James Still (doctor)

James Still (April 9, 1812 – March 9, 1882) was an African-American physician, herbalist, and author. He was known as "The Black Doctor of the Pines", referring to the New Jersey Pine Barrens region. His parents were slaves and he was born into poverty, yet with a minimum of formal education and much hard work and self-education, Still became a successful and much-respected doctor in the southern New Jersey and Philadelphia areas. He chronicled his life in an autobiography, ''Early Recollections and Life of Dr. James Still'', printed by J.B. Lippincott and Co. in 1877.

Early life

Still was one of 18 children of Levin and Sidney Steel, who were born into slavery in Maryland. Levin purchased his freedom in 1798 and relocated to New Jersey. Sidney escaped from bondage around 1805 and was reunited with Levin. To avoid capture, Sidney's name was changed to Charity, and the family name was modified to Still.Dr. James Still Historic Office Site and Education Center website
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James Still was born in 1812 in Washington Township, Burlington County, New Jersey.''Early Recollections and Life of Dr. James Still'', J.B. Lippincott and Co., 1877. Still's parents were religious, and their spiritual guidance remained with Still his entire life. "My mother was a stanch icMethodist," he wrote, "but my father was not, although a great reader of the Scriptures and a believer in them." Because of prevailing racial restrictions of the era, and because his physical labor was necessary to help his impoverished family survive, Still spent little time attending school. During his early teens he was hired out to local residents as a day laborer, "chopping wood, making charcoal, picking berries and 'grubbing'—digging up roots and trees to clear land."

At the age of 21, he went to work for a glue factory in Philadelphia owned by Charles Cummings; Still's pay was ten dollars per month plus board. He was such a diligent employee that Cummings gave him periodic wage increases as well as greater responsibilities in the factory.

Medical practice

When he was around three years of age, Still and his siblings were vaccinated by a local doctor. "From that moment," he later wrote, "I was inspired with a desire to become a doctor. It took deep root in me, so deep that all the drought or poverty or lack of education could not destroy the desire." However, as an African-American, he was refused admittance to medical school. As he matured, Still "studied the healing powers of herbs and plants, and developed medical practices based on his own observations. In some areas, such as the treatment of burns and syphilis (then treated with mercury) he was more progressive than his formally-trained colleagues."Cohen, Sam
James Still bio
''Blackipedia'', August 29, 2021.

Still married Angelina Willow in 1836, and they had a daughter, Beulah, born that same year. For $100, Still purchased a plot of brush land near the town of Cross-Roads. Angelina died of tuberculosis in August 1838. One year later, Still married Henrietta Thomas of Vincenttown. Three days after their marriage, Still's daughter Beulah died. James and Henrietta eventually had seven children of their own.

In 1843, Still purchased a distilling device from William Jones of Mt. Holly, and from Jones learned the process of extracting oils from roots and herbs, particularly sassafras and peppermint. He began earning a modest income by regularly selling his homemade oils, tinctures, and essences to Philadelphia druggists Charles and William Ellis.

On one trip to Philadelphia, Still purchased a book on medical botany from Dr. Thomas Cook. He became so fascinated by the subject that he returned to Dr. Cook's shop two weeks later to purchase a second volume, which he said gave "instructions for making pills, powders, tinctures, salves, and liniments." Thereafter Still "began practicing medicine somewhat by accident, agreeing to treat a sick man in exchange for some sassafras. Slowly, he found that he was distilling less and healing more. About 1845, Dr. Still stopped distilling and focused entirely on his medical practice."

Still's popularity and effectiveness as a self-educated physician aroused the envy and resentment of many formally educated medical practitioners. "They laughed," wrote New Jersey historian Henry Charlton Beck, "as tillwent along in his rough arriage a cigar-box his medicine chest. Then they laughed no longer but took measures to have his business stopped. He was practicing, they said, without a license. But tillhad been careful, accepting only what people thought they ought to give him. There had been no fixed rates. Just the same these other doctors said they had grounds for a protest. Still consulted an attorney and found he could circumvent the law by charging merely for 'delivery of medicine'."Beck, Henry Charlton, ''Forgotten Towns of Southern New Jersey'', E.P. Dutton, 1936; reprinted Rutgers University Press, 1961

Still disdained many then-popular medical treatments, including the use of mercury and calomel. He exclusively used preparations made from roots, herbs, and vegetables. "It seems to me that vegetable medicine is all that is needed for the restoration of health," he wrote, "the voice of the medical faculty to the contrary notwithstanding." His various remedies (internal and external), as chronicled in his book, included soda water, lye, catnip tea, vinegar, salts, ipecac, saffron, camphor, Virginia snakeroot, opium, bloodroot, cream of tartar, cloves, comfrey root, horehound tops, skunk cabbage, jalap root, tincture of lobelia, and more.

Still lived a frugal life, and saved his earnings. He did not drink, gamble, or carouse, and discouraged these behaviors in others. With his money he continued to buy available properties in Medford, New Jersey

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