JOHN COAKLEY LETTSOM

AND HIS RELATIONS WITH JONATHAN CARVER, EXPLORER OF THE MIDDLE WEST* By VICTOR C. JACOBSEN, M.D.

ALBANY, N. Y.

he interest of the present been reviewed in the Annals by Sir generation of physicians in St. Clair Thomson, hence no attempt the biography of their fore­ at biographical completeness will be fathers is acquainting them made. Twith men who, like themselves, wereJohn Coakley Lettsom, m.d., founder possessed of varying degrees of intel­ of the London Medical Society, biog­ lectual ability and scientific acumen, rapher of John Fothergill, the Quaker but who in the average distributed physician, and himself a Quaker, was their activities successfully over a '^orn in 1744 on Little Van Dyke, an wider range of human endeavor than island of the West Indies. He was one do their scions of today. The truth of of the last of seven pairs of twins, it this statement cannot be denied if the is said. His father, a slave-holder, “Lives” bequeathed to us are reason­ was of a family from Lettsom in ably accurate portrayals. From time Cheshire, his mother one of the Coak­ to time additional sides of familiar leys who were baronets in Ireland. figures are discovered, or others are Young Lettsom at the age of six years altered by the acquisition of new data. met Samuel Fothergill, a preacher, Dr. John Coakley Lettsom, of Lon­ and father of Dr. John Fothergill, don, is more or less familiar to the who took charge of his education in a well-read physician, although many Friends’ school and later, in 1761, know him only as the subject of an placed him in the office of an apothe­ amusing contemporary jingle: cary, Abraham Cutliffe, of Settle, I, John Lettsom, where he learned something of the Blisters, bleeds and sweats ’em; medical art, botany, Latin and French. If after that they please to die, Coming later to London he met Dr. I, John, lets ’em.^ John Fothergill, who became his warm The man must have acquired some friend and adviser. Lettsom studied sort of professional popularity to one year at St. Thomas’ Hospital occasion even such doggerel, and where Mark Akenside was a physician, Pettigrew, Boswell and others have whose harsh manners with poor pa­ given us the picture of a many-sided tients were most repellent to Lettsom’s individual whose influence was felt sensibilities. not only in England but also in The elder Lettsom died about 1761, America. and in 1767 the son returned to The life of Lettsom has recently Tortola in the West Indies, where There are many versions of these lines. formerly the family had had a sugar * A revision and enlargement of a paper “On Dr. John Coakley Lettsom and his Relations with Captain Jonathan Carver, the Explorer of Lake Pepin,” published in the Festschrift num­ ber of the Bulletin of Phi Beta Pi, May, 1928, in honor of the seventieth birthday of William Snow Miller, emeritus professor of Anatomy, University of Wisconsin. plantation. W hile his trip was pri­ M.D. degree there in 1769 with a treatise marily for the purpose of “taking on the medical properties of tea. possession of what was left of his In London he became a highly

family’s property,” his first act was to successful practitioner, although he free all the slaves, a deed rather did not have and never came to have impoverishing at the time, but one any official hospital appointments, that he always felt brought him much except that of physician to the Gen­ good fortune. In Tortola he estab­ eral Dispensary in Aldersgate Street, lished a practice that netted him two of which he was one of the founders. thousand pounds in five months. Half He published many papers on a great of this he gave his mother; the rest he variety of subjects: fever, hard drink­ took back to London, where he wished ing, intussusception, inoculation for to settle down as a physician. Before smallpox, vaccination, prostitution, doing so, however, he studied at wills and testaments, hints to masters Edinburgh under Cullen. Later at Paris and mistresses, card parties, Sunday- he met Benjamin Franklin, who schools, and a substitute for wheat introduced him to Dubourg. Lettsom bread, an outgrowth of the food then went to Leyden, where he studied stringency in the war times of 1800. under Albinus and Gaubius, taking his Edward Jenner always had Lettsom’s support in the debates of that period, macy in matters affecting the good and Lettsom was the first to send name of the colonies, and probably Jenner’s vaceine lymph aeross the stimulated an already strong interest in them. As a botanist he had agents here collecting for him. But in order to enlarge our perspective of the man, it might be worthy of the time and space to draw attention to Lettsom’s patronage of indigent celebrities, in particular his connection with Cap­ tain Jonathan Carver, one of the early explorers of the Middle West. Such is our present purpose. It might seem that, in laying so much stress on Lettsom’s relations with Carver, it were a case of making much out of little, since, according to his own statement, Lettsom met Car­ ver for the first time when Carver was in his final illness and his exploring days were over. But the good doctor wasted no time in easing the last hours of the explorer, gave aid to his family, and, what served to link his name for Atlantic to Benjamin Waterhouse, all time with that of Carver, he pub­ M.D., of Cambridge, Massachu­ lished at his own expense the third setts, who first applied it in this edition of Carver’s “Travels Through country. At home with a large and the Interior Parts of North America,” remunerative practice he displayed a including an authoritative biography. medical ability and social philan­ Also, Lettsom’s name appears repeat­ thropy that created a highly favorable edly in the proceedings over the contemporary opinion, voiced by em­ famous Carver grant, of which more inent men of letters of his time. will be said later. What attracts us especially is Lett- The following anecdote related by som’s interest in America and the Fox leads to the supposition that Americans of his time. So far as the Lettsom may unknowingly have met writer can determine, he never visited Carver before. One night Lettsom’s the mainland of this country. His carriage was stopped in the streets of American contacts were made chiefly London by a highwayman, who, at through correspondence with the men the point of a pistol, demanded his who were engaged in evolving an money, which was promptly forth­ independent nation out of recalcitrant coming. The genteel manner and colonies, among them Washington, speech of the robber indicating no Franklin, and Dr. Benjamin Rush. common thief, Lettsom’s curiosity His meeting with Franklin in England was aroused and he asked the man to in 1769 certainly exposed him to the call at his office. “Two weeks later wiles of the Pennsylvanian’s diplo­ he came and told his troubles, and how he had lately been driven to such Massachusetts, in 1762 commanding desperate ways, and that this was a company of foot in Colonel Salton- only his second attempt, Lettsom left stall’s regiment. no stone unturned until he had re­ claimed him; eventually he became an officer in the army, where he did honorable service.” Pettigrew, Lett­ som’s biographer, in his memoirs relates a story Lettsom often told, about Captain Jonathan Carver, whom he referred to as a reformed high­ wayman. Jonathan Carver was a grandson of W illiam Joseph Carver, of Lancashire, who was a captain in the army under King William, and served in Ireland with such distinguished reputation that the king was pleased to reward him with the government of the province of Connecticut in New England, which appears to have been the first appoint­ ment to that station by the crown. Jonathan was born in 1710 at either Stillwater, Connecticut (Lettsom), or Canterbury, Connecticut (Peters). After receiving the rudiments of edu­ cation and being designed for the practice of medicine, soon after his father’s death he was placed with a physician in Elizabeth Town, Connec­ ticut. In nearby Canterbury the lead­ ing practitioner was Dr. Joseph Per­ kins, the father of Dr. Elisha Perkins of “Perkins’ tractors” fame. It is very probable that Carver was ac­ quainted with Dr. Perkins, Sr., and The following year, 1763, the peace possibly studied under him. The work of Versailles took place, and Carver requiring close perseverance and regu­ having discharged his military obli­ lar attention was not suited to his gations to his country retired from roving temperament, so at the age of the army. Not desiring to remain idle eighteen he purchased an ensigney in he considered how he could contribute the Connecticut regiment and soon to his country’s interests in exploring commanded a company. He was in the vast acquisition of territory in the army under General Daniel Webb North America. Hence in the years and was one of the few to escape 1766, 1767, and 1768 we find him massacre at Fort William Henry in covering practically alone a vast area 1757. Later he served in the army in in the Middle West, including the Dakotas, Nebraska, Minnesota, and the most scrupulous attention to the Wisconsin, living for long periods situation, as improvable for commercial with various Indian tribes, gaining and national advantages. their respect and confidence, and Carver described the characters compiling much information relating of the Indian tribes, learned the to the region, which upon his return to language of the Chippeway and Nau- England he published as his “Travels,” dowissie, and became intimate with a popular book, two editions being many chiefs. Then, according to Lett­ exhausted before 1781. som, as an acknowledgment of their The real object of this journey into grateful sense of his happy inter­ the Middle West country was to ference in settling by diplomacy a discover a northwest passage to the long-standing dispute the Naudowis- Pacific. Carver was one of the leading sie gave Carver a formal grant of figures in an expedition under Major land, lying on the north side of Lake Robert Rogers, the famous ranger of Pepin. Lettsom says in his preface to the French and Indian War. the third edition of Carver’s “Travels,” In a sense Carver unwittingly filched that this deed was in his possession at Rogers’ fame; his (Rogers’) was the the time of publication. conception, the inception, and the failure The following is a copy of the of the enterprise, visionary but not supposed conveyance of the famous ignoble, of discovering a passage across Carver grant: North America and finding the Oregon (now the Columbia) River. Carver, his To Jonathan Carver, a chief under the draughtsman and third in command, most mighty and potent George the with an accurate eye and the power of Third, King of the English and other turning a phrase, made the expedition as nations, the fame of whose courageous far as it went famous and himself in the warriors has reached our ears, and has bargain. Because of Rogers and his plan been more fully told us by our good for finding the northwest passage. Carver brother Jonathan aforesaid, whom we has given us the earliest English descrip­ rejoice to see come among us, and bring tion of the Upper Lakes region, and a us good news from his country. We, classic of early Western travel. (Kellogg.) chiefs of the Naudowissies, who have hereto set our seals, do by these presents The beauties of Lake Pepin, a for ourselves and heirs forever, in return widening of the Mississippi River for the many presents, and other good just south of St. Paul, Minn., Carver services done by the said Jonathan to described at length. As Lettsom ourselves and allies, give, grant, and stated, his description of these vast convey to him, the said Jonathan, and regions seem to have pointed out every to his heirs and assigns forever, the whole advantage which might be derived in of a certain tract or territory of land, a commercial view, from a knowledge bounded as follows: viz., from the Fall of them, and of the policy of the of St. Anthony, running on the east banks various tribes who possessed them: of the Mississippi, nearly southeast, as far as the south end of Lake Pepin, where In his picturesque view of the scenery the Chippeway River joins the Missis­ around Lake Pepin his imagination, ani­ sippi, and from thence eastward five days mated as it was by the magnitude, the travel, accounting twenty English miles novelty and grandeur of the objects, is per day, and from thence north six days not so far transported, as to interrupt travel, at twenty English miles per day. and from thence again to the Fall of “Travels,” which, notwithstanding their St. Anthony, on a direct straight line. We great merit, could not procure him a do for ourselves, heirs, and assigns, competent provision. forever, give unto the said Jonathan, his heirs, and assigns, forever, all the said It was for the benefit of Carver’s lands, with all the trees, rocks, and rivers family that Dr. Lettsom issued the therein, reserving for ourselves and heirs third edition of the “Travels,” already the sole liberty of hunting and fishing mentioned, with the introductory life on land not planted or improved by the of the explorer. And it was the said Jonathan, his heirs and assigns, to touching account the doctor gave of which we have affixed our respective seals, Carver’s death in poverty and want at the great cave. May the first, one that led to the institution of the cele­ thousand seven hundred and sixty-seven. brated and useful “Literary Fund” Hawnopawjatin, The sign of the Tor­ of London, for the relief of needy toise, his mark. authors. Otohtongoomlisheaw, The sign of the In his “Life of John Fothergill,” Snake, his mark. Lettsom gives the following details of Carver returned to Boston in 1768, Captain Carver’s last days: having been absent two years and five One instance, among numbers, I am months, during which time he had urged to communicate here, as death now traveled about seven thousand miles. equally precludes the power of bestowing, He proposed publishing his journals and the gratitude of acknowledging, in Boston, but receiving no encourage­ future bounties. Captain Carver is a ment there he sailed for England in name known in the annals of misery, to February, 1769. He never returned to which he was reduced by long-continued his native land. In England he hoped want; disease, its natural consequence, the government would reimburse him gave him access to Dr. Fothergill; and for his expenditures. General Gage I am informed by his widow, that as often as he applied for medical relief, the having given him credentials which doctor as often accompanied his prescrip­ were most favorable to his character tion with a liberal donation. But Captain and attainments. The crown, however, Carver was not an importunate solicitor; was very slow about recognizing his the mind not hardened by familiarity of claims, although it finally made a refusal, or that hath not acquired, by settlement of eleven hundred pounds, frequent struggles, the art of suppressing but “too late to revive the strength its emotions, possesses that diffidence of the explorer’s failing constitution which is the inseparable associate of and his distress of mind.” Carver died worth. Between diffidence and want, January 31, 1780, at the age of seventy many were the struggles of Captain years. Carver, but, overcome at length by repeated acts of the doctor’s generosity, a The Gentleman^s Magazine for 1780 jealous suspicion of becoming trouble­ contained the following item: some to his benefactor, determined him We are sorry to inform our readers to prefer that want, from the deprivation that we are well assured that Captain of the necessaries of life, which put it Carver died absolutely and strictly out of the power of his choice; for death starved, leaving a wife and two small soon triumphs over famine. What a children, for whom Dr. Lettsom, with conflict of sullen greatness does this his wonted humanity, interests himself, tragedy exhibit! When his fate was and has disposed of many copies of his communicated to the doctor, how tender was his expression! “If I had known his are now the cities of St. Paul and distress, he should not thus have died.” Minneapolis. The United States Sen­ Lettsom adds as a footnote to the ate from 1806 to 1824 held many above: hearings in an effort to ascertain the validity of the grant, and finally ruled The king has since graciously con­ against the claims of the purchasers descended to allow the widow Carver an of the Carver “rights.” Nevertheless annuity. The unfortunate husband was even to this day their descendants only known to me on his death bed. In from time to time go over the records the early stages of his disease he was of the case in the vain hope of finding able to wait upon Dr. Fothergill; but in some evidence for prosecuting a new the progress of it, being confined to his claim against the government. The bed, the doctor requested me to visit the captain at his lodgings; and my first controversy entered many channels, interview was within three days of his but the English government itself decease. It was after his funeral that I never felt certain of the validity of the felt myself more immediately interested deed, which apparently had a rel­ in the succor of the widow and orphans. atively short existence. As the captain died pennyless, he was The Reverend Samuel Peters, ll.d., buried, to avoid expense, in the poor’s was a close friend and adviser of ground, a part of the churchyard usually Carver’s. He was also the assignee appropriated to the abject poor. When I of the American heirs, and author of reflected upon the utility of his “Travels,” a “History of Connecticut,” with a I considered him as a public loss, and his reputation of not always adhering offspring as the children of the public; to the historical truth. In his tes­ and I presented the widow with a few pounds, to clothe and feed herself and timony at the congressional hearings children; but the money, thus designed he stated that Carver in his last to satisfy her hunger, she employed sickness referred to the grant in his otherwise; she had the corpse of her and Dr. Lettsom’s presence and ex­ husband taken out of the poor’s ground, pressed a hope that his majesty would and buried in ground containing the ratify the deed for the good of his ashes of higher company, and over it she children and for the good of the nation, raised a decent monument to his memory. as a settlement in that quarter by His “Travels,” however, will prove a the English would aid greatly in civiliz­ more durable monument than stone; ing a vast and ignorant Indian people. and, though the dust with which we are Peters, about 1798, had made the mixed avails not to the living or to the following statement: that he had dead, yet I was sensibly touched with this instance of posthumous affection, and have learned from Dr. Lettsom and others since endeavored to mitigate the miseries that Mr. C. and Co. had Martha, the of a mind endowed with such tender only child living of Carver’s, marry a sensibilities. sailor clandestinely, and had the hus­ band and wife take out letters of The rest of the story centers about administration on Carver’s estate. the famous Carver Grant, which os­ Mr. C. was appointed agent and had tensibly rendered to Captain Carver assigned to him all the land in Carver and his heirs and assigns forever, a grant, one-tenth of which he reas­ large and valuable tract of land along signed to Martha and her husband. the Mississippi, which includes what Mr. C. sent a Mr. Clark with $2,000 to get a new grant from the Naudo- property could be discovered, these chil­ wissies. Clark was murdered between dren who are legitimate would precede New York and Niagara. The murderer any title that could be claimed by Mrs. was captured and hanged at Albany. Pope. I once advertised to find out The scheme thus fell through. whether Captain Carver was married to Lettsom’s own testimony is con­ Mrs. Pope’s mother, but without success. I presume that Mrs. Pope possesses a fusing. On January 31, 1804, he certificate of marriage. I never saw certified that: Captain Carver but on his death bed, nor . . . the printed copy of a grant of did I know of any real or supposed land in America, by two Indian chiefs, to conveyance until after his death, when Captain Carver, deceased, prefixed to the widow showed me the paper men­ his “Travels” published in London in tioned above. Mr. Fisher, the secretary 1781, w'as literally and accurately copied of the American board here, told me that from a manuscript paper in the possession no such document ever could be traced of his widow, Mary Carver, who declared in his office. Mrs. Pope has given me a to me that it was an original grant, con­ good deal of trouble and knows how veyed to her husband by the said Indians anxious I always was to serve her, could named in the printed copy, with the I have done it. But I am of opinion that facsimile or mark of each Indian. no legal instrument, intimated in your letter, exists, and that if it did Captain Samuel Peters was a witness to the Carver’s issue, by his first wife, would certificate. Later, in 1805, Lettsom alone be entitled to possession, but your wrote to a Mr. Gravener the following professional knowledge must enable you letter in which reference is made to this to determine upon these matters superior supposed grantL to that of J. C. Lettsom. There has also been doubt in some During Mrs. Carver’s life, I saw a paper of half a sheet, with two marks said to quarters as to the authorship of Car­ be those of Indian chiefs at the foot, of ver’s “Travels,” Prof. E. G. Bourne a grant of land, and, after Mrs. Carver’s of Yale University holding to the death, I searched every lodging where theory that Lettsom wrote them, as she had been and the place where she his “personal relations with Carver died, without being able to find the least are known to have been intimate.” vestige of paper or cloaths, not even any However, it appears well established certificate of her having been married that, since Lettsom first met Carver to Captain Carver. Unfortunately I only a few days before the latter’s rarely saw her out of a state of intoxi­ death, the first and second editions cation. All these facts Mrs. Pope knows had been struck off before Lettsom very well. Mr. Knox, the late American had anything to do with the work. secretary, wrote me a letter with one from Dr. Belknap, the late historian of His “Advertisement” in the third America, that no such grant of land edition (1781) explains his connection existed by tradition or otherwise among with it. the Indians. Captain Carver, by his first' Advertisement wife, left several sons and daughters who have made the same application to me Few works have had a more rapid sale for any documents. So that, if any than the following; two large editions having been disposed of in two years. This * From a transcript of a letter in the State induced the proprietors to print a third: Historical Society of Wisconsin. but, as soon as this impression was finished, I purchased both the printed supposed author than the real author copies and the copyright. acquired by his other works or was I have since added to the work, some attained by any of the works from which account of the author’s life, and an index he drew his material. In any case. to the “Travels,” which are published Carver’s “Travels” must now take its separately, for the convenience of the place in literary history beside Benzoni’s purchasers of the first and second edi­ “History of the New World,” and the tions; on whom, I was unwilling to raise “Book of Sir John Mandeville.” an extraordinary tax for the third edition. John Coakley Lettsom This “conjecture” of Professor London, March 30, 1781 Bourne’s was promptly disproved by the bibliographer of Carver’s works, Professor Bourne believes strongly John Thomas Lee, who showed that that most of Carver’s “Travels” was Carver actually made his famous plagiarized from Charlevoix and La journey, that he was possessed of a Hontan, and parallel passages indicate clear and easy style of narration, and that Carver must have been well was by no means an ignoramus. acquainted with their writings. It was Browning and T. C. Elliott, and the custom in those times, however, lately Louise Phelps Kellogg, have in quoting other writers not to use added further support to the validity footnotes or to give proper credit. of Carver’s record. Since Dr. Lettsom brought out the It was unfortunate that Lettsom third edition. Bourne thinks it prob­ came into Carver’s life so late, as he able that Lettsom was responsible, at would undoubtedly have proved a least editorially, for the previous powerful friend who might have used editions. He states: all his resources if necessary in further­ If my conjecture should be shown to ing the explorer’s claims to official be a fact, we should have a curious recognition, and in the advancement instance of vicarious plagiarism producing of any legitimate liaison with the a greater literary reputation for the colonies across the sea. Bibliography Carver, J. Travels through the Interior Warbasse, J. P. Doctors of Samuel Johnson Parts of North America in the years and his court. Med. Lib. er Hist. J., 1766, 1767, and 1768. Ed. 3, Lond., 199-200, 1907. 1781. Fox, R. H. Dr. John Fothergill and His Lettsom, J. C. Memoirs of John Fothergill, Friends. Lond., Macmillan, 1919, pp. M.D. Ed. 4, Dilly, 1786. 9-117. Pettigrew, T. J. Memoirs of the life and Bourne, E. G. Jonathan Carver and His Trav­ writings of the late John Coakley els. Am. Hist. Rev., ii: 287-302, 1906. Lettsom, with a selection from his corre­ Elliott, T. C. The Strange Case of Jonathan spondence. Lond., Fisher, Son & Co., Carver and the Name Oregon. Oregon 1858,3:393-395* Hist. Soc. Quart., 21: 366-368, 1920. Durrie, D. S. Captain Jonathan Carver Browning, W. Early History of Jonathan and the Carver grant. Coll. State His­ Carver. Wisconsin Mag. Hist., 3: 291- torical Soc. Wisconsin, 6: 220-270, 1872. 305, 1920. Thomson, St. C. John Coakley Lettsom and Quaife, M. M. Jonathan Carver and the the foundation of the Medical Society. Carver grant. Mississippi Valley Hist. Lond., 1918. Rev., 7: 2-25, 1920. The strenuous life of a physician in the Kellogg, L. P. The mission of Jonathan 18th century. Annals Med. Hist., n. s., Carver. Wisconsin Mag. Hist., 12: 2; i: I, 1929. 127-145, 1928.