In his Medical Annals of Maryland (1799-1899), Eugene Cordell paints a descriptive picture of the first official meeting of the Medical & Chirurgical Faculty, which took place on June 3, 1799:
Of the meeting for organization held at Annapolis in accordance with the provisions of the charter June 3, 1799, we have but a bare recital of results - the names of officers elected, and members of the Boards of Examiners of the two Shores, constitution and by-laws, and resolutions. These meagre details but whet our appetites for further knowledge, but there is no means of obtaining it, unless some at-present unknown letter or manuscript can be found to supply it.
Considering the circumstances, it is altogether likely that the meeting was held in one or other of the legislative halls at the Capitol. It may be in the historic Senate Chamber where Congress had sat so recently, and Washington resigned his commission and read his ever-memorable farewell address.
There, we may fancy the 101 founders preparing to sit in council, grave and reverend seigniors, deliberate in act and speech, still clad in the antique-style wig, queue, frilled shirt, high-necked coat with large brass buttons, knee breeches, stockings, shoe buckles, and not least, the gold-headed cane.
The first to enter, we will suppose, is the Baltimore delegation who arrived by the morning coach. The Eastern Shore doubtless furnished its full quota coming by sailboat across the Bay. Having alighted from coach and stage, having disembarked from vessels which lay moored in the Severn, and having dismounted from their horses, we can imagine them assembling for the business before them.
These appear to have been the leaders in this remarkable assemblage of eminent and representative physicians and surgeons of Maryland.
A short time is doubtless spent in greetings and congratulation upon the success of their long efforts to obtain legislation and the prospect of usefulness which now unfolds before them. A temporary chairman is chosen and the convention then proceeds to the election of permanent officers...
The Founders were a diverse bunch, and over the last few months, I've taken time to research them all. For some of them, there are volumes of information, but for others, just a sentence.
I began my search by looking at their biographies in the Medical Annals of Maryland, and for subsequent biographical information the Annals or the Maryland Medical Journals provided. From there, I went to Google and searched on the name and the county which they represented. That led me to places as varied as Find-A-Grave, family histories, the Maryland Historical Society, the Maryland State Archives, and my personal favorite, MEDUSA, Maryland's Cultural Resource Information System.
Each site helped me glean tidbits of information which, when added together, gave me a fuller picture of the Founders than the Annals could provide. I read about who they married, their families, and where they lived. I laughed at humorous incidents, was saddened by hard lives, and befuddled by the two founders whose familial relationship was so confusing I had to graph it out.
As I worked, I decided to organize the Founders by the county they represented in 1799. At that time, there were fewer counties than there are now, and two cities, Annapolis and Baltimore City, each had their own delegations. The delegations comprised three to five members.
Now that the research has been completed, it has been added to this blog. Just below the header image, you will find a section entitled "The Founders" and when you click on that, it will take you to a page with each of the counties listed. When you click on the county's name, you will see the biographies of that its delegates.
I hope that you will take a few minutes now and then to read about our Founding Members and think of the time in which they lived and what they accomplished in establishing an organization that lives more than 200 years later.
MedChi has a long history, and we need to look at our earliest members in the context of their time, and not ours. We believe that these biographies should be read as historical summaries of lives in the early years of both our country and our organization.
