February 2, 1821 The Bottles of Dr. John O. Hill

The goal of today’s snippet is to share from the collections of the Historical Society. In 2010 Joe Baldwin, long-time Trumansburg resident and local historian, gave the Historical Society several bottles which belonged to Dr. John O. Hill, and an article he and James Wagner had written about Dr. Hill and the bottles. The society also had in its collection lecture tickets from Dr. Hill.

Several of the Dr. Hill bottles on display at the Interlaken Historical Society Museum.

What makes these bottles unique is the raised letters on them noting “Dr. Hill's,” “Farmer, NY” and the type or title of the medicine.

Dr. Hill's 

Cabvinative Cordial

Farmer, N.Y.

In the article, they note that Dr. Hill was not a “medicine vender of the period [who] merely borrowed the title doctor.” Dr. Hill had his medical degree. Later in the article they note, “In 1869, Hill, began a series of lectures in villages in Northern New York. In 1870-71, Hill...continued to visit small villages... If the reader is beginning to form an image of Dr. Hill standing on a show wagon with a bottle of bitters in one hand and a tambourine in the other, this image is apparently false. All evidence available would indicate that this man was a dedicated and talented surgeon.”

          

Lecture tiecket for Dr. Hill's Gentleman's Lecture

The back of the Gentlemen's Lecture ticket, offering consultation
 "upon all diseases requiring medical treatment."

One of  several other tickets to Dr. Hill's lectures.
Interlaken Historical Society Collection

Dr. Hill died July 24, 1875 in Ithaca where he had a second office, his other being in the village. He would take the train from Farmer [now Interlaken] to Ithaca, and return later in the day. On that day, after greeting his daughter and her husband who were arriving for a visit, he went to Ithaca as usual. The newspaper articles differ on exactly how the accident happened, but Dr. Hill drank either water, or quinine from a container that had earlier contained strychnine. Had the antidote been provided to him, the tragedy might have been averted. As it was, Dr. Hill died shortly afterwards.

Dr. Hill was born February 2, 1821, in Delaware County, NY, the son of Isaac I. and Clarisa Hill. He married Mary E. Taft and she survived him, along with three of their four children. Marian I. Hill died 1 September 1869 age 16, Alice Hill married Albert N. Avery, Dr. Arthur Rensselaer Hill married Mary R. Mann, and Frances Adele Hill married Daniel M. Kellogg. The widow along with Dr. Arthur Hill and family and Frances and Daniel Kellogg lived in Farmer/Interlaken. The younger Dr. Hill had his residence and office, in a separate building, on Cayuga Street.

I would invite you to visit the Museum either during normal open hours in the summer or arrange a visit to look at the bottles, the lecture tickets and read the complete article. The Historical Society is especially grateful to Joe Baldwin for this gift, which I might add, he visits at least once a year.

Dewitt’s Diary: Wednesday, February 2, 1921

Cold south wind today. Drew a load of bean down to father’s. Smoked the hams some today. Edna is practicing on her piano today. She likes it very much. Drew in the last sorghum* and corn stalks today. Prospects for some snow today.

Many banks being robbed in and around the cities. The safe at the National Bank at Trumansburg was blown open last summer and $6,000 in money and liberty bonds taken. No trace of them were found.

* SORGHUM, a genus of grasses belonging to the tribe Andropogoneae, and including one of the most important tropical grains, Sorghum vulgare, great millet, Indian millet or Guinea corn. It is a strong grass, growing to a height of from 4 to 8 or even 16 ft.; the leaves are sheathing, solitary, and about 2 in. broad and 2½ ft. in length; the panicles are contracted and dense, and the grains, which are enclosed in husks and protected by awns, are round, hard, smooth, shining, brownish-red, and somewhat larger than mustard seeds. The plant is cultivated in various parts of India and other countries of Asia, in the United States, and in the south of Europe. Its culms and leaves afford excellent fodder for cattle; and the grain, of which the yield in favorable situations is upwards of a hundredfold, is used for the same purposes as maize, rice, corn and other cereals. Encyclopedia Britannica 1911 [https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Sorghum]