by David Flint
In a presentation to the Stephentown Historical Society on Monday evening entitled “Early Physicians of Stephentown, New York,” Town Historian Pat Flint came up with some 28 doctors that practiced in the area during the 18th and 19th centuries.
[private]Physicians in the late 1700s included Ezekiel Baker, Joshua Griggs, Nicholas Harris, Calvin Pardee, Lewis Sweeting and Moses Younglove. Baker, Harris, Griggs and Pardee are listed as among the earliest settlers of Stephentown in Nathaniel Sylvester’s 1880 History of
Stephentown. According to Sylvester, Dr. Baker practiced in the southeast part of town, Dr Harris in the northeast section, Dr. Pardee on Presbyterian Hill and Dr. Griggs settled in Stephentown Flats, now known as Garfield. Baker and Harris were also charter members of the Rensselaer County Medical Society formed in 1806.
Revolutionary War Veterans
It is interesting to note that three of these physicians were also soldiers in the Revolutionary War.
Nicholas Harris was a private in Killian van Rensselaer’s Albany militia and reportedly fought in four major battles including both the battle of Oriskany and the battle of Saratoga. Harris was buried in North Stephentown, but at some point his gravestone and those of other family members were removed to the Albany Rural Cemetery.
Dr. Lewis Sweeting was a member of the Massachusetts Committee of Safety and fought in the Revolution in Captain Abiel Clapp’s company, along with his son, Whiting Sweeting. (In an interesting aside, Flint noted that the son, Whiting, was later convicted of murdering Albany Constable Darius Quimby in Stephentown and was hanged. The family moved away to Manlius, NY, shortly after that.)
Dr. Moses Younglove is a most interesting character. As surgeon to General Herkimer in the Tryon County Militia, he was at the General’s
side when he was mortally wounded in the battle of Oriskany in 1777. Younglove was captured in that battle by the Mohawk Indians and taken to Quebec. He was eventually paroled by the British in New York City. He has recounted his horrific experience as a prisoner in both official testimony and in an epic poem. Five brothers of Moses also fought in the Revolution; three were in the Battle of Bennington and another was in the Battle of Saratoga.
Younglove was a widely respected physician and medical researcher. He was a vigorous proponent of inoculation to provide immunity from smallpox and wrote many important papers on the subject. He is also the author of works in anthropology and archeology, especially related to Indian burial mounds in Ohio. The later years of his life were spent in Hudson, NY.
Other Interesting Stephentown Doctors
Dr. Smith Azer Boughton, born in Stephentown, became a leader in the Anti-Rent Wars. Arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment, he was later released when a new Governor rescinded the sentences of Boughton and other Anti-Renters. A life long activist, Boughton had earlier been involved in a rebellion in Canada. Joining 1,500 others from New York State in 1837, he went to assist the rebels but the whole force was captured and sent home.
Dr. Ezra Carr, beside his medical degree, received also degrees in science and civil engineering. As a professor he taught chemistry, physiology, pharmacy, natural science and chemistry applied to the arts at Castleton Medical College in Vermont, Philadelphia Medical College, Albany Medical College, New York State Normal School, Rush Medical College in Chicago and the University of California.
Dr. George H. Day practiced medicine in Stephentown for about eight years in the 1870s, and he was also Pastor of the Stephentown Baptist Church.
An Early Woman Doctor
One of the early women doctors in this country and the first in Stephentown was Dr. Antoinette Russell. She graduated from the State Normal School – now SUNY-Albany – and taught for a period before moving on to New York Medical College for Women, graduating in 1891. She worked for many years at the Medical, Surgical and Maternity Hospitals of the Women’s Homeopathic Association in Philadelphia where she became Superintending Physician and Surgeon.
In 1919 Dr. Russell traveled to Serbia to do post-war volunteer work sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee (Quakers). She opened a dispensary in Serbia and later became Administrator for a hospital in Kosovo. She later opened an office in Stephentown and delivered many babies in the town.
Flint said that she was amazed to find so many doctors in Stephentown. She noted, too, that with the early doctors the educational requirements were not that stiff. With only two years of college one could become a doctor.
Flint started her search with the Stephentown Historical Society’s cemetery database. Other sources she used included the Holcomb diary, news clippings from the Troy Record and The Eastwick Press, her own private collection of gravestone photographs, census records and internet sites such as ancestry.com, Find-A-Grave.com and Rootsweb. A number of books were also helpful such as Some Descendants of John Thomas of Jamestown, Rhode Island and These Exalted Acres by Paul Grondahl.[/private]