Supplemental Content for Section II: Patients Found in Dr. Frederick G. Williams’s Medical Ledger

There are a total of 307 clients. The ledger is archived at the LDS Church History Library, Salt Lake City, where it is identified as MS 783, “Frederick Granger Williams account book, 1837–1842.”

The ledger is hardbound in brown leather, measuring approximately 9½" wide, 14" long, and 2" thick. The inside of the front and back covers, along with their corresponding preceding and following pages, are of a dark faux marble design. The inside pages are white with vertical lines forming columns.

The ledger has an index at the beginning with tabs running A through Z (but the A tab is now missing), where Frederick or Rebecca (or both) wrote the names of the patients in alphabetical order according to the first letter of the surname. Immediately to the right of each name is listed the page number where the account appears. The name McWither (for both Joel and Isaac) appears under the Ws in the index, while the name McBride appears with the Ms. Another irregularity involves the name Lewis Robbins, which inadvertently appears under the letter P.

After the index ends and the ledger begins, the patients have their names listed at the top of the page (usually the last name first, followed by the given name) in very large handwriting. Below the name is written the date of the service (the starting date is January 1, 1837, but with transfers from other ledgers identified as “Leg A” as early as 1834 and “Leg B”), a capital P for page number, the amount charged (listed under a capital D), the amount collected (listed under a capital Cr), and sometimes a short remark. Often the debt was not paid right away and some debts were never paid, as confirmed by Frederick G. Williams’s probate file. The system of using P (for page) before the amount charged, suggests there are other books where the doctor kept track of his patients that were not considered ledgers, per se. The ledger is missing the following pages: 38–41, 78–81, and 159–162.

The names of the patients in the index are arranged in columns, which leaves considerable empty space on the right-hand side of each page. It is in these spaces that Henrietta Elizabeth Williams, wife of Dr. Ezra Granger Williams, son of Dr. Frederick G. Williams, wrote several items that she dated and signed in the 1880s. Likewise, beginning on page 139, the second and third generations of the Williams family have used the empty spaces on the ledger sheets to write genealogy, transcribe patriarchal blessings, compose short biographical sketches, and, in the case of Henrietta Williams, record a long autobiography.

This list below was compiled from the index and the pages where the patients’ names appear. The names have been arranged alphabetically for easy reference. Also listed are the number of times the patient was billed, the total debt, the amount credited (with a date when it was paid), and any written remarks, which were usually associated with the manner of payment. Birth years were added in brackets after the name, according to the information found in the following two Sources: (1) Membership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830–1848, comp. Susan Easton Black, 49 vols. plus addenda (Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1989); (2) Annotated Record of Baptisms for the Dead, 1840–1845, Nauvoo Hancock County, Illinois, Susan Easton Black and Harvey Bischoff Black, 7 vols. (Provo, Utah: The Center for Family History and Genealogy, Brigham Young University, 2002).

Note: In a few cases the ledger was used for more than just medical purposes, as in the entry for the Kirtland Bank. It may have also been used a few times for Williams’s justice of the peace transactions. The most common amount billed a patient was $0.25, which was also the going rate for deeds. The most common abbreviations stand for the following:

A = account

B = balance

D = debit

Cr = credit

Leg = ledger

P = page

2/ [2 bits] = $0.25, 4/ [4 bits] = $0.50, 6/ [6 bits] = $0.75, 8/ [8 bits] = $1.00

*Page 34 is not listed in the index for Lorin Babbitt; he is only listed for page 61. (The name is crossed out on page 34.)

*Judging by this title, it is rather obvious that Dr. Williams was treating venereal disease, which he listed separately in its own account and not as part of the regular entries in the ledger under individual names (to maintain confidentiality?). Since there are no names listed, we can only wonder if these cases involved just Mormons or if they included non-Mormons as well. Judging by the large number of entries, twenty-five, it was either recurring in a few individuals or affecting several people (or some combination of both). Since the relatively high balance of $41.87 was paid off late in 1839, should we assume these entries are all related to cases in Missouri, a frontier state? If it afflicted any of the former leaders who apostatized, did Dr. Williams ever consider the irony of the situation, particularly if they were giving different reasons for leaving the Church than the fornication or adultery they were guilty of? The doctor could have used that information to set the record straight, but it appears that nothing was ever said. Could it be that one of the reasons Dr. Williams was never maligned by the non-Mormons or apostates (as were Joseph and Sidney) was because those individuals knew the doctor had incriminating information on them?

*The last entry under debits contains “med,” possibly for medicine or medical: “[P] 71-0.75, med [ ]pin    0.88”

Note: Of the two billed transactions under Nathan Baldwin, the second entry is not preceded by the letter P (page) like most of the entries are, but by a word that looks like [Seven], which could be the cursive form of the number, or it might possibly be a proper name or even a procedure or medicine. At $3.00, the charge is greater than most medicines or procedures billed in the ledger.

*Under debits are the billed amounts he tendered for work or cash advanced to the Kirtland Safety Society Anti-Banking Company. These include (1) the cash he lent: $16.00; (2) the days he labored [listed twice at $2.00 a day]: $12.00; and (3) the days he charged for work as a director of the bank [at $0.50 a day]: $1.50. The remaining $6.50 [which was not identified] is also probably for labor on behalf of the bank, either as director or in some other capacity. It is interesting to note that he was reimbursed and/or paid in cash.

Note: The completion of the copied Heber C. Kimball letter appears on the lower half of this sheet.

*This name is very difficult to read. In the index it looks like “Michiu Barkdale” and the entry page looks like “Michal Barkdale.”

Note: On the lower half of the sheet, the first page of a letter from Heber C. Kimball (in Winter Quarters) to Ezra Granger Williams (in Saint Louis, Missouri), dated February 22, 1848, is copied by Mary E. Gardner (Ezra’s daughter) on June 23, 1919, in Great Salt Lake City.

*Widow Brush is listed with three others on the unnumbered penultimate page of the ledger, dated 1840, Quincy, Illinois.

Note: It appears that the entries for Cahoon are in the handwriting of two different people.

*For the 20 June 1837 billings, reference is made twice to deeds: “P 70–0.75 [ack] deed 25. Ct 1.00;” “81–[ack] 2 deeds 0.50 .50.”

Note: Under both the debit and the credit are listed sundries, suggesting FGW gave and received in kind. Also of importance is the listing of $7.50 in the debits for “board,” which indicates that the Williamses boarded or housed Zebedee Coltrin for a time, a fact that is confirmed by Coltrin himself in his diary. See “Zebedee Coltrin Diary II,” p. 28, Church History Library.

*The account sheet of “Mis Dimick of Quincy” is listed on the penultimate page of ledger.

*Appears under Whitney in the index; on the page, the account is listed as Whitney Gilbert & Co.; Gilbert is the deceased partner, Sidney Gilbert, who died in 1834.

*One of the two entries under Oliver Granger was crossed out and “error” was added. I have not listed this entry.

Note: The handwriting is smaller, perhaps Rebecca’s hand? The notation suggests that the Williams stayed in the Graves home and used their shop, beginning December 8.

*This item appears to have been credited twice.

Note: This patient appears twice in the index and twice in the ledger.

Note: There are two pages 166 and 167; apparently a numbering error.

*Includes an entry “From Leg A 2.50” and “Dr. Gilbert’s cut 4.50.”

*Includes an entry “From Leg A” and an entry “Gilbert cut B .50”; there is also a debit entry that says “cash to ballance .89”

*Note: the name may be Iler Jacob, since it was found in the index with the Js.

*Hyrum Kimball is not listed in the index.

Note: There are not the usual bills, but there is a brief narrative and a listing, in abbreviated form with some dates, of such things as “3 dinners for Cutters,” “19 days board,” “3 meals to Hired girl,” and references to hot liquids and baths. This is a very different handwriting than what appears in the ledger elsewhere, and since this is virtually the last page used by FGW, it may be that these are items added later by others and have reference to something entirely different. Clearly, the writing at the far right referencing the Pope is in still another handwriting and seems not to have any connection with the list at the left. Below is a draft transcription of page 170, as can be deciphered from the microfilm.

*This name appears across the top of the page in the index under K.

*This name appears in the index under the letter W.

*This is either the father or FGW’s future son-in-law by the same name who married Lucy Eliza Williams on September 18, 1842.

*A second bill for $1.12 was evidently charged but not listed.