Josie

Josie was baptized August 31, 1735. The baptismal record listed her as a “servant” to Major Ebenezer Pomeroy.  It is also noted in another entry that she was a member of the church in Northampton (First Church of Christ Records).

There is indication that Josie had an ailment of some sort. Sylvester Judd included the accounts of Dr. Crouch in one of his volumes. Under the entry for Ebenezer Pomeroy, Crouch wrote that he had “visited his negro woman” in 1737. Though he does not name the woman, it seems likely that he was referring to Josie. In 1737, he treated her with pills, mercury plaster, and lignum vitae. In 1738, he visited her 27 times, gave her more lignum vitae, and recorded “began her salivation.” It is not clear whether this refers to Josie's beginning to salivate as a side effect of being treated with mercury, or Dr. Crouch's attempting to induce excessive salivation through other means. In 1743 he sent pills to a Black woman at Ebenezer Pomeroy’s home, but Judd was unsure whether this was Josie, or another woman (Judd manuscript, “Medicines Including Dr. Crouch’s Practices,” p. 48).
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In terms of what ailment Dr. Crouch may have been treating, it is hard to narrow down. Given the reference to both salivation and mercury, it seems that whatever disease Crouch was treating was one that he believed to have been caused by an excess of the humor phlegm, since that was the humor he was trying to remove. Lignum vitae, also known as the “tree of life,” was used as a remedy for many illnesses such as cough, arthritis, and syphilis.