This pocket surgical set was made in the pre-Civil War years by William R. Goulding of New York. Goulding, who was active from c. 1837 to 1853, is noted for instruments that are a notch above the norm, both in design and workmanship.
The set was obtained from a seller who got it directly from the family, who considered it an heirloom. The tag on the set states:
“Lemm Churchill’s surgical kit c. 1880’s. Some are his father’s”
A bit of research identified one Lemuel Churchill, M.D. (1870 – 1942), the son of Dr. Owen Churchill (1840 – 1918) who served in the Civil War as a Hospital Steward. Although it does not bear any maker’s label, it is clear from the design that the set is Civil War era or earlier. In addition, three of the tortoise-shell handled folding instruments are marked “W. R. Goulding. New York” . One of the other folding instruments is marked “Zeitz. N. York”. Edmonson states that Charles Zeitz was a New York surgical instrument maker, active from 1840. -1842. Another is marked “Hernstein and Son” in Old English font, which is a Civil War-era marking and dates to 1860 – 1865.
The leather set is absolutely identical in design to a known c. 1850 pocket surgical set by Goulding on Alex Peck’s website (http://antiquescientifica.com/archive34.htm) and is shown below. It seems likely that a descendant mistook the set as belonging to Lemuel, when it was actually his father’s.
(http://antiquescientifica.com/archive34.htm)
DR. OWEN CHURCHILL
(1840 – 1918)
Born April 24, 1840 in Bertrand, Berrien county Michigan to Orrin Churchill and his wife, Emmeline Pope. The senior Churchill was a native of Truxton, Cortland county New York, who moved to Michigan in 1833, ultimately settling in Buchanan, where he operated a hardware business and farmed.
In July 1863, Owen registered for the draft, giving his age as 23, and listing himself as a “student”. Earlier he had attended Michigan State Normal School, and was attending medical lectures at the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor. On April 16, 1864, he enlisted in Company C of the 24th Michigan Infantry, a unit which, as part of the famed “Iron Brigade”, had already distinguished itself in many battles. It was heavily engaged on July 1, 1863 at the battle of Gettysburg, suffering 363 total casualties – 80% casualties – the greatest loss of any infantry regiment in a single day’s battle in the history of the United States Army.
By the time Owen joined, the 24th was part of the Fifth Army Corps of the Army of the Potomac, and had spent the summer of 1864 fighting in the Wilderness, at Spottsylvania, and at Cold Harbor.
HOSPITAL STEWARD & HONOR GUARD AT LINCOLN’S FUNERAL
In November of 1864, Owen was made Hospital Steward. He served with the regiment through Petersburg, settling down into the siege that defined the last year of the war in Virginia. Finally, in February 1865, shortly after the sharp and costly fighting at Hatcher’s Run, the regiment was relieved of duty, and sent to Camp Butler, Springfield, Illinois, to recruit up to strength and guard and supervise a camp for draftees. The 24th was at full strength by April of 1865, but did not participate in any of the final fighting that spring. Their last duty of the war was to provide the funeral detail and honor guard at the funeral of the slain President, Abraham Lincoln. Owen mustered out with the regiment on June 30, 1865.
Following the Civil War, Owen resumed his medical studies at Ann Arbor, and graduated in 1866. He settled in Three Oaks, Michigan, where he began practicing. He married Florence Adams in 1869, and they had three children, including Lemuel – who was named for Owen’s paternal grandfather.
Census records list him as a medical doctor (1870), a druggist (1880), a merchant and farmer (1900), and finally, retired merchant druggist (1910).
He died April 18, 1918, 10 days shy of his 78th birthday.
His gravestone.
DR. LEMUEL CHURCHILL (1870 – 1942)
Lemuel, born October 27, 1870 in Three Oaks, Michigan, was the oldest of three children born to Dr. Owen Churchill and his wife Florence. Lemuel graduated Michigan State College in 1889 and then the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, graduating medical school there in 1892.
He married a woman named Anna, and in 1895, lived in Ramsey, Minnesota, then practiced in Michigan City, Indiana as an eye and ear specialist, before moving further west. He lived in Montana, then in 1902 settled in Weiser, Washington county, Idaho, where he was a merchant and farmer. Like his father, his final occupation was listed as “druggist”. He died suddenly of a heart attack on December 20, 1942, at the age of 72.