine, and graduated at the college at Philadelphia. On the breaking out of the Revolutionary war, his father, the rector of St. David's Church, Radnor, and a loyalist, opposed his desire to enter the Continental service, but he per- sisted, and served as a surgeon in 1776, attached to the hospital on Long Island and subsequently at Amboy. On the conclusion of the struggle, Dr. Currie, then in his twenty-ninth year, located in the borough of Chester, where he practiced medicine, and married a daughter of John Morton, the signer of the Declara- tion of Independence. Previous to 1792 he removed to Philadelphia, and published his " Historical Ac- count of the Climate and Diseases of the United States." In 1811 he issued "Views of the Diseases most prevalent in the United States, with an account of the most improved methods of treating them," and in 1815 his last work, "General View of the Princi- pal Theories or Doctrines which have prevailed at different periods to the present time." He died in Philadelphia in 1829.

Dr. John Morton, the third son of John Morton, the signer of the Declaration, was a surgeon in the

Continental service, was taken prisoner, aud while so detained he died on the British prison-ship "Fal- mouth," in New York harbor. "The late John S. Morton, of Springfield, had for some time a letter in his possession, written by Dr. Morton to his father while he was a prisoner, in which he said they were almost starved, and could eat brick-bats if they could get them."3

During and after the Revolution, Dr. John Smith was a practicing physician located in Lower Chiches- ter. In 1783 he married Dorothea, sister of Henry Hale Graham. She died in 1798 of yellow fever, and it is said her husband had died several years before this time.

Dr. Peter Yarnall, who, between the years 1780 and 1791, resided in Concord, practicing his professiou, in which he was highly successful, had a very eventful career. He was by birthright a Friend, but in 1772, when eighteen years of age, he quarreled with his master, for at that day all young men had to serve an apprenticeship, ran away, and enlisted. The influence of his family succeeded in getting him released from the service. Immediately on attaining his majority he began reading medicine, but when the colonies appealed to arms he enlisted in the American army, acting as surgeon's mate in the field and in several hospitals. His health, however, failing, in 1778 he asked for and received his discharge. Thereupon he applied himself diligently to the study of his profes- sion, and in 1779 he graduated from the College of Medicine of Philadelphia, and returned to the service as surgeon's mate, sailing on the privateer "Dela- ware," but again he resigned, and practiced in the Pennsylvania Hospital. In 1780 he reunited with the Quakers, became a public Friend, located in Concord, and married, in 1732, Hannah Sharpless, of Middle- town. In 1791 he removed to Montgomery County, where, his wife having died, he for the second time married. He died in 1798, the year the yellow fever was so fatal to the profession.

Dr. Elisha Cullen Dick, who was called upon, to- gether with Dr. Brown as consulting physician, by Dr. Craik, the medical attendant of Washington dur- ing the fatal illness of the latter in December, 1799, was a native of Delaware County, having been born near Marcus Hook Cross-road in 1762. He seems never to have practiced here, but married, October, 1783, Hannah Harman, of Darby. He settled at Alexandria, Va., where he soon gathered a large practice. It is said that Dr. Dick, when all hopes of the recovery of Washington " with less extreme reme- dies had been abandoned, proposed an operation which he ever afterwards thought might have proved effective in saving the general's life, but it did not meet with the approval of the family physician." +

1 The book is now in possession of the Delaware County Institute of Science, to whom it was presented by Dr. Allen, of Chester.

2 Biographical notice of Dr. William Curria, Hazard's Register, vol. vi. p. 204.

8 Martio's " History of Chester," p. 145.

4 The fullest sketch of Dr. Dick yet published will be found in Thomas Maxwell Potts' " Centenary Memorial of Jeremiah Carter," p. 75.

258

HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

At the beginning of the year 1799 the following phy- sicians were practicing in Delaware County, residing in the townships mentioned :

William Pennell, Aston; Nicholas Newlin, Caleb S. Sayres, Lower Chichester ; Joseph Shallcross, Wil- liam Gardiner, Darby ; Jonathan Morris, Bernard Van Leer, Marple; John Knight, Middletown; Jonas Preston, Newtown; John Cheyney, Thornbury.

The same year Jane Davis kept "an apothecary- shop" in Chester, the first person who ever kept a store of that kind in the county, although it seems that about that time Dr. Sayres had a shop attached to his dwelling at Marcus Hook.

Dr. William Martin, the grandfather of John Hill Martin, the author of the " History of Chester and its Vicinity," was born in Philadelphia in 1765, and was a man of much prominence in the annals of Delaware County. He was a physician as well as a lawyer, a justice of the peace, and chief burgess of Chester, and, in April, 1789, when Washington passed through Chester on his way to Philadelphia, Dr. Martin made the address of congratulation to the President on be- half of the town. In the year 1798 the yellow fever visited Chester as a fearful scourge. Dr. Martin was much alarmed, and seemed to have a presentiment that he would die of the pestilence. It is said that he frequently rode to the windows of the houses where persons were sick with the fever, would learn the con- dition of the patient, and prescribe and furnish the medicine without entering the dwelling. In Septem- ber of that year, however, a British vessel was lying off Chester with all hands ill with the fever. Dr. Martin was sent for; he attended, and, as he had feared, he contracted the disease from which he died, Sept. 28, 1798.

It is recorded of him that he would never attend the funerals of any of his patients, and being pressed for a reason why he declined to be present replied, "No, sir; it looks too much like a carpenter taking his own work home."

Dr. Caleb Smith Sayers, who settled at Marcus Hook about 1789, was a descendant of Richard Sears, -the New England branch of the family still adhere to that manner of spelling the name,-who located at Plymouth, Mass., in 1630. Dr. Sayers was born in Elizabeth, N. J., his immediate ancestor being among the first settlers of that place. His residence at Mar- cus Hook still stands on Church Street, fronting the Delaware, a porch running along the entire front of the building. During the yellow fever in 1798, so constant and laborious was his practice consequent on the epidemic, that his physical strength failed under the excessive strain, and he died in 1799 at the early age of thirty-one years. He was at that time surgeon of the Eighth Battalion of Militia of the county of Delaware, commanded by Lieut .- Col. Edward Vernon. His son, Edward S. Sayers, who was consul for Brazil and vice-consul for Portugal, died in Philadelphia in March, 1877, aged seventy-seven years.

Dr. Jonas Preston was born in Chester, Jan. 25, 1764. He read medicine with Dr. Bond, of Phila- delphia, attended lectures at the Pennsylvania Hos- pital, and after the usual course of medical instruction attainable at that time in the United States he went to Europe, graduating at the University of Edinburgh in 1785, and subsequently attended lectures at Paris. On his return to this country he located at Wilming- ton, Del., for a short time, thence removed to Georgia, but returning to Delaware County, he entered ener- getically into the duties of his profession, and soon acquired an extensive practice in Chester and Dela- ware Counties, confining himself almost entirely to obstetric cases, in which special department he soon established a reputation extending beyond the limits of the territory mentioned. During the Whiskey In- surrection in 1794 he volunteered as surgeon in the army. This caused him to be expelled from meeting, but he frequently said Friends might disown him, but he would not disown them. He represented Del- aware County for eight terms in the Legislature, from 1794 to 1802, and in 1808 he was elected State sen- ator, and was distinguished for his liberal views and sagacious foresight. About 1817 he removed from Marple to Philadelphia, but previously had been elected president of the Bank of Delaware County, succeeding John Newbold. While here he was an ardent advocate of all measures having for their object agricultural improvements. After his removal to Philadelphia he enjoyed a large and remunerative practice, and notwithstanding his busy life he had time to take an active part in many benevolent ob- jects. He was a constant visitor at the Pennsyl- vania Hospital, and also Friends' Asylum at Frank- ford. He was a director of the Pennsylvania Bank, Schuylkill Navigation Company, and other corpora- tions. During his long professional career he had so frequently seen distress among the honest poor classes that when he died, April 4, 1836, he left by will four hundred thousand dollars "towards found- ing an institution for the relief of indigent married women of good character, distinct and unconnected with any hospital, where they may be received and provided with proper obstetric aid for their delivery, with suitable attendance and comforts during their period of weakness and susceptibility which ensues." Under this provision in his will was established the Preston Retreat, in Philadelphia, one of the noblest institutions of enlarged charity within the common- wealth of Pennsylvania. Dr. Preston was buried in Friends' graveyard, on Edgmont Avenue, in Chester, but his remains have been removed therefrom in recent years.

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History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 65

Author: Ashmead, Henry Graham, 1838-1920 Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : L.H. Everts Number of Pages: 1150

Author: Ashmead, Henry Graham, 1838-1920
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1150