John Norton Pomeroy Papers
Scope and Content Note
The John Norton Pomeroy Papers consist primarily of the papers of Dr. John Pomeroy and John Norton Pomeroy, with a few Cassius Francis Pomeroy items as well. The collection contains several letters to and from Dr. John Pomeroy from the period 1792-1835, including a number from prominent Vermont doctors, politicians and educators: Rev. Samuel Williams; Jairus Kennan; Selah Gridley; John L. C. Cazier; Willard Preston; James Dean; Heman Allen; C.P. Van Ness; Royall Tyler; and Joseph A. Gallup. These letters shed considerable light on both the early history of the University of Vermont and the state of the medical profession in Vermont in the first third of the nineteenth century. There are also several folders of medical notes and care studies by both Dr. John Pomeroy and Cassius F. Pomeroy from the years 1802 to 1814, as well as miscellaneous financial accounts, deeds and one large cash ledger belonging to the elder Dr. Pomeroy. The John Norton Pomeroy manuscripts in the collection include a few early essays, deeds, local Unitarian Church materials and legal papers, but the bulk of these post-1820 papers consist of materials relating to the erection of the Ethan Allen Monument in Burlington. Among these materials are subscriptions books, committee correspondence concerning the statue, financial papers, dedication ceremony ephemera, and so on.
The collection has been arranged chronologically with the Dr. John Pomeroy ledger placed at the back of box two.
Later additions to the collection in Box 3 include a memoir by John Norton Pomeroy and medical lecture notes of Cassius Pomeroy
Dates
- 1792-1878
Creator
- Van Ness, Cornelius Peter (Person)
- Tyler, Royall (Person)
- Pomeroy, John Norton (Creator, Person)
Access
Collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Curator of Manuscripts.
Biographical Note
The Pomeroy family came to Burlington, Vermont in 1792 when Dr. John Pomeroy moved his family here from Cambridge, Vermont. One of the first physicians to settle in Burlington, Pomeroy soon developed a large practice and established himself as a respected leader in local civic and religious (Unitarian) affairs. He also played a large part in the early fortunes of the University of Vermont, and almost single-handedly kept the UVM Medical College going in its first years of existence. Pomeroy resigned from the University in 1822 and retired from the practice of medicine twleve years later. An invalid the last five years of his life, Dr. John Pomeroy died in Burlington on February 19, 1844.
Cassius Francis Pomeroy, the eldest son of Dr. John Pomeroy, was born in Cambridge, Vermont, on September 17, 1789. After studying under the Rev. Asa Lyon, Cassius entered the University of Vermont at the age of thirteen, and graduated in 1806. He studied medicine in his father's practice for several years, and attended the University of Pennsylvania medical lectures in 1812-1813. Returning to Burlington in March of 1813 to help his father tend the sick among the soldiers stationed at the Army barracks there, Cassius Francis Pomeroy became ill himself and died of a form of pneumonia on March 22, 1813, at the age of twenty-four.
John Norton Pomeroy, the youngest child and second son of Dr. John Pomeroy, was born in Burlington on September 29, 1792. An 1809 graduate of the University of Vermont, John Norton became a lawyer in 1816, specializing in debt collection cases. A prominent member of the Whig party in Chittenden County, he served as a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1836 and the Council of Censors of 1848. Pomeroy helped lead the long campaign to erect a monument to Ethan Allen in Burlington that culminated in the dedication of the marble column and statue in Green Mountain Cemetery in 1873. When he died on July 19, 1881, John Norton Pomeroy was at eighty-eight the oldest native resident of Burlington.
Extent
2 Linear Feet (Three boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Collection includes comittee correspondence, financial papers, subscription books, memorabilia, and other papers, relating to the erection and dedication of the Ethan Allen Monument in Burlington, together with essays, deeds, and legal papers, and local Unitarian Church material; and correspondence of Dr. John Pomeroy (1764-1844), with Medical notes and studies (1802-14) and financial accounts, of Dr. Pomeroy and Cassius F. Pomeroy. Includes materials on history of University of Vermont in the early 19th century.
Location
Library Research Annex; contact uvmsc@uvm.edu for access.
References
- David Blow, "The Legacy of John Norton Pomeroy," Burlington Free Press, July 25, 1976, editorial page.
- John W. King, "Dr. John Pomeroy and the College of Medicine of the University of Vermont," Journal of the History of Medicine, Autumn 1949, pp. 393-406.
- John N. Pomeroy, "Dr. Cassius Francis Pomeroy," in Abby M. Hemenway, ed., The Vermont Historical Gazetteer (Burlington, 1867), I, 630-32.
- Title
- Guide to the John Norton Pomeroy Papers
- Status
- Completed
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
- Language of description note
- English
Repository Details
Part of the University of Vermont Libraries, Special Collections Repository
Silver Special Collections Library
48 University Place, Room B201
Burlington Vermont 05405 U.S.A. US
(802) 656-2138
(802) 656-4038 (Fax)
uvmsc@uvm.edu
