Siméon

1805 · réf. 59752 — Waitsfield Vermont 1805. Narrow tall folio approx. 15½" x 6¾" 112 pp. in ink five separately sewn signatures; a few pages loose some pages darkened or chipped at edges; some entries faint. This account book is the record of the practice of either Stephen Pierce or Simeon Stoddard practicing in Waitsfield Vermont between 1795 and 1806. These were the second and third physicians to have settled and practiced in Waitsfield. Most likely it is the record of Pierce who is supposed to have settled in Waitsfield in 1795. The first physician in Waitsfield Moses Heaton remained there only between 1793 and 1796. Depending on the source Pierce was the third physician to practice in Waitsfield and/or the first to practice in Moretown a settlement to the northeast of Waitsfield. He farmed as well as doctored and his farm lay mostly in Moretown his office in Waitsfield. He was a respected and successful physician who served the community in other capacities: as selectman representative delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1814 and Assistant Judge of the County Court. One source claims that he succeeded Judge Kinne December 1 1814 and served one year and that he was a justice of the peace in Waitsfield. He died either in 1854 after living in Waterbury and Berlin Vermont or he died in Barnard in 1864. See: History of the Town of Waitsfield Vermont 1782-1908 by Matt Bushnell Jones Boston 1909 p. 182. Simeon Stoddard on the other hand was born December 12 1761 either in Saybrook Connecticut or in Waitsfield. On August 19 1784 he married Abiah Thompson who had been born in 1763 in Waitsfield. Some sources state that he moved to Waitsfield from Saybrook in 1794. He served the southwestern area of Waitsfield and died in 1841. This account book records each date of visit the householder's name the relationship of patient to householder the medicine prescribed and its price and the cost of the doctor's visit. The doctor whether it be Stoddard or Pierce treated thirty to forty patients each month and as many as fifty-six in December of 1801. He charged as little as 4 pence and as much as 42 shillings 10 pence for his services. As a comparison the tax on an acre of land in Waitsfield was 2 pence an acre. The poll tax list of 1795 showed fifty voters so the doctor seems to have treated the members of nearly every family. The diseases treated are not stated in the entries made but he seems to have prescribed antimonium tartaricum in many instances and also digitalis. Waitsfield was founded by Col. Benjamin Wait or Waite and others who were granted a charter on February 25 1782. Wait had served under Gen. Jeffery Amherst in the French and Indian Wars and had fought in the Revolutionary War. Both Waitsfield and Moretown are now somewhat renowned as the areas around Mad River a popular ski resort. Mad River has been remarkable from the settling of the area as the source of numerous sudden destructive and deadly floods. The Green Mountains the northern extent of the Appalachians rise just to the west of the town. The doctor records having treated members of the Wait family including Benjamin's wife Martha d. April 3 1804 Ezra Thomas and Gilbert. The family names of the community are listed making this a good source for early settlement history and genealogical research. Among the householders who required the doctor's services are Smolly Skinner Taylor Spalding Hitchcock Parkhurst Carpenter the family had a tannery and potash works Heaton Burdick Johnson Rider Fuller Symonds McNight Chamberlain Atherton Lyon Butterfield Barnave Osgood Foster Hobson Robinson Brun Latimer and Sherman. Many of the names appear often. unknown books