Dr. Christopher Heydrick and Mary Care [52b-3]

[52b-3] DR. CHRISTOPHER HEYDRICK, b Apr. 7, 1770; d Feb. 9, 1856; s Abraham and Susanna (Yeakle) Heydrick [52b-1]; m Apr. 13, 1798, MARY CARE, b 1768; d Oct. 31, 1835; dau Capt. Peter Care.

Children (3):

Dr. Christopher Heydrick was born in Springfield Twp., Phila. Co. (now Montg.), Pa. In his youth, after having fitted himself by a thorough course of education, he studied the science of medicine under the instruction of the celebrated Dr. Benjamin Say, of Phila., and in 1792, at the age of 22 years, was graduated with high honors from the University of Pa. Six years afterward, in 1798, he was elected a member of the Philadelphia Society of Medicine, and during the same year, and for some time thereafter, he held the position of Physician to the Phila. Hospital. In 1815, he was elected Resident Member of the Cabinet of Sciences in Phila., an honor which has been conferred upon few, and those the most learned and scientific men in the country.

Having been engaged in the practice of medicine, and with much success, at Chestnut Hill, Phila., and in the city of Phila. itself, from 1792 until 1819, he at the latter date removed to the borough of Mercer, in Mercer County, Pa. He resided in this place several years, and enjoyed a very successful, lucrative practice. But from his youth having a passion for agriculture, he determined to abandon his profession and enjoy for the remainder of his life his favorite pursuit; with this object in view, he removed from Mercer to a farm in the valiey of French Creek, Venango County, Pa., where he continued to reside until the day of his death. During the last ten or twelve years of his life he was afflicted with blindness. After a long and eventful life, Dr. Heydrick died Feb. 9, 1856, in the 86th year of his age.

“The career of Dr. Heydrick as a physician belongs not so much to the history of Venango county as to that of the city of Phila. and of the County of Mercer, in which sketches of his hfe are found. But as a pioneer, in the sense that he visited Venango county before it was fully organized and acquired preperty therein and caused one of the oldest and best farms within its borders to be opened up and improved, he is worthy of notice here. He was born in Montg. Co. near Chestnut Hill, now a suburb of Phila. His grandfather, Balthasar Heydrick, to eseape religious persecution, fled from Silesia to Saxony in 1726 and emigrating to Pa. in 1734, settled in Montg. Co. where he bought land of the Penns. Dr. Heydrick was educated privately at home, under the direction and with the friendly assistance of David Rittenhouse, the eminent philosopher, mathematician, and patriot. He studied. medicine with Dr. Benjamin Say of Phila. and was graduated from the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania in 1792. After his graduation he was physician to the Philadelphia Hospital and a member of several of the most prominent learned societies of the time. He continued his practice at Chestnut Hill until 1819.

“In 1802-3 he made a visit of inspection to land owned by his father in the third, fifth, and sixth donation districts. Delighted with the tract on French Creek at the mouth of the Deer Creek, then the site of an Indian village known as Custaloga’s Town, he purchased it from his father intending some day to make it his home. In 1819, he removed to Mercer and there practiced his profession. Part of his French Creek tract had been for years cultivated by the Indians and he gave an improvement lease to James Martin, son of John Martin, Sr. Martin erected buildings, and enlarged the Indian improvement. The farm had been fairly opened to cultivation and is now in possession of his son, Charles H. Heydrick. Advancing years admonished the doctor that he must soon abandon his profession. So he removed to the farm and passed the remainder of his days with his son.

“Dr. Heydrick, Apr. 13, 1793, married Mary, daughter of Captain Peter Care, Sr., of Philadelphia. His death occurred on the 9th of February, 1856. His children were Harriet, married to Nathaniel P. Hood, of Philadelphia; Caroline married to Thomas J. Brown of Mercer County; and Charles H.

“To a mind vigorous and receptive by nature, the subject of our sketch added the thorough culture of the schools and that wisdom that comes from observation and contact with his fellowmen. He lives in the memory of those who knew him as a genial old gentleman, ripe in knowledge and experience, which he was always willing to impart for the benefit of those around him.” [A. P. W.— Hist. Venango Co., Pa.)