MADE BY JOHN EVANS, LONDON
OWNED BY DR. BENJAMIN B. FREDENBURGH (1797 – 1888)
A CIVIL WAR VOLUNTEER SURGEON
This pocket surgical set made by John Evans of London, and used by Benjamin B. Fredenburgh, M.D. It has a faded red label from Evans, the manufacturer, who was one of the more established makers of surgical instruments in England. John Evans & Co. was in business from 1676 through 1874.
Affixed to the underside of the front flap is an original paper identification label upon which is handwritten:
“B. B. Fredenburgh. Coeymans 1826”
There are nine instruments in the set: a pair of scissors and a thumb lancet both marked “Evans, London”, two silver probes, a silver cupped probe, forceps, and a folding surgical knife marked “Cluley”,another early British instrument maker who was in business from 1810- 1830. There are a couple of assorted old instruments of unknown function. There are also old surgical needles wrapped in a small piece of chamois, some surgical thread wrapped around an old business card, and some old red medicinal powder folded in a paper envelope.
Benjamin B. Fredenburgh was born in 1797 in Ghent, Columbia county, New York. In 1816, he commenced the study of medicine under Dr. E. B. Pugsly. Columbia county granted him a medical license by examination in 1819. He moved to Coeyman in 1819 (another source states 1826), and married Anna Ver Planck in 1823. The degree of Doctor of Medicine was later conferred on him in 1834, from the Vermont Academy of Medicine. He practiced in Coeymans for 62 years “and became known as the good physician and poor man’s friend.” In 1838, he is listed as a “Fellow” in Albany Medical College. He died in 1888 at the age of 91. His long practice in Coeymans assured him a good living, and according to his obituary, by the time of his death he had “amassed a considerable fortune” and was considered one of the “oldest and wealthiest physicians in New York State.”
of Albany Medical College
Albany Medical College
DR. FREDENBURGH AND THE CIVIL WAR
Although the card above states he was Surgeon for the 110th “Infantry”, in fact this was in the pre-war years, and it was the 110th N.Y. Militia, which was raised in Coeymans. Its Colonel was a prominent resident of the county and Dr. Fredenburgh was the Surgeon. When the Civil War began, he did not consider his advancing age a deterrent to service. He became a volunteer surgeon, and in 1864, at the age of 67, served in the Army hospitals in Washington, D.C.
Dr. Fredenburgh died at the age of 91, and is buried in Grove Cemetery, Coeymans Hollow, Albany county.
