College of Physicians and Surgeons of the Western District

of New YorkFairfield, NY

and

Dr. Westel Willoughby, Jr.

Westel Willoughby, Sr. and his wife Ruth Arnold, five sons and two daughters arrived in Norway in 1792 from Massachusetts. The five sons were David, William, James, Arnold, and Westel Willoughby, Jr. They first located on the west side of Jerseyfield Road, a little north of the Van Vechten homestead.Westel, Sr. and son James later purchased a place owned by John Murphy and carried on a blacksmith business. James, William, and David later moved from Norway, two settling near Poland and one in Oswego County.Arnold and Westel, Jr. were settled in Norway for awhile. Arnold and his wife Catharine Stevens located about a mile northeast of Norway village near the Coe settlement. Arnold was a carpenter during the summer months and a wheelwright during the winter. He made spinning wheels for wool and flax, becoming prosperous and the family grew to ten children.

Westel Willoughby, Jr. was a doctor. It is not known where he received his education, but he was prepared to practice medicine upon his arrival in Norway. His career and the medical college at Fairfield were to become closely connected.About half a mile south of Norway village, Dr. Willoughby was said to have shared a log cabin with a Dr. Toucey. Later he was joined by Dr. Tombling in the log cabin on what came to be known as Tomlin Brook. In 1888 it was reported that a large elm tree was growing on the site of the log house.

Schools of Higher Learning at Fairfield

Fairfield Academy 1803-1855

College of Physicians and Surgeons

1812- 1840

Fairfield Seminary 1855-1891

Fairfield Seminary and Military Academy

1891-1901

The first building of the Fairfield Academy was erected in 1802 and classes began in 1803. Plans were already afoot to offer medical courses. Training was proposed in anatomy, chemistry, apothecary art, and other medical subjects. At this time, most physicians were trained by apprenticeship, reading medicine with a doctor, followed by riding with the doctor, observing and participating in treating patients.

Earliest Medical School in the United States

• 1765 – College of Philadelphia

• 1767 – King’s Medical College

• 1782 – Harvard Medical School

• 1797 – Dartmouth Medical School

• 1807 – College of Physicians and Surgeons in NYC.

• 1808 – Lean-to attached to the Chapel of Fairfield Academy for medical classes.

Further Development of Medical Education

• 1809 – Second building erected at Fairfield Academy, called the Worden Lab. It housed medical students and the medical dept.

• 1812 – The College of Physicians and Surgeons of the Western District of NY was chartered by the Regents of the State of New York.

In 1813, the medical college purchased the lab building from the Fairfield Academy. The lean-to was insufficient for a medical school and the lab was fitted up with an anatomical theater, a museum to display body parts, and cabinets for chemicals and mineralogical specimens. This building was three stories high, 63 feet by 38 feet, made of native limestone.One of the original faculty members was Dr. Westel Willoughby, Jr. who taught obstetrics. He was a member of the original Board of Trustees and became president in 1827, serving until 1844.

The Worden Lab

Heroic Medicine – blood letting, purging, fasting, herbs.According to the Norway Tidings, in 1812-1813 there was an epidemic fever raging in this locality. It was called by various names: typhoid pneumonia, spotted fever, peripneumony, and malignant plurisy. Patients who were bled seldom lived past the 5th day. Some doctors used heat, brandy, and laudanum which caused patients to die much sooner. To draw out blood and pour down brandy were standard remedies. Almost every other family was in mourning. About 40 Norway residents died in 1813 from this disease. Dr. Willoughby’s method of treatment was between the two extremes. Out of 30 or 40 patients, he lost only one.

Fairfield Medical College1812-1840

• Age of Heroic Medicine – 1790-1850

• Smallpox vaccination recognized in U.S.-1800

• Anesthesia in U.S. – 1846

• Antiseptics in U.S. - 1882

There are many stories about grave robbing by the medical students in their search for cadavers to dissect. Probably some of the stories were more fable than fact. But one story in particular stands as truth because Dr. William Mather of Fairfield vouched for its truth in the Norway Tidings. In the year 1817, a young teacher in Norway, Saloma Whiting, became sick and died. She was engaged to be married to Harvey Willoughby, a nephew of the good doctor. Soon after Saloma’s burial, it was discovered that her body had been removed. When the citizens of Norway heard about this, they decided her body must have been taken to Fairfield and they organized an armed group and marched to Fairfield with a cannon. At first the medical faculty denied having the body. But the public outrage was so great that they returned Saloma to avoid bloodshed. After this, her grave was watched nights by young men armed with rifles.In 1819 the Trustees resolved to dismiss any student involved in grave robbing. Eventually a law was passed to give the bodies of prisoners executed at Auburn State Prison to the medical college.

DR. WESTEL WILLOUGHBY, JR.

Dr. Willoughby’s Early Achievements

• 1801-Norway Town Supervisor.

• 1803-Trustee of newly formed Fairfield Academy.

• 1802 or 1803-Moved to Newport.

• 1805-1821-Judge of Court of Common Pleas.

• 1806-Formation of Herkimer County Medical Society.

• 1808-1809-NYS Assemblyman.

• 1812-Earned medical degree at College of P & S of NYC.

• 1812-Medical officer in War of 1812.

• 1815-1817-US Congressman.

All these things were done while he had a medical practice. In addition, he was a professor at the Fairfield Medical College.

Dr. Westel Willoughby, Jr. 1769-1844To continue the life story of Dr. Willoughby, we go back to the year 1790. Willoughby was in Stockbridge, Mass. where he married Rhoda Judd. He was teaching school and studying medicine with a Dr. Gideon Thompson. When the Willoughby family decided to move to Norway two years later, Rhoda refused to go. She was said to have “a will and a way of her own.” According to some accounts, the couple was divorced in 1794. Most of the people in this area who knew Dr. Willoughby were not aware that he had a previous marriage.Sarah Cole became Westel’s wife, probably in Newport. There were no children and Sarah (Sally) died in 1838. The doctor married again in 1839. This time his wife was Mariah Babcock St. John, a widow with two children who became members of the Willoughby household. At one time a census taker recorded as many as 14 persons living with the Willoughbys, including two “free colored” servants. Local lore says Dr. Willoughby participated in the Underground Railroad.The doctor died in 1844 and was said to have been in failing health for a few years. At the time of his passing, his first wife, Rhoda, was living in Broome County, NY. She was visited by the St. John son of wife number three. Rhoda refused to appear in court and signed off on any claim to the estate. Thirty-three individuals were named in the will as relatives.Doctor Jacob Sherwood married Thirza Willoughby, a daughter of Westel’s brother Arnold. He practiced with Dr. Willoughby in Willoughby’s later years and received his medical instruments, medicines, and office furniture upon Dr. Willoughby’s passing.

When Westel Willoughby, Jr. moved to Newport, he purchased the land where the two villa houses now stand. His land extended northwesterly across the little creek, past the building later built by Linus Yale. The doctor’s house stood near the site where the Stuart Perry House was later erected. His house was later moved to the road going toward Norway to make a home for Deacon Isaac Smith who retired from his work in Norway. Many of us remember this house as the home and office of Dr. Lynn Greene, dentist.The doctor’s office was located on the corner where now stands the Octagon House built by Ira Cady. The doctor’s farm extended both ways from that corner, east and north.

Dr. Westel Willoughby’s Home

Westward Movement of Medical Education

Dr. John Henderson of Norway moved to Chagrin, Ohio, a village near Lake Erie. He was followed by Dr. George W. Card of Old City a few years later.

The history of medicine in this country was made by graduates of the little medical school in Fairfield, NY.

This story will be told by Dr. Ronald Taddeo and his friends from Willoughby, Ohio.