Information
Sheet
R Williams, William B., ca. 1812-ca.
1888.
113 Records,
1837-1888.
Four volumes.
MICROFILM
These are daybooks, 1837-1860, and a
ledger, 1855-1888, of a physician in Farmington, St. Francois County,
Missouri. (See also WHMC-R collection
R103).
These volumes contain the business
records of the medical practice of Dr. William B. Williams. Another volume from the same set of records,
a ledger borrowed from a different donor, has been cataloged and microfilmed as
collection R103.
Although he practiced medicine in St.
Francois County for over forty years, very little is known about William B.
Williams. The Federal censuses for 1850
and 1860 are contradictory, listing his birthdates as 1812 and 1814. The censuses agree, however, that he was a
physician, that he was born in Connecticut, and that his wife was named
Mary. His records indicate that he practiced
at Farmington into the 1880s, but no references are made to him in the censuses
of 1870 and 1880, in medical society records, or in any histories of Farmington
or St. Francois County. The results of
a search for biographical data by the State Historical Society of Missouri are
contained in the Information Folder.
The records of Dr. Williams’s practice
include three consecutive daybooks, 1837-1860, and a partially indexed ledger,
1855-1888. Typical entries include the
name of the patient or the head of the household, the nature of the medical
service rendered, and the fee. Two of
the daybooks also contain memoranda of agreement for medical service. For a set fee, Williams contracted to
attend to a family for one year.
Childbirth was excepted, and any new offspring in the family required
an additional payment. This arrangement
was popular around 1840-1850.
Most of Williams’s practice centered
around Farmington in St. Francois County, but there are daybook entries in the
1840s for patients in Fountain Green, Jackson, Castor River, and Arcadia,
Missouri. Many of the early settlers of
St. Francois County are noted in the volumes, and many of the entries indicate
that he treated slaves.
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