THE PART THAT THE PIONEER PHYSICIANS OF
OHIO PLAYED IN THE COMMUNITY AS
EXEMPLIFIED IN THE CHURCH AND LODGE
By JAMES J. TYLER, M.D.
The church has had an important place in
the development
of the frontier. The first forty years
of religious development in
Ohio is full of absorbing interest and
vital realities. It produced
permanent results in the establishment
of our Commonwealth.
The minister of the Gospel, the lawyer,
the teacher and the doctor
comprised the educated element of the
community and were gen-
erally admired and respected. At one
time or another on his lonely
travels, the doctor visited every
household however remote and so
came to know the people perhaps better
than any others. The more
the lives of these men are held up to
view, the more sterling quali-
ties we find to admire.
The period under discussion witnessed
the dawning of a new
era and the twilight of a rapidly disappearing
old order. The past
was represented by those staunch
followers of Jonathan Edwards
who still dinned into the ears of man
the religious ideas and
tenets of Calvinism. In
contradistinction to this rather dismal
philosophy the new order proclaimed that
man should seek a full
and wholesome life, make the most of his
opportunities, and en-
deavor to enlarge the bounds of human
knowledge and achieve-
ment.
"Every frontier in America has been
a frontier in emotional-
ism as well as in geography." In
western New York, into which
the stream of immigration began to pour
contemporaneously with
the movements toward the Ohio, Kentucky,
and Tennessee coun-
try, religion filled this emotional
vacuum in the life and mind
of the community. The frontier had
barely begun to assume
(231)
232
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
definite outlines before revivalism came
into this region and
within a short space of time there were
concocted many weird
and strange institutions. Here developed
Milleritism, the brain
child of William Miller, who went about
preaching the end of the
world in 1833. Here the Fox sisters had
been able to establish
contact with departed spirits. Here,
too, Joseph Smith at Palmyra,
had been given revelations by the Angel
Moroni, and, climbing
Commorrah Hill, had discovered the Book
of Mormon.
The first generation of Ohio was drawn
from all parts of the older
colonies. The New Englander settled at
Marietta and upon the lands of
the Ohio Company; men from Virginia
peopled the country between the
Little Miami and the Scioto; New Jersey
men made their homes upon the
Symmes tract; the Pennsylvanians poured
over into the "Seven Ranges";
and the Connecticut and New York farmers
flocked into the Western
Reserve.1
The Ordinance of 1787 provided that both
religion and liberty
should be cherished. Here were
Congregationalists, Presbyterians,
Episcopalians, Baptists, Methodists,
New Lights, Campbellites,
Mormons, Shakers and Quakers. The Great
Revival which began
among the Presbyterians in Kentucky in
1800 soon spread to the
southern and eastern portions of Ohio.
In later years it found its
best expression in the camp-meetings of
the Methodists. It was
marked with great emotionalism.
The shouts of the preacher were followed
by sobs and cries from the
audience, and men and women fell to the
ground in hysterics, or were
dashed from place to place in a series
of frightful yet ludicrus contortions
known as "the jerks." When a
person was seized by "the jerks" the head
was wrenched from side to side with such
velocity that the features became
indiscernible. Brawny backwoodsmen who
came to scoff at the "jerkers"
were by some unknown power hurled
cursing from the spot, and only
gained control of themselves after an
involuntary dance had carried them
sometimes a great distance.2
The unemotional character of religion in
the Western Re-
serve was due to the missionary
activities of conservative Con-
gregationalists and Presbyterians. Rev.
Joseph Badger, pioneer
1 E. O. Randall and D. J. Ryan, History
of Ohio (New York, 1912) III, 8.
2 Alexander
Black, The Story of Ohio (Boston, 1888), 188.
PIONEER PHYSICIANS OF OHIO 233
Congregational missionary to the Western
Reserve in the course
of his missionary tours, sometimes
traveled outside the Reserve
where he had much opportunity to study
this religious emotion-
alism. In the course of a journey to
Washington County, Penn-
sylvania, he records the following:
The first Sabbath in . . . June [1803],
the sacrament was attended at
Pigeon Creek Church, at which there was
a very large assembly. There
was present a medical gentleman who was
an unbeliever in the Christian
religion; but wished to gratify his
curiosity. He took his seat in a pretty
conspicuous place, and was well known to
most of the people. Soon after
the preaching commenced Dr. H. began to
feel himself in some danger
of falling with others; he immediately
started to go away; got about half
way through an opening and fell on the
ground, and cried out, "Carry me
away! carry me away!" Three or four
men took him up and carried him
to a suitable distance, and sat down
with him on the ground.
He was all in a tremor, unable to
support himself, and shook sur-
prisingly; but appeared to possess his
mind fully; says to the men, "what
does this mean? I have cut off limbs,
and taken up arteries, with as steady
a hand as any man ever did; and now I
can not hold these hands still if I
might have the world. 0, it must be the
power of God Carry me back
where I can hear." He became
hopefully pious, was elected an Elder in
that church, and lived and died a
hopeful Christian.3
Much crudity and lack of refined
religious expression would be found
it is true [writes R. C. Downes4 in
his Frontier Ohio], but although the
stammering of frontier tongues and the
excessive emotion of frontier hearts
make up the darker and more pathetic
side of a phase of American thought,
they have been too often held up to
ridicule, and too little understood.
The following notes show that many of
the early physicians
were active in the work of the various
denominations.
Dr. Jabez True (1760-1823), Ohio's first
resident physician,
was a member and a deacon of the
Congregational Church of
Marietta.
Concerning Dr. Samuel Prescott Hildreth (1783-1863),
Marietta, Ohio, it was said that
"he was exact in all his dealings,
an honest man, and a Christian."
Dr. Isaac Swift (1788-1861), of Ravenna,
was for forty
years treasurer of the First
Congregational Church.
3 Joseph Badger, A Memoir . .
. Containing an Autobiography and Selections
from His Private Journal and Correspondence (Hudson, O., 1851), 51-2.
4 R. C. Downes, Frontier Ohio (Columbus,
1935), 88.
234
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
Dr. William Judkins (1788-1861) began
the practice of medi-
cine in Jefferson County. He was by
birth a member of the Society
of Friends, and remained during his life
in that connection, con-
forming to its customs in dress and
language.
Dr. Samuel McAdow, pioneer physician of
Chillicothe was a
devout Methodist and one of the founders
of the society there.
Dr. Peter Allen (1787-1864), Kinsman,
Ohio, was past
president of the State Medical Association.
An obituary notice
said of him that he was an active church
member and that a short
time prior to his death had been a lay
delegate to the Presbyterian
General Assembly held at Dayton, Ohio.
Dr. Lincoln Goodale (1782-1868),
Columbus, Ohio, was one
of the incorporators of the First
Presbyterian Society of Colum-
bus, June 20, 1821.
Dr. John Delamater (1787-1867) was one
of the organizers
of the Cleveland Medical College.
"Religion in him was the under-
lying and controlling element, and with
all his native resource and
acquired skill, he recognized his
implicit dependence upon divine
support in common duties."
Dr. E. W. Cowels (1794-1861) studied
with Dr. O. K.
Hawley, of Austinburg, Ashtabula County;
practiced in Portage
County, Cleveland, and in Detroit,
Michigan, "staunch abolitionist
and a member of the Congregational
Church."
Dr. Asa Coleman (1788-1870) was
prominent in establishing
the Trinity Episcopal Church in Troy,
was elected the first senior
warden in 1830.
Dr. Bass Rawson was born in 1799 and was
one of five broth-
ers who removed from Massachusetts at an
early day and settled
in Ohio, four of them being physicians.
In 1829, Dr. Rawson
settled in Findlay, the first practicing
physician that had arrived
in the town. He was a member of the
Presbyterian Church.
Dr. Storm Rosa (1791-1864), Painesville,
Ohio. Educated in
the old school of medicine, he practiced
according to that school
until 1841. He was one of the earliest
pioneers of homeopathy in
Ohio. His views on religious matters
were tinged, during the
greater part of his life, with
scepticism, but before his death he
sent for a minister of the Episcopal
Church, who administered
PIONEER PHYSICIANS OF OHIO 235
the sacraments to him, and he died after
a short illness, in com-
munion with that church.
Dr. Nathan McIntosh (1768-1823)
practiced at Marietta and
the surrounding territory. When first
married the doctor and his
wife were members of the Presbyterian
Church. Afterwards he
joined the Methodist Society; finally he
came to believe in uni-
versal salvation and held that belief
until the end. He lectured and
wrote a great deal on religious subjects
and published a book on
Scripture Correspondences.
Dr. John Cotton (1792-1847) arrived at
Marietta in 1815
and began the practice of medicine. In
the course of the ensuing
year he entered zealously into the enterprise
of establishing Sab-
bath Schools and thenceforward filled
constantly the role of
spiritual teacher and guide. In order to
acquire the needed ability,
he took up the study of Hebrew at forty
years of age and within
a short time was able to read in the
original tongue.
Dr. Michael Z. Kreider (1803-1855), of
Lancaster, Ohio,
"was a true type of the self-made
man, a physician and surgeon
of acknowledged ability throughout the
State, who still found time
to devote to the healing of souls as a
local preacher."
Dr. Peter Smith (1755-1816), was author
of the first west-
ern work on materia medica, The
Indian Doctor's Dispensatory,
printed at Cincinnati by Browne and
Looker in 1813. Dr. Smith
was the grandfather of General J. Warren
Keifer, and the son
of Dr. Hezekiah Smith, and was educated
at Princeton and later
studied medicine with his father. He was
born in Wales and came
with his father to New Jersey. His death
occurred at Donnelsville,
Clark County, Ohio. He was a devout
Baptist and after emigrat-
ing to Ohio, settled on Duck Creek, near
the Columbia Old Bap-
tist Church, now adjacent to Norwood
Village. Shortly after his
arrival in Ohio in the year 1794, he and
his family became mem-
bers of the congregation and he
frequently preached there and at
other frontier places, still pursuing
the double occupation of farm-
ing and the practice of medicine.5
Dr. Edward Tiffin (1766-1829), first
Governor of Ohio, was
5 Lloyd Library, Bulletin (Cincinnati,
1900-) no. 2 (1901).
236
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
reared in the Church of England but in
1790 he and his wife
united with the Methodist Church. He was
consecrated a lay
preacher and on occasions performed the
functions of that office.
He retired from the practice of his
profession as a physician in
1812.
Rev. Joseph Doddridge (1769-1826), first
clergyman of the
Episcopal Church to preach regularly and
continuously in Ohio,
was not only a minister but a physician
as well.
An interesting comment on the combined
professions of
minister and physician is found in an
article, "Medical Ohio"6 by
Dr. David Tod Gilliam, which in part
states:
The awakening of the medical profession
of Ohio, at or about the
middle of the 19th century, is reflected
in the president's address to the
Ohio Medical Society for the year 1860.
He felicitates them on the large
and constantly increasing attendance,
the quality and high character of
work accomplished; deprecates the
avoricious tendency of the times, which
lures the doctor into other callings in
association with medicine, and speak-
ing of those who essay to practice
medicine and preach the Gospel, he
says: "I should be loth to trust
either my body or soul in their keeping."
In that strange combination of doctor,
carpenter and preacher, the carpenter
being also the coffin-maker, one can
imagine the doctor "Curing" the patient
till he dies, the carpenter boxing and
labeling the remains and the preacher
launching him into the Great Beyond with
appropriate word and ceremony.
The pioneer physicians had respect for
religious matters and
often were religious leaders in their
respective communities.
*
* *
It has been said that "Masonry
follows the flag." The de-
velopment of the Northwest Territory and
the state of Ohio
proved no exception. Here its early
lodges helped to displace the
loneliness of pioneer life and in them
Freemasons found brother-
hood and companionship as they played
their part in the westward
march of the Nation. The first lodge of
the order was organized
at Marietta, June 25, 1790. On that
date, American Union Lodge,
one of ten military lodges which served
through the Revolutionary
War, was reorganized there. Among the
early medical members of
6 D. T. Gilliam, "Medical
Ohio." in Randall and Ryan, History of Ohio, V.
171-2.
PIONEER PHYSICIANS OF OHIO 237
American Union Lodge were: Jabez True
(1760-1823); John
Baptiste Regnier (1769-1821);
William Pitt Putnam (1770-
1800); and Nathan McIntosh (1768-1863).
The following communication written by
Dr. McIntosh is an
indication of the spirit of the times:
To THE WORSHIPFUL MASTER OF THE AMERICAN
UNION LODGE, NO. 1,
AT MARIETTA, WITHIN THE FEDERAL TERRITORY:
WORSHIPFUL--While the first ray of real
light which I have received
is a predominant inducement for me to
endeavor to behold, if possible, the
full luster of that resplendent luminary
which ever enlightened the east;
while the necessary avocations of life
make it incompatible for me to con-
tinue longer in this place, I have only
hereby to request that a special
lodge be called this evening, at my
expense, for the purpose of receiving
that further instruction which is
nearest the heart of every true Mason.
I am Worshipful Brother, with fraternal
affection, yours sincerely,
NATHAN MCINTOSH.
On September 2, 1791, a warrant was
granted for a lodge at
Cincinnati by the Grand Lodge of New
Jersey, the lodge to be
known as Nova Caesarea Lodge No. 10. The
lodge, however,
was not organized until December 27,
1794. The Worshipful
Master designated in the warrant was Dr.
William Burnet, a
brother of Judge Jacob Burnet and the
son of Dr. William
Burnet, Sr., of New Jersey, chief
physician in the Continental
Army. The death of the father caused Dr.
William Burnet, Jr.,
to return to Newark before the lodge was
fully organized. Dr.
Calvin Morrell, also an officer of the
lodge, came with Dr. Burnet
from
New Jersey. He did not remain long in Cincinnati, but
joined the Shakers, near Lebanon, Ohio,
and eventually died
there. Another member and Worshipful
Master of this lodge was
Dr. William Goforth (1766-1817). He was
an eminent physician
of Cincinnati and had as a pupil the
celebrated Dr. Daniel Drake.
Charters for Erie Lodge at Warren and
New England Lodge
at Worthington were granted by the Grand
Lodge of Connecticut,
October 19, 1803. Among the twenty-two
petitioners for the lodge
at Warren was Dr. Charles Dutton
(1777-1843) of Youngstown.
He was born in Wallingford, Connecticut,
and studied medicine
with Dr. Jared Potter, grandfather of
Dr. Jared Potter Kirtland.
238
OHIO ARCHEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
Dr. John Brown Harmon (1780-1858), first
resident physician at
Warren, was a member and officer of Erie
Lodge. Dr. John W.
Seeley (1777-1840), pioneer physician of
Howland township,
Trumbull County and for many years
president of his District
Medical Society, together with his son,
Sylvanus Seeley (1795-
1849), were also members of Erie Lodge.
It is interesting to
note that John Starke Edwards, grandson
of the Rev. Jonathan
Edwards, was also a member of this
lodge.
Dr. John Harvey Hills of Worthington and
Delaware was
a charter member and Worshipful Master
of New England Lodge
at Worthington. Dr. Lincoln Goodale
(1782-1868), a member
of New England Lodge, was one of the
founders of Columbus
Lodge at Columbus, Ohio.
Amity Lodge at Zanesville was organized
under the authority
of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, June
24, 1805. Dr. Thomas
Flanner (1795-1833) was initiated in
Belmont Lodge at St.
Clairsville and was later a member of
Amity Lodge.
Scioto Lodge at Chillicothe was
organized November 22,
1805, under authority of the Grand Lodge
of Massachusetts.
Dr. Joseph Scott, Dr. William Waddle and
Dr. Thomas Waller
(1774-1823) were members of Scioto Lodge
at Chillicothe. Dr.
John Harris (1798-1849), preceptor of
Chapin A. Harris and
James Taylor, pioneers in dental
surgery, was also a member of
this lodge.
A Grand Convention composed of delegates
from American
Union, Nova Caesarea, Erie, New England,
Amity and Scioto
lodges met at Chillicothe in 1808 and
formed the Grand Lodge of
Ohio. Dr. John W. Seele(1771-1840) of
Warren seconded the
motion of General Lewis Cass, "that
a grand lodge be formed in
the State of Ohio." Dr.Lincoln
Goodale (1782-1868) served as
Grand Treasurer from 1818-1836. Dr.
Michael Z. Kreider
(1803-1855) served as Grand Master
during the years 1847-8-9.
Rev. Joseph Doddridge (1769-1826),
author, minister and
physician, was a member of Mingo Lodge
of Charlestown, Vir-
ginia (present Wellsville, West
Virginia).
Dr. David Long (1787-1851), Cleveland's
first physician,
was a member of Concord Lodge of
Cleveland.
PIONEER PHYSICIANS OF OHIO 239
Dr. James Wilson served as Worshipful
Master when Lan-
caster Lodge, Lancaster, Ohio, was
organized in 1820. Dr.
Michael Z. Kreider was also Worshipful
Master of this lodge.
Dr. Asa Coleman (1788-1870) was one of
the first officers of
Franklin Lodge at Troy. Coleman
Commandery, Knights
Templar of Troy perpetuates his name.
Dr. George Anderson, one of the
incorporators of Sandusky
in 1824 and second mayor, was a member
of Science Lodge of
that city.
Dr. Erastus Goodwin of Burton, was a
member of Western
Phoenix Lodge of Parkman, Ohio.
Dr. John Venen (1783-1875) and Dr.
Greenleaf Fifield
(1801-1851) of Conneaut, Ashtabula
County, were members of
Evergreen Lodge of Conneaut.
Dr. Luther Hancett who began practice at
Middlebury (East
Akron) in 1815 was one of the charter
members of Middlebury
Lodge. Dr. Eliakim Crosby (1779-1854),
one of the great
pioneers of Akron and who built the mill
race from Middlebury to
Akron, was also a member of Middlebury
Lodge.
Dr. Isaac Swift (1790-1874) was a member
of Unity Lodge
at Ravenna and Dr. Nathan B. Johnson,
first physician of Har-
persfield, was a member of Temple Lodge
of Harpersfield.
Among the members of Western Star Lodge
of Canfield
(later of Youngstown) are found the
names of Dr. Jared Potter
Kirtland (1793-1877); Dr. Henry Manning
(1787-1869), a
member in 1819 and still active in 1854;
Theodatus Garlick (1805-
1884), a member of the Board of Censors
of the Cleveland
Medical College and of whom it was said
that "he made the first
daguerreotype picture taken in the
United States and himself con-
structed the instrument and apparatus to
take it, December, 1839."
He was a son-in-law of Dr. Elijah Flower
of Brookfield, Ohio,
also a member of the order.
Dr. Storm Rosa (1791-1864) and Dr. John
H. Mathews
(1785-1862) were members of Meridian Orb
Lodge of Paines-
ville. Mathews' residence, built by the
celebrated Jonathan Gold-
smith, is still standing at Painesville.
Freemasonry had existed in America since
colonial days.
240
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Side by side with the growth of Masonry
there had developed a
distinct attitude of mind that was
hostile to the order. No aggres-
sive stand, however, was taken against
it until the Morgan incident
occurred at Batavia, New York. In the
religious emotionalism of
western New York perfect material was
again ready at hand for a
new crusade, the motive for which was
suddenly and dramatically
supplied by the expose of the ritual of
Freemasonry by William
Morgan and Morgan's subsequent
disappearance. The Morgan
incident occurred in 1826 and was made
the basis of a bitter cam-
paign against the fraternity by
religious, social-religious and
political elements.
At this time there were twenty-seven
Masonic lodges--about
one-fourth of the lodges in the state of
Ohio--located in the
Western Reserve and so seriously were
they affected that only one,
Mt. Vernon Lodge of Norwalk, can boast
of a continuous
existence. In the Grand Communication of
1830, Hon. Joshua R.
Giddings moved that a "new Charter
be issued to Jefferson Lodge
(Jefferson, O.) the former having been
mutilated by the violence
of some evil-disposed and weak-minded
person unknown." John
Udell,7 an anti-Mason, gives
the following account of the same
community.
About this time there began to arise a
very great excitement on the
subject of Free Masonry, both in church
and State, and from the exposi-
tions of Free Masons themselves, some of
whom I was personally ac-
quainted with, and knew to have always
sustained a good character for
truth and veracity, it was obvious to my
mind, that it was a wicked and
dangerous institution, calculated to
paralize civil justice, and to have the
same effect on the christian church.
Perhaps I was too credulous in the
matter, but I was possessed of a very
sanguine and decided temperment,
and am especially warm when from my
convictions, I am opposing evil or
error. I therefore took an active part
as an anti-Mason, religiously and
politically. In our part of the country,
the anti-Masons were largely in the
majority. The churches were broken up
and completely divided on the
subject--so great was the excitement; and
our county offices were all filled
by anti-Masons. As it had been the
custom for years (and the practice
had never ceased to gain ground), for
the party in power to reap the
7 John Udell, Incidents of Travel to California across
the Great Plains; together
with the Return Trips through Central
America and Jamaica (Jefferson, O.,
1856),
143.
PIONEER PHYSICIANS OF OHIO 241
spoils, through the influence of the
Sheriff, I received an appointment from
the county court to act as a kind of
deputy--a post which was worth a
small sum to me. I continued in this
office nearly four years, and until
I left the place. I was then a member of
the Baptist church, in Jefferson,
as were, also, my parents; and I still
lived under the immediate influence
of their good counsel. We had little
trouble in our church, on account of
Free Masonry, for we had but one of the
order, among us, and he came
out and renounced it, and publically
exposed their secrets, wicked oaths and
usages. Some of our sister churches,
however, were rent asunder by the
excitement.
In the latter part of the year 1827
there was formed in the
state of New York, an Anti-Masonic Party
which grew rapidly
and soon spread to other states. It
became thoroughly political in
character but after flourishing for a
number of years went the
way of most third parties. E. H.
Roseboom and F. P. Weisen-
burger in their History of Ohio8
give an interesting account of its
activities in Ohio. As the period under
discussion comes to an end
there were but few active Masonic
lodges. It was not until 1843
that a reaction set in and many of the
former lodges were rehabili-
tated and new ones organized.
In conclusion it seems proper to speak
briefly of one other
secret society, the Tammany Society of
Ohio,9 of which a phy-
sician, Dr. Edward Tiffin was the Grand
Sachem. "The Tam-
many Society, or Columbian Order was
organized in the City of
New York in the year 1789, and was
designed to counteract the
combined influence of the Federalists
and the Society of the Cin-
cinnati. The latter was looked upon as a
species of aristocracy and
hostile to democratic institutions. . .
. As the Society of Cincinnati
sprang from the officers of the
Revolutionary Army, so the Tam-
many Society sprang from the
people." The latter became a
strictly secret organization "for
the purpose (or so its enemies
declared) of promoting the political
aspirations of its members
who held the favor of its inner
circle." Beginning in the year
1810, wigwams were established at
Chillicothe, Zanesville, Cin-
8 E. H. Roseboom and F. P.
Weisenburger, History of Ohio (New York, 1934),
152.
9 Samuel Williams, "The Tammany Society
of Ohio," Ohio Archaeological and
Historical Quarterly (Columbus, 1887-), XXII (1913), 349-70; C.
B. Galbreath, His-
tory of Ohio (New York, 1928), II, 403-7.
242
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
cinnati, Xenia, Lancaster, Warren,
Hamilton and New Boston
(Champaign County). Associated with the Grand Sachem,
Dr. Edward Tiffin, were many men of
great prominence. There
was much opposition to the order and at
a meeting held at Chilli-
cothe in 1811, of which General
Nathaniel Massie was president
and William Creighton, Jr., secretary,
it was agreed that "they
believe the secret aim and concealed
design to be in fact to con-
solidate and concentrate all power which
is the legitimate birth-
right of the people and of the
republican form of government in
the hands of this secret, cabalistic
convention." Tiffin was severely
attacked and felt it keenly. The anti-
and pro-Tammany dis-
pute waxed furiously until "the
coming of the War of 1812, when
all parties and factions were merged in
the common peril." It
is interesting to note that Massie and
Creighton, leaders of the
opposition, were both Masons. Within the
order were a number
of Freemasons including Thomas
Worthington, David Kinkead,
Daniel and John Cleves Symmes.
The names of so many of the pioneer
doctors are found on
the rolls of the early lodges that we
cannot but conclude that
Freemasonry played a real part in their
lives. "As a class," states
Hildreth, "no order of men have
done more to promote the good
of mankind and develop the resources and
natural history of our
country than the physicians, and
wherever the well-educated in
that profession are found, they are
uniformly on the side of order,
morality, science and religion."
THE PART THAT THE PIONEER PHYSICIANS OF
OHIO PLAYED IN THE COMMUNITY AS
EXEMPLIFIED IN THE CHURCH AND LODGE
By JAMES J. TYLER, M.D.
The church has had an important place in
the development
of the frontier. The first forty years
of religious development in
Ohio is full of absorbing interest and
vital realities. It produced
permanent results in the establishment
of our Commonwealth.
The minister of the Gospel, the lawyer,
the teacher and the doctor
comprised the educated element of the
community and were gen-
erally admired and respected. At one
time or another on his lonely
travels, the doctor visited every
household however remote and so
came to know the people perhaps better
than any others. The more
the lives of these men are held up to
view, the more sterling quali-
ties we find to admire.
The period under discussion witnessed
the dawning of a new
era and the twilight of a rapidly disappearing
old order. The past
was represented by those staunch
followers of Jonathan Edwards
who still dinned into the ears of man
the religious ideas and
tenets of Calvinism. In
contradistinction to this rather dismal
philosophy the new order proclaimed that
man should seek a full
and wholesome life, make the most of his
opportunities, and en-
deavor to enlarge the bounds of human
knowledge and achieve-
ment.
"Every frontier in America has been
a frontier in emotional-
ism as well as in geography." In
western New York, into which
the stream of immigration began to pour
contemporaneously with
the movements toward the Ohio, Kentucky,
and Tennessee coun-
try, religion filled this emotional
vacuum in the life and mind
of the community. The frontier had
barely begun to assume
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