Talbot County

Stephen Theodore Johnson   

Stephen Theodore Johnson was a son of Henry Johnson, a Gentleman who died in 1780. Johnson received his MB from the University of Pennsylvania in 1789. He signed his name MB to a diploma in 1805. He died at Easton, Talbot County, on July 16 1813.

Source: Medical Annals of Maryland (1899)

In the year 1798, a number of the leading physicians of the State united in a petition to the General Assembly for an act of incorporation, and in January of the following year their petition was granted by the passage of a bill constituting certain persons therein mentioned a body corporate, under the title of "The Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of the State of Maryland." Among the provisions of this bill was the granting to this society the power to issue licenses to practice medicine within the State, to those persons who should prove their competency before a "Board of Examiners" to be selected, seven from the Western and five from the Eastern Shore. Of the original petitioners and corporators Dr. Ennalls Martin was one; and at the first meeting of the Faculty, June 11th, 1799, at Annapolis, he was elected one of the Board of Examiners for this Shore, the other members of that section of the board being Doctors James Anderson, Jr., of Kent, James Davidson of Queen Anne's, Perry E. Noel and Stephen Theodore Johnson, of Talbot. 

At a general meeting of this Faculty at Baltimore in July, 1802, committees for each city and county in the State, entitled Medical Censors, were appointed, the principal duty of which was to see that "the Medical and Chirurgical law be not infringed by unlicensed practitioners, and that the penalties thereof be inflicted upon trespassers." Dr. Ennalls Martin and Dr. Stephen Theodore Johnson were selected as the Censors for Talbot.

Source: The Worthies of Talbot County

 

Ennalls Martin                            Talbot

Ennalls Martin was born at Hampden, Talbot County, Md on August 23, 1758. He was educated at Newark, (Delaware) Academy and was a pupil of Dr. Shippen in Philadelphia. He was a Surgeon's Mate to the Maryland Line in the Revolution from June 1, 1777 to February 16, 1780. He received his MB from University of Pennsylvania in 1782. He began practice at Easton in 1782. Dr. Martin was an Orator Medical and Chirurgical Faculty in 1807. He received an Honorary MD from the University of Maryland in 1818. He was President of the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty from 1815 to 1820, declining reelection in 1820. He resided in Baltimore for some years, about 1815 to 1820. He was the author of “An Essay on Epidemics of the Winters of 1813 and 1814 in Talbot and Queen Anne's Counties Maryland.” He was a devoted and scientific agriculturist. From his brusque manners he was called the “Abernethy of Talboy.” Of great bodily strength and tenacious of his opinions, he delighted in surgery and was a zealous follower of Dr. Rush. Died at Easton December 16, 1834 leaving a large family.

Source: Medical Annals of Maryland (1899)

While Ennalls Martin was well-educated in the medical field having learned his profession after several years in the Revolutionary Army, apparently he was not a nice person. The reputation he had acquired in Talbot County, which was really bad, and extended into distant portions of the state, persuaded him, in the year 1818, to surrender his practice and remove to Baltimore... But like most physicians who have attempted similar adventures, he was disappointed in his expectations, and after a short residence in Baltimore, he returned to Easton, and resumed his former life…

In a nearly 7,000-word biography, published in 1915, there are numerous accounts of how “really bad” Dr. Martin was. However, it does not mention whether he had slaves, nor does any of the many other accounts of his life that I searched. But, as you continue the biography, it mentions that Dr. Martin was interested in agriculture, and studied the laws of nature.

A large number of well-educated gentlemen were then engaged in a pursuit that is now too commonly abandoned to those of the least mental culture. The leisure afforded by the possession of slaves who performed the drudgery of labor under the supervision of overseers gave the masters the opportunity for the study of farm methods, and for coordinating the results of his own and his neighbors' observation and experience. The result was a vast amount of correct agricultural knowledge, which came near to science, if it were not science, and a system of farming which has not been excelled by those who are most accustomed to undervalue it, and which has been the admiration of those capable of estimating it without prejudice.

Source: The Worthies of Talbot County


Perry Eccleston Noel                 Talbot

Perry Eccleston Noel was born in Maryland in 1768. He was classically educated and studied under an eminent physician in Maryland. He received his MD from the University of Edinburgh in 1794, with his thesis,  “De Angina Tracheali.” He married to Sarah Nicholson in 1795. He was a physician to the Queen Anne's County Almshouse in 1804. He was also a member of the Centerville Town Council in 1809. Dr. Noel died at Centerville, Queen Anne's County on October 14, 1813, leaving a wife and children. Mr J.B. Noel Wyatt, a grandson and an architect of Baltimore, has a pencil profile of Dr. Noel indicating a robust handsome middle-aged man with abundant light hair, blue eyes, large nostrils, without wig, clean-shaven face, well- formed regular features, rather thick lips, old fashioned coat with high collar, and white neck scarf; a frank sociable, amiable, countenance.

 Source: Medical Annals of Maryland (1899)

 

 

Tristram Thomas                        Talbot

Tristram Thomas was born at Roodly in Bolingbroke Neck, Talbot County, Maryland on Christmas Day, 1769. He was educated at Wilmington, Delaware, a student of Dr. Nicholas Way of Wilmington. He then studied at the College of Medicine of Philadelphia and received his MD from the University of Pennsylvania in 1792.  

Dr. Thomas began practice at Trappe, in Talbot County, Maryland and then moved to Easton where he practiced for fifty years. He was on the Board of Health of Talbot County beginning in 1793. He was an attending Physician of the County Almshouse. Additionally, he was President of the Sixth District Medical Society in 1815. Dr. Thomas was one of the original founders of the Medical & Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland in 1799.

He was the father of Governor Philip F. Thomas of Maryland.  He carried a cane made of wood from the Mount of Olives. He died in Easton on August 5, 1847.

Source: Medical Annals of Maryland (1899)

  

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