The Adair County news. [volume], May 07, 1913, Page 2, Image 2

About The Adair County news. [volume] (Columbia, Ky.) 1897-1987

Image provided by: University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY

                
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;
THE ADAIR JOUNTY NEWS
'
PACTS REGARDING
HERO OF SURGERY.
Relative Writes Interestingly Con
cerning Famous Case.
MONUMENT TO BE ERECTED.
Editors of Sullivan, Indiana Un
ion: I have received a clipping from
Oiir paper of January 1st, 1913,
relative to the grave of Mrs. Jane
Crawford, whose remains rest in
the Johnson cemetery near Grays
ville, in your county. Some of
the statements require slight
correction. I am not a descend
ant of Mrs. Jane Crawford, but
a grandson of Rachel Crawford,
3. sister of Thomas Crawford,
husband of Mrs. Jane Crawford.
Thomas Crawford and Thomas
Mitchell, who married his sister
Rachel, emigrated from Rock
bridge county Va., in 1805 and
settled in Green county Ky. , on
adjoining farms. While residing
there the famous operation was
performed on the wife of Thom
as Crawford by Dr. Ephriam
McDowell, now known as the
Sather of Ovariotomy. Thomas
Cirawford remained in Kentucky
till about the year 1817 when he
removed to Jefferson county, In
diana, and settled on a farm
near Madison. There is a tradi
tion among his descendants that
ae,-ieft Kentucky on account of
5jis- opposition to slavery. A
monument was erected to Dr.
Ephriam McDowell at Danville,
Ky.,.in 1879, but no steps have
bjgsn taken as yet to my knowl
sdge towards erecting a monu
ment to his first patient, Mrs.
Crawford. The suggestion for
such a monument was made in
the address by Dr. Samuel D.
Gross at the dedication of the Mc
Dowell monument. After his
eulogy upon Dr. McDowell, Dr.
Gross spoke of Mrs." Crawford
as follows:
"All honor, too, to the heroic
77oman who, with death literally
sjtaring her in the face, was the
nrst to submit calmly and re
signedly to what certainly was
at the time a surgical ezperi
ment. To her, too, let a monu
ment be erected, not by the citi
zens of Kentucky, but by the
suffering women who, with her
example before them, have been
the recipients of the inestimable
boon of ovariotomy, with a new
lease of their lives and with im
munity from subsequent discom
fprt and distress. I know of no
greater example in all history of
heroism than that displayed by
this noble woman in submitting
o.an untried operation."
Mr. James Lane, author of a
"Kentucky Cardinal," "The
Choir Invisible," and other books
refers to the event in his volume
entitled "The Doctor's Christmas
Eve," on page 100 in which he
says:
"More centuries have passed
we know exactly how many now
from year to year. It is the
nineteenth, and it is the New
World; the next picture on the
library wall portrayed a scene on
the Western frontier of a new
civilization. It is the backwoods
of Kentucky, it is a pioneer set
tlement of three or four hundred
souls, nearly a thousand miles
from any hospital or dissecting
room. In the front door of his
Tjide pioneer house stands a Ken
tucky country doctor, Ephriam
' McDowell. His patient is before
him, a woman on horseback in a
side-saadle. She has just arriv
ed, having ridden some seventy
miles through the wilderness.
He is assisting her to alight; and
he is soon to perform, without
consultation, without precedent
in the ages of surgery (but not
without a prayer for himself and
her) , by strength of his own will
and nerve and by the light of the
solitary candle of his own genius,
an operation which made Ken
tucky the mother of ovarian sur
gery for all coming time going
his own way to immortality as
Shakespeare went his, as the
greatest always go theirs by a
new path a new epoch of life
and mercy; he untrumpeted and
alone."
Collins' history of Kentucky
also makes a record of the opera
tion and the fame it brought Dr.
McDowell.
Mrs. Jane Crawford has thus
received honorable mention in
history orations and literature,
but it seems that only recently
has anyone taken the pains to
look up ber history.
In October, 1912, I received a
letter from Miss Amelia 'Craw
ford, of Covington, Ky., a
granddaughter of this heroine
requasting me to answer a num
ber of questions submitted to
her by Dr. August Schachner, of
Louisville Ky., regarding Mrs.
Jane Crawford, I understand to
Dr. Schahner primarily belongs
the credit of starting this inves
tigation. I have known Miss
Amelia Crawford, for several
years when she lived in Louis
ville, Ky. I also knew her fa
ther, Hon. Thos. Howell Craw
ford, one time Mayor of Louis
ville. He and my father were
first cousins; beyond this I knew
very little of the Crawford fam
ily until 1 undertook to answer
the questions of Dr. Schachner,
nor did I know that Mrs. Jane
Crawford had more than one
son, in fact I did not know her
Christian name until I had the
records examined in Green Co.,
Ky., and found that Thomas
Crawford and Jane his wife,
conveyed a tract of land there in
December, 1810 to one John Mot
ly, this was about a year after
the opperation which took place
in December, 1809, according to
one authority; another writer
says it occurred in June, 1S09;
all agree that it was some time in
the year 1809.
Mrs. Crawford's maiden name
was Todd. There is a belief
among her descendants that she
was a first cousin of Gen. Levi
Todd, the grandfather of Miss
Mary Todd, who became the
wife of Abraham Lincoln. I am
not able to verify this from any
record to which I have had ac
cess, perhaps some one familiar
with the Todd genealogy may
know the fact. I have learned
from the descendants of Mrs.
Crawford that she had four chil
dren who reached mature years.
Three sons, James, Samuel and
Thomas Howell and one daught
er, Alice, who married one Wm.
Paul Brown and died at an ad
vanced age in Morning Sun,
Iowa, in the year 1884. I under
stand the older residents of your
county remember the son, Rev.
James Crawford, who lived in
the vicinity of Graysville, and
died at Morning Sun, Iowa, in
July, 1872, at the age of 77 years
leaving one son, Alexander
Crawford, who is supposed to
have died some years ago at Wa
co, Texas. There are no de
scendents of James, Samuel or
Thomas Howell Crawford now
known to be living, except Miss
Amelia Crawford, daughter of
Thomas H. Crawford, and it is
possible that there are some liv
ing descendants of Samuel living
in the West, but if so their
places of residence is unknown
to their relatives. Samuel Craw
ford died probably at Logans
port, Indiana, about 1843 and
Thomas H. Crawford was fatally
burned and died at Pewee Val
ley. Ky., in June, 1871; Mrs.
Alice Brown is believed to have
over 70 living descendants, liv
ing chiefly in Iowa and Kansas.
Her son, James Crawford Brown,
still lives at Morning Sun, Iowa,
at the age of 87 years. He has
a maiden sister in the same place
of an advanced age. After
learning that Rev. James 'Craw
ford was a Presbyterian minis
ter, I traced his history in the
minutes of the General Assem
bly of the Presbyterian church.
I received through Mr. J. C.
Brown, of Morning Sun, Iowa,
theinformation that Mrs. Jane
Crawford died at the home of
her son, Rev. James Crawford,
near Graysville, Indiana, and
that her remains were probably
buried in a cemetery near that
place. On December 6, 1912, I
wrote Rev, John McArthur,
Presbyterian minister at Sulli
van, Indiana, asking his aid in
locating the grave.t I received a
prompt answer to which I re
plied on December 13. On De
cember 16, I received another
letter from Rev. McArthur con
taining the definite information
that Mrs. Crawford's grave was
in the Johnson cemetery, and
giving the inscription on her
tombstone containing date of her
death as March 30, 1842, aged 75
years. I am deeply grateful to
Mr. McArthur for his assistance
as well as to any others who may
have aided in locating the grave.
I have had a letter from Dr. Ma
ple, secretary of the Sullivan
County Medical Society and from
another physician at Graysville,
whose name I do not recall. A
photograph of the grave appears
in the Journal of the American
Medical Association for January
4, 1913, and a statement of Dr.
W. N. Thompson. I understand
the photograph was furnished by
Dr. J. R. Hinkle. In the issue
of this Journal ior January 18,
1 913, appears another stttement
from Dr. Thompson regarding
the grave. We shall be glad to
gather as many facts as possible
concerning Mrs. Crawford, and
hope some day that a sketch may
be prepared containing a fuller
history than has yet appeared.
Any one in the vicinity of Sulli
van who can give any informa
tion regarding her life or who
knows any thing of the date and
place of death of Alexander
Crawford, son of Rev. James'
Crawford or anything of the de
scendants of Samuel Crawford,
another son of Mrs. Jane Todd
Crawford, I shall be pleased to
hear from them. I am in no
way connected with the Nation
al Medical Association and do not
have charge of any arrange
ments to erect a monument.
This part of the statement in
your paper is premature. 1
should be glad indeed to see some
association take hold of the mat
ter, and would do anything in
my power to aid in the work. I
am a member of the local pro
fession and necessarily have to
devote my time to my clients.
Mrs. Crawford will no doubt in
JUDAS
The above
picture is
CHERONSTALLION. He will mae the season of 1913 at my barn onevmile
east of.tTolumbia, Ky., on the Sommerset road, for the sum of $10.00 to insure
a living colt.
DESCRIPTION: Judas is a 5 year old Percheron, a steel gray, weighs 1700 pounds and is 16i
hands high. He is a perfect model and a world beater. Remember that every farming country in the
world wants the Percheron horse. The leading mule producing States are raising the mules from the
Percheron mares. See this horse before you breed. I will gladly show you his certificate of registra
tion and Pedigree. t
Money due when colt is foaled or mare traded or removed from neigh
borhood.
All care taken to prevent accidents but not responsible should any occur.
A , Q.ii-1
. ft. t
DENTAP OFFICE
Dr. James Triplett
DENTIST
NFXT TO POST OFFICE
Columbia, Ky.
RUsS PHONE 21. OFI'ICE PHONE D3
WELL DRILLER
I will drill wells in Adair and
adjoining counties. See me be
fore contracting. Latest im
yroved machinery of all kinds'
Pump Repairing Done. Give
me a Call.
J. C. YATES
Lk. H- JOJ4ES
Veterinary Surgeon
and Dentifat ,
5 years experience. Special attention
given to Surgical and Dental work.
Office at residence near Graded School
building.
PHOENO. 7. N.
W. Tanner Ottley
H.ttopneyH.t-liawl
Will practice in all tlie
Cotrts
Columbia, Ky.
time be a national . historical
chaaacter. It has been said
that her heroic act in submitting
to an untried operation has al
ready added 40,000 years to the
lives of women besides relieving
an untold amount of suffering.
J. K. Mitchell.
Osborne, Kansas,
April 7th, 1913.
Cine for Stomach Disorders.
Disorders of the itomach may be
avoided by the use of Chamberlain's
Tablets. Many very remarkable cures
have been effected by these tablets.
Sold by Pabll DrugO o.
NO. 76,284.
a natural photograph of
W. G. McKINLEY
Buggies Surreys Runabouts.
Wonderful Sales Of Buggies.'
Woodson Lewis
Greensburg
Sells A Oar Load
Saturday.
Saturday June 22nd.
Main Street Greensburg was Blocked!
for two hours with Buggies sold "
by Wood Lewis.
During the day Town Marshall cailed
on to clear the street.
What is the cause of these Phenominal
Sales.
Quality, Styles and Easy Riding.
REMEMBER, Woodson Lewis the Buggy
man, the Mower and Binder man, the
7 v. i
G-asoline
Engine
Implement man.
WOODSON LEWIS
GREENSBURG, KY.
JUDAS the famous PER-
Kentucky,
v
'"W
Of Buo-o-ies .."Bviery
oo-
man, ffi? Farm
s
V
r C!Am