History of Linn County Iowa Part 16

CHAPTER XI

_The Physicians of the County_

BY FREDERICK G. MURRAY

Among the first doctors who located in and around Marion should be mentioned S. H. Tryon, F. W. Tailor, and James c.u.mmings. These men came before 1840. They were followed by T. S. Bardwell and L. W. Phelps. Dr.

Tryon at least came as early as 1838 and was for many years a well-known public character. He acted as county clerk and held many posts of honor.

Dr. J. K. Rickey bought John Young's claim in Cedar Rapids as early as 1841 and must have been located in that vicinity at that time. What became of him is not known, and whether or not he engaged in the practice extensively is doubtful. There were not many whites there in those early days and it is a question if any had the time or inclination to be very sick. In case they were it was no doubt homesickness, for which a doctor has so far been unable to offer any permanent cure.

The first doctor who came to Cedar Rapids was inclined to blow his own horn. J. L. Enos, the editor of the _Cedar Valley Times_, has the following to say: "Once when he had returned from Muscatine he claimed to have lost forty pounds of quinine in one of the streams below the Cedar. Constable Lewis once called on him with an execution to secure a judgment. The doctor threw off his coat and prepared for a fight. The constable seeing his opportunity seized the coat and made away with it and found therein sufficient money to satisfy the debt."

Profiting by the example, later comers have avoided fights and have tried to pay their debts.

In the correspondence between S. W. Durham and A. C. Dodge in December, 1848, the following named doctors are referred to: S. M. Brice (whig), Center Point; Ivanhoe, Jno. Evans; Hollenback P. O., Dr. Williams; Cedar Rapids P. O., J. F. Ely.

Thus during 1848 the above named persons must have been residents and practicing physicians in their respective localities. Dr. Brice was the second doctor in Cedar Rapids. Later he moved to Center Point. These men were no doubt slated as candidates for postmasters. Dr. Brice later acted as postmaster at Center Point.

A history of the medical profession in Linn county must be largely made up of a list of names, as the intrinsic work of the medical pract.i.tioner is scarcely a fit subject matter for the casual reader.

What seems to be the earliest date in connection with which there is mention of a physician in the county annals is 1841, in which year Dr.

Magnus Holmes came to the town of Marion from Crawfordsville, Indiana.

Promising to be of great value to the community, Dr. Holmes pa.s.sed away a short time after his arrival. Dr. Henry M. Ristine, father of Dr. J.

M. Ristine, of Cedar Rapids, was a brother-in-law of Dr. Holmes, and came to Marion from Indiana in 1842. Another of the very earliest pract.i.tioners was Dr. Sam Grafton, who was located on the Cedar river at Ivanhoe bridge, on the old military road from Dubuque to Iowa City.

Just when he came is not known; this was one of the earliest settlements in the county and he had practiced there for some four years previous to 1847, in which year he fell a victim to a typhoid epidemic. Dr. Amos Witter was one of the first physicians in Mt.

Vernon. He pa.s.sed away in 1862 at the age of fifty-five, having been several years a member of the legislature. In 1886 there was still living in Viola a Dr. S. S. Matson, who had practiced there since 1845.

He graduated from the University of Vermont in 1832, the same year in which Dr. Elisha W. Lake, an early Marion physician, graduated from the Ohio Medical College. These two men are in point of graduation the oldest men the county has had. In northeastern Linn the first physician was Dr. Stacy, who lived on the Anamosa and Quasqueton road near Boulder church. He was a brother to the late Judge Stacy, the pioneer promoter of the Dubuque & Southwestern Railroad. Some of the other early pract.i.tioners were Dr. E. L. Mansfield, who came to Cedar Rapids or Kingston in 1847; Dr. J. M. Traer, who made Cedar Rapids his home from 1847-51; Dr. J. F. Ely, who came to the same place in 1848; and Dr. S. D. Carpenter, who came in 1849.

Dr. Shattuck, of Green's Mills, now Coggon, Drs. Lannin and Byam, of Paris, Drs. Patterson and Mitch.e.l.l, of Clark's Ford, now Central City, and Dr. Young, of Prairieburg, were all pioneer doctors in their respective communities. Dr. T. S. Bardwell, who became a leading physician of Marion, settled on a farm in that vicinity in 1840, making his residence in the county date back farther than that of any other medical man except S. H. Tryon.

A rather incomplete business directory of Cedar Rapids in 1856 gives the following as physicians: S. C. Koontz, J. H. Camburn, W. D.

Barclay, J. W. Edes, Smith & Larrabee, R. R. Taylor.

A complete city directory published in 1869 gives the names of the following: C. F. Bullen, J. H. Camburn, G. P. Carpenter, J. P. Coulter, J. W. Edes, Mansfield & Smith, Freeman McClelland, John North, Israel Snyder, C. H. Thompson, W. Bollinger, J. C. May. Of these, Dr. Camburn and Dr. Edes were prominent in their profession for many years. Dr. R.

R. Taylor was a Virginian, who went to reside in Philadelphia about the time of the Civil war. Dr. J. C. May was a druggist as well as a very popular physician. He was a brother of the late Major May, of island fame.

A medical and surgical directory of Iowa for 1876 gives the first authentic list of doctors in Linn county to which access has been had.

A list of fifty is given as in active practice in the county at that time. Only six of these remain: Dr. George P. Carpenter, dean of the profession in Cedar Rapids; Dr. G. R. Skinner, of Cedar Rapids; Dr. T.

S. Kepler, of Mt. Vernon; Dr. Hindman, of Marion; Dr. Edwin Burd, of Lisbon; and Dr. F. M. Yost, of Center Point. The last of these, Dr.

Yost, cla.s.s of 1853 University of Pennsylvania, is the oldest living pract.i.tioner in the county. His two sons are now a.s.sociated with him in his work. One other, Dr. J. H. Smith, of Cedar Rapids, has not been in practice for many years but preserves a close relation to his old calling through his presidency of the board of directors of St. Luke's Hospital. The two Doctors Sigworth are still living near their old neighborhood, having retired to Anamosa.

A registry of all physicians practicing in the county was begun in the county clerk's office in 1880-1881. It started with sixty-four names, probably the full number of those in active practice at the time. Since then about 230 additional doctors have been registered, and of this total of nearly 300 about 125 are now practicing in the county.

At Western some of the early physicians were Dr. Crouse, Dr. W. B.

Wagner, Dr. Miller, all of whom preceded Dr. J. C. Schrader who removed to Iowa City. Dr. J. C. Hanshay located here in 1863 and Dr. Favour in 1877. Dr. Patterson was the first doctor in Bertram, in 1857. Dr. J.

Stricklippe was an early doctor and druggist at Palo, and Dr. J. W.

Firkin was the second doctor at Vanderbilt, later known as Fairfax. His son, Edgar Firkin, is now a popular druggist there. Dr. U. C. Roe came to Fairfax in 1864 for the practice of medicine. He also sold drugs.

The business finally drifted into a grocery store, as it seems that the settlers preferred sugar and prunes to pills and quinine.

Among names of note in the early history of these parts are those of several medical doctors whose prominence came along lines outside of their professional work. Dr. John P. Ely's name is prominently connected with the early business enterprises and later growth of Cedar Rapids. The doctor was called in the year he finished his medical studies in New York to the management of commercial and manufacturing interests in this county. The growth of these drew him gradually from the excellent practice for which he at first found time. To the close of his life, however, Dr. Ely kept himself well informed on the progress of scientific medicine. Perhaps the first autopsy in this locality was performed by Dr. Ely in the interests of both science and sobriety, if early annals are authentic, the subject having been in life notorious for his potations.

Dr. Eber L. Mansfield along with a large medical practice found time to build up successful business and real estate interests on both sides of the river at Cedar Rapids.

Dr. Seymour D. Carpenter left the practice after the Civil war and became active and highly successful in the building and financing of railroads in this state and further south. Dr. Carpenter is still living in a hale old age in Chicago.

Dr. Freeman McClelland, a talented graduate of Jefferson Medical College, won for himself enviable popularity and influence through his editorship of the Cedar Rapids _Times_. The flavor of his writings and rare personality are an enduring remembrance with all who knew him.

Dr. J. T. Headley, the eminent platform lecturer, at present living retired in Philadelphia, is said to have first hung out his "shingle"

in Cedar Rapids.

Dr. G. W. Holmes, son of Dr. Magnus Holmes, of Marion, after finishing at Bellevue, went as a medical missionary of the American Board to Persia, where in addition to his other work he became royal physician to the Crown Prince, afterwards Shah of Persia. Dr. Holmes pa.s.sed away in June, 1910.

Linn county sent a number of doctors to the army during the Civil war.

The following list is as nearly accurate as to men and organizations as it was possible to make it:

Dr. H. M. Ristine, surgeon 20th Iowa Infantry.

Dr. J. F. Ely, surgeon 24th Iowa.

Dr. J. H. Camburn, surgeon 16th Iowa Infantry, also 6th Iowa Cavalry.

Dr. Freeman McClelland, surgeon 16th Iowa Infantry.

Dr. H. M. Lyons, surgeon 16th Iowa Infantry.

Dr. John F. Smith, a.s.sistant surgeon 65th Illinois Infantry.

Dr. G. L. Carhardt, surgeon 31st Iowa.

Dr. J. C. Shrader went from near Western College, this county, with the 22d Iowa Infantry as captain and later as surgeon.

Dr. Amos Witter, surgeon 7th Iowa Infantry.

Dr. T. S. Bardwell served as first a.s.sistant surgeon with the 6th Iowa Cavalry, Col. Carskadden of Marion, notably in an expedition against the Indians who were threatening the Nebraska and Dakota frontier, the male portion of the settlers there being largely absent in the Union army.

Dr. Seth Byam, of Jackson township, was surgeon in the U. S. army.

Dr. Seymour D. Carpenter, surgeon U. S. A., during the four years of the war.

Of those who served otherwise than as surgeons, Dr. J. P. Coulter was lieutenant colonel of the 12th Iowa Infantry. He afterwards was active in city and county politics and held several official positions, and distantly related to him was the late Dr. A. B. Coulter, in whose untimely pa.s.sing away the community lost one of its most promising professional men.

Dr. G. R. Skinner, who came to Cedar Rapids in 1871, spent four years in the Civil war, leaving the service with a captain's commission.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE LATE DR. J. S. LOVE, SPRINGVILLE]

Dr. W. H. French served through the war in the 89th Illinois Infantry.