BIO:  Dr. William C. STEM, Franklin Township, Adams County, PA

Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Kathy Francis

Copyright 2005.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/adams/
_______________________________________________ 

History of Cumberland and Adams Counties, Pennsylvania
Chicago:  Warner, Beers & Co., 1886
_______________________________________________ 

Part III, History of Adams County, Page 413

DR. WILLIAM C. STEM. P.O. Cashtown, was born October 23, 1824, and is the eldest 
of eight children born to Reuben and Susan (Stover) Stem.  His grandfather, 
Peter Stem, came from Maryland in 1816 (his wife was a Miss Wilson, who bore him 
a number of children, some of whom were born in Adams County), and settled in 
Liberty Township on the farm now owned by the McIntyre heirs.  Reuben, the 
father of Dr. Stem, was born in 1804, and is yet living.  He was by trade a 
miller, but later engaged in the hotel business.  Our subject spent his boyhood 
days on the farm and attended the academy at Emmittsburg each season, until his 
education was so far advanced that he then taught several terms in the public 
schools prior to his study of medicine.  He studied three years and practiced 
nine months, in addition, before attending medical college.  He matriculated at 
the Philadelphia Medical Institute in 1849, and located in the autumn of 1850, 
in his native township, where he remained until 1850, when he located 
permanently in Cashtown.  He married in November, 1854, Eliza Watson, daughter 
of James and Mary (Gibson) Watson, of Adams County.  Mrs. Stem’s father was a 
native of County Derry, and her mother of County Tyrone, Ireland.  The latter 
had married James Hindman prior to immigrating to America and her marriage 
thereafter to Mr. Watson.  Doctor and Mrs. Stem are parents of twins, Anna M. L. 
and James Calvin, born July 26, 1855.  A coincidence regarding their birth is 
that their mother was a twin, and her brothers, James and John Watson, were 
father of two pairs of twins.  James Calvin completed his education at the 
Gettysburg Normal School, studied medicine under his father, and graduated, in 
1878, from the Cincinnati College of Medicine and Surgery.  He located at 
Lewisberry, York County, in 1878, and in 1880 married Mary Paup.  Dr. W. C. Stem 
has practiced thirty-seven years in Adams County, and has gained an enviable 
reputation among his brethren, as well as an extensive business throughout the 
county.  He has also made some important discoveries in medicine, which promise 
to revolutionize the treatment of convulsions and all diseases of the nervous 
system.  As a reader and philosopher, Dr. Stem has few equals in Adams County; 
he is also well informed in civil engineering, and has done a large amount of 
surveying in his neighborhood.  He is looked upon as authority in legal as well 
as medical matters, and his thorough education is an important factor in the 
welfare of the community.  During the Rebellion, the quartermaster and clerks of 
Hill’s division, with Gen. Heathe in command, were encamped on the Doctor’s lot, 
while the headquarters of Gen. R. E. Lee were in the adjoining field.  On 
Thursday, while the battle of Gettysburg was in progress, Gen. Lee came with his 
staff, and they pitched their tents in the field adjoining our subject’s place, 
at about 11 o’clock, and then Gen. Longstreet with his staff came about a 
quarter to twelve, visiting Gen. Lee, and all moved away toward Gettysburg about 
half an hour after, after which Lee’s headquarters were at the stone house near 
Gettysburg.  The Doctor’s office was full of wounded Confederates after the 
battle, and both he and his wife did all in their power to make them 
comfortable, being charitable alike to both friend and foe.