Rev. Charles Green (c.1710–1765) was the first permanent rector of Truro Parish, recommended to that post in 1736 by GW’s father. He also practiced medicine. “Ministers were frequently the only ones who could ‘read medicine,’ since before 1700 the greater part of the literature was in Latin. Clerical practice survived incidentally in rural areas well into the eighteenth century” (SHRYOCK [1] description begins Richard H. Shryock. “Eighteenth Century Medicine in America.” Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, n.s., 59 (1950): 275–92. description ends , 280).