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Lot 12
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Dr. John Bard, Colonial NY Physician, Asks Friend Benjamin Franklin to Extend Credit to Son Samuel Bard, Later George Washington's Surgeon & Founder of Columbia College
Dr. John Bard, Colonial NY Physician, Asks Friend Benjamin Franklin to Extend Credit to Son Samuel Bard, Later George Washington's Surgeon & Founder of Columbia College
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Description:

Bard John




Dr. John Bard, Colonial NY Physician, Asks Friend Benjamin Franklin to Extend Credit to Son Samuel Bard, Later George Washington's Surgeon & Founder of Columbia College

 

3 pp ALS with integral address leaf inscribed overall, and signed by New York physician John Bard (1716-1799) as "Jno Bard" at page three bottom. Written in New York, New York on September 20, 1765. Cream watermarked paper. Addressed to John's eldest son Samuel Bard (1742-1821), who was then studying medicine abroad. Light toning and isolated discoloration. Expected paper folds, some with minor closed tears. A few areas of loss. The docketed address leaf bears remnants of a red wax seal and various philatelic markings. Each page measures 7.25" x 9.25".  Also accompanied by an 1821 obituary of Samuel Bard, and a modern catalog description.

 

The complete transcript can be found below, with unchanged spelling and grammatical errors. Paragraph breaks have been included for better legibility.

 

"New york Sept: 20 1765 --

 

My Dear Son

 

yours of the Eigth of July I have received and find by the Delay of Mrs Mildred & Roberts you have been put to Inconveniences for money. I have desired Mr Franklin to give you a credit for an other hundred pounds on the same house since the date of my letter of ye 15th of April which Mr Franklin has an and is done  which I hope has come to your aid time enough to leave Edenburgh with ease and satisfaction to your self and will enable you to persue such further measures as will tend to your furt[h]er advantage & Improvement.

 

I have mentioned in a former letter that I thought after you left Edenburgh it would be best to go Immediately to Lyden, and paris this rout need not take up much of your time, and return to London and pass the next Winter there  ’tis there I expect the greatest advantage in ripening your Judgment. Dr Huck I am sure will take you by the hand and render you any good offices in his power.

 

when you are there your own Judgment will point out to you the properest conduct and I have the utmost confidence in your Discretion in this particular. I have received a very obliging polite letter from Dr Morgan since his arival in Philada where he mentions you in terms of greatest respect. Tennent is not as yet arived here, Dr Smith and Prince are here. They keep their [margin:] medicines and practice the three branches together. I think your advantages with respect of practice is much superior to them all. there has not been much done in our College as yet, nor has there been any thing further done towards Erecting a publick hospital  These are things which will be reserv’d probably for you and your contempores.

 

as the time is now not very far off when I expect the happiness of seeing you permitt me to mention one thing, which perhaps is needless. In your taste of Cloaths preserve a plain and manly taste as well as in your manners  I have known many young gentlemen of Learning deep thought & speculation captivated by this feather and greatly lesson that Esteame they would otherwise have our Worthy Friend Morgan has not been proof altogether against this Weakness. Extreemly Neat but plain in your Dress mixd with an Easie Chearfull open candid behavior Joined with such a becoming gravity as arise only from the mind being Ingaged on subjects of speculation and Importance. Consider further my Dr Son that New york in all probability is to be the place of your residence where plainness in Dress you know has been long the taste of men of the greatest fortunes among us and much respect is due to the fashions and customs of the country where we live.

 

you will not forget to procure me some of the rhubarb head you sent me so fine a cut of. I should be glad you would observe what you can with respect to the paper mills and manner of making it as to the commission for Sick and wounded you need not take nay trouble about it. I can at all times transfer it, as I intend, to you without any Expence or Trouble

 

Nothing would give me greater pleasure than your continuance a twelve month longer in London, where you would have an opportunity of attending the hospitals and those professors you have already payd particularly by placing your self in some good apothecarys, who is Imployed by Fothergil Huck & others where you could not avoid acquainting your self with ye [Newest?] and most Judicious method of prescribing and forming ye best and safest judgment of Diseases. the very great scarcity of money and the present dullness of commerce will make this Difficult for me tho I am not without hopes of accomplishing it.  however least this should not be in my power

 

I am certain you will apply yourself with great diligence to these methods of Improvement till I can Inform you what I shall be able to do. endeavor to Ingratiate your self with Dr. Huck  I Like of all men his manner, his taste, his Industry, his address and his Abilities & Principles I have the greatest opinion  much may be done in one Winter.  your Brother by the advice of Mr Franklin yesterday engaged upon a short Voyage to Halifax. he thinks he shall return [missing] have enough to make a Voyage this Winter to Jamaica & [missing] here next Spring

 

adue my Dr son

your affectionate Father

Jno Bard

 

[Marginal postscript:] I have not time to copy this rought Draught.

 

[Address:] To / Samuel Bard Esqr / To the care of Mr / Richard Board/ Drugest in Grace church Street  London."

 

John Bard was apprenticed for seven years to an English surgeon practicing in Philadelphia. While in the City of Brotherly Love, he became acquainted with Benjamin Franklin, and opened his own medical practice in 1737.  In 1743, Franklin recommended that Bard relocate to New York City, where two prominent physicians had recently died. He followed Franklin’s advice and established a successful practice in New York, becoming the first president of the New York Medical Society. The town of Hyde Park, New York, later famous as the home of Franklin D. Roosevelt, was named for Bard’s estate, “Hyde Park.”  

 

Samuel Bard was the eldest son of Dr. John Bard and graduated from King’s College (later Columbia University) in 1758. He spent five years studying medicine in France, England, and Scotland, and earned his M.D. at the University of Edinburgh in 1765. When he returned, he entered into partnership with his father.  Samuel Bard founded the first hospital in New York City in 1769 and formed the plan for a medical school. After the Revolutionary War, George Washington selected Bard as his personal and family physician while in New York. In 1791, he helped found the New York Medical School at Columbia College. Bard and his partner after 1796, Dr. David Hosack, were physicians to Alexander Hamilton and his family. Bard retired from his profession in 1798 but returned to the city when a yellow fever epidemic broke out in 1803. He and his wife died of pleurisy one day apart and were buried in one grave.

 

Other individuals mentioned in this letter include:

 

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) was a friend of John Bard. From the mid-1750s to the mid-1770s, Franklin spent much of his time in London, both as an agent of the Pennsylvania Assembly and as opponent of the Penn family’s proprietorship.

 

Daniel Mildred (1731-1788) and his brother-in-law John Roberts (1716-1782) were Quaker merchants in London, who carried on an extensive trade with the British North American colonies.

 

Dr. Richard Huck Saunders (1720-1785) was a physician in London. While a surgeon in the military, he was quartered at Edinburgh for two years, and he attended medical lectures at the university there. By 1765 he had settled in London. In 1777, he married an heiress named Saunders, through which he acquired a fortune and assumed the name of Saunders.

 

John Morgan (1735-1789) was a physician and the co-founder of the medical college at the University of Pennsylvania, the first medical school in Colonial America. He also served as the second chief physician to the Continental Army. He received his medical degree from the University of Edinburgh in 1763.

 

John Fothergill (1712-1780) was an English physician and Quaker. He received his medical degree from the University of Edinburgh in 1736, and established an extensive medical practice in London.

 

Richard Board (1732-1782) was a chemist (or apothecary) on Gracechurch Street in London.

 



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