Dr. J. C. Delano
In this installment of "Where the Southern Cross the Yellow Dog," we take a look at a web page that was funded by my Patreon supporters, who had access to it one full year before the public.
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The page below offers an in-depth look into the life of one of the greatest African-American root doctors and medical pharmacists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Who Was Texas Jack?
In the late 1920s the great African-American herbal healer Dr. E. P. Read acquired the formulas of Dr. J. C. Delano, an elderly man of partial Native American descent, who owned the Herbs of Life Indian Medicine Company. Read continued to operate the former owner's business, melding it with his own African-American style of herbal medicine and root doctoring. Delano was said to have retired at the age of 100 and to have still been alive at the age of 103 when Read first published a catalogue of his remedies. If he was was alive in 1929, before E. P. Read bought the company, and if he truly met with Jefferson Davis and Abraham Lincoln before 1864, as his biography stated, he may have been born circa 1830, and thus contributed a great many traditional formulas to Read's repertoire. But who was Dr. J. C. Delano? Was he a promotional figment of Dr. Read's imagination, or had he led a separate existence before Read acquired the Herbs of Life company?
In this episode of Southern Spirits, we attempt to unravel the mystery, and tell at least some of the history, of the Native American herbalist, Dr. J. C. Delano.
So let us begin with Texas Jack, the Snake Oil King, and his Indian Herbs of Life Remedies Company. (And it should be noted that this Texas Jack, whatever his surname, could not be the famous cowboy-showman Texas Jack Baker Omohundro (July 27, 1846 – June 28, 1880), for the simple reason that Omohundro had died almost 40 years before "our" Texas Jack blew into town.
Notice to the public: Texas Jack, the Snake Oil King, is here, Saturday and Monday only with His Great and Famous Indian Herbs of Life Remedies. Have you seen him? If not, Why Not See Him Today at the Madison Drug Store and hear him talk. God put my remedies here to HELP and HEAL all manner of disease -- Try them and be convinced! Why suffer Rheumatism or Catarrh when Texas Jack is here advertising his wonderful Indian Herbs of Life? A Stomach, Liver, Kidney and Blood purifying medicine. A $3.00 Carton Containing 3 months' Treatment for $1.00. A check on a State National Bank for your money back if he fails. $1 Bottle of Indian Rattle Snake Oil FREE -- Get a Coupon. $4 worth of Medicine for $1.00 While Advertising Today. Sold only by Texas Jack, The Indian Quaker Herb Man, Box 55, Hays, N.C. This coupon and $1 entitles holder to $4 work of Indian Remedies at Madison Drug Co. One day only, Monday, Sept. 1. See his beautiful den of live rattle snakes in Madison Drug Store Window.
The ad, which dates from 1919 and ran in a North Carolina newspaper, is not as old as i would like, but i think we have our man. First, Texas Jack's company is definitely Indian Herbs of Life. Second, the time is right, about seven years before Dr. Read purchased the company and its formulas. Third, his name is Jack, matching the J. C. of Dr. Delano's name. And fourth, there is the subtle matter of his description as an Indian Quaker.
The word "Indian" as used in America at that time meant a Native American, of an unspecified tribe or one whose heritage might include two or more tribes. The word "Quaker" refers to a member of The Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian denomination whose adherents believe that all people are capable of directly experiencing the divine nature of the universe, which is known by many names, including God, the Holy Spirit, or simply Spirit. The Religious Society of Friends began in England in the 1650s, under the leadership of George Fox. They were called Quakers as a derogatory term because they shook with ecstasy during services. They embraced the name and came to refer to themselves as Quakers. Among their notable distinctions from their Christian contemporaries, they held that men and women are equally capable of receiving and sharing prophetic visions from God and they refused to take oaths by swearing on the Bible. For these and other reasons, English Protestants considered them to be blasphemous dissenters and they were subject to official persecution under the Quaker Act of 1662 and the Conventicle Act of 1664. This persecution of dissenters was relaxed after the Declaration of Indulgence of 1687–1688 and stopped under the Act of Toleration of 1689.
William Penn, an English religious thinker to whom the King of England owed a debt, was granted ownership of the American colony of Pennsylvania ("Penn's Woodland") in 1681, and promptly turned it into a "holy experiment" in utopian tolerance, attracting many Quakers to immigrate there. Although the Quakers tended to distance themselves from the political structure of the colony, those based in urban areas became prosperous merchants and businessmen, especially in Philadelphia, "the City of Brotherly Love." The Philadelphia Quakers were opposed to the enslavement of Africans and the destruction of Native American civilizations. They were known for intermarrying freely with Natives and helping African slaves escape to freedom.
Note that Texas Jack was peripatetic. He was in Hays, North Carolina, for one day only, and his exhibition of live rattlesnakes was no doubt a wonderful sight to behold. But a few years later, this Indian Quaker Herb Man would be located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the American epicenter of the Quaker faith, and probably his point of origin.
Philadelphia was also the home of the Virginia-born herbal pharmacist Dr. E. P. Read, who took control of of Dr. J. C. Delano's company during the 1920s.
Could The Noted Indian Doctor J.C. Delano of the Herbs of Life Indian Medicine Company be Texas Jack Delano, the Snake Oil King, of the Herbs of Life Indian Medicine Company -- the "Indian Quaker" Herb Man from Philadelphia?
I think he was.
Enter Dr. J. C. Delano
At this point Texas Jack the Indian Quaker Herb Man vanishes and Dr. J. C. Delano, the Indian herbalist, is the name associated with the Herbs of Life Indian Medicine Company.
The Indianapolis Recorder newspaper began in 1897 as a two-page church bulletin by co-founders George Pheldon Stewart and William H. Porter, and soon grew to become one of the top African-American publications in the nation.
The address for the Herbs of Life Indian Medicine Company in this February, 1926 newspaper ad from Indiana, is 1420-24 South Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the building that housed Dr. E. P. Read and his various enterprises. The ad copy remained the same in many newspapers over several years, and the following transcription explains everything, for only the headlines, illustrations, and addresses changed with time:
"Several years ago, in Gold Valley, California, two boys were playing a game of rock battle, and accidentally struck a middle-aged woman. Dr. J. C. Delano (the founder of the World Famous Blood Medicine Herbs of Life) was called in to dress the wound and found that the patient was suffering with a fractured skull and concussion of the brain. Dr. Delano started in on his new case with a determination to bring about satisfactory results; and at the end of thirty days the patient was not only completely cured but her hair over the bruised spot had grown to such a remarkable degree that it aroused the curiosity of both her family and Dr. Delano; so much so that the doctor questioned her as to what was it that she had been using on her hair during the treatment. Her reply was that she had only been using the ointment prescribed by the doctor. With the given information, the doctor started straightway into deep research to find out more about the treatment and its connections with the roots of the hair, and after experimenting for twenty-seven months Dr. Delano announced that he had discovered a certain herb, which when macerated with certain chemicals, and mixed together with pure Cocoanut Oil and California Pine Tar, would produce a healthy, luxuriant growth of hair. After finding that the experiment had proved successful in ninety-nine out of one hundred cases, Dr. Delano placed his preparation on the market under the name of Dr. Delano's Coco-Tar Hair Grower. From that day until the present time the sale has been of phenomenal and uninterrupted success. In Dr. Delano's research he discovered that falling hair was due to simple infection (Sebum), and that hair roots very seldom die. Remove the infected Sebum and the hair will grow, for science has shown that under most bald scalps the hair roots live. Dr. Delano is so confident that his Coco-Tar Hair Grower is superior to any other on the market that he has decided to give a free sample to every reader of this paper who will send his or her name and address to Department 55. THE HERBS OF LIFE INDIAN MEDICINE CO. 1420-24 South Street Philadelphia Pennsylvania."
Gold Valley is an actual place in California, a mining area in the rugged Sierra Nevada Mountains, less than ten miles the Gold Rush towns of Poker Flat, Downieville, and Sierra City.
For those unfamiliar with the word sebum, it is the oily and antibiotic secretion of the sebaceous glands, designed to lubricate the skin and hair, and while sebum is not an infection per se, when the glands are unwashed and become clogged with sebum, bacteria can overwhelm the natural defenses and make a home for themselves on the scalp.
The Pittsburgh Courier was an African-American weekly newspaper published in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1907 to 1966. Again, on April 9th, 1927, the Herbs of Life Indian Medicine Company address is 1420-24 South Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the business headquarters of Dr. E. P. Read. This same ad also ran in The Pittsburgh Courier on July 30, 1927.
This small ad and the following one show that Dr. Delano worked through agents in various regions. The implication i take from this is that Dr. E. P. Read was at this time simply the Philadelphia distributor for Dr. J. C. Delano, as Maynard and Atkinson were in Pittsburgh and western Pennsylvania.
Herbs of Life Indian Medicine Company, Maynard and Atkinson Sole Distributors for Western Pennsylvania: their offices were at 2432 Webster Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In other words, while Dr. E. P. Read was Dr. Delano's agent in the African-American community of Philadelphia, Maynard and Atkinson were his agents in Pittsburgh.
This ad copy and its artwork mark a change of direction, and here we see what may be the actual home office of Dr. J. C. Delano at 3205 Spring Garden Street in Philadelphia.
"Indian Doctor Discovers Product that Grows Hair Two Inches Longer in 2 Months. Free Sample to all Readers of this Paper. Through a remarkable new scientific discovery, it is now possible to stop dandruff and falling hair and to grow your hair two inches longer in two months. This wonderful preparation is now sold by all druggists under the name of Dr. Delano's Coco-Tar Hair Grower. Over 100,000 boxes were sold before advertised. This, of course, is due to the merits, and to prove that it will grow the hair two inches longer in two months, the manufacturers are willing to send a free trial box to any person who will send in the coupon below. DR. J. C. DELANO, 3205 Spring Garden Street, Philadelphia, Pa. FREE TRIAL. I am willing to be convinced. Without obligation on my part, please send me a trial size of Dr. Delano's Coco-Tar Hair Grower absolutely FREE, and tell me how to use it."
The above ad ran in the Richmond, Virginia, Planet, Volume 46, Number 47, on November 2nd, 1929. First published in 1882, and founded by thirteen former Richmond slaves, the Planet was initially edited by Edmund Archer Randolph, the first African-American graduate of Yale Law School. It ran through 1938 before merging with the Richmond Afro-American. The address is Dr. Delano's 3205 Spring Garden Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania office, but the placement of this ad in a black Virginia newspaper is interesting because Dr. E. P. Read was born in Virginia and became a pharmacist there before moving to Philadelphia, and he also operated a medical hot springs there for the use of black patients who could not bathe in whites-only hot springs during the Jim Crow era.
The Indianapolis Recorder, published weekly in Indianapolis, Indiana, is the fourth oldest-surviving African-American newspaper in the nation. The text of the ad is the same as in previous ones, and the address for Dr. Delano given here is the 3205 Spring Garden Street office in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Dr. E. P. Read Takes the Wheel
Here we finally come to the end of Dr. Delano's ownership of Indian Herbs of Life Medicine Company, as Dr. E. P. Read, once a distributor, now assumes ownership of the company. By Read's account, Dr. J. C. Delano was still alive at the age of 103 when he published this catalogue.
The cover of the catalogue evokes the typical herb catalogue trope of the era, in which Native people stand beside tipis as they bring natural herb remedies to non-Natives -- but the image also mocks the trope, because the Natives not only pick the herbs, they also boil them up, bottle them, and pack the bottles into cases, alongside burlap bags of bulk dried herbs, for their patient horse to haul into town for sale.
Inside the catalogue is a long and praise-filled biography of Dr. J. C. Delano, his travels by land and sea, his discoveries in herbalism, and his exceedingly long life. How much of it is fact and how much is hyperbole i cannot say, but nothing in it is so extraordinary as to defy credulity, and it all accords with what i know of American life in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, so, as far as i am concerned, it might as well all be true.
An Entire Family of J. C. Delanos
Regarding the unusual name J. C. Delano, i have found the following tantalizing tidbits:
There was a Captain Joseph Clement Delano (1796-1886) who was a ship's captain of New Bedford, Massachusetts. His family included many mariners, whalers and shipbuilders. Joseph was a first cousin to U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's maternal grandfather Warren Delano Jr., an American merchant who made a large fortune smuggling illegal opium into China.
Captain Joseph Clement Delano's first wife, 20-year-old Alice Howland, went to sea with her new husband onboard the Columbia in January 1827, a month after their extravagant wedding.
The captain's profession may relate to Dr. J. C. Delano's sea voyages, mentioned in the biography published by Dr. E. P. Read, but he cannot be a direct ancestor because Joseph and Alice's son, Joseph Clement Delano II, born on September 12th, 1831, died on November 21st, 1835, as a child of four. Alice Howland died young as well, and in his 41st year, Captain J. C. Delano married 30-year-old Sylvia Hathaway Swift, and she bore him another son, also named Joseph Clement Delano. This third J. C. Delano was born in New Bedford on January 18, 1846, and died on August 29th, 1847, less than two years old. Captain J.C. Delano lived to the age of 90, an unusually long lifespan for that time.
The name did not die out with him, though. A great-nephew of Captain J. C. Delano, Joseph Clement Delano Hitch, was born on July 15th, 1872, in South Orange, New Jersey, graduated from Harvard, and died on December 14th, 1925, in Boston, Massachusetts. He is too young to have been Dr. J. C. Delano the herbalist.
In fact, the Delanos seem to have been too wealthy and too white to have had a collateral relative who identified as a Native American Quaker, exhibited live rattle snakes in North Carolina in 1919, and sold hair-grower by mail through African-American newspapers from 1926 through 1929 ... but the name J. C. Delano is fairly specific to this family, and stranger things have happened in the history of America, as i am sure my readers know.
So, for now, the true identity of Dr. J. C. Delano, gold prospector in California, rattlesnake wrangler in Texas, and centenarian medicine-maker in Philadelphia, must remain an unsolved mystery. I hope that someday, by my publishing this, his relatives will show up with the tale that ties -- or unties -- this convoluted conundrum.
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catherine yronwode