Monday, March 25, 2019, 6:00pm
by Melanie Jongsma
LANSING, Ill. (March 21, 2019) – While an awareness of germs and bacteria is common even to grade schoolers today, during the era of America’s War for Independence, there was no such knowledge. This made the practice of medicine vastly different from what we take for granted now.
The Lansing Historical Society will offer a unique presentation of how medicine was practiced during the 1700s. On Monday, in the Community Room of the Lansing Public Library, David Jahntz will portray a revolutionary surgeon, and Jim Nawrocki will portray a revolutionary soldier. Together they will share insights into medical practices during the war.
David Jahntz (pronounced Johns) is a retired graphic journalist from the Chicago Tribune newsroom where he spent over 30 years drawing maps, charts, and illustrations. Additionally, he has been a military and medical historian for more than 43 years, involved in researching and lecturing on the late 18th century and the Founding Era of this nation. Jahntz has also:
- Reenacted the Revolutionary War period at over 1,000 living history events in the Midwest since 1975
- Marched in the 1976 Bicentennial Parade in Philadelphia
- Spoken at Colonial Williamsburg’s Historic District dozens of time in the last 18 years
Jahntz also has a number of TV credits to his name, appearing or being featured on:
- The History Channel’s “In Search of History, Frontier Doctors”
- A&E’s five-part original mini-series “American Revolution”
- The Discovery Channel’s “Hunting the Lost Symbol”
- WTTW’s “Wild Chicago”
- NBC’s “Alexander Hamilton”
Now retired, Jahntz enjoys opportunities to visit middle school students, historical societies, and other venues throughout the midwest.
James C. Nawrocki has been a Revolutionary War reenactor since 1972 and is a member of the North West Territory Alliance, a group that performs at Revolutionary War reenactments around the Midwest. For the Lansing Historical Society’s presentation, he will be dressed as a private soldier of a line company. Nawrocki will explain the uniform and battle tactics of a private solider of the Continental Army as well as daily life during the Revolutionary War.
Following the presentation, there will be time for questions from the audience.
