Johnson Lyman Frost... A Doctor?

In 1830, we find our 3 gt. grandfather, Johnson Lyman Frost, wife Oriana, and family in Clay’s Landing, St. Clair County, Michigan. St. Clair County is across Lake Erie from the Cleveland OH area. Frost is listed next to Joel Carrington, who was in Brecksville, Cuyahoga Co., OH in previous census. They may have chosen to travel to Michigan together. In later census records, we find that Joel Carrington migrated to Illinois and Wisconsin. We do not find if he was related to the Frost family, however, Johnson Lyman Frost’s brother was Dr. Elias Carrington Frost.

Lyman is listed in a history book of St. Clair County, Michigan, as a physician, in the early 1830s. Another doctor in this county at the time, was Amasa Hemenger, b. CT. It is not too much of a stretch to believe that he asked Johnson L. Frost to come to Michigan and help him. Johnson may have practiced medicine in Ohio with his brother Dr. Elias C. Frost. Hemenger was involved in local politics in Michigan, and we do know that later on, Johnson L. Frost was very involved in politics in Iowa. “Dr. Hemenger used about an acre of ground to grow poppies, from which he made opium, and lettuce, an acrid variety (Lactuca virosa), from which he extracted lactucarium for its hypnotic and anti-spasmodic properties. An old lady friend relates that "he believed in bleeding for most ills." As a physician and as a man, it is said he was well liked.” [St. Clair County, Michigan, Its History and Its People , By William Lee Jenks Published 1912.]

Note, in later years, in Johnson County Iowa, J. L. Frost proclaimed himself a Doctor of “Botanical Medicine”. Once or twice he is referred to as Dr. Frost, but was never an acting physician of record. “J.L. Frost was a member and officer of the “Medical Botanic Society of Johnson County, Iowa Territory” in 1843. The society was formed for “Friends of Botanic Medical Practice”. p. 417 History of Johnson Co.