John Clark Croghan (1790 - 1849)

Born 23 Apr 1790 in Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky, USA

Ancestors

Died 11 Jan 1849 at age 58 in Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky, USA

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Biography

John Croghan is Notable.

Research Notes

from National Park Service website: (National Historic Landmark) Locust Grove was built around 1790 by Major William Croghan and his wife, Lucy Clark Croghan in Louisville, Kentucky. Lucy was William Clark’s sister. Locust Grove was visited by a number of national figures, including James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, Zachary Taylor, John James Audubon, and Aaron Burr. ^[1]

Find a grave indicates birth as April 17th, needs confirmation

Architecturally, Locust Grove is a fine example of the frontier's adaptation of Georgian styling. Each floor of the two and one-half story brick residence contains four rooms divided by an axis hallway. A kitchen, servants quarters, well, dairy and log cabin have been rebuilt on excavated foundations.

On Wikipedia:

• Dr. John Croghan (April 23, 1790 – January 11, 1849) was an American medical doctor who helped establish the United States Marine Hospital ^[2][3]of Louisville and organized some tuberculosis medical experiments and tours for Mammoth Cave, in Kentucky (U.S.) during 1839–1849.
• John Croghan was born in Jefferson County, Kentucky on April 23, 1790.[1] He was the son of William Croghan and Lucy Clark, sister of the famous William Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. He attended the College of William and Mary, starting in 1807 and graduated in 1809. From 1810 to 1813, he was a student at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Medicine. He then returned to Kentucky where he helped establish the Louisville Marine Hospital in 1823, serving as its director until 1832
• In October 1839, he bought 2,000 acres (8.1 km2) near the Green River that included Mammoth Cave. He had planned to use the cave for medical purposes, as well as tourist use; he expected that its steady climate could benefit tuberculosis patients. Deep within the cave, patients suffering from the disease lived in wooden and stone huts. Visitors during this experiment reported hearing constant coughing from the patients who appeared as pale, skeleton-like figures inside the huts. The smoke emitted by large fires, used for cooking and warmth, further harmed the suffering patients. Several patients died, and the rest grew more sickly, causing the experiment to end in failure in 1843. Croghan's experiment added much to the medical profession's knowledge of tuberculosis and helped lead the way for control of the disease. Dr. Croghan himself died of the disease in 1849.[ncitation needed] Today, there are two remaining stone huts out of the original eight that can be found in Mammoth Cave.

• He also continued using the cave as a tourist attraction. Following plans of the owner from the prior year, John Croghan used the services of Stephen Bishop, and other slaves, to conduct extensive mapping of the caves and provide guided tours. Interest in the caves grew. Dr. Croghan's own declining health, due to tuberculosis, led him to spend more time at his family's estate, Locust Grove ^[4], but he remained involved in the development of Mammoth Cave.[citation needed] He died on January 11, 1849, and left his estate and Mammoth Cave to his brother, his nieces, and his nephews, who organized cave tours until 1926.

Slaves

Stephen Bishop 1821-1857 Charlotte

• note: In 1849, the 22 enslaved individuals remaining at Locust Grove were emancipated by the will of Dr. John Croghan. Those who were freed were indentured for seven years to be trained in marketable skills, then finally released from bondage. We do not know where they went after leaving Locust Grove, though some probably remained nearby, while others left for free territory north of the Ohio. We have few details about how the enslaved were treated here, with no words left from them to tell the story. There is no record of any runaways; but we do know that at least three of the enslaved were sold “down river” in New Orleans by the Croghans. Slavery was a cruel institution and the people of early Kentucky struggled with the morality and daily realities of life under a slave system.^[5]

He passed away in 1849.

Will

https://www.familysearch.org/photos/artifacts/120330257?cid=mem_copy

Sources

1. ↑ https://www.nps.gov
2. ↑ https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Marine_Hospital_(Louisville,_Kentucky)
3. ↑ http://marinehospital.org
4. ↑ https://locustgrove.org
5. ↑ https://locustgrove.org/learn/theenslavedcommunity/

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Croghan

• Scary Stories of Mammoth Caves
• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6589239/john-clark-croghan : accessed 05 September 2021), memorial page for Dr John Clark Croghan (14 Apr 1790–11 Jan 1849), Find a Grave Memorial ID 6589239, citing Cave Hill Cemetery, Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky, USA ; Maintained by Kris 'Peterborough K' Peterson (contributor 46537737) .