The New England Historical & Genealogical Register, Vol. 1, No. 1, January 1847

Part 8

Chapter 83,862 wordsPublic domain

(To be concluded.)

FOOTNOTES:

[25] In preparing this article, assistance was rendered by Moody Kent, Esq.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES OF DECEASED PHYSICIANS IN MASSACHUSETTS.

BY EBENEZER ALDEN, M. D.

To the Editor of the New England Historical and Genealogical Register.

DEAR SIR,

In accordance with your suggestion, I propose to send you occasionally for publication, as your limits may permit, brief notices and reminiscences of Physicians, who have lived in Massachusetts.

The plan of your Periodical requires that such notices should be brief; and I shall usually refer your readers to the sources of information, from which my materials have been obtained, so as to facilitate the investigations of those who may wish in any case to make still further inquiries.

Perhaps no class of public men is so little known to the community beyond the limited circle of professional pursuits, as physicians. Their life is one of incessant confinement, anxiety, and toil. A portion of their labors, as large as from one fourth to one third, is gratuitous. To them, if to no others, it is an abiding truth, _The poor always ye have with you_. It is exceedingly rare even in cities, still more so in the country, to find a physician of honorable standing with his fellows, who has acquired great wealth as the fruit of professional service. Having food and raiment, he must learn therewith to be content. Nevertheless, physicians find abundant sources of enjoyment in the sympathy and kindness of many attached friends; and it is believed, that, according to the measure of their ability, they are not behind the average of their fellow-citizens in works of philanthropy and benevolence. In the war of the Revolution they were fully represented in the senate-house, and on the battle-field; and the names of Prescott, Holton, Thomas, Brooks, and Warren, with many others, will go down to posterity, no less honored as statesmen and patriots, than as eminent members of the medical profession.

It is pleasant to recall the virtues of such men; to know where they lived; who were their associates; how they performed the duties of social life; what obstacles they encountered and what rewards they obtained; and to hold forth their example to the younger members of the profession and especially to those just about to enter it, as a practical illustration of the great truth, that a life perseveringly devoted to the good of others, even under the most discouraging circumstances, will ultimately secure the public confidence, and meet its reward.

Respectfully, yours.

1.--DR. ERASTUS SERGEANT, SENIOR, OF STOCKBRIDGE.

The following Notice of a distinguished physician and worthy man is copied, with little alteration, from a letter addressed to myself by Dr. Oliver Partridge, in December, 1841, when he was over ninety years of age.

DR. ERASTUS SERGEANT was born at Stockbridge, August 7, 1742, and died November 14, 1814, aged 72.

He was the son of Rev. John Sergeant, the first missionary to the Indians on the Housatonic River, who was born in Newark, N. J., in 1710; graduated at Yale College in 1729; was there a Tutor four years, and, having a great desire to be a missionary to the Aborigines, went to Litchfield, in 1733, where some English people had settled; procured a guide and went on foot forty miles further through the wilderness, to the Indians, where he met a cordial reception. He then returned to New Haven, resigned his Tutorship, and, having made the necessary preparations, went back in 1734, and commenced his mission.

In 1735 Gov. Dudley appointed a meeting of the Indians on business at Deerfield, where the Rev. John Sergeant was ordained as their minister, and he with Mr. Timothy Woodbridge as schoolmaster, (afterwards Hon. Timothy W.,) went to spend their lives with the Indians.

The Rev. Mr. Sergeant married Abigail, the daughter of Col. Ephraim Williams, of Newton, near Boston, one of the chosen six who had farms allotted them across our pleasant hill, to be society for the two missionaries.

Mr. Sergeant died in 1749, in the midst of his usefulness, a most amiable man and greatly lamented. He left three children: Erastus, the subject of this memoir; Electa, who married Col. Mark Hopkins of Great Barrington, and was grandmother to the two brothers, Mark and Albert Hopkins, the former the President and the latter a Professor at Williams College; and John, the fourth missionary to the said Indians, who removed with them in 1788, then being about four hundred and fifty in number, to Oneida County, N. Y., and there died.

Their mother married for her second husband, Gen. Joseph Dwight of Great Barrington, who then had five children, and by her he had two more, from whom our Dwights and Sedgwicks are descended,--and their mother became again a widow.

Notwithstanding the difficulties of the war with the French and Indians of Canada, and the residing on the frontier with the care of his, hers, and their children, by the influence and assistance of their friends, Erastus was prepared for college, and spent two years at Princeton, N. J., before the circumstances of the family required his return.

In 1761 he went to live with his uncle, Dr. Thomas Williams of Deerfield, and was there about three years in the study and practice of medicine. In January, 1765, he commenced the practice of physic in Stockbridge. The towns in the vicinity were then but partially settled, and not supplied with physicians, so that he soon had much business. Several severe cases of comminuted fracture, successfully treated by him, served to extend his fame, and, in a short time his advice was much sought, and in surgical cases he became the principal operator within a circle of thirty miles diameter; and his usefulness was continued until Dr. Jones and others succeeded him in business.

He was endowed with sound judgment and skill in his profession; was sedate, kind, very charitable and benevolent, with a large share of the Christian graces, and truly was the "_beloved physician_." More than twenty young men studied medicine under his direction.

It was said of him, that no one ever spoke ill of him from his youth up. He was an important member and deacon in the Rev. Dr. West's church. He received a Master's degree at Yale College in 1784; was elected a Fellow of the Massachusetts Medical Society in 1785; was a Justice of the Peace, and a Major in the South Regiment of the County; and was obliged to keep garrison with the Regiment at Lake Champlain, from December, 1776, to April, 1777, and to perform other services in troublesome times, until Burgoyne's surrender.

Some years before his death he was afflicted with symptoms of pulmonary disease, which were much aggravated by his incessant attention to his daughter, who died of consumption. In September of 1814 he visited the "springs," in company with Dr. Partridge, without benefit, indeed, to his injury; for it was with difficulty that he returned, on account of his increasing weakness. The day before his death, he had so far recruited that he rode to Lee on horseback, visited his son's family, and returned, not complaining of fatigue. The day he died, he was abroad in the morning. Dr. Partridge adds, "Two friends called on us from New York, and as we sat at dinner, in social conversation, Dr. Sergeant suddenly rose, and a stream of blood issued from his mouth. I instantly sprang to him, and he fell lifeless into my arms, without a gasp. Thus expired my dear friend, under whose roof I had resided from my twentieth year, then forty three and a half years, and more than forty of them harmoniously visiting each other's patients, as necessary to their satisfaction and our accommodation."

Dr. P. adds, "_natus fui_, April 15, 1751."

II.--DR. HORATIO JONES OF STOCKBRIDGE.

This able and distinguished physician, the pupil and associate of Dr. Sergeant, (No. I.,) was the son of Capt. Josiah Jones, and grandson of Mr. Josiah Jones, who, in 1737, emigrated from Weston with Col. Ephraim Williams of Newton, and settled with their families in Stockbridge. This sacrifice they cheerfully made, with the benevolent intention of aiding the mission, then recently commenced among the Housatonic Indians.

DR. JONES was born at Stockbridge, in 1770. In early youth he manifested the same energy and decision of character for which he was so much distinguished in riper years. Having commenced his collegiate education at Yale College with flattering prospects; and, perhaps, in his ambition to excel, pursuing his studies with an intensity of application disproportionate to his power of endurance, his health became impaired, and he was attacked with a disease in his eyes, which threatened a total loss of sight. In these circumstances, in accordance with the recommendation of his medical advisers, he for a time entirely relinquished his literary pursuits.

Instead of yielding to hopeless despondency, however, he determined to pursue an active life; and substituting a knapsack for his classics, he went with a company of surveyors to the Genesee country, New York, to assist in laying out lands. He was thus exposed to all the hardships incident to that mode of life, camping out in the wilderness, living upon the coarsest fare, and not unfrequently making a hollow log his lodging place for the night.

In due time he recovered his health and sight, and once more resumed his studies, but not at college. Placing himself under the instruction of Dr. Sergeant in his native town, he completed the usual term of medical pupilage. At a subsequent period he attended a course of medical lectures at Philadelphia.

He first commenced the practice of his profession at Pittsfield, where he was much respected. But at length finding, as he expressed it, that there were _more physicians than business_ in that place, he determined to remove. His decision being known to Dr. Sergeant, then advancing in life, who was desirous of finding some suitable person to take his place as an operating surgeon, he with his friend Dr. Partridge earnestly solicited Dr. Jones to settle in Stockbridge. With this invitation he eventually complied, and while he lived, the medical intercourse of the three physicians was most harmonious.

Under these auspices he was soon introduced into a wide circle of business, not only in Stockbridge, but in all the neighboring towns. His reputation was not ephemeral, but constantly increased, as he advanced in life; and his advice was much sought and highly appreciated by his medical brethren. In 1804 he was elected a Fellow of the Massachusetts Medical Society, and in 1810 received from Williams College the honorary degree of M. A.

Such was Dr. Jones,--a man possessed of rare endowments, and eminent in his profession. In the language of Dr. Partridge, from whom most of the facts relating to him have been obtained, "he was a good operator in surgery, active, pleasant, social, very popular, and indefatigable by night and by day to give relief in cases of distress and danger."

In the winter of 1812-13, an alarming and fatal epidemic prevailed extensively in New England. During its prevalence, Dr. Jones was incessantly occupied in attendance upon the sick. At length the fears of his friends respecting him were realized. He was suddenly prostrated, and, after an illness of only eight days, he died, April 26, 1813, aged 43 years.

His funeral was attended by a great concourse of persons from Stockbridge and the adjoining towns. The Rev. Dr. Hyde of Lee, who preached his funeral sermon, from Job xix: 21, speaks of his death as a public calamity. "Rarely," says he, "has the town, or even the county, experienced a greater shock in the death of a citizen. His removal in the midst of his usefulness is an unspeakable loss to the community."

His death is represented to have been eminently peaceful. Although he had not made a public profession of his faith, he experienced a great change in his religious feelings during the winter preceding his death. He gave to those who best knew him, satisfactory evidence of piety.

In his intercourse with his medical brethren, he was courteous and unassuming. All the duties of domestic and social life he discharged with fidelity and acceptance. His mind was well balanced and highly cultivated. He sympathized in the most unaffected manner with the sick who sought his aid, and by his kindness and gentleness alleviated the sufferings and won the affections of his patients, even in those cases where medical and surgical skill could afford only a temporary and partial relief.

Extracts from the sermon of Dr. Hyde were published in the tenth volume of the Panoplist; also, an interesting notice of his death and character, by Rev. Jared Curtis, in the Farmer's Herald. See also a memoir recently prepared and published by Dr. S. S. Williams, in his Medical Biography, a work which cannot fail to interest the medical reader, and is an able sequel to the volumes of the late Dr. Thatcher on the same subject.

III.--DR. ANDREW MACKIE OF WAREHAM.

DR. MACKIE was the son of Dr. John Mackie, who came from Scotland, and settled at Southampton, L. I. He was born at Southampton in 1742; studied medicine with his father, and settled as a physician at Wareham, Ms., where, for many years, he had an extensive practice in medicine and surgery. He also had the reputation of having been unusually successful in the treatment of the smallpox.

He was a devoted and active Christian, a member of the church, and for many years he sustained the office of a deacon.

He had ten children, of whom four sons and three daughters lived to adult age. Three of his sons studied medicine. 1. John, who graduated at Brown University in 1800, received the degree of M. D., and settled at Providence, R. I., where he died, in February, 1833, at the age of 52 years. He was eminent as a surgeon. 2. Peter, a Fellow of the Massachusetts Medical Society, now a physician at Wareham. 3. Andrew, from whom the above-named facts were obtained, born in 1799, graduated at Brown University, 1814, and received the degree of M. D., 1817. He first settled at Plymouth, but is now a physician of good reputation in New Bedford, and is a Fellow of the Massachusetts Medical Society.

Dr. Mackie, the particular subject of this notice, died at Wareham, of a pulmonary disease, April, 1817, aged 75.

JOHN LEVERETT, WILLIAM BRATTLE AND JAMES OLIVER.

These three distinguished scholars of New England were all born in Boston, educated at the same school, admitted into Harvard College the same year, took their degrees at the same time, [1680,] all settled in Cambridge, one an attorney at law, one a clergyman, and the other a physician, and all eminent in their professions. The first two were Fellows of the Royal Society in England.

EXTRACT FROM A LETTER OF HON. WILLIAM CRANCH OF WASHINGTON, D. C.

The following is an extract from a letter of Judge Cranch to the Editor.

"Among some old papers of my father, I found a letter from the Rev. William Clark, dated Quincy, Aug. 10, 1803, in which he says, 'Mr. William Winthrop of Cambridge has, for some time past, been engaged in a pursuit rather extraordinary, viz., to investigate the following particulars of every one who has received a degree at Harvard College, from the first foundation of that University in 1648 to the present time; viz., the origination or where born, his professional business or employment, his place of residence, time of his death and age; also any thing remarkable in their lives and characters; where such matters can be ascertained.' Again, Mr. Clark says, 'In his (Mr. Winthrop's) next letter he opened his design to me; and with respect to the clergy in particular, when the Catalogue was printed in 1797, the whole number of graduates then being 3533, of which number those who had been, or then were, settled ministers of the Gospel amounted to 1121; of this number, he informed me he had ascertained the places of settlement, and other particulars of 1117, so that there were but 4 remaining unascertained, viz., _John Mors_, 1692--_Joseph Gerrish_, 1700--_Noyes Paris_, 1721--of these 2 last, however, he gives some proof, that he was not wholly destitute of some intelligence about them. But what is most surprising was, that of the 4 above mentioned unascertained persons, myself brought up the rear! He had never heard where I officiated before the revolution, though it was no further from him than _Dedham_, where I lived ten years!--I wrote him fully of myself, and various others, whom he has since desired information of; only there were 2 of the last mentioned, that I knew very little about, whose names I mentioned to you: viz., whether _Cornelius Nye_, who graduated in 1718, was not the same person who was a schoolmaster in Braintree, and who was somewhat distinguished for his witty talents? If so, did he ever pursue any other employment than keeping school? _Shepard Fisk_, who graduated in 1721, and lived at Braintree, his employment, decease and age? If you could without inconvenience to yourself, collect any thing certain of these 2 persons, or either of them, and put it in writing and send it to me, it would be thankfully received. I expect to have occasion to write to Mr. Winthrop shortly, and should be happy to transmit any thing so agreeable to him, as any discovery of this kind, whose mind seems to be intensely fixed on this pursuit.'

"Mr. Clark afterwards sent to my father the following extracts from Mr. Winthrop's letter to him, dated Oct. 10, 1803.

"'I feel myself greatly obliged to you, as well as to Judge Cranch, (Judge Richard Cranch,) for the information contained in your last letter with its inclosures. I have long since heard of that gentleman's researches into the antiquities of this country, and conclude he must be possessed of a large fund of information upon that subject. Is there no way that I can avail myself of it to promote my plan?

"'Finding by your letter that you suppose that Mr. Sheppard, who was settled at Cambridge, and who was an eminent minister in that day, was the same that graduated in 1653, I inclose you some memorandums respecting that family, which may, perhaps, be gratifying to the Judge as well as to yourself.'

"The postscript is in these words:--'I will thank you to present my respects to Judge Cranch, when you have a convenient opportunity, and inform him that I feel myself under great obligations to him for his information respecting Messrs. Nye and Fiske; and that any further communications he will please to make to me, I shall most gratefully acknowledge.'"

LETTER FROM REV. JOHN WALROND OF OTTERY, ENG., TO REV. WILLIAM WALDRON, MINISTER OF BOSTON, AND BROTHER OF SECRETARY WALDRON.

OTTERY, March 8, 1725-6. "REV. AND DEAR SIR,

It was a very pleasant surprise to me to receive a Letter from you, who no doubt are of the same Name and Family with myself, tho' a letter in it be transposed, and who by Dr. Mather's Character of you, are not the least in your Father's House.

I have made some Enquiry about the Somersetshire Branch of our Family, from whence you are descended, but cannot exactly determine, tho' I am apt to think it must be from one of those two Gentlemen, of which, one was Walrond, of _Illbrewers_ who had about five hundred Pounds pr. Annum or more, and the other Walrond of _Saye_, of about the same Value, and I think both of them Justices of the Peace, in that County, one of them I am sure was so, viz., the former; both of them degenerated into looseness of Living in Charles 2ds Reign, and both ruined their Estates and dyed poor, above twenty years since. Walrond of _Illbrewers_ was a great persecutor of the Dissenters, but in the conclusion wanted bread.

There is an honest family of about a hundred Pounds pr. annum, still living at _Wellington_, in Somerset, very excellent Men, great supports of Religion, and one of the Brothers abᵗ your Age, a very good young Minister, living now in Dorsetshire.

The Head of all our Family still remains in a good Estate, about a thousand Pounds pr. Annum, from whom I am the second Generation. The seat is called _Bradfield_ in Devon.

It was granted by the Crown, about six hundred years since, to one Richard Walerand, and has continued in the Family to this Day; The last Gentleman that dyed was a very pious good Man, about eighty years of Age and an excellent Magistrate in his Country, that could at any time lead three hundred Freeholders, to the Election of a Shire Knight; but his son is degenerate and very wicked: I conversed much with the old Gentleman, but this is no Friend to my Profession.

Another Branch sprung from Bradfield House in this county (beside those two families in Somerset before mentioned) which is seated at _Bovey_, in the East of Devon, which Branch sprang from its Root about 340 years since, and now inherits at least, a thousand Pounds per Annum; This also has degenerated and become like other Gentlemen in England: For Religion indeed, is almost quite gone, out of the Familys of the Gentry, by Means of a loose and licentious Clergy.

I never could find any of our Name, in all England, but in the Western Counties, and from thence, a Family went, as Merchants to Barbadoes, grew rich, and was in the Government there; and the last Gentleman a Batchelor seated himself at Greenwich near London, was morally honest and very charitable, but having a great loss in the South Sea, of almost all his Money could not bear it, but shot himself in the Head.

Our Coat of Arms, is three Bulls Heads, as you'l see by my seal on this Letter, But _Stemata quid faciunt_?

I find our Name in Skinner's _Etymologicon Linguæ Anglicanæ_; toward the end of which Book, in his _Onomastichon_, he has the word Walarand, _olim Praenomen nunc Cognomen ab Anglo Sax_ WALPIAN, _volvere, et_ RAND, _Scutum, volvere scutum, i. c., qui Clypeum huc illuc circumagit_. Waldron _autem cognomen contractum est a_ Walarand. I have transcribed what he says lest the Book should not be common with you. I wish you had let me know into what Family your Grandfather married, for that might perhaps have given Light into the Enquiry; however I will examine farther, and take the first opportunity to inform you, as I can get Intelligence; but I know of no male Posterity left of the two Somersetshire Familys that I mentioned above.