The Future Dr. Fox wants to contact Dr. Morse
- pshorner6
- Apr 5
- 8 min read
Updated: Apr 12
Small April 24th, 1871, cover missing stamp from Barrington, N.S. to Bridgetown, N.S. Addressed to David Morse, Esq., Bridgetown. Front stamp Barrington, N.S. AP 24 1871. Backstamps H(alifax), N.S. AP 27 1871, Bridgetown date illegible, penciled in AP 27 1871.
The contents are a letter from 20-year-old Charles James Fox writing from Barrington, Nova Scotia, to David Morse, a 62-year-old farmer in Bridgetown, Nova Scotia. In it, Charles asks David whether his son, the 38-year-old Dr. Leander Morse, was still in Lawrencetown, Nova Scotia. Charles recounts how he had enclosed some money he owed Dr. L. Morse in a letter to him mailed in November 1870 and had not received a reply.
Dr. Charles James Fox
Charles James Fox, jr. was born February 11th, 1851, in Bridgetown. His father, Charles James Fox was a schoolteacher in Bridgetown who had married Mary Coffin, of Barrington, Nova Scotia. The family had moved back and forth between Bridgetown and Barrington during Charles' childhood. Charles, sr. died in Barrington in 1865, when young Charles was just 14. Charles received his early education in Bridgetown and taught school there for several years, hence his familiarity with this letter's addressee, David Morse, and his son, Dr. Leander Morse. In 1871 when this letter was written, he was living in Barrington, but he does not appear in the 1871 census. He may by that time have removed to the United States where he attended University of Pennsylvania and received his MD in 1876. He may have been inspired to pursue medicine by his contact with Leander Morse or by an uncle, Dr. John Fox M.D. (1793-1866) who had been a surgeon in the Royal Navy and had practiced at Wolfville, Windsor, and Halifax, Nova Scotia. Charles' paternal grandfather, Cornelius Fox, was a grammar schoolteacher, born in County Cork, Ireland in 1845. He immigrated to Sydney, Cape Breton in 1763. In 1787 he married Olive Cleveland in Cornwallis and the family settled in Bridgetown where he died in 1815.
In 1877, back in Barrington after his studies, Charles married Marie Walker Homer on December 31st. The family then moved to Pubnico, Nova Scotia where Charles established a medical practice and remained for the rest of his life. Marie died two years later, and he remarried in 1884, Deidamia "Annie" Gayton of Lower Argyle, Nova Scotia. They had seven children. Their daughter, U.S. Army Nurse Annie Gayton Fox, was the first woman to receive the Purple Heart for her service at Hickham Field on December 7th, 1941, during the attack on Pearl Harbor. The link below tells her story.
Dr. Charles Fox died of "heart trouble" March 24th, 1937, age 87, at Pubnico. He had been seeing patients and even driving a car until a few months prior to his death. His obituary describes him as a "wonderful physician and a great help to any in trouble."
David Morse of Bridgetown
The letter's addressee, David Morse, a farmer in Bridgetown. He was born in 1809, the son of David Church Chipman Morse and Hannah (Hicks) Morse. He married Sarah Harriet Morse on December 24, 1832, in Paradise, Annapolis County. He died there in 1875. David's grandfather, Abner Morse was born September 25, 1731 in Sherborn, Massachusetts, where on February 19, 1756, he married Anna Church. The Morse family were pre-revolutionary immigrants, moving from Massachusetts to Annapolis Royal on the ship Charming Molly, arriving June 25th, 1760. Their son, David Chipman was born in Annapolis on January 16th, 1777.
Dr. Leander Rupert Morse
Leander Rupert Morse was the eldest son of David Morse and Sarah. He was born on November 19th, 1833, in Bridgetown. His early life was spent on the farm. He received a liberal education at the Bridgetown academy under the tutelage of the William Shipley, and became a teacher. He taught in several sections of the county while studying medicine preparatory to entering Harvard. He graduated with a Doctor of Medicine in 1861. He set up a medical practice in Lawrencetown, Nova Scotia. Leander married Ellen Mary Fitch, daughter of Handley E. Fitch and Eliza Ann Freeman, on October 12th, 1871, at the Baptist Church in Clarence, Annapolis County. Leander and Ellen had seven children.
Leander Rupert Morse died at his home in Lawrencetown on 13 May 1903, age 69. His obituary recounts how, "[f]or the past 42 years he has practiced his profession as well as conducted the drug store in Lawrencetown, where he has accumulated a fine property. Soon after entering upon his practice he purchased the property where he died, and married Ellen, daughter of the late H. E. Fitch, of Clarence, by whom he had four sons and three daughters all of whom survive him. Three brothers and one sister also survive him. Dr. Morse was always interested in education and was a member of the Board of School Commissioners. He was a member of the board of health for the town and a prominent member of the Baptist church. As a physician he was ready and prompt in attendance and held in esteem by those for whom he ministered."
Dr. Morse's son, Leander Rupert Morse, jr., born 2 Sep 1872 in Lawrencetown followed his father into medicine. The Halifax Herald published his obituary on March 28th, 1963. Lawrencetown Surgeon Dr. L. R. Morse, jr dies Lawrencetown - Funeral service for one of the Valley's earliest surgeons and co-founder of Soldier's Memorial Hospital, Middleton, Dr. Leander Rupert Morse, 91, will be held Friday. A survivor of the Halifax Explosion of 1917 when he helped care for the wounded, Dr. Morse was also one of the earliest certified radiologists in Nova Scotia and was radiologist in charge at Camp Hill Hospital, Halifax, when it opened. He continued until the end of the First World War. Born in Lawrencetown where he received his early education, he graduated from Acadia University in 1892 and later from McGill University where he received his medical degree. Prior to coming to Lawrencetown to aid his father, Dr. L. R. Morse, Sr., he interned in Yonkers, N.Y. With the exception of his army services during which time he received the rank of Major in the RCAMC, he practiced in his home area."
A postal cover from Dr L. Morse, sr. can be seen at:
Medical Practice in Nova Scotia
During the overlapping lives of the four physicians here, Dr. John Fox (1793-1866), Dr. Leander Morse, Sr. (1833-1903), Dr. Charles Fox (1851-1937), and Dr. Leander Morse, Jr. (1872-1963), momentous changes happened in medical practice in Nova Scotia. In the early 1800s "There were doctors in Halifax and in the outlying settlements, but their qualifications are today matters of conjecture. There was no licensing authority, no regulation or control, and no organization." Scammell, Harold, A Brief History of Medicine in Nova Scotia. Dalhousie Medical Journal, December 1965.
Nova Scotia medical practice became regulated, with the first Medical Act passed in 1828. In 1856, Provincial authorities passed an act requiring all persons practicing medicine to register their credentials with the Provincial Secretary. The Provincial Medical Board was established in 1872. The board was responsible for educational standards and held professional entry examinations.
"Transportation and communication in Nova Scotia had a profound effect upon medical practice. In the early days the only roads worthy of the name were the coach roads. The rest were only trails. The doctor in the City or Town had his horse and carriage or in winter a sleigh, but until 1890 or later many country doctors kept saddle horses for regular use
with a wagon or sleigh available in favorable seasons and locations. The doctor carried a supply of drugs and instruments in saddle bags and learned to use limited household
facilities to supplement them. It may startle medical students of today to realize that reliable automobiles were not available insofar as a doctor was concerned, until at least 1915;
that electric light for domestic use was rare in towns up to 1910, and in the country not at all, at that time; that telephones were equally rare; and that up to the early 1930's the only paved road in Nova Scotia outside a City or Town was from Halifax to Bedford. In 1860 if a traveller wished to go from Halifax to New Glasgow he went to Truro by train, and by a horse-drawn coach the rest of the way. It may be noted in passing that in the early 1900's the doctor in winter often drove his horse and sleigh on the railroad with a careful eye for trains, rather than face the highways often unbroken for days or even weeks at a time.
The population at large valued a doctor's services because they were not easily obtained. Even one visit was considered an event. He was not called unless he was really needed. Sometimes people were brought to him but not often as he was usually away from home. Instead the need for his help was passed by word of mouth one to another until it reached
him. Then he responded as soon as he was able. In rural areas people were imbued with a measure of fatalism. If a member of the family seemed really ill they sent for the doctor, "because it was the right thing to do." If he died it was the will of Providence; if he lived, Providence rather than the doctor, got most of the credit. Home remedies were extensively used. Faith added to their small or doubtful virtues. As a result patent medicines were in remendous demand as their appearance suggested a superior product to which were added testimonials of a most convincing nature. Quacks of every description peddled their wares and some set up in regular practice. In the 80's and 90's the Provincial Medical Board spent large s prosecuting them or according to the public "persecuting" them." Scammell, Harold, A Brief History of Medicine in Nova Scotia. Dalhousie Medical Journal, December 1965.
A brief review of medical advances during these four overlapping careers is quite remarkable.
In medical Instrumentation - René Leanne’s invented the stethoscope in 1816. The initial form of the otoscope came about in the 1830s thanks to Jean-Pierre Bonnafont, a French inventor. The ophthalmoscope was first devised by Charles Babbage in 1847 and later rediscovered and popularized by Hermann von Helmholtz independently in 1851.
In effective drugs - for example, French chemist Charles Henri Leroux first isolated the ‘miracle’ drug Salicylic Acid (proto-aspirin) in 1829. An Italian, Raffaele Piria, later improved on this process in 1838. Charles Frederic Gerhardt later buffered Salicylic Acid with an extra acetyl group to create true aspirin in 1853. In 1803, Freidrich Sertürner isolated an organic alkaloid — a plant compound that has physiological effects on humans — from a resinous gum in the opium poppy plant. Sertürner recognized the alkaloid was a significantly stronger pain reliever and cough suppressant than opium itself. He named the compound after the Greek god of sleep, Morpheus, because it made people sleepy. By the mid-1800s, morphine was commercially produced, and, with the invention of the hypodermic needle, morphine became easier to administer.
In intravenous resuscitation and blood transfusion - In 1818, British obstetrician James Blundell performed the first successful human blood transfusion.
In anesthesia - Nitrous oxide, was first discovered in 1772 by Joseph Priestly. At the turn of the 19th Century, Sir Humphrey Davy observed, “As nitrous oxide appears capable of destroying physical pain, it may probably be used with advantage during surgical operations in which no great effusion of blood takes place.” American dentist, Horace Wells, first demonstrated its usefulness as an anesthetic in 1844. Novocaine, the first man-made local anesthetic was first produced in 1905 by German chemist, Alford Einhorn.
In antisepsis - in 1867, Joseph Lister published his “Antiseptic Principle of the Practice of Surgery.”
In medical Imaging - In 1895, Wilhelm Rontgen became the first to study and name X-Rays systematically.
In vaccination - In the closing years of the 18th Century, Edward Jenner famously demonstrated the effectiveness of cowpox in immunizing humans from the much more severe smallpox virus. This treatment was later exported to the New World in 1800 by Dr. John Clinch – a friend of Jenner.
In the germ theory of disease - In the mid-1800s, Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch identified ‘germs’ as the cause of many diseases. They were able to develop their groundbreaking theory, partly thanks to the significant advancements in microscope technology.
In antibiotics - Alexander Fleming’s penicillin, the world’s first antibiotic, completely revolutionized the war against deadly bacteria. Famously, the Scottish biologist accidentally discovered the anti-bacterial ‘mould’ in a petri dish in 1928.
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