A Sketch of the Life of Lewis Condict, MD

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The following is a period biography of Lewis Condict by a fellow physician. It appeared in A cyclopedia of American medical biography, comprising the lives of eminent deceased physicians and surgeons from 1610 to 1910, by Kelly, Howard A. (Howard Atwood), 1858-1943, published 1912

[The individual bio is available online here and continues here.–LSL]

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Lewis Condict 1773-1862 DETAIL

Condict, Lewis (1773-1862)

Lewis Condict, one of those who assisted in the first decennial revision of the United States Pharmacopoeia, was born in Morristown, New Jersey, March 3, 1772 and died in his native town in his nintieth year, May 26, 1862. He was a son of Peter Condict and a descendant of John Condict who emigrated to this coun- try from Wales and settled in Newark, New Jersey in 1678, and was the youngest of three children. His father died during his childhood, and his mother placed him under the care of his uncle, the Hon. Silas Condict of Morristown.

Although not college bred, he was well armed in his fourteenth year to begin the study of medicine with Dr. Timothy Johnes, of his native town. Subsequently he attended lectures at the University of Pennsylvania, where he took his M.D. in February, 1794, immediately beginning practice in Morristown, New Jersey, and living there until his death. In 1798 he married Martha, daughter of the Rev. Nathan Woodhull, D. D., of Newtown, Long Island. His second wife was Bettina [No! It was Martina.–LSL], a daughter of John Elmendorf of Millstone, New Jersey. Of his children three sons became physicians, all of whom were graduates of the College of New Jersey, Princeton, Silas L., Nathan W., and Lewis.

Through his intimacy with Benjamin Waterhouse, the friend and co-adjutor of Sir William Jenner, (then looked upon as a charlatan), Condict boldly vaccinated in one hand and inoculated with small-pox the other hand of his one-year-old daughter, the case becoming immune.

Subsequently an act was passed by Congress, through the instrumentality of Dr. Condict, which allowed vaccine virus to be passed through the mails free. From 1805 to 1810 he was a member of the State Legislature and speaker from 1808 to 1810.

In 1810 and again in 1819 he was president of the Medical Society of New Jersey, organized 1766, the first state medical society in the United States, its charter coming from George III.

On January 4, 1830, while again a member of Congress, he was elected president of the First Decennial Pharmacopoeial Convention held in Washing- ton, District of Columbia, and the president of the Pharmacopceial Convention which convened ten years later, in 1840.

In 1853 he was elected second vice-president of the American Medical Association and was an original member of the New Jersey Historical Society, contributing many papers of great value.

The responsibilities of political station did not diminish his interest in his profession, for he was always enthusiastic in laboring for its advancement His life was not only moral but consistently religious.

H. L. C.

Capt. Elishama Brandegee

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Capt. Elishama Brandegee (1754-1832) lived a productive and event-filled life, but not a great deal is known about him.

A veteran of the Battle of Bunker Hill, he was also a member of the ill-fated Quebec expedition and consequently a POW held by the British. All of which leads me to believe he must have known Col. Timothy Bigelow, but that idea – of ancestors, not yet connected through marriage, who met each other simply in the course of their lives – will be the subject of a later post. After the war (I presume it was after the war and not before), Brandegee was active in the West Indies trade.

Here below are two nearly identical accounts of his life, placed side by side to highlight the few differences between them.

I wish I could write more.

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Commemorative biographical record of Hartford County, Connecticut : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families

by J.H. Beers & Co, Publ. 1901

 

Available online here.

Capt. Elishama Brandegee, the Doctor’s grandfather, was born in Christian Lane, Berlin, April 17. 1754. During the Revolutionary war, May 5, 1775. he enlisted in the 2d Company, 2d Connecticut Regiment, under Capt. Wyllys. He was recruited in Middlesex county, and participated in the battle of Bunker Hill, after which he was detached and joined Capt. Hanchett’s company, Sept. 1. 1775. He took part in the assault on Quebec Dec. 31, 1775, and was with Gens. Arnold and Montgomery at Montreal. After the assault on Quebec he was taken prisoner. The 2d regiment was organized under Col. Wyllys as a Continental regiment.

…He was also] a sea captain…engaged in the West India trade and in merchandising in Berlin, where he died Feb. 26, 1832.

…Capt. Brandegee was married, March 10, 1778. to Mrs. Lucy (Plumb) Weston, of Middletown. who died Feb. 1. 1827, and the remains of both were interred in the South burying-ground, Berlin.

 

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The Brandegees: More Early History

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Moving beyond Stiles, there is a second early twentieth century source on the Brandegees: William Richard Cutter. The following is from his book New England families, genealogical and memorial; a record of the achievements of her people in the making of commonwealths and the founding of a nation, published 1913; volume 4; pp. 1574-6.

You can read it online here, and here; the complete .pdf is here.

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The surname Brandegee BRANDEGEE is spelled also Brundig, Brandig, Brandish, Brandiger, Brondigee, Brandigat, Brandisley, Brondish and Boundikee, and all these spellings are found relating to John Brandigee, who was in Wethersfield as early as 1635. He was doubtless of English birth, though the name is possibly German or Dutch originally. He died before October 27, 1639, the date of the inventory of his estate. He left a widow and five children. It is believed that he was killed by the Indians in the massacre of 1637. He was at Watertown for a short time before coming to Wethersfield and was a freeman there. His widow Rachel married Anthony Wilson.

John Brandegee, probably a son, was a settler in Rye, New York, and signed the declaration of loyalty to Charles II., July 26, 1662, spelling his name Brondish, but in January, 1663, he spelled his name Brondig. He was the first town clerk of Rye ; was deputy to the general court in 1677 and 1681 ; died in 1697. In the accounts of those days he is called “Stout Old John Brundig.” He was in 1662 one of the original proprietors of Manursing Island, Rye, and of Poringoe Neck. He left four sons, John, Joseph, David and Joshua, and they have had many descendants in Westchester county, New York.

(I) Jacob Brandegee, believed to be son of John and _____ (Brock) Brandegee, of Rye, grandson of “Stout Old John Brundig,” of Rye, settled in Stepney, in the town of Wethersfield. According to family tradition he ran away from home. He is said to have been born in 1729 and to have come from Nine Partners, New York, to Great Swamp when thirteen years old. He was by trade a weaver, and at one time kept a store in Great Swamp Village, now Berlin. He married, at Newington, Connecticut, October 11, 1752, Abigail Dunham. He owned the covenant in the Newington Church, July 27, 1755. In later life he was engaged in the West India trade, sailing vessels from Rocky Hill, and died at sea on a return voyage from Guadaloupe, March 25, 1765. His widow married (second) Major Eells, son of Rev. Edward Eells, of Upper Middletown, Connecticut, now Cromwell. She died January 25, 1825. Children, recorded at Kensington: Elishama, born April 17, 1754, mentioned below: Rhoda, October 5, 1756, died April, 1781 ; Persis, August 31, 1758: Abigail August 31, 1760, died 1820: Mary, December 18, 1763. died 1764: Jacob. January 4. 1765.

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Brandegee: Origins of a Name

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The following are excerpts from a somewhat speculative account of the name Brandegee, its history and its possible origins, found in The Families of Ancient Wethersfield, by Stiles, available online here. Taken as a whole, the piece represents the finished version of Stiles’ research on the name, and at the end of the 19th century, he knew as much as anyone on the subject.

[A brief research note: I believe that at some point following publication of his work, Stiles must have forwarded his notes on to Edward Deshon Brandegee, for the notes that are currently held in the Brandegee Office, and which I had erroneously assumed to be the work of EDB, are in fact early versions of the essay you see excerpted below.–LSL]

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BRANDEGEE, (Brundig, Brandig, Brandish, Brandiger, Brondiger, Brandigat, Brandisley, Brondish, Boundikee)  are various spellings of a name found in old records, and all of which seem to connected with and apply to one John Brundish who was at Weth. [Wethersfield, CT —LSL] probably as early as 1635-7, and of whom only one record exists, and that incidentally, in Weth. Land Recs. as being the owner of a home‑lot which bounded another man’s property.—See Chapt. VII, Vol. I. These various spellings of the name, as given above, together with the fact that some of the earlier generations resided in the neighborhood of New York City, (Westchester and Duchess Cos.), has given rise to the very natural opinion that the family was of Dutch origin. But this opinion is controverted by Mr. Marius Brandegee, of Elizabeth, N.J., who considers it to be of English stock, in which view we also concur. It will also be noted that the terminal of the name is spelled variously—dage, digge, dyge, by members of the same stock; and that all the spellings contain the same consonants, B. R. N. D., with the first vowel O., U., or A. rather broad, and the terminal S. H. or G. E., indicating that the G. should be pronounced soft and not hard, as the G. in geese.

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Susanna Vasilievna Anisimoff Baeff Lawrence, c.1913-1949

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At some point, in the near future, I’m going to do a post on the amazing Capt. Richard Lawrence, M.D. (1912-2000), or Richard Lawrence, Jr., as he was sometimes known, or simply, Cousin Dick. The man deserves as much.

In the meantime, there is this, almost as an aside: one small piece of the larger puzzle of his life, with the curious property that the closer one looks, the more the “piece” becomes a puzzle in its own right.

Roughly two years ago, I happened to be emailing with Robert Cutler, who, suffice to say, understands the (not-quite-lost) art of letter writing. He had embarked on a long and delightful tangent concerning Cousin Dick, whom at that point I had barely heard of, when, in the course of his excursion, he mentioned almost as an afterthought that before attending medical school, Richard Lawrence had spent a period of time in China, and while there, had met a Russian woman whom he married in Shanghai and brought back to America.

(Frankly, he said a good deal more than that, but this medium – which is obviously public –  has its limits.)

He went on to describe some of Dick’s better known activities in WWII, which as I said, I’ll get to someday, but, long after I’d finished reading, my mind kept going back to this Russian woman; China in the late ’30s; the circumstances of their meeting, and their exit; and what had really been going on?

Suffice to say, Robert had hooked me. I had to learn more, but, the more I learned, well, the more I realized I didn’t know, and– you get the idea.

Puzzles within puzzles.

This is part of what I found…

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An Extraordinary Life: The Story of John Endicott Lawrence by Seppi Colloredo-Mansfeld

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When he was thirteen, Seppi Colloredo-Mansfeld persuaded his great-grandfather, John Endicott Lawrence, Sr. to be interviewed for a school term paper on the sweep of his life to that point. The resulting twenty-five page biography is – in my view –  a remarkable document. Much of that, to be sure, has to do with the subject, who as you’ll see lived a life with few dull moments. But a significant part of it is due to both the talent and the age of the biographer. Talent, because there is a beautiful range here in the scale of details: he’s included everything from the smallest of anecdotes all the way up to events of world historical importance. Moreover, the rhythm of his subject’s language, his word choice, his sense of humor, or wonder for that matter, come through vividly which is no small trick. And age, because while adults can and do edit what they say to children, omitting the truly grim, or for lack of a better term, “the inappropriate,” they can also drop their guard and open up with children in a way they may not with adults. There’s an emotional directness here that really shines. It makes me feel like I’m sitting by a fireside, one of my relatives has asked a question, and tonight the old man has decided he’s willing to talk…

 

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AN EXTRAORDINARY LIFE:

THE STORY OF JOHN ENDICOTT LAWRENCE

SEPPI COLLOREDO-MANSFELD

 

 

FOR GRANDDADDY

 

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A Grandson Recalls His Grandfather: Franz Colloredo-Mansfeld on John Endicott Lawrence, Sr.

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No commentary is required for this post, which first appeared in the Groton School Quarterly, and is used here by kind permission of the author and the school.

 

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In Memoriam

John Endicott Lawrence ’27 

P,’59,’63,

GP’81 ’83 ’85 ’93 ’94  ’00

GGP’09

Trustee ’47 to ’70, President ’65 to ’70

October 18, 1909 – March 27, 2007 

By Franz Colloredo-Mansfeld ’81

 

It is no easy task to write a brief description of my grandfather’s life. The problem lies in the fact that John Endicott Lawrence’s life was not a short story but a rather long story-­ an epic, in fact– that spanned nearly a century. Although he preferred not to talk about himself, occasionally, over a scotch, my grandfather could be convinced to give us glimpses of his extraordinary life: as a young boy traveling by horse, train and boat between family homes in Milton and Groton, Massachusetts, and Dark Harbor, Maine; as a student at Harvard, carousing in Budapest with college friend, Franz Colloredo­ Mansfeld, my paternal grandfather, whose son, my father, would later marry my mother; after college, in the thirties, training for the new Olympic sport of alpine ski racing; taking Easter tea at the Vatican in a private audience with the Pope; during World War II, playing deck tennis with Admiral Halsey under the big guns on board the battleship, U.S.S. New Jersey; witnessing the Japanese surrender on the deck of the U.S.S. Missouri; post-war, declining a position in President Eisenhower’s administration to better care for my grandmother who suffered from Parkinson’s Disease; undertaking financially perilous-and occasionally hilarious-business adventures in Africa, the Middle East, and India.

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John Endicott Lawrence, Sr., as Remembered By His Children

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Uncle Johnny’s memorial service, May 13, 2007, stands out in my mind in an almost singular way. It was a glorious spring day, and people from all over the world had come to pay tribute to him. There wasn’t a hint of sadness or morose sentiment– at least that I detected. Just a collective marveling at this…spirit…that we had been lucky enough to know. His three children, Susanna, Jack, and David, all spoke.

Here is the program we followed and sang from, followed by their thoughts, as delivered…..

 

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jel-pgm-side-1

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John Endicott Lawrence, Sr.: His Globe Obituary

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After John Endicott Lawrence, Sr. died, the following obituary appeared in the Boston Globe.

In posts to come, I will offer remembrances by family members, as well as a biographical sketch written, while he was alive, by his (then) thirteen year-old great-grandson.

For now, consider this the briefest of introductions to a remarkable, wonderful man.

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from the Boston Globe…

 

John Endicott Lawrence

 

Died at home surrounded by his family in Hamilton on March 27 at the age of 97. The last living member of the staff of Admiral William (Bull) Halsey, he was present at the surrender of the Japanese in Tokyo Bay in 1945. But, this was only one chapter in a long life devoted to service in many forms. After graduating from Groton School in 1927, Harvard College in 1931 and following graduate studies in Munich, he earned a LL.B from Harvard Law School in 1936 and joined the firm of Goodwin, Proctor & Hoar in Boston. The practice of law not having engaged him, he went into the cotton business with his father in 1938 supplying the mills of New England with bales from the American south, India and Egypt. Pearl Harbor changed all this. After a short Army basic course at Camp Devens, older volunteers were sent home with thanks, but at 32 he wasn’t ready for the sidelines and talked his way into a new Navy program forming up at Quonset Point, RI, to train naval air intelligence personnel. This brought him to Guadalcanal with the Marine landings, charged to establish contact with coast watchers whose efforts provided critical intelligence to the landing force at this crucial turning point in the war. Mostly former colonial administrators in the islands of the Pacific, these acculturated residents took to the hills with radios supported by local people who opposed Japanese rule. Admiral Halsey sought seasoned veterans for his staff as the 3rd fleet charged up the Central Pacific towards Japan. Lawrence debriefed the air crews that shot down Admiral Yamamoto. At war’s end, he returned to the cotton business, but public service was always an interest. He ran the United Fund drive in Boston in 1947 and actively promoted Dwight Eisenhower’s presidential run in 1952. Christian Herter appointed him to the Racing Commission. He served as a trustee of Groton School for 25 years, the last 10 as president of the Board, and as an Overseer of Harvard 1959-62. He served on the Corporation and Board of the Massachusetts General Hospital for over 50 years, many of those as Chair. He effected with Dr. J. Robert Buchanan, then General Director of the MGH, a collaboration of the MGH and the Hinduja Foundation of Bombay to create a different sort of hospital which drew on the Indian diaspora for western trained personnel. Subsequently, as President of the Hinduja Foundation in New York, he enabled the establishment of a chair at Harvard to promote better understanding of the Indian culture in the USA. These accomplishments combined his loves of India, the MGH and Harvard, no small achievements for a man in his 70s. Meanwhile, cotton merchandising had been crushed by the Commodity Credit Corporation which paid the cotton farmer a subsidized price for their production above the market leaving no room for merchants. Lawrence turned to his far flung contacts to develop other opportunities leading to ventures in canning vegetables on the former Farouk Estates in the Egyptian Nile Delta, tuna canning in Somalia, converting locally mined mica in India into electronic capacitors, and shrimp fishing and processing in The Cameroons with Gortons of Gloucester. During this time, he held directorships at General Electric, West Point Pepperell and the State Street Investment Corporation. John Lawrence never let these activities interfere with his love of sailing on the coast of Maine, horses, golf and skiing which he learned in Germany in the 1930s and brought to a proficiency which earned him an invitation to the Olympic training camp in 1935, an invitation he had to turn down to finish law school. He was a longtime member of the Porcellian Club, Myopia Hunt Club, Somerset Club, India Wharf Rats, Hochgebirge Ski Club, The Humane Society and the Tavern Club. He married Anne Mercer Tuckerman in 1938 and nursed her through more than 25 years of Parkinson’s Disease until her death in 1980. In 1983, he married an old friend widowed in 1974, Janet White Barnes, whose companionship and family brought him great joy. She died in 1998. He took great pleasure from the company of his children, Susanna Colloredo-Mansfeld, John E. Jr (Jack), David, their spouses, his 8 grandchildren and 14.8 great-grandchildren. There will be a memorial gathering at his house on May 13, 2007 at Noon.

See more at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/bostonglobe/obituary.aspx?n=john-endicott-lawrence&pid=87055471&#sthash.fxYXzYae.dpuf

James Lawrence ‘29, “Grandfather”

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Again, these are just notes, but – like his father – he too is owed a few lines.

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First, some photographs, and a few glimpses of the way he smiled with his eyes.

 

 

Grandfather was quiet about his many achievements; I include the following not as an attempt to sum up his life, which would be impossible, but to pass along some things of which people might be unaware:

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