Daily AncestorHerb doctor
An herb doctor treated the sick with remedies made from plants, often without formal medical training.
Herb doctors gathered or bought roots, barks and leaves and made teas, tonics and poultices from them. Some called themselves botanic physicians; Mary Ann Bickerdyke, later famous as a Civil War nurse, worked as one in Galesburg, Illinois.
The title appears in census returns and city directories. It tells you the person practiced healing, but not that they held a medical degree.
As seen in a recordOccupation column of the 1850 to 1880 census
Jacob Strong, 60, Herb doctor, Penn.
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Daily Ancestor. "Herb doctor." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/occupations/herb-doctor. Last checked 2026-10-01.