Finding Aid of the Dr. Samuel Jordan Wheeler Notebooks, 1832 - 1879, PC.1075
Abstract
Dr. Samuel Jordan Wheeler (1810-1879) was educated at Hertford Academy; graduated
from Union College, Schenectady, N. Y.; studied medicine with Dr. Nathan Chapman,
first president of the American Medical Association. He married Lucinda Bond, daughter
of Lewis Bond, state legislator from Bertie County. A Baptist active in the Chowan
Association, he practiced medicine, farmed, and taught at the Chowan Baptist Female
Institute. Dr. Wheeler owned and edited , 1858-1859 and served with the mounted on picket duty, 1862-1864.
Includes a medical day book of 145 pages and a diary. The day book contains the accounts
of his patients in intermittent years between 1834-1870 and the accounts of boarders,
someof whom were young ladies attending the Chowan Baptist Female Institute [Chowan
College] in Murfreesboro, 1849-1855. The diary of 1879, written on the back of weekly
weather chronicles of the War Department is essentially a day by day account of the
slow dying of Dr. Wheeler at in Bertie County.
Descriptive Summary
- Title
- Dr. Samuel Jordan Wheeler Notebooks
- Call Number
- PC.1075
- Creator
- Wheeler, Dr. Samuel Jordan
- Date
- 1832 - 1879
- Extent
- 2.00 items
- Language
- English
- Repository
- State Archives of North Carolina
Restrictions on Access & Use
Access Restrictions
Available for research.
Use Restrictions
Copyright is retained by the authors of these materials, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law (Title 17 US Code). Individual researchers are responsible for using these materials in conformance with copyright law as well as any donor restrictions accompanying the materials.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], PC.1075, Dr. Samuel Jordan Wheeler Notebooks, State Archives of North Carolina, Raleigh, NC, USA.
Collection Overview
The of 145 pages contains the accounts of his patients in intermittent years between 1834-1870 and the accounts of boarders, some of whom were young ladies attending the Chowan Baptist Female Institute [Chowan College] in Murfreesboro, 1849-1855. There are separate indexes for these two accounts. The patients' accounts list visits, treatment, medicines, charges, etc. Among the fifty-two names of the boarders are those of the school's second and third presidents, (1849-1854) and (1854-1862).
Miscellaneous entries include poems; accounts with druggists (including a long list of medical supplies purchased in Philadelphia, 1832-1833), general stores, and hired labor; observations on tanning; and recipes for biscuits, cheese, and a cough mixture.
The of 1879, written on the back of weekly weather chronicles of the War Department is
essentially a day by day account of the slow dying of Dr. Wheeler at in Bertie County. The entries record the efforts of his wife and servants to maintain
the house and vegetable garden, the visits of friends and neighbors, the kindness
of his children, his reading (the and ), his activities (mending shoes, a case knife, a plough bridle), his letter writing
(to his brother John H. Wheeler and his brother-in-law Godwin C. Moore). With clinical
detachment he records the progress of his deterioration and the heavy sedation required.
The last entry is August 22, sixteen days before his death.
A Wheeler family genealogical chart, beginning with John Wheeler is included with
the paper finding aid in the Search Room finding aid, State Archives of North Carolina.
Biographical Note
Contents of the Collection
Subject Headings
Acquisitions Information
From Biennial Reports, 1932-1934, medical day book, 1834-1872, and diary, 1879, of Dr. S. J. Wheeler, presented by his grandson, Samuel Wheeler Worthington, Wilson, N.C.