Sep 30, 2021 - Sale 2580

Sale 2580 - Lot 160

Price Realized: $ 845
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 500 - $ 750
(MARYLAND.) Medical ledgers and family correspondence of Dr. Francis Sappington of Libertytown. [24], 288; [17], 103 manuscript pages (a few blank). 2 folio volumes, about 15 x 9 1/2 inches, original calf, worn but stable; a few leaves coming loose, minor dampstaining. Libertytown, MD, 1806-37
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Additional Details

Francis Brown Sappington (1754-1838) was a physician in Libertytown in Frederick County, MD; he apparently mended shoes on the side. The first volume contains mostly ledger accounts with patients started mostly from 1806 to 1809, most of them concluded by 1811, through page 254. Most of the patient entries are heavily abbreviated prescriptions, with the occasional entry in plain English such as "a visit, night, to wife in labour" (page 2) or "went 11 miles, staying all night & delivering woman, consultation with Dr. Brashear" (page 92) or "inoculating 7 patients" (page 109). Among his patients are "Peggy & Mingo" on page 6. One patient paid his bill in part by "hire of Negro Dennis one years £22.10.0" (page 190). The ledger concludes with a cash journal dated 1829 to 1837, an odd mix of shoe repair and medical prescriptions, pages 255 to 289. It also begins with 3 pages of recipes: pickling, curing meat, dyeing cloth, "cement for broken glasses," and even a couple for curing coughs; and an index.

The second ledger includes accounts dated 1814-21 plus an index, with similar entries to the first ledger. A long account with his mother Frances on page 16 includes inoculations for family members, and also another entry from his side-hustle: "to mending shoes for her negroes."

Included with the ledgers are 15 letters and accounts relating to Dr. Sappington's family:

6 letters to his daughter Harriet Sappington (1785-1856) dated 1798-1804 and undated. Some were received while at boarding school from her aunt Lydia Ridgely, who encouraged her studies and discussed "the important and instructive History of Rome" at length--most likely Gibbons. Another from an unidentified friend on 22 August [1804] discusses the scandalous elopement of George Bevans (1782-1814) with Mary Ogle (1785-1844), daughter of the former governor of Maryland. Bevans is referred to in other sources as an "uncouth Englishman" and this letter offers additional details on their unconventional courtship.

3 letters to Dr. Sappington from his mother Frances Brown Sappington (1723-1838), 1798-1811. One reports on "taking all the nervous pills I have . . . send me some nervous pills." Her 1811 letter requests a strong horse and suggests that she was still actively managing her farm at age 88.

Letter from a friend regarding Frances Brown Sappington's health, 29 December 1797.

Two long accounts and two letters from nieces relating to the settlement of Frances Brown Sappington's estate, 1816.

Undated letter from daughter-in-law Rebecca Boyce Sappington (1755-1794) of Tennessee to Frances Brown Sappington: "The children express a great desire to see their grand mamma. Roger and Frank often dispute who best remember you." For related papers see lots 42, 159, and 229.