History: Local: Chapter XXXVIII - Part I : The Medical Profession : Bean's 1884 History of Montgomery Co, PA

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                           BEAN'S  HISTORY  OF

                     MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

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636 (cont.)


                         CHAPTER XXXVIII. - PART I

             THE MEDICAL PROFESSION - PIONEER PRACTITIONERS - 
            EMINENT PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS - MEDICAL SOCIETY.

    To obtain an abstract of what may be known concerning the medical
profession of Montgomery County we must allow imagination to carry us
back to a period when medicine, though advanced in years, was comparatively
younger in scientific attainments.

    What was known of the healing, art among the early settlers was, for the
most part, traditional.  The various diseases incident to human-kind were
promptly met by the virtues, supposed and otherwise, of the herbs found
within the borders of every settlement.

637

But these simple remedies, prepared, of necessity, after the most
primitive methods, were administered with that confidence in their reputed
virtues that the medical man of recent times would desire bestowed upon his
most potent, active principle.

    With these early settlers the custom prevailed to repair periodically to
the physician to be "blooded."  This practice, performed in the spring and
autumn, was believed to establish immunity from the attacks of diseases, to
which they might be subjects at these intervals, by reason either of
natural predisposition or climatic conditions.  By way of parenthesis, it
may be observed that the physician did not enjoy the exclusive privilege of
performing this practice then in vogue.  The barber was a competitor of no
mean reputation; the red and white striped pole, which marks his shop even
to the present day, is but the preserved relic of his olden-time
advertisement, fashioned to represent the blood trickling down the arm of
his willing and grateful customer.

    In these days also the midwife flourished.  She dared to assume the
responsibilities of her calling without entertaining the remotest idea that
she was trespassing in a field of labor rightfully belonging to the
physician.  The time had not yet come when this branch of practice was
considered of sufficient importance to enlist the attention of the general
practitioner.

    Under these circumstances, therefore, when the housewife, midwife and
barber possessed the qualifications necessary to act as adjunct doctors,
the services of the educated physician were seldom brought into
requisition.  It was only when life was thought to be in imminent danger
that is was summoned to the bedside.  When we consider that these rare
visits often consumed many hours of travel through the dense wilderness, we
can, in some measure, appreciate the sympathy and devotion of the early
physicians for suffering humanity.

    The first regularly-educated physician who set foot within our limits we
infer to have been Dr. Griffith Owen.  Drs. Thomas Wynne and Griffith Owen
accompanied William Penn to these shores when he settled at Philadelphia,
and they are, therefore, regarded as the pioneers of the medical profession
in Pennsylvania, as well as of the county of which we were, prior to 1784,
a part.

    The bodily infirmities of the settlers failed to absorb the whole time of
these gentlemen, since we are informed that Dr. Owen spent much of his time
in following the rounds of meetings in the neighboring provinces.

    It will be observed that the territory soon to become incorporated as
Montgomery County was not destined to remain long without a resident
physician.  About this time Dr. Thomas Graeme established his home upon the
site long known as Graeme Park.

    The Graemes claim descent from William de Graeme, who went to Scotland
on invitation of David L., in 1828, and whose descendant in the tenth
generation was one of the Scotch commissioners to treat with England in
1406 and 1411, from whom came, in undoubted succession, the Graemes of
Montrose.  Dr. Thomas Graeme was born in 1688 at Balgowan, the hereditary
estate in Perthshire.  He came to Pennsylvania in 1717, along with and under
the auspices of Colonel William Keith, who had been appointed Deputy
Governor of the province.  He was by profession a physician, and is supposed
to have received his education at the University of Leyden.  His practice
was small in a society where, as we have seen, men who had been regularly
educated in medicine, as well as law, were regarded with less favor than
those who consulted other dictates than those to be found in books.  To
compensate this insufficient progress of his protege, Governor Keith put him
at the head of the naval office, much to the disgust of Logan, whose friend
Assheton had been removed for this purpose, and who went so far as to
intimate that Keith, without considering the question of the merits of
Assheton and Graeme, had appointed the latter from gratitude to his family
for the security which he had enjoyed while hiding at Balgowan after the
battle of Sheriff Muir.  He was married to Miss Diggs, who was stepdaughter
to the Governor, and this relation also enhanced his influence at the seat
of power in the province.




                PICTURE OF DR. THOMAS GRAEME, APPEARS HERE.




    The Court of Chancery was established through the influence of Governor
Keith in 1720.  In 1725, Dr. Graeme was raised to the Council and became a
master in Chancery.  Hostile as the Assembly became to the Governor, the
latter's subordinates came in for their share of odium and distrust.  They
complained of the exorbitant fees charged by the master, and even went so
far as to accuse him of partiality.  Notwithstanding these discouraging
things, he was appointed in 1731 justice of the Supreme Court.  The St.
Andrew's Society, intended originally for the assistance of Scotchmen, was
founded in 1749, and Dr. Graeme became its first president.  He died in 1772.

    In the order of settlement within the county limits, the next physician 
of whom tradition furnishes an account is Dr. Christian Frederick Martin. 

638

    "Patriach" Christian Frederick Martin, a graduate of the University of
Berlin, emigrated to America in company with the patriarch of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church, Rev. H. M. Muhlenberg, D.D., and others in
1742.  It could be said of Dr. Martin that he was the progenitor of "a
family of doctors."  Dr. Martin practiced at the Trappe upwards of thirty
years, removing thence to Macungie, Lehigh Co.  He left four sons, all
physicians.  Of the descendants of these four sons, twenty-five have been
physicians, nineteen bearing the name of Martin.  The majority of the
descendants still living reside in Lehigh County.  As evidence of the
success attained in the practice of his profession, and the fame which was,
in consequence, stamped upon the name of Martin, the following brief
sketch of the son and the grandsons may be of interest:

    Dr. George Martin, third son of Christian Frederick Martin, was born May 4th
1779, in Macungie township, Lehigh Co., Pa.  In 1805 he removed to Whitpain
Township (a short distance below the village of Blue Bell), and commenced
the practice of medicine.  He removed to Whitemarsh in 1814, where he
resided and continued the practice until 1836, having been one of the most
successful practitioners of the county for thirty-one years.  He then
removed to Philadelphia, where he continued the practice of his profession
until within three or four years of the time of his death, which occurred
on December 8, 1862.  He was buried in the cemetery of the Union Church of
Whitemarsh on December 16, 1862.

    There were born to Dr. George Martin three sons,-
Frederick A.
Charles
John Adam. 
Dr. Frederick A. Martin graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in
1830.  He practiced for a short time in Whitemarsh, and then removed to
Coopersburg, Lehigh Co., where he resided for some time.  He removed from
that place to Philadelphia, then to Bethlehem and again to Philadelphia,
where he now resides.

    Dr. Charles Martin graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1833. 
He also practiced for some time in Whitemarsh.  In after-years he studied
divinity, and is now a worthy and respected minister in the Lutheran
Church.  He resides in St. Joseph, Mo.

    Dr. John Adam Martin graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1836.
He at once commenced the practice of his profession in Whitemarsh,
succeeding his father, who at that time removed to Philadelphia.  He
continued in active practice until 1849, when he was smitten with the
epidemic which raged at that time, viz.; the gold fever, which was cured
only by a visit to California by way of the "Horn".  Returning to Whitemarsh,
he resumed his practice, and continued in it until the fall of 1858.  Dr.
John A. Martin was a very successful practitioner, enjoying the confidence
of his patrons in a very remarkable degree.  After relinquishing practice in
Whitemarsh he studied law, and was admitted to the bar in Philadelphia and
Montgomery Counties.  In the latter years of his life he resided and
practiced medicine near Dover, in the State of Delaware.  He died March 13,
1872.  He was buried in the cemetery of the Union Church, Whitemarsh, with
full Masonic honors.

    In chronological order, our attention is next directed to Dr. Jonathan
Potts, a son of John Potts, of Pottsgrove.  In June 1771, Dr. Jonathan
Potts, with three other young men, was presented with the degree of Doctor,
having received the degree of Bachelor of Physics from the university three
years before.

    At the outbreak of the Revolution he was practicing medicine and also
owned a drug-store in Reading, which he disposed of to enter the medical
department of Washington's army.  He afterwards rose to a high position,
becoming director-general of the Northern Department of the army.  He
rendered eminent services, and was much esteemed by Washington.  Many
interesting papers written by Dr. Potts, now in possession of the
Historical Society of Pennsylvania, bear testimony of his eminence as a
physician and his loyalty to the cause of American independence.

    Dr. Potts' life stood in strange contrast with that of his brother, John
Potts, Jr., who was a Tory.  His estate was confiscated in 1779, and is fled
to Nova Scotia.  It was sold under the Attainder Act of the Continental
Congress, and the "Stowe" house and the farm, one-half mile above
Pottstown, now owned by Lewis Richards, were purchased by Dr. Jonathan
Potts for twenty thousand pounds, Continental money.

    A name destined to become famous among those of medical men was Dr.
William Potts Dewees, born at Pottsgrove, Pa., May 15, 1768.  He graduated
at the University in 1789, and entered upon the practice of medicine at
Abington.  Seeking a wider field for his labors during the prevalence of
yellow fever, he removed to Philadelphia, where he remained permanently.  He
devoted himself especially to the subject of obstetrics, at that time a
novel branch of medicine in the United States.  It may be said of him that,
with Shippen and James, he succeeded by perseverance in overcoming the
prejudice against the right of physicians to practice midwifery, and
secured a place for this branch of science in the college curriculum.  It is
claimed that he was the first physician who had ever delivered a full
course of lectures upon this subject.  By the year 1812 he had amassed a
fortune by these lectures.  He applied for the professorship in the
university when it was first created, but was defeated by Dr. Shippen.  He,
however, became adjunct professor with Dr. James in 1825, and upon the
retirement of the latter, in 1834, was chosen full professor of obstetrics.
After holding the chair one year he resigned, in 1835.  It is said that the
importance gained for obstetrics under Dr. James was further enhanced under
Dr. Dewees.  He died in Philadelphia May 20, 1841, aged seventy-three years.

639

    A name still fresh in the memory of our oldest citizens is Dr. Isaac
Huddleson.  His father, Henry Huddleson, was the son of William.  Huddleson,
one of the Quakers from Yorkshire, England, who arrived here shortly after
Penn's settlement.  Dr. Isaac Huddleson studied medicine with Dr. Samuel
Torbut, of Newtown, Bucks Co., who gave him a very flattering certificate
of qualification.

    He attended the Pennsylvania Hospital during the year 1792, for which
service he received the following certificate:

   "We, the attending managers and physicians of the Pennsylvania Hospital, do
certify that Isaac Huddleson, student of medicine of the County of Bucks in
the State of Pennsylvania, hath Studied the practice of the physicians of
the said hospital for the season.  Signed: Managers, William McMurtrie, Samuel Coates;
Physicians, Benjamin Rush M.D., James Hutchinson, M.D.;"

    Early in 1793, Dr. Huddleson settled in Norristown, and soon acquired an
extensive practice, being, considered a good physician and very successful
in minor surgical and obstetrical operations.

    His name appears in 1796 as one of the original corporators of the
Norristown Library Company.  He was married, in 1799, to Martha Gray
Thomson.  Shortly after his marriage he purchased a lot and erected a
dwelling and office upon it, on the south side of Main Street, above Green,
where they lived a number of years.  Some years later he sold his property,
and built or purchased another at the southwest corner of Main and Cherry
Streets, where he resided till his death, March 5, 1852.  As the doctor
advanced in years be sought relief from the labors of out-door practice by
opening an apothecary shop, which he kept till age admonished him to retire
from business.

    Dr. Huddleson was a careful, successful surgeon, and so placid and kindly
in disposition that he probably never had an enemy in his life.  Dr.
Huddleson left one son, Dr. John T. Huddleson, who, after practicing a few
years in Norristown, removed to Thornbury, Delaware Co., where he has
attained considerable eminence in the practice of his profession.

    Contemporaneous with Dr. Huddleson may be mentioned the names of two
prominent physicians, Dr. George W Thomas and Dr. George Thomas.  Dr. George
W. Thomas had quite an extensive practice in 1828, and was frequently
called on as consultant.  In disposition he was unusually mild and gentle. 
He and Dr. Huddleson were the only practitioners in Norristown in 1831. 
These two, being advanced in years, felt the need of a younger physician to
relieve them of some of the hard-and unprofitable-work.  About this time Dr.
William Corson located in Norristown, and being then young, vigorous and
ambitious he became it valuable co-laborer in this work.  They thus mutually
served each other, and during the lives of Drs. Huddleson and Thomas there
was the fullest confidence and harmony among the three physicians of the
town.  One of Dr. Thomas' daughters married Dr. Washington G. Nugent; the
other was married to Dr. Gilbert Rodman McCoy, of Doylestown, Pa., where he
practiced many years.  He died about six years ago, leaving a wife and some
children.  One of his daughters is married to Judge Watson, of Bucks County.
Both the daughters of Dr. Thomas are living.  He died of malignant
erysipelas during the time when it prevailed as an epidemic, about thirty
years ago.  

    Dr. George Thomas, of Upper Dublin township, practiced in this
vicinity from 1800 to 1830.  He was of Quaker origin, and though eminently
successful as a practitioner, yet tradition credits him with many
peculiarities.  He generally walked when practicing, though good horses
stood in his stable.  He wore his hair long and a beard when beards were
rarely seen.  He died about 1840.

    The beginning of the present century marks the arrival of several
physicians, who became more or less prominent.  Among these may be mentioned
Dr. John Jones, who, in 1802, located in Horsham, about one mile from the
Three Tons tavern.  He continued in practice though Gwynedd, Montgomery, and
Horsham, Abington, Whitpain and Whitemarsh townships for forty-three years.
He left a son, Joshua Y. Jones, who graduated at the University of
Pennsylvania in 1830, and who assumed the practice of his father through
the same region.  In 1845 he was appointed by Governor Shunk, Lazaretto
physician.  In 1852 he was elected to the Senate for three years.  In 1876
Congress appointed him one of the Centennial commissioners for the State of
Pennsylvania.  It may be related in this connection that a daughter of Dr.
Joshua Jones is the wife of Dr. F. S. Wilson, who practiced in the same
locality until honored with the appointment under Governor Pattison that
his father-in-law had received under Governor Shunk.  

   In May 1802, Dr. Gove Mitchell began the practice of medicine in the lower 
part of the village of "Crooked Billet," now Hatboro'.  In 1804 he bought the 
property of Dr. Hart, where he passed the remainder of his life, in the labors 
of his profession.  He was an honorary member of the Montgomery County Medical 
Society at the time of his death.

    Dr. Joseph Meredith, who studied medicine with his uncle, Dr. Hugh
Meredith, a celebrated physician of the upper part of Bucks County, began
the practice of medicine at or near North Wales village about 1802.  His
practice included the whole district of Gwynedd, Montgomery, Hatfield,
Franconia, Towamencin, and Worcester and Whitpain townships.  There is no
record of a practitioner of any kind in all that territory, with the
exception, perhaps, of Dr. Silas Hough, who, about the same time, practiced
for a few years in the upper part of Montgomery or New Britain township.  He
afterwards abandoned the profession and became a minister, being pastor for
many years of the Montgomery Baptist Church.

    With passing notice of Dr. McLean, who practiced through Horsham, Upper
Dublin and Whitemarsh townships at the time of the Revolution, and lost his
life while crossing the Wissahickon; Dr. Charles Moore, who practiced at an
uncertain period at Montgomery Square; Dr. Bacheldor, who practiced at
Hatboro' on foot and in the vicinity when the patient furnished the
conveyance; Dr. Amos Griffith, who, during ten or twelve years, established
a practice at North Wales, which he afterwards abandoned for agriculture;
and Dr. Philip Hahn, who administered to the relief of the sick from Trappe
to the northern section of the county, we pass to the consideration of men
who practiced at a more recent period.

640

    SAMUEL GARTLEY, M.D., was born in the city of Philadelphia in the year
1779.  His father, John Gartley, was a classical scholar, having been a
graduate of the University of Edinburgh.  He graduated from the University
of Pennsylvania in 1801.  Soon after receiving his diploma he was; appointed
surgeon on the ship "Ganges," an East Indiaman, which at that time, in
consequence of the constant war in Europe, shipped what was called "a
fighting crew."  Dr. Gartley returned from China in 1803 and located in
Norristown.  In 1807 he married Sarah Potts, who was the daughter of Thomas
and Abigail [See NOTE 38-1.] Potts, be holding at that time the office of register and
recorder at Norristown, under the appointment of Governor McKean. 

[NOTE 38-1.]

    The daughter of Colonel Samuel Miles, of the Continental army.

[FINIS NOTE 38-1.]

    In 1809, two years after her marriage, Sarah Gartley, the wife of Dr. Gartley, 
died.  Some time afterwards he married Catharine M. Potts, a sister of his first
wife, and he continued to reside here, having a widely-extended practice
for many miles around Norristown.

    Having had two years' experience on shipboard and abroad, Dr. Gartley was
esteemed a very skillful physician, and was often called into consultation
by other practitioners in Montgomery, Bucks and Chester Counties.  He was,
besides, during the war of 1812, appointed a local examiner of soldiers as
to their fitness for service in the army.  He died in his forty-fifth year,
in 1824.  Dr. Gartley was a member of the Episcopal Church, and is buried in
Swedes' Ford Cemetery.

    SAMUEL FREEDLEY, M.D.  -Henry Freedley, the father of Dr. Freedley, who
was of German extraction, resided in his native State of Pennsylvania during
his lifetime.  He early removed to Springtown, Montgomery Co., having
married Catherine Isett, who was descended from Pennsylvania German stock.
He subsequently purchased the firm now owned by his son Samuel and three
years later removed to Norristown, where he remained until his death, which
occurred in Pottstown in October 1823.  The children of Mr. and Mrs.
Freedley are
Mary (Mrs. Richard Davis)
Elizabeth (Mrs. George Printz)
Henry (married to Sophia Kline)
Susan (Mrs. Samuel Jacoby),
Jacob (married to Susan Jacoby)
John
Catherine (Mrs. Mathew Neeley)
Samuel.




                   PICTURE OF SAMUEL FREEDLEY, APPEARS HERE.




The last-named, and subject of this biographical sketch, was born February
2, 1799, on the farm which is his present home, and at the age of three
years removed to Norristown.  He received a classical education, and in 1819
entered the office of Dr. Samuel Gartley as a student of medicine,
graduating from the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania in
1821.  Dr. Freedley, preferring a large city as a field of operations, at
once located in Philadelphia, which has been the scene of a protracted
professional career.  The doctor, after a large experience, found that the
many cases coming under his observation required more specific remedies
than were adopted by the old school of practice, and in 1836 embraced
homoeopathy, which he has since made a specialty.  He has been actively
engaged since that date in professional labors, and at the present time
responds to all demands upon his skill as the oldest practitioner in the
city.  He has never joined the medical societies of the State or county, but
has contributed to the medical journals and written comprehensively upon
the treatment of diphtheria, in which be has met with signal success.  He
still enjoys a lucrative office practice, and is able to bring to his aid
an experience of sixty-four years as a physician.  Dr. Freedley was first
married in 1856, to Mrs. Anna Elizabeth Hoeckly, daughter of Armand Davis,
of Philadelphia.  He was a second time married, in 1880, to Mrs. Mary
Elizabeth Blodget.  He has been either a Whig or Republican in his political
convictions, but never active in the field of politics.  He is a Lutheran in
his religious belief, and a member of St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran
Church, on Spring Garden Street, Philadelphia.  Dr. Freedley having, by
purchase, about 1849, secured possession of the homestead farm in Plymouth
has made it his residence, though continuing his practice in Philadelphia.

    ROBERT J. DODD, M.D., late of Lower Merion township, was born in
Philadelphia April 5, 1809.  At a very early age be commenced the study of
medicine and surgery in his native city, under Dr. George McClellan (father
of Major-General McClellan), and so rapidly did he acquire proficiency in
the science that when he was but a little more than seventeen years of age
he passed the requisite examination to become an assistant surgeon in the
United States navy, and received the appointment, dating from May 29, 1826.
His first service at sea was on board the armed schooner "Shark," on a
cruise in the Caribbean Sea and along the Spanish Main in search of
pirates.  In March, 1831, be was graduated at Jefferson Medical College,
Philadelphia, and, after a successful examination before the naval board of
surgeons, was promoted to the full grade of surgeon in the United States
navy, his commission dating from April 4, 1831, and being signed by
President Andrew Jackson.

    From that time, for more than sixteen years, be continued on active duty,
the greater part of the time afloat, his last cruise being completed in
July, 1847, he having then been in the navy more than twenty-one years, of
which (as shown by the navy register) twelve years and nine months had been
spent in sea-service.  During that time he had circumnavigated the globe
three or four times; had been present in China when certain ports of that
country were opened and made free by the power of the British navy had been
several times prostrated by attacks of yellow fever, and once by the
peculiarly malignant disease known as African fever, from the effects of
which he never fully recovered.  In the Mexican war he was on duty in the
Gulf Squadron, and on the occasion of General Taylor's advance into the
interior, from Corpus Christi, he was one of a force of five hundred
volunteers--officers and men of the naval and marine services-who held the
army's rear communications and base of supplies.

641

Immediately after the expiration of his last cruise, in 1847, Dr. Dodd was
placed in charge of the Naval Asylum at Philadelphia, where he remained on
duty several years.  Afterwards he became a permanent resident in Lower
Merion township, living on the fine estate which he had previously
purchased, and on which, in 1850, he built the commodious mansion-house
which is now occupied by his son.  In the war of the Rebellion, though not
employed in active service, he was an ardent and steadfast supporter of the
government, and contributed most liberally of his means in aid of the Union
cause.  He gave with a free hand to the support of the families of
volunteers who entered the military service, furnishing almost the entire
means of subsistence to many women and children whose husbands and fathers
were in the field or prisoners of war in the South.  And it was not alone in
the dark time of the great civil war that his charity and benevolence were
exhibited; they were his life-long characteristics, and the poor who were
within his knowledge always found in him a friend and a liberal benefactor.




                 PICTURE OF ROBERT J. DODD, APPEARS HERE.




    On the 3d of March 1871, Dr. Dodd was promoted to the grade of medical
director in the navy on the retired list, his commission being signed by
President Grant and Secretary Robeson.  He died at his home in Lower Merion
township on the 4th of February, 1876, having been nearly a half-century in
the active and retired naval service, and having risen through the
different grades to the relative rank of commodore.

    Dr. Dodd was married, in 1825, to Ann Sweeney, of Philadelphia, who died
in the early part of 1827, less than two years after their marriage.  In
1848 he married Hannah Matilda, daughter of Josiah Bradlee, of Boston,
Mass.  She had no children, and died in 1871.  The only child of Dr. Dodd was
by his first marriage, -a son, Robert F. Dodd, Jr., who is now living, on
the homestead estate in Lower Merion, where his father spent the years of
his retirement until the close of his life.

642

    Dr. Robert J. Dodd, Jr., son of Dr. Robert J. and Ann Dodd, was born in
Philadelphia; studied medicine in that city with Dr. John McClellan (son of
Dr. George and brother of the general), and was graduated at Jefferson
Medical College in 1848.  In the same year he was married to Mary Markley
Ghriskey, a descendant of Jacob Markley, one of the early (1722) settlers
of Montgomery County.  Dr. Dodd commenced practice in western Virginia,
where he remained but a short time, then removed to Kentucky, and practiced
there more than nine years.  In 1858 he removed thence to Rock Island
County, Ill., where He practiced until 1861, when he returned to his
native city, but did not locate in practice there.  From Philadelphia he
removed to the State of Delaware, where he, practiced twelve years.  In
1876, after the death of his father (of whose will he had been appointed
sole executor), it became necessary for him to remove to the homestead in
Lower Merion, in order to give his personal attention to the settlement of
the estate.  He still continues to reside there, intending to remain until
he is able, in pursuance of the terms of the will, to dispose of the real
estate, which embraces the homestead, and adjacent property, amounting to
about one hundred and forty-four acres, all situated in and contiguous to,
the valley of Mill Creek.

    JACOB KNIPE, M.D.  -Dr. Knipe is of German extraction, his father, David
Knipe, having been a resident of Gwynedd township, where be was actively
engaged in farming.  He married Mary Raker, whose children were
John
David
Hannah (Mrs. William Burney)
Conrad
Catherine (Mrs. John B. Johnson)
Daniel, Eliza (Mrs. Chester Clark)
Jacob
William.

Jacob Knipe was born on the 12th of September, 1804, in Gwynedd township,
and spent his youth at the homestead, having been left fatherless when but
two years of age.  His education was received at the common schools near his
home and in Philadelphia, after which he entered the office of his brother-
in-law, Dr. Chester Clark, of Schultzville, Berks Co., with a view to the
study of medicine, and subsequently became a student in the Medical
Department of the University of Pennsylvania, from which he graduated in 1828.




                    PICTURE OF JACOB KNIPE, APPEARS HERE.




He was for a brief period settled at Siegersville, Lehigh Co., and later at
Schultzville, from which point, after a residence of two years, he removed
to Swamp, New Hanover township, and established a successful practice,
which was continued uninterruptedly for forty years.  This long term of
professional labor, much of it covering an extended field and requiring
long rides, induced Dr. Knipe, in 1867, to seek a period of rest, and
retiring from the active work of the profession, his practice was
transferred to his younger son.


643

The doctor was married, on the 30th of October 1828, to Miss Rachel,
daughter of David Evans, of Hatfield Township, Montgomery Co.  Their
children are
David E., deceased
Mary A.
Francis M., who graduated from the Jefferson Medical College and is
practicing in Frederick township, Montgomery Co.
Sallie J., deceased (Mrs. A. K. Whitner)
Jacob 0., a practicing physician in Norristown
Hannah E. deceased
Septimus A., a graduate of Jefferson Medical College who is engaged in
  practice at Swamp
Rachel A., deceased
Conrad M., deceased.

Dr. Knipe was in politics always a Democrat, but rarely participated
actively in matters of a political character.  His son, Dr. Francis M.,
represented his district for four years in the State Legislature.  The
subject of this sketch was actively identified with public enterprises in
the township and county, and until his resignation of the office was
president of the Limerick and Colebrookdale Turnpike Company.  He was
identified by membership with the Lutheran Church at Swamp.  Dr. and Mrs.
Knipe celebrated on the 30th of October, 1878, the fiftieth anniversary of
their marriage, on which occasion, many relatives and friends from
adjacent portions of the county and State assembled to offer their
congratulations.  The death of Dr. Jacob Knipe occurred in August, 1883, in
his seventy-ninth year.




                    PICTURE OF HIRAM CORSON, APPEARS HERE.




    HIRAM CORSON, M.D., the fifth son of Joseph and Hannah Corson, was born in
Plymouth township, Montgomery Co., October 8, 1804.  His mother's death, at
the age of forty, left him, a small boy, to the care of a father immersed
in business, but mainly to two elder sisters, Mary and Sarah, the former of
whom afterwards married Thomas Adamson, and the latter Thomas Read.  Having
a much older brother (Alan) who soon after engaged in teaching, these
younger ones had the best opportunity, short of a collegiate course, of
receiving a good academic education.  Dr. Corson is one, however, whom
phrenologists characterize as a natural scholar, -a person measurably
independent of schools.  Such men do not so much reason after the manner of
mathematicians as grasp by perceptive analysis or intuition whatever comes
within the purview of their minds.

[NOTE: For a sketch of the Corson family, see "Plymouth Township."]

644

This is, perhaps, the happiest of all faculties for the physician to
possess, inasmuch as he must often act on the spur of the moment, with
little time for reflection.  With the quick critical gifts described it was
natural that Hiram Corson's attention should have been drawn to medicine as
a profession.  Accordingly, when twenty-two years of age, he entered the
office of Dr. Richard D. Corson, of New Hope, Bucks Co., in 1826, and in
March 1828, graduated at the University of Pennsylvania.  Soon after he
erected a residence near Plymouth Friends' Meeting, where he has since
resided, and for more than half a century enjoyed an exceptionally large
practice.  The life, of Dr. Corson has been so busy, and his contributions
to medical science and social progress so varied, that it is difficult to
characterize his career.  No sooner had he begun his professional routine
than he perceived the terrible devastation produced by alcoholic liquors,
so universally used as a beverage, and so greatly aggravated by the then
common prescription of them by physicians in their practice.  With the
decision of a quick mind and the cool intrepidity of a hero, he threw
himself against the whole system.  He soon discovered also in his own
experience that in most cases patients recover more rapidly without their
use, and he thenceforth almost banished them from his "materia medica."  Not
only did he boldly take this ground in the face of the pecuniary gains to
the fraternity by their use, but entered into the moral discussion which
arose a few years later, and on all proper occasions made vehement speeches
against the practice of drinking those liquors.  He was among the first to
detect and denounce the insidious nature and dangerous use of root-beer and
other weak fermented drinks to reformed inebriates during the Washingtonian
movement.  He was not only the champion of temperance at home, but
frequently introduced the subject at the meetings of the State and national
medical societies.  It is proper to add, however, that without changing his
views on this question, he has given the work into younger hands.  Dr.
Corson's observation soon convinced him that the custom, then widely
prevalent, of employing hot drinks alone in eruptive diseases, and denying
patients the cooling draughts of water, so much craved, was not justified
by experience.  Accordingly, he conformed his practice to these views, and,
without pretending to found a new school, has, nevertheless, effected a
widely-extended reform in such cases, his brethren generally yielding to
the correctness of his observations and theory.  In the meantime there have
been few, if any, additions to medical science or discussions growing out
of its theory in which he has not participated.

    There are no medical men in the country better known by their occasional
writings than Dr. Corson, all his papers being characterized by keen,
intuitive perception of truth.  Close observation and common-sense,
enlightened by professional experience added to science, have been his
striking characteristics in all his labors.  He was active in the
organization of the Montgomery County Medical Society, and has read before
it a number of valuable papers.  He, with his brother William, was active in
forming the State Medical Society, of which he was president in 1852.  But
zeal in the pursuit of his profession, together with an extensive practice
and the care of a large family, did not so far absorb his mind as to
prevent his also having great interest in State and national affairs.
Though not an active politician, he has been all his life a Whig and
Republican, taking especial interest in the cause of the down-trodden
slave.  As in the case of temperance, he was outspoken from the first
against the iniquity and unwise policy of maintaining the slave-holding
system.  In matters of humanity, public charities or social abuses his keen,
critical and trenchant pen is frequently employed, nearly always
enlightening the public mind upon some matter unobserved by others.  Dr.
Corson, notwithstanding his radical views on most reform subjects, has been
frequently honored by medical societies and the profession at large.  He was
among the first physicians to open the profession to the female sex,
putting forward his niece, Miss Anderson, and giving her the benefit of his
name and reputation to secure an education.  He has been for many years a
member of the American Medical Association.  A list of the various societies
and associations of which be has been elected associate member, together
with the titles of some of his many valuable papers read and published,
will be found elsewhere in this volume.  He is the author of various papers
on scarlet fever and diphtheria, and the originator of the ice-treatment,
which has proved so efficient in those diseases, and which is now in
general use throughout the United States.  His writings, though numerous and
even voluminous, have often been accomplished in hours snatched from rest,
in order that his brethren might have the benefit of his large experience. 
Some years ago Governor Hartranft, knowing Dr. Corson's familiarity with
the advanced knowledge of the profession in the treatment of lunatics,
appointed him a trustee of the State Hospital for the Insane, at
Harrisburg.  The State Board of Charities also appointed him one of the
visitors to the Montgomery County prison and almshouse.  Without any
official connection with the Eastern Asylum for the Insane, recently built,
he was, nevertheless, influential, by his writings and oral advice, in
securing the wise arrangements for the humane safe-keeping of its inmates. 
Dr. Corson has kept abreast with the most enlightened views prevailing in
England and on the Continent, and for a long time has deprecated the prison
feature in treating the insane.  Some years ago be uncovered to the public
eye the gross neglect of the demented poor in our almshouses, securing
thereby a reform of the same.

Soon after commencing practice Dr. Corson married Ann Jones daughter of
Edward and Tacy Foulke.

645

Their eldest son, Edward Foulke, born October 14, 1834, studied medicine
with his father, graduated at the university, and began practice at
Conshohocken.  He afterward obtained the post of assistant surgeon on board
the United States ship "Hartford," and spent three years on a cruise in
Asiatic waters.  He was, during the Rebellion, made full surgeon, and
stationed at the Marine Hospital, Philadelphia.  On application, he was
later assigned to the ship "Mohican," which for eighteen months scoured the
seas for the rebel vessel "Alabama," and returned without the loss of a
single man by illness.  He returned broken in health, and died, after an
illness of a few weeks, June 22, 1864, in his thirtieth year, greatly
mourned as a young man of much promise.  The second son, Joseph K. Corson,
born November 22, 1836, entered upon the business of a druggist, and on
graduating in the College of Pharmacy, Philadelphia, returned home.  He
enlisted in Captain Walter H. Cooke's company, Colonel Hartranft's
regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, as a private, and served until the
company was ordered to the rear to be mustered out on the eve of the battle
of Bull Run, being one of the few who offered to remain in service and
participate in the disastrous conflict.  On his return home he began the
study of medicine with his father, attended medical lectures and at the
same time entered the Military Hospital, corner of Broad and Cherry
Streets, Philadelphia, as assistant to the surgeons.  On graduation he was
sent to the seat of war as surgeon's assistant in one of the regiments of
the Pennsylvania Reserves.  He participated in the battle of Gettysburg and
most of the battles of the Wilderness, ending at Cold Harbor, where he was
relieved.  He for a brief time assisted his father, but eventually applied
for a position in the army, and was assigned to duty on the lines between
Omaha and Fort Bridger, Wyoming Territory, and other posts in the far West. 
While on the plains he made long journeys in search of fossils, and was
fortunate in discovering the remains of many extinct animals.  He is still
pursuing the scientific explorations.  He is married to Ada, daughter of
Judge William Carter, of that territory.  The third child of Dr. Corson was
Caroline, born April 2, 1839, who died of consumption after receiving a
superior education.  The fourth is Tacy Foulke, married to William L.
Cresson of Norristown.  Charles Follen, the fifth child, was entered and
graduated at the University of Pennsylvania, after which he studied law
under William Henry Rawle, of Philadelphia, and has since been actively
engaged in his profession in that city.  For some years he has been a member
of the law-firm of Goforth & Corson.  He was married, in 1876, to Mary,
daughter of Lewis A. Lukens, of Conshohocken.  The sixth child is Susan F.,
married to Jawood Lukens, of the firm of Alan Wood & Co., iron
manufacturers of Conshohocken.  The seventh is Bertha, wife of James Yocum,
of Philadelphia.  The eighth child, Frances Stockton, married Richard Day,
of the firm of Day Brothers, Philadelphia.  The youngest child, Mary,
resides with her parents at Maple Hill, their home.

    Dr. WILLIAM CORSON.  -The youngest of the children of Joseph and Hannah Corson
was born August 8, 1806.  Though losing his mother at the early age of four
years, he, under the guidance of his sisters, became impressed in early
boyhood with those humane feelings and with those literary cravings which
so distinguished them, so that when he grew to adult age he shared with the
whole family the hostility to slavery which they have ever since so
strongly manifested.  He studied medicine with his brother Hiram, and
graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in the spring of 1831, in the
same class with Dr. Henry D. W. Pawling.  It was a singular circumstance
that the latter, whose family was one of the most influential of those long
resident in Norristown, immediately on graduation moved away from
Norristown to the Chester Valley, at the King of Prussia, to practice, and
Dr. Corson moved to Norristown to embark in his profession.

    At that time the town and region for miles around was supplied by Drs.
Isaac Huddleson, an aged man and George W. Thomas, then past the prime of
life.  These two physicians were pleased to have young Corson (with whose
father they were well acquainted) to aid them in attendance and in some of
the work at night, when it was necessary to go miles away.

    To him this opportunity for practice was a welcome one, and led him
directly into a business which soon employed his whole time.  During the
lives of these two physicians the most cordial friendship existed among the
three friends and fellow-laborers.  Upon the death of Dr. Thomas, who
survived Dr. Huddleson several years, Dr. Corson, who had already been for
years engaged in a most extensive practice, was the acknowledged head of
the profession there, and has so continued ever since.  During fifty-three
years he has bestowed his skill and labor on all classes of society, never
once refusing aid to the poorest or most depraved when it was in his power
to help them.  Fee or reward was the last consideration with him.  His
conscientiousness was great, his humanity and benevolence boundless.  No
other man in Montgomery County has ever had so large a practice during so
long a period of time.  His great experience caused his neighboring
physicians all through the county to seek his advice and skill in their
difficult cases, and they continue to do so even to the present time.
Sensitive almost to a fault, he has, except rarely, avoided communicating
his experience in the treatment of diseases and his skill in surgery to the
profession through medical journals, but has taken an active part in all
discussions of medical subjects in our medical society.

[NOTE: See sketch of Corson family at the close of chapter on Plymouth township.]

646

    A great many young men have received instruction from him as students in
his office, and have graduated honorably at the University of Pennsylvania. 
To the young men of the profession who carefully observed the code of
ethics he has been the ever-ready friend and helper with heart, hand and
purse.

    Botany was a favorite pursuit with him, and in the intervals snatched
from the labor of practice and the study needed for it made much progress
in that branch of study, so congenial to the male as well its female
members of the family.




                     PICTURE OF WILLIAM CORSON, APPEARS HERE.




    There was no more decided, outspoken anti-slavery person in the family
than he was.  In times when fugitives were fleeing, as best they could, he
was ever ready to aid, and when Abolitionists were cursed, threatened and
slandered, he openly avowed himself.  When the house of old Dan Ross was
filled with "runaway" men, women and children (as many as sixteen sometimes
lying on the floor of a night), himself, Isaac Roberts, Larry Corson and
some others were always ready to furnish food and clothing and hold the
secrets of the fugitives; not one having been taken back by the master.  As
Dr. Hiram Corson stood on the pavement in front of his office, in the dusk
of a coming night, he felt a tap on the shoulder, and, looking around, was
confronted by the face of old Dan Ross.  In a whisper he said: "We want a
little money; the Gorsuch men and women are in my house; we want teams to
send them on to Canada.  'Doc' Corson, Jake Beding, Isaac Roberts and Larry
have given some."  An hour later, on the commons where now stands what was
the Bush Institute, the fugitives departed, on the brightest of moonlight
nights, for Bucks County, and in a few days were in Canada.  How vividly are
recalled the scenes and incidents of those cruel times.

    The case of poor Charles Brice, with his family of seven or eight
little children, frightened from their home at Sandy Hill (Guinea Town) by
the passage of the Fugitive Slave Bill, and compelled to give up the home
which they had paid for to flee to Canada for safety.  Other cases, too,
there were of which much might be written, but want of space forbids.  This
would all be quite irrelevant were it not that he of whom this is written
was so intimately associated with all these scenes and trials, "all of
which he knew and part of which he was," that they seem inseparable from
his history.  Through all the long anti-slavery

647

crusade, in the face of friend and foe, he boldly advocated the right of
all men to freedom alike.  

    Mr. Auge, in his biography, says of him: "During the late war Dr. Corson
was appointed by Dr. Henry H. Smith, surgeon-general of the State of
Pennsylvania, in connection with Professor Traill Green, M.D., of Easton, and
Dr. Wilmer Worthington, of West Chester, a member of his board, to examine
those physicians who desired to accompany our regiment to the field its
surgeons and assistant surgeons."  It has been well said that no State in the
Union had a more competent board of examiners, all men of long and successful
experience in surgery and the practice of medicine.  The board convened at
Harrisburg, and performed its work under a deep sense of the great
responsibilities involved in selecting persons to attend to the medical and
surgical needs of our sick and wounded soldiers.  "Subsequently he was
appointed to fill the position of examining surgeon, or medical officer, of
the Sixth District during the drafts.  This was a post of great
responsibility, demanding good judgment, medical experience and high moral
courage.  Since the conclusion of the war he was appointed examining surgeon
under the pension laws of the United States, a position which he still holds. 

    "A few years since he was appointed, in connection with General James A.
Beaver and Mr. John Curwen, one of the commissioners to superintend the
building of a large hospital for the insane at Warren, Pa."  This involved a
sacrifice of much time and attention, but the completeness of that great
structure and its adaptedness to the needs of the inmates testify to the
ability and honesty of the commission.

    Dr. Corson is still engaged in his profession, -a stalwart and active man,
full of mental and moral energy, and is prompt as ever to succor the poor
and suffering.

    Dr. BENJAMIN JOHNSON was born May 10, 1787 in Quakertown, Bucks Co., Pa. 
He graduated from the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania in
1809.  He located at Pottstown, and was appointed regimental surgeon towards
the close of the war of 1812, and served three months while the regiment
was stationed at Marcus Hook.  After peace was declared he returned to
Pottstown and practiced till 1818.  About this time he married Sarah Jones,
of this place.  He then practiced successively two years in Long Swamp,
Berks Co.; ten years at Sumneytown; five years at Philadelphia, and finally
returned to Norristown in 1836, where he continued in active practice until
his eyesight failed, in 1861.  During a portion of this time he filled the
office of clerk of courts, continuing also in practice.  He was a man of
great energy and noted as possessing a remarkable memory.  He died January
17, 1870, in his eighty-third year.

    Dr. JOSEPH LEEDOM was born in Northampton, Bucks Co., August 1769.  He was
the son of Richard and Sarah Leedom, members of the Society of Friends.  He
received a classical education at Rhode Island College (now Brown
University).  After leaving the university be entered as a law-student with
Mr. Ingersoll, at that time a prominent lawyer of Philadelphia.  The
profession of law not being to his taste, he abandoned it for that of
medicine.  At first he studied with Dr. Fenton, of Bucks County, and
subsequently with Dr. Benjamin Rush, attending lectures at the University
of Pennsylvania.  He commenced the practice of medicine in Sussex County, N.J., 
but on account of the country being wild and sparsely settled, he
moved to Pennsylvania, settling at Plymouth Meeting in 1803.  While a
resident of New Jersey he married Eleanor Conover, an estimable and
accomplished lady.  After settling at Plymouth he continued the practice of
his profession until his death, a period of forty years.  He was considered
a skillful physician, and had an extensive practice throughout the county. 
At that time Conshohocken was a village of about half a dozen houses.  As
many of his patients lived on the other side of the river throughout Lower
Merion, he found it necessary to ford the river at all times and seasons. 
His skill in the treatment of fevers, so prevalent at that time, was well
known and highly appreciated.

    EDWIN CONOVER LEEDOM, M.D., son of Dr. Joseph Leedom, is descended from a
family of Quakers on the paternal and of Hollanders on the maternal side. 
Dr. Joseph Leedom was the son of Richard Leedom, of Bucks County, Pa., and
his mother, Eleanor, the daughter of Peter Conover (Covenhoven in the
language of Holland), of Monmouth County, N. J.  The doctor was born on the
20th of December, 1805, in Plymouth township, Montgomery Co., Pa.  After a
thorough primary training he received a classical education, and on its
completion entered upon his career as a student of medicine, and graduated
from the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania.  He at once
located in Plymouth, and has for a period of nearly half a century pursued
his profession successfully in the field made familiar by the footsteps of
his father, who preceded him in practice.

    Dr. Leedom has for many years been a valued contributor to various
journals, having written on mechanics, natural philosophy and medicine.  He
published two papers in "Silliman's American Journal of Science and Art,"
entitled "An Astronomical Machine: the Tellurium," and "Experiments and
Observations on the Solar Rays."  In the "American Journal of the Medical
Sciences" were likewise two, papers on "The Structure of the Eye Examined in
Connection with the Undulatory Theory of Light," and "Night Blindness
Successfully Treated."  He has also now in readiness for the press a work
entitled "Enquiries concerning the Origin and Destiny of Man."  In early
life he manifested a great fondness for astronomy, and constructed several
machines which elucidated the movements of the heavenly bodies, the
"Tellurium," among; them, having already been referred to.  Dr. Leedom is 
a member of the Montgomery County Medical Society, of which organization he has
been president.  He was in 1848, married to Susan, daughter of Peter Lukens, of
the same neighborhood, and a member of the Society of Friends.  They have five
sons, of whom Oscar, who graduated from the Medical Department of the University
of Pennsylvania, has succeeded his father in practice.  Joseph, who graduated
from the Law Department of the same university, is pursuing his profession in
Philadelphia.  Daniel M. graduated as a mining engineer from the Polytechnic 
College of Pennsylvania, and Howard and Franklin are engaged in other pursuits.

648

    DR. ANTRIM FOULKE, studied Medicine with Dr. Green, of Quakertown, Bucks
Co.  In 1816 he began practice at Gwynedd, in partnership with Dr. Joseph
Meredith.  After practicing for some time in this place he removed to
Philadelphia, leaving his practice at Gwynedd to his son, Dr. John
Lancaster Foulke, one of the five originators of the County Medical Society
in 1847.  A few years later he also removed to Philadelphia.




                   PICTURE OF EDWIN C. LEEDOM, APPEARS HERE.




    DR. JAMES HAMER was born on the old homestead, in Lower Providence
Township, on March 3, 1781.  After receiving, a good education he continued
for a time in teaching.  He next commenced the study of medicine with Dr.
Griffith, of Bucks, County, attending lectures at the medical university
when Drs. Raul and Wistar were professors therein.  He graduated and
commenced practice in the spring of 1812, at Skippackville, and followed it
continuously there until 1844, when his son James had finished his medical
education and entered into partnership with him.  James, the elder, however,
practiced at times as long as he lived.  In all those thirty-two years or
more he had a very laborious practice, extending largely over the townships
of Perkiomen, parts of Upper and Lower Providence, Lower Salford, Limerick,
Frederick, Franconia, Towamencin, Hatfield, Worcester and Norriton,
covering an area perhaps, of a hundred square miles.  He was largely engaged
in midwifery practice, recording the births as they occurred, which
aggregated near two thousand cases.  Some years as high as eighty-nine were
registered, and occasionally as many as two or three a day.  Dr. Hamer never
till late in life abandoned the more robust habit of making his
professional visits on horseback, instead of the light carriage, which
prevails now.  He managed to train his horses so that they would keep the
path and avoid accidents even on the darkest nights, when he could not see
the way himself.  During the prevalence of the ague, or malarial epoch, from
1820 to 1830, he also suffered at times from the "shakes," and has been
known to dismount for a short time while the chill lasted, lie down a
while, and then start on his round again.  His habit was to leave a
memorandum at home of the route he meant to take and as subsequent callers
often pursued him with professional summons it frequently happened that he
would not return to his family for days.

649

    JAMES HAMER, is a great-great-grandson of James Hamer, who purchased from
the agents of William Penn, in 1717, a tract embracing three hundred acres
of land in Upper Providence township, upon which he settled.  His son James
married, and had among his children a son James, who located upon the
ancestral land, having married Sarah Bates, whose children were
James
Humphrey
Jesse
Charles
John
Martha,
Sarah
David




                       PICTURE OF JAMES HAMER, APPEARS HERE.




    James, of this number, chose medicine as a profession, and graduating
from the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania, subsequently
practiced in East Perkiomen.  He married Frances Gotwals, and had children
James and a daughter Mary (Mrs. Seth Lukens, of Gwynedd township).  The
former was born on the 28th of November, 1819, in Skippackville, East
Perkiomen township, and pursued his early studies in the common schools
near his home.  He later became a pupil of the boarding-school at Trappe and
afterwards of the Germantown Academy, meanwhile engaging for a time in
teaching.  He then entered his father's office as a student of medicine, and
attended lectures of the Medical Department of the University of New York,
from which he graduated in 1844, having previously been a private student
in the office of Dr. Pattison, professor of anatomy, and also of Dr.
Whittaker, demonstrator of anatomy in the medical school above mentioned. 
Dr. Hamer, after serving as district physician in the New York Lying-In
Asylum, returned to his home and became associated with his father in his
profession, remaining for several years thus engaged.  He then removed to
Oneida, Madison Co., N. Y., and for three years enjoyed a successful
practice.  Kulpsville, Montgomery Co. was next the scene of his professional
experiences, from which point be removed to his present home, at
Collegeville, in the same county, having purchased the property in 1864. 
Here for a while he pursued his profession, but finally abandoned it for
the healthful and congenial employments of a former.  Dr. Hamer was, on the
9th of July, 1844, married to Miss Caroline, a daughter of William M. and
Caroline Downing, of New York.  Their children are James H., Caroline,
Cecilia (wife of John M. Vanderslice, attorney-at-law and member of Common
Council of the Twenty-eighth Ward of Philadelphia), Fannie, Lizzie and
Emily.  James H., after traveling on the Continent and residing for three
years in London, returned and began the study of medicine.  He graduated
from the Hahnemann, Homoeopathic Medical College, Philadelphia, taking the
first prize for skill in anatomy and surgery, and is now in active practice
at Collegeville.

     Dr. James Hamer was formerly in politics a Republican, but
has recently affiliated with the Prohibition party.  He is of Quaker stock,
though a worshipper with the Congregational Church, of which Mrs. Hamer is
a member.

650

    GEORGE W. VAN BUSKIRK, M.D., was born in 1786, located at Pottstown in
1819, and there pursued the practice of medicine.  He was a man of fine
natural powers and endowed with more than ordinary ability; was fond of
reading and possessed of much general information.  As a physician be was
widely known, enjoyed an extensive practice and in his day stood in that
section among the foremost in his profession.  He resided in Pottstown up to
the time of his death, which took place in his eighty-fourth year.




               PICTURE OF WILLIAM A. VAN BUSKIRK, APPEARS HERE.




    WILLIAM A. VAN BUSKIRK.  -The subject of the previous sketch left a son
who proved himself well qualified to assume the mantle of his father, -William
Alexander Van Buskirk, who was born April 16, 1827, at Pottstown.  He
commenced his professional studies early in life, and entered, as a
student, the office of the late Professor Joseph Pancoast, of Philadelphia,
and in the year 1847, when in his twenty-first year, graduated at the
Jefferson Medical College at Philadelphia.  He then returned to his home at
Pottstown and commenced practice at that place.  About the year 1850 his
father, having practiced about forty-three years, retired, and he then
succeeded him.  During the time he was in practice he acquired considerable
skill and eminence both in medicine and surgery.  In the latter branch be
was especially celebrated, being consulted in most difficult operations,
and called at times to a great distance.  In the discharge of his
professional duties he was conscientious, faithful and careful.  He
continued in active practice in Pottstown until the time of his death,
which occurred suddenly on December, 5, 1874.

    DR. JOHN R. GRIGG, whose father was a celebrated English clergyman, was
born in North Carolina.  He received an academic education at Petersburg and
Richmond, Va.  He studied medicine in the office of Dr. Shoemaker, on Chestnut
Street, Philadelphia in the class of 1820.  Dr. Grigg located at Barren Hill in
1821, and after removing to several places in the county, finally settled at
Evansburg in 1829.  His kindly bearing and skill as a physician soon won for
him an extensive practice, which he followed arduously for a period of fifty years. 
During forty-three years of this time he was physician to the Montgomery County
almshouse.  He is still living with his son at Pemberton, N.J., enjoying the
distinction of being the oldest living physician who has ever practiced in the county.

651

    CHARLES SHOEMAKER, MD., is a native of Gwynedd township, Montgomery Co.,
Pa., where he was born of Joseph and Martha Shoemaker, April 18, 1801.  As
soon as Charles was of school age he was placed in charge of competent
tutors, and his advancement in the different rudimentary branches was quite
rapid until he was full prepared to enter upon the studies of the
profession he had chosen for a life-work, viz., that of medicine, and entered
the University of Pennsylvania under the care of Dr. Joseph Parrish as his
preceptor, and graduated from that institution in 1827.  He then entered
upon his future career as a practitioner, and through his skill as a
physician and surgeon soon became one of the most prominent of his
profession in the many years that he practiced.  He was well and
prominently known throughout Montgomery and adjoining counties for his
skillful treatment of critical cases of the various diseases to which the
human flesh is heir, as well as for the mechanical skill he always displayed
in the treatment of surgical cases of the most dangerous and critical
character.  His counsel was sought by the most eminent physicians of the
times when he practiced, and throughout the section of country over which
he traveled his name for many years was a household word, and many remember
Dr. Charles Shoemaker for his kindness and fatherly care of the sick and
disabled, and especially the poorer portion of his medical parish revere
his name.





                 PICTURE OF CHARLES SHOEMAKER, APPEARS HERE.




    After leaving the university his first field of operation was his native
township, where he practice for two years.  He then removed to Moreland
township, this county, where he was in practice eight years; then removed
to Jenkintown, where for thirty years he remained in practice; and from
Jenkintown he moved to Norristown, where he remained but a year or two, and
then moved to Philadelphia where he remained four years when he again
changed his residence this time to Chelton Hill where in 1870, after having
served well for his day and generation he retired from practice with the
love and esteem of all who knew him or who had felt the influence, of his
love and kindness.  He now resides near Ashbourne.

    Dr. Shoemaker's ancestors were all members of the Society of Friends and
adhered to the doctrines of the Bible as expounded by George Fox, and
Charles, having early in life imbibed the same spirit, has nearly all his
life a devoted member of the Society of Friends.

    In September 1827, he married Miss Maria, daughter of Enos and Ann Lukens,
of Towamencin township, Montgomery Co.  Mrs. Shoemaker was born March 29,
and died July 27, 1870.  They were the parents of Ann, born Twelfth Month
29, 1828.  She is now (1885) principal of the girls' department of the
Friends' Central School, in Philadelphia, with which she has been connected
for the last thirty years.

Martha born Twelfth Month 21, 1829, died ninth month 22, 1881. 
Joseph Parrish, born January 15, 1832; killed at battle of Fredericksburg,
Va., December 13, 1862.
Sarah P., born Eleventh Month 13, 1833; died Ninth Month 25, 1835.
William Gaul, born Fifth Month 13, 1837; died at battle of Antietam,
Ninth Month 17, 1862.

    DR. CHARLES FRONEFIELD was born June 4, 1809, in Evansburg.  When young
he enjoyed only the benefit of a common-school education but being of a
studious turn of mind, ambitious and persevering, he was sufficiently
advanced at an early age to enter upon, the study of medicine, which was
his chosen profession, and graduated with high honors from the University
of Pennsylvania, in March, 1829, being then in his twenty-first year. 
Having worthily obtained a diploma, he settled at Harleysville, Lower
Salford township.  He had in this neighborhood several able competitors of
long standing, but his abilities were soon recognized, which, together with
his energy and public spirit, quickly brought him into prominence, and for
many years he enjoyed a lucrative practice.  Dr. Fronefield was preceptor to
a large number of students of medicine, among whom may be mentioned
Drs. Heist
Sloanaker
Smith
Spare
Royer
Heckel
Hough
Poley
Lambert
Royer
Isett
Geiger,
Scholl and others.

    In 1837 he married Rosa Linda Riker, who died in 1846, nine years after
their marriage.  In 1848, Dr. Fronefield moved to Philadelphia and formed a
copartnership with Dr. Breinig to carry on the drug business, still devoting
a portion of his time to the practice of medicine.  He sought this change
as a relief from the labors of a country practice, and as necessary on
account of a bronchial affection.  In 1850, four years after the death of
his wife, he was married to Wilhelmina C. Scholl.

    Dr. Fronefield was a man of great firmness and decision of character, fixed
and decided in his convictions on all matters of duty, though at the same
time always liberal and progressive in his views.  His disposition was
social and genial toward all with whom he came in contact.  He was a kind
husband and father, a devoted friend and a benefactor to the unfortunate. 
Many instances could be related of his kindness of heart and attention to
the suffering poor where duty had called him giving freely of his time and
means to relieve their sickness and destitution.

652

His life was a busy and active one, constantly employed in what seemed
present duties.  He had a highly-cultivated mind, and was a writer of no
mean order.  He was a frequent contributor of both poetic and prose
compositions to the Norristown "Herald and Free Press" and other periodicals,
all his writing, having that peculiar freshness, vigor and love of freedom
which, characterize "live men."  He was a prominent Odd Fellow and
Freemason, and greatly respected in both those orders.  His death, which
resulted from typhoid fever, occurred August 6, 1865, when he was fifty-
six years old.  "He was not ashamed, if it should be God's will, to live; and
he was not afraid, if God should so order, to die."  There were many
flattering tributes paid to his memory at the time of his death.

    "E. W. H.," in an obituary notice of him in the Philadelphia "Ledger" of
August 10, 1865, says:

    "He was a man cast in Nature's finest mould his very countenance beaming
with kindness.  He was a good neighbor, an upright citizen an ardent
patriot, a sincere friend, a lover of the Bible and a believer in the
doctrines of Jesus.  In his honorable profession, the thousands whom his
skill and proficiency have benefited bear testimony, that by diligent study
and investigation, and from the ample storehouse of his own extensive field
of observation he had made himself deservedly eminent.  He was withal modest
and unobtrusive, always deeming others better than himself.  He led a quiet
and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty, was generous to a fault
sorrowed with the sorrowing, rejoiced with the rejoicing.  He was in the
word's best and truest sense, a gentleman, not a courtier with artificial
mien, but gentle and manly, the enemy of nothing on earth save of wrong,
and wrong-doing and the friend always of all that was noble and right and
just and true.  Other forms and faces and words and deeds may fade from our
memory, but the recollection of the virtues and excellencies of Dr. Charles
Fronefield, the 'beloved physician' will remain fresh and green whilst life
endures."

    DR. HENRY DE WITT PAWLING, son of Levi Pawling, at one time a lawyer of
considerable distinction in Norristown, was born in the year 1810.  He
studied Medicine, graduated in 1831 at the University of Pennsylvania, and
soon after entered upon the frigate "Potomac," as assistant surgeon in the
United States navy, serving three or four years on a cruise in the waters
of South America.  Upon retiring from the United States service, in 1834,
he was the recipient of a very appropriate testimonial, a set of surgical
instruments.  The report of the event, as found in the "Norristown Register"
of August 13, 1834 of says,-

    "There are seven cases, besides several attached instruments, and
judging from the number of and various forms of the articles, we should
suppose that the set included everything of the kind a surgeon could 
wish.  The cases are made of rose-wood, beautifully finished, each
bearing a silver plate with the following inscription:

                                  "'Presented to

                             DR. HENRY DE WITT PAWLING


                           Assistant Surgeon U. S. Navy

                    by the crew of the U. S. Frigate "Potomac,"

                               as a testimonial of

                                 their esteem.'"


    "The Pennsylvanian" in noticing Dr. Pawling's retirement from the public
service says:

    "We learn that Dr. Pawling has settled in Upper Merion, a few miles from 
this city with a view to the practice of his profession.  If he holds on as he
has begun, and if his riper years do not belie the promise of his
spring, he may expect to reap a rich harvest, not only of pecuniary profit,
but of those sentiments of love and gratitude and entire confidence so
peculiarly the reward of the good physician."

    Returning home, Dr. Pawling located at King of Prussia, where he has been
engaged in a very extensive practice over parts of three or four counties
since 1835 or 1836.  He married Anna B., daughter of Levi Bull of Chester
County.  His two sons, Nathan and Harry studied medicine with their father,
and for a time assisted him in his profession.  In 1871, Harry opened an
office in Norristown, and by the time of his death which occurred in 1882,
he had secured a large practice.  His brother Nathan who remained to assist
his father, was accidentally killed in 1872.

    Dr. Pawling, though now in his seventy-fifth year, is still actively
engaged in practice, and during the fifty years of his professional career
many hundreds of patients have and still continue to bear testimony to his
skill and ability as a physician.  

    Among other prominent physician who practiced contemporaneously with those 
whose lives have been briefly noticed in the foregoing sketches may be mentioned 
Drs. William Harris
Charles Boton
Jonathan Clarke
Henry Geiger
Morris McClennaghan
William McEwen
Washington G. Nugent
Mark G. Kerr
Henry Tyson
Andrew Wills
George Wimley. 

[NOTE: The writer here tenders his thanks to Dr. Hiram Corson for useful
information furnished by him; also makes acknowledgements to Mr. Auge for
the use of "Biographies of Men of Montgomery County."]

    JOHN SCHRACK, M. D., is doubtless a descendant of Jacob Schrack, who arrived 
in this country from Germany in 1717, settled upon two hundred and fifty acres
of land at the Trappe, in Montgomery County, and died in 1742 aged sixty-
three years.  He left a son, David, who resided during his life in the above
vicinity, with the exception of a brief interval spent in Virginia.  The
latter married Sarah Hamer, whose children were
John
David
Martha
Elizabeth
Hannah
Mary
John Schrack, born in Montgomery County in 1781, married Mary Elizabeth
Norris, granddaughter of Isaac Norris and daughter of Charles Norris, of
the family who settled Norristown.  Their children were, respectively,
Eunice (wife of Col. Augustus W. Shearer)
David
Charles Norris and
John. 

    The last named on was born December 8, 1821, and passed his boyhood at
"Norris Hall," in Norriton. [See NOTE.] The subject of this sketch received meanwhile
a substantial English education, after which in 1839, he began the study of
medicine under Dr. Benjamin Johnson, of Norristown.  He entered the
Jefferson Medical College and graduated from that institution in 1842, his
thesis, which won his commendation from the faculty, being on "Vaccination."


[NOTE:  The old mansion long know as "Norris Hill" occupies the beautiful site 
on the west side of the Schuylkill River, above Norristown and is a large
tract of land originally called Norris manor, which once comprised the
whole of Norristown township and came by direct conveyance from William
Penn to his son, William Penn Jr. in October 1704.  In 1792 Isaac Norris
purchased the entire property.]

653

Dr. Schrack at once began practice in Norriton township, making Norris
Hall his residence until 1875, when he removed to his present home, at
Melrose, in Lower Providence township, which he purchased in 1852.  His
practice, which has extended over a lengthy period, was both large and
successful, having been in later years divided with his nephew, David
Schrack, since deceased.  Dr. Schrack was, in 1847, commissioned by Governor
Shunk surgeon of the Second Pennsylvania Militia, which position he filled
for several years.  He is a member of the State Medical Society, as also of
the National Medical Society, and was among the first to suggest and
organize a county society, before which he has read valuable papers,
notably one on "Puerperal Fever,"  He was active in filling the quota
assigned to Norriton during the late war, and president of the club
organized for that purpose.  His services were freely given to the sick and
wounded after the battle of Gettysburg, where his attentions at that time
were, together with those of others of his professional brethren,
invaluable.  Dr. Schrack is a Presbyterian in his religious faith and a
worshiper with the church of that denomination at Port Kennedy.




               PICTURE OF JNO. SCHRACK, M.D., APPEARS HERE.




    J. WARREN ROYER, M.D.  -Of the genealogy of the Royer family very little
is positively known.  It is reputed, however, to be of German origin, though
tradition warrants the belief that its ancestors were French, driven into
Germany as Protestants fleeing from persecutions which existed in their own
country in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and especially during the
reign of Charles IX. and the vicious and demoralizing policy of his
queen-mother, Catharine de Medici.

    Sebastian Royer (originally spelled Reyer) emigrated about 1718 with four
sons, as it would appear, to the then province of Pennsylvania.  The two
elder settled on the Schuylkill, at or near Royer's Ford.

  The next in descent was John Royer, grandfather of the subject of this
biographical sketch, who married Anna Catharine Apfel, to whom were born
nine children.  Among them was Judge Joseph Royer, whose birth occurred in
February, 1784, two miles west of Trappe, in Providence township, in the
then county of Philadelphia.  He married, in 1818, Elizabeth, daughter of
David and Mary Catharine Dewees.  Their children are,
Francis J. Warren
Lewis,
J. Dewees
C. John
Horace
Henry
Josephine (wife of M. L. Kohler, Esq., of Philadelphia).
    Judge Royer was a man of broad intellect, earnest purpose and of superior
social endowments.  Though emphatically a self-made man, with limited
scholastic attainments, he was an intelligent reader, possessed a
retentive memory and conversed fluently on various subjects.  His ability
and high character caused him to be the recipient of many important offices
of public trust.  He was, as a Democrat, in 1821 and 1822, elected to
represent Montgomery County in the lower branch of the State Legislature,
and declined a third term.  He was, in 1837, appointed by Governor Ritner
associate judge of the county, a position unsolicited by him, which was
filled with honor to himself and to the entire satisfaction of his
associates and the bar.

654

    His son, J. Warren Royer, M.D., was born July 21, 1820, in Trappe, where
his early youth was spent in preparation for college, part of the time
under a private tutor.  He then entered Lafayette College, at Easton, Pa.,
from which, after a four years' course, he became a member of the senior
class at Princeton College, Princeton, N. J., and graduated in 1842.  He
soon after began the study of medicine, and entering the Medical Department
of the University of Pennsylvania, received his diploma from that
institution in 1845.  Dr. Royer at once made Trappe the scene of his
professional labors, where be has since remained.  His practice, necessarily
of a general character, became widely extended, and was to a remarkable
degree successful.  He has been for several years physician to the
Montgomery County almshouse.  He is a member of the Montgomery County
Medical Society, though the onerous demands of his profession leave little
time for frequent attendance or participation at its various discussions. 
He wields a ready pen, and has written more or less extensively on
professional and other topics.  The doctor's political principles are those
of the Republican party.  While interested in the public issues of the day,
he does not participate actively in the work of the party.




              PICTURE OF J. WARREN ROYER, M.D., APPEARS HERE.




He is identified with the Reformed Church at Trappe, with which
congregation he worships.  Dr. Royer was, in 1863, married to Anna, daughter
of Henry Herbert, of Frankford, Philadelphia Co., and has children
May
Ralph
Carl
Joseph Warren
Jessie
Henry Herbert.

    JOHN G. HILLEGASS, M.D.  -The Hillegass family are undoubtedly of French
origin, and early immigrated to the Palatinate, from whence two brothers,
John Frederick and Michael, came to America in 1726.  From these brothers
are descended all who bear the name in the United States.  Michael attained
distinction as treasurer for the government during the colonial period, and
held other positions of influence.

655

He was largely identified with business interests, having, been one of the
original founders of the Lehigh Coal-Mine Company, which company was the
owner of six thousand acres of valuable land now the property of the Lehigh
Coal and Navigation Company.  John Frederick is buried in the cemetery of
the Reformed Church of New Goschenhoppen, and Michael in the First Reformed
Church burial-ground at Franklin Square, Pa.  From John Frederick in the
direct line of descent is John Hillegass, grandfather of Dr. John G.
Hillegass, who resided upon the property now owned by the latter on the
Perkiomen stream, in Upper Hanover township, which was doubtless in earlier
days an Indian camping-ground.  He married Catherine Hillegass, whose
children were
Jacob
Peter
John
and two daughters.
Peter, whose birth occurred on the homestead, married Mary, daughter of
Jacob Gery, a Revolutionary soldier, and had children,-
John G.
Jacob (who died in youth)
E. Matilda (wife, of Dr. James G. Mensch)
Maria C., (married to Dr. Henry Bobb).
John G. Hillegass was born on the 26th of October, 1828, at the family
home, situated in an elbow of the Perkiomen stream, and received his
earliest advantages of education at the common schools after which he
became a pupil of Washington Hall, at Trappe.




                   PICTURE OF JOHN HILLEGASS, APPEARS HERE.




Deciding upon medicine as a profession, be entered the office of Dr. Joel
Y. Schelly, of Hereford, Berks Co., Pa, and remained three years under his
preceptorship, graduating from the Medical Department of the University of
Pennsylvania, at Philadelphia, in 1849.  The doctor at once returned to the
homestead in Upper Hanover, and began his professional labors, which have
been unceasing from that day until the present.  His practice grew rapidly
in extent, his skill as a diagnostician and surgeon, the result of careful
study and wide experience, making his services in demand in his own and
adjacent townships.  Desiring, after a lengthened period of labor, to
withdraw from all but a consultation practice, he, in 1870 established at
Pennsburg a hardware store, and in 1876 embarked still further in
mercantile pursuits by erecting a warehouse for the sale of coal, lumber
and feed.  These enterprises engage at present much of his time and
attention.  Dr. Hillegass married, in 1852, Catherine, daughter of Jesse
Ziegler, of Salford Station, Upper Salford township.  Their children are
Eugene (of Philadelphia)
John P.(a student in the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania)
Jesse Z.
Charles Q.
Howard C.
Calvin M.
Ida (wife of Dr. J. G. Hersh, of Hereford, Berks Co.)
Kate 0. (Mrs. Oliver J. Moll, of Philadelphia)
Ellie M.
Mary 0.
Dr. Hillegass is a member of the board of directors of the Perkiomen
National Bank, of East Greenville.  His political convictions are in harmony
with the principles of the Democracy, and though formerly active in the
work of the party, he has held no office other than that of school
director.  He is a member of the New Goschenhoppen Reformed Church, near
East Greenville, as is also his wife.

656

    JOHN K. REID, M.D., is of Scotch extraction, his father, Andrew Reid, who
was a native of Aberdeen, Scotland, having emigrated to the province of New
Brunswick, where he engaged in mercantile pursuits and resided until his
death.  He married Margaret Keillor, daughter of John Keillor and Elizabeth
Weldon, who were the parents of eight children.  John Keillor, who was of
English descent, emigrated to the province of New Brunswick during the
latter part of the eighteenth century and prior to the war of the American
Revolution.  The children of Mr. and Mrs. Reid were a daughter, Elizabeth,
who became the wife of William K. Chapman of Dorchester, New Brunswick, and
John K., the subject of this biographical sketch.




                     PICTURE OF JOHN K. REID, APPEARS HERE.




The latter was born on the 8th of June, 1824, in Dorchester, above
mentioned, where he resided until 1846, mean while attending the Mount
Alison Academy, at Sackville, and subsequently engaging in teaching and in
other active pursuits.  During the year 1846 be became a resident of
Glasgow, Scotland, and choosing medicine as a congenial profession entered
the Andersonian University of Medicine were his studies were continued
until 1849, the year of his return to New Brunswick and embarkation soon
after for the United States.  On his arrival in Philadelphia Dr. Reid at
once attended the course of lectures at the Pennsylvania Medical College,
from which be graduated in 1850.  The following year he returned to
Dorchester, New Brunswick, and established himself as a practitioner.  His
steps were, however, speedily again turned to the United States,
Conshohocken, in November, 1851, becoming his residence and the scene of an
extensive and successful practice.  His labors were so arduous as to require
an assistant in 1870, when Dr. D. R. Beaver became associated with him and
later was made a partner.  Dr. Reid's health, requiring, in 1876, a
cessation from the severe exertion incident to so wide a field, be
temporarily retired from practice.  In 1877 professional labor was resumed,
though with the purpose of rendering it subordinate to the more important
consideration of health.  The doctor is a member of the Montgomery County
Medical Society, of the Pennsylvania State Medical Society, and of the
American Medical Association, to which he was a delegate from Montgomery
County in 1884.

657

He is a Republican in politics, but has invariably declined all proffers
of offices from his party.  He was educated in the faith of the Protestant
Episcopal Church and for twenty years officiated as warden of Calvary
Church, in Conshohocken.  Dr. Reid was married, in 1856, to Narina, daughter
of Samuel and Margaret Milnor, of Burlington, N. J.  Their surviving
children are
Charles
Margaret
William.

    Louis W. READ, M.D., is a grandson of William and Susan Read, who resided
in Delaware County, as did their ancestors before them.  His parents were
Thomas Read and Sarah, daughter of Joseph Corson of Montgomery County.  The
children of the latter were three daughters-
Sarah
Hannah
Mary
-and three sons
Louis W.
Joseph C.
Alan W.,
the eldest of whom, Louis W. was born in Plymouth, Montgomery Co., on the
5th of July, 1828.  His early years were chiefly spent at Read's Mill, in
Upper Merion township, Montgomery Co., his rudimentary education having
been obtained at the common schools of the locality, after which he
pursued a course of study under the Rev. Samuel Aaron, at Freemont
Seminary.  At an early age he began the study of medicine with his uncle,
Dr. William Corson of Norristown, and graduated from the Medical Department
of the University of Pennsylvania in 1849.  Dr. Read during the Crimean war
entered the Russian service in 1855 as surgeon, and remained during the
war, participating in the terrible siege of Sebastopol.  At the conclusion
of the conflict he spent six months in the hospitals of Paris with a view
to completing his medical education.  In the autumn of 1857 he began
practice in Norristown, his large experience and skill in critical cases of
surgery, speedily winning a leading rank in the profession.  During the
beginning of the war of the Rebellion Dr. Read, although in possession of a
lucrative field of labor, in 1861 offered his services and experience to
the government, and in May of that year was appointed surgeon of the First
Pennsylvania Reserves.  He was subsequently promoted to the rank of surgeon
of United States Volunteers, and assigned to the medical directorship of
the Pennsylvania Reserve Corps, Third Division, Fifth Army Corps, Army of
the Potomac, which position he filled until November, 1864, when he was
relieved of duty in the field and placed in charge of McKimm United States
General Hospital, at Baltimore.  He continued thus engaged until after the
return of peace, in March 1866, when the institution was closed, and the
officials mustered out of service.  It may be related that during this
period he was doubtless instrumental in saving the life of General Hancock,
who, after receiving a severe wound, returned for a brief visit to his
father's home in Norristown.  The wound had been repeatedly probed for the
ball, to no purpose, when Dr. Read, who was enjoying a short leave of
absence, called upon the general, and volunteered a search for the bullet,
which had thus far not been found.  By considering the attitude of General
Hancock when wounded, and probing in the proper direction, the ball was at
once removed, and the general rapidly recovered.  In April, 1866, after an
absence of nearly five years, Dr. Read returned to Norristown and resumed
his professional labors, with experience still more enlarged by his
extended tour in the field and hospitals of the nation.  He has since that
date been devoted to a large and laborious practice, which leaves little
leisure for other pursuits.  Dr. Read has been the incumbent of various
honorable positions in connection with the commonwealth of Pennsylvania.  He
was commissioned major and aid-de-camp of the Second Division on the 2nd of
September, 1870, and surgeon-in-chief of the same division October 4, 1870. 
He was made brigadier-general and surgeon-general May 15, 1874, and
reappointed April 26, 1876.  He was again commissioned to the office March
12, 1879, and at present holds the same rank or the staff of Governor
Pattison, his commission bearing date February 28, 1883.  Dr. Read was, in
1858, married to Georgine, daughter of Alford Hurst, of Norristown.  Their
children are, -a daughter, Nina Borreiche, and a son, Alfred Hurst.

    MARGARET PHILLIPS RICHARDS0N, M.D., is descended from Welsh stock, her
paternal grandfather, David Phillips, having resided in Radnor township,
Delaware Co., where he was engaged in agricultural pursuits.  He married
Margaret Thomas, of the same township, whose children were four sons,-
George
John
David
Thomas
-and two daughters,
Ann (Mrs. Samuel Caley)
Margaret (Mrs. Griffith Weatherby).

John, a native of Radnor, began his career as a farmer in that township,
and, later, purchased a valuable property in Juniata County, where he
remained until his decease.  He married Barbara Colflesh, whose children
were
David
Ann (Mrs. William Webster)
Margaret
Eliza (Mrs. Joseph Thompson)
Clementine (Mrs. Mathias Benner)
Curiah (Mrs. Leonard T. Riley)
Hannah (Mrs. L. J. Riley).

Margaret was born in Radnor township, Delaware Co., where her youth was
devoted to acquiring an education such as the paid schools of the day
afforded.  She was, on the 12th of September, 1839, married to Abraham, a
son of Abraham and Mary Richardson, of Radnor.  Their only son, John
Phillips, studied medicine under her direction, and graduated from the
Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania, after which he began
the practice of his profession in Norristown.  He entered the army as
surgeon and served with credit until the close of the conflict, when
Philadelphia became his residence.  Dr. Richardson, on the death of her
husband, August 6, 1841, remained in Juniata County, and soon after, for
two years, engaged in travel, which aided materially in restoring her
impaired health.  At this time, many fatal cases of illness coming under her
observation, impressed her with a desire to employ her intelligence and
skill in the relief of human suffering.

658

She at once began the study of medicine, and in 1851 entered the
Pennsylvania Female College, at Philadelphia, from which, after a thorough
course, she graduated in 1853 as a member of the second class, receiving
her diploma from that institution.  On declining an advantageous and highly
complimentary offer to enter hospital service, she again became a resident
of Juniata County, and at once secured, by her skill and unwearied devotion
to her patients, a leading position of the profession.  The arduous labor
involved in a country practice influenced Dr. Richardson, four years later,
to remove to Norristown, where, in a brief space of time, the demand for
her services was equally great, not only in the county, but in adjacent
portions of the State.  She has been especially successful in cases of
fever, and is frequently called into consultation at critical periods in
the progress of the disease.  Dr. Richardson was instructed in her youth in
the doctrines of the Baptist Church, of which she is a member, as were
also her parents, and her brother is a representative divine.  The doctor
was the first female physician in the counties of Juniata and Montgomery,
as also the first to be called an expert in the courts of the county.  Dr.
Richardson has been a constant practitioner for the last thirty-two years.




              PICTURE OF MARGARET RICHARDSON, APPEARS HERE.




End Part I