Physicians have been watching over the health of New Ipswich residents since before the colonies became a country. The 1852 edition of the town history provides a list of doctors who lived in town. More is known about some than others. Here’s a brief synopsis:
■The first doctor in town was John Preston, who arrived and began practicing medicine about 1762. For some 15 years, he was the only physician in town. He died in 1803.
■Dr. Thomas Swain paid taxes to the town in 1771.
■Dr. Eben Harnden Goss was taxed in 1771, and also in 1772.
■Dr. Nathaniel Breed lived in town between 1786 and 1789, though the historians think he probably did not practice medicine here.
■Dr. John Preston Jr., son of the first doctor, studied with his father and another doctor. He began his practice about 1798, and was the town’s principal physician until he died in 1828.
■Dr. Timothy Preston, another son of the first John Preston, first practiced in Rochester, N.Y. in 1807. Shortly thereafter, he returned to New Ipswich. He treated patients in Mason, and later moved to Dover.
■Dr. James Barr was the son of James Barr who came to New Ipswich from Scotland. He studied at the New Ipswich Academy (later Appleton Academy), and studied with Dr. Haskell of Lunenburg, Mass., and Dr. Twitchell of Keene, and attended medical lectures in Boston and at Dartmouth, where he earned a degree. “He commenced practice about 1816,” the historians report, “and having more pretensions to surgical skill than any of the neighboring physicians, he soon became known.” He slowly built up a solid practice, which was large and well-established by the last 20 years of his life.
“For three or four years previous to his death, he suffered severly from pulmonary disease, but did not suspend his labors; and when too feeble to manage his horse, he was driven from place to place by his wife of some one else,” the history reports.
He died on June 6, 1845, while on a visit to Boston.
The historians had high praise for Dr. Barr: “He was a cautious, skilful and conscientious physician. As a man he was modest, sincere, upright in all his dealings, courteous to other practitioners in town, never engaging in controversial matters either political or religious; and was universally respected.”
■Dr. Moors Farwell studied at Harvard, and set up a practice in New Ipswich in 1813. “He had not obtained a regular medical education, and did not gain the confidence of the people very extensively, though he remained in town till about 1838, when he removed to Illinois,” the history book tells us.
■Dr. Calvin Brown worked in town from 1828 to 1832.
■Dr. William Gallup lived in town from 1833 to 1836.
■Dr. John Clough earned a medical degree at Dartmouth College, and practiced in New Ipswich between 1837 and 1840, after which he moved to Boston and took up dentistry.
■Dr. Henry Gibson studied medicine in New Ipswich and in Boston, earning a medical degree at Dartmouth in 1841. “He was an amiable and judicious man, and rapidly acquired the confidence of the citizens,” the history relates. “With every prospect of extensive usefulness and eminence, he was removed by death, July 25th, 1844, aged 25.
■Dr. L.H. Cochran, a native of Goffstown, began his practice in New Ipswich in 1840, and was, at the time the history was written, the principal doctor in town.
■Dr. Kittredge, whose first name was not provided, had lived in town about five years when the history book came out.
■Dr. Frederic Jones had recently earned a medical degree and moved to town when the history was written.
■Dr. Stillman Gibson, father of Henry Gibson, earned much larger notice in the early town history because, the authors wrote, his business and fame were much more extensive than those of the other doctors named.
“Though not enjoying the advantages of a medical education, with good natural abilities, good common sense, and careful observation and self-reliance, he has attained no mean degree of skill,” the history reports. He started his career by working with animals, and was known for his skill with the diseases of horses and cattle.
“He then devised plasters and herb-drinks, which gained such repute that he was at last compelled to devote his whole time to the demands of this kind made upon him,” the historians wrote. “Since then he has been flooded with patients from all quarters and all distances, and has often been called far away by those whom his fame has reached.”
He was particularly well-known for his treatment of “dyspeptic and nervous affections” and “general debility.”
“Unlike most so-called irregular practitioners, who are usually ready to treat any case, whether understood or not, provided it will pay, he has ever declined treating diseases which he was conscious he did not understand, without frankly declaring it,” the history tells us. “He has always been hospitable to the stranger, kind and benevolent to all, moderate and considerate in his charges, never taking advantage of the necessities of those who consulted him; and while he might have amassed a large fortune, is still a man of moderate means.
■The history includes details about another somewhat untraditional health care giver – Hannah Perley Prichard, a midwife born in 1729. “She was a woman of uncommon energy of body and mind, and could accomplish the ordinary labor of three persons,” the history book reports. “She had made the subject of midwifery a study, and had considerable practice in her native town. Nor did she confine herself to this branch of practice, but became quite celebrated in scrofula, salt rheum, liver complaint, & c., for which her fame was quite extensive. After removing to N.I., she had an extensive practice in that and the neighboring towns. She was always ready to answer calls, and allowed no hour and no weather to detain her; and when the roads were so blocked up with snow, and the weather so tedious that other would quail at the undertaking, and, though unusually corpulent, she would mount the snow shoes and breast the storm over hill and dale. This she continued to do, until very far advanced in life, to the no small annoyance of the accredited physicians.”
Hannah Prichard died in 1810.
Jane Eklund’s history column, A Look Back, originally appeared in the Monadnock Ledger.