Price, James B.

James Price was a Philadelphia-trained Quaker physician. His first professional position, begun in 1818, was on the staff of the charitable Northern Dispensary in Philadelphia, but in 1820 he left the city and a tumultuous, perhaps scandal-tainted life behind, and relocated to Cannesbrules, La., near New Orleans. His practice included every element of local society, from the "French" population to slaves and plantation owners, and was quite lucrative. During the sick season, Price records seeing as many as 300 patients each day, and he earned an annual income between $6,000 and $7,000. His antipathy toward New Orleans, "that vast emporium of filth and corruption," though, led him to decline the opportunity of a potentially even more lucrative city practice.

Isolated from Quaker society, Price soon drifted away from the Society of Friends. In 1822, he married Ellen Holliday, a non-Quaker daughter of a local plantation owner who had been born and raised in Philadelphia, and moved onto her father's estate, Bellegrove. By 1827, he noted he no longer professed to be a Quaker.

The years immediately following the Price's wedding were difficult ones. Both James and Ellen suffered each season from the effects of disease (including cholera, malaria and dysentery), and in 1827 they lost an infant son to a fever. In that year, too, Ellen's father died, leaving the couple with a house under construction and substantial debts. In 1830, they decided to leave Louisiana, opting to settle in Maryland rather than Phildelphia because of its comparatively milder climate.

From the description of Papers, 1818-1848 (Bulk, 1818-1830). (University of Michigan). WorldCat record id: 122562832

James Price was a Philadelphia-trained Quaker physician, who practiced successively in Pennsylvania, Louisiana, and Maryland. In 1818, he was placed in charge of the Northern Dispensary, an offshoot of the Philadelphia Dispensary chartered as an institution to provide medical care to the poor. At the time, Price was unmarried and his personal life was marked by some turmoil, and he was plagued by scandalous rumors about his relationships with women. His relationships with members of his family, however, remained very close, particularly with his sister, Elizabeth.

Price entered into private medical practice in 1820 at Cannesbrules, La., a small town near New Orleans. With a clientele including the "French" population, plantation owners, and slaves, Price prospered so that by 1824, he was treating as many as 300 patients a day and earning an annual income between $6000 and $7000. His antipathy toward New Orleans ("that vast emporium of filth and corruption") may have dissuaded him from pursuing an even more lucrative urban practice, but by 1822, Price had done well enough for himself that he was able to enter into marriage with Ellen Holliday, a woman raised and educated in Philadelphia. While awaiting construction of a new house, the couple moved in with the Holliday family at Bellegrove, La. The Prices had at least four children: Mary Elizabeth (b. 1823), Charles Edward (1825-1827), Clara (b. 1827), and Lucius D. (b. ca.1830).

In the succeeding years, Price's practice grew so large that he began to complain of the strain it placed on his health, particularly during the summer months when cases of malaria, cholera, typhus, dysentery, and other contagious diseases peaked. Like many of his contemporaries, he considered the climate in Louisiana to be so unhealthy during the summer that an un-acclimated northerner would risk almost certain death in traveling south. At other times, however, Price was struck by the physiological ability of people to adapt to the harsh climate, if given sufficient time. Both he and his wife suffered from serious illnesses during their stay in the south, Price contracting dysentery (which he claimed may actually have improved his health), cholera (1823), and malaria, and Ellen malaria and other fevers. Price's bout with cholera was a particularly severe one and he credited his wife with saving his life by applying blisters, contrary to the advice of the attending doctor, an 'ordinary French physician.'

The year 1827 was a particularly difficult one for the Price family. Their young son, Charles Edward died of complications resulting from a fever, and at nearly the same time, Price's father-in-law died, leaving the young family with substantial debts and a house still under construction. Combined with the stress of Price's heavy workload, debt, and separation from his family, and at the urging of his wife, who preferred Philadelphia to the South, the Prices decided to relocate. After a visit by Elizabeth to Louisiana in the autumn of 1829, the Prices moved to Maryland in March 1830, finding the Baltimore area to be a good compromise between the healthy conditions of the north and the warm climate of the south.

From the guide to the James B. Price papers, Price, James B. papers, 1818-1848, 1818-1830, (William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan)