USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Danbury > History of Danbury, Conn., 1684-1896 > Part 34
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E. F. Hendrick, M.D., was born in Oxford, N. Y., September 9th, 1824 ; graduated from the Medical Department of the Uni- versity of New York in 1850, and began practice in New Ohio,
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N. Y. Married Maria B. Stevens, November 27th, 1851, and practiced in Danbury for some years, when he went to Burling- ton, Ia. At breaking out of the Civil War he enlisted as Assist- ant Surgeon in the First Connecticut Artillery ; later was trans- ferred to the Fifteenth Connecticut Infantry, and afterward to hospital service at New Berne, N. C. At the close of the war he returned to Danbury, where he practiced until his death, which occurred on September 27th, 1877. Dr. Hendrick was a member of the Board of Education for six years.
Edward Armstrong Brown, M.D., was born in Newburg, N. Y., September 28th, 1827, and died June 13th, 1883. He graduated from the Metropolitan Medical College in 1852, and came to Dan- bury in 1853. He was Postmaster from 1860 to 1868, State Sena- tor in 1876.
William E. Bulkley, M.D., born October 8th, 1798 ; came to Danbury in 1855. He was a licentiate of Yale Medical School in 1826, read medicine with Dr. Foot, of Virginia, attended two or three courses in New Hampshire, and was dismissed to prac- tice. He settled first at Colchester, Conn. ; afterward went to Monterey, Mass .; from that place to Hillsdale, N. Y., and then to Salisbury, Conn., returning again to Colchester, to Hillsdale, then to West Stockbridge, Mass., finally settling in Danbury, where he remained until his death, in 1870. For the fifteen years of his residence here he had a large and successful practice. Until 1853 he practiced as a physician of the old school, when he adopted homeopathic methods. This change was due to the influence of Bishop Hamlin, of New York, a summer visitor at Hillsdale, who urged Dr. Bulkley to change to the new school of practice, as Dr. Palmer, of New York, had done. He offered to provide Dr. Bulkley with books and medicines, on the condi- tion that he should adopt them if he found them better than those he was using. After a three years' trial he reached the conclusion that they were better, and became one of the first homœopathic physicians in Danbury. Dr. Bagg was here a little before him, and Dr. Brower at the same time.
DANBURY MEDICAL SOCIETY.
To this organization belong the regular practitioners of the city and neighboring towns. The originator was Dr. William C. Wile, at whose residence, on the evening of November 7th, 1888,
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an informal meeting was held, at which Dr. W. S. Todd, of Ridgefield, was elected temporary president, and Dr. D. C. Brown, secretary. Committees on by-laws and qualification for membership were chosen. The first annual meeting was held at the Turner House, January 2d, 1889, resulting in the election for the ensuing year of Dr. J. H. Benedict, President ; Dr. A. E. Barber, of Bethel, Vice-President ; Dr. D. C. Brown, Secretary and Treasurer ; and the following Executive Committee : Drs. W. C. Wile, F. A. Clark, W. S. Watson.
Since its inception the society has lost by death, Dr. William T. Todd, of Ridgefield ; Dr. Peter H. Lynch, of Danbury ; Dr. Edgar Lyon, of Bethel ; and by removals to other fields of labor : Dr. G. H. Pierce, to Brooklyn, N. Y .; Dr. F. S. Benedict, to Seymour ; Dr. W. P. Burke, to New Haven ; Dr. S. E. May, to Bridgeport ; Dr. D. C. De Wolf, to Bridgeport ; and Dr. S. J. Kelly, to Fall River, Mass.
The regular meetings occur the evening of the first Wednesday of each month, and are devoted to the reading of original papers and general discussions of medical and surgical topics. The regular January meeting becomes the occasion of the society's annual banquet. The members are keenly alive to the best in- terests of our city along the lines of preventive medicine, and much of our improved sanitation is due to the efforts of the society.
The officers for the present year are Dr. F. P. Clark, Presi- dent ; Dr. C. R. Hart, Bethel, Vice-President ; G. E. Lemmer, Secretary and Treasurer ; Executive Committee : Drs. E. E. Snow, W. S. Watson, E. A. Stratton.
Following are the names of physicians now resident in Dan- bury :
William F. Lacey, born in Brookfield, Conn., graduated from Yale Medical School in 1844, and commenced practice in Dan- bury the same year.
John H. Benedict, M.D., born in Bethel, Conn .; moved with his parents to Wisconsin when three years of age. Studied in Cincinnati, 1854-58 ; practiced in Wisconsin until 1862, when he went out with the Thirty-ninth Wisconsin Regiment as Assistant Surgeon, and served through 1864-65. Came to Danbury soon after, and practiced with Dr. W. F. Lacey for six years, then took an office by himself. For ten years he resided in Redding,
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driving daily to Danbury to visit patients. Pension Surveyor since that office was first established.
A. T. Clason, M.D., born in Peekskill, N. Y., graduated from New York University in 1865. Resident of Danbury since 1866.
Frank Clark, M.D., born in Danbury 1852, graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York in 1876, and commenced practice in Danbury the same year.
Edward Augustus Stratton, M.D., born in Danbury 1862, graduated from New York University in 1883.
G. A. Gilbert, M.D., born in Danbury, March, 1859, gradu- ated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York, May, 1883 ; commenced practice in Danbury in the spring of 1884.
Wilbur Seymour Watson, M.D., born in New Hartford, Conn., 1852, graduated from Long Island Medical College in 1884. Resident in Danbury since 1885.
George Edward Lemmer, M.D., born in Newark, N. J., Sep- tember, 1855, graduated from Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York City, in 1885, and commenced practice at once in Danbury.
D. C. Brown, M.D., born in Norfolk, Va., 1863, graduated from Yale 1884, commenced practice in Danbury 1886.
Richard Ellis, M.D., born 1862 in New York City, graduated in 1888. Honor man in medicine and at Yale Academy in 1885 ; came to Danbury in 1889.
Albert Fox, M.D., born in East Hartford, Conn., May 3d, 1825, graduated from Eclectic Medical College, New York City, in 1871. Resident in Danbury since 1884.
William H. Murray, M.D., born in New York City, 1865, grad- uated March 10th, 1890, from Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York.
William A. Barnum, M.D., born in Bethel, 1861, graduated from Bennett Medical College, Chicago, in 1882. Resident in Danbury since 1884.
Annie Keeler Bailey, M.D., born in Brooklyn, N. Y., Novem- ber 6th, 1855, graduated from the Woman's Medical College of the New York Infirmary, May 29th, 1885, spent nearly one year in the New York Infirmary (Hospital for Women and Children), and came to Danbury, May 30th, 1886.
Francis Follansbee, M.D., born in Peabody, Mass., 1854, grad- uated from Bennett College, in Chicago, in 1881, and from the
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College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1886. Practiced in Beth- lehem, Conn., and came to Danbury in 1888.
Harris Fenton Brownlee, M.D., born in Lawyersville, Scho- harie County, N. Y., September, 1866. Educated at Cobbleskill Academy, N. Y., graduated in 1888 from the College of Phy- sicians and Surgeons of New York City, two years in Riverside Hospital, Yonkers, N. Y., came to Danbury in 1890.
Clayton Power Bennett, M.D., born in Danbury, 1865, gradu- ated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York City, 1890, and began practice in Danbury in 1892.
Nathaniel Selleck, M.D., born 1869, graduated from Univer- sity of New York in 1891. Resident in Danbury since that time.
J. Alexander Wade, M.D., born in Ulster County, N. Y., March, 1859, graduated from Bellevue Hospital Medical College in March, 1893, and began practice in Danbury the same year.
Harvey Fox, M.D., born in Barkhamsted, Litchfield County, Conn., February, 1856, graduated from Eclectic Medical College of the city of New York in 1878, came to Danbury in August, 1888.
Emil Weiss, M.D., born in Danbury, graduated from Munich and Leipsic, Germany, in 1887, came to Danbury in 1893.
Charles F. Craig, born in Danbury, July 4th, 1872, graduated from the Medical Department of Yale University 1894, and began practice in Danbury the same year.
W. F. Wood, M.D., was born in Sandwich, Barnstable County, Mass., graduated at Baltimore in April, 1893. Resident here since June of that year.
William C. Wile, M.D., born in Pleasant Valley, N. Y., in January, 1847. In 1862 enlisted in Company G of the One Hun- dred and Fiftieth New York Regiment ; was at the front for two years and eight months, in the battle of Gettysburg and with Sherman in his march to the sea. On his return studied medicine and graduated in 1870 from the New York University. Practiced in New Brunswick, N. J., Highland, N. Y., and New- ton, Conn. Later was called to the chair of nervous diseases at the Medico-Chirurgical College, Philadelphia, where he re- mained for one year. Owing to ill health he returned to Con- necticut, settling in Danbury, where he has since resided. Dr. Wile organized the Danbury Medical Association, and has been an active member from the first. He has been Vice-President of the Connecticut State Medical Society, President of the Dan-
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bury Medical Association, President of the Fairfield [County Society, Vice-President of the American Medical Association, President of the American Medico Editors' Association, and is in addition a member of the British Medical Society and other for- eign bodies. Dr. Wile was President of the Danbury Board of Trade in 1894.
Louis G. Knox, M.D., born in New York City, June, 1851, graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York City in 1872, from Columbia Veterinary College, 1884 ; came to Danbury, 1885.
Albert D. Sturges, M.D., born in Wilton, Conn., commenced study of medicine in 1869, graduated in 1880, and again in 1890. General practitioner of medicine, special of inebriety.
Dr. Adelaide (Taylor) Holten, wife of John A. Holten, M.D., was born in Danbury, graduated from the Eclectic Medical Col- lege in New York City, and began practice in Danbury in 1880.
The Homoeopathic School is represented by the following phy- sicians :
William Bulkley, M.D.,* son of Dr. William E. Bulkley, was born in Hillside, Mass., in 1832. When seventeen years of age he ran away and shipped on a sailing-vessel. In 1849, with the "gold fever" for California, he shipped on a sperm whaler, sailed twice round the Horn, could not get off to go to California " diggins," and came back without gold, but with a large experi- ence. Resident in Danbury since 1868.
Sophia Penfield, M.D., was born in New Fairfield, Conn., graduated from the New York Medical College for Women in 1869. Spent the following year in dispensary work in the city ; commenced the practice of medicine in Saugerties, N. Y., in 1870. Located in Danbury 1871. In 1894 opened a sanitarium for the treatment of chronic diseases by mechanical massage.
Samuel M. Griffin, M.D., born in Cold Spring, N. Y., gradu- ated from New York Homeopathic Medical College in 1867, came to Danbury in 1878.
Allan P. MacDonald, M.D., born at Antigonish, Nova Scotia, 1841, graduated from Hahnemann Medical College, Chicago, Ill., in 1874, located in Danbury, October, 1887.
S. Willard Oley, M.D., born in Rush, Monroe County, N. Y., September, 1854, graduated from New York Homoeopathic Col- lege in 1886, commenced practice in Danbury 1889.
* Dr. William Bulkley died December 21st, 1895.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
CIVIL WAR.
DANBURY was very quiet through the winter that preceded the war. There was a talk of war, to be sure, but four fifths of those who talked it did not believe in its possibility. It was simply New England eloquence arriving at a burst in the pipe. There was an impression that every State would secede except- ing those which formed New England, and this would naturally bring the war prospect down to a very narrow compass ; and then again there were those who were sure that Connecticut alone would remain in the Union while every other State would go out. This made many of us confident that there was to be no war at all, and left us untrammelled in determining the number of the enemy we could slay in battle. These matters were thor- oughly and ably discussed when the weather was sufficiently mild to permit with safety the occupancy of the depot and Con- cert Hall steps.
It was a gloomy winter, however-gloomy because business was interrupted by the uncertainty of the immediate future. The summer and fall preceding had been seasons of prosperity. Our staple industry, hatting, was at full tide. Every shop was crowded with orders, large prices paid for labor, and large profits made. Strangers were moving into town, and in every part of the village buildings were going up at a lively rate.
After the November election all this was changed. Progress came to a standstill as abruptly as if it had been mounted with an air-brake. Hatting went under, and dragged with it-as is its custom-every other branch of industry. Men had little to do but to stand around and talk, and the result was as sure as taxes. Dyspepsia set in and gloom followed. Danbury's liver was full of gall, and Danbury's blood crawled sluggishly through its veins. Sumter was the blue pill for the occasion, and most thor- oughly it did its work.
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It was three o'clock on the afternoon of Saturday, April 13th, 1861, when Danbury received the news of the fall of Sumter, and the first victory of the Secessionists. All that day anxious men besieged the telegraph office in search of the intelligence which they dreaded. When it came there was a shock. It was as if the batteries that played against the doomed fortress had been galvanic, with their wires running through our heart's very centre.
The next forty-eight hours were full of compressed life. They were mental yeast cakes. No excitement had equalled it since that April day, nearly a century dead, when the face of a for- eign foe was turned our way and the tramp of an enemy's feet pressed our borders. Now we knew there was to be a war. Even the most sanguine of a bloodless ending to the trouble gave up the hope of peace, but not the determination to win it. In that first flush of indignant shame party lines went under, and a sea of patriotic passion swept over Danbury. There was little sleep in Danbury that night, there was none whatever the next day, although there were eight churches here. St. Peter gave way to saltpetre in the theology of that hour.
On April 15th President Lincoln issued his call for seventy- five thousand volunteers, and Governor Buckingham supple- mented it with a call for volunteers to rendezvous at Hartford. Danbury was among the first to awake to the necessities of the hour. Her patriotism was aroused, and her flags were unfurled, showing her to be true to her colors. Hon. Roger Averill flung out the first flag, and he was followed by others, until houses and hilltops were crowned with the emblem that had ever led the armies of our country to victory. An in- teresting incident occurred in connection with the unfurling of Governor Averill's flag. Many distinctly remember the vener- able Colonel E. Moss White. Several years before the war he was stricken with paralysis, and never recovered from the shock. He moved about with great difficulty and lost all control of verbal expression except two words, in the form of an injunction, which were, " Come all !" On seeing the flag he smote his breast with both hands and cried aloud, again and again, " Come all ! Come all !" And the record shows that the able-bodied men of his native town almost literally responded to the cry.
Governor Buckingham's call was received here on Wednesday,
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HISTORY OF DANBURY.
and on Friday, the 19th, the Wooster Guards, commanded by Captain E. E. Wildman, started for New Haven. It is a fact to the honor and credit of the Guards that even before the gov- ernor's call had been issued, the services of the company had been tendered him, which he had promptly accepted.
The departure of the Guards for New Haven, which had been made the rendezvous, was a grand, sublime, and yet a touching and pathetic scene. Soon after dinner the Guards met at their headquarters, then Military Hall, in the top story of D. P. Nichol's Block, on the corner of Main and White Streets. Hun- dreds of people met with them, and forming in line, escorted by a cavalcade of citizens and a band, they marched to Concert Hall, where now appropriately stands the Soldiers' Monument, erected in memory of some of that brave band, whose courage was equal to the test of giving up their lives for their country. Filing into the hall, they were seated, and Rev. E. E. Griswold, presiding elder of this district of the Methodist church, offered a prayer to the Throne of Grace for their welfare and that of the country. The services concluded the company re-formed, and escorted by the crowd, which had by this time swelled to thou- sands, they marched to the Danbury and Norwalk Railway station to take the cars.
The large square on the north of the station now became the scene and centre of the most intense and exciting interest. The place was a condensed mass of humanity. Wives, mothers, fathers, and children stood in tearful mood, but withal imbued with firmness and patriotism and heroism, and exchanged good wishes and farewells. Here, amid the huzzas of the crowd, the bursts of martial music, the waving of flags, the boom of can- non, the Wooster Guards went forth, the first company in the State of Connecticut to pledge itself to the defence of the un- tarnished honor of the commonwealth and the nation.
The following is the roster of the company :
Captain, E. E. Wildman.
First Lieutenant, Jesse D. Stevens.
Second Lieutenant, John D. Bussing.
Sergeants : Andrew Knox, Milo Dickens, William Moegling, Samuel M. Petit.
Corporals : George B. Allen, E. S. Davis, Alexander Kallman, Nathan Couch.
LIEUT. JESSE D. STEVENS. CAPT. JAMES E. MOORE. LIEUT .- COL. HENRY M. STONE. GEORGE E. IVES. COL. NELSON L. WHITE.
LIEUT. FRED'K STARR. SERGT. JOHN MARSH.
MAJOR WILLIAM MOEGLING.
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Musicians : Edward H. Dann, Grandison D. Foote.
Privates : John Allen, Harris Anderson, C. H. Anderson, John Bogardus, Charles A. Boerum, James Blizzard, William H. Bliz- zard, Thomas T. Bussing, James Bradley, Theodore B. Benedict, A. H. Byington, George W. Banker, Charles A. Benger, Niram Blackman, Thomas D. Brown, Henry E. Buckingham, William K. Cowan, Lemuel B. Clark, William R. Doane, Josiah L. Day, Edward H. Day, Joseph L. Dunning, Ezekiel Eaton, C. Field- stone, Dennis Geliven, Christopher Grimm, Charles A. Gordon, H. W. Gibbs, Carl W. Hillbrandt, William O. Hoyt, W. P. Hoyt, David B. Hoyt, Alfred H. Hoddinott, Thomas Hooton, Otto Hagement, James Howath, Jesse L. James, Ernest T. Jennings, Isaac N. Jennings, George D. Keeler, Morris A. Krazynsky, William J. Murphy, Emil C. Margraff, James Martin, Andrew B. Nichols, Horace Purdy, Francis W. Platt, Joseph W. Raymond, James Reed, James R. Ross, Timothy Rose, George L. Smith, Alson J. Smith, Benjamin F. Skinner, David Sloane, Grandison Scott, Louis Shack, Eli D. Seeley, Augustus Staples, George Sears, James H. Taylor, Joseph Tammany, Darius A. Veats, Edgar L. Wildman, Howard W. Wheeler, John Waters.
The Times of May 2d, 1861, in speaking of the commanders of the Danbury companies, has the following : " Captain Wild- man is a young, energetic, straightforward, and highly esteemed citizen. His response to the call of the governor was, 'Our country needs our services, and it is our duty to go,' and by his manly, resolute course inspired his whole company with confi- dence and courage. It cannot be otherwise than a source of gratification to those who have friends and relatives in the guards to know that their services will be performed under a brave, gal- lant, and honorable commander."
The company arrived in New Haven at six o'clock, and there they were met by the Grays, a company from that city, and by thousands of people, who gave them a hearty welcome. They were escorted to the New Haven House, where they made their headquarters.
Lieutenant-Colonel Gregory, who escorted the boys to New Haven, returned Saturday evening, and a meeting was called in Concert Hall. He, with the band, was escorted to the hall, and after the organization of the meeting by electing Isaac Smith as chairman, Colonel Gregory responded to loud calls, and reported
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the arrival of the boys in New Haven, their reception there, and what other information he possessed concerning them. The ex- citement was at a fever heat, and papers, pens, and ink were called for and a roll started for a second company. This was in little over twenty-four hours from the time of the departure of the first company. As one after another put his name to the paper, cheer after cheer were given.
The people of Danbury still further showed their patriotism and their love for their absent sons in another way. On Monday afternoon, April 22d, a meeting of the town was held to provide for the means of support of the members of the Guards. There was but one sentiment in the meeting, and that was liberality toward the families. The following preamble and resolutions were unanimously passed :
" Whereas, The Wooster Guards, a military company com- posed mostly of citizens of this town, having, in obedience to the requisition of the President of the United States upon the Gov- ernor of this State for troops, in order to suppress the rebellion in sundry States of the Union against the laws thereof, with patriotic and commendable ardor, tendered their services, and already gone forth to perform their part in 'the effort to main- tain the honor, the integrity, and existence of our national Union ;' and
" Whereas, One other military company is now being organ- ized in this town for a like glorious object ; and
" Whereas, Many of the individuals of this town, belonging to said companies, leave behind them families dependent upon their daily earnings for their subsistence, and who, without pub- lic aid, will be liable to suffer to a greater or less extent for the ordinary necessities of life, be it therefore
" Resolved, That an appropriation be made from the treasury of the town of Danbury for the support of the families of resi- dents of said town who have volunteered or hereafter shall vol- unteer, in accordance with the calls of the President of the United States in the present national troubles ; and the appropriation hereby made shall be expended as follows :
"To the wife of each volunteer the sum of three dollars per week, and one dollar per week for each child that such volunteer may have dependent on him for support, which shall be paid
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weekly ; and such allowance shall continue during his term of voluntary enlistment.
" Edgar S. Tweedy and John W. Bacon are appointed a com- mittee to carry this resolution into effect, and orders shall be drawn from time to time on the town treasury for the purpose aforesaid. Said committee shall exercise discretionary powers in making provision for families of such volunteers, other than wives and children."
Another preamble and resolution was offered and also unani- mously passed, which showed Danbury's patriotism still further. It was as follows :
" Whereas, A company of volunteers has left and a second is now organizing in this town for service in the reigments of Con- necticut Volunteers, and the State of Connecticut is not now in a condition to furnish them with the necessary uniforms and overcoats,
" Resolved, That Frederick Starr, George M. Southmayd, Judah P. Crosby, and A. B. Hull be authorized to equip said companies with the necessary uniforms and overcoats, and the selectmen are hereby authorized to draw their order on the town treasurer for the purpose."
On Tuesday evening, April 23d, at a meeting held in the Young Men's Christian Association rooms, a company of thirty men was formed under the title of Union Reserved Guards. They were immediately put under military discipline and drill.
On Monday, April 29th, the second company left for New Haven. The day was one of the loveliest of the season. May had come ahead of time, and the soft breezes and balmy air were invigorating. Nature had begun to wake from her lethargy, and typified the awakening of the patriotism of our heroes. The. whole population turned out to bid Godspeed to the company .. A cavalcade of over one hundred horsemen gathered in front of the residence of Russell Hoyt, on Main Street. Among them were many citizens of Bethel. Judah P. Crosby was the mar- shal, and Granville W. Morris, then deputy sheriff, J. D. Bowers, and Charles E. Andrews were his aids. The Danbury Zouaves, a company then forming for the State service, formed at Concert Hall. This was their first appearance, and they were a surprise to all. Nearly every man was six feet tall, and they made a.
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