Footnotes
Thomsonian physicians—those who followed botanical medicine methods taught by Samuel Thomson—believed all illness was caused by cold and that any treatment producing heat would aid in recovery. They used cayenne pepper, steam baths, and Lobelia inflata (a plant) to cause heavy sweating and vomiting. (Haller, People’s Doctors, 20–27, 40; Porter, Greatest Benefit to Mankind, 393.)
Haller, John S., Jr. The People’s Doctors: Samuel Thomson and the American Botanical Movement, 1790–1860. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2000.
Porter, Ray. The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: A Medical History of Humanity. New York: W. W. Norton, 1997.
Ergot is a fungus that grows on rye. In addition to using it to induce uterine muscles to contract, botanical physicians used ergot to minimize bleeding. However, Samuel Thomson, founder of the botanical movement, strongly cautioned against the use of ergot, reporting that it “destroys the elastic power of the muscles to such a degree, that they never regain their natural tone” and that “the consequence of such treatment often proves fatal.” (“Ergot,” in Oxford English Dictionary, 3:271; Thomson, New Guide to Health, 138.)
Oxford English Dictionary. Compact ed. 2 vols. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971.
Thomson, Samuel. New Guide to Health; or, Botanic Family Physician. Containing a Complete System of Practice . . . to Which Is Prefixed a Narrative of the Life and Medical Discoveries of the Author. Boston: By the author, 1822.
JS, Journal, 2 Mar. 1843; see also Dinger, “Medicine and Obstetrics in Mormon Nauvoo,” 51–68.
Dinger, Steven C. “‘The Doctors in This Region Don’t Know Much’: Medicine and Obstetrics in Mormon Nauvoo.” Journal of Mormon History 42, no. 4 (October 2016): 51–68.
Coverture was the common-law term for the legal status of married women throughout the nineteenth century. According to eighteenth-century British jurist William Blackstone, “By marriage, the husband and wife are one person in law: that is, the very being or legal existence of the woman is suspended during the marriage, or at least is incorporated and consolidated into that of the husband; under whose wing, protection, and cover, she performs every thing.” (Blackstone, Commentaries, vol. 1, bk. 1, p. 355, italics in original; see also Zaher, “Research Guide on the Common Law Doctrine of Coverture,” 459–486.)
Blackstone, William. Commentaries on the Laws of England: In Four Books; with an Analysis of the Work. By Sir William Blackstone, Knt. One of the Justices of the Court of Common Pleas. In Two Volumes, from the Eighteenth London Edition. . . . 2 vols. New York: W. E. Dean, 1840.
Zaher, Claudia. “When a Woman’s Marital Status Determined Her Legal Status: A Research Guide on the Common Law Doctrine of Coverture.” Law Library Journal 94, no. 3 (Summer 2002): 459–486.
“Petition,” Wasp, 22 Mar. 1843, [2]; “Assumpsit,” in Bouvier, Law Dictionary, 1:99–100; see also Dinger, “Judge Joseph Smith and the Expansion of Legal Rights for Women,” 74.
Bouvier, John. A Law Dictionary, Adapted to the Constitution and Laws of the United States of America, and of the Several States of the American Union; With References to the Civil and Other Systems of Foreign Law. 2 vols. Philadelphia: Deacon and Peterson, 1854.
Dinger, John S. “Judge Joseph Smith and the Expansion of the Legal Rights of Women: The Dana v. Brink Trial.” Journal of Mormon History 42, no. 4 (October 2016): 69–96.
Summons, 14 Feb. 1843, Dana v. Brink (Nauvoo Mayor’s Ct. 1843), photocopy, CHL; An Act concerning Justices of the Peace and Constables [3 Feb. 1827], Revised Code of Laws, of Illinois [1826–1827], pp. 259–260, sec. 1.
The Revised Code of Laws, of Illinois, Enacted at the Fifth General Assembly, at Their Session Held at Vandalia, Commencing on the Fourth Day of December, 1826, and Ending the Nineteenth of February, 1827. Vandalia, IL: Robert Blackwell, 1827.
Summons, 14 Feb. 1843, Dana v. Brink (Nauvoo Mayor’s Ct. 1843), photocopy, CHL.
Subpoena, 15 Feb. 1843, Dana v. Brink (Nauvoo Mayor’s Ct. 1843), photocopy, CHL; Subpoena, 18 Feb. 1843, Dana v. Brink (Nauvoo Mayor’s Ct. 1843), photocopy, CHL; Subpoena, 23 Feb. 1843, Dana v. Brink (Nauvoo Mayor’s Ct. 1843), photocopy, BYU; Subpoena, 27 Feb. 1843, Dana v. Brink (Nauvoo Mayor’s Ct. 1843), photocopy, BYU; see also Historical Introduction to Dana v. Brink.
“Bill of Particulars,” in Bouvier, Law Dictionary, 1:135.
Bouvier, John. A Law Dictionary, Adapted to the Constitution and Laws of the United States of America, and of the Several States of the American Union; With References to the Civil and Other Systems of Foreign Law. 2 vols. Philadelphia: Deacon and Peterson, 1854.
Charles Dana, Bill of Particulars, ca. 2 Mar. 1843, Dana v. Brink (Hancock Co. Cir. Ct. 1844), Hancock County Courthouse, Carthage, IL.
JS, Journal, 2 Mar. 1843; Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo, 16 Dec. 1840; “Officers of the City of Nauvoo,” Times and Seasons, 15 Dec. 1841, 3:638; Cotton, Treatise on the Powers and Duties of Justices of the Peace in Illinois, 4.
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
Cotton, Henry G. A Treatise on the Powers and Duties of Justices of the Peace in the State of Illinois, with Practical Forms. Ottawa, IL: By the author, 1845.
“Regular” physicians were doctors who were educated at medical academies and universities and who believed that a hyperactive state of the arteries was the cause of disease. These doctors treated patients with an aggressive form of bloodletting and calomel purges. (Whorton, Nature Cures, 3–7.)
Whorton, James C. Nature Cures: The History of Alternative Medicine in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
When presiding over previous cases in the mayor’s court, JS typically gave his ruling the same day as the trial. (See JS, Journal, 3 Mar. 1843; Historical Introduction to City of Nauvoo v. McGraw; Historical Introduction to City of Nauvoo v. W. Thompson; and Historical Introduction to State of Illinois v. Olney..)
“Circuit Court of the U. States for the District of Illinois,” Times and Seasons, 16 Jan. 1843, 4:65–71; “Circuit Court of the United States for the District of Illinois,” Wasp, 28 Jan. 1843, [1]–[2].
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
The Wasp. Nauvoo, IL. Apr. 1842–Apr. 1843.
It is also unknown whether JS read the entire trial report or just his ruling to the court on 10 March. (JS, Journal, 10 Mar. 1843.)
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See Charles Dana, Bill of Particulars, ca. 2 Mar. 1843, Dana v. Brink (Hancock Co. Cir. Ct. 1844), Hancock County Courthouse, Carthage, IL.
Possibly an abbreviation for damage or damages.
Bouvier’s legal dictionary defines malfeasance as “the unjust performance of some act which the party had no right, or which he had contracted not to do.” (“Malfeasance,” in Bouvier, Law Dictionary, 2:90.)
Bouvier, John. A Law Dictionary, Adapted to the Constitution and Laws of the United States of America, and of the Several States of the American Union; With References to the Civil and Other Systems of Foreign Law. 2 vols. Philadelphia: Deacon and Peterson, 1854.
Bouvier’s legal dictionary defines misfeasance as “the performance of an act which might lawfully be done, in an improper manner, by which another person receives an injury.” (“Misfeasance,” in Bouvier, Law Dictionary, 2:135.)
Bouvier, John. A Law Dictionary, Adapted to the Constitution and Laws of the United States of America, and of the Several States of the American Union; With References to the Civil and Other Systems of Foreign Law. 2 vols. Philadelphia: Deacon and Peterson, 1854.
It was common in assumpsit actions to bring forward multiple counts for one complaint so that if one count failed, there was a chance for another count to succeed. Ultimately, the two counts in this case were treated as a single claim for ninety-nine dollars. (Chitty, Practical Treatise on Pleading, 1:390–391; see also Historical Introduction to Declaration to the Geauga County Court of Common Pleas, 7 May 1838.)
Chitty, Joseph, and Thomas Chitty. A Treatise on the Parties to Actions, and on Pleading, with Second and Third Volumes, Containing Precedents of Pleadings, and Copious Directory Notes. 3 Vols. Springfield, MA: G. and C. Merriam, 1840.
The witnesses sworn at this point evidently included doctors Robert D. Foster, John F. Weld, and Samuel Bennett, as well as midwife Patty Bartlett Sessions. Charles Dana’s attorney Onias Skinner apparently intended to first have Sessions and other midwives testify, as well as the patient, Margaret Dana, in order to recount the actions of William Brink on 22–24 October 1842 and then have the doctors Foster, Weld, and Bennett testify as to whether they “consider[ed] the treatment correect.” (JS, Journal, 2 Mar. 1843.)
Brink’s lawyers, Sidney Rigdon and William Marr, objected to the testimony of traditionally trained, or “regular,” physicians Robert D. Foster, John F. Weld, and Samuel Bennett in this trial on the grounds that they were not “competent” to assess the practices of their Thomsonian competitor and that the regular doctors’ testimonies might prejudice the local citizens against Brink’s professional practice. (JS, Journal, 2 Mar. 1843.)
Onias Skinner argued that the testimonies of doctors Robert D. Foster, John F. Weld, and Samuel Bennett could not be objected to, given that none of them had an “interest,” meaning a financial benefit, in the outcome of the case. (JS, Journal, 2 Mar. 1843; Harrison, Analytical Digest, 2:1047.)
Harrison, S. B. An Analytical Digest of All the Reported Cases, Determined in the House of Lords, the Several Courts of Common Law, in Banc and at Nisi Prius; and the Court of Bankruptcy: and also the Crown Cases Reserved, from Mich. Term, 1756, to Mich. Term, 1834, together with a Full Selection of Equity Cases, and the Manuscript Cases from the Best Modern Treatises Not Elsewhere Reported. 3 vols. Philadelphia: Desilver, Thomas and Co., 1835.
For Willard Richards’s notes of the debate over the competency of the witnesses, see JS, Journal, 2 Mar. 1843.
According to Willard Richards’s account in JS’s journal, Miles testified that she “went for Sister [Patty Bartlett] Sessions.” (JS, Journal, 2 Mar. 1843.)
An 1837 midwifery manual defined parturition as “that process, occurring at the expiration of thirty-nine weeks from conception, by which the uterus detaches and expels its contents.” (Conquest, Outlines of Midwifery, 55.)
Conquest, John Tricker. Outlines of Midwifery, Developing Its Principles and Practice; Intended as a Text Book for Students, and a Book of Reference for Junior Practitioners. 6th ed. London: Longman, Orme, Brown, and Green, 1837.
Webster’s 1828 dictionary defined accoucheur as “a man who assists women in childbirth.” A female midwife was normally referred to as a female accoucheur or an accoucheuse, the feminine form of the word. (“Accoucheur,” in American Dictionary [1828]; see also “From Late Paris Papers,” Daily National Intelligencer [Washington DC], 12 Mar. 1841, [2]; and “Midwifery Institute,” New-York Daily Tribune [New York City], 6 Nov. 1850, 3.)
An American Dictionary of the English Language: Intended to Exhibit, I. the Origin, Affinities and Primary Signification of English Words, as far as They Have Been Ascertained. . . . Edited by Noah Webster. New York: S. Converse, 1828.
Daily National Intelligencer. Washington DC. 1800–1869.
New-York Daily Tribune. New York City. 1841–1924.
Thomson recommended nervine, also known as “Ladies’ Slipper,” for treatment of “all cases of nervous affection, and in hysterical symptoms.” He recommended cayenne pepper “to retain the internal vital heat of the system, and cause a free perspiration.” (Thomson, New Guide to Health, 45, 61; see also Haller, People’s Doctors, 21, 26.)
Thomson, Samuel. New Guide to Health; or, Botanic Family Physician. Containing a Complete System of Practice . . . to Which Is Prefixed a Narrative of the Life and Medical Discoveries of the Author. Boston: By the author, 1822.
Haller, John S., Jr. The People’s Doctors: Samuel Thomson and the American Botanical Movement, 1790–1860. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2000.
An 1840 midwifery manual defined fontanelles as “those parts of the head where the cranial ossification in the foetus has remained incomplete,” with the name deriving “from their supposed resemblance to a fountain (fons). . . . In the Fontanelles a pulsation can often be perceived, and when this is the case it is evidence of the vitality of the child.” (Burke, Accoucheur’s Vademecum, 23.)
Burke, Thomas Travers. The Accoucheur’s Vademecum; or, Modern Guide to the Practice of Midwifery. London: Simkin, Marshall, 1840.