Biographical / Historical

Jethro Meriwether Hurt (1821-1887) was born at Pleasant Grove in Lunenburg County, Virginia on April 25, 1821. He started his education at Captain William Scott's Winfield Academy, and at the age of eighteen enrolled in the University of Virginia's sixteenth session. After completing that, he entered the University of Pennsylvania and graduated in 1841 with a "Doctor in Arte Medica" degree. As a doctor, he practiced medicine for the next forty-five years in Nottoway County, Virginia. In 1847, Hurt worked with 11 other physicians to draft a Uniform System of Charges governing rates that patients could be expected to pay for services.

Hurt married Virginia Irby (July 19, 1831 - March 12, 1913), daughter of William Blunt Irby and Sarah Washington Stith on March 5, 1856 at Pleasant Hill. Virginia's brother John W. Irby was Hurt's classmate at the University of Virginia.

Hurt died at Auburn in Nottoway County on February 19, 1887.

Content Description

This collection consists of the personal papers of Jethro Meriwether Hurt, a former UVA School of Medicine student, related to his medical practice in Blacktone, Virginia in the 1800s. There are two items in this collection: a handwritten medical casebook dating from the 1840s in Jethro Meriwether Hurt's medical practice in Blackstone, Virginia; and a handwritten diary from the 1860s documenting patient visits, medical charges, and other expenses related to Jethro Meriwether Hurt's medical practice and personal affairs.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Diaries
• Nottoway County, Virginia
• University of Virginia -- School of Medicine