Dr Thomas Sparhawk Amesbury MA

Dr. Thomas Sparhawk  (1806–1874) was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He graduated from Dartmouth and received his medical degree fro Harvard When patients contacted him he did everything he could do to help them. From Legendary Locals of Amesbury By Margie Walker The Sparhawk School Amesbury Massachusetts. From History of Essex County 1874. The death of Dr. Thomas Sparhawk occurred at Newburyport, May 17th. He was a prominent and much beloved physician at Amesbury for many years, removing to the city a short time before his death. He freely gave to all in want, and was ever ready to aid suffering humanity, being truly the "poor man's doctor." A monument was erected over his grave by his friends and very properly inscribed " To the memory of our beloved physician."

Genealogy Sparhawk Family

Dr. Thomas Sparhawk of Amesbury, was one of poet John Greenleaf Whittier's life-long friends. In a letter from Dr. Holmes he wrote: Whittier spoke to me most emphatically of my fellow-student and brother physician, the late Thomas Sparhawk, as one of the best men he ever knew. Dr. Sparhawk was a member of a very limited society of Christians, best known to many persons as the church which claimed the allegiance of that great philosopher and admirable man, Michael Faraday.

While gathering grapes in an arbor in this garden, in 1847, Mr. Whittier received a bullet wound in the cheek. Two boys were firing at a mark on the grounds of a neighbor, and this mark was near where Whittier stood, but on account of a high fence they did not see him. When the bullet struck him, he was concerned his mother should be alarmed by the accident that he said nothing, not even notifying the boys. He bound up his bleeding face in a handkerchief, and called on Dr. Sparhawk, who lived near.  As soon as the wound was dressed, he came home and gave his family their first notice of the accident. The boys had not then learned the result of their carelessness. The lad who fired the gun was named Philip Butler, and he has since acquired a high reputation as an artist. The painting representing the Haverhill homestead which is to be seen at the birthplace was executed by this artist. He tells of the kindness with which Whittier received his tearful confession. It was during the first days of the Mexican war, and some of the papers humorously commented upon it as a singular fact that the first blood drawn was from the veins of a Quaker who had so actively opposed entering upon that war.
From History of Amesbury by Joseph Merrill