John Henry Pinkard
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John Henry Pinkard (1865 – January 8, 1934) was a businessman, banker, and herb doctor in
Roanoke, Virginia Roanoke ( ) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 100,011, making it the 8th most populous city in the Commonwealth of Virginia and the largest city in Virginia west of Richmond. It is lo ...
. He was also known as a
spiritualist Spiritualism is the metaphysical school of thought opposing physicalism and also is the category of all spiritual beliefs/views (in monism and dualism) from ancient to modern. In the long nineteenth century The ''long nineteenth century'' i ...
and
clairvoyant Clairvoyance (; ) is the magical ability to gain information about an object, person, location, or physical event through extrasensory perception. Any person who is claimed to have such ability is said to be a clairvoyant () ("one who sees cl ...
.Margaret Claytor Woodbury and Ruth Claytor Marsh. Virginia kaleidoscope: the Claytor family of Roanoke, and some of its kinships, from first families of Virginia and their former slaves. M.C. Woodbury, 1994. Page 408. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/34546014 Other people considered him a practitioner of
quackery Quackery, often synonymous with health fraud, is the promotion of fraudulent or ignorant medical practices. A quack is a "fraudulent or ignorant pretender to medical skill" or "a person who pretends, professionally or publicly, to have skill, ...
and a
charlatan A charlatan (also called a swindler or mountebank) is a person practicing quackery or a similar confidence trick in order to obtain money, power, fame, or other advantages through false pretenses, pretense or deception. Synonyms for ''charlatan ...
.


Biography

Pinkard was born in
Franklin County, Virginia Franklin County is located in the Blue Ridge foothills of the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 54,477. Its county seat is Rocky Mount. Franklin County is part of the Roanoke Metropolitan Statistical Area ...
during the last year of the Civil War. "Pinkard claimed to have been born on October 5, 1866, just after Emancipation. But US Census records suggest the herbalist and land developer was born during the Civil War."Moxley, Tonia. 2018. "John H. Pinkard, Doctor and Entrepreneur: Medical Mystery.
Discover: History & Heritage
February 2018. Pages 78-87.
Because of his family's poverty in rural Virginia during the Reconstruction, he quit school at the age of eleven to earn money for his family. By the age of fifteen, he was a supervisor of a "dirt cut" crew for the
Norfolk and Western Railroad The Norfolk and Western Railway , commonly called the N&W, was a US class I railroad, formed by more than 200 railroad mergers between 1838 and 1982. It was headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia, for most of its existence. Its motto was "Precisio ...
. Pinkard lived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, at the turn of the century, where he ran a confectionary shop. He lived in Philadelphia and perhaps other places for a while, but moved back to Roanoke where he spent the last 27 years of his life. "Pinkard, a tall man who wore a black coat, carried a gold-headed cane and rode in a Packard driven by a chauffeur, was married three times but had no children. He was heavily in debt when he died." He married his first wife, Mary Alexander of South Carolina, in 1903. She died two years later of an ailment the doctors said was incurable. He later married Hattie Saunders of
Franklin County, Virginia Franklin County is located in the Blue Ridge foothills of the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 54,477. Its county seat is Rocky Mount. Franklin County is part of the Roanoke Metropolitan Statistical Area ...
. He married her on
Halloween Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observanc ...
, 1905, when he was in his forties and she was 15 years old. Hattie subsequently divorced him five years later on charges of abandonment of family." In 1914, he married his third wife, 22-year-old Mary Joyce from
Floyd County, Virginia Floyd County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 15,476. Its county seat is the town of Floyd. Floyd County is included in the Blacksburg- Christiansburg, VA Metropolitan Statistical ...
.


Banking and real estate

Pinkard also ran three banks, mostly dealing in banking for blacks. During this period of segregation before the
Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
, it was difficult to obtain credit for black families, especially from white owned banks. Many of the banks operated for black clientele specialized in small loans, crop loans, and savings. One of these banks was the "Acorn Small Loan Company", which was licensed by the Commonwealth of Virginia in Roanoke. He evidently also ran his "Acorn" Drug store in the next building at 1018-1020 Salem Avenue. He also was the president of the Afro-American Bank on Salem Avenue in Roanoke. Pinkard also had extensive holdings in Florida real estate."John H. Pinkard Dies at Home on Rocky Mount Road." Roanoke Times. January 8, 1934. Page 20.


Medical work

Although there is no evidence he ever received medical training, he called himself "Doctor", and was locally known as a "yarb doctor," a colloquial name for "herb doctor". He was also known as a "...clairvoyant, herb doctor and spiritualist." However, he was tried in 1917 for practicing medicine without a license, but was acquitted. "Dr. Pinkard was acquitted but he faced similar legal problems on one and possibly two other occasions. The Roanoke Academy of Medicine, the professional organization of white physicians, may have been involved in instigating legal action against Dr. Pinkard in at least one case." He was able to diagnose his patient's illnesses without asking question or examination. He held a reputation as a clairvoyant as well as a physician among his thousands of black and white patients. By 1919 it was reported that he had both black and white patients in at least fifteen states, and he had sales of between $1,000.00 and $1,500.00 a week. He had a variety of potions and remedies that he prepared and sold out of his drugstore and shipped across the country. Some of the names were: "Pinkard's Hydrastic Compound" (evidently made from
goldenseal ''For the magazine from West Virginia see Goldenseal (magazine)'' Goldenseal (''Hydrastis canadensis''), also called orangeroot or yellow puccoon, is a perennial herb in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae, native to North America. It may be di ...
or ''Hydrastis canadensis''), "Pinkard's Great Liniment" and "Pinkard's Sanguinaria Compound". Some of Pinkard's
Sanguinaria ''Sanguinaria canadensis'', bloodroot, is a perennial, herbaceous flowering plant native to eastern North America. It is the only species in the genus ''Sanguinaria'', included in the poppy family Papaveraceae, and is most closely related to ' ...
Compound, made from bloodroot or bloodwort, was seized by federal officials in 1931 for violating the Food and Drug Act. He pleaded guilty and was fined $25.00. Many of his concoctions were based on slave medicine, traditional rural Virginian medical practices, and Native American herb lore.


Pinkard Court

During the 1920s, he developed "Pinkard Court", a housing area expressly for blacks in segregated Roanoke. It was based on 25 acres of land he purchased on the National Highway, about a mile outside of Roanoke. He also built and equipped the Pinkard Court Filling Station and Tourist Camp. In a retrospective, the
Roanoke Times ''The Roanoke Times'' is the primary newspaper in Southwestern Virginia and is based in Roanoke, Virginia, United States. It is published by Lee Enterprises. In addition to its headquarters in Roanoke, it maintains a bureau in Christiansburg, ...
published a black and white photo by staff photographer Wayne Scarberry on September 12, 2017, showing a section of Pinkard Court. The caption reads: "Resident Dennis Phelps walks along the unpaved surface of Pinkard Avenue in the Pinkard Court development on March 6, 1984." Pinkard Court School was a one level circular building built for blacks. When segregation was no longer lawful, it was converted to a special needs school for the county. Near the entrance to Pinkard's Court, he built his own home. In 1972, many years after his death, the home was sold to White House Galleries. Many people claimed the house was haunted by the patients the doctor had treated unsuccessfully. Although there has never been any evidence, local lore says he had buried the dead patients in his basement. Pinkard had built a fence out of the ceramic jugs that had once held his potions, and when the wind blew over the mouths of these jugs, the erie wailing sounds scared neighbor children, and some adults. Other people reported seeing figures suddenly appear in the gallery and then who would disappear suddenly. The Pinkard house was demolished in 1999."Doc Still Tending His Court?" Miller, Suzanne
Discover: History & Heritage
2016. Pages 88-89.


Death and burial

He died of tuberculosis (however, his death certificate indicates he died of liver cancer) in 1934, and is buried in an unmarked grave at the Byrdview Cemetery in Franklin County, Virginia. He was a lifelong member of the Bethel AME church in
Rocky Mount, Virginia Rocky Mount is a town in and the county seat of Franklin County, Virginia, United States. The town is part of the Roanoke Metropolitan Statistical Area, and had a population of 4,903 as of the 2020 census. It is located in the Roanoke Region of ...
.


References


Bibliography

* Blankenship, Michael E. Dr. John Henry Pinkard: African American Legend of Franklin County and the Roanoke Valley. Rocky Mount, Virginia: Franklin County Historical Society, 2015. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/922012345 * Blankenship, Michael E. 2006. "John Henry Pinkard and the African-American Banks of Roanoke". Journal of the History Museum and Historical Society of Western Virginia. 16, no. 2: 46-50. Notes: Roanoke’s legendary herbal doctor, John Henry Pinkard, left some 50 business journals, revealing his role in founding the Afro-American Bank on August 1, 1921. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/862976376 * Blankenship, Michael. Dr. John Henry Pinkard: African American Legend of the Roanoke Valley : an Exhibit Honoring the Life and Career of Dr. Pinkard. Roanoke, VA: Harrison Museum of African American Culture, 2006. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/465226413 * Dew, W. D., and Andrew J. Oliver. Biographical Sketch of the Life, Work and Medical Skill of Dr. John Henry Pinkard, Roanoke, Virginia. oanoke, Va. ublisher not identified 1920. by W.D. Dew, D.D., Ph. D and Andrew J. Oliver, Attorney at Law. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/26297364 * "Dr. John Henry Pinkard." Roanoke Times. Discover History & Heritage: Exploring the People and Places of Southwest Virginia. 2015. Issue 3 originally published with the copyrighted February 25, 2016 edition of The Roanoke Times. Page 57. * Jones, G. Robert. Dr. John H. Pinkard: A Negro Medical Genius. Suffolk, Va: The Stone Printing and MFG. Co, 1920. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/83164243 * "John H. Pinkard Dies at Home on Rocky Mount Road." Roanoke Times. January 8, 1934. Page 20. Obituary.
"Recalling the Yarb Doctor"
By Kevin Kittredge. Roanoke Times. July 18, 2006. {{DEFAULTSORT:Pinkard, John Henry 1865 births 1934 deaths African-American bankers African-American businesspeople African-American history of Virginia American bankers American spiritualists Patent medicine businesspeople People from Roanoke, Virginia People from Rocky Mount, Virginia 20th-century African-American people