James Walton Clemens was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania on May 26, 1795. He was a cousin of author Samuel Clemens (a.k.a. Mark Twain). Clemens graduated from Washington College (now known as Washington & Jefferson College) in 1816 and then moved to Wheeling, where he began his study of medicine while also teaching school. He began his medical practice three years later, although he didn’t graduate in medicine from the University of Pennsylvania until 1824.
Clemens was engaged in the drug business with J.W. Ray from 1822 until a fire in 1827 destroyed the firm. At different times he was associated with Drs. Townsend, Frissell, R.H. Cummins, and others. He was said to have been an expert chemist, introducing several new remedies, and was also quite a mechanic, manufacturing his own splints and surgical apparatus.
Clemens was a ready writer and a fluent speaker. His public addresses included those when the cornerstones were laid at the courthouse in Wheeling, the Masonic Hall, and the Odd Fellows Hall. He also spoke at receptions for President Benjamin Harrison and Senator Henry Clay. Another address, made to the citizens of Wheeling, stressed the negative effects of excessive alcohol on the stomach, gastric juices, and brain and was illustrated with colored maps taken during dissections of actual victims. His day-to-day account of the excavation of the Grave Creek Mound in 1838 was published the following year in Crania Americana. His manuscript recorded the finding of the artifact known as the Grave Creek Stone, which demonstrated the possibility that America had had a written history before the arrival of Christopher Columbus.
Clemens married the former Eleanor Sherrard, and they raised five children: Sherrard (1820-1880), Jacob Breckenridge (born 1825), Mary Cornelia (born 1827), Ellen Eliza (born 1829), and James Wolf (1829-1895). Clemens died in 1846, in his 52nd year.
Dr. Clemens’ son Sherrard graduated from Washington College, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1843. He was a member of Congress, representing Virginia, from 1852-53 and 1857-61. He and fellow representative Chester D. Hubbard voted against the secession of Virginia at the beginning of the Civil War. He was seriously wounded in a duel with O. Jennings Wise, the son of Virginia Governor Henry A. Wise, after the younger Wise, editor of the Richmond Enquirer, had accused Clemens of dirty politics. Dr. Clemens’ younger son, Dr. James W. Clemens, was likely the man of that name who was listed among the “Traitors of Wheeling” who voted for secession at the beginning of the Civil War.
(submitted by Jeanne Finstein, 2015)
Clemens was engaged in the drug business with J.W. Ray from 1822 until a fire in 1827 destroyed the firm. At different times he was associated with Drs. Townsend, Frissell, R.H. Cummins, and others. He was said to have been an expert chemist, introducing several new remedies, and was also quite a mechanic, manufacturing his own splints and surgical apparatus.
Clemens was a ready writer and a fluent speaker. His public addresses included those when the cornerstones were laid at the courthouse in Wheeling, the Masonic Hall, and the Odd Fellows Hall. He also spoke at receptions for President Benjamin Harrison and Senator Henry Clay. Another address, made to the citizens of Wheeling, stressed the negative effects of excessive alcohol on the stomach, gastric juices, and brain and was illustrated with colored maps taken during dissections of actual victims. His day-to-day account of the excavation of the Grave Creek Mound in 1838 was published the following year in Crania Americana. His manuscript recorded the finding of the artifact known as the Grave Creek Stone, which demonstrated the possibility that America had had a written history before the arrival of Christopher Columbus.
Clemens married the former Eleanor Sherrard, and they raised five children: Sherrard (1820-1880), Jacob Breckenridge (born 1825), Mary Cornelia (born 1827), Ellen Eliza (born 1829), and James Wolf (1829-1895). Clemens died in 1846, in his 52nd year.
Dr. Clemens’ son Sherrard graduated from Washington College, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1843. He was a member of Congress, representing Virginia, from 1852-53 and 1857-61. He and fellow representative Chester D. Hubbard voted against the secession of Virginia at the beginning of the Civil War. He was seriously wounded in a duel with O. Jennings Wise, the son of Virginia Governor Henry A. Wise, after the younger Wise, editor of the Richmond Enquirer, had accused Clemens of dirty politics. Dr. Clemens’ younger son, Dr. James W. Clemens, was likely the man of that name who was listed among the “Traitors of Wheeling” who voted for secession at the beginning of the Civil War.
(submitted by Jeanne Finstein, 2015)
James Walton Clemens was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania on May 26, 1795. He was a cousin of author Samuel Clemens (a.k.a. Mark Twain). Clemens graduated from Washington College (now known as Washington & Jefferson College) in 1816 and then moved to Wheeling, where he began his study of medicine while also teaching school. He began his medical practice three years later, although he didn’t graduate in medicine from the University of Pennsylvania until 1824.
Clemens was engaged in the drug business with J.W. Ray from 1822 until a fire in 1827 destroyed the firm. At different times he was associated with Drs. Townsend, Frissell, R.H. Cummins, and others. He was said to have been an expert chemist, introducing several new remedies, and was also quite a mechanic, manufacturing his own splints and surgical apparatus.
Clemens was a ready writer and a fluent speaker. His public addresses included those when the cornerstones were laid at the courthouse in Wheeling, the Masonic Hall, and the Odd Fellows Hall. He also spoke at receptions for President Benjamin Harrison and Senator Henry Clay. Another address, made to the citizens of Wheeling, stressed the negative effects of excessive alcohol on the stomach, gastric juices, and brain and was illustrated with colored maps taken during dissections of actual victims. His day-to-day account of the excavation of the Grave Creek Mound in 1838 was published the following year in Crania Americana. His manuscript recorded the finding of the artifact known as the Grave Creek Stone, which demonstrated the possibility that America had had a written history before the arrival of Christopher Columbus.
Clemens married the former Eleanor Sherrard, and they raised five children: Sherrard (1820-1880), Jacob Breckenridge (born 1825), Mary Cornelia (born 1827), Ellen Eliza (born 1829), and James Wolf (1829-1895). Clemens died in 1846, in his 52nd year.
Dr. Clemens’ son Sherrard graduated from Washington College, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1843. He was a member of Congress, representing Virginia, from 1852-53 and 1857-61. He and fellow representative Chester D. Hubbard voted against the secession of Virginia at the beginning of the Civil War. He was seriously wounded in a duel with O. Jennings Wise, the son of Virginia Governor Henry A. Wise, after the younger Wise, editor of the Richmond Enquirer, had accused Clemens of dirty politics. Dr. Clemens’ younger son, Dr. James W. Clemens, was likely the man of that name who was listed among the “Traitors of Wheeling” who voted for secession at the beginning of the Civil War.
(submitted by Jeanne Finstein, 2015)
Clemens was engaged in the drug business with J.W. Ray from 1822 until a fire in 1827 destroyed the firm. At different times he was associated with Drs. Townsend, Frissell, R.H. Cummins, and others. He was said to have been an expert chemist, introducing several new remedies, and was also quite a mechanic, manufacturing his own splints and surgical apparatus.
Clemens was a ready writer and a fluent speaker. His public addresses included those when the cornerstones were laid at the courthouse in Wheeling, the Masonic Hall, and the Odd Fellows Hall. He also spoke at receptions for President Benjamin Harrison and Senator Henry Clay. Another address, made to the citizens of Wheeling, stressed the negative effects of excessive alcohol on the stomach, gastric juices, and brain and was illustrated with colored maps taken during dissections of actual victims. His day-to-day account of the excavation of the Grave Creek Mound in 1838 was published the following year in Crania Americana. His manuscript recorded the finding of the artifact known as the Grave Creek Stone, which demonstrated the possibility that America had had a written history before the arrival of Christopher Columbus.
Clemens married the former Eleanor Sherrard, and they raised five children: Sherrard (1820-1880), Jacob Breckenridge (born 1825), Mary Cornelia (born 1827), Ellen Eliza (born 1829), and James Wolf (1829-1895). Clemens died in 1846, in his 52nd year.
Dr. Clemens’ son Sherrard graduated from Washington College, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1843. He was a member of Congress, representing Virginia, from 1852-53 and 1857-61. He and fellow representative Chester D. Hubbard voted against the secession of Virginia at the beginning of the Civil War. He was seriously wounded in a duel with O. Jennings Wise, the son of Virginia Governor Henry A. Wise, after the younger Wise, editor of the Richmond Enquirer, had accused Clemens of dirty politics. Dr. Clemens’ younger son, Dr. James W. Clemens, was likely the man of that name who was listed among the “Traitors of Wheeling” who voted for secession at the beginning of the Civil War.
(submitted by Jeanne Finstein, 2015)
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