Isaac Huestis was a prominent Elder of Chesterfield Meeting in the late 19th century who played an important role in Ohio Yearly Meeting and on the Boarding School Committee. Huestis (pronounced hyoos-tis) was one of the best medical doctors in southeastern Ohio in his day.
Huestis was the son of Aaron and Esther Huestis. When a young man, Huestis taught school in Columbiana County. He then studied medicine with Dr. Sylvanus Fisher, a renowned doctor of the 19th century (Robertson, p. 285).
Huestis settled at Chesterfield in 1837 and practiced medicine there throughout the remainder of his life. His parents moved with him, but they did not transfer their memberships there.
Isaac Huestis was the first physician in the area and had a wide practice, even after the arrival of another well-known Quaker physician named George Michener. Huestis is reported to have conducted many remarkably difficult surgeries and had "few equals in this part of the State." Huestis took additional training, graduating from the Starling Medical College in 1848. Thereafter, he was on occasion a delegate to the American Medical Association (Robertson, p. 284-285).
Huestis held many positions in the Society of Friends. While serving as Clerk of the men's Chesterfield MM in 1850, the business was interrupted by a medical emergency. An alternate Clerk was appointed, and Huestis left in the middle of the business meeting to aid the injured person.
Huestis was active in Quaker affairs on all levels. He served many years as Clerk of Chesterfield MM and Pennsville QM. He also donated many years to the Boarding School, particularly after the decision was made to rebuild at Stillwater. During the doctrinal controversies of the mid-century, Huestis supported the efforts to stand apart from the national turmoil. He did not support exchanging epistles with New England YM after 1845. Huestis was the Men's Clerk of Pennsville QM when it appointed a committee to revise the minutes of the women's Chesterfield MM in 1862, the event that precipitated the Primitive division in Ohio YM. He wrote the minute authorizing the committee to review the MM minutes, and when women's MM Clerk Belinda Hobson refused to allow this abuse of Quaker process, her supporters (the Primitive Friends) withdrew from Ohio YM.
When Charles Robertson's History of Morgan County was published, the article on the Quakers (pp. 448-449) was written by Huestis.
Sources: EAQG 4:584, 637, 874, 1063, 1102-1103; Charles Robertson, History of Morgan County, Ohio, with Portraits and Biographical Sketches of some of its Pioneers and Prominent Men (Chicago: L.H. Watkins & Co., 1886). Photo courtesy of Gregory McReynolds of Pasadena, California.
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