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Kabler Family History [see the photographs:
Kabler Photographs]
The Frederick Kabler family emigrated from the German region of Alsace-Lorraine to Virginia in the 18th century. In 1807, a successive Frederick Kabler, a surveyor by profession, began accumulating tracts of land primarily in what are now the Timberlake and Forest areas of Campbell and Bedford counties. In subsequent years, his estate grew considerably and was further enlarged by the land dower of his wife, Catherine
Mitchcalf.
Thaddeus Kabler, Frederick's son, married Mary, the daughter of Conrad Speece in 1821. Thaddeus then sold the land heired from his father's estate and bought tracts on both sides of the road near the village of New London adjoining property his wife had received from the Speece estate. There he built a residence on the outskirts of the old town, which burned down many years since. His land was skirted on one side by Cottontown Road, which in the early days had been laid off by Richard Callaway. Thaddeus Kabler died in New London at the age of ninety-two.
His son, Dr. Thaddeus Linwood Kabler, married Mildred Peyton, daughter of John Clark and Catherine Leftwich-Moorman, and resided at New London. Children - Clark Moorman, an attorney, married Rosalie Labby of Federal Hill. Ellen Douglas married Charles Nelson of Lynchburg. Dr. Nicholas Leftwich married Gustavia Marion, daughter of Dr. Marion James and Rebecca Harris Flippin. There are no descendants of Ellen Kabler Nelson or Clark Moorman Kabler.
Nicholas Leftwich Kabler was born April 11, 1865 in New London. He attended Bethel Military Academy and was a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Medicine and the Hospital College of Medicine in Louisville, Kentucky. He started the practice of medicine with his father in 1889 in the village of New London, where he practiced for more than fifty years. He died at his New London residence on August 18, 1946 after developing ptomaine poisoning from ingesting tainted ground meat and was buried in Spring Hill Cemetery in Lynchburg, Virginia.
Dr. Kabler had no sons, but was the father of seven daughters. Children - Lucy Peyton (Langhorne). Lelia Flippin (Boggs). Virginia Lee (died as a child from
diphtheria). Grace Douglas (Watkins). Sarah (Langhorne). Elizabeth Leftwich (Thomson). Gustavia Marion (Boggs). He has surviving grandchildren, who remember with great fondness visiting their grandparents Kabler at their home in the village of New London.
Kabler Dr.’s Office
An important feature of New London village from the late 19th until nearly mid-20th century was the doctor's office. A tin roofed white frame building next door to Dr. Nicholas Kabler's residence on what is now Alum Springs Road served that purpose. The building was situated on what was once part of Lots 3 and 13 on the 1754 town plat. The three front rooms were used by the Drs. Kabler as waiting room, exam room, etc. The two side-by-side rooms in the rear, which no longer exist, were originally used as housing for the elder Dr. Kabler. After his death, the rooms were rented out to various tenants.
A small amount of gingerbread work (a cut-out bell and flowers) can still be seen in the inverted "V" of the front roofline. The original wood floors remain, as do the old plaster walls, also the wooden doors, doorframes and window casings, which are of typical period design. The ornamental wrought iron screen doors are gone. An interior central door opens to a very narrow stairway leading to a low attic which, having windows on each side, allowed for cross ventilation.
The office was, in time, wired for electricity, but no plumbing was installed by Dr. Kabler. Water was supplied from a still existing wellhouse in the far back yard. One present day New London resident recalls water from that well as being the coldest and best he ever drank. A gourd dipperful from the bucket sated thirst before the remainder reached the office.
The window of the front room facing the side yard provided the means for the first phase of the disposal of used medical supplies. Out the window they were tossed! A young boy was employed to pick them up at certain intervals and take them to a small wooden building in the immediate backyard. Inside, the wooden floor encircled a large pit, where the used supplies were thrown. It was known that the office and disposal building were off limits to the neighborhood children. But surely that did not apply to Dr. Kabler's youngest daughter, Gussie, and her neighborhood playmates, the Thompson girls! The used medical paraphernalia lying in the side yard under the window proved too tempting, and they innoculated themselves and each other on the arms and legs with smallpox vaccine, resulting in quite a few sites which "took", giving them permanent reminders of the incident.
After Dr. Kabler officially retired, he unofficially continued to practice. Patients still came to the office seeking treatment, such as the woman who "came down from the hills" every spring to have the "conjure" removed from her. She was instructed by Dr. Kabler to put her finger in a glass of water to which he added a tablet of bichloride of mercury, which turned the water blue. The woman believed the "conjure" had been drawn out through her finger, resulting in the water's color change, and she wouldn't be seen again for treatment until the following year.
The office doors were permanently closed for medical practice when Dr. Kabler died. As the property changed hands, the office was used, at times, as a dwelling or was simply left vacant. Green siding was added and long gone is the fence separating it from what was first a well traveled dirt road where horse-drawn buggies and wagons often got stuck after a hard rain, and then a paved road through a lovely time-forgotten village. Currently, there are plans to restore the doctor's office, facilitating the historical interpretation of the village of New London, and allowing this old structure to resume its service to the community.
Partial family history garnered from Campbell Chronicals and Family Sketches (R.H. Early 1927:J. P. Bell and Company) and THE NEWS Lynchburg, Va. 1946, August 18. Remainder from oral family history. |
