Historical evidence does not support Byrd's description of the typical
physician as a discarded ship's surgeon. In contrast, the physician,
whatever his competence may have been, emerges from the sources as a
respected member of the colony who, besides his medical practice,
engaged in farming sizable holdings of land and took part in the civic
life of the colony. His private life was not unlike that of the other
planters who enjoyed some wealth and professional standing. The
reputable surgeon, who could also supplement his income from farming,
probably enjoyed an existence not unlike that of the physicians,
considering that the distinction between them in the New World was
slight.
Dr. Blanton, in his volume on medicine in Virginia, created a lively
portrait of what he imagines from his researches to be the
seventeenth-century Virginia doctor. The doctor is seen:
dressed in knee breeches and jerkin, perhaps adorned with periwig
and cap; not given to church-going, but fond of ale, horse-racing
and cuss words; husband of a multiparous wife; owner of a log cabin
home or at best a frame cottage which he guarded with gun, pistol
and scimitar; his road a bridle path and his means of conveyance a
horse or boat ... reading ... by candle light, without spectacles;
writing with a goose quill pen; sitting on a rough stool or bench;
eating at a crude table from pewter dishes, without fork or table
knife; having no knowledge of bath tubs; keeping his clothes in
trunk or chest; sleeping, night-capped, on a flock bed in a bedroom
shared by others; dividing his time, which he measured with
hour-glass and sundial, among medicine, politics and farming; often
in court, often a justice, member of Council or Burgesses, and
subject, like his neighbors, to military service.