Cecil County

 John Groome                              

John Groome was born in Kent County, Md. on May 2, 1769, son of Charles Groome. He was a pupil of Dr. Edward Worrell of Chestertown and also of Dr. George Wallace of Elkton, whose widow he married on August 31, 1799. Dr. Groome practiced at Elkton, Md and died there May 18, 1830. He served for several years in the Maryland House of Delegates. He is buried in Newark, Delaware. Dr. Groome was a friend of President George Washington and the grandfather of Gov. James Black Groome of Maryland.

Source: Medical Annals of Maryland (1899)

 

Elisha Harrison                          

Elisha Harrison was born in Cecil County, Md in 1762. He was a Surgeon's Mate in the Maryland Line in the Revolution for a year and a half, until the dissolution of the Army. Member of the Society of Cincinnati of Maryland and a Founder of the Medical Society of the District of Columbia as well as the Medical & Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland. He died at Washington DC on August 24 1819 .

Source: Medical Annals of Maryland (1899)

It is apparent that following his January 1783 Continental Army discharge, Elisha Harrison practiced medicine in the Maryland and Washington, D.C. area. He was also among a group of sixteen physicians and two apothecaries who, in 1817, established the Medical Society of the District of Columbia. According to a July 1909 Evening Star newspaper article on Old Washington, D.C. following the Revolutionary War, Dr. Harrison is described as being among a group of private and official physicians who attended to families of officials and the small military force in the city. Dr. Harrison also operated an apothecary shop at the corner of 14^th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, which is described as being like others with traditional insignia of gilt mortar and pestle displayed at the front door, and windows filled with colored globes.  

     Source: The Life & Times of Elisha Harrison

 

John King                                     

There is absolutely no information on Dr. John King, including in the Annals.

 

William Miller                            

In the cemetery at West Nottingham Church, Cecil County is this inscription: William C Miller MD died October 3, 1826 aged sixty-two years. He held a commission as Colonel in the War of 1812, and served in the Councils of his native state with usefulness and integrity. Dr Miller of Cecil County was a member of the General Assembly of Maryland in 1804.  He died deeply lamented by all who knew him.

Source: Medical Annals of Maryland (1899)

 

Abraham Mitchell                     

Abraham Mitchell was born in Lancaster County, Pa. in 1734. He settled in Elkton, Md about 1759, where he engaged in medical practice and also purchased lands and devoted himself to their successful cultivation. His practice extended through three counties. During the Revolution, he converted his residence at Elkton into a temporary hospital for American soldiers and gave professional service to the cause. He married Mary Thompson, a daughter of Dr. Ephraim Thompson on November 19, 1772. He died at Fair Hill, Cecil County on September 30, 1817.

Source: Medical Annals of Maryland (1899)

Mitchell family legend states that the doctor completed his medical education and was rewarded by his father with a horse, saddle, saddle bags and $500 cash, which allowed him to seek a place to set up his medical practice and home. The money didn’t last, because he used the funds as security for a friend, but he still managed to lease a lot in Elkton by 1769.

An interesting phrase in the lease states that Mitchell agreed to “not raise or keep any swine or goose on the said demised premises.” It was possible that between 1769 and 1781, when he moved his family to property he had purchased at Fair Hill, Dr. Mitchell built on this lot, the brick (now stucco) house bearing his name. In the years after he settled in Cecil County, Dr. Mitchell’s practice expanded to include parts of Cecil and Harford Counties in Maryland, and New Castle County in Delaware.

This extended practice brought sufficient income for him to invest some of his money in real estate. He purchased tracts of land throughout the countryside, having a strong interest in agricultural pursuits. It was easy for him to find such land as his practice as a poplar physician making house calls took him by horseback to all corners of Cecil County. He bought 300 acres in the Elkton vicinity and took up farming, in addition to medicine. By 1783, he had 20 head of cattle, five horses and 630 acres of land.

During the Revolution, he opened his home in Elkton {the Mitchell House} as a temporary hospital for the Continental Army, and for this, the Maryland apse in Valley Forge is dedicated to him. In 1790, Dr. Mitchell sold the "brick messuage lot" that was the Mitchell House and its outbuildings to James Partridge, a gentleman of Delaware.

Mitchell would also purchase 200 acres of land in Fair Hill, and in later years would spend more time there, where he became a member of Rock Presbyterian Church. He died at Fair Hill on Sept. 30, 1817, at 84 years of age. His is now the Fair Hill Inn.

Abraham Mitchell's descendants through his son's daughter owned the Mitchell House in Elkton from 1859 until 1935. The house is still standing.

     Source: Maryland Historic Trust, Mitchell House