Erie Observed: 1869-1870 Doctors and Pretty Girls

Abstract

In the spring of 1869 Henry C. Parry M.D. came to Erie to set up a medical practice. He stayed until March 1st 1870 and recorded his impressions in a diary. Dr. Parry (1839-1893) was an 1861 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Medical School who had been retired by the Army a month before he came to Erie after eight years of service in the Civil and Indian Wars. He was engaged to be married when he arrived in Erie and was married shortly after he left to become Medical Examiner for a New York City Insurance Company. This article is a chapter from an account of his life now being written by his grandson, Edward O. Parry of Pittsburgh, Pa. It provides some uninhibited and perceptive impressions of post Civil War Erie.