Nathaniel A. Kitchell, MD

NATHANIEL A. KITCHELL Nathaniel A. Kitchell, MD, physician and surgeon, was born at Lewisburg, Muhlenburg County, Kentucky, on the twenty-first day of June, 1835. He was educated in Brown County, Illinois, and, when at the age of twenty-two years, returned to Kentucky and settled at South Carrolton, on Green River. He had evince a very decided preference for the profession of medicine, and, therefore, soon after arriving at South Carrolton, commenced to study under the instruction of Dr. C. C. Forbes, of that place. Soon afterwards he attended lectures at St. Louis, MO. In April, 1860, he began the practice of his profession with Dr. Rufus Linthicum, of Henderson County, and continued with him to the fall of 1851, when, led by all his sympathies to side with the people of the South, he entered the Confederate army and went to war. He enlisted with Col. Adam Johnson and was with that distinguished commander in most of his engagements with the enemy, notably the terrible battle near Owensboro. He was with Morgan in his Indiana and Ohio raid in the summer of 1863, and was captured in Ohio. After his capture, the Doctor was sent a prisoner to Fort Delaware, where he was confined until the seventeenth day of the following November, when he and other physicians of Morgan's command were sent to City Point, on James River, Virginia, and there exchanged for an equal number of Federal surgeons. Upon reaching Richmond, Dr. Kitchell was detailed by the Surgeon General to take charge of the Federal sick in Hospital No. 21. During the winter he availed himself of the opportunity offered, attended the Richmond Medical College, and was awarded a Confederate diploma. In March, 1864, he rejoined the remnant of his command, but was soon after taken sick, and, in May, his health being so much impaired, he returned to Kentucky and again commenced the practice of his profession at Robards Station, Henderson County. During the winter of 1873 and 1874, he attended Bellevue College, New York, and in the spring received his second diploma. He then returned to Robards Station and continued to practice until September, 1878, when, owing to continued ill-health, he abandoned the profession altogether. A few years susequent he took up his residence in the city of Henderson, and, in partnership with his old and long-time friend, J. D. Robards, engaged in the puchase of tobacco, and also in the manufacture of plug, twist and smoking tobaccos. On the nineteenth day of June, 1884, the Doctor married Miss Frances Ellen Triplett, of Henderson County, and a son, N. A. Kitchell, Jr., born July 18th, 1885, is the issue of this union. The happy success and honors Dr. Kitchell has won are due largely to his energy and perseverance. With a kind disposition and unswerving integrity, he has won the respect and esteem, not only of his community, but of the members of his profession generally, to whom his name and labors are well known. During this summer, 1887, the firm of Robards & Kitchell was dissolved, the doctor retiring. Since that time he had purchased the tobacco stemmery of Thomas Evans and is now engaged in purchasing in his own right and name. The History of Henderson County, Kentucky by Starling 1887 page 670-71;