Dr. Frederick Hartzell of Churchtown, Cumberland County, PA

Many doctors worked in multiple towns and villages during their early careers before finding enough work to settle in one location. It was the same with Dr. Frederick Hartzell. He served the village of Churchtown from 1875 until his death in 1894. During that time, he experienced several bad accidents, and he lost his oldest son to drowning.

Born in 1837, Frederick was the son of George J. Hartzell, a wealthy farmer and his wife Mary of Butler Township in Adams County, Pennsylvania.¹ By 1860, Frederick had married, and he and his wife Mary were also living in Butler Township.² His occupation was listed as a farmer, but his occupation would change in the next few years. Frederick wanted to be a doctor.

By 1865 he had achieved his goal and an announcement in The Gettysburg Times reported that Dr. Frederick Hartzell, formerly of this county, has completed his medical course and located at Quincy, Franklin County, Pennsylvania.³

By 1867, Dr. Hartzell had moved to Leesburg, Cumberland County. He advertised that he “respectfully tenders his services to the public. Being a graduate of one of the First Medical Schools, and having considerable experience as a Physician, he flatters himself that he will be able to render general satisfaction.⁴

Between 1872 and 1875 Dr. Hartzell and his family settled in the village of Churchtown. It would be their home until his death in 1894. Churchtown was a thriving village set in lush countryside, about five and a half miles from Carlisle. In the spring of 1875, the editor of The Carlisle Weekly Herald and his friend, Carlisle liveryman William B. Bretz, visited the villages of Boiling Springs and Churchtown, and wrote about them in the newspaper’s May 6, 1875, issue. “The health of the citizens [of Churchtown] is carefully guarded by the following medical gentlemen: Dr. F. Hartzell, who resides nearly opposite the ‘Monroe House,’ (owned by Mrs. Liggett)⁵ has been very successful as a practitioner of medicine, and stands high in the community, and is an agreeable and polished gentleman. His pills of various sizes will cure all aches, bruises, and pains.”**

On Tuesday afternoon, March 4, 1879, Dr. Hartzell was visiting the family of Jacob Gates, who lived at the Harrisburg and Potomac Railroad, a short distance below Leidich’s [Leidig’s] Mill in Monroe Township. Dr. Hartzell had tied up his horse at the opposite side of the track. When he was informed that a train was coming, “he immediately ran for his horse, and attempting to cross the track in front of the train, the engine struck him breaking several of his ribs and running over and crushing a part of his foot.” Doctors were called to attend to his injuries but had to amputate “three of the smaller toes.”⁶

Doctor Hartzell had another accident in January 1892. He was on his way to Carlisle when his horse was frightened by something just east of town. While the doctor was trying to control the runaway horse, he fell from the buggy and received a wound to his face. The buggy was wrecked, and the doctor’s instrument case and robe were lost.⁷

Tragedy befell the Hartzell’s on Monday, May 30, 1893, when their eldest son, Kemper, drowned in the Conodoguinet Creek. He and a group of men had set off for a day of fishing on an island in Conodoguinet Creek. Towards evening, five of them boarded a skiff by the dam above the water works. As they were crossing the creek the skiff, being overloaded, rocked back and forth several times. Several of the men jumped into the water to swim back to the island. Kemper jumped out and was about 30 feet from land when he went under, weighed down by his clothing and shoes. He was found about an hour later with his glasses still on and his watch which had stopped at 5:10. Kemper was 32 years old and worked as a cutter at the Carlisle Shoe factory. He left a wife, a child, and a grieving family.⁸

On Sunday evening, November 4, 1894, Dr. Hartzell “was found dead at Goodhart’s Hotel” in Churchtown. He had gone to the hotel and laid down on one of the tables. Several customers saw him at various times during the evening but thought that he was sleeping until they discovered that he was dead. “He left a widow and three children; G. F. Hartzell of Essex, Illinois, Grant and Miss Tura Hartzell, at home.”⁹ He is buried in Mt. Zion Cemetery.

A public sale of the Hartzell house and lot was held in Churchtown on Saturday afternoon, February 16, 1895. The property consisted of a two-story brick house, a frame stable, and outbuildings on Lot #6 of the additional lots of the village of Churchtown. It was bounded on the north by Jacob and Sarah Garver, on the east by Locust Alley, on the south by Jeremiah Bowers and on the West by Main Street, containing 33 feet in front on Main Street and 200 feet in depth to the alley aforesaid.¹⁰