Ontario Community Newspapers

Port Perry Star, 12 Sep 1995, p. 15

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"A Family Tradition for 128 Years" Adjustment to spine which restored patient's hearing hailed as first chiropractic treatment The life and times of Daniel David Palmer, founder of chiropractic, were both tragic and controversial. D. D. as he became known in the chiro- practic profession -- fought tirelessly from the lectern, through articles, and even from jail, to prove the credibility of the science he had developed. four marriages. He and his new bride purchased a 10- acre lot in New Boston for $10 and built an extensive apiary and plant nursery. Although he took great care to maintain the operation, the beekeeping enterprise ended in disaster in 1881. D. D. continued to prosper in his nursery operation, selling raspberry and blackber- ry bushes all over the nation. He also became interested in Spiritualism at this point and often engaged in discuSsions with local towns- people about the religion. D. D.'s second wife was Louvenia Landers, whom he married on October 7, 1874. (It is believed his first wife died during child birth.) | On December 31, 1881, he sold his pro- perty, moved to What Cheer, Iowa with his wife and opened a grocery store. Also liv- ing in What Cheer were his parents When the government of Upper Canada first offered land for sale around 1821, D. D.'s grandparents, Stephen and Abigail Palmer moved to the Port Perry area from Pennsylvania. Their son Thomas was born in 1824 and he married Catherine McVay in 1844. D. D., the first of their six children, was born on March 7, 1845. D. D. Palmer received his early education from the tutelage of a brutish taskmaster, John Black. By the time D. D. was 11-years-old, he and his brother, Thomas J., nine, both had received the equivalent of an eighth-grade education and were on the academic trail of high school subjects that included natural sciences and classical languages. MOVED TO UNITED STATES But their education was cut short when their father's grocery busi- ness failed. Their parents and four younger siblings moved to the United States in 1856, leaving D. D. and Thomas to work in a local match factory. \ | On April 3, 1865, the two brothers left Port Perry to rejoin their family in the United States. and siblings. Competition was tough in the grocery business, and D. D. found it necessary to return to teaching. "He and his family moved to Letts, Iowa, and it was here on November 20, 1884, that Louvenia died," says Mr. Gielow. "Surviving her were Frank Palmer, age 11 and a son by a previous marriage; May Palmer, eight; Jessie Palmer, and Bartlett Joshua, two." D. D. married again on May 5, 1885, six months after Louvenia's death. It is said that D. D. probably married 26- year-old Martha A. Henning to take care of his young children. MAGNETIC HEALING Palmer, probably influenced from reading about Hippocrates and other ancient Greek healers, became inter- ested in the work of Paul Caster who was practising magnetic healing, Followers believed that the human body was surrounded by a magnetic field and by influencing this force, some minor illnesses could be cured. D.D. Palmer and his family moved to Burlington, Iowa to practise mag- netic healing, staying only a short time before moving on to Davenport. In 1887 D. D. Palmer was listed as a 'Vital Healer,' and claimed cures for D. D. took a teach- ing job eight months after arriving in Iowa and taught in many surrounding counties before moving to New Boston, Illinois, in 1871. There, he edu- cated 53 youngsters in the intermediate department of the community school. D. D. married Abba Lord on January 20, 1871 -- the first of his 150th Anniversary of the birth of David Daniel Palmer March 7, 1845 Port Perry, Ontario 100th Anniversary of the Founding of Chiropractic Sept. 18, 1895 Davenport, lowa 50th Anniversary of the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College Sept. 18, 1945 Toronto, Ontario fever, rheumatism and indigestion. He walked down the aisle for the last time on November 6, 1888 when he married Villa Amanda Thomas, 39. D. D. would later laud Villa for all of the assis- tance she gave him in his practice. "By the 1890s he had attracted so many patients that he took Turnto Page 17

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