The Family Medicine Chest

By Douglas H. Shepard, 2013

 

                The Family Medicine Chest was a product of Frederick M. Southwick’s Family Medicine Co. in the 1920s. Southwick, the son of Erastus and Samantha (Cole) Southwick, was born near Van Buren Bay around 1853. On 25 March 1874 he married Laura Woodworth. He first appears in Fredonia records in the 1920 Census at 7 Free Street (Lambert Avenue) as a Manufacturer of Medicine. The 1921 Directory describes it as the Fredonia Medicine Co. By the 1923 Directory it is the Family Medicine Co. at the same location. The 1925 Census lists him as still at 7 Free Street, 72, a Salesman, but the 1925 Directory shows him to have left Fredonia. His wife died in 1926 and he died at his daughter’s home in Lakewood OH in January 1928.