STOCKING, JEROME DANIEL (1849-1918). Jerome Daniel Stocking, pioneer Panhandle physician, the youngest of the four children of Daniel C. and Mary (Hanna) Stocking, was born on December 24, 1849, in Lisbon, New York. In his early years he suffered from tuberculosis. After teaching for a while in Big Rapids, Michigan, he moved to Texas in search of a milder climate. He taught for a time in the Waco schools until his health improved, then decided to study medicine, returned to his home state, and enrolled in the Normal School at Potsdam, New York. He subsequently attended medical school at the University of Michigan, where he graduated with honors. He established his first practice in Dallas and later moved to Lawrence. There he met Emma Angeline Hubbell, a schoolteacher, whom he married on October 3, 1878, in her hometown, Altona, Illinois. Two sons were born to them. In Dallas Stocking had become acquainted with Lewis H. Carhart, pastor of a church there. After Carhart established the Panhandle town of Clarendon in 1878, he invited Stocking to settle at the colony as the resident physician. At first the doctor was reluctant to move, but by 1885 his wife's frequent bouts with tuberculosis caused him to reconsider. A meeting with Charles Goodnight, who was representing the Panhandle Stock Association, plus an offer of a $1,500 annual bonus from Clarendon citizens, resulted in the family's move to "Saints' Roost" in June 1885. As the first doctor to settle permanently in the Panhandle, Stocking opened a drugstore and did dental work in addition to his regular practice. His circuit, which he drove in a horse and buggy, covered a 150-mile radius from Clarendon. In 1887, after his wife's death, Stocking married Sarah Marie Ward, with whom he had nine children. He was one of the founders of Clarendon College and served for several years as president of its board of trustees. Two of his children later taught mathematics there. On August 18, 1918, Stocking collapsed and died from a cerebral hemorrhage moments after finishing a public address. He was buried in the community cemetery at Clarendon. His medicine bag, along with several tools and drugs that he used as a frontier physician, are in the permanent collection of the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum in Canyon.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Willie Newbury Lewis, Between Sun and Sod (Clarendon, Texas: Clarendon Press, 1938; rev. ed., College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1976). Jo Stewart Randel, ed., A Time to Purpose: A Chronicle of Carson County (4 vols., Hereford, Texas: Pioneer, 1966-72).
