USA > Wyoming > Pioneer physicians of Wyoming Valley [1711-1825] : an address before the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society > Part 3
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DR. SAMUEL BALDWIN.
Dr. Samuel Baldwin lived in Wilkes-Barré as early as 1810, but afterward removed to Forty Fort or Wyoming. He went to Oxford, N. Y., about 1821, and died there, somewhere about 1834. He was somewhat eccentric and labored long to invent perpetual motion. He left a ma- chine intended to solve the problem.
In the Steuben Jenkins papers it would appear that he lived in the neighborhood of Wyoming in 1807, as John Jenkins let him have vegetables, grain and meat and several bars of iron. Perhaps the latter was for his perpetual mo- tion machine.
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PIONEER PHYSICIANS OF WYOMING VALLEY.
That he was a resident of Wilkes-Barre is shown by the following from a local paper :
Married, at Wilkes-Barre 15 July, 1810, by Rev. Ard Hoyt, Mr. Epaphras Miller, of Oxford, N. Y., to Miss Betsy Baldwin, daughter of Dr. Samuel Baldwin of Wilkes- Barré.
DR. ALDEN I. BENNETT.
Egle's Pennsylvania Genealogies (183) says Dr. Alden I. Bennett was the first physician in Nanticoke, in 1825. He married Mary A. Bennett, daughter of Thomas Bennett, who was born in Connecticut in 1765, and came to Wilkes-Barré about 1770.
DR. OLIVER BIGELOW.
In the Wilkes-Barre Gasette and Luserne Advertiser for January, 1798, Dr. Oliver Bigelow had an announcement that he was practicing in Kingston. He married Esther, daughter of Stephen Harding, and lived opposite the resi- dence of S. B. Vaughn. Practiced for a time on Ross Hill, Plymouth, then at Wilkes-Barré and subsequently removed, about 1800, to Palmyra, N. Y. These facts are learned from Steuben Jenkins.
DR. ETHEL B. BACON.
"Married July 5, 1809, by Rev. Ard Hoyt, Dr. Ethel B. Bacon to Miss Anna Hoyt, daughter of Capt. Daniel Hoyt of Kingston." He lived for a time at Wyoming and re- moved to Tioga County, Pa.
DR. ANDREW BEDFORD.
Dr. Andrew Bedford was born in Wyoming, Luzerne County, April 22, 1800, and died at Waverly, Pa., in his 90th year. Dr. Bedford came from pioneer medical stock, his grandmother, Sarah Smith, having been a daughter of Dr. Wm. Hooker Smith. Her sister, Susannah, married Dr. Lemuel Gustin. Dr. Bedford's mother was Deborah,
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PIONEER PHYSICIANS OF WYOMING VALLEY.
daughter of James Sutton and Sarah (Smith) Sutton. De- borah was born in 1799 and died in 1869. He graduated from the medical department of Yale College, and began to practice at Dundaff in 1825, settling in Waverly the next year. He never actively practiced medicine after 1840, but gave his time to public affairs. He was one of the first directors of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Rail- road. He was a delegate to the constitutional convention of 1837 and 1838. He served as prothonotary of Luzerne County from 1840 to 1846. He was the first burgess of Waverly and the postmaster of that borough. He was a Democrat and a Methodist. He left six children, one of whom, Geo. R. Bedford is a prominent member of the Luzerne Bar.
DR. FRANCIS CAREY.
Dr. Francis Carey, born in 1799, lived between Wilkes- Barré and Pittston, but left the valley in 1831.
DR. EBENEZER CHAMBERLAIN.
Dr. Ebenezer Chamberlain located in Plymouth in 1816, and practiced there until his death in 1866. He was born in Swanzey, Cheshire Co., N. H., Dec. 1, 1790. (Wright 336.) He served as county commissioner from 1843 to 1846, and was a justice of the peace. His daughter Elizabeth was the first wife of John J. Shonk of Plymouth.
DR. LEWIS COLLINS.
Dr. Lewis Collins was born in Litchfield, Conn. He mar- ried a daughter of Hon. Oliver Huntington, of Lebanon, in that State, moved to Salem in 1801, and bought of Moses Dolph the Jacob Stanton farm at Little Meadows. His daughter, Philena, sister of Oristus Collins of Wilkes-Barré, married Dr. Virgil Diboll, q. v.
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PIONEER PHYSICIANS OF WYOMING VALLEY.
DR. SAMUEL COOK.
In 1777 Dr. Samuel Cook deeded a lot in Hanover Town- ship to John Staples. Whether he was a resident does not appear. The following advertisement is from the Wilkes- Barré Advertiser, March 31, 1815 :
"Dr. Cook respectfully informs his friends and the pub- lic that he has returned to his former residence in Bridge- water, Susquehanna Co., where he will attend to all calls in the line of his profession. All persons indebted to him are earnestly called upon to settle their accounts without delay."
DR. FRANKLIN CRISSEY.
Dr. Franklin Crissey was registered as a physician on the Hanover Township assessment for 1799 (Plumb 250), and his property was valued at $150. This included a horse.
DR. MATTHEW COVELL.
Dr. Matthew Covell was a native of Glastonbury, Conn. He settled in Wilkes-Barré when a young man and practiced medicine there during the remainder if his life, ranking among the first as physician and surgeon. He was born in 1760, and died May 18th, 1813. of what the newspapers called "the prevailing fever." He was a man of devout Christian principles and had the confidence of a large circle of acquaintances. He was a member of the board and treas- urer of the old Wilkes-Barre Academy. Caleb E. Wright describes him as "a tall, slim man, with his elbows nearly touching on the back as he stood. He was highly educated and for a long time was the reigning functionary of his profession. He had the field almost to himself."
DR. EDWARD COVELL.
The following is taken from the obituary publication, Dec. 29, 1826:
"Dr. Edward Covell, son of Dr. Matthew Covell, suc-
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ceeded the latter in his practice. He was born in Wilkes- Barré May 12, 1792, and died Dec. 27, 1826. After having received an early and liberal education he was prepared under the instructions of the celebrated Dr. Benjamin Rush, of Philadelphia, and others of his school for the practice of medicine. He entered upon the duties of his profession at an early age and soon acquired an extensive practice. As physician no man of his age held a higher rank. The sua- vity of his manners and the kindness of his expressions upon entering a sick room were ever calculated to inspire the con- fidence of his patients and to soothe the feelings of their anxious friends.
"As a gentleman, his society, company and conversation were highly esteemed by all who appreciated literature, science and morals. As a Christian he was not ashamed to own his Master, and after having publicly professed his re- ligion for a number of years, he spoke of his dissolution with the utmost composure and died in a firm hope of a glorious immortality.
"As a son, as a husband, as a father, and in all the endear- ing relations of life he was everything the man of worth should be. In short, no man lived more respected or died more regretted than Dr. Covell."
He married Sarah Sterling, daughter of Gen. Wm. Ross, May 7, 1817, born August 25, 1793, died July 9, 1864. Children : Miss Eliza Ross Covell; Martha L. Catlin, born October 11, 1819, died 1871 ; Mary Bowman, wife of Dr. Wey; Edward M. Covell, attorney-at-law, born Jan. 8, 1822, died Sept. 5, 1864.
DR. MASON CRARY.
Dr. Mason Crary was born in Stonington, Conn., Novem- ber 15, 1779, of Scotch descent, the family coming over to Connecticut in 1644. His father moved from there to Albany County, New York, in 1784. He studied medicine in Albany. He came to Luzerne County in 1804, and was
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PIONEER PHYSICIANS OF WYOMING VALLEY.
married to Desire Beach, one writer says daughter, Steuben Jenkins says sister of Nathan Beach, Esq., of Beach Grove, Salem Township, in 1806. They had these children :
Darwin, who studied medicine and settled in Hazleton. N. Beach, who went to Ohio.
Mason, who settled in Shickshinny.
Helen, unmarried, and one other.
Soon after his marriage, in 1806, he located in Berwick and practiced there until about 1814, when he removed to Wilkes-Barré, residing at the corner of South Main and Northampton Streets, in what is known as the Perry house, one of the first brick houses in Wilkes-Barre. He thus an- nounced himself in the Literary Visiter (Sic) of July 22, 1714, then published by Steuben Butler :
"Dr. Crary will attend to the practice of Physic and Sur- gery in Wilkesbarre and the adjacent town ; having had an opportunity of a regular study under the direction of eminent physicians, and having since had an extensive and successful practice for a number of years in city and country, he flat- ters himself that by assiduous attention, he may merit public approbation."
Here he manufactured for general sale, "Dr. Crary's Anti- Bilious Family Pills."
There was no machinery in those day for working the pills into shape, and the doctor employed the boys of the neighborhood to pinch off from the mass a portion of proper size to roll into a pill, which they did between their fingers and thumb. The pills were said to have been of calomel, jalap and rhubarb.
The doctor was an advertiser and there is little in the Wilkes-Barré local papers during his stay that is of greater interest than his curious advertisements. Here is one:
"Dr. Crary informs the public that he has removed his family to the house lately occupied by Judge Gibson in Wilkesbarre, and has just received a fresh supply of gen- uine drugs and medicines. Crary's Antiseptic Family Physic
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PIONEER PHYSICIANS OF WYOMING VALLEY.
in Pills, will be sold by the dozen or single boxes; great al- lowance by the dozen and the money returned at any time if the Pills are not damaged. Storekeepers will find it to their advantage to keep a supply of the above cheap and safe Family Physic. He is not ambitious of being called a half price Physician, yet he disapproves of raising wages in con- sequence of ardent spirits being a little higher ; he prefers taking a little less stimulus and using more industry ; his charges shall be as low as any regular bred practitioner, always favoring the industrious and virtuous poor, and dis- charge his duty without prejudice or partiality, either relig- ious or political. He will not, under any pretence, call to see other physicians' patients and endeavor to prejudice them against their physician. He gives advice, either written or verbal, gratis, at his shop. Wilkes-Barré, July 1, 1814."
He resided in Wilkes-Barré until 1824, his practice ex- tending for miles up and down the Susquehanna and becom- ing so arduous as to require an assistant, in the person of Dr. Lathan Jones, q. v., then a young man starting in the practice of medicine. In 1824 he sold out to Dr. Jones and returned to Salem Township, where he continued in his professional duties to within about ten years of his death, which occurred in 1855, at the age of 75 years. He was a physician of marked success, his ability being not limited to practice alone, but reaching out to the writing on medical subjects. In fevers his success was considered almost marvelous. Dr. A. B. Longshore of Hazleton, is a nephew.
His mother was a Mason, hence his Christian name. She was a lineal descendant of Capt. John Mason, a noted Indian fighter in the early days, who was originally of Dorchester, Mass., then of Windsor, of Saybrook and of Norwich, 1659. John was four years representative, eighteen years Assistant, eight years Department Governor and then Major General, but his reputation as Captain won in the Pequot War, made that title so honorable that he was always called the Great Captain in preference to any of his subsequent official titles.
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PIONEER PHYSICIANS OF WYOMING VALLEY.
DR. CHARLES FRANCIS JOSEPH CHRISTEL.
Charles Francis Joseph Christel was born in Munich, Bavaria, February 12, 1776, son of Philip and Cecelia (Roth) Christel, and, immigrating to America when a young man, settled in the township of Salem, Luzerne County, Pennsyl- vania, in 1797 or 1798. Having studied medicine he re- moved about 1800 or 1801 to the adjoining township of Huntington, and became the second resident physician there -the first being Dr. Charles E. Gaylord. Doctor Christel's home in Huntington was at the present village of Harvey- ville.
Doctor Christel practiced his profession in Huntington and neighboring townships until about 1812 or 1813, when he removed to the Township of Hanover in the Valley of Wyoming, and entered into practice there. (This was at Buttonwood, a little south of Wilkes-Barré.)
In 1822 he also began to keep an inn in Hanover, and he was thus employed-as innkeeper and physician-until 1825, when he removed to the borough of Wilkes-Barre. Here, until his death, he owned and ran what was long known as the "Wyoming Hotel"-which stood on the west side of South Main Street, where the present "Christel Block" was erected in 1882.
Doctor Christel was married in 1810 to Elizabeth Stookey, born March 31, 1788; died August 10, 1856, daughter of Benjamin and Martha ( Irwin) Stookey of Salem Township. He died at Wilkes-Barre February 21, 1838.
Dr. Christel's daughter Lucinda was the wife of Henry Cady, who for a number of years, until 1831, was one of the principal merchants in Wilkes-Barré. His store was on South Main Street near Northampton, where the Cady build- ing now stands. Another daughter, wife of Augustus C. Laning, died in 1875. (Harvey book, page 814.)
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PIONEER PHYSICIANS OF WYOMING VALLEY.
DR. SHADRACH DARBEE.
Under date of November 5, 1777, Wm. Darbee, of Can- terbury, Windham Co., Conn., deeds to his son, Dr. Shadrach Darbee of Westmoreland, one-half right in Susquehanna purchase. No other information.
DR. VIRGIL DIBOLL.
Dr. Virgil Diboll came from Colchester, Conn., and after a stay in Cherry Ridge, Wayne County, where he married, he settled in upper Kingston, now Wyoming. He mar- ried Philena, daughter of Dr. Lewis Collins, and sister of Judge Oristus Collins of Wilkes-Barre. He removed from Wyoming about 1829 and located at Northmoreland, present Wyoming County, where he died. In a reminiscent article in the Wilkes-Barre Record, March 23, 1901, Samuel H. Lynch recalls that there was a boarding school at North- moreland, Wyoming County, to which boys were frequently sent from Wilkes-Barre. He says Dr. Diboll led the sing- ing in the Presbyterian Church, assisted by his wife and daughter, Arethusa. The doctor would pitch the key on his tuning fork, and starting the tune, he would call to his daughter, "Strike in, Thusa," when the music went off in fine style. Steuben Jenkins says that Dr. Diboll was a great stammerer and afforded much amusement to the chil- dren when aiding the tuning fork with his own local effort.
As illustrating the varying forms of spelling a name, Steuben Jenkins furnished me the following from the Col- chester records, which may have some genealogical value :
Ebenezer Dibel's daughter Elizabeth was born August 8, 1701.
Mary, ye wife of Ebenezer Dibell, died Sept. 21, 1703.
Ebenezer Dibell and Ann Horton were married August 29, 1706. Ann born 27 June, 1708.
Ann, the wife of Ebenezer Dibell, dyed the 22 July, 1708.
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Ebenezer Dibell and Mary Lewess were married Decem- ber 30, 1708.
Mary, wife of Ebenezer Dibble, died 5 March, 1736.
George Saxton and Elizabeth Dible married March 22, 1716.
Joseph Pepoon and Mary Dibell married Decr ye 12th, 1717.
In another place the name is spelled Dibbel.
REV. DAVIS DIMOCK.
"At the opening of the century," says Blackman's His- tory of Susquehanna County, "there was living in Exeter, Davis Dimock, born in Connecticut in 1776, his father, David Dimock, a lieutenant in the Continental Army. In 1790 the family had followed the tide of emigration from Connecticut and gone to Wyoming, settling in Wilkes-Barre. In 1801, while carrying on the business of farming and distilling ar- dent spirits, he was converted, united with the Exeter Bap- tist Church, receiving baptism from Elder Jacob Drake, the pioneer Baptist minister of the Valley. Two years later he was ordained to the ministry and went from settlement to settlement through the forest preaching the gospel. He had studied medicine in his earlier years and his medical services were frequently called into action. Finding it an aid rather than a detriment to his gospel ministry, he continued more or less to practice medicine during subsequent lite. He died in Montrose in 1858, at the age of 82 years."
His wife was Elizabeth, daughter of Benjamin Jenkins, who died from cruelties inflicted on him by the Pennamites in 1787. He was a brother of Col. John Jenkins, and a son of Judge John Jenkins. Benjamin Jenkins' widow ( whose maiden name was Affa Baldwin) married John Harding, whose brothers were slain by the advance guard of the In- dians, who were approaching to destroy the settlement in 1778. Mrs. Dimock died in 1853, aged 72 years.
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PIONEER PHYSICIANS OF WYOMING VALLEY.
In his address (1892) on The Fathers of the Wyoming Baptist Association, Hon. Theo. Hart said :
"Among them many who were converted under the preach- ing of Elder Jacob Drake, as he traveled over the extensive county, covering what are now Luzerne, Lackawanna, Sus- quehanna, Wyoming and Bradford Counties, were Davis Dimock, Joel Rogers (who was the ancestor of Dr. Joel J. Rogers) and several others who joined him in the work of the ministry. These itinerants traveled and preached on the same plan pursued by Elder Drake upon his old field on the Hudson River, and their converts were all enrolled as members of the Exeter Church, which had been organized in 1792, but organized in the several localities as branches, with some of the powers of independent bodies. Davis Dimock was ordained at the yearly meeting in 1803. Upon Elder Drake's death in 1806, Davis Dimock became the recog- nizer head of the Baptists upon this extensive field, and suc- ceeded Elder Drake in the charge of the Exeter Church. The mantle of this remarkable man had fallen on one worthy to wear it, and the work among the scattered branches pros- pered in his hands. He was a very successful preacher, naturally well endowed, and his spiritual gifts gave him power with God and men. When approaching age compelled him to give up the arduous labor in which he had been en- gaged for over 40 years, it seemed that his place would never be filled. He withdrew from active pastoral work in 1846, and spent the closing days of his life with his daughter, Mrs. Lydia C. Searle, in Montrose."
DR. JOSEPH DAVIS.
Dr. Joseph Davis located in Wyoming Valley, according to family records, in 1787. He was born July 19, 1732, at New Haven, Conn., and came here from Oxford, in that State. He died at Spring Brook in July 1830, having reached the advanced age of 98 years. Hollister says he died
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PIONEER PHYSICIANS OF WYOMING VALLEY.
at Slocum Hollow, but this is an error. His wife was Obe- dience Sperry and they had two sons and five daughters :
Joseph, unmarried.
John, married and lived in Wilkes-Barré.
Sarah, married Ebenezer Slocum.
Lovica, married an Ogden.
Lavina, married Hosea Phillips.
Betsey, married Benjamin Knapp.
Hulda, married a Booth.
In a note to the author a granddaughter, Mrs. Sarah S. Gardner of Dalton, Pa., says: "I do not know whether all his children were born in Connecticut or not, but my grandmother, Sarah Davis, was sixteen years old when they came to Pennsylvania. Dr. Davis practiced medicine in Wilkes-Barré. Dr. B. H. Throop, in his book says, Dr. Davis was the first doctor in Slocum Hollow, but that is a mistake, I am sure, as I have heard my mother tell of grandmother going to Wilkes-Barré to be treated by her father, as there was no physician nearer Slocum Hollow in 1800, than Dr. Giddings at Pittston.
"I came to Slocum Hollow with my parents, Elisha Hitch- cock and Ruth Slocum, his wife, July 5, 1826, a girl of nine years, and I remember very distinctly that Dr. Davis was then living with his daughter, Betsey, who married Benjamin Knapp. They lived at the mouth of the Spring Brook. He died at Mr. Knapp's and I remember very distinctly attending his funeral services at the house, and that his remains were carried to Wilkes-Barre for interment."
According to Hollister, his son-in-law Ebenezer Slocum, and his brother, Benjamin Slocum, purchased land largely at Slocum Hollow, present Scranton, and for 28 years made iron there, as Dr. William Hooker Smith had done at Old Forge. Frances Slocum who was carried into captivity in 1778 was their sister.
The statement, somewhere published, that he was a grad-
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PIONEER PHYSICIANS OF WYOMING VALLEY.
uate of Yale College, I think is an error, as his name is not in the list of alumni. He practiced medicine in Wilkes- Barré until 1813, when he removed up the Lackawanna River to Spring Brook. He was a man of fertile resources, as shown by a catheter in the possession of Dr. B. H. Throop, made from the leg bone of some wild bird. His manners are described as eccentric and his appearance as uncouth, but he controlled the surgical practice for a large territory. He was a hoarder of money and after his death quite a sum of silver coin was found secreted.
In the collection of the Wyoming Historical Society (No. 2134) is an ancient compass which is described in the place- book as having been used by Dr. Joseph Davis and others in running the lines of the Seventeen Townships under the Susquehanna Company, prior to 1778. It was presented to the Society in 1873, by his granddaughter, Elizabeth Knapp.
DR. HENRY GREEN.
In 1817 Dr. Henry Green was receiving his mail through the Wilkes-Barre post office. He was located, and had been for some years, at Factoryville. Had a son Norvin and grandson, Douglas N. Green of Scranton.
DR. CHARLES E. GAYLORD.
"Dr. Charles E. Gaylord informs the inhabitants of Kings- ton and vicinity that he intends removing to Kingston soon to practice his profession as a Physician and Surgeon. He has long been in practice in Huntington Township."
This was the announcement in the Wilkes-Barre Gleaner for December 6, 1816, of a gentleman whose medical practice covered nearly three-quarters of a century. He was a native of Wyoming Valley. Mrs. Hartman, in her sketches of Huntington Valley, says that he was probably the first phy- sician who located in Huntington Valley as a permanent settler. He located there as soon as the people felt free
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PIONEER PHYSICIANS OF WYOMING VALLEY.
from Indian molestation, which, Mrs. Hartman says, was soon after the British market for scalps closed. The fol- lowing is from the Harvey Book, page 349:
"Charles Eleazer Gaylord, the only child of Charles and Hannah (Andrus) Gaylord, was born in Bristol, Hartford County, Conn., March 21, 1770. He accompanied his par- ents in 1773 to Plymouth, Pennsylvania, whence he returned to Connecticut with his mother after the death of his father. When his mother remarried, and removed a second time to Plymouth, he went with her. Later he was sent to Connec- ticut to be educated. His brother Asher perished in the massacre.
"Having received a good common school education, he studied medicine under the direction of Dr. James Hender- son, of Connecticut, and then returning to Pennsylvania, settled in Huntington Township (at the present village of Huntington Mills) about the year 1792. He was the first settled physician in this township, and he continued in the practice of his profession there for thirty years or more. In 1792 and during several succeeding years he was Consta- ble of the township, and for a number of years, about 1812, Justice of the Peace.
"On September 22, 1795, he was married to Esther (born 1777), daughter of William and Margery (Kellogg) Smith, of Wyoming Valley. At the time of the massacre Margery Smith, then a widow, escaped with her infant daughter down the river in a canoe. Returning to the Valley some months later she subsequently was married, as his second wife, to the well-known Dr. William Hooker Smith, of Wyoming.
"Doctor Gaylord and his wife removed in 1822 from Huntington to the village of Plymouth, where he died Febru- ary 4, 1839, and his widow died October 8, 1854. Colonel Wright, in his 'Historical Sketches of Plymouth,' says of Dr. Gaylord: 'He had an excellent reputation as a physician
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PIONEER PHYSICIANS OF WYOMING VALLEY.
and surgeon. He was a man very highly respected for his social virtues.' He was considered one of the ablest physi- cians in the territory of old Westmoreland.
"The only child of Dr. Gaylord was James Henderson Gaylord, born in Huntington Township October 9, 1796."
DR. NATHANIEL GIDDINGS.
Dr. Nathaniel Giddings is said to have settled in Wyom- ing Valley in 1789, when a lad of 18. According to the "Giddings Family" he was born at Norwich, Conn., Septem- ber 30, 1761 (but this should be 1771). It has been stated that he graduated from the medical department of Yale Col- lege, in 1789, but this cannot be true as Yale had no grad- uates in medicine until 1814. He located first in Plymouth Township, but after a year or two removed to Pittston, where he practiced medicine until his death, February 10, 1851, at the age of 80. He at Pittston Ferry, and Dr. Robin- son at Providence, were the only physicians between Wilkes- Barré and Carbondale.
He was married November 30, 1793, to Lucinda Silsbee, who died November 27, 1815. Children, all born at Pitts- ton :
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