Yorktown/Mt. Pleasant Historical Alliance and Museum

Summers, Dr. Henry C. (1843-1902), Physician

Dr. H. C. Summers was one of the pioneer doctors in our area. He was an assistant surgeon in the Civil War.

He moved from Fall Creek Township in Henry Township to Middletown when he was 14-years-old. He attended “the graded” schools until he was 18-years-old. He began attending lectures at the Rush Medical College 1864-1865. According to the Deceased Physician files, Dr. Summers also attended the University of Cincinnati. In 1893. the Delaware County Board of Commissioners gave he and other doctors a concession to care for the poor for the country.

He married first Sarah A Laboyteaux, daughter of David and Elizabeth (Wise) Laboteaux. After Sarah’s death in 1873, he married Louise L. Stewart, daughter of J.V. and Sarah (Bishop) Stewart.

He lived in Daleville but practiced throughout Delaware and Henry Counties. He set up a practice in Daleville a couple of years after graduating from medical school moving from Luray. At the time of his death he was the surgeon for the Union Traction Company.

1894 Portrait and Record of Delaware and Randolph Counties
Deceased Physicians Record, Summers, Henry C.
Ancestry-Research-file-Henry-C-Summers-JH

Doctors to the Poor, Dr. H.C. Summers assigned to Salem Township
Sewed up a patient in a fight 5 Sep 1901 Muncie Star
Saw King Edward VII in 1860 when he came to the US

Downing, Dr. Jonathan Rector (1844-1918), Physician

Dr. Jonathan Rector Downing was a physician in Delaware County, serving the last 32 years in Yorktown. His son, J. Frank Downing was also a Yorktown physician. Dr. Downing was a Civil War veteran, imprisoned at Libby in Richmond, Virginia. He was released in an exchange between the north and south. In 1865, he was aboard the Steamer Sultana who was transporting prisoners north, when three of its boilers exploded, killing 1,168 people. The steamer sank near Memphis, TN on April 27, 1865. It was the worst maritime disaster in the Untied States history. Only 760 soldiers survived. Downing was injured in the explosion.

AMA membership card of deceased physicians
Receives disability of $6 a month
From 1894 Portrait and Record of Randolph and Delaware County Biographies
( Tombstone
The Sultana carrying released prisoners of war north on the Mississippi River a day before it exploded

Snodgrass, Robert McClung, (1838-1916), Farmer

Robert was a farmer and a Civil War Veteran, enlisting 13 August 1862 into Company D, 84th Indiana Infantry. He received a disability payment of $6 per month for his injuries in the war. Robert served four years as a county commissioner.

Part 1 of his biography 1894 Portrait and Record of Randolph and Delaware County
Part 2 of RM Snodgrass biography
Ancestry-Research-file-Robert-M.-Snodgrass-farmer-JH

Snodgrass brick home adjacent to Jones Cemetery, on W. Jackson Street, in Delaware County about 1900 Thanks to Dorthy Evelyn Snodgrass King
Robert McClung Snodgrass Civil War Soldier.Photo per Larry Fillhard.