When I
was researching alternative medicine providers for our upcoming medical exhibit,
I came across Mrs. R.H. Wilcox, a clairvoyant physician. Given my fondness for historical eccentric
folks, this was a topic I couldn't resist.
Mrs. Wilcox is a great lens through which to examine not only the
presence and popularity of clairvoyants and mediums locally, but also within the larger
context of the spiritualism movement.
The
significant number of clairvoyants in Chemung County in the late 19th and early 20th
centuries makes a lot of sense because spiritualism originated in Western New
York. This area, known as the "burned-over
district," was the birthplace of several religions during the Second Great
Awakening (1790-1840), including Mormonism, the Millerites, and the Oneida Community. Spiritualism is traced back to the Fox
sisters from Wayne County. Beginning in
1848, the Fox sisters claimed to be able to communicate with spirits through
mysterious "rappings." The
sisters traveled around performing séances and became famous. However, in 1888 they admitted they were frauds. Still, spiritualism remained popular and many
men and women claimed to have supernatural powers.
The earliest
clairvoyant I have found mention of from Chemung County was Madame F.M. Du
Bois. Du Bois maintained her practice on
Water Street in Elmira and she appears as a clairvoyant in city directories in
the late 1860s. Madame Du Bois even was
involved in a dramatic incident that was still part of popular memory decades
later: in the late 1860s or early 1870s, she disrupted the marriage ceremony of
her alleged lover, Harwood Badger. Du
Bois claimed to be "spiritually united" and married to
Badger. When Du Bois was forcibly
removed from the room, she allegedly proclaimed that she would "seek to
injure them as long as she lived, and would haunt them if she could after her
death." Some Elmirans believed the
curse had its intended effect as the bride and groom were rumored to have an
unhappy marriage and legal troubles.
Most of
Elmira's other clairvoyants were decidedly less dramatic. Among these practitioners were Mrs. J.E.
Allen, Jane Gibbs, and Mary Stroman. They advertised in newspaper classifieds.
Other
local spiritualists specialized in clairvoyant medicine. The basic tenet of clairvoyant medicine
appears to have been the ability of the practitioner to diagnose a patient
without asking a single question. Dr.
John P. Jennings and Mrs. R.H. Wilcox were both practicing clairvoyant
physicians in Elmira during the 1870s and 1880s. While we know little about Jennings, there is
some information available about Wilcox.
In CCHS' archives, we have two of her hand-written diagnosis reports and
one of her medicinal recipes (one of the main ingredients was gin).
One of Wilcox's medicinal recipes |
A diagnosis report from Wilcox |
Wilcox occasionally practiced
outside of Elmira and she did special residencies in Watkins Glen or Corning
where she would meet patients who would be otherwise unable to visit her in the
city. She was billed as having been "met with unequalled success in
her diagnosis of disease, and in the efficacy of her prescriptions—her
work is regarded by many as a noble, devoted one, and as proving
a great blessing to suffering humanity."
Despite
tales of her successes, some people remained skeptical. When Wilcox's mail, and the money it
contained, was stolen, the Geneva Courier
had some fun at her expense: "The Doctor's letters from misguided
patients, were abstracted from the Post Office, the money in them confiscated
and it was impossible for ordinary mortals to tell
what became of them and the Dr. was in the same unfortunate predicament." A young man, James VanOver, from Elmira, was
eventually arrested for the crime when police staged a sting operation at the
Post Office. Wilcox continued to
practice until her death in 1883 (and perhaps in the afterlife, as well...).