Showing posts with label Local Historical Figures. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Local Historical Figures. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 9, 2021

Dr. Alexander McLeod’s 1834 Letter on Vaccines in the Crawford Messenger [Guest Submission]

Vaccinations in 1830 America

At a time when vaccines against the coronavirus are being produced by multiple companies, an interesting bit of Meadville history comes to our attention.  First, it is important to remember why and how “immunization” and "vaccination" came about.  It was to combat the scourge of smallpox.  In the 1700’s people, including the Continental Army, were given a mild dose of smallpox by putting a small amount of live virus under the skin.  This occasionally would be deadly, and the person inoculated had to be quarantined while the infection was present.  In the late 1700s, Jenner discovered that inoculating a person with cowpox matter from a cow pustule was equally effective and safer.  The term "vaccination" actually implies that the matter came from a cow.  The term has come to have a much broader meaning today. 

Smallpox in Crawford County and Dr. Alexander McLeod 

In 1834 smallpox was present in several parts of Crawford County. This is where the remarkable story of Dr. Alexander McLeod comes in.  Although he was a physician in Meadville for only about 10 years, Dr. Alexander McLeod deserves special recognition.  He first came to Meadville as a physician in 1833.  He left Meadville in 1843 and returned in 1872; not as a physician but as a retired Army chaplain.  He had already been a physician of some distinction when he came to Meadville in 1833.  He was born in Canada in 1799 where his father was an Anglican priest.  He was sent to New York City to live with his uncle while receiving his education.  

In 1817, he went to Philadelphia to study medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. During his third year at the university, he accepted an appointment as ship’s surgeon on a ship headed for China. This adventure of a lifetime took him to Europe initially where he would spend time in London as well as Antwerp, Rotterdam, and Amsterdam. During the delay in London Dr. McLeod, as an American student, attended lectures and witnessed advanced surgeries by the leading surgeons there.  On his return to Philadelphia, he became acquainted with the distinguished English gentleman Hardeman Phillips Esq.    Mr. Phillips asked Dr. McLeod to accompany him to Phillipsburg, Pennsylvania, and practice his profession there.

Although living in Phillipsburg, he also began to practice in Clearfield in 1824.  A dysentery epidemic was raging in the region.  It destroyed entire families.  The epidemic was so severe that everyone was alarmed and threatened by the disease.   At that time Dr. McLeod made his headquarters in a local tavern.  The untiring efforts of Dr. McLeod and another local physician, Dr. John Hoyt, involved both informing the community about the disease and administering relief to those afflicted.  During the height of the epidemic, these physicians were on the go day and night.  For four weeks Dr. McLeod did not return home.  Because of fatigue, at times he would sleep in the saddle.  At other times he would tie his horse out of sight so he could catch a quick nap in a barn by the roadside.  For a whole month, he was so involved that he did not have time to shave.

Dr. McLeod Comes to Meadville

Dr. McLeod remained there for several years and then moved to Lewiston in Mifflin County.  He then moved to Pittsburgh where he opened an office briefly and then was recruited by some gentleman from Meadville to move to Meadville. He practiced in Meadville for almost 10 years.  During that time, he married Matilda, the daughter of Jared Shattuck.  He was actively involved in the practice of medicine.  

His interest in preventative medicine was quite clear.  Vaccination was the best approach to fighting smallpox.  This had been known since the time of Jenner almost 35 years before.  For various reasons, the vaccinations were not always successful.  However, the impact on preventing smallpox was extremely significant.  At that time, one way of getting the word out to the public about important matters was to publish a letter addressed to a specific individual.  Dr. McLeod published a letter in the Crawford Messenger to John Reynolds, a leading citizen.  He had a private conversation with Mr. Reynolds and may have been encouraged to publicize the information that he shared with Mr. Reynolds.  The letter pointed out several reasons why vaccination might not be successful.  One of the concerns was that the “matter” used for the vaccination may not be fresh or powerful enough.  Dr. McLeod emphasized the overall importance and effectiveness of the procedure. The best way to get an effective inoculum was to make his own. The letter makes this argument at some length.  As a conclusion to the letter, he stated, 


It has been computed that of every six persons to take smallpox in the natural way, one dies— in the inoculated smallpox population, it is 1 to 500.  Now it is alleged on behalf of the vaccination that, provided the matter is genuine, it destroys entirely the susceptibility to smallpox contagion, or so modifies it that it disarms it of all its dangers, so that one, however well acquainted with the appearance of natural smallpox, would scarcely recognize it under the triumphant protection of the vaccine aegis.  I need not remind you of the interest in which our community must feel on the subject, and in the enterprise of obtaining new and genuine matter.  I’ve only to express to you my acknowledgment for your liberal kindness in allowing me to use, for this purpose, one of your cows and am most truly yours.                                                           

ALEX McLEOD 

Meadville, May 8, 1834


Dr. McLeod was clearly involved in obtaining the most effective inoculum that he could.  This letter gives an interesting insight into medicine in 1834.

Personal Tragedy and Later Life

A turning point came in the doctor’s life in early 1843.  In January of that year, he lost two infant children to disease.  In April of that year, he lost his wife.  This had a profound effect on him.  Certainly, his family background may have had a role to play in his changing occupation.  A new Episcopal seminary had just started in Ohio. There he studied to become a priest in the Protestant Episcopal Church in the diocese of Ohio.  

After serving a parish in Ohio, he went south and served as a priest, establishing churches in the south.  After several years in the south, he returned to Meadville and Pittsburgh where his two surviving children had been in school.  He was then assigned parishes at Clearfield, Pennington, Columbia, and back to Clearfield.  While appointed to Huntington in 1854, he married the daughter of Col. Fenwick of St. Mary’s County, MD.  They had four children.

The Rev. McLeod was likely in the Huntington parish when the Civil War broke out.  He was appointed by Gov. Curtin to be chaplain of the 85th Pennsylvania volunteers.   In late 1862 Pres. Lincoln commissioned him to be an army hospital chaplain.  He served in the large hospitals in Philadelphia and then in Wilmington, Delaware.  

In August 1865, at the end of the war, he was reappointed by Pres. Johnson to be a chaplain in the regular army.  He served initially at Fort Delaware, Delaware.  Then he served at various other places.  His last orders would have taken him to Camp Douglas, Salt Lake City, Utah. But because of his health, he resigned and moved to Meadville to spend the rest of his days.  He died in 1877 and is buried in Greendale Cemetery.  

One can only imagine what his reaction would be to the current pandemic and vaccines.  With his own personal family experience with illness, he would be amazed at the miraculous progress in preventing disease.  He would probably wonder why anybody would put themselves and others at risk by not getting vaccinated.


REFERENCES 

Obituary from the Evening Republican, February 14, 1877, page 3, column 5.

The History of Clearfield County. ed by Lewis Cass Aldrich, D. Mason & Co. Syracuse, N.Y. 1887.  pp 256-7.

Crawford Messenger, May 9, 1834.


About the Author

Donald Rezek (M.D, Ph.D.) is a retired neurologist with an interest in early medicine in the county.  Originally, he was from La Crosse, Wisconsin.  After his training, he became part of the Department of Neurology at the University of Pittsburgh.  He moved to Meadville to practice in 1995 and retired at the end of 2014.  He is married to Ellen who was the chaplain at Wesbury until she retired in 2012.  Since he retired, he has had an interest in studying the earliest physicians in Meadville. 


Monday, April 13, 2020

A Brief History of Politics in Crawford County


Crawford County has rarely stifled its opinions regarding national politics. The tone was set by residents in 1807 who burned an effigy of Federalist, Aaron Burr outside the courthouse. And this was hardly the county’s last political riot. While training to fight the British in 1812, the theft of an onion split local militiamen along party lines leading to a clash between Federalists troopers and their Democratic comrades who were hellbent on torching downtown Meadville.

Tuesday, February 13, 2018

Timothy Alden and the Founding of Allegheny College

Timothy Alden Jr., the founder of Allegheny College, was by all accounts a charismatic and motivated man who pursued opportunities to expand education throughout his life. He was descended from John Alden, who landed on Plymouth Rock on November 15, 1620. Like his father, Timothy Alden, he was a Harvard educated pastor and was ordained in 1799. He was the principal of three different academies in Portsmouth, Boston, and Newark, after which he moved to Meadville in 1815. “[Alden’s] goal was to serve God by serving Man, and to service his young county by strengthening its unity through inculcation of a community of ethics and morality through the education of ministers, teachers and others in the newly settled regions”.

Thursday, December 7, 2017

Baldwin-Reynolds Reflects Shared Dickens Era Past

Christmas Carol Illustration by John Leech
One of John Leech's Original Illustrations for A Christmas Carol 
With the Baldwin-Reynolds House Museum hosting their annual "Fezziwig’s Christmas Dinner" in just a few short days, some readers might be curious “what’s in a name” for this nearly sold out event. Charles Dickens’ famous novella, A Christmas Carol holds special meaning to all of us at the Crawford County Historical Society.

Sunday, September 17, 2017

John Mathers -Photographer of the Early Oil Region


Cherry Run, Taken in 1864

A Passion for a New Art

Much of the world’s first oil boom was captured in the photography of one John A. Mather, an English immigrant whose love for his art allowed such a vivid picture of Crawford County’s history to be preserved. Though Mather did not travel to the US to pursue photography initially, he was enthralled by the prospects of the budding practice when he met a traveling daguerreotypist. This early photography was a dangerous art, with corrosive and hazardous chemicals needed to develop even a single photograph. But such is the burden of the artist, and Mr. Mathers bore the potential dangers of his trade well.

Sunday, September 10, 2017

The 150th Pennsylvania

The colors of the 150th, on display at the state capitol

The year is 1862. The War of the Southern Rebellion has flooded field after field with blood and the dead. Though volunteers had already been sent from western Pennsylvania, being largely absorbed into the Erie Regiment, they were not the last. President Lincoln had, in May of the previous year, called for additional volunteers to be mustered and organized by their various state governments. One such regiment was the 150th Pennsylvania. The regiment itself was made up of men from across Pennsylvania, but companies C, H, I, and K all hailed from Crawford County. Their commanding officer, Henry S. Huidekoper was also from Crawford County. Though new, this regiment would serve with distinction in some of the most difficult battles of the last years of the war.

Sunday, April 16, 2017

The World War 1 Artwork of Clarence Underwood

Clarence F. Underwood - 1905
Clarence Frederick Underwood [1871-1929] was one of the leading illustrators and commercial artists of his generation, providing work to a range of books as well as highly circulated publications such as Harpers, McClure's, The Saturday Evening Post, LIFE, and The Ladies’ World. Although born in Jamestown, NY, he resided in Meadville after his parents opened a drug store on the corner of Chestnut and East Avenue. Here Clarence, along with his younger siblings, Alice, Ida, Belva, and Frederick (all born in Meadville) would grow up.

Training

Clarence attended both the public schools as well as Allegheny College, but art was his ticket to the larger world. Leaving Meadville he received formal training at the Art Students League in New York, then London, and later at the Julian Academy in Paris as a pupil of Jean-Paul Laurens, Benjamin Constant and William Bouguereau, in 1896. Soon after leaving the Academy, Clarence would choose for himself a career as an illustrator.

Sunday, March 12, 2017

John Heisman - Football Legend from Titusville

Coach John Heisman (center) with his 1909 Georgia Tech team.
The name Heisman has become synonymous with the best in college football, however it is often forgotten that the man behind the trophy found his start right here in Crawford County. John Heisman grew up during the 1870s and 80s in Titusville, PA during the height of the oil boom. The family had originally settled in Cleveland, Ohio, but soon after John was born moved to Titusville to allow Heisman’s father, a cooper, to seek work thanks to the high demand for barrels the oil boom provided. Heisman attended Titusville High School, and graduated a member of the class of 1887 at the age of 17, before attending Brown University and the University of Pennsylvania to study law.

Sunday, March 5, 2017

The Magnificent McHenry House Part 2 - Departures and Demises

A & GW Depot with McHenry House to the left in 1869
As with most establishments in the hospitality industry, success could not have been attained without competent management. The same holds true for the McHenry House, which appears to owe much of its heralded reputation to Superintendent, R. M. N. Taylor. (Mentioned in Part 1 of this series) Taylor had previously managed the Angier House in Cleveland, Ohio before being recruited away to Meadville. Given the accolades he would earn during his tenure at the McHenry, it proved to be a fortuitous move for all parties.

Sunday, February 26, 2017

The Magnificent McHenry House Part 1: A City Arrives

A crowd gathered to greet one of the inaugural A & GW trains. Note the Depot in the background.   
As time progresses forward it becomes increasingly difficult to imagine the grand structures that once dominated the landscapes of our community. While a long list of such buildings could be compiled for Crawford County, few would compare to the magnitude and grandeur of the McHenry House and the adjoining depot of the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad in Meadville.

The McHenry House was a premier dining hall and hotel, named in honor of James McHenry, Esquire, the London financial agent sent in 1859 to ensure the successful construction of the Atlantic and Great Western (A & GW) Railroad. McHenry couldn’t have imagined the challenges that awaited him, but even so, he managed to secure needed resources, albeit controversially, despite labor shortages, political infighting, and the Civil War.

Sunday, February 19, 2017

Famous Allegheny - Big Names from a Small School

Bentley Hall, Allegheny College

Nestled away at the top of the hill overlooking Meadville, Pennsylvania is Allegheny College which holds the title of 32nd oldest in the United States, having just celebrated it’s 200th birthday in 2015. The college came into being when Timothy Alden, a Harvard graduate, traveled to Meadville with hopes of founding an institution of higher education. He, along with other gentlemen of the town, took on the momentous effort of securing the school’s first trustees and petitioning the state for a charter for their institution. Alden would become the first president, as well as professor of Oriental Languages and Ecclesiastical History. The first freshman class was admitted on July 4, 1816, although at this point the college only really existed in name, as there was no set building for another four years.  Bentley Hall, the school’s oldest and most iconic building, was not built until 1820. By this time, a number of major contributions had been made to the school allowing the project to be possible, including a generous land grant by Samuel Lord Esq. (part of the original estate connected to the Baldwin-Reynolds House Museum). From these humble beginnings came a school that soon flourished and served to educate a number famous faces from the last two centuries.

Sunday, January 22, 2017

Healing and Luxury: A History of the Saegertown Inn

Front view of the Saegertown Inn with French Creek along left side.
With the overwhelming interest in photographs of the Saegertown Inn recently posted on the Crawford County Historical Society's social media pages, what better time to "get away from it all" for a while and discuss the history of this grand hotel and vacation venue.

Saturday, January 14, 2017

Mary Jane Tryon’s Intriguing Quilt

Mary Jane Tryon
Somewhere in the 1840's, Mary Jane Tryon made a quilt. As she sat piecing together the small, intricate blocks, she could never have imagined the impact her quilt would have 168 years later.

Mary Jane Tryon married late in life, she was 27. She married Warner Waid, had two little girls and was dead by 36. She rests peacefully in the Waid family plot in the little cemetery in Tryonville. Her husband lived another nine years, leaving their two daughters, Christina and Alice, to be raised by maiden aunts. While this is an interesting bit of family history, our tale doesn't start here. It does not begin until 2008.

Meadville is a quaint town nestled among the rolling hills of Pennsylvania. Like most of Pennsylvania, it has long historical roots that date back to early settlements in the 1700's. The Crawford County Historical Society takes an active role in the community, part of which is preserving and protecting one of its most valuable assets, the Baldwin Reynolds House Museum. This three-story, 23 room mansion was built in 1843 by US Supreme Court Justice, Henry Baldwin. Our story starts in a closet within this stately home.


Sunday, August 7, 2016

Shadows of the Past

On December 7, 2015, the Crawford County Historical Society took ownership of the James and Elizabeth Tarr Mansion, thus saving it from planned demolition. In that moment, thanks largely to the support of the community, the society took a major step towards both preserving our past and building a new future.

This gorgeous Italianate building, designed by Francis Marion Ellis and paid for with the Tarr Family's $2 million (over $35 million today) in revenue from the Oil Boom, was a testament to oil's influence in our region and the nation as a whole. The Tarrs were one of our country's first oil barons and their home of over 12,000 square feet will stand the test of time to become the self-sustaining Crawford County Historical Society's headquarters and history center!

Sunday, June 19, 2016

Samuel and Alic Thurston: Ballooning Daredevils


As colorful balloons fill the skies over Crawford County for the annual Thurston Classic, it’s always a worthwhile venture to dig into the histories of father and son, Samuel and Alic (sometimes Alex) Thurston, the area’s early balloonists for which the event pays homage to. Many are familiar with a handful of harrowing stories about their aerial exploits, but a fuller history of the two demonstrates a level of fearlessness reserved only for true daredevils.

Saturday, June 11, 2016

Two Fires: Demise of the Cullum House

When fire damaged the three-story apartment house at 390 Liberty Street in January of 2014, many were surprised to learn it was nearly 200 years old and had survived a similar fire 70 years ago.

The original one-story brick Meadville Academy building was constructed on the lot and opened in 1805. It was replaced by a frame building at the southeast corner along Clinton Court, the present location of the former St. Brigid school. The second building was outgrown as well so anew Academy was built on Market Street in 1826. The Cullum family bought the lot from the trustees of the Academy in 1824 and built this mansion in 1828.

Sunday, May 29, 2016

Crawford County Native Won the First Indy 500

Ray Harroun 1879-1968
The winner of the first Indianapolis 500, Ray Harroun was born on January 12, 1879 in Spartansburg, Pennsylvania in northern Crawford County. Harroun was the youngest of Russell and Lucy Harroun’s four children, and as he grew up, it was clear Harroun had no use for school work. Eventually he dropped out early, but despite the lack of a formal education, Ray demonstrated a natural understanding of cars and engineering, later earning the nickname, “Little Professor” for his work in designing race cars and his almost scientific approach to racing strategy.

Racing Career

Harroun’s interest in automobiles lead to his early career in racing, and by 1905, he had built his first racing car. Among his initial races, Harroun participated in the original distance race from Chicago to New York in 1903, during which Ray and four others drove in shifts non-stop to establish the record of 76 hours at the end of September, 1903. That time was bested by another team nearly a year later, but Harroun and his team would re-take the title again with a time of 58 hrs, 35 min—a record that would stand for nearly two years.

Sunday, May 15, 2016

The Story of James Densmore and the First Typewriter

James Densmore
As you string out words into strings of sentences across the screen of your computer, tablet, or mobile phone, know that the keyboard layout we have all become so familiar was conceived in Crawford County. The story behind this claim begins with a man named James Densmore and the invention of the first typewriter.  

James was one of seven children who arrived in Meadville when their father, Joel, moved the family from Rochester, New York in 1836 to open a water-powered plant for making wooden bowls. Despite having less than a year of formal schooling, Joel had educated himself so well that he engineered the machinery needed for his plant and could even accurately predict the various eclipses that occurred in the area. It was this grasp of mathematics and mechanics that Joel  would pass along to James and his brothers.

Saturday, April 16, 2016

The Curious of Life of Phil Miller and his Friend Mark Twain

1865 map showing the site off Miller's home
Of the names associated with the history of Conneaut Lake, none carries the intrigue of Phil Miller. Philip W. Miller was a boat builder and expert outdoorsman with contradictory love for public oratory and quiet eccentricity. The facts surrounding Miller are as hazy as the morning mist rising above the waters of the lake he would become synonymous with. Even his arrival in the newly incorporated town of Evansburg in the 1850’s is clouded with vagaries and rumors. Some claimed he showed up with his wife Annie, along with a Negro man, and another woman. Wilder tales have Miller appearing in prison garb, on the run from the law for killing a man.

Whatever the case, Miller, we do know, took up residence along the west side of the lake on Hotchkiss Island, a piece of high ground cut off from the mainland by the dammed up waters feeding the Beaver and Erie Canal system. Once here, he soon ingratiated himself into the community becoming a member of the congregation at the Methodist church which he and Annie attended regularly.

Sunday, April 3, 2016

The Meadville Mutuals: Baseball Champions of 1875

Meadville Mutuals Team Photo

Opening day of the 2016 Baseball season is upon us yet again which among other things, presents the opportunity to highlight the area's curious place as part of America's pastime.  Like many towns of the day, organized baseball first started to be played in the area sometime during the 1860's. The sport's growing popularity led to the organization of semi-pro clubs in rural and urban communities across the Eastern and Midwest parts of the country. Crawford County followed the trend with the formation of the Meadville Mutuals in 1871. Other area teams would follow in the decades to come--the "Meadvilles" of the 1880's who eventually entered the Oil, and NYPANO Leagues of the 1890's followed by competition in the Erie Railroad of the 1900's. Allegheny College fielded its first team in 1881, competing against the Mutuals in addition to the Keystones, Meadville Stars, and Meadville Grays. Moving into the new century, teams were built from the employees local companies, such as the Spirella-Pullmans who dominated regional play throughout the tri-state area from 1909 to 1913, and the Meadville Machinery Company Nine who were the main draw of the 1920's.