Dr. Pitt, born in 1724 in England and “bred a Surgeon,” established his apothecary shop in Williamsburg in 1744 at the “Sign of the Rhinoceros.” In 1768 he closed his shop and returned to England. He later came back to Virginia but no longer engaged in medicine or pharmacy. In 1776 Pitt, a tory, left Virginia again. He died later that year in England.
Thomas Wharton (1735-1746)
Wharton arrived in Virginia about 1703 as an indentured servant to Dr. Richard Wright. By 1735 Wharton had established an apothecary shop in Williamsburg, which he operated until his death in 1746. He left his drugs, medicines, and shop utensils to Dr. McKenzie.
Suggestions for Further Reading
Whitfield J. Bell, Jr., The Colonial Physician & Other Essays. New York: Science History Publications, 1975.
——, “Medical Practice in Colonial America,” in Symposium on Colonial Medicine. Williamsburg: Jamestown-Williamsburg-Yorktown Celebration Commission and the Virginia 350th Anniversary Commission, 1957.
John B. Blake, Public Health in the Town of Boston, 1630-1822. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1959.
Wyndham B. Blanton, Medicine in Virginia in the Eighteenth Century. Richmond: Garrett and Massie, 1931.
——, Medicine in Virginia in the Seventeenth Century. Richmond: William Byrd Press, 1930.
John Duffy, A History of Public Health in New York City, 1625-1866. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1968.