Page 19

“…restored vision to many…”

This is from a handwritten transcription of a letter to the editor of the Columbia Telescope, February 20, 1829, signed by John Brandon. The transcription is held in the archives room of the Lancaster County Library in Lancaster, South Carolina.

“…to work at Stringfellow’s store…”

SIMS, J. Marion, (1885). The Story of my Life, ed. by H. Marion-Sims. D. Appleton & Co: New York, pp. 80, 115.

“…through a parlor-door keyhole…”

Sims does not explicitly state that Blair’s future wife was one of Mrs. Bartlett’s daughter’s friends, but it’s hard to imagine why a young woman who was not a friend of the Bartlett’s daughter would be in the Bartlett home.

SIMS, J. Marion, (1885). The Story of my Life, ed. by H. Marion-Sims. D. Appleton & Co: New York, p. 95.

“Blair was six foot seven…”

An account from Sims, the Washington Telegraph, December 25, 1832 (reprinted in the Newbern Sentinel (New Bern, NC), January 7, 1833), and a Blair family magazine.

SIMS, J. Marion, (1885). The Story of my Life, ed. by H. Marion-Sims. D. Appleton & Co: New York, p. 92.

“General James Blair and Family,” William Campbell Blair, Blair Family Magazine, Vol. XVIII, No. 2, Summer 2000, p. 31.

“…distinguished himself in 1812…”

“General James Blair and Family,” William Campbell Blair, Blair Family Magazine, Vol. XVIII, No. 2, Summer 2000, p. 32.

“…he was a real congressman…”

“General James Blair was One of the Colorful Men of this Section,” Lancaster News (Lancaster, SC), March 15, 1940.

“Entranced by his bulk…”

See “…through a parlor-door keyhole…,” above.

“…once shattering a newspaperman’s arm…”

SIMS, J. Marion, (1885). The Story of my Life, ed. by H. Marion-Sims. D. Appleton & Co: New York, pp. 93-94.

“Sims had met Blair…”

The portrait of Sims in the American Phrenological Journal has many of the earmarks of Sims’s own style. As suggested later in the book, Sims and Henri Stuart, his informal agent in New York, may have had a hand in placing, if not drafting, this piece. My suggestion as to the timing of this offer combines the Journal account with Sims’s autobiography. The portrait of Sims was included with the Journal article.

“J. Marion Sims, M.D., Phrenological Character and Biography,” unsigned, American Phrenological Journal, Vol. XXVI, No. 6., December 1857, p. 114.

SIMS, J. Marion, (1885). The Story of my Life, ed. by H. Marion-Sims. D. Appleton & Co: New York, p. 94.

“…Sims was as awed…”

SIMS, J. Marion, (1885). The Story of my Life, ed. by H. Marion-Sims. D. Appleton & Co: New York, p. 110.

“…the ‘Wahaw Giant’…”

“Congressman James Blair,” Louise Pettus, The Heritage Gazette, Winter 2005, p. 4. Image is reproduced with the article.

“…Franklin Academy…”

SIMS, J. Marion, (1885). The Story of my Life, ed. by H. Marion-Sims. D. Appleton & Co: New York, p. 177.

“…cofounded by Dr. Jones.”

SIMS, J. Marion, (1885). The Story of my Life, ed. by H. Marion-Sims. D. Appleton & Co: New York, p. 71.

“The girls studied downstairs…”

SIMS, J. Marion, (1885). The Story of my Life, ed. by H. Marion-Sims. D. Appleton & Co: New York, p. 72.

Harris, S. (1950). Woman's surgeon: The life story of J. Marion Sims. New York: Macmillan, p. 12.

“…Sims stole glances…”

Although Sims does not explicitly state that he stole glances of Dr. Bartlett Jones’s library during his visits to the Jones household, it would be in keeping with his general aversion to studies, combined with his desire to impress Dr. Jones’s daughter. Soon, Sims will be studying classical languages with J.F.G. Mittag.

From an unpublished text of medical history held by the archives at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, Call No. MC 51, Folder 172a, p. 126.