Ohio History Journal

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)

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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.

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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.

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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

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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).

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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."

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