Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center

 

Thomas Stilwell, M. D.

 

LH-336

Introduction

Biographical Sketch

Scope and Content

Inventory

 

Introduction

 

This collection was donated by Don C. Stone of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 2005 and 2006.

Biographical Sketch

 

Thomas Stilwell, M.D, son of Anna and Joseph Stilwell, was born in January 1815 in Buffalo Valley, Union County, Pennsylvania.  While he was still a child, the family moved to New Berlin, Pennsylvania.  Dr. Stilwell studied under Rev. David Kirkpatrick in Milton, Pennsylvania, and then briefly at La Fayette College, Easton Pennsylvania.  He began his medical studies under Dr. Joseph R. Lotz in New Berlin.  Dr. Stilwell graduated from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in March of 1839. 

 

Dr. Stilwell moved to Ohio with Dr. James W. Wilson in 1839, settling in Lower Sandusky on June 24th.  In 1842 he married Jerusha A. Boughton.  Together they had five children: Charles B, Thomas J, Charlotte E, Mary, and Anna M. 

 

Dr. Stilwell was a prominent local physician, serving several years as the Vice President of the Sandusky County Medical Society.  He was also a member of the Ohio State Medical Society.  From February 1863 to 1879 he was a pension examining surgeon.  He was also a censor at Charity Hospital Medical College, later known as the Medical Department of Wooster University, as well as a censor of the Medical Department of Case Western Reserve University.  Dr. Stilwell died November 30, 1897. 

 

Scope and Content

 

The collection contains materials dating from 1861 to 1883. It consists of letters written to Dr. Stilwell by several Sandusky County, Ohio, residents serving in the Civil War, including General Ralph P. Buckland, brother-in-law of Stilwell and commander of the 72nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Of particular note, is the letter (July 26, 1861) of Dr. John B. Rice (assistant surgeon of the 12th Ohio) in which he expresses his opposition to slavery.  Other materials include lectures and speeches prepared by Dr. Stilwell, including several about Fremont, Ohio’s, Presbyterian Church.

 

Inventory

 

Ac. 5650

23 items

 

Folder 1:

Correspondence John B. Rice

1. June 15, 1861 – Camp Dennison

2. July 26, 1861 – Glenville, Virginia

3. February 13, 1862

4. August 6, 1862 – Memphis. Tennessee

 

Folder 2:

Correspondence General Ralph Buckland

1. August 19, 1862 – Fort Pickering, Tennessee

2. November 31, 1862 – Camp Shilach, Tennessee

3. January 25, 1863 – Jackson, Tennessee

4. April 15, 1863 – Young’s Point, Lousisiana

5. June 11, 1863 – Near Vicksburg

6. December 8, 1863 – Memphis, Tennessee

 

Folder 3:

Correspondence Moses H. Crowell

1. March 26(?) 1862 – Beverly, West Virginia

2. April 21, 1862 – Highland County, Virginia

 

Folder 4:

Correspondence Isaac Vanderpool

1. March 10, 1862 – Berlin Heights, Ohio

 

Folder 5:

Correspondence Samuel A. Snyder

1. January 7, 1863 – Moscow, Tennessee

2. Volunteer Descriptive List and Account of Pay and Clothing for Emanuel Smith, January 7, 1863 – Moscow, Tennessee

 

Folder 6:

Lectures of Thomas Stilwell

1. “A Lecture: The World’s Progress Delivered in a Citizens Course of Lectures about 1862” by Dr. Thomas Stilwell, 24 pp. [handwritten]

2. Untitled lecture written in the inquiry of the “mechanism and the uses of the hand,” by Dr. Thomas Stilwell, 32 pp. [handwritten]

 

Folder 7:

Presbyterian Church, Fremont, Ohio

1. “Address at the Laying of the corner Stone of Presbyn Church” by Dr. Thomas Stilwell, 4 pp. [handwritten]

2. “Laying of the Cornerstone” by Dr. Thomas Stilwell, 4 pp. [handwritten]

3. “The Presbyterian Church; What It Is,” written on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Presbyterian Church, Fremont, Ohio, by Dr. Thomas Stilwell, [1883] 35 pp. [handwritten]

 

Folder 8:

1. Photocopies, Clippings, and Memorabilia from Stilwell Scrapbook owned by Don C. Stone.

2. Printed Obituary of Dr. Thomas Stilwell

3. CD of Thomas Stilwell materials