Practicing Medicine

Dr. Wanton H. Parker (1802-1849), like other doctors of the 1840s, mostly traveled to the homes of his patients. A New York native, Wanton settled in Stouts Grove in 1840 where he provided medical care to his neighbors.

Contracting contagious diseases was a doctor’s greatest risk. Wanton died from cholera in 1849, after contracting it from a patient. He was only 47 years old and left behind a wife and five children.

Wanton’s brother, Dr. James E. Parker (1811-1879), practiced medicine in Wilkesborough, near present-day Danvers. After the death of his brother, James used the medical kit below that originally belonged to Wanton.