Biographical Sketch of Dr. Jacob ENRENZELLER (1881); Chester County, PA

Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Candace Roth 
<clroth1229@earthlink.net>.

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Pg. 529/30
 
  "ENRENZELLER, Dr. Jacob, was the son of Jacob Ehrenzeller, a native of 
Switzerland, who migrated to this country and engaged in the business of tavern-
keeping in Fourth Street, Philadelphia, where the subject of this notice was 
born, about Sept. 1, 1757.  He studied medicine in Philadelphia, but under whose 
guidance is not known.  It is known, however, that he was a classical scholar.  
From 1773 to 1778 he was a medical apprentice in the Pennsylvania Hospital, 
where he acquired a considerable amount of practical knowledge.  He never 
obtained a degree either of Bachelor or Doctor of Medicine, but received a 
certificate of qualification to practice medicine from Drs. Kuhn and Shippen, by 
which he was enabled to procure the commission of assistant surgeon, and entered 
the American army during the Revolutionary war.  He was present, on duty, at the 
battle of Monmouth and some other engagements, in which he always conducted 
himself with great propriety.  Towards the close of the war he left the army and 
settled in the township of Goshen, Chester Co., where, for a number of years, he 
sedulously attended to the duties of his profession.  Subsequently he removed 
into the borough of West Chester, and continued his professional labors until 
within a few years of his death, which occurred from apoplexy, July 18, 1838, in 
his eighty-first year.  He married his cousin, Elizabeth Hankee, and had two 
daughters, both of whom were imbecile and died in early life, thus adding to the 
many sad evidences of the injurious results of consanguineous unions.
  For many years Dr. Ehrenzeller enjoyed a lucrative practice, and commanded a 
great degree the confidence of the community.  He held the office of chief 
magistrate of the borough as often and as long as he would consent to serve.  A 
good portrait of him was painted by Miss Strode, an accomplished lady artist of 
the vicinity, and presented by her to the Chester County Cabinet, where it is 
carefully preserved.
  As a physician, Dr. Ehrenzeller was eminently practical, and gave general 
satisfaction by the fidelity with which he devoted himself to his duties.  In 
manners he was rather austere, and sometimes abrupt, with a dash of caustic 
sarcasm when improperly interfered with, but he possessed a kind heart, and was 
ever ready with his best efforts to relieve the sufferings of the afflicted.  He 
had but little patience with the absurd credulity of the ignorant in medical 
matters, disdaining to argue them out of superstitious notions, he would 
occasionally remark to his brother practitioners, "Si vulgus vult decipi, 
decipiatur!"
  Few men evinced a more ardent patriotism than Dr. Ehrenzeller; and in the 
latter years of his life he delighted to talk of the Revolution, and of the men 
who conducted that struggle to its glorious termination.  He always had a 
cutting remark for those of his contemporaries who had oppposed the noble cause 
of freedom and independence."