A Visit with Rockville’s Own 19th Century Country Doctor

Led by Clarence Hickey as Dr. Edward Stonestreet

In person at the Davis Library (Meeting Room, lower level)

Dr, Edward Elisha Stonestreet practiced as a country doctor in Rockville, Maryland for 51 years (1852 to 1903) during a period of great change in medical knowledge and practice. Clarence Hickey portrays Dr. Stonestreet and will discuss, with the help of a mannequin patient, the general medical practices that evolved from leeches and bloodletting to the handling of trauma and rapid transport of soldiers wounded in the Civil War to the use of vaccines and then anesthetics at the turn of the century.

Despite rapidly changing medical methods, Dr. Stonestreet was still a horse and buggy doctor, who made house calls to the mostly farmers who then populated the Rockville area. And when called upon by the Union Army, he managed a make-shift hospital in Rockville as soldiers wounded at the Battle of Antietam were distributed to local townships for follow-on care.

This presentation will offer a glimpse into what life was like for the country doctor and what normal citizens of the time could expect when the doctor came to call.

To register for the presentation, please RSVP to park21217@aol.com for Zoom meeting information.