USA > Wyoming > Pioneer physicians of Wyoming Valley [1711-1825] : an address before the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society > Part 2
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
In 1779, when 55 years of age, he is said, though this is doubtful, to have accompanied General Sullivan as surgeon on his expedition to the upper waters of the Susquehanna, to punish the Six Nation Indians for their atrocities of the preceding year at Wyoming and Cherry Valley. A score of years after his death Congress in 1838 recognized his Revo- lutionary services by voting $2,400 to his heirs. The peti- tion to Congress was presented by his descendant, Dr. An- drew Bedford of Waverly, Pa.
The Committee on Revolutionary Claims to which was referred the petition of the heirs of Dr. Smith, reported De- cember 22, 1837 :
"It appears from the testimony that Dr. Smith was ap- pointed a surgeon's mate in the Pennsylvania Line, on Continental establishment, at an early period of the Revolu- tionary contest and continued in service to the end of the
17
PIONEER PHYSICIANS OF WYOMING VALLEY.
war. It appears further from the depositions of Thomas Williams, Geo. P. Ransom, Rufus Bennet, Elisha Blackman and Gen. William Ross that from July 3, 1778, until the close of the war, Dr. Smith acted as surgeon at the post of Wilkes-Barre, Wyoming Valley, and that he was the only officer of the medical staff attached to that post during that period. The garrison consisted of two companies of regu- lars and the militia of the valley. These facts sustain, in the opinion of the committee, the claim and a bill is accordingly reported."
The then hidden mineral wealth of the Wyoming Valley and adjacent territory, now making Luzerne County the fourth in importance in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. was early recognized by this pioneer physician.
Dr. Smith was a man of many eccentricities but he was a generation ahead of his time in recognizing the existence of our subterranean mineral treasures and in making purchases of lands, of little market value then, but destined to become sources of great wealth when the deposits of coal should be- come known.
The use of coal except as it had been burned under a bellows blast in the smithy's forge of Obadiah Gore, was wholly unknown, and its availability for domestic fuel was not recognized until Jesse Fell discovered in 1808 that an- thracite coal could be burned in an ordinary grate, without the aid of a bellows or other artificial draft.
Yet we find Dr. Smith, as early as 1791, purchasing the right-the first in our local annals-to dig iron ore and mine stone coal near Pittston. The first purchase was made of a Mr. Scott of Pittston, for a sum of five shillings, Penn- sylvania currency. Numerous other such investments were made by Dr. Smith throughout the valley between 1791 and 1798, the result being to stamp the purchaser as an enthu- siast and to make him the object of ridicule.
He located permanently on the Lackawanna two or three
18
PIONEER PHYSICIANS OF WYOMING VALLEY.
miles above Pittston, at a place since known as Old Forge, from the fact that he and his son-in-law, James Sutton, erected a forge there in 1789, for converting ore of the local- ity into iron. The forge produced iron for several years, the product being floated down the Susquehanna to market. The ore was, however, lacking in quality and quantity, com- petition had sprung up at Slocum Hollow, now Scranton, and the enterprise had to be abandoned. Dr. Smith removed up the Susquehanna to a point near Tunkhannock, where he died July 17, 1815, at the age of 91 years.
Miner says, Appendix, p. 43: "Dr. Smith filled a large place in public estimation at Wyoming, for nearly half a century. A man of great sagacity and tact as well as of an excellent education, his influence was extensively felt and acknowledged. For many years he held the first rank as a physician, and from the numerous cures performed the old people thought him unequaled. The extraordinary cases of the recovery of Follet and Hagaman excited wonder, but he was modest enough to say that nature was the physician and made the cure. [Follet had not only been scalped but had been wounded by an Indian spear which penetrated his stomach so that its contents came out of his side.] To great skill in his profession Dr. Smith united a large share of that capital ingredient-common sense.
"Both the partiotic spirit and activity of Dr. Smith are shown by the fact that while he was relied on as chief medical attendant, by the settlement, he yet accepted and exercised the post of captain, commanding in Wilkes-Barré the Reformadoes, as the older men who associated to guard the fort were called. Subsequently in the absence of the younger men in the Revolutionary Army, when numerous troops were stationed at Wyoming, Dr. Smith was still the principal physician."
The following incident, which occurred in 1788, during the Pennamite war, is related by Miner, and shows the
19
PIONEER PHYSICIANS OF WYOMING VALLEY.
scarcity of medicine in those early days: "During an en- counter between the contending factions at Wysox, one Joseph Dudley was wounded. Pickering thus describes it : 'Dudley was put into a canoe and taken to Wilkes-Barré, a distance of perhaps 60 or 70 miles. The doctor was sent for but had no medicine. I had a small box of medicine that had been put up under the care of my friend, Dr. Ben- jamin Rush. Of these, upon application of the physician, I furnished all he desired. But Dudley survived only two or three days.'" (P. 420.)
Dr. Smith was twice married. His first wife, and their daughter, Mrs. Dr. Gustin, died of "putrid fever" in 1778. His second wife was Margery ( Kellogg) Smith, widow of William Smith. (Harvey Book, 350.) She had been one of the fugitives from the Wyoming massacre, escap- ing down the river in a boat. Her son William (of whom Dr. Wm. Hooker Smith was step-father) was killed in an encounter of the Yankees with the Pennamites at Wilkes- Barré in 1784. His grave-stone in the City Cemetery at Wilkes-Barré bears the following inscription :
"Here lies the body of William Smith.
Mortals attend, he was called forthwith.
He left the world at twenty-five, . A warning to all who are left alive. His zeal for justice, though hard to relate, It caused his flight from this mortal state."
Dr. Smith had a numerous family.
I. John, "of Kingstown," deeded a piece of land on Jacob's Plains to his brother-in-law, Dr. Lemuel Gustin, in 1776. In 1781 he deeded to his father 36 acres in same locality, formerly belonging to Dr. Joseph Sprague.
2. William, died in Wyoming County after 1845, aged upwards of 85 years. ,
20
PIONEER PHYSICIANS OF WYOMING VALLEY.
3. A daughter, married Isaac Osterhout, their son, Isaac S. Osterhout, being the founder of the "Osterhout Free Library" in Wilkes-Barre.
4. Sarah, married James Sutton of Exeter, who had come from North Castle, West Chester Co., N. Y. Sarah was born January 18, 1747, and died in Exeter July 19, 1834.
5. Susannah, married Dr. Lemuel Gustin, and died in 1778, aged 28 years.
6. Olive, a half-sister of Susannah, if not of the others, married Naphthali Hurlbut, one of the early sheriffs of Luzerne County.
There may have been other children. His daughter Sarah was the grandmother of Dr. Andrew Bedford, a prac- ticing physician in old Luzerne County, born in 1800.
Dr. Smith was the possessor of certain eccentricities, one of which was his belief that he had discovered the secret of transmuting base metals into gold. When in advanced life he published a book with the following title: "Alchymy Explained and made Familiar ; or, a Drop of Honey for a Despairing Alchymist ; collected from the Alchymist's Rock, or Philosopher's Stone. By Wm. Hooker Smith, M. D., Putnam Township, Luzerne County, Jan. 1, 1811. Printed for the author."
Dr. Smith's will, written in his own hand in 1810, says :
"I recommend my soul to Almighty God that gave it to me, nothing doubting but that I shall be finally happy. My destiny, I believe, was determined unalterably before I had existence. God does not leave any of his works at random subject to change, but in what place and when and how I shall be happy, I know not. Now to the sacred spring of all mercies and original fountain of all goodness, to the Infinite and Eternal Being, whose purpose is unaltera- ble, whose power and dominion is without end, whose com- passion fails not, to the High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity and dwells in light, be glory, majesty, dominion and power, now and forevermore. Amen."
21
PIONEER PHYSICIANS OF WYOMING VALLEY.
DR. LEMUEL GUSTIN.
Dr. Lemuel Gustin, sometimes spelled Gustine, was born in Saybrook, Conn., in 1749, and came to Wyoming about the time he attained his majority, which was coincident with the first permanent settlement. Under date of March 10, 1778, he bought of Israel Walker a house lot in "Kings- town." He studied medicine with Dr. Wm. Hooker Smith, and married his daughter. Her death occurred from "a malignant putrid fever," a fortnight before the massacre of Wyoming. A stone in Forty Fort Cemetery, which is part of the historic battle ground, reads thus :
In Memory of Susannah, wife of Dr. Lemuel Gustin, and daughter of Dr. Wm. Hooker Smith. Born at White Plains, N. Y., 18 Nov., 1750. Died at Wyoming 12th of June, 1778."
The stone gives Dr. Gustin's name as Samuel, a misprint which has crept into nearly all the books.
Both Dr. Gustin and Dr. Smith were in the Wyoming bat- tle of 1778 and attended to the wounded.
Dr. Gustin was a signer of the articles of capitulation, and is said by Peck to have been the bearer of the flag of truce to the British commander. He was one of the last to leave the bloody field. The British invasion of Wyoming was fixed at a time when the two Wyoming companies were with Washington's army and therefore unable to defend their own homes. After the battle Dr. Gustin and Dr. Smith em- barked their families on a raft or rude boat and escaped down the Susquehanna. Dr. Gustin subsequently practiced medicine at Carlisle, Pa., where he died October 7, 1805 at the age of 56 years.
By his first marriage, to Susannah, daughter of Dr. Wm. Hooker Smith, he had one daughter, Sarah, who, in 1792, became the wife of Rev. Nathaniel Ross Snowden, whose father, Isaac, was a prominent Philadelphian during the
22
PIONEER PHYSICIANS OF WYOMING VALLEY.
Revolutionary War. Isaac Snowden had five sons, all of whom were graduates of Princeton College and four of whom were ministers. (See Historical Record, Vol. 5, page 146.) Dr. Gustin's second wife was Rebecca Parker, of Carlisle, concerning whose family there is an article in Egle's Pennsylvania Genealogies, page 520. Of Dr. Gustin's six children by Rebecca Parker, there were three physicians -James, Samuel and Richard. From this source it is learned that they had four sons and two daughters.
A sketch of Dr. Lemuel Gustin is given in "Men of Mark of Cumberland Valley, Pa." He was, the article says, a man of great strength and activity, as well as of courage. While the Indians were plundering Forty Fort one at- tempted to take some property or apparel from the doctor. He resisted, and giving the Indian a trip, threw him to the ground. The other Indians were so much pleased at the doctor's courage and activity that they handed him a rope and said, "Indian is a drunken dog, tie him." The article goes on to relate the escape down the river of Dr. Gustin and his little 3-year-old daughter, Sarah, whose mother died shortly before the massacre, and is buried at Forty Fort. Sarah, 17 years later, married Rev. Nathaniel Ross Snow- den, then a licentiate of the Presbytery of Philadelphia, who studied divinity at Carlisle.
Dr. Gustin's grandfather died near Augusta, Sussex Co., N. J., and was buried on his own estate. The epitaphs still remaining on the tombs of himself and wife are as follows :
Here Lies ye Body of John Gustin. Deceased, A. D. Oct. 15, 1777. Being in ye 86 Year of his Age.
Here Lies ye Body of Mary Gustin, Wife to John Gustin, 70 Years Old. Deceased, Dec. 3, A. D. 1762.
23
PIONEER PHYSICIANS OF WYOMING VALLEY.
They were ancestors of the Gustins of Honesdale, to one of whom, the late Geo. W. Gustin, the author is indebted for most of the early history of the family. Thomas Gustin, an uncle of Dr. Lemuel Gustin, married Ruth, sister of Rev. Anning Owen, a pioneer of local Methodism at Goshen, N. Y., and later in Wyoming Valley. They are buried under the old church at Florida, Orange Co., N. Y.
The following was furnished by the late George Wilmot Gustin, of Waymart, Pa., who gave much study to the genealogy of the Gustin family and whose manuscripts on that subject, bequeathed to the author of this pamphlet, are deposited in the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society :
"Dr. Lemuel Gustin was fourth in descent from Capt. Augustine Jean, born at Le Tocq, St. Ouens, Isle of Jersey, Jan. 9, 1647, son of Edmond Jean, who m. April 25, 1638, Esther, dau. of Jean le Rossignot, of Le Tucq. Both of these families were of great antiquity in the island, and both were 'followers of the sea.' Capt. Augustine Jean, who describes himself as a 'Mariner of the Isle of Jerzey,' came to Reading, Mass., in 1675. The circumstances that caused his name to be changed to John Gustin, without any such wish or intention on his own part, are unparalled in the history of any family in New England.
"At first his name of Augustine Jean was anglicized by scriveners to John. Afterwards they transposed Augustine Jean to John Augustine and finished by mutilating Augus- tine down to Gustin. In the 'Genealogical Dictionary of New England' the family is called Augustine, but Mr. Savage explains that the change to Gustan or Gustin was gradual. The old man made his last protest against this barbarous mu- tilation, on his death bed, July 3, 1719, drawing an enor- mous AU before the name Gustin, with which his will was signed. This document is found in Sargeant's Wills.
"We must now refer to him as John Gustin. During the latter part of Philip's war he served as sergeant in the
24
PIONEER PHYSICIANS OF WYOMING VALLEY.
company of Capt. Beers, and received a grant of land from President Danforth at Falmouth and bought more with money left him by his father and mother. In his will he describes these lands as 'lying in Casco Bay, at Martin's Point and Pasumscot River,' now the city of Portland, Maine.
"He had married, Jan. 10, 1678, Eliza, dau. of John Brown, of Watertown, and in the following year moved to his new possessions where was born his first son, Samuel, and a daughter Sarah.
"On May 26, 1690, the French, assisted by a party of Abenakis Indians, captured, sacked and burned Falmouth, John Gustin and family being among the very few who es- caped from that slaughter pen. He fled to Lynn, where he remained until 1719.
"There were born the following children: John, Nov. 6, 1691 ; Abigail, Dec. 9, 1693; Ebenezer, Oct. 4, 1696; Thomas, March 5, 1698-9; David, Feb. 6, 1702-3.
"Although the records of the descendents of these children are wonderfully complete, there seems to be lacking positive proof as to which of the above was the grandfather of Dr. Lemuel Gustin. If, as his descendents claim, he was a brother of Dr. Joel T. Gustin of Winchester, Va., then it was the John mentioned and his father was Rev. Alpheus Gustin, born May 29, 1722, married Mary Aberdy and set- tled in Berkeley, Va., at the outbreak of the Revolutionary War."
Subsequent to furnishing the above Mr. Gustin treated the subject in somewhat greater detail in an article in the Honesdale, Pa., Independent, May 31, 1888, as follows :
"The promised publication by the Wyoming Historical Society of a memoir of Dr. Lemuel Gustin, written by Dr. F. C. Johnson, will necessarily give publicity to a part of the family history that I should like to make verifiable.
"Some years ago the Rev. Geo. M. Bodge, A. M., His-
25
PIONEER PHYSICIANS OF WYOMING VALLEY.
torian of King Philip's War, called my attention to the sin- gular transpositions of names in the case of my ancestor, Augustine John, sometimes John Gustin, on the official re- cords of Massachusetts. In the Genealogical Dictionary of N. E. the family is mentioned under the heading of Au- gustine, but Mr. Savage explains that the change to Gustan or Gustin was gradual. This, however, in no way explains the transposition referred to. The second son of Augustine, John, Jr., my great, great grandfather, was born in Lynn, to which place the family had fled after the sacking and burning of Falmouth, Maine, May 26, 1690. The Lynn records contain the following: 'John ye sonn of John Gustin and Elizabeth his wife, was born, Nov. ye 5th, 1691.'
"In deeds conveying lands at 'Glassenbury,' Conn., to his sons, 1740-45, and on all occasions he signs as above, so we must return to his father.
"In Massachusetts Archives ( Philip's War), Vol. 68, page 158: Among the men left at Quabang (now Brood- field) March 4, 1675-6, was Augustine John. At the same time in 'Hull's Journal accounts' he is frequently and invar- iably referred to as John Gustin.
"June 29, 1677, he executes a deed (Suffolk Deeds 10,131) to the famous Rev. John Brock, of 'Reading,' wherein occurs the following : 'As the same was given and left or otherwise ordered unto mee the said Augustine John by my faather and mother, namely, Edmund Jean and Esther his wife, late of the Parish of St. One (St. Ouens) in the said Island of Jerzey, decd.'
"Jan. 10, 1678, 'John Gustin' married Elizabeth, daughter of John Brown, of Watertown, and grand daughter of Thomas Makepeace, of Dorchester, Bond 145, York records.
"Nov. 20, 1697, John Brown dates his will at Watertown, and mentions 'my son-in-law John Gustin.' Hon. Wm. Wills, in his history of Portland Maine, refers to Augustine Jean, a native of the Isle of Jersey. Afterwards John Augustine, etc.
26
PIONEER PHYSICIANS OF WYOMING VALLEY.
"July 3rd, 1719, at Falmouth, now Portland, on his death bed, John Gustin signs his will as follows:
"John AUGustin. This will, with a facsimile of the curious mark will be found in 'Sargeant's (Maine) Wills, 1640, 1750.' It forms the basis of all the title deeds to a great portion of the present city of Portland. His lands 'lying in Casco Bay, at Martin's Point and Pasumcot river,' having been granted him by 'the Colony of Massachusetts Bay' for his services in King Philip's War. He bought more with money left him by father and mother. The record at St. Ouens, of which I give as much as is necessary to make the matter clear, is as follows :
"Edmond Jean de Le Tocq., Oct. 1597, Nov. 12, 1674. St. Ouens, Jersey, married, April 25, 1638, Esther, daughter of Jean le Rossignol ; she died June 25, 1672. Children : Kath- erine, daughter of Edmond Jean, baptised Oct. 2, 1642; Au- gustine, son of Edmond Jean, baptised Jan. 9, 1647. Marguerite, daughter of Edmond Jean, baptised Nov. 24, 1650. Edmond, son of Edmond Jean, buried April 14, 1676.
"These Jeans and Le Rossignols were families of great antiquity in the island, and both were followers of the sea, one of the latter having traded with the nations at Acadia, North America, as early as 1604.
"I close with a Jersey tradition-dating probably from 1720: "There were four brothers (children?) and they went at sea. They were captains in the merchant service and trading to America. One of these captains married in America and by that marriage a son was born. When he got of age he came over to Jersey to see if he could claim any of his father's property. So these other brothers of de- ceased by all appearance gave him a certain amount or sum of money. So he returned to America and since then has not been heard of and by all appearances they live near Le Tocq."-Hacquoil.
GEO. W. GUSTIN."
27
PIONEER PHYSICIANS OF WYOMING VALLEY.
DR. JOHN CALKINS.
In 1773 Dr. John Calkins, sometimes spelled Corkins, visited Wyoming Valley, having come from New London, Conn. The people, desirous of inducing him to settle among them, drew up a subscription, proposing "to pay Dr. John Calkins, in case he should settle among us in the quality of a physician, the sum set opposite our names, the money to be laid out in land for his benefit and use." The subscrip- tion was drawn by Henry Carey, and among the signers are Anderson Dana, whose subscription of £2, 8s, was the largest. Miner calls him a noted surgeon and says he has not been able to learn the issue of the negotiations. Evident- ly he did not accept at once, for we find that it was two years before any land was deeded to him. Under date September II, 1775, Anderson Dana and Jabez Fish convey to Dr. John Calkins as follows: "In consideration that Doctor John Calkins settle in the District of Wilkes-Barré, in Westmore- land, as a physician, do give to said John Calkins one certain parcel of land lying in said District of Wilkes-Barré, bounded as follows-Beginning on ye Main road at ye corner between Lots Nos. 27 and 28 of ye 3rd Division, thence on said road northerly six rods ; thence S. 50° E. 27 rods; thence southerly a parallel line with said road 6 rods to said line, thence N. W. 27 rods to beginning, containing two acres and eight rods."
Steuben Jenkins told me that in his opinion Dr. Calkins, though owning land here, did not locate at Wilkes-Barré, but settled at Cochecton on the Delaware, from which point he made occasional visits to this locality. As bearing on this point he (American Archives, 1775, Vol. 3, page 968) made an affidavit December 12, 1775, before Zebulon Butler, jus- tice of the peace, in which he said he had often been at Cochecton and had been acquainted with that settlement 15 years. He was mentioned as "of Westmoreland."
28
PIONEER PHYSICIANS OF WYOMING VALLEY.
However, it seems hardly likely that Anderson Dana and Jabez Fish would have made the foregoing conveyance unless the grantee had fulfilled the condition of settling in the district of Wilkes-Barré.
He evidently was here often after December, 1775, even if he were not located here, for Henry Blackman Plumb, au- thor of History of Hanover Township, has kindly given me access to the account book of Elisha Blackman, begin- ning December 6, 1775, running to February 2, 1778, then intermitted for 10 years and continuing again in 1788 and 1789. The charges against Dr. Calkins were for board for self and horse and such supplies as were obtainable from a farmer. Here are some of the entries :
Dr. John Corkins
To Elisha Blackman, Dr.
1775, Dec. 6-
E. S. d.
3 lbs. Pork
0
I
6
2 bu. Oats.
O
3 O
15 lbs. Pork
O
5
O
Lending lines and breach collar
0
6 0
25 bundles Oats.
0
6 0
Killing a hog and salting
O
2
0
1776, Mar. 29-
83 wt. Beef
I 0
6
I load wood
0
2
0
1777, Jan. 30-
Cutting and carting two loads wood ..
0
2
O
Killing a hog.
O
I 0
Plowing garden and carting a load of wood.
0
6
O
Board five weeks
I
17
6
grain for horse
0
4
O
I bushel Oats.
O
I IO
mending your boots.
O
I 6
keeping horse to hay
0
2
6
PIONEER PHYSICIANS OF WYOMING VALLEY.
29
1778, Feb. 2 ---
£. s. d.
I load of wood.
0 6 0
May 18-
Time spent to do your business
O
6
0
I12 bu. Oats
O
2
9
Sep. 29-
5 days yourself and horse
0
7
6
1789, Oct. 10-
8 days board.
O
8
O
8 days board horse
0
4
O
3 pecks oats.
O
I
4
3 days board and horse.
0
5
0
CREDIT.
1775- Cash, five shillings.
O
5
0
Cash, two dollars
0
12
0
1788-
20 lbs. pork at 8 d.
O
13
4
turn with Gore.
I
5
O
1/2 lb. tea.
O
2
6
turn with Gore
O
7
0
1/2 bu. rye. .
O
4
6
cash, one dollar
O
7
6
Note the changed value of the dollar.
DR. ATKINS.
A skillful young physician, Dr. Atkins, a native of Bos- ton, settled in Kingston prior to 1825. He had been thor- oughly educated and had supplemented his medical studies in his own land by valuable experience in the hospitals of Europe. He was pre-eminently a surgeon and achieved local reputation by cutting for stone in the bladder. Col. Charles Dorrance informed me the stone was as big as a walnut and the patient was a Mr. Davenport of Plymouth. Another operation was the excision of portions of the leg
30
PIONEER PHYSICIANS OF WYOMING VALLEY.
bones and the saving of a leg which other physicians had pro- nounced a case for amputation. The patient was a man named Sutton, in Exeter Township, who had been thrown from a horse, sustaining a compound comminuted fracture of the lower third of the small bones of the leg. The sur- geon removed the spiculae, sawed off the projecting extremi- ties, made extension, constructed a fracture box and was rewarded with an excellent result. This operation, like that for stone in the bladder, is common enough in our day, but required a boldness that was rare in the country doctor of the first quarter of the 19th century.
At this time Dr. Atkins was boarding with Col. Dorrance's father. He was aristocratic and was too proud to seek prac- tice. He seemed a disappointed man. Practice came slowly on account of his lack of cordiality, and to intensify his dis- appointment, his fiancé, daughter of a wealthy Philadel- phian named Asley, died.
He bought the Dr. Whitney place (now Samuel Hoyt) in Kingston. After practicing about 10 years in Kingston he moved to New York. He married a daughter of Eben- ezer Bowman. Her sister, Lucy E. married Dr. Thomas W. Miner, q. v., and another, Caroline B., married George Denison.
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.