G. F. H. Crockett to Thomas Jefferson, 18 February 1823
From G. F. H. Crockett
Herndonsville Ky. Feby. 18th 1823.
Dear Sir.
Tho’ I have never had the pleasure of an acquaintance with you, I have taken the liberty (unwarranted, it may be) of addressing you. Expecting to visit you, on my way to or from the state of Delaware, e’er a great while, & knowing your fondness for any thing literary, or otherwise valuable—are the only apologies I offer.
I will briefly state, that, I was born in the state of Delaware—was a lieutenant in the 32d Regt. U.S. Infy. during the late war—after peace came to Ky.—turned my attention to the study of the ‘Healing Art,’ for 3½ years, in which time I attended two courses of medical lectures, & recieved the degree of M.D. in Transylvania University March 18th 1822 [see the catalogue] in the 28th year of my age; & I am practicing at the above named place, in Scott Cy. (near the seat of Col. Rh. M. Johnson.)
I transmit herewith some pamphlets which will doubtless be acceptable. No 1. Is a discourse by one of our best—most profound western orators. It contains as much original matter, perhaps, as any thing of the size you have ever read; & the application of the subject to a system of education, I think very good. The doctrine is, in some respects, original with Dr Fishback. No 2. Beside the latin theses, &C. contains a catalogue of all the graduates of T.U. up to its date. No 3. A catalogue of the officers & students of the present session. No 4. Act of incorporation, constitutions, &C. of the ‘Lexn Medl. Society.’ I had this institution principally under my care for near 2, & have been a member about 5 years—I principally framed its constitution; & but for exertions exclusively my own, it would not have been incorporated. All medical graduates of T.U. are (by the authority of its byelaws) Honorary members of the Medical Society. No 5. Extracts from Dr Percivals Medical Ethics. The “Κ.Λ. Society of Hippocrates” is a revival of, & an improvement upon the one formed by Hippocrates (for the benefit of his students) in the isle of Cos—it is confined to medical men—it is intended as a means by which to elevate the character of the medical profession, & prevent its members from “preying upon each other.” Its meetings are held in secret, similar1 to those of the free masons. It was resuscitated in Lexn Ky. but has took root in most of the medical schools in the Union.
G. F. H. Crockett
RC (MHi); brackets in original; adjacent to full signature: “Thomas Jefferson Esq”; endorsed by TJ as received 19 Mar. 1823 and so recorded in SJL. Enclosures: (1) James Fishback, The Substance of A Discourse, in two parts; delivered in the Meeting-House of the First Baptist Church in Lexington, February 3, 1822; To the Class of the Medical School of Transylvania University (Lexington, [1822]), arguing that man can know God only by scriptural revelation and not by observation or experimentation in nature. (2) Clarissimo Johanni Adair, Armigero, gubernatori … Reverendo Horatio Holley, A M, A A S, Præsidi … Reique Publicæ nostræ Literariæ Fautoribus; Theses hasce, Juvenes in Artibus initiati, … humillime dedicant (Lexington, 1822), listing theses presented by Transylvania University students in 1822. (3) Catalogus Senatus Academici, eorum qui munera et officia gesserunt, quique alicujus gradus laurea donati sunt in Universitate Transylvaniensi, Lexingtoniæ in Republica Kentuckiensi (Lexington, 1822). (4) A Catalogue of the Officers and Students of Transylvania University, Lexington, Kentucky, January, 1823 ([Lexington, 1823]). (5) Thomas Percival, Extracts from the Medical Ethics, or a code of Institutes and Precepts, adapted to the Professional Conduct of Physicians & Surgeons, in private or general practice (Lexington, 1821), an edition published by order of the Kappa Lambda Society. Other enclosure accounted for below.
G. F. H. Crockett (ca. 1795–1864), physician, was a native of Delaware. He rose from ensign to second lieutenant in the 32d Infantry Regiment of the United States Army between 1813 and his honorable discharge in 1815. Three years later Crockett published in Lexington, Kentucky, An Essay on the divinity of Jesus Christ; proving him to be the incarnate Son of God. He received a medical degree from Transylvania University in 1822 with a thesis on asthma and practiced medicine afterward in Scott County, Kentucky. By 1829 Crockett lived in Woodford County in the same state. He continued his medical practice in Mississippi, where he lived from about 1835 until at least 1844. Crockett had returned to Woodford by 1850 as a physician and owned real estate valued at $100. By 1861 he was also a Baptist minister, then residing in Cabarrus County, North Carolina. Crockett served in the Confederate army as an acting assistant surgeon. He is buried in Harrisonburg, Virginia (, 1:339; Philadelphia Journal of the Medical and Physical Sciences 4 [1822]: 226; Transylvania Journal of Medicine and the Associate Sciences 2 [1829]: 528; DNA: RG 29, CS, Ky., Woodford Co., 1830, 1850; Charles Adams Gulick Jr. and Katherine Elliott, eds., The Papers of Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar [(1921–27)], 3:48–50; Baptist Missionary Magazine 24 [1844]: 153; George W. Purefoy, A History of the Sandy Creek Baptist Association [1859], 250; Charlotte Western Democrat, 17 Sept. 1861; DNA: RG 109, CSRCGSONEM; gravestone inscription in Woodbine Cemetery, Harrisonburg).
Enclosure no 4, pertaining to the lexn medl. society, has not been found as a separate publication, but its constitution and 21 Dec. 1821 act of incorporation were printed in the Acts Passed at the First Session of the Thirtieth General Assembly for the Commonwealth of Kentucky (Frankfort, 1821), 420–4.
1. Manuscript: “sinilar.”
Index Entries
- A Catalogue of the Officers and Students of Transylvania University, Lexington, Kentucky, January, 1823 search
- books; on medicine search
- Catalogus Senatus Academici, eorum qui munera et officia gesserunt, quique alicujus gradus laurea donati sunt in Universitate Transylvaniensi search
- Clarissimo Johanni Adair, Armigero, gubernatori … Reverendo Horatio Holley, A M, A A S, Præsidi … Reique Publicæ nostræ Literariæ Fautoribus; Theses hasce, Juvenes in Artibus initiati, … humillime dedicant search
- Crockett, G. F. H.; identified search
- Crockett, G. F. H.; letter from search
- Crockett, G. F. H.; sends works to TJ search
- Extracts from the Medical Ethics, or a code of Institutes and Precepts, adapted to the Professional Conduct of Physicians & Surgeons, in private or general practice (T. Percival) search
- Fishback, James; The Substance of A Discourse, in two parts; delivered in the Meeting-House of the First Baptist Church in Lexington, February 3, 1822; To the Class of the Medical School of Transylvania University search
- Hippocrates (Greek physician); Kappa Lambda Society of Hippocrates search
- Jefferson, Thomas; Books & Library; works sent to search
- Johnson, Richard Mentor; mentioned search
- Kappa Lambda Society of Hippocrates search
- Kentucky; weather in search
- Lexington Medical Society (Lexington, Ky.) search
- medicine; books on search
- medicine; education in search
- Percival, Thomas; Extracts from the Medical Ethics, or a code of Institutes and Precepts, adapted to the Professional Conduct of Physicians & Surgeons, in private or general practice search
- schools and colleges; Transylvania University (Lexington, Ky.) search
- thermometers; and meteorological observations search
- The Substance of A Discourse, in two parts; delivered in the Meeting-House of the First Baptist Church in Lexington, February 3, 1822; To the Class of the Medical School of Transylvania University (J. Fishback) search
- Transylvania University (Lexington, Ky.); A Catalogue of the Officers and Students of Transylvania University, Lexington, Kentucky, January, 1823 search
- Transylvania University (Lexington, Ky.); Catalogus Senatus Academici, eorum qui munera et officia gesserunt, quique alicujus gradus laurea donati sunt in Universitate Transylvaniensi search
- Transylvania University (Lexington, Ky.); Clarissimo Johanni Adair, Armigero, gubernatori … Reverendo Horatio Holley, A M, A A S, Præsidi … Reique Publicæ nostræ Literariæ Fautoribus; Theses hasce, Juvenes in Artibus initiati, … humillime dedicant search
- Transylvania University (Lexington, Ky.); medical school at search
- War of1812; veterans of search
- weather; cold search
- weather; snow search
- weather; temperature readings search