History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 104

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 1314

USA > Pennsylvania > Fayette County > History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 104

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1851 .- Chief Burgess, - --: Town Council, James Mar- tin, Nelson Goslin, C. P. Gummert, Adam Jacobs, James Todd, George Dawson, Thomas Butcher ; Town Clerk, S. Meredith.

1852 .- Town Council, Wesley Frost, Thomas Butcher, George Dawson, Eli Abrams, James Todd, Osmond M. Johnston, Henry Barkman, Daniel Rhodes ; Town Clerk, W. L. Wil- kinson.

I853 .- Chief Burgess, Isaac Bailey ; Assistant Burgess, Daniel K. Mochabee; Town Council, Henry Barkman, O. M. Johu- ston, Daniel Rhodes, James Todd, William HI. Johnston, James Martin, John R. Dutton ; Town Clerk, William L. Wilkinson.

I854 .- Chief Burgess, Isaac Bailey ; Assistant Burgess, Robert Rogers; Town Conneil, David Anderson, Samnel Steele, Adam Jacobs, Peter Swearer, R. W. Playford ; Town Clerk, William L. Wilkinson.

1855 .- Chief Burgess, Isaac Bailey ; Assistant Burgess, William Barkman ; Town Council, Robert W. Playford, Peter Swearer, Adam Jacobs, David Anderson, Samuel Steele ; Town Clerk, William L. Wilkinson.

1856 .- Chief Burgess, Robert Rogers ; Assistant Burgess, Isaac Bailey ; Town Couneil, G. II. Bowman, J. B. Krepps, Ayres Lynch, John Lilly, Levi Colvin, William Searight, Henry Patton, Samuel Snowdon, Andrew J. Smith ; Town Clerk, William L. Wilkinson.

1857,-Chief Burgess, Seth T. Hurd ; Assistant Burgess, George Shuman ; Town Council, Samnel S. Snowdon. William B. Linsey, William Parkhill, Levi Colvin, William R. Sea- right, Ayres Lynch, J. B. Krepps : Town Clerk, William L. Wilkinson.

1858 .- Chief Burgess, J. B. Barclay ; Assistant Burgess, Nel- son Goslin ; Town Council, John H. Gummert, William T. Isler, Isaac Reed, William Parkbill. Ayres Lynch, William B. Lindsey, Samuel S. Snowdon ; Town Clerk, George Mur- rison.

1859 .- Chief Burgess, Seth T. Hurd ; Assistant Burgess, Thos. B. Murphy ; Town Council, William Campbell, William Il. Johnston, G. H. Bowman, William T. Isler, Isaac Reed, William Parkhill, William B. Lindsey ; Town Clerk, Wil- liam L. Wilkinson.

IS60 .- Chief Burgess, Jason Baker : Assistant Burgess, Ed- ward L. Moorehouse ; Town Council, Adam Jacobs, Thomas C. Tiernan, Edward Toynbee, Wm. T. Isler, Isaac Reed, Austin Livingston, G. H. Bowman, William H. Johnston, Williato Campbell ; Town Clerk, William L. Wilkinson. 1861 .- Chief Burgess, Jasou Baker; Assistant Burgess, Ed- ward L. Moorhouse; Town Council, William T. Isler, S. S. Snowden, Joha R. Dutton, William H. Johnston, Edward Toynbee, Thomas C. Tiernan, G. II. Bowman, Adam Jacobs; Town Clerk, William L. Wilkinson.

1862 .- Chief Burgess, N. S. Potts; Assistant Burgess, E. Keiser ; Town Council, Samuel Steele, William II. Johnston, O. M. Johnston, J. W. Jeffries, Thomas C. Tiernan, William T. Isler, Edward Toynbee, John R. Dutton, S. S. Snowdon ; Town Clerk, William L. Wilkinson.

1863 .- Chief Burgess, John Fear; Assistant Burgess, Isaac Reed : Town Council, John R. Dutton, William T. Isler, O. M. Johnston, Samuel Steele, William H. Johnston,

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BROWNSVILLE BOROUGH AND TOWNSHIP.

Samuel S. Snowdon. Peter Swearer, Peter S. Griffin ; Town Clerk, William L. Wilkinson.

1864 .- Chief Burgess, O. P. Baldwin; Assistant Burgess, Thos. B. Murphy ; Town Council, William II. Jobnston. Samuel Steele, Peter Swearer, G. H. Bowman, A. J. Smith, O. M. Johnston, W. B. Skinner, Wm. T. Isler ; Town Clerk, Wil- lium L. Wilkinson.

1865 .- Chief Burgess, Jason Baker; Assistant Burgess, A. J. Isler; Town Council, Julin R. Dutton, William T. Isler, E. Keiser, R. J. Patton, P. S. Griffin, Peter Swearer, William B. Skinoer, G. II. Bowman, A. J. Smith ; Town Clerk, W. L. Wilkinson.

1866 .- Chief Burgess, Peter S. Griffin ; Assistant Burgess, Wil- liam Chatland ; Town Council, William T. Isler, A. J. Smith, W. B. Skinner, R. J. Patton, Erasmus Keiser, David P. Swearer, B. B. Brashear, G. H. Bowman, J. M. Abrams; Town Clerk, W. L. Wilkinson.

1867 .- Chief Burgess, Peter S. Griffin; Assistant Burgess, Jason Baker ; Town Council, Erasmus Keiser, R. J. Pat- ton, B. B. Brashear, Andrew J. Smith, Isaac Jackson, George W. Wells, D. P. Swearer, J. M. Abrams; Town Clerk, W. L. Wilkinson.

1868 .- Chief Burgess, Peter S. Griffin ; Assistant Burgess, Wil- liam T. Isler; Town Council, Erasmus Keiser, Robert J. Patton, Thomas C. Gummiert, Andrew J. Smith, David P. Swearer, Isnac Jackson, B. B. Brashear, James M. Abramus; Town Clerk, W. L. Wilkinson.

1869 .- Chief Burgess, Peter S. Griffin ; Assistant Burgess, Pulaski F. Swenrer ; Town Council, Francis Lee, Geo. F. Dawson, Samuel II. Smith, Erasmus Keiser, Thomas C. Guminert, A. J. Smith, R. J. Patton, Isaac Jackson, G. W. Wells ; Town Clerk, W. L. Wilkinson.

1870 .- Town Council, Erasmus Keiser, Samuel H. Smith, Fran- cis Lee, Osmond M. Johnston, Hunter S. Beall, John G. Fear, R. J. Patton, George F. Dawson, Thomas C. Gum- mert ; Town Clerk, William L. Wilkinson.

1871 .- Chief Burgess, Franeis McKernan ; Town Council, Francis Lee, John G. Fear, O. M. Johnston, R. J. Patton, Thomas C. Gummert, William M. Ledwith, E. D. Abrams, llunter S. Beall, Samuel II. Smith; Town Clerk, William L. Wilkinson.

1872 .- Chief Burgess, William L. Wilkinson ; Assistant Bur- gess, N. S. Potts; Town Council, N. S. Potts, A. J. Isler, John S. Cunningham, Thomas C. Gummert, Hunter S. Beall, William M.Ledwith, O. M. Johnston, E. D. Abrams ; Town Clerk, William L. Wilkinson.

1873 .- Chief Burgess, William L. Wilkinson ; Assistant Bur- gess, William Burd ; Town Couneil, J. D. Armstrong, Eli Ilyatt, John Acklin, E. D. Abrams, John S. Cunningham, N. S. Potts, W. M. Ledwith, A. J. Isler ; Town Clerk, Wil- liam L. Wilkinson.

1874 .- Chief Burgess, Francis McKernan ; Assistant Burgess, Peter M. Hunt; Town Couneil, John R. Dutton, William 11. Jobnston, James W. Jeffries, John Acklin, N. S. Potts, A. J. Isler, John J. Rothmill, J. D. Armstrong, Eli llyatt ; Town Clerk, William L. Wilkinson.

1875,-Chief Burgess, Nimrod S. Potts; Town Council, E. Keiser, J. D. Armstrung, John Aeklin, W. II. Jobn-ton, George Campbell, John Johnston, Eli D. Abrams, John R. Dutton ; Secretary of Conneil, William L. Wilkinson.

1876 .- Town Council, John R. Dutton, E. D. Abrams, George Campbell, John Johnston, William H. Johnston, Adam Jacobs, Jr., Robert Johnston, Kenney J. Shupe ; Secretary of Council, William L. Wilkinson.

1877 .- Town Council, George Campbell, John Johnston, Robert Jobnston, KunDey J. Shupe, E. D. Abrams, James L. Bow-

man, W. II. Johnston, Adam Jacobs, Jr .; Secretary of Council, Austio Livingston.

1878 .- Chief Burgess, William L. Wilkinson ; Town Council, K. J. Shupe, J. L. Bowman, Robert Johnston, Dr. Benja- min Shoemaker, William II. Johnston, Fred. S. Chalfant, George Lenhart, Samuel Steele ; Secretary of Council, Austin Livingston.

IS79 .- Chief Burgess, William L. Wilkinson; Assistant Bur- gess, Samuel Ilonesty ; Town Council, B. Shoemaker, Samuel Steele. J. R. Dutton, E. D. Abrams, II. W. Robin- son, Moses Wright, F. S. Chalfant, William HI. Johnston ; Secretary of Council, J. B. Patterson.

1880 .- Chief Burgess, W. L. Wilkinson ; Assistant Burgess, Samuel Honesty ; Town Council, II. W. Robinson, B. Shoe- maker, F. S. Chalfant, J. R. Dutton. W. II. Johnston, E. D. Abrams, John Johnston, Moses Wright, J. W. Jeffries ; Secretary of Council, J. B. Patterson.

1881 .- Chief Burgess, W. L. Wilkinson ; Assistant Burgess, Isaac Alexander ; Town Couneil, John R. Dutton, J. W. Jeffries, John Johnston, Moses Wright, II. W. Robinson, E. D. Abrams, Samuel Steele, B. Shoemaker, F. S. Chal- fant; Secretary of Council, J. B. Patterson.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

GOODLOE HARPER BOWMAN.

The late Mr. Goodloe H. Bowman, of Brownsville, who died Jan. 30, 1876, was of German and Scotch- Irish extraction. His father, Jacob Bowman, was born in Washington County, then Frederick County, Md., near Hagerstown, June, 1763. In 1787 he mar- ried Isabella Lowry, who was of Scotch descent, and was born in County Donegal, Ireland, and came to America when seventeen years of age. Goodloe Harper Bowman was the seventh child and third son of this union, and was born April 20, 1803. He was reared and educated in Brownsville, and entered upon active business life as a merchant at about the age of twenty years, and continued merchandis- ing, in partnership with his brothers, until 1855, when he relinquishod the business, and gave his at- tention principally to the affairs of the Monongahela Bank of Brownsville, of which bank he was elected president in 1857, and continued such to the time of his death, immediately succeeding his elder brother, James L. Bowman, in the presidency thereof, as the latter had succeeded his father, Jacob Bowman, who was the first president of the bank.

Jan. 9, 1840, Mr. Bowman married Miss Jane Cor- rey Smith, of Reading, Berks Co., Pa., by whom he had five children,-Isabella Lowry, James Lowry, John Howard, Ann Sweitzer, and William Robert.

Mr. Bowman, like his father, was an active member and supporter of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and for many years senior warden of Christ Church, Brownsville. He was in politics a Whig in early life, and became an ardent Republican, and contributed liberally to the support of the Union canse during the late Rebellion.

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HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

ADAM JACOBS.

Capt. Adam Jacobs, of Brownsville, is of German extraction. IIis grandfather, Adam Jacobs, emi- grated from Lancaster County, Pa., at an early day into Allegheny County, and there carried on farming on Turtle Creek, near "Braddock's Field," eleven miles east of Pittsburgh, for several years, and then moved to Brownsville, where he entered into mer- chandising, which he conducted until his death, which occurred in 1818.

He had but one son who lived to maturity, named after himself, Adam Jacobs, and who was born in Brownsville, Dec. 3, 1794, and was educated at the subscription schools and at Washington College, and became a merchant, and on the 16th of January, 1816, married Eliza Reiley, daughter of Martin Reiley, of Bedford, Bedford Co., Pa. He died June 29, 1822, leaving two children, Adam and Ann Elizabeth, long since deceased.

Adam, the last referred to, is the subject of our sketch, and was born Jan. 7, 1817. He received his early education in the pay schools, and at about six- teen years of age was apprenticed to G. W. Bowman to learn coppersmithing, and remained with him four years. He then went into the business for himself, and in a year or two afterwards took to steamboating on the Western rivers, and continued steamboating until 1847. He was at this time, and had been for years before, engaged also in building steamboats, and from 1847 forward prosecuted steamboat-building vigorously, at times having as many as eight boats in a year under contract. He built over a hundred and twenty steamboats before practically retiring from the business about 1872, since which time he has, how- ever, built about five boats for the Pittsburgh, Browns- ville and Geneva Packet Company, and other con- tracts. Capt. Jacobs was also engaged in merchan- dising, with all the rest of his active business, from 1843 to 1865, and may be said to be still merchan- dising, for he has a store at East Riverside.

Since about 1872 he has spent his time mostly in Brownsville in the winters and at his country resi- dence, " East Riverside," Luzerne township, on the Monongahela River, during the summer seasons.

On the 22d of February, 1838, Mr. Jacobs married Miss Ann Snowdon (born in England in 1816), a daughter of John and Mary Smith Snowdon, who came from England and settled in Brownsville in 1818, where Mr. Snowdon soon after started the business of engine-building, and carried it on till disabled by old age. Mr. and Mrs. Snowdon both died in advanced years, and were buried in the Brownsville Cemetery, where a fine monument marks the place of their re- pose.

Mr. and Mrs. Jacobs have had ten children, eight of whom are living,-Mary, wife of William Park- hill; Adam, Jr., married to Laura Myers, of Canton, Ohio; Catharine, wife of S. S. Graham; John N.,

married to Sarah Colvin ; Caroline S., wife of John H. Bowman ; Anna, wife of Joseph L. McBirney, of Chicago, Ill .; Martin Reiley, now residing in Col- orado; and George D.

GEORGE HOGG.

George Hogg, only son of John and Mary Crisp Hogg, was born in Cramlington, in the county of Northumberland, England, on the 22d day of June, 1784. When about twenty years of age he came to Brownsville, in 1804, where he established his home, and as a merchant created a very large and lucrative business.

On March 7, 1811, he married Mary A., oldest daughter of Judge Nathaniel Breading, of Tower Hill Farm, Luzerne township, Fayette Co. Of the marriage were born the following-named children : George E., Nathaniel B., John T., Mary A. (who married Felix R. Brunot) ; Elizabeth E. (who mar- ried William S. Bissell) ; and James B., lost on the ocean.

By the integrity of his character and strict atten- tion to business, George Hogg was eminently success- ful, and secured the esteem of the communities in which he lived. Though a great lover of his adopted country, he did not cease to be an Englishman, and always looked back with pleasure to the good old laws and institutions of his native land.

In May, 1843, he removed to Allegheny City, and died there Dec. 5, 1849, in the sixty-sixth year of his age, in the honse which he bought in an unfinished state on removing to that place, and which he com- pleted, and wherein he spent the remainder of his years.

During his business career he, with his uncle, Wil- liam Hogg, established large business houses in Pitts- burgh, Pa., and about fifteen different establishments of merchandise and commission-houses in Ohio, to- gether with a forwarding-house at Sandusky City, in that State, and to which were attached a number of vessels running on Lake Erie, and a line of boats on the Ohio Canal.

Mr. Hogg, with the co-operation of others, built the bridge at Brownsville over the Monongahela River, and was also one of the original stockholders of the Monongahela Navigation Improvement Com- pany, through whose enterprise the great body of the coal which is mined along the Monongahela River, and exported, finds its way to New Orleans. He also erected, in 1828, the Brownsville Glass-Works, and supervised their operations till 1847, when he dis- posed of them.

Mr. Hogg was confirmed in his youth according to the usages of the Established Church of England, and through life was a consistent, devoted, and liberal member of that communion.

A monument to his memory, executed jointly by the sculptor, Henry K. Brown, of New York, and the

adam , Jacobs

William Hogy

Thomas Duncan

459

BROWNSVILLE BOROUGH AND TOWNSIIIP.

sculptor Piatti,-a lofty plinth surmounted by a life- size figure of the Angel of the Resurrection,-was ereeted in Allegheny Cemetery, near Pittsburgh, Pa., in 1851, and located near an elegant cenotaph, by Piatti, memorial of James B. Hogg, above referred to, the son of Mr. George Hogg, and who went down with the ocean steamer " Aretic," which foundered at sea near Cape Race, Sept. 27, 1854.

WILLIAM HOGG.

William Hogg was born June 17, 1755, in the county of Northumberland, England. While quite young he entered the marine service, from which he soon retired, and was soon thereafter drafted into the British military service, but deserted at Charleston, S. C. Working his way to Philadelphia, he found employment for about a year, when he eoneluded to seek his fortune in the great unknown West. In 1786 he first visited Brownsville, at that time the point where the military road reached the first navi- gable stream of the West, whereby the emigrants of the East and the traders could by boats reach the far- distant West. Here they encamped until they could build their boats and procure supplies of ironware and provisions sufficient to start them in their West- ern homes. Mr. Hogg was pleased with the prospects of Brownsville as a place of business. He returned to Philadelphia to lay in a small stock of merchandise, which was the beginning of his eminently successful career as a merchant. During the following year he again visited Brownsville, intending to go to Ken- tucky, whither the tide of emigration was moving. He concluded, however, to make this place his home, and here, during the eleven years he was in business, he acquired what was then thought to be a very large fortune. He retired from aetive business in 1798, and thereafter in partnership with George Hogg, who came from England in 1804, planted many branches of business throughout Ohio, and purchased large bodies of government lands.

While thus fortunate in business he established for himself a high character for integrity over a large region of country. He was singularly modest and unobtrusive in all his ways, so much so that he at- tracted attention rather than eseaped it by the sim- plieity of his life and manners.

Mr. Hogg, in connection with others, organized the Monongahela Bank of Brownsville, as early as 1812, under articles of association, which in 1814 were ex- changed for a charter under the Commonwealth. Under the State charter and the National Banking laws this bank still has a vigorous existence, and is probably the oldest institution west of the Allegheny Mountains, and was for very many years the only in- stitution of the kind over a very large region of country.

Mr. Hogg, Mr. Jacob Bowman, Dr. Wheeler, and George Hogg were equally efficient at a very early

day in organizing at Brownsville an Episcopal Church and erecting a large and substantial building for its use.

William Hogg took great interest in the cause of education at all times, but an incident exemplifying this fact, and of historical interest as well, may here be eited. Somewhere about 1828 or 1830, when Ken- yon College, now at Gambier, Knox Co., Ohio, had been projected, but yet lacked a site, Hon. Henry Clay, of Kentucky, and Bishop Chase, of Ohio, visited Brownsville and negotiated with Mr. Hogg for eight thousand acres of land belonging to him, and which he, in consideration that an institution of learning was to be erected thereon, deeded to them as trustees for $2.25 per aere, though it was held in the market at a much higher price, and then presented them be- sides, for use of the college, with $6000 of the pur- chase-money.

At the age of about forty he married Mary Stevens, a native of Bucks County, Pa. They both died in the eighty-sixth year of their age, she on Nov. 11, 1840, he on the 27th of January, 1841, and their remains were interred in the cemetery of the Episcopal Church. Over their remains their nephew, George Hogg, erected a monument of native sandstone, a noble structure for the times.

JUDGE THOMAS DUNCAN.

Among the venerable men of Bridgeport, highly esteemed by all who know him, and identified with the interests of that borough and its twin-sister, Browns- ville, by over half a century's residence and active busi- ness life within their limits, and participating in the best measures, well performing the duties and digni- fiedly bearing the responsibilities of good citizenship therein, watchful ever for the weal and social good or- der of the place where has so long been his home, is Judge Thomas Duncan. He is of Scoteh-Irish extrae- tion. His father, Arthur Duncan, emigrated from County Donegal, Ireland, about 1793, to America, and found his way into Fayette County as a soldier in the service of the United States among the troops sent hither by the government to suppress the Whiskey In- surrection. After the troops were disbanded he settled in Franklin township, near Upper Middletown (then known as " Plumsoek"), Menallen township, and mar- ried Sophia Wharton, daughter of Arthur Wharton, of Franklin township, hut a native of England, who held a large tract of land in that township, and was a man of strong individuality. Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Duncan passed the greater portion of their lives in Upper Middletown, but Mrs. Duncan died about 1845, in Pittsburgh, to which place the family had removed, and Mr. Duncan, about 1850, in Moundsville, Va., at the residence of one of his daughters, Mrs. Nancy Rosell.

Mr. and Mrs. Duncan were the parents of ten

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IIISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

children, the second in number of whom is Judge Thomas Duncan, who was born in Franklin town- ship, Aug. 22, 1807. He received his early education in the Thorn Bottom school-house, in those days often pompously or ironically dubbed "The Thorn Bottom Seminary," on Buck Run, in his native town- ship. During his boyhood he wrought more or less in the Plumsock Rolling-Mill, and at eighteen years of age was apprenticed to a cabinet-maker, Thomas Hatfield, an expert mechanic, with whom he re- mained three years as an apprentice and three more as a partner. He then removed to Bridgeport, where he has ever since resided, carrying on as his principal business that in which he first. engaged.

Judge Duncan has always taken an active part in public affairs. He was a member of the first board of school directors in Bridgeport chosen under the present law organizing the common schools, and earnestly advocated the enactment of the law long before it was made. He has frequently been a mem- ber of the Common Council, and several times burgess of Bridgeport. He has also taken a prominent part as a Democrat in the politics of the county, was county commissioner from 1841 to 1843, both in- clusive, and was elected in 1851 associate judge of Fayette County for a period of five years, and re- elected in the fall of 1856 for a like term, and fulfilled the duties of his office throughout both terms.

In 1837, Judge Duncan joined the Masonic order, uniting with Brownsville Lodge, No. 60, and has filled all the offices of the lodge, and is a member of Brownsville Chapter. He is also a member of St. Omer's Commandery, No. 7, of Brownsville, and has been a member of Brownsville Lodge, No. 5I, of the Order of Odd-Fellows, since 1834. Judge Duncan has also been a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church since the last-named year.

In May, 1829, he married Priscilla Stevens, daughter of Dr. Benjamin Stevens of Uniontown, whose father, Benjamin Stevens, who came to Fayette County from Maryland, was also a physician. Mrs. Duncan died in February, 1873, at the age of sixty-six years.

Judge and Mrs. Duncan became the parents of five children, three of whom are living, -Mrs. Elizabeth Worrell, Dr. W. S. Duncan, both of Bridgeport, and Thomas J. Duncan, a lawyer practicing his profession in Washington, Pa.

WILLIAM STEVENS DUNCAN, M.D.

Dr. W. S. Duncan, of Bridgeport, is the son of Judge Thomas Duncan, of the same borough, a biographical sketch of whom immediately precedes this sketch. Dr. Duncan was born May 24, 1834; and here the writer may quite as properly as any- where else note the fact that the date of his birth is the only fact or item of the following biographical sketch which the doctor has independently furnished, he being decidedly averse, as he expresses it, to coun-

tenancing any "representation of himself in such manner as shall seem to have been suggested in whole or in part by myself" (himself), or "through favor- able facts which, it will be obvious, were furnished by myself." So the interviewer was advised to refer to others, and if there are found any errors of opinion or statement in this sketch they must be attributed to the writer's sources of information.

Dr. Duncan merits more emphatic notice in a work of this kind than is usually accorded to the living of any profession or vocation, for he occupies a place not only in the front rank of the physicians of Fay- ette County. He is a very careful and comprehen- sive investigator, and a progressive man, keeping pace with the advance in medicine and its allied sciences by the only means feasible and practi- cable, especially to a country physician at a dis- tance from the colleges, lecture-rooms, and hospitals, namely, books. The caller-in at Dr. Duncan's office, though he come from the city, where the best pri- vate medical libraries exist, is surprised at the ex- tent of the doctor's library, which contains the most valuable standard medical works of the past, and is richly supplied with the most approved works newly issued in this country and Europe. Probably not a score of physicians in such cities as New York or Philadelphia individually possess libraries comparable in value to that of Dr. Duncan, and it is probable that out of all the other medical libraries in Fayette County not one-half as many separate works, or works by different authors, could be gleaned as are contained in his. Medical books are just as much a positive necessity for the integral understanding and scientific practice of medicine as are good sound " horse sense," an excellent fundamental education in medical science, prudence, etc., which are too apt to be supposed all that a physician needs. He must keep up with the advancement of medical science if he would be truly successful and great, and be should be unwilling to be less. Books are practically his only source of information. No one physician's "experience," though it cover a half-century of practice, and countless cases of experiment and spec- ulation, can afford any considerable information or "scientific facts" in comparison with what books supply, made up as they are out of the experiences and studies of armies of doctors and professors of medical science. The sick everywhere should con- sider these things, and the physician of large practice, it may be, but who is too indolent to read, or too pennrious to provide himself with books, or he who is too poor, it may be, to be well equipped with books, should be shunned ; the former as a dangerous, spec- ulative empiric who indolently "sets himself up" above the ripest books and the best philosophers, and so deliberately defrauds his patients by failing to fur- nish what they have a right to expect ; the latter as a subject of pity, of too weak parts to know his duty to himself and the public, and so willing to trifle with

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History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 104

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885 Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co. Number of Pages: 1314

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 1314