Ephraim McDowell (1771 - 1830)

Born 11 Nov 1771 in Augusta, Virginia

Ancestors

Husband of Sarah Hart (Shelby) McDowell — married 30 Dec 1802 in Lincoln Co., KY

Descendants

Died 25 Jun 1830 at age 58 in Cambuskenneth, vicinity Danville, Boyle, Kentucky, United States [uncertain]

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Biography

Ephraim McDowell is Notable.

Ephraim McDowell is known as a notable surgeon who pioneered new techniques in abdominal surgery. He was the ninth of eleven children of Judge Samuel McDowell and Mary (McClung) McDowell, born 11 November 1771 in Augusta County, Virginia (now Rockbridge County).^[1] The family moved to Danville, Kentucky, in 1784, when Ephraim was about 13.^[2][3]

After schooling in Georgetown and Bardstown, Kentucky, Ephraim McDowell studied medicine with Dr. Alexander Humphreys of Staunton, Virginia. He then traveled to Scotland, where he attended a course of lectures at the University of Edinburgh School of Medicine, and studied anatomy and surgery with John Bell. He returned to Danville in 1795 and built a busy medical practice, earning a regional reputation as a skillful anatomist and surgeon, widely consulted by other practitioners.^[2][3]

Recognition of the significance of his work came slowly and only decades after he performed the first successful ovariotomy, on Christmas Day 1809. The forty-seven-year-old patient, Jane (Todd) Crawford, who had been thought to be pregnant with twins, was in fact suffering from a large cystic ovarian tumor that weighed more than twenty pounds. In a letter describing the surgical procedure that would subsequently bring him international fame, McDowell said he had warned Crawford that four of the "most eminent Surgeons in England and Scotland had uniformly declared in their Lectures that such was the danger of Peritoneal Inflammation, that opening the abdomen to extract the tumor was inevitable death. But notwithstanding this, if she thought herself prepared to die, I would take the lump from her if she could come to Danville." The surgery went well and Crawford was "perfectly well in twenty-five days." McDowell performed the operation well before the discovery of the importance of aseptic techniques or the introduction of anaesthetics. McDowell performed the procedure at least eleven additional times, with but one death. He was one of the first surgical pathologists, carefully preserving and studying specimens removed during surgical procedures. Dr. Samuel D. Gross, a professor of surgery in the school of medicine of the University of Louisville during the 1840s and l850s, publicized McDowell's accomplishments and secured for McDowell his proper place in the annals of abdominal and gynecological surgery. ^[2]

McDowell was one of the founders of Centre College in Danville, and between 1819 and 1829 served on the college's board of trustees. Although he had been a Presbyterian, late in his life he Joined the Episcopal church and he contributed to the establishment of he first Episcopal church in Danville. ^[2][3]

On December 29, 1802, McDowell married Sarah Hart Shelby, the daughter of the first governor of Kentucky, Isaac Shelby. The couple had six children, five of whom survived: Susan, Mary, Adaline, Catherine, and William Wallace. ^[3]

Ephraim McDowell died on June 25, 1830,^[4][5] possibly from acute appendicitis, and is buried in Danville. ^[6]

Ephraim McDowell had a 700-acre farm two miles north of Danville on Harrodsburg Turnpike. The family called the place "Cambuskenneth" after the name of the estate of Wallace in Scotland. After Ephraim died his widow operated the farm with the help of Negro slaves.^[3]

Sources

1. ↑ "United States Census, 1820," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHGC-W2D : accessed 3 January 2022), Doctor Ephriam Mc Dowel, Mercer, Kentucky, United States; citing p. , NARA microfilm publication , (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll ; FHL microfilm .
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3} The Kentucky Encyclopedia
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4} Moon, Anna Mary, compiler. Sketches of the Shelby, McDowell, Deaderick, Anderson Families. Chattanooga:, private, 1933, Archive.org, pp. 64-72
4. ↑ Ephraim McDowell, ; Burial, Danville, Boyle, Kentucky, United States of America, Presbyterian Church Cemetery; Find A Grave: Memorial #7238795
5. ↑ Sketches-64 gives the date as June 20th.
6. ↑ Laman A. Gray, Sr., "Ephraim McDowell: Father of Abdominal Surgery, Biographical Data," FCHQ 43 (July 1969): 216-29; Josephine Rich, Pioneer Surgeon (New York 1959). ALLEN J. SHARE

See also:

• Ridenbaugh, Mary Young. Biography of Ephraim McDowell, M.D.

• Kleber, John E., editor-in-chief; and Thomas D. Clark, Lowell H. Harrison, James C. Klotter, associate editors. The Kentucky Encyclopedia. Lexington, Ky.: University Press of Kentucky, 1992.

• Wikipedia: Ephraim McDowell

• Wikidata: Item Q978991, en:Wikipedia