Illness and Healthcare in Nineteenth-Century Strasburg Township, Pennsylvania

by Janelle M. Zimmerman

“The Funck Family Journal provides important details about contemporary understandings of illness in early post-colonial Pennsylvania. Remedies are listed for specific diseases, indicating that diseases were seen as specific, treatable entities. The remedies are relatively simple, and utilize readily available ingredients, suggesting use by lay and/or family members. This manuscript illustrates the shift toward a rationalist approach to medicine, with limited reference to occult or lunar forces. The Funck manuscript could serve as the basis for an extended study of the development of folk and professional medicine in colonial Pennsylvania…”