Annapolis

 Reverdy Ghiselin                          

Reverdy Ghiselin was a Founder of the Faculty in 1799. He was born at Annapolis about 1765 of Huguenot descent. He received his MD from the University of Pennsylvania in 1788 and is said to have studied medicine at Paris during the French Revolution. He served as a Visitor to St John's College Annapolis in 1804. He married Margaret Anne, the daughter of Maryland governor, Robert Bowie, on December 25, 1804. Ghiselin  was a member of the Executive Council of Maryland in 1809 and was in charge of Land Office. He was a Surgeon during the War of 1812. Reverdy Ghiselin died at his plantation Brookfield near Nottingham, Prince George County, Md 1823.

      Source: Medical Annals of Maryland (1899)

Dr. Ghiselin was an eminent physician of Annapolis, where he was born about 1765. For many years he had charge of the Land Office, succeeding his father in that position, and was also several times a member of the Governor's Council, serving twice in that capacity when Robert Bowie was the chief executive. He was finely educated, and during the French Revolution was a student of medicine in Paris. He had been married earlier in life, but had no children by his first wife. For a year or so after his marriage he resided with his father-in-law in the governor's mansion, the present library building of the Naval Academy, Annapolis. During the War of 1812-14 he acted as a surgeon in the army, and then, acquiring "Brookefield," the former residence of Thomas Contee, removed his family to that plantation, near Nottingham, where he died in 1823 and was buried a short distance from the house. His widow survived him until 1850, and died while visiting her daughter, Mrs. Thomas S. Alexander, in Baltimore.

            Source: The Maryland Bowies

 

James Murray                                 

James Murray was born in 1739, he is said to have attended College of Philadelphia, and then went to Edinburgh in 1775 and was there educated in literature and medicine. His brother is the Founder, William Murray. He returned to Maryland in 1769 and practiced here until his death Surgeon 1777-1780. Hospital Surgeon at “Medical Shop” in Annapolis from 1780 to 1782. He was the leading physician of Annapolis and the preceptor of many physicians who rose to eminence. Died at Annapolis December 17, 1819.

Source: Medical Annals of Maryland (1899)

The Annapolis Inn was built by Mr. Thomas Rutland in the 1770s, and was later sold to Dr. James Murray, a Scottish immigrant who became the preeminent physician in Annapolis during the Revolutionary War period and who also became the physician to the Revolutionary Army and eventually to President Thomas Jefferson. Dr. Murray’s house in Annapolis with its brick kitchen, medical shop, and smokehouse, served as the home of the Murray heirs for over sixty years.

      Source: The Annapolis Inn

 

Upton Scott                                      

Upton Scott was one of the founders of the Medical & Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland in 1799, and served as its first President. He was a physician in Annapolis and had his main home in downtown Annapolis. He served as the physician to the last royal governor of the state of Maryland and was a great uncle to the author of the National Anthem, Francis Scott Key.

In addition to the house in Annapolis, the family owned Belvior, a 700-acre estate, with a manor house that had been built around 1736 by John Ross. Thirty years later the estate passed to Upton Scott, who expanded the home. The Scotts were part of Maryland’s aristocratic class.

Other information on Belvoir makes no mention of Upton Scott owning the house, commenting that it was owned by his father-in-law, John Ross, who lived there until his death in 1766. His wife took ownership of the house and lived there until at least 1789.

Mrs. Ross was living at Belvoir in 1789 when Mrs. Elizabeth Ross Scott [Upton Scott’s wife] brought her great-nephew, Francis Scott Key, a student at St. John's, to Belvoir to see his great-grandmother. Mrs. Ross continued to hold title to Belvoir; the Maynadiers continued to live with her, as attested in a note dated "Belvoir Nov. 28, .1805".

Source: MEDUSA Maryland’s Cultural Resource Catalogue, Anne Arundel County (Belvoir)

This article on the Upton Scott house says that they lived in the house from 1780 onwards, with no mention of another property.

During the Revolution, Dr. Scott and his wife moved to Ireland, but they returned to their house in Annapolis, in 1780, to live there for the rest of their lives. Francis Scott Key, author of the National Anthem, was a great-nephew of Mrs. Scott, and during the seven years that he was a student at St. John's College and Preparatory School, he lived at the Scott House. 

Source: MEDUSA Maryland’s Cultural Resource Catalogue, Anne Arundel County (Upton Scott House)

 

John Schaaff                                                

While Dr. John Thomas Schaaff is listed as being a founder of the Faculty, there is absolutely no biographical information about him – even in the Medical Annals of Maryland, which lists all practicing physicians from the 1800’s. He is mentioned in one line as being one of the founders and being of German parentage, but native to the state.

Source: Medical Annals of Maryland (1899)