Dr. John Alland Jeancon
Cincinnati Enquirer, 13 Jan 1903, page 7
SCION
The serious illness of Dr. J A Jeancon, one of the most
distinguished physicians in the United States, has resulted in the development
of a most interesting biography of his life, part of which read like a romance.
Several of Dr. Jeancon's friends have long had an intimation that he was a
descendant of French royalty, but the eminent physician was loath to talk of his
past life, and consequently not even his sons knew that their father was a real
scion of nobility-the Count La Parelle.
Since being stricken Dr. Jeancon confided considerable of his life's history to an intimate friend. "Dr. Jeancon," says he, "is a direct descendant of one of the old French Huguenot families of the time of Maria de Medicis. When a young man he went to London and there Prof. Herschell, the great scientist took an interest in him. He studied chemistry and medicine an before the breaking out of the Civil War he came to America.
He went to the front with the Union army and was shot in the leg while assisting a wounded Confederate soldier. He never fully recovered from this. After the war he settled in Newport and for 20 years was engaged in compiling "The Medical Lexicon." that has proved of inestimable value in the medical profession. While preparing this work he returned to Paris to make researches in the medical libraries and incidentally looked up relatives. He found but one, a cousin, who occupied a high position in the French Ministry.
"Dr. Jeancon realized $80,000 on the Medical Lexicon, but his partner investing it in the Fidelity Bank, lost all when the crash came. He had made a study of leprosy and the bubonic plague and his prediction that the accession of the Philippine Islands by the United States would cause these diseases to be brought to the United States caused a considerable stir in the medical profession at the time. Dr. Jeancon has traveled widely and is a fine linguist. He has an intimate knowledge of Sanscrit, the oldest language of which the present generation has knowledge. Besides this he speaks fluently the English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, ancient Hebrew, Russian, Turkish, Arabic and Dutch languages.
"Besides the Medical Lexicon, he wrtoe 'A History of the Essenic Order,' 'Attassa, or the First Century of Christianity' and has contributed many treatises on current medical subjects."
Last night his condition, while still very critical, was slightly improved.
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Cincinnati Enquirer, 19 January 1903, page 7
NEWPORT
It is more than probable that there will be a contest over the distribution of the estate of Dr. J A Jeancon. Rhinehardt Schmidt, who had been the physician's faithful attendant and nurse for the past six years, has engaged Attorney L J Crawford to watch his interests, and whether or not there is a will he will present his claim for services rendered.
Dr. Jeancon's children will resist the claim. Schmidt says that he will have no trouble securing witnesses to prove that he took care of the eminent physician during his declining years. The safety deposit box will be opened by Curator Warren today and the will, if there is one, produced in Court. Dr. Jeancon told several people before he died that he would see that Schmidt was provided for.