Coxe family papers

Collection

Identifier: MSS 443

Scope and Contents

The Coxe family papers is a small collection dating from 1857 to 1869, containing mostly correspondence and wills. The collection includes an 1857 copy of John Redman Coxe’s (1773-1864) will; Alfred Coxe’s 1882 will; letters of consent from E. M. Lewis and Ferdinand Coxe for the sale of timber and land belonging to the estate of John Redman Coxe, 1872; letters to Alfred Coxe from his lawyer, L. C. Cleeman, 1882; three letters from Ferdinand Coxe to his brother Alfred Coxe, 1872; a letter from Mary R. Lewis to her uncle Alfred Lewis, 1872; a letter to Alfred Coxe from Henry Southern, 1869; a deed for a plot in Woodlands Cemetery, signed by Mary C. Coxe and Sallie C. Boyer; an expenditure account of Ferdinand Coxe in the estate of John Redman Coxe, 1866 to 1869; documents from a legal case between John Redman Coxe and Thomas B. and Thomas H. Towne, 1859; and a draft of Alfred Coxe’s will.

Dates

1857-1872

Biographical / Historical

John Redman Coxe was born on 16 September 1773 in Trenton, N.J. and died in Philadelphia on 22 March 1864. Coxe studied medicine under Dr. Benjamin Rush during the yellow fever epidemic of 1793 and attended the University of Pennsylvania, which granted him a medical degree in 1794. He furthered his medical studies for two years in London, Paris, and Edinburgh, before returning again to Philadelphia to set up private practice. During the second outbreak of yellow fever in Philadelphia in 1798, Coxe was appointed Physician to the Poor by the Board of Health. He served several years as a physician at Pennsylvania Hospital and the Philadelphia Dispensary.

Coxe held the positions of Professor of Chemistry (1809-1818) and Professor of Materia Medica and Pharmacy (1818-1835) at the University of Pennsylvania. He was a strong advocate of vaccination and one of the first to practice this new preventive method in Philadelphia. Coxe also added to the knowledge of materia medica by cultivating a true jalap plant (1829) and developing a “Hive Syrup” that remained in common use for fifty years. From 1804-1811, Coxe published the first regularly issued periodical in Philadelphia and the second American medical journal, The Medical Museum.

Extent

.4 Linear feet (1 document box)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Overview

John Redman Coxe was born in 1773 in Trenton, N.J. and died in Philadelphia in 1864. He earned his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1794. Coxe held the positions of Professor of Chemistry (1809-1818) and Professor of Materia Medica and Pharmacy (1818-1835) at the University of Pennsylvania. He was a strong advocate of vaccination and one of the first to practice this new preventive method in Philadelphia.

The Coxe family papers is a small collection dating from 1857 to 1869, containing mostly correspondence and wills.

Previously catalogued as 10c 83.