Dr. Eli Pinney was one of the first doctors in Dublin, Ohio who practiced starting in the mid 1800s. He was originally from Worthington, Ohio and attended Worthington College.[1] While not much has been recorded about Pinney, his legacy was profound. According to a newspaper article from the 1980s, “At the time he had the most extensive practice in Franklin County.”[2]Nineteenth-century doctors were mostly local, so Pinney likely served multiple, nearby areas.[3] Furthermore, as is evidenced in a picture on Ancestry, he received his M.D., which is apparently unusual, because many nineteenth-century doctors were not accredited.[4] “Because there were no state licensing laws, pretty much anyone could claim to be a physician.”[5] This is unthinkable to us today, because everything is regulated in the modern age. It would be nice to find more primary newspaper sources referencing Pinney. Was he as credible as he seems?
In addition, he served in the Civil War. He appears in another Ancestry photo with other Civil War veterans. He is older in the picture, and all of the men have very grave expressions. The words Cicero Post is printed on the wall behind them.[6] According to A Centennial Biographical History of the City of Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio, Cicero Davis Post was a Civil War Union division. The author mentions it in a biographical sketch of Reverend Sawyer A. Hutchinson, writing, “He served his term of enlistment and was then honorably discharged, but has always continued social relations with his army comrades through his membership in Cicero Davis Post, of Dublin, Ohio…”[7] The picture might show a reunion or an anniversary of some kind. Therefore, Pinney was not only a prominent doctor but a veteran. Even with the sparse source material, by looking at two worlds Pinney was a part of, we come closer to seeing the full man.
[1]Margaret Barron-Burd, “Eli Pinney Home Full of History and Lore,” Dublin Memories: A Digital Scrapbook for the Bicentennial and Beyond, Dublin Ohio Historical Society, circa 1980s, https://digital-collections.columbuslibrary.org/digital/collection/p16802coll39/id/8891/rec/20.
[2]Ibid.
[3]Joel D. Howell, “Reflections on the Past and Future of Primary Healthcare,” Health Affairs, Vol. 29, No. 5 (May 2010): 760.
[4]From Shanachie, a magazine of Dublin culture and history, Scott Weber Photo, Ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com/mediaui-viewer/tree/76077118/person/46516859961/media/63039f17-294e-4bb4-9f15-6af61d86bbf9?_phsrc=KMK138&_phstart=successSource.
[5]Howell, “Reflections on the Past and Future…,” (2010): 760.
[6]“Dublin, Ohio Veterans of the Civil War,” Dublin Memories: A Digital Scrapbook for the Bicentennial and Beyond, Dublin Ohio Historical Society, circa 1880s, https://digital-collections.columbuslibrary.org/digital/collection/p16802coll39/id/227.
[7]A Centennial Biographical History of the City of Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio(Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1901), 58.
No comments:
Post a Comment