Elisha Cullen Dick,
M.D.
Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a professional degree. T ...
(March 15, 1762 – September 22, 1825) was a
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
physician and political figure. He was the attending physician at
George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...
's death. Dr. Dick at times represented
Fairfax County
Fairfax County, officially the County of Fairfax, is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is part of Northern Virginia and borders both the city of Alexandria and Arlington County and forms part of the suburban ring of Washington, D.C. ...
in the
Virginia House of Delegates
The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two parts of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-numbe ...
and served as
mayor
In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...
of
Alexandria
Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...
D.C.
Family
His father, Archibald Dick (b. 1715
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
– 1782), became a Major in the Revolutionary army, under Assistant Quartermaster General Frazer. His mother was Mary Barnard and he had a brother, Thomas Barnard Dick.
After graduating from medical school in Philadelphia, as described below, Elisha Dick married Hannah Harmon (1763–1843), the daughter of Jacob and Sarah Harmon of Marcus Hook, Chester County, Pennsylvania, reported to have been
Quakers
Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abil ...
. They a son Archibald B., and a daughter Julia, Archibald married Sarah S. Hamersley (d. 1848). Julia married Gideon Pearce, and they had two children,
James Alfred Pearce
James Alfred Pearce (December 14, 1805December 20, 1862) was an American politician. He was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, representing the second district of Maryland from 1835 to 1839 and 1841 to 1843. He later served as a ...
(1805–1862), and Ann Ophelia (1807–1866), who married Dabney M. Wharton.
Life
![408dukest](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/408dukest.jpg)
Elisha Dick studied with
Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Rush (April 19, 1813) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father of the United States who signed the United States Declaration of Independence, and a civic leader in Philadelphia, where he was a physician, politician, ...
, and
William Shippen, and graduated from the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
School of Medicine in 1782.
Dr. Dick sold his half of his father's legacy,
''Marcus Hook'' property for £985, to Isaac Dutton on April 29, 1783.
Not long after their October 1793 marriage, Dr. Dick and his wife settled in Alexandria, where he took over the practice of the ailing Dr. William Rumney. Thomas Semmes read medicine with him. In 1794, he commanded a cavalry company during the
Whiskey Rebellion
The Whiskey Rebellion (also known as the Whiskey Insurrection) was a violent tax protest in the United States beginning in 1791 and ending in 1794 during the presidency of George Washington. The so-called "whiskey tax" was the first tax impo ...
. On July 24, 1794, he was among the founders of the
Alexandria Library Company.
He lived at 408 Duke Street in Alexandria, which he bought from Elizabeth Muir Donaldson for £2,169. On June 8, 1796, he insured the home, with the Mutual Assurance Society. The house was brick, 32 by , and one story high; the house stood between his vacant ground on the east and the west. Outbuildings consisted of a wood kitchen, a wood stable, and a brick smokehouse, the whole valued at $3,700. He used a trust on the home for loans totaling $6,082.
Dick is known to have been an amateur painter as well as a physician. A portrait by him of George Washington, dating to around 1800 and possibly after an original by
James Sharples
James Sharples (1751 or 1752, in Lancashire – 26 February 1811, in New York City) was an English portrait painter and pastelist, who moved to the United States in 1794. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1779.
Life
James was firs ...
, is owned by the
Mount Vernon Ladies' Association
The Mount Vernon Ladies' Association (MVLA) is a non-profit organization that preserves and maintains the Mount Vernon estate originally owned by the family of President George Washington. The association was founded in 1853 by Ann Pamela Cunni ...
.
Political career
When Samuell Arell died, Fairfax County voters elected Dr. Dick replaced him for the rest of his term in the Virginia House of Delegates in 1794, and he served alongside fellow Alexandrian and former attorney for President Washington
Charles Lee, since both also owned property in Fairfax County south of Alexandria (then in the District of Columbia).
Dr. Dick became Superintendent of
yellow fever
Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. In ...
Quarantine at Alexandria, and corresponded with
Governor James Wood, on October 10, 1798.
He was appointed to the
Republican Party Committee of Correspondence, in Virginia 1800, along with Roger West, Francis Peyton, Thompson Mason, and Walter Jones, Jr, and he escorted
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...
to an election celebration at
Gadsby's Tavern
Gadsby's Tavern is a complex of historic buildings at 134 and 138 North Royal Street at the corner of Cameron Street in the Old Town district of Alexandria, Virginia. The complex includes a c.1785 tavern, the 1792 City Tavern and Hotel, and an 1 ...
, at March 1801. In 1804 Charles Lee was elected as mayor of Alexandria, then in the District of Columbia, but refused to serve, so Elisha C. Dick was selected instead.
In the wake of
Gabriel's Rebellion, Elisha C. Dick said abolition societies tended to produce "the most serious calamities." Writing to Governor
James Monroe
James Monroe ( ; April 28, 1758July 4, 1831) was an American statesman, lawyer, diplomat, and Founding Father who served as the fifth president of the United States from 1817 to 1825. A member of the Democratic-Republican Party, Monroe was ...
, Dick called for:
immediate legislative measures ... to restrain if not entirely suppress the schools supported by ntislavery advocates, whoare constantly inculcating natural equality among the blacks of every description they are teaching them with great assiduity the only means by which they can at any time be enabled to concert and execute a plan of general insurrection.
At the time of the
District of Columbia Organic Act of 1801
The District of Columbia Organic Act of 1801, officially An Act Concerning the District of Columbia (6th Congress, 2nd Sess., ch. 15, , February 27, 1801), is an organic act enacted by the United States Congress in accordance with Article 1, Sec ...
, he was chairman of a local committee, petitioning the Congress about local government of the District of Columbia.
![Elisha Cullen Dick house at 211 Prince St](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Elisha_Cullen_Dick_house_at_211_Prince_St.jpg)
Elisha Dick was a fine doctor, but also speculated in real estate. In 1801, he went bankrupt and lost his home at Duke Street in Alexandria. He then rented a house at 211 Prince Street from the widow Mary Harper. Despite his financial woes, voters considered him a worthy citizen, and he became justice of the peace and coroner in 1802.
From 1804 to 1805, he was Mayor of Alexandria, D.C., (now Va.) In 1804, he wrote the speaker of the
House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
, opposing
retrocession.
On April 10, 1807, along with
Cuthbert Powell, he was appointed Magistrate of the Alexandria Court by the Mayor of Alexandria, Jonah Thompson.
Ferdinando Fairfax left him $1,000, and his son Archibald $500, in his will.
Although raised as an Anglican, he joined the Society of Friends, Alexandria Meeting on February 20, 1812. Following Quaker precepts, he manumitted a slave.
In 1814, he was among the Alexandria delegation to
Admiral Cockburn, after the
Burning of Washington
The Burning of Washington was a British invasion of Washington City (now Washington, D.C.), the capital of the United States, during the Chesapeake Campaign of the War of 1812. It is the only time since the American Revolutionary War that a ...
, during the
War of 1812
The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...
.
''Cottage Farm''
Dick retired to ''Cottage Farm'', on the Columbia Turnpike (now Lincolnia Road
Route 613), west of Alexandria, along the
Little River Turnpike
State Route 236 (SR 236) is a primary state highway in the U.S. state of Virginia. The state highway runs from U.S. Route 29 and US 50 in Fairfax east to SR 400 in Alexandria. SR 236 is a major suburban arterial highway that connects the inde ...
. In 1814, he bought for $1.26 per acre from Thomas Summers; in 1817, he bought 90 acres for $1.26 per acre from Thomas Wilson. In 1820, the tax rolls show he had 80 acres (cleared) worth $20 per acre, and a house worth $2,060. The house was torn down in 1952.
Death
In July 1825 he resigned from the Quakers. There had been some controversy regarding his non-attendance at Meeting. At this time he was living at Cottage Farm and perhaps too ill—just two months before his death—to travel to town.
Elisha Cullen Dick died September 22, 1825, at his property ''Cottage Farm''. His casket was placed on a funeral wagon and carried to Alexandria, where he was buried in an unmarked grave in the Friends Burying Ground on Queen Street. A plaque to him remains at the site, now the Barrett branch of the Alexandria Library.
His inventory of medical paraphernalia was 9 pages long, and brought $461.51 at auction January 13, 1826.
Works
* "Nursing and Lying in of Women, with some remarks concerning the treatment of newborn infants", ''Alexandria Gazette'', February 28, 1798
* "Yellow Fever at Alexandria", ''New York Medical Repository'', Vol. i, 1803
* "Facts and Observations about the Disease Cynanche Trachealis, or Croup", ''Philadelphia Medical and Physical Journal'', Vol. iii, p. 242, 1808
Masonic membership
He was a
Mason
Mason may refer to:
Occupations
* Mason, brick mason, or bricklayer, a craftsman who lays bricks to construct brickwork, or who lays any combination of stones, bricks, cinder blocks, or similar pieces
* Stone mason, a craftsman in the stone-cut ...
, having been entered, passed and raised in Lodge No. 2 in Philadelphia and was a founding member of the
Alexandria lodge. In 1789, Dick succeeded General Washington, as Worshipful Master of the Masonic Lodge No. 22, and as such laid the cornerstone of the District of Columbia, at Jones Point in Alexandria, in 1791. With his Lodge as Escort of Honor, he accompanied General Washington, and assisted in laying the cornerstone of the National
Capitol
A capitol, named after the Capitoline Hill in Rome, is usually a legislative building where a legislature meets and makes laws for its respective political entity.
Specific capitols include:
* United States Capitol in Washington, D.C.
* Numerous ...
in 1793. His duelling pistols are on display in the archives of the
George Washington Masonic National Memorial
The George Washington Masonic National Memorial is a Masonic building and memorial located in Alexandria, Virginia, outside Washington, D.C. It is dedicated to the memory of George Washington, the first President of the United States and a Mason ...
in Alexandria.
Dinner invitation
A celebrated dinner invitation written in rhyme by Dr. Elisha Cullen Dick:
If you can eat a good fat duck
Come up with us and take pot luck,
Of whitebacks we have got a pair
So plump, so round, so fat, & fair
A London Alderman would fight
Through pies and tarts to get one bite.
Moreover, we have beef or pork
That you may use your knife and fork.
Come up precisely at two o’clock
The door shall open at your knock.
The day tho’ wet, the streets tho’ muddy
To keep out the cold we'll have some toddy.
And if, perchance, you should get sick,
You'll have at hand
Yours
E. C. Dick
This unusual missive was addressed to Philip Wanton, Dr. Dick's good friend, who lived at 216 Prince Street. The original invitation turned up some years ago in a treasure trunk in an old Alexandria attic. It is now on exhibit in the museum of the
Stabler-Leadbeater Apothecary Shop
The Stabler-Leadbeater Apothecary Shop/Museum is a historic apothecary's shop in Alexandria, Virginia, that has been preserved as a museum. During its working life, it was owned by generations of a Quaker family. Eventually, a dramatic decline ...
.
Washington's death
On December 12, 1799,
George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...
spent several hours inspecting his farms on horseback, in snow and later hail and freezing rain. He sat down to dine that evening without changing his wet clothes. The next morning, he awoke with a bad cold, fever, and a throat infection called
quinsy that turned into acute
laryngitis
Laryngitis is inflammation of the larynx (voice box). Symptoms often include a hoarse voice and may include fever, cough, pain in the front of the neck, and trouble swallowing. Typically, these last under two weeks.
Laryngitis is categorised ...
and
pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...
. Washington died on the evening of December 14, 1799, at his home aged 67, while attended by Dr.
James Craik
James Craik (; 17276 February 1814) was Physician General (precursor of the Surgeon General) of the United States Army, as well as George Washington's personal physician and close friend.
Biography Education and emigration to America
Born on ...
, one of his closest friends, and
Tobias Lear V
Tobias Lear (September 19, 1762 – October 11, 1816) was the personal secretary to President George Washington. Lear served Washington from 1784 until the former-President's death in 1799. Lear's journal details Washington's final moments and his ...
, Washington's personal secretary. Lear would record the account in his journal, writing that Washington's last words were "''
'Tis well.''"
Discovering the case to be highly alarming, and foreseeing the fatal tendency of the disease, two consulting physicians were immediately sent for, Elisha Dick who arrived, at half after three, and
Gustavus Richard Brown, at four o'clock in the afternoon: in the meantime were employed two pretty copious bleedings, a blister was applied to the part affected, two moderate doses of calomel were administered, which operated on the lower intestines, but all without any perceptible advantage, the respiration becoming still more difficult and distressing. Upon the arrival of the first of the consulting physicians, it was agreed, as there were yet no signs of accumulation in the bronchial vessels of the lungs, to try the result of another bleeding, when about thirty-two ounces of blood were drawn, without the smallest apparent alleviation of the disease. Vapours of vinegar and water were frequently inhaled, ten grains of calomel were given, succeeded by repeated doses of
emetic tartar, amounting in all to five or six grains, with no other effect than a copious discharge from the bowels.
I pronounced decisively that death was inevitable, unless it could be arrested by the operation of tracheotomy, to which I strenuously recommended an immediate resort, as the only expedient that could possibly preserve the life of a man, whose loss every virtuous man in the community would deplore. " (Then Dr Dick goes on to discuss the unfavorable opinion of Drs. Craik and Brown.) "I know not what might have been the result and it would be presumption to pronounce upon it; but I shall never cease to regret that the operation was not performed."
Dr. Gustavus Brown later wrote to Dr. James Craik, January 21, 1800:
Sir:
I have lately met Dr. Dick again in consultation and high opinion that I formed of him when we were in conference last month, concerning the situation Of our Illustrious friend, has been confirmed. You remember how, by his clear reasoning and evident knowledge of the cause of certain symptoms after the examination of the General, he assured us that it was not really quinsy, which we supposed it to be, but a violent inflammation of the membranes of the throat, which it had almost closed, and which if not immediately arrested would result in his death. You must remember he was averse to bleeding the General, and I have often thought that if we had acted accordingly to his suggestion, when he said, "he needs all his strength - bleeding will diminish it", and taken no more blood from him, our good friend might have been alive now. But we were governed by the best light we had: we thought we were right, and so we were justified.''The Medical History of the Father of our Country - General George Washington'', David R. Curfman, M.S., A, Founders and patriots of America
/ref>
References
External links
NYPL digital library"Portraits by St. Memin at the Corcoran Art Gallery", ''Virginia Magazine of History and Biography'', Virginia historical society, 1896Alexandria 1790 Tax ListAlexandria 1800 Tax List
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dick, Elisha C.
Physicians in the American Revolution
1762 births
1825 deaths
People from Chester County, Pennsylvania
Virginia colonial people
Mayors of Alexandria, Virginia
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania alumni
Physicians from Virginia
American Freemasons
Burials in Virginia