Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, December 23, 1993 TAG: 9312230293
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MELANIE S. HATTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
John Henry Pinkard, born in Franklin County in 1865, was more than a hero of his time. Some said he was touched by God.
He earned his fame and fortune through his ability to heal people using herbal medicines and what some guessed was a second sight. He was so popular that people, black as well as white, came from across the country to see him.
In the ``Biographical Sketch of the Life, Work and Medical Skill of Dr. John Henry Pinkard,'' W.D. Dew wrote: "He is the only man in the world to-day who can, with the greatest accuracy and skill, sit down and without even feeling the pulse of the patient, diagnose his case, tell the origin of his disease, and trace it through all stages."
The tiny booklet, written by Dew and attorney Andrew J. Oliver - Pinkard's legal adviser and business manager - is kept in the Virginia Room at the Roanoke City Library, and a copy is at the Gainsboro branch library. It is not dated but was written "about eighteen years [after] he came into prominence," which was in the mid-1920s.
Oliver wrote that Pinkard's "copious knowledge of botany, physiology and anatomy, and particularly his superhuman vision or second-sight by which he sees and tells of the mysterious inner workings of the human frame" set him apart. "God's medical gift to the world," he concluded.
Indeed, the man nicknamed "Doc" became a prominent and wealthy man. His plain white business card said ``Dr. J. H. Pinkard, The Medical Scientist.''
Pinkard was born to poor parents, Sarah and Sam Pinkard, in the mountains of Franklin County in the year slavery was abolished. He started working against his parents' wishes and became a water boy with Norfolk and Western Railway when he was 15. He was promoted to a dirt cut supervisor earning $2.75 a day.
By 18, he had earned enough to buy an 88-acre farm for his family. But according to an essay, "Yesterday in the Black Community," by Franklin County educators Gloria Woods and Mary Hopkins kept at the Harrison Museum, they lost the land because of a "defective title."
After that, Pinkard pursued medical studies at Western University of Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh, but it's not clear whether he graduated with a medical degree. He practiced medicine in Pittsburgh for 10 years before returning to Southwest Virginia. In Roanoke, he manufactured botanical remedies, and his popularity soared.
His office at 1018 to 1020 West Salem Ave. was frequently crammed with people seeking cures for their complaints. Word of mouth served as his advertisement. Woods and Hopkins noted that his most popular herbal remedy was ``Pinkard's Great Liniment,'' which sold in 25- cent and 50-cent containers. It claimed to relieve pain in three to 10 minutes and was used for an assortment of ails such as back pain and rheumatism.
Some of his financial books are kept at the Harrison Museum. Each page is handwritten, listing patients' names and addresses and the medicine they purchased. Charges ranged from 50 cents to $22. Patients came from West Virginia, Kentucky and occasionally New York. According to Woods and Hopkins, records from 1919 revealed he had patients from at least 15 states and the District of Columbia, and sales of his remedies averaged $1,000 to $1,500 a week. In one of his ledgers at the museum, on Oct. 6, 1926, he saw 28 patients and made $73.
But, Dew writes, Pinkard had to "overcome many obstacles, especially from a hostile set of professional men."
Pinkard did not have a medical license and received fines for "venturing into the medical field too far by prescribing drugs which could prove dangerous," wrote Raymond Barnes in the "History of the city of Roanoke." "In spite of trials, `Doc' continued to diagnose and prescribe until his death."
Pinkard also was a successful businessman. He invested his money in real estate and bought 18 acres in Roanoke County to create a residential area for blacks that he named Pinkard's Court. His house still stands there, although much-changed since it was built in the 1920s. Tom and Carolyn Davis bought it in 1972. The following year, it opened as White House Galleries.
Carolyn Davis said the house had a chauffeur's quarters attached to it and still had papers and bottles in the basement and attic. In fact, the Davises found Pinkard's journals detailing his finances. They found crockery pots - containing what they guessed were herbal medicines - buried in the yard, which exuded a peculiar odor when the wind blew, Carolyn Davis said.
Pinkard owned two farms in Roanoke County, one in Franklin County and property in Roanoke, including the Acorn Banking Co. and a drugstore. He designed "a pocketbook, entitled, 'Pinkard's Puzzle' ... which keeps your bills straight, automatically separated, and ready for instant use," Dew wrote. The biography said he was a religious and generous man who donated to charities and education.
A newspaper story in 1982 on Pinkard's Court said Pinkard was chauffeured in a Packard, an elegant car of the time, and wore Palm Beach suits, a broad-brimmed white hat and carried an expensive gold-headed cane.
His wife, Mary, was "one of the main spokes in the wheel that contributes largely to the Doctor's success." Records do not reveal if they had children. His wife helped take care of his business ventures. Dew wrote: "In this pair the two minds seem to travel together in great harmony."
Pinkard died of tuberculosis early on the morning of Jan. 29, 1934, reportedly with his 100-year-old mother at his side.
His portrait was donated to the Harrison Museum in February, 1988, by Nadeen Clark, who had owned his home before the Davises.
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