Doan's Pills

This story is about my great-grandparents George and Rebecca [Richards] Hartley. I found several old newspaper articles that featured my great-grandparents endorsing a medical product called Doan's Pills. The name of the product sounded so familiar to me, but I couldn't place it. What are Doan's Pills? I kept digging. (See the Wikipedia article on Patent medicine.)

I had no idea George and Rebecca were part of the medical industry's marketing. George was a jeweler and watch maker by trade. After I found several of their product endorsements for Doan's Pills in the newspapers, I had to include the story in the family history. I love to use photos to help make the stories come alive, so I went searching on Ebay.com for an old Doan's Pills bottle that I could buy. I was lucky and won the bid for the little bottle.

Ogden Standard Examiner
1906-1908

I can imagine my great-grandparents going into the local drug store and buying their Doan's Pills as part of their weekly trip into town. I knew they grew a garden, so I wonder what else they bought while they were in town. I wonder even more how they got involved in the marketing of Doan's Pills.

A Reputation

How It Was Made and Retained in Ogden

  A good reputation is not easily earned and it was only by hard, consistent work among our citizens that Doan's Kidney Pills won their way to the proud distinction attained in this locality. The public endorsement of scores of Ogden residents has rendered invaluable service to the community. Read what this citizen says:
  George Hartley of 2806 Adams ave., Ogden, Utah, says: "Mrs. Hartley has used Doan's Kidney Pills with great success in the treatment of kidney complaint and backache. Upon the advice of a friend we procured this remedy at W. S. Badcon's drug store and in a short time we found that Doan's Kidney Pills lived up to the representations made for them in every particular. We can recommend them as the best kidney remedy we ever knew of and believe that they will do more for that trouble than anything else procurable."
  For sale by all dealers. Price 50 cents. Foster-Milburn Co., Buffalo, New York, sole agents for the United States.
  Remember the name - Doan's - and take no other. (This advertisement, published in The Ogden Standard Examiner, was repeated throughout the year during 1906, 1907, and 1908. Similar advertisements appeared in The Box Elder News during 1912. See Utah Digital Newspapers online for copies of the newspaper articles.)