Dr. Job H. Terrill of Chester, Pennsylvania, kept this ledger, which contains an index followed by 136 pages of the names of patients, the dates he saw them, the services he provided, and the costs for service. The most frequent services provided by Dr. Terrill were obstetrics and vaccinations, though he also charged for lancing, bleeding, dressing wounds, providing dental procedures (i.e. extracting teeth), giving advice and medicines, staying the night, and other services. He listed his patients largely by patriarchs' names (even in the cases of births). He attended to prisoners at the Delaware County jail, apprentices (in one case, he extirpated the tumor of a "bound girl", April 26, 1834, page 29), in-laws (the Eyres), and three African American clients.
Dr. Terrill identified his African American patients with the preface "Bl". They include:
- "Robert (that lived with Ruby)," delivering a son (September 4, 1842, page 63).
- "Gales (the Barber)," delivering a daughter (August 25, 1842, page 70).
- "Abraham Murry," delivering children (May 20, 1841, and July 17, 1843, page 130).
A few notes follow Dr. Terrill's death, respecting the payment of bills.
Job H. Terrill was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, in 1785 and moved to Chester, Pennsylvania, in 1809 where he married Margaret Smith (ca. 1790-1835). The couple had at least two daughters, Emmeline L. Terrill (1810-1897) and Anna Louisa Terrill (1812-1839). The family lived in a house on Market Street, south of Fourth Street, which Job Terrill purchased on October 11, 1809. He became a physician in Chester, was a member of the Pennsylvania Agricultural Society and St. Paul's Episcopal Church of Chester, and had a great love of horses. In addition to his family, Terrill lived with Ike, a free (according to the 1830 and 1840 U.S. Censuses) black servant, who helped train the family's horses. Dr. Terrill received a leg injury when one of his horses started and threw him against the wheel of a vehicle; the resulting "thigh disease" killed him on January 20, 1844.
