The history of medicine and medical men of Camden County, New Jersey / By Jno. R. Stevenson, A.M., M.D.

  • Stevenson, John R. (John Rudderow), 1834-1917.
Date:
1886
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The history of medicine and medical men of Camden County, New Jersey / By Jno. R. Stevenson, A.M., M.D. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

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    was born in 1747, in Burlington County, of English parentage, his mother's name being Bowman, from whom her son received his surname. He served in the Revolutionary War, being commissioned superintendent of hospital April 3, 1777; surgeon Third Bat- talion, Gloucester. Testimonials from Gen- eral Dickinson and General Heard, certifying that Dr. Hendry had served as a surgeon to a brigade of militia, that he had acted as a director and superintendent of a hospital, and recommending that he should be allowed a compensation adequate to such extraordinary services, was read and referred to the hon'- ble Congress. He took an active part in political affairs, and was once clerk of the county. He died September 12, 1822. The next physician in Camden County was Dr. Benjamin H. Tallman, who prac- ticed in Haddonfield. He probably located there about 1786, the year in which he was licensed to practice in New Jersey. From the year 1788 to 1793 he was the township physician, as it appears that in each of those years he was paid by it for his services in attending the poor. He was elected a mem- ber of the Friendship Fire Company of Haddonfield, September 6, 1792. On October 4, 1791, he read a paper before the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, on the sudden effects of an effusion of cold water in a case of tetanus. He died about 1796. Cotemporary with the above-named phy- sician was Dr. Evan Clement. He was the son of Samuel Clement, who married Beulah Evans in 1758. They had two children, Samuel and Evan.^ The latter was born in Haddonfield, but the exact date is not known, neither is there any record of when or where he studied medicine. He married, April 8, 1795, Anna, daughter of James and Eliza- beth Wills, and lived in the brick house at 1 Hon. John Clement's M^. cently purchased and taken down by Alfred W. Clement. Dr. Clement was in practice there in 1794, and died in 1798. He was the first native of the county to adopt the profession of medicine and practice it in his native place. It is a noteworthy circumstance that for a hundred years after the settlement of the county no one born in it had studied medi- cine. The poorer classes were unable to procure the means for acquiring the requisite education, while the wealthier ones altogether neglected it. It is true that prior to the found- ing of the University of Pennsyl van ia, i n 17 6 5, the only means of obtaining a knowledge of medicine was either to pursue a course ol study under some competent physician, where the student was apt to be considered half a servant, or else by attendance at a medical school in England. The prospects of pro- fessional or pecuniary success in the county were not flattering. But in addition to this, there was a sentiment in this community unfriendly to the medical profession as a calling. In sickness the ministrations of friends and relatives, with their teas and potions, and the quack remedies of popular charlatans, who flourished then as well as now, were deemed sufficient. If, after this medication, the patient died, it was attributed to a wise dispensation of Providence. The midwives were considered to be adequate to manage obstetrical cases. There still lingered among the people the tradition of their English ancestors, that the red and white striped pole was the sign of the combined office of barber and surgeon. These preju- dices found expression in two diametrically opposite opinions. The stout, robust farmer and the active and alert merchant and me- chanic looked with contempt upon a youth who had aspirations for the life of a physi- cian as one who was too lazy to work. The women, whose remembrances of the midnight ride of the doctor through rains and snow