The Graveyard of Dr. William Beanes

Saturday was the first warm and sunny day in months, and so I decided to take a spin down to Southern-ish Maryland and visit the graves of Dr. William Beanes, and his wife. 

As I followed the GPS directions and entered the town of Upper Marlboro, I had to hunt a bit for the grave-site. It was up a hill with no path or steps, adjacent to the abandoned Upper Marlboro High School. 

I made my way around to the back of the school where there was a path to the grave-site. It is now a small lot, on the site of the home he had shared with his wife. The house was known as Academy Hill, said to be one of the finest houses in the town. It overlooked the aptly named Schoolhouse Pond. Dr. and Mrs. Beanes lived in the house from 1779 to 1828.

Although the original house burned in 1855, it was re-built and opened as Upper Marlboro Academy. In 1836 the president of the Upper Marlboro Academy's Board of Trustees was authorized to purchase the Beanes’ property from a Mr. Roderick McGregor, for $1,360. 

A Mr. Henry M. McGregor contracted to alter and add to the old William Beanes dwelling for use as an Academy. The building was completed and ready for pupils on January 1, 1837. The school building used prior to that date was sold to the Vestry of the Trinity Church. 

A representative of the Academy Board of Trustees reported to the State General Assembly annually,3 and the State provided an annual fund to the Academy, enabling it to provide free education to some indigent students. 

Tuition for most students was $20 per year in 1835, and $10 more for a mathematical education. The Academy admitted both boys and girls and in 1844 had 60 pupils, including some from Washington, D.C. and Baltimore.

There are four brick pillars around the graveyard, topped ironically with cannon balls, with two additional pillars at the entrance, all of which are connected with an ironwork fence. 

The pillars have plaques on them, one dedicated by the Daughters of the War of 1812,

and the other by the Medical & Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland in 1914. 

Additionally, there is the William Beanes Elementary School and the adjacent William Beanes Community Center. 

Dr. William Beanes, The Movie... Sort Of

I am working on a lecture about Dr. William Beanes, the man behind the story of our national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner. I've written a lot about him before, but in this most recent search, I found something new!

Apparently, in 1936, a short film, "The Song of a Nation," was made about the writing of the National Anthem. 

The Song of a Nation (1936) is a Warner Bros. Technicolor short film dramatizing Francis Scott Key writing "The Star-Spangled Banner" in 1814. The film depicts the American lawyer witnessing the British bombardment of Fort McHenry, leading to the creation of the national anthem, played with a mix of historical drama and, at times, dramatic recitation rather than singing of the lyrics.

Key Details of "The Song of a Nation" (1936)

• Plot: The short film dramatizes the events of September 1814, showing Francis Scott Key (played by Donald Wood) being detained on a British ship and feeling inspired to write the lyrics after witnessing the U.S. flag still flying over Fort McHenry after a massive bombardment.
• Production: It is a 1930s Technicolor short produced by Warner Brothers, designed to showcase the beauty of 1930s color film.
• Legacy: While the film is a dramatized account, it highlights the real-life inspiration of the song, which was officially adopted as the U.S. national anthem in 1931.

Real-Life Story vs. The Film

• The Poem: Francis Scott Key actually wrote the poem, initially titled "The Defence [sic] of Fort M'Henry," after seeing the American flag survive the night of September 13–14, 1814.
• The Tune: The lyrics were set to the tune of "To Anacreon in Heaven," a popular 18th-century British song by John Stafford Smith.
• Official Status: While the song gained immediate popularity, it was not officially recognized as the national anthem until 117 years later, when President Herbert Hoover signed the act in 1931.

Here is the movie.

Justice Stephenson Archer

I have written and lectured about Dr. John Archer a number of times. In 1767, he was the first person to receive a medical degree in America, which had not yet become the United States. He taught medicine at his home, Medical Hall in Bel Air, Harford County. He was father to six sons, five of whom became physicians like their father. 

However, one became at attorney/politician. From Wikipedia:

Stevenson Archer (October 11, 1786 – June 26, 1848) was a judge and United States Representative from Maryland, representing the sixth district from 1811 to 1817 and from 1819 to 1821. His son Stevenson Archer and father John Archer were also U.S. Congressmen from Maryland. 

Archer was born at Medical Hall, near Churchville, Harford County, Maryland, on October 11, 1786, to Catherine and John Archer. He attended Nottingham Academy of Maryland, later graduating from Princeton College in 1805. He studied law, was admitted to the bar of Harford County, Maryland, in 1808, and commenced practice the same year. 

From 1809 to 1810, Archer served as a member of the Maryland House of Delegates and was later elected as a Democrat-Republican to the Twelfth United States Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of John Montgomery. He was reelected to the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Congresses and served from October 26, 1811, until March 3, 1817. 

Having reached the Constitutional age of service in the House (25 years of age) less than one month prior to taking his seat, Archer was the youngest member of the Twelfth Congress, which was defined at least in part by the injection of youth into the government. Archer was one of the firmest supporters of the War Hawk agenda in Congress, consistently voting for military preparation and the War of 1812.

In Congress, Archer served as chairman of the Committee on Claims (Thirteenth Congress), and as a member of the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of the Navy (Fourteenth Congress). During the War of 1812, he was paymaster to the Fortieth Maryland Militia, and was appointed on March 5, 1817, by President James Madison as United States judge for the Territory of Mississippi, with powers of Governor, holding court at St. Stephens.

Archer resigned within a year and returned to Maryland to continue his law practice. He was elected to the Sixteenth Congress, serving from March 4, 1819, until March 3, 1821, and, in Congress, served as chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of the Navy. In 1823, Archer was appointed chief judge of the judicial circuit court of Baltimore and Harford Counties and Baltimore City. In 1844, Archer was appointed by Governor Thomas Pratt as chief justice of the Maryland Court of Appeals and served until his death in June of 1848.

All of this is in light of an auction purchase over the weekend. I was at a country auction in rural Pennsylvania and spotted an old silhouette in a frame. As I moved in to look at it, I was shocked to see it was Stevenson Archer, who was the Chief Justice of the Maryland Court of Appeals.

He was a judge in both Baltimore City, where a portrait of him hangs in the Baltimore City Law Library, and in Harford County. 

The picture is simply framed in what looks like a very early frame with wavy glass.

There were two notes attached to the glass, one saying who Justice Archer was and the other indicating some relationship with the Liriodendron Foundation. Liriodendron was Dr. Howard Kelly's summer home outside of Bel Air, Harford County. 

Like Marcia, I love finding things for the office at old country auctions!

Another Osler Book at Auction

At the turn of the last century, MedChi asked a local rare book dealer to appraise some of the books in our collection. He did that, but apparently, he also "acquired" some books. You can read about it here.

Now, the same auction house has another book up for auction that was in our collection and given to us by Sir William Osler. This is so frustrating because there is nothing we can do about it, except try to buy back what was ours.

This is what the auction house has written:

Description:

William Osler
n.p., May 16, 1896
William Osler Superb Signed Book Vol. I, "Life & Letters of Oliver Wendell Holmes"

A hardcover volume of part of a biography of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809-1894), inscribed and signed by Sir William Osler (1849-1919), the celebrated Canadian doctor often referred to as the Father of Modern Medicine, as: "Presented to the Library of the / Medico-Chirurgical Faculty / By / Wm Osler / 5.16.96" on the first front loose endpaper. May 16, 1896. N.p. John T. Morse, Jr., First Edition, Volume I, "Life and Letters of Oliver Wendell Holmes in Two Volumes" (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1896). With a bookplate from the "Library of the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland" affixed to the front pastedown endpaper, with the donor identified in pen as "Dr. Wm Osler." [In Marcia Noyes' handwriting] With "Library of… Maryland" hand-stamps scattered throughout. Dark burgundy cloth-covered boards with a gilt upper text block and paper label on the spine. A blank printed Rx script belonging to Dr. Bernard J. Ferry of Calverton Pharmacy, Baltimore, Maryland is used as a bookmark at pg. 27. Minor wear and scuffs to the covers, and partial darkening of the spine label. Mostly even light toning within. Else near fine. With about a dozen illustrations with their original tissue guards. iii-vi; 1-358. 5.25" x 8.125" x 1.25." 8vo.

Vol. I of Morse's biography of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. covers the period from his birth until about the 1860s. Dr. William Osler selected this book for donation with care, as he personally identified with much of Holmes's approach to modern medicine. In fact, Dr. William Osler is included in the present volume on pg. 188, in a quote from an address which Dr. Osler delivered before the Medical School at Johns Hopkins University on October 15, 1894. Dr. Osler said about Dr. Holmes: "He will always occupy a unique position in the affections of medical men…" Holmes, who was educated in the United States and abroad, embraced a more patient-centered approach. Holmes was also a committed medical reformer, lobbying for the importance of hygiene, and decrying medical "quackeries."

Dr. William Osler revolutionized the 19th C. study and practice of medicine by fundamentally changing how it was taught. Osler was one of the founding members of the Association of American Physicians and a founding professor of Johns Hopkins Hospital. One of the first doctors to lobby for residency training programs, Osler understood the importance of learning through hands-on experience, repetition, and practice. By emphasizing speaking to and listening to the patient, Osler advanced our understanding of pathology by underscoring the importance of medical history in positing a diagnosis. In this way, he also advocated for the most fundamental patient rights and reshaped the relationship between doctor and patient.

Osler's interest in teaching medicine inspired him to collect an enormous personal library of books related to medicine and the history of medicine. Osler willed his personal library to his alma mater, McGill University; the collection became the core of the Osler Library of the History of Medicine.

This is just so infuriating!