4  Dr.  Peter  Smith  and  His  Dispensatory.  {^}jSi£w£*' 
cine,  and  became  familiar  with  the  works  of  Dr.  Rush,  Dr.  Brown, 
and  other  writers  of  his  day  on  "  physic,"  as  well  as  with  the  works 
of  Culpepper.  He  also,  during  his  life,  acquired  much  information 
from  physicians  whom  he  met  in  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Vir- 
ginia, North  and  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Kentucky  and  Ohio.  He 
called  himself  an  "  Indian  doctor,"  because,  as  he  said,  he  relied  in 
his  practice  much  on  herbs,  roots  and  other  remedies  known  to  the 
Indians,  though  he  did  not  confine  himself  to  botanical  remedies. 
He  seems  to  have  been  an  original  investigator,  availing  himself  of 
all  opportunities  within  his  reach  for  acquiring  knowledger  especially 
acquainting  himself  with  domestic  and  tried  Indian  remedies,  roots, 
herbs,  etc. 
Starting  from  New  Jersey  about  the  year  1780,  he  commenced 
bis  wandering,  emigrating  life  with  his  wife  and  "  some "  small 
children.  He  lingered  for  a  time  in  Virginia,  then  in  the  Carolinas, 
and  "  settled  "  in  Georgia.  He  sought  out  people  from  whom  he 
could  gather  knowledge  "  of  the  theory  and  practice  of  medicine," 
and  preached  the  gospel,  possibly  in  an  itinerant  way.  He  was  a 
devout  Baptist  of  the  old  school.  A  strong  anti-slavery  man,  even 
in  that  early  day,  he  could  not  be  content  with  his  Georgia  home, 
as  he  put  it,  "with  its  many  scorpions  and  slaves."  Accordingly,  he 
took  his  family  on  horseback  ;  little  children,  twin  babes  among 
them,  carried  in  baskets  suitable  for  the  purpose,  hung  to  the  horns 
of  the  saddle  ridden  by  his  wife,  and  thus,  without  roads  to  travel, 
crossed  mountains,  rivers  and  creeks.  The  wilderness  was  not 
free  from  danger  from  Indians,  but  he  traversed  the  woods  from 
Georgia  through  Tennessee  to  Kentucky,  intending  there  to  abide. 
But,  rinding  that  Kentucky  had  also  become  a  slave  State,  the  dog- 
matic old  man  and  his  family  bid  good-by  to  Kentucky.  He  left 
that  State  with  a  parting  shot  to  the  effect  that  it  was  the  home  of 
"  head-ticks  and  slavery,"  and  emigrated  to  Ohio,  settling  on  Duck 
Creek,  near  the  Columbia  Old  Baptist  Church,  now  adjacent  to  Nor- 
wood village,  and  near  the  limits  of  Cincinnati,  reaching  there  about 
J  794 
He  became,  with  his  family,  a  member  of  the  Duck  Creek  congre- 
gation, and  frequently  preached  there  and  at  other  frontier  places, 
still  pursuing  the  occupation  of  farming  and  the  practice  of  medi- 
cine. In  1804  he  again  took  to  the  wilderness  with  his  entire 
family,  then  numbering  twelve  children,  born  in  the  "Jerseys  and 
