CLIPPING

Early Life of the Medical Men
Dr. Howard of Pomfret Healed the Sick and Did Other Work
The Vermont Journal has received the following from C.H. Cutts Howard of Beebe, AR.

Before me there are a number of papers yellowed with age concerning early history in Pomfret. These range from 1778 to 1804. These concern the estate of Dr. Abel Howard who went to Pomfret in 1790 and lived there until his death in June 1804.

Dr. Howard was born in Sturbridge, MA in 1770, the son of William and Zllpha Bugbee Howard. His father was killed at the battle of White Plains in 1776 and his mother was left a widow with three sons of whom Dr. Howard was the oldest. His mother survived her husband by two years. The boys were then ‘bound out’ until they reached their majority.

Judge Harding of Sturbridge was responsible for young Abel and he made a very good record since at the age of eighteen he had graduated from the academy at Leicester, MA.

After studying medicine for two years, he married the daughter of Judge Harding and in 1790 they moved to Pomfret where Dr. Howard practiced medicine until 1804 when he died at the age of 34 years. His wife had died in 1803.

It would seem from written records that Dr. Howard was a very capable business man. He owned a farm of 80 acres had an interest in a sawmill, had horses, cows, hogs, sheep, and oxen, also timberland.

There is a reason to believe that he had heard of Pomfret through the relatives of his wife and from the Bugbee and Harding families. Papers left by him show that he did a medical practice of considerable volume. Dr. Howard, his first wife, and some of their Infant children are buried in a cemetery in Pomfret.

A glance at the inventory of Dr. Howard’s estate shows how his house was furnished. The State of Vermont was then in its infancy and stores were few and far between. The nearest places to trade were Windsor and Woodstock. In the living room of Dr. Howard’s house were six Windsor chairs, a desk and bookcase combined in which were a Bible, Latin dictionary, and some medical books, which included Townsend’s Guide to Health, Cheselden’s Anatomy, Science of Life, Hoopers Medical Dictionary, Perry’s Dictionary etc. There were tables in the room and a razor and case.

In the sleeping rooms there were three different sized bedsteads and cord for them this being before the age of slats and springs. They had plenty of blankets, sheets, bureaus, candle stands, low chests, and high chests. There were nine chairs in the kitchen. They had large and small plates, teacups and saucers, and numerous tumblers ranging in size from a quart down. Decanters, pewter ware, pitchers, servers, vinegar cruets, and other household articles were aplenty.

The cooking was done on the hearth or fireplace for which there were pots kettles spiders gridirons toasting irons bake pans skillets iron dogs shovels tongs and flat irons. There was plenty of pork and cheese on hand all the time. Four hives of bees supplied the honey. Sap buckets on hand would imply that they had plenty of sugar maple trees on the place.