A Guide to the Macky-Dunbar Records, 1796-1814 Macky-Dunbar Records 1752 THL

A Guide to the Macky-Dunbar Records, 1796-1814

A Collection in
Stewart Bell Jr. Archives, Handley Regional Library
Accession number 1752 THL


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Stewart Bell Jr. Archives, Handley Regional Library

Stewart Bell Jr. Archives Room
The Handley Regional Library
Winchester-Frederick County Historical Society
P.O. Box 58
Winchester, VA 22604
Phone: (540) 662-9041, ext.17
Email: archives@handleyregional.org
URL: http://www.handleyregional.org

© 2018 By Stewart Bell Jr. Archives, Handley Regional Library

Processed by: Archives Staff

Repository
Stewart Bell Jr. Archives, Handley Regional Library
Accession number
1752 THL
Title
Macky-Dunbar Records, 1796-1814
Extent
1 volume ; 40 cm .
Creator
Dunbar, Robert; Macky, Robert
Language
English

Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to all researchers.

Use Restrictions

Restrictions may apply concerning the use, photoduplication, or publication of items in this collection. Consult a member of the archives staff for information concerning these restrictions. The user assumes all responsibility for identifying and satisfying any claimants of copyright.

Preferred Citation

Macky-Dunbar Records, 1752 THL, Stewart Bell Jr. Archives, Handley Regional Library, Winchester, VA, USA.

Acquisition Information

Acquired as a gift.

Alternative Form Available

The accunt book of Drs. Macky and Dunbar is available online through the Stewart Bell Jr. Digital Archives.

Biographical Information

Dr. Robert Macky (1737 - 1814) was a Scotsman by birth and is thought to have been a Quaker. He came to Virginia from Pennsylvania. He was the surgeon in the 11th VA Regiment of Foot during the Revolutionary War and at one point served with Colonel Daniel Morgan. He was also personal physician to Lord Fairfax.

Dr. Macky was active in business and politics and became both weathly and influential. On January 31, 1778, he received a land grant of 430 acres in Hampshire County from Lord Fairfax. In 1779, he purchased the James Dowdall Lot #60 on the north side of Piccadilly Street and the east side of Drury Lane (present day Braddock Street), where he built his home. Dr. Macky also purchased Lot #77 from the estate of George Washington in 1804.

Dr. Macky died March 10, 1814 at his residence on the corner of Braddock and Piccadilly Street (where the current Old Post Office building now stands). He and his wife Catherine were both buried in the garden of their home. When the home was razed the Post Office and adjacent parking lot were built over the garden. The graves were never moved.

There is less information about his partner, Robert Dunbar. Dunbar lived in a house at the intersection of Piccadilly and Loudoun streets, close to where Macky lived. He died in 1815 and is buried in Mt. Hebron cemetery. His daughter, Mary Louise Dunbar, was the second wife of Winchester lawyer Philip Williams.

Scope and Content

This collection holds a ledger belonging to the medical practice of Doctors of Robert Macky and Robert Dunbar. The ledger contains records of treatment and sale of medicines to patients between the years 1796 t 1814, mainly in the Winchester-Frederick County area. The account book shows entries organized by individual account holders accompanied by the names of those whose treatment was billed to that account holder, often with details of treatment. Additionally, there are records of business transactions between the practice and individuals providing services of one kind or another, and names of other local doctors consulted by the practice.

Entries may show family members, guests, hired workers, and enslaved persons receiving treatment. The practice also provided medical care to people who, through infirmity or poverty, were under the care of the Overseers of the Poor of Frederick County. Consequently, the accounty book is a valuable source of information about people living in the Winchester-Frederick County area, as well as for the history of medicine in Virginia at the turn of the eighteenth century. An index of account holders and other names treated by or doing business with Macky and Dunbar is available and kept with the collection.

Bibliography

Thomas, Ann Whitehead. "Dr. Robert Macky: Surgeon, Revolutionary War, 1737[?]-1814. " 1990. Located in MMF-Macky, Dr Robert, Ann Whitehead Thomas Collection, 938 THL; Dunn, Victor S. "Frederick Parish Vestry Book, 1764-1818. " Magazine of Virginia Genealogy 45, no. 1. February 2007: 32-38 Cartmell, Thomas. Shenandoah Valley Pioneers and their Descendants: A Hisotry of Frederick County, Virginia. Berryville, VA: Chesapeake Book Company, 1963.

Significant Persons Associated With the Collection

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Contents List

Box: 1
Account Book of Drs. Macky and Dunbar, 1796-1814
1 volume ; 40cm