BY G. W. T. FARISH, M.D.,
Yarmouth, N.S.
Reprinted from
THE CANADIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION JOURNAL
XXIII,696-698, 1930

Submitted by Olga Neal 

We are grateful to Guy Baker great-grandson  of the author, for making this document available."
 
 

I know little of these gentlemen, more than to say that they lived in England and evidently practiced their profession there.

So far as Yarmouth is concerned, we begin with Joseph Norman Bond, eighth son of Dr.James Bond, of England.  He was born in 1758 at Weston, in Cheshire.  In 1779 he had evidently completed his medical education, for he was appointed surgeon in Lord Comwallis' army and was present at the surrender at Yorktown in 1781.  I happen to be in possession of the mahogany chest in which he kept his medicine and surgical armamentarium.   In  1782  he journeyed to New York, and in the following year left that city with other Loyalists for Shelburne, N.S.  In 1785, he married Elizabeth Bell, daughter of Joseph Bell, also a Loyalist. Not finding Shelburne to be all he desired, he moved to Yarmouth and at once became a useful member of the community.  For twenty years he was the only resident physician in what is now known as Yarmouth Co.

One cannot imagine how it would be possible for him, being the only resident medical-practitioner,  to  devote  his  time  to  any  outside branches of work, but we find him busy in other respects, as he held many public offices.  In 1787 he was appointed to the post of Collector of Customs, which duty he performed for thirty years.  In  1792  he  was  appointed  Deputy Sheriff.   In 1802, the Nova Scotia Government appointed him a Commissioner and Trustee for the building of the first bridge over the Tusket River.  In 1804 a Justice ship of the Peace was bestowed upon him.  In 1806 he was one of the pioneers in the establishment of Trinity Church at Yarmouth and for thirty years was one of its wardens.  In  1830,  two  months  before  his death, he became a member of the association for building the first Yarmouth academy.  All the parchments which were presented to him covering these different offices are in the possession of his granddaughter, now ninety-two years of age.

Dr. Stephen Norman Bond, brother of Dr. Joseph N. Bond, was prepared to follow in his father's footsteps, and chose the medical profession. He practiced for a short time in England, but ill health compelled him to relinquish his calling and he died in 1821 at a comparatively early age.

It was Dr. Stephen who was a great friend of the renowned Dr. Jenner, of cowpox fame, and he obtained some of the vaccine lymph from Dr. Jenner and sent it to his brother in Yarmouth.  Such faith had he in the new discovery that he tried its effect on his own son, an infant at the time, and it proved so successful that he at once introduced it into his practice with great success.

Dr. James Bond, born in 1786 in Shelburne, son of Joseph Norman, was born in England and practiced his profession in Yarmouth until 1839, when he relinquished it in favour of his younger brother Dr. Joseph B. Bond, and accepted the position of manager of the first bank in Yarmouth. The next child, Sarah Bond, married H. G. Farish, and this is where the Bonds and Parishes become connected in the genealogical tree. Norman Bond, M.D„ another brother of Dr. James, was born in 1795.  He practiced for a few years at Digby, N.S., but ill health obliged him to give up and he died in 1821. Then came Joseph Blackburn Bond, M.D who, when his brother took up the position as manager of the Bank, carried on the practice.

Another daughter, Maria Bond, married George of Bingay who practiced for a number of years in Boston and Westport, Digby Co. Now we will return to the point where the  Parishes connect up.  The first doctor by that name was Dr. Henry Greggs Farish. He was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., while the British flag was still flying in the year 1781.  The records say "The British flag was flying over the house and a sentry guarding the door."  His father and mother died when he was a comparatively young man, and be took up the study of medicine with a Dr. Perry, a great friend of his father's, and when very young, as a matter of fact when seventeen years of age, he attended Dr. Perry through a long illness.  After Dr. Perry died, Col. Hamilton, the British Consul at Norfolk, Va„ obtained an appointment for him on board of H. M. S. Asia as surgeon or assistant surgeon, and subsequently on the Cleopatra.  After  peace was declared, he was returned to England, and whilst there looking for some position he met Dr. Joseph Norman Bond, who had taken over his eldest son, Dr. James Bond, to be educated. As a result of this meeting he was invited to come to. Yarmouth  as  Dr.  Bond's  assistant.   After five years he joined Dr. Bond on equal terms, and eventually married his eldest daughter.  When Dr. Bond relinquished his practice he continued on and died in 1856, after having practiced fifty-four years.

He, as well as Dr. Bond, held many other important positions in the community, viz., Collector of Excise, Postmaster, Registrar of Deeds, and the high and honourable position of chief magistrate, and, as the records say, "presided over the Bench at their meetings with firmness and decision." Three sons were born to Henry Greggs and .Sarah Farish, viz., Greggs Joseph, James Collins and Henry Greggs second, all of whom were educated for the medical profession. Greggs Joseph Farish, the eldest son, was born in  1809 and died in  1881.  He practiced in Yarmouth for forty-six years, and, becoming tired of the medical profession, accepted the position of Inspector of Schools for the County of Yarmouth and, possibly, of Shelburne.   He was an M.D. of the University of Pennsylvania, and M.R.C.S. of London, being Gold Medalist of his class.
 

James CoLlinS Farish was born in 1811 and died in 1889.  He was a University of Pennsylvania graduate and also M.R.C.S.  He practiced in Yarmouth for fifty odd years.  Those who remember Dr. James, or as he was familiarly called by some of the country folk "Dr. Jimmie", often speak even to-day of his style in the saddle, with his flowing frock coat and high hat, and as straight as a rush.

Henry Greggs Farish, the third son, was born in 1825 and died in 1914, at the ripe old age of eighty-nine.  He graduated at Philadelphia and subsequently went to London, where he took his M.R.C.S.  diploma.  His father sent him .to Liverpool, (N.S.) where he remained for sixty years in continuous practice. Some years before he died he wrote a very interesting paper, which was read at a meeting of the Nova Scotia Medical Society at Yarmouth, on his sixty years' practice in Queen's Co.

He was survived by three sons, two of whom adopted the medical profession, viz., G. W. T. Farish and J. C. Farish.  The former still holds sway at Yarmouth, and the latter has for the past fifteen years been located at Vancouver, B.C., as a specialist in the Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat. At the present time the name of Farish in medicine has been continuous in Yarmouth for 127 years.

To return to the Bonds.  We find that Dr. J. B. Bond had a son, Dr. Joseph Norman, who had a varied career.  After graduation he practiced in Yarmouth for a short time, and then went back to England.  Finding his health failing he sought a dryer climate, and eventually went to Iowa, U.S.A., where he practiced until his death in 1894.

Dr. James Bond had a son, Stephen, who took up the medical profession, but did not live very long to enjoy his life; also two daughters, Ann and Maria. Ann married James Murray, and had a daughter, who had a son, Dr. J. Murray Washburn, now of Chicago.  Also Maria married Fred. Dart, and had a son Fritz Dart, now practicing in Baltimore. 

Sarah Farish was my father's sister.  She married the Rev. J. T. T. Moody, for many years rector in Yarmouth, and bore two sons who both chose medicine as their life's work, Dr. Henry Moody and Dr. James Moody. The former practiced in Richibucto, N.B., until his death, and the latter at Windsor, N.S.

This is the end of the Bond-Farish record. There are none to follow, so the history ends, unless Dr. Washburn and Dr. Dart have possibilities for the medical profession.   Dating from Dr. William Bond, there have been twenty-one doctors in the family up to the present, as can be seen from the family tree appended herewith.