Dr. John Franklin Lacewell, born June 7, 1857, and dying August 19, 1937, was a horse-and-buggy doctor who never owned an automobile. After graduating from Atlanta Medical College, now Emory University, in 1887, he returned to Whitfield County and answered house calls at any hour and in any weather, carrying a leather doctor’s bag and a 32-caliber Smith and Wesson revolver for protection. He was often away from home for several days attending the sick, then returned to find patients waiting, who were fed large meals prepared by his wife Maggie and daughter Rayma. His account ledgers from the 1920s show that he was often paid with hams, eggs, hay, and sometimes cash, and no sick patient was refused regardless of financial circumstances. House calls generally cost from $.50 to $1.50 depending on the time spent and the drugs furnished, and delivering a baby cost $5.00 and could require a day or more with the mother and newborn. Many children were named for John, reflecting the respect and love of his patients, and he also served for years as the doctor for Whitfield County work farm prisoners. He practiced medicine from a small seven-foot by nine-foot white clapboard unheated office in the front yard of the family home place.