Kinsmen and Kinswomen

After Lewis Condict’s mother left for Kentucky, he went to visit her there, which, in 1795, the year he went, was no small undertaking. Along the way, he kept a travel diary or journal, which, fortunately, has survived. The original typeset online versions, presented by the New Jersey Historical Society,  are here and here. At some point  it would be great to get a scan of the original manuscript, but for now…

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Journal of a Trip to Kentucky in 1795

By Lewis Condict, M. D.

The following journal of a horseback trip to Kentucky in 1795, kept by Lewis Condict, M. D., of Morristown, was presented in the original manuscript to the New Jersey Historical Society, of which Dr. Condict was an original member, at its founding in 1845, by his grand-daughter, Miss Sophia W. Condict, of Washington, D.C. Dr. Condict was accompanied by a party of New Jersey men. His definite object was to visit his mother who dwelt at Cox’s Creek in the Salt River valley, Kentucky. Other interests, commercial and educational, doubtless obtained among the individuals of the party. To Judge Alfred Elmer Mills of Morristown we are indebted for the following annotations on the life of Dr. Condict, for which material Judge Mills gives credit to Henry L. Coit, M.D., who wrote a “Sketch of the Life of Hon. Lewis Condict, M. D., of New Jersey.” [See my  earlier post for the text of this.–LSL]

• He was born at Morristown, N.J. March 3, 1772 and died there May 26, 1862.
• He received his medical degree, Feb’y, 1794, from the University of Pennsylvania.
• He was a member of Congress from N. J., 181 1 to 1817, and 1819 to 1833.
• Chairman of the Reception Committee to Lafayette at Morristown in 1825.
• A trustee of the College of N. J. (Princeton University) 1827 to 1861.
• In 1835 he became the first President of the Morris and Essex Railroad.
• He was the President of the National Convention for the First Decennial Revision of the U. S. Pharmacopoeia.
• He was for a number of years Speaker of the House of Assembly of New Jersey.
• He was a Presidential Elector in 1840.

 

 

Journal

 

June 8th 1795 set out from Morris Town at 1 o’clock & rode as far as Millers, on the Moschonekunk, 26 miles, Major John Kinney & Silas Cook of Essex Co. my companions. This divides the Counties of Sussex, Morris & Hunterdon, & is about 4 times as large as Whippany River at Morris Town.

 

9th. Rode 14 miles & breakfasted at Elders Mill on the Moschonk from thence to Easton a handsome Town, situated at the junction of the Delaware & Lehi on the Pennsylvania shore, from thence to Bethlehem, a Moravian settlement, beautifully situated on the banks of the Lehi, famous for its School for the education of young Ladies. The Lehi is a most beautiful river, & appears to be wider than the Delaware, at its Junction with it. The land is extremely fertile on its banks & produces in great abundance. Crossed the Lehi near Allentown in a Scow & my mare had almost jumped over board being frighted by the rope rubbing against her legs. Staid at Allentown.

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After Lewis Condict’s father died, his mother married again, creating what we today would call a blended family, and then much of the new group, more or less minus Lewis Condict, decamped to Kentucky.  This is a transcript of Condict’s ten page handwritten account of his close relatives’ journey south and west, and of what eventually became of them all. I found it more than a decade ago on a genealogy website that is now defunct. I’ve searched for it in some new form, an updated address, anything, and come up empty.

It’s a hybrid bit of writing, part genealogical report, part family history narrative. If you push past the initial pages detailing successive generations of Tichenors, though, which are – I admit – not all that compelling, it is a surprisingly human tale of their lives and the challenges they faced.

For the sake of readability, I’m offering two versions here: the first edited and condensed to allow for some semblance of flow; the second is presented as Condict actually wrote it in all its halting steps and asides….

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EDITED AND CONDENSED VERSION

Several years prior to the revolutionary war, Daniel Tichenor purchased a farm in Morris County, N. J. where he resided for 15 or 20 years. His first wife, whose maiden name was Wade, died in 1773. In May, 1776, he married Anna Condict (widow of Peter Condict) and daughter of Capt. Ebener Byram, of Mendham in Morris Co.

In 1790, Daniel traded his farm in Morris Co., NJ. to Capt. John Howell for lands on Green River in Ohio Co., KY.  In September of that year, he moved with his family to Kentucky, but not to this land. He never took actual possession of it as it was at that time but a wilderness – the habitation of Indiana [meaning the territory was inhabited by Native Americans] –  not a white family within 50 miles. He bequeathed this land to his sons, some of whom after his death went there to live…

When Daniel Tichenor moved to Kentucky, he settled in Nelson County. Two of his near neighbors viz: Asabel Hinman and Caleb Howell, moved with him to Kentucky and settled near him in Nelson Co.

A day having been set for their departure from N. J. to KY, the Rev. Doctor Hillyer of the Presbyterian Church at Madison (then called Battle Hill), of which church Mr. Tichenor and his wife were members, preached a sermon at the house on the occasion, to a very large assembly of friends and neighbors convened to bid farewell and to express their kind wishes and earnest prayers for a prosperous journey and safe arrival at their place of destination. A long procession followed them several miles on their journey.

They travelled in wagons to Pittsburgh, where they obtained a boat and descended the Ohio River to Limestone, (afterwards called Maysville) where they landed and proceeded in wagons to Nelson County and built cabins on Cox’s Creek, near Bardstown in that county.

In September, 1795, Mr. T bought about 100 acres of land on Plum River in Nelson County, and built a dwelling there, where he removed in 1796 and resided till his death, which occurred on the 10th of April, 1804.

For many years Mr. T had been subject to violent attacks of Asthma, which often seemed to threaten sudden death. He enjoyed comfortable health, at intervals, and always led a life of exemplary piety, temperance and industry .

He laid out a family burial ground on his farm in Nelson Co., KY, in which he, his widow, many of his children and grandchildren and neighbors were buried.

In November, 1804, several months after his death, his widow visited New Jersey and spent the winter and spring with her brothers and sisters and her three sons by her first husband. She made this trip on horseback, accompanied by her son Jonas, meeting her oldest son, Edward Condict, by previous appointment, at Wheeling VA, whence they proceeded to Morristown, NJ.  

In May of the following year (1805) she returned to her home in KY, accompanied by her son Byram Condict and his family of 5 or 6 children. Three other families removed at the same time, viz: Uzal Condict, Daniel Pruden, Abraham Lindley, and Daniel Lindley. They all settled on Green River in Ohio Co., KY, at Point Pleasant.

Jared Tichenor and his brother Jonas also resided in Ohio County, with many of the connections and descendants.

Byram Condict (son of Mrs. Tichenor by her first husband, Peter Condict) established a ferry on Green River known as “Condict’s Ferry” at the “Condict Settlement.” About the year 1817 or 1818 he was drowned at his own ferry while attempting to cross the river on a stormy night.  His widow, Mary Lindley survived him till the winter of 1854.

The widow of Daniel Tichenor resided on her husband’s farm during the remainder of her life, which terminated July 8th, 1826, at the age of 76. Some time previously she had a fall by which the neck of the thighbone was broken, rendering her a cripple the rest of her life. Two of her sisters had been crippled in the same manner and about the same period of life.

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The New York Library of Medicine holds the 26 page manuscript of Condict’s dissertation for the MD.

Here is the relevant information at the library.

Link to online citation.

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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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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.