Pelham Founder Thomas Pell Served as a 17th Century Physician in the Colony of New Haven and in Fairfield

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Thomas Pell of Fairfield in the Colony of Connecticut acquired from local Wiechquaeskeck Native Americans the lands that became the Manor of Pelham on June 27, 1654 (old-style Julian calendar).  During the Pequot War, Pell was present on board a troop transport ship when Captains John Mason and John Underhill led Connecticut colonists and their Narragansett and Mohegan allies in a raid that led to what is known as the Mystic Massacre.  The force attacked and laid waste to a Pequot stockade on May 26, 1637.  Records of the massacre indicate Pell was present as a "chirugeon" (i.e., surgeon) to attend to those injured or wounded in the battle.  

Lest one believe that Pell made his living as a physician, it should be noted that he was more of a 17th century educated jack-of-all-trades and hustler.  Records reflect him working in New Haven and in the Colony of Connecticut as:  (1) a physician; (2) an attorney; (3) a real estate speculator; and (4) a trader who sailed up and down the east coast between Connecticut and Virginia.  Though Pell remained a resident of Fairfield until the end of his life and never removed from Fairfield to the Manor of Pelham, he clearly was a wealthy man at the time of his death as indicated by an inventory of that portion of his estate (likely only a small part of the estate) that was held in the Colony of New York at the time of his death.  See Fri., Jun. 24, 2016:  Archival Record of the Last Will and Testament and Estate Inventory of Pelham Founder Thomas Pell.

In 1934 the Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine published an article by Herbert Thoms, M.D., F.A.C.S. entitled "The Beginnings of Medical Practice in New Haven Colony."  In it, the author details some of the early medical practice of Pelham founder Thomas Pell and includes some interesting biographical details about Thomas Pell's life.  Today's Historic Pelham article transcribes the text of Dr. Thoms's article, followed by a citation and link to its source.  

Portion of Engraving Depicting the Attack on the Pequot Fort

at Mystic in May 1637. Source: Underhill, John, "The Figure

of the Indian's Fort or Palizado," Illustration in Newes from America;

or, A New and Experimental Discoverie of New England (London:

1638). NOTE: Click to Enlarge Image.

"Thomas Pell" by Thom Lafferty from an Original by

an Unknown Artist Who Imagined Pell as He Would

Look. There Are No Known Images of Thomas Pell.

NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.

*          *          *          *          *

"THE BEGINNINGS OF MEDICAL PRACTICE IN NEW HAVEN COLONY
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HERBERT THOMS, M.D., F.A.C.S.
NEW HAVEN, CONN.
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From the standpoint of present day medical knowledge the story of medicine in the early colonial period is not an attractive one.  The ridiculous treatment and the absurd remedies accorded the sick in that day are valueless now.  Nevertheless, the meagre [sic] accounts that tell us of the medical life of that period are inspiring.  One reads of the endeavors and contentions of these earnest medical pioneers with an admiration that is akin to reverence.  The incessant physical struggles that their environment demanded and their firm spiritual contention for righteous living, produced in them a fortitude of body and mind that we their descendants may properly revere.

It is my purpose to speak of the beginnings of medical practice in New Haven Colony, to discuss our first physicians and to review the medical life of their time.  Of necessity I shall limit my inquiry to a period from the establishment of the Colony in 1639 to the beginning of the next century.

When we consider the changes in medical practice in our own time, changes brought about not only by newer and more effectual methods of treatment, but changes brought about by such things as the telephone, the automobile, and the development of the modern hospital, it is difficult for us to form an accurate picture of medical life even half a century ago.  Scientific discovery and invention are making such tremendous changes in our entire life today, that the wonders of yesterday become commonplace, and each new complexity further obscures our vision of those who have gone before.

How extremely difficult it is for us to think of the tiny settlement of Quinnipiac with its one hundred and thirty families and how hard to picture the seventeenth century physician making his daily rounds.

The settlement of New Haven from its inception was a compact, thriving community.  It comprised among its inhabitants people who were wealthy and educated.  Although Bacon in Atwater's History says that 'New Haven Colony managed to be born and pass some years of its life without the help of any doctor of its own" I think it is reasonable to believe that Mr. Thomas Pell acted in this capacity almost from the first.  Bolton in his History of Westchester County says that Pell was a resident in Fairfield in 1635 and in New Haven in 1642.  The first reference to his medical life [sic] appears December 3rd, 1645, in conection with a gunshot wound.  Because of 'the great damage Stephen Madcalfe had susteyned in the losse of his eye, with the losse of his time & the great chardge of the cure, Mr. Pell affirming it was worth 10 L' the court 'ordered Francis Linley to pay to Stephen Medcalfe 20L damadges.'

Pell, who was born and educated an English gentleman, would have been immediately attracted to the new Colony, which numbered among its people so many men of his own intellectual sphere.

His father, the Rev. John Pell, of Southwyke in Sussex, died in 1616, leaving two sons, the Rev. John Pell, D.D., rector of Fobbing in Essex, afterward ambassador to the Swiss Cantons, and Thomas Pell described as 'gentleman to the bedchamber' to King Charles I and first Lord and proprietor of the manor of Pelham.  He was born about 1608 and although his exact arrival in America is unknown, he was one of New England's first settlers.  His name is associated with Roger Ludlow of the Rev. John Warhams Company at Dorchester, Mass., in June, 1630.  In 1636 he acted as Sugeon to the Saybrook Fort and in the next year accompanied Captain Underhill to the Pequot war.

He came to New Haven shortly after its settlement and on the tenth of March, 1646, we find him recorded as an occupant of the first seat on the cross benches at the end of the Meeting House with Mr. Tutle and Bro. Fowler.  In 1646-47 he married the widow of Francis Brewster (Lucy) of New Haven and this act, together with his service in the risky Pequot war, assures, us, says Dr. Francis Bacon, that his intrepidity is undoubted.

Both Thomas Pell and his wife appear somewhat prominently in the Records, the latter in a trial for slander which occupies some eighteen pages of the transactions and the former because of his persistent refusal to pay a debt of 200 L which his wife contracted before their marriage.  That he was a man of enterprise is unquestioned and he not only practised medicine but we find that he engaged in various commercial pursuits.  In 1647 he traded to the Delaware and Virginia.  As there were no professional lawyers in the colony Mr. Pell not infrequently acted in this capacity for others.  Pell was a man of independence and spirit and at least one in the Colony was not particularly awed by the Court proceedings.

In September (5) we find Mr. Pell warned by the Court:

'and appeared; he was told it was for two reasons, first to take the oath of fidellitie, 2ndly to paye in ye fine of 10L laid upon him ye last court of magistrate.  He said for ye oath, he had taken it in England and should not do it heare; he was told no more is required of him then others doe, yett if he had any grounds against it he might propound them, or elc [sic] if he would considr [sic] of it, for his fine of 10 L he was asked if he had taken any order to paye it, he said no.  Mr. Goodyear said he hoped he would.  Mr. Pell said he knew not.  He was asked ye reason, he said he should be silent for he had given offenc [sic] heretofore with speaking, but ye court desired an answer, whether he would paye or no, but his answer was that he desired to be silent.'

If Thomas Pell was as skillful a physician as he appears to have been a lawyer, the health of New Haven Colony was in safe hands.  In 1654 he removed to Westchester County, New York, [sic; he never moved to Westchester] and became proprietor of Lands now known as Pelham Manor.  He died in 1669 of what was called Hasty Consumption and was buried at Fairfield.  His estate shows him to have been a man of considerable wealth.  Bolton says the inventory shows the 'household array of a wealthy merchant and gentleman of that period.'  From the perusal of this and other information we have reason to believe that during this latter part of his life he did not practice medicine to any extent.  The only books listed in the inventory are 'Culpeper's dispensatory wh 3 other small books' and '2 of Craddock's works in quarto.'  In his will he bequeathed all his 'lands and houses in any part of New England and in yre territory of ye Duke of York' to his nephew, John Pell, living in Old England, the only son of his brother, John Pell, Doctor of Divinity. . . ."

Source:  Thoms, Herbert, THE BEGINNINGS OF MEDICAL PRACTICE IN NEW HAVEN COLONY, Yale J. Biol. Med., 1934 Jan, Vol. 6, No. 3, pp. 307-21.

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