Gloucester County Democrat., 1909-01-21

men of Haddonfie1d and Woodbury. in
1905.
He also had time to take part In
religious affairs, and was a member
and vestryman of St Mary's Protest
ant Episcopal Church at Colestow.l, /,
and was one of the originators of St.
Paul's p. e. Church in Camden, March
IL, 1880, and was then elected one of
it's vestrymen
From 1894 to 1888 he practiced
medicine with much distinction. He
was one of the original members of
the Gloucester District Medical So
ciety in 1903. He was trustee uf
the first public school in Haddonfield
in 1909.
DIR. Bowman Hendry was physi-
clan of great ability. ********He pos
sessed those magnetic personal at
tributes which endeared him to the
people to such an extent that when
his barn, horses and equipments were
destroyed by an incendiary fire, they
raised subscription for him and
quickly rebuilt the building and re-
placed the destroyed personal prop
erty. ********#*** No doctor in this
county has done more to elevate the
practice of medicine from a trade to
a profession. By his example he
taught this community that there was
attached to it a philanthropy and a
benevolence that widely separates it
from other occupations, and, by dying
poor man, when so many opportuni-
ties offered to secure gain, he illus
trated the fact that the services of
such a man cannot be measured by
money (g). And he was Wood
bury boy.
DR.. Joseph F'ithian, whom many of
us knew we'll, was born in Fairton,
Cumberland county, in June 1895. In
early life he served as teacher, and
after pursuing his medical studies
graduated at the University of Penn
sylvania, and settled in Swedesboro
in 1916 where he practiced one year.
and then removed to Woodbury., where
he remained the rest of his long and
useful life. In 1917, he married Miss
Harriet Stratton, whose brother Char
les G. Stratton, of SWedesboro, was
afterWard Governor of this State. She
died in 1850. In 1876, when the Glou-
cester County Medical Society was in
corporated, DR.. Joseph Fithian was
it's first President, and in 1S49 he was
elected President of the New Jersey
Medical Society.
DR.. Fithian was one of the founders
of the Gloucester County Bible Society
in April, 1916, one month before the
American Bible Society was organiz-
ed in New York City
In 1S47, DR.. Fithian, who had con-
tinued his membership uninterrupt-
edly since 1916, was elected its Presi-
dent, and by unanimous choice was
continued in that office until his de-
cease in 1881. He was the last sur
viving membr, having served sixty
five years as manager and president
In religious belief he was a Presby-
terian, and all his lifetime in Wood
bury he served his church as member,
elder and trustee. He was much in
terested in missions and Rev DR..
Brace who served as missionary in
the pines and along the seashore ia
Atlantic county, says DR.. Fithian con-
tributed freely to the support of this
mission. His home used to be sopen
house" for all Presbyterian ministers
coming} this way. His second wife,
who was a Miss Hettie G. Cattell, CO.
operated nobly with him in this work,
frequently she was at her wits end
how to provide for her many guests
over night in the little house they
used to live in before it was burnt
down. AS she. said to me once. 1--WE
can eat them all right, but when it
comes to sleep them, we are short o
ROOM"
DR.. Fithian practiced for over fifty
years in this city and surroundings
country, driving to Camden, Haaddon-
field, Blackwood, Cross Keys, Will
Jamestown, Glassboro, Mullica Hill,
Clarksboro, Paulsboro and Red Bank
Unlike DR.. Hendry, he was thrifty
man, and when he died he left mucl
more than any other physician who
had practiced medicine in this county.
He was good collector. Profession
ally speaking, he was a close obser-
yer, and ready at anything in his line.
He would pull teeth, and he could fill
those that ought not to be pulle1.
After his death his widow presented
me with his. set of dental instruments.
He was methodical in his work, and
he kept his own books. A perusal Of
one of his old ledgers givn to me by
his daughter when she gave up her
uOulC HClC, ol1OW0 uOI Olly uOW CdI e.
full he was in charging up his work,
but about some of his payments. He
charged Widow who lived at
Blackwood So per visit in 1920 and
Widow at Clarksboro in 1850
the same price One entry shows
that farmer in Deptford township
sent him a load of hay on his bill, and
very poor quality" is written under
meath.
He was an interesting talker, and
many things / learned from him.
One day, in talking about horses he
had owned, he said: when / bought
a new horse, the first thing l did was
to teach him two things, Go, when |
told him to go, and Whoa, when / told
him to whoa. Another thing |
learned from him about horses, and
that was when he had trotted one for
ten or fifteen miles, he rested it by
letting it gallop for half a mile; it
was a change for him, and gave an
oher set of muscles something to
do, D1. s<~1.1.