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| Dr. William M. Lyday in the office he inherited along
with secretary Mae Garren. The books seen on his desk are the same volumes now housed in the NC Room at Transylvania County Library. |
Much has been documented about the Lyday family who
had their beginnings in the Penrose area of Transylvania County. Land was
granted to Col. Jacob Lyday for his service in the Revolutionary War, but the
first true Lyday to settle in what would become Transylvania County was Dr.
Andrew Jackson Lyday. A recent donation from a direct descendant has been given
to the NC Room at the Library which includes eleven reference texts that
belonged to A.J. Lyday and his son William, both practicing doctors. Most of them
appear to belong to William. These volumes were used daily to aid in treating
patients, though a couple of the volumes are non-medical texts, such as a
dictionary and a geography book. What adds to the interest is the inscriptions
inside, which show dates and locations of where the books were purchased. Due
to the high costs of textbooks, some of them were used by multiple owners and
the list of signatures in the front tell a story of legacy. Some loose
materials were also found inside, such as a deed, a patent application, and a
handwritten prescription on letterhead.
New pieces of history have been discovered with this
donation as well. One of the texts has the author’s name of “Penrose” on the
spine. This led to research that has revealed a connection between the author
and the name of the Penrose area. When A.J. Lyday practiced medicine, he did so
in a cottage built on family land. When his son William graduated medical
school, he joined his father in practice. After A.J. passed away, William took
on the practice entirely. The area where they lived was then known as Calhoun
and has the approximate modern location of the intersection of Everett Road and
Crab Creek Road. Property stamps inside the donated texts and letterhead
confirm that the family lived and worked in Calhoun. A post office was located in
Calhoun as well, operating from 1856-1904. In 1904, the post office for the
area became the Penrose post office. Why the name changed, it cannot yet be
determined, but it has been confirmed through a direct descendant that the
Lyday family had a hand in naming the new area, presumably due to their
prominence.
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| The property stamp inside several of the donated texts
shows William Lyday practiced in Calhoun and was a specialist in women’s medicine. |
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| The spine of one recently donated medical text bears the name “Penrose.” |
The “Penrose” on the spine of “Taylor’s Medical
Jurisprudence” refers to a Philadelphia judge named Clement Biddle Penrose. He
was called upon to edit the manual, which was penned by Alfred Swaine Taylor,
due to his position and authority in legal matters. His nephew, however, is the
namesake of Penrose, NC. That nephew, Charles Bingham Penrose, was an
obstetrician and gynecologist in Pennsylvania. He and his father, Richard
Alexander Fullerton Penrose, founded one of the first hospitals exclusively for
women. Charles Bingham Penrose was also known for inventing a flexible surgical
drain that is called the Penrose Drain. Penrose was an inspiration for Dr.
William M. Lyday, who was also a specialist in women’s and children’s medicine.
Several of the donated books are specific to women’s and children’s health. The
stamp inside several of the newly donated books states that he specializes in
“diseases peculiar to females.” The donor of these texts has confirmed that
William Lyday respected Dr. Penrose so much that he chose to honor him by
renaming the area for him.
Photographs and information
for this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room,
Transylvania County Library. This article was written by Local History
Librarian Laura Gardner. For more information, comments, or suggestions,
contact NC Room staff at ncroom@transylvaniacounty.org or 828-884-1820.
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