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Dr. John Hutchison arrived in North America at 20 years of age, after studying to be a surgeon in Scotland for 3 years. The early history of the Peterborough area can be told in part through the patient records of the doctor. He arrived in the area in 1818; a few years before the town of Peterborough was settled. He lived in several of the townships in the Cobourg, Port Hope and Peterborough area before moving into Peterborough in 1830. The exhibit will focus on the ‘life and times’ of Dr. Hutchison and his practice in the backwoods of Upper Canada.
Some of his patients would become quite well known in the history of Upper Canada. For example, Susanna Moodie and husband John Dunbar Moodie; Thomas and Catharine Parr Traill, as well as Catharine and Susanna’s brother Samuel Strickland, were patients of the doctor. Thomas A. Stewart, his wife Frances and their family counted on the doctor’s friendship and medical services. The letters of Susanna Moodie, Catharine Parr Traill, and Frances Stewart are valuable resources to be used in this exhibit.
The exhibit tells the story of Dr. Hutchison’s life in Upper Canada through his relationships with others. While the doctor himself did not leave behind a diary, or very much in the way of correspondence, some his patients often referred to him in their writing. The doctor’s Birth Registry 1817-1846 and some of his patient ledgers (1830-1838) have survived and are among the artifacts belonging to the Hutchison House Museum collection. They offer a valuable glimpse into the doctor’s practice in the Peterborough area.
In 1845 Dr. Hutchison’s second cousin, Sandford Fleming, came to live with the family in Peterborough. Fleming would go on to make his mark in history. Sir Sandford Fleming kept a journal throughout his adult life. When he arrived in Peterborough at the age of 18, he wrote about his early impressions of the community and noted many of his day-to-day activities. The exhibit will include some of Fleming’s experiences in the community through excerpts from that time, especially ones that pertain to the doctor in particular.
Dr. Hutchison was a well respected and integral member of the early community of Peterborough. In fact, when he contemplated a move to Toronto in 1836, the community banded together and built him a house. That house is now Hutchison House Museum.
