Gustavus Richard Brown
Gustavus Richard Brown was born at Rich Hill near Port
Tobacco, Charles County, MD on October 17, 1747; son of Gustavus Brown, a
physician who immigrated from Scotland. Brown received his MD from the University
of Edinburgh in 1768. Brown was a member of Legislature of Maryland in 1774 and
on the Committee of Correspondence and Observation in 1776. He established a
hospital for the inoculation of smallpox in 1776. He became a Judge on the
Charles County Court in 1776-77, and was a Member of the State Convention in 1788.
He was a Visitor at St John's College in Annapolis in 1789. Brown was a Grand
Master of the Grand Lodge of Masons of Maryland, 1797-98.
Brown was in consultation with Drs. Craik and Dick on the
last illness of General George Washington, with whom he was a personal friend.
On May 15, 1769, he married Peggy Graham. Dr. Brown was over six feet in height and well proportioned;
pleasant and affable; a fine classical scholar who was particularly fond of
botany. There was another brick house on the
Rose Hill property used by Dr. Brown as an office and for his medical school;
there he received and trained ten young men at a time. A large well
lighted basement was used as a dissecting-room. His office was full of
students. Dr. Gustavus Richard Brown died at Rose Hill near Port Tobacco
September 30, 1804 and is buried at Rose Hill.
Source:
Medical Annals of Maryland (1899)
Dr. Gustavus Richard Brown (1747- 1804) was a physician and friend of George Washington, as well as an avid horticulturist and landscape architect. Dr. Brown was called to Washington's deathbed at Mt. Vernon, Virginia, to act as one of the medical advisors. Dr. Brown was an outstanding Charles Countian who held an important place in the history of 18th century Maryland. He studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh and returned in 1768 to practice in his native county.
With the coming of the American Revolution, Brown's medical practice widened to include soldiers of the Continental Army. Although
always involved in medicine, he was an early (1776) advocate of smallpox
inoculations, and a founder of the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland.
Brown’s interests extended to other fields as well. He served as a Charles
County judge, as a county representative to the Maryland convention that
ratified the Constitution, and as a member of the Board of Visitors at St.
John's College in Annapolis. His garden at Rose Hill was widely known for its
decorative, medicinal, and culinary plants.
There is some confusion about whether this is the
same person as Gustavus Brown of St. Mary’s County, due to the fact that this
Gustavus Brown’s grandfather had a child, also named Gustavus Brown, who was
actually younger than this GB.
Daniel Jenifer
Daniel Jenifer was born in 1756, a son of Dr. Daniel and
Elizabeth Hanson Jenifer of Kent County, Md. Dr. Jenifer was appointed
Assistant Surgeon to Dr. Briscoe of the Independent Corps in August 26, 1776.
He was subsequently commissioned as Surgeon to the General Hospital of the Continental
Army, and served until 1782. He was member of the Society of Cincinnati, and
married the daughter of Dr. James Craik of Alexandria on January 25, 1785. Dr.
Jenifer was a practitioner of repute in Port Tobacco, Charles County, Maryland.
Died in 1809.
Source: Medical Annals of
Maryland (1899)
Born in 1756 into a family of immense wealth and
power, Daniel Jenifer served as a doctor in the Continental Army from 1776
until the war's closing days in 1782. Jenifer's family had lived in Maryland
since the 1660s and had amassed significant riches and clout.
Daniel Jr. was educated at Princeton, beginning
as an undergraduate in the fall of 1773, after a stint at the college's
preparatory academy; he gave a pair of orations in Latin in order to ensure his
admission. Jenifer started at the same time as John Jordan, another
Charles County native, with whom Jenifer served in the army in 1776. When
Jenifer arrived on campus, his older brother, Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer was
already a student; their classmates distinguished them as "Tom" and
"Dan." However, the two brothers were only together for a short
period, as Tom died in September 1774, after a short illness. Dan, for his
part, seems to have received education in medicine among his other studies. Although
he was part of the Class of 1777, he left the college before he graduated,
probably at the end of 1775.
Jenifer moved his family to "Retreat,"
the plantation he inherited from his uncle, in the early 1790s. He practiced
medicine from the house and was active in the community. In 1794, he was
commissioned as the regimental surgeon for the Forty-Third Regiment of Maryland
Militia, an appointment which reflected his position and influence in the
county. He held that post until his death in the middle of 1809, when he was
about fifty-three. Jenifer's estate was large and complicated and took several
years to settle. His personal property was valued at more than $19,600. In
1811, his landholdings were calculated at 5,891 acres, as well as lots in Port
Tobacco and Baltimore City, though he may have owned other land as well.
Source: Maryland
Archives, Notable Biographies
John Parnham
John
Parnham was born near Newport, Charles County, MD. His parents came from
England early in the eighteenth century. He received his MD from the University
of Edinburgh in 1772. Parnham was a Member of the State Constitutional
Convention in 1776. He was the Chief Surgeon Smallwood's Brigade during the
Revolution. Parnham was a Judge of Charles County Court in 1777, and a
Presidential Elector in 1805. He was a member of the Maryland Legislature
several terms between 1787-1809. He married Nancy Dent, a daughter of George
Dent who was a Member of Congress. They
had six children, all of whom died without issue. After the Revolution, Parnham
returned to his home, Parnham Hall (also known as Stagg Hall, Parnham-Padgett
House, or Spalding's Corner, and practiced there until his death in 1813 at the
age of about 65. He is buried in the family graveyard on his place.
Source: Medical Annals of
Maryland (1899)
Gerard Wood
Gerard
Wood was born in 1754 and was a Surgeon’s Mate in the American Revolution under
Dr. John Parnham. He served one and a half years, until 1783. Dr. Wood was a
member of the Society of the Cincinnati. He lived at Allen’s Fresh, an estate
in Charles County, Maryland and died in 1822.
Source: Medical Annals of
Maryland (1899)
The Museum of Early
Southern American Decorative Arts owns a John Shaw desk. This desk and bookcase
descended in the family of Dr. Gerard Wood (1754-1822) of Charles County,
Maryland, a physician who served under General George Washington during the
American Revolution and was a founding member of the Society of the Cincinnati
in the State of Maryland. Dr. Wood’s probate inventory lists his desk and
bookcase valued at $8.00, as well as his medical shop with furniture, library,
and surgical instruments valued at $100.00.
Source: MESDA Catalogue
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