In my last blog I said Dr. H. H. Hipson was Martin County’s first dentist. Thank heaven I said “Martin County’s.”
After he read my blog, Boo Lowery said, “I thought Uncle Charlie was the first dentist.” I hemmed and hawed, trying to make allowances for myself. When I reread my blog I was thankful that I had said that Dr. Hipson was “Martin’s County’s first.”
Martin County had not been created when Boo’s great uncle was a dentist. Dr. Charles Roberts was said to be the first dentist in Stuart. At the time Stuart was in Palm Beach County.
I found an account of early dentists I had written for my Stuart book but did not use because of space:
Stuart’s first resident dentist was Charles E. Roberts who came to town with his in-laws the Neil P. McQuaries in 1908 and practiced dentistry here until .1917 when he moved with his family to Atlanta.[i]
[i] “Dr. C. E. Roberts Dies in Atlanta,” Stuart Daily News, October 14, 1926
Young Charles Neil Roberts married Boo’s aunt, Louise Lowery. They lived in Atlanta where Charles was a sports writer for The Atlanta Constitution for 42 years. They visited Stuart as often as possible.
Books could be compiled using the historic photographs and oral histories Harris R. “Boo” Lowery III has shared with me. The whole idea of blog-writing is a way to share with others what friends like Boo have shared with me. Even Boo’s questioning helps me along my way.