Books

Dr. Van Buskirk’s first non-medical book was a genealogically-oriented tale of Van Buskirks in the settlement of North America. The author's second book written for a general readership, Daughter, Doctor, Resurrectionist: A True Story about Medical Body Snatching in 19th Century America, also finds its roots in family lore but expands to tell a story that goes to the very foundation of medical education.

The genealogical narrative, Van Buskirks of Indiana – Western Migration from  New Netherlands, 11 Generations -1654-2017 delves behind the genealogical charts and tables to provide unusual insight into the lives and struggles of one of the founding families of colonial America. The chapters depict each generation in its settlement, over three centuries, across the North American continent.

The book concerns the progressive migration of the author’s family branch from its origin in Holstein, Denmark and its emigration through 17th century Amsterdam to New Netherlands in 1654. They describe the Van Buskirk colonization in the Dutch Hudson Valley and it subsequent progressive migration west through colonial Pennsylvania, post revolutionary war Northwest Territories, a multigenerational stint in Indiana before arriving in the Oregon Country of the Pacific Northwest.

Van Buskirk discusses the first two generations in some detail, including origin of the surname and details about the original patriarch, Laurens Andriessen Van Buskirk and his four sons. The later chapters concentrate on his own direct ancestral line but also include additional discussions about more distant cousins of unusual interest. These range from the tragic intra-familial conflicts of diverse political loyalty and an Indiana Regiment of giants to pioneer toils on the Oregon Trail and body snatching for medical dissection. The author strives to present a readable and interesting tale built upon verifiable genealogical and historical documents

Daughter, Doctor, Resurrectionist: A True Story about Medical Body Snatching in 19th Century America

Empty graves. Coffins splintered. Bodies . . . missing. In the late nineteenth century, Fort Wayne, Indiana is rocked by an ongoing series of shocking crimes: local cemeteries are being stalked, their fresh bodies stolen. Who would do such a thing? All eyes are on the local medical college and Dr. A.E. Van Buskirk, its young demonstrator of anatomy, who must supply the medical school with subjects for dissection.

With an attention to both medical history and local lore, Edmund Michael Van Buskirk traces the incredible true story of a scandal that was passed down through his family for generations. He delves deep into the infamous practice of medical body snatching and how it became a grim necessity for anatomy study in early American medical schools.

With the patience of a doctor dissecting an interesting subject, Van Buskirk untangles and pulls apart complicated narratives, then weaves them into a compelling story of family, scandal, and an appalling history that lurks on the "dark fringes of medicine.