History of Middlesex county, Connecticut, with biographical sketches of its prominent men, Part 7

Author: Whittemore, Henry, b. 1833; Beers, J.B. & Company, publishers
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York : J. B. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 818

USA > Connecticut > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex county, Connecticut, with biographical sketches of its prominent men > Part 7

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In 1819 Dr. Miner received the honorary degree of M. D., from Yale College. He was afterward a meniber of the committee for devising ways and means, and form- ing the plan for the Retreat for the Insane, and, in 1834, was elected president of the Medical Society of Connec- ticut, having already served two years as its vice-presi- dent. He was remarkable for ripe scholarship and active intellect. He died in 1841, at the age of 64 years.

Dr. Henry Woodward, son of Samuel Woodward, M. D., was born in Torringford, Connecticut, in 1795. He studied medicine with his father and brother, S. B. Woodward, then of Wethersfield, with whom he prac- ticed several years, when he removed to Middletown, by invitation of Dr. Tully, who was about to leave the city. He soon gained an extensive practice, and for years " his business was equal to that of any other physi- cian in the State, both for respectability and extent." He received the honorary degree of Doctor of Medicine from the Connecticut Medical Society at an earlier age than any other gentleman in the State. He was twice chosen to represent the town of Middletown in the Leg- islature of the State. His moral character was above re-

proach. He was a man of active benevolence, gave much in charity, and took hold of the great moral enterprises J of the day with true zeal. He was a regular member of the Episcopal church, of which he was for some time vestryman and warden.

In the midst of his activity and usefulness he was cut down by a disease of the chest, which, in a few months, terminated his life by rapid consumption. He died in 1832, aged 37 years.

Charles Woodward, M. D., belonged to a family of physicians. He was the youngest son of Dr. Samuel Woodward, of Torringford, Connecticut, where he was born in August 1798. He studied medicine, first with his father, and afterward with his brother, Samuel B. Woodward. At the age of 24 he commenced practice at Windsor, in this State, but in 1832, on the death of his brother, Dr. Henry Woodward, of Middletown, he re- moved to that city, where he passed the remainder of

As a practitioner he was held in high esteem by his brethren in the profession, and was greatly beloved by his patients. The goodness and benevolence which were prominent traits in his character found expression in the following extract from an address which he delivered before the State Medical Society (of which he was presi- dent), in 1868:

"There is a sentiment prevailing among the members of our profes- sion, that as a profession we are not duly appreciated, and for our ser- vices we are not properly remunerated. This may be true to a certain extent, but who has the affections of the community about him to a greater extent than the 'beloved physician ?' When stricken down by sickness, who has more earnest prayers for his recovery ? No one should enter the profession under the expectation of having a long rent-roll, or a large file of certificates of bonds and stocks; if he does he is doomed to disappointment. We should be governed by higher motives and. nobler purposes. We should feel that we have entered a field where there is an opportunity of practically carrying out the precepts and following the example of the ' Great Physician;' and inasmuch as we have lodged the stranger, given food and drink to the famishing, and visited the sick for the work's sake, we have followed his example and served him."

Dr. Woodward's sons, Charles R. and Henry, are drug- gists in Middletown.

In 1841, Dr. Woodward represented the eighteenth dis- trict in the State Senate. In 1849, and in 1857, he repre- sented Middletown in the Legislature. He was the first to move in the matter of securing the location of the insane hospital at Middletown. He died in 1870.

Isaac Conkling, a native of East Hampton, L. I., and a student of Dr. Ebenezer Sage, of Sag Harbor, L. I., attended lectures in Columbia College, New York city, practiced three or four years in Portland, about as many in Oneida county, N. Y., and nine years in Middletown. He died in Portland, February 24th 1824, aged 44

Edward S. Cone was a son of Rev. Salmon Cone, of Colchester, a graduate of Middlebury College, 1815, a student of Dr. William Tully, and attended lectures in New Haven. He had a good practice. He died Feb- ruary 13th 1831, aged nearly 36 years.

Thomas Miner, 2d, a native of Stonington, attended lectures at Pittsfield, practiced some years at West Stock- bridge, then in Middletown, and removed to Hartford, where he died.

GENERAL, HISTORY.

William Bryan Casey was born in Middletown, in 1815, and graduated from Columbia College, N. Y., in 1834. He received the degree of M. D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1837. He was physician to the New York Dispensary from 1837 to 1839, and practiced in Middletown from 1839 till 1860. He was an army sur- geon during the war of the Rebellion, and lectured on Obstetrics at Yale College in 1863 and 1864. He died in Middletown in 1870. He was one of the original trustees of the General Hospital for the Insane. He was mayor of Middletown in 1851.

Elisha B. Nye was born in Sandwich, Mass., in 1812,and removed to Middletown in 1819. He was the first fresh- man that entered Wesleyan . University, from which in- stitution he graduated in 1835. He studied medicine with Dr. Thomas Miner, and received the degree of M.D. from Yale College in 1837. He practiced in East Haddam till 1851. He then removed to Middletown, where he is still in practice. He has been president of the County Medical Society, and in 1883, he was chosen president of the Connecticut State Medical Society.

Joseph Barrett, born in England in 1796, was profes- sor of Botany, Chemistry, and Mineralogy in Partridge Military Academy, and removed to Middletown with that institution in 1824. He graduated, M. D., Yale, 1834, practiced in Middletown till March 1881, where he died. He paid much attention to the language of the American Indian, and various branches of natural science. It was to him that the celebrated Dr. Thomas Miner confided the story of his life, which was published in " Williams Medical Biography."

George W. Burke, a native of New Haven, graduated at Wesleyan University in 1839. He studied medicine with Dr. A. Brigham, of Hartford, and in New Haven, where he graduated, M. D., from Yale in 1843. He prac- ticed in Palmer, Mass., and came to Middletown in 1853 where he is still in practice.

Rufus Baker, a native of Maine, graduated, M. D., at Columbia College, D. C., in 1844. He practiced at Deep River till 1860, when he removed to Middletown.

Daniel A. Cleveland, a native of Martha's Vineyard, graduated, M. D., at Bowdoin College in 1856.

Abram Marvin Shew graduated from Jefferson College in 1864.

James Olmstead was born in New Haven, Conn., in 1849. He graduated, M. D., at Yale in 1874. He prac- ticed in New Haven and Middletown.

Wm. E. Fisher, was born in Philadelphia, Penn., 1853. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1876. He has practiced in the Philadelphia and Con- necticut hospitals for the insane.

James M. Keniston, born at Newburyport, Mass., in 1848, graduated, M. D., at Harvard, 1871. He prac- ticed in Cambridge, Mass., from 1872 to 1882. Since then he has been assistant physician in the Connecticut Hospital for the Insane.

Henry S. Noble was born at Hinesburg, Vt., and graduated at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York city. Previous to engaging in general prac-

tice he was one year in the City Hospital of Hartford, Conn. He left general practice in 1879, and went to Hartford Retreat as assistant for one year, thence to the State Hospital at Middletown, thence to Michigan Asy- lum at Kalamazoo, where he remained two years, and re- turned to the State Hospital at Middletown in 1884.

Dr. Ellsworth Burr, one of the earliest of the Thomp- sonians or eclectic physicians, was born in Haddam in 1813. He studied with Dr. Sperry, of Hartford, and settled in Middletown in 1837, where he practiced till his death in 1867.

He was for several years professor in a medical col- lege in Worcester, Mass., where he graduated in 1849. He was the representative from Middletown for several years.

William C. Bell, homoeopathic physician, studied medi- cine one year under Horace Ballard, M. D., of Chester, Mass., and then mostly under Professor Child, of Pitts- field, where he was graduated, M. D., in 1833. He after- ward practiced in Austerlitz, N. Y., and in Great Bar. rington, Mass., till 1849, when he came to Middletown, where he has since practiced.

Aaron S. Osborne was born in Austerlitz, and gradu- ated, M. D., at Long Island Hospital College in 1873. He has practiced in Middletown for the past ten years.

Frank L. Burr, son of Dr. Harris R. Burr, was born in Killingworth in 1847. He graduated from Eclectic College, Pennsylvania, and received a diploma from the Connecticut Eclectic Medical Society in 1871. He com- menced practice the same year in Middletown.

P. V. Burnett graduated from the University of New York in 1876.

Dr. Richard Ely was born in North Bristol, Guilford, now North Madison, in 1765, where his father of the same name was settled minister. He graduated at Yale in 1785, studied medicine with Dr. John Noyes of Lyme, who certified as follows :

"To all people to whom these lines shall come-Greeting.

Whereas, Dr. Richard Ely, of Saybrook, hath been liberally educated. and been a student with me in the theory and practice of medicines and surgery, and, whereas, said Ely hath made great improvement in the art of physics and surgery, he is well qualified for a practitioner in said arts. I do, therefore, recommend him as a safe, judicious, and able physician, and well qualified for the practice.

"Lyme, June 9th, 1786.

"JOHN NOYES."

Dr. Ely commenced practice in what is now Killing- worth where he remained four years, when he removed to Wilbraham, Mass. He remained there about a year when he returned to Pautapaug, now Centerbrook, where his father was then settled. He remained there till 1805, when he removed to Chester. He received the honorary degree of M. D. from Yale College. He died in 1816 from a fever brought on by overwork and exposure. He had been treasurer of the State Medical Society three years, at the time of his death ; he had been elected a Fellow 16 times in 24 years and was an active member of the society. He shared the confidence and respect of the profession and the public, in a large degree.

Dr. George Haskell Abernethy was born at Harwinton, Conn. He was the son of William C. Abernethy. His grandfather, William, was a physician.

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.

He received the degree of M. D., from Yale College, in 1830. He was a student with Dr. B. H. Catlin, then of Haddam. After graduation, he spent a year in Belle- vue Hospital, and in 1831 commenced practice in Chester.

Dr. Abernethy was clerk of the Middlesex County Society, in 1841-42, and Fellow in 1835 and 1840. He was enthusiastic and successful in his profession, was tall and strikingly handsome, and very popular in the com- munity. He died in the fall of 1844, at Augusta, Illi- nois.

Ambrose Pratt, a graduate of Yale in 1837, was born in Deep River. He graduated, M. D., from Columbia College, D. C., in 1843, and practiced at Chester till 1847, then at Milwaukee, Wis., till 1853. Then he opened at Chester a water cure infirmary with which he was very successful. In 1862 he volunteered as surgeon in the 22d Regiment Connecticut Volunteers, and remained with it till its muster out. Since then he has been in regular practice in Chester and vicinity.

Sylvester W. Turner, Yale, 1842, born in Killing- worth, graduated, M. D., Yale, 1846, and located in Chester, 1848.

Dr. Samuel Redfield, son of Dr. John Redfield, of Guilford, and Amanda Russell, of North Guilford, was born in Guilford, September 12th 1762; served as a fifer during the Revolutionary war; after which he studied medicine with his father, and with Dr. Benjamin Gale. of Killingworth, and commenced practice as a physician in Guilford. After practicing about twelve years in Clinton, then Killingworth, he removed first to Fairfield, Herkimer county, New York, and afterward to Perrys- burg, Cattaraugus county, New York, where he died in 1837, aged 75 years.

One of the first members admitted to the medical so- ciety was Austin Olcott, of Killingworth, now Clinton, in 1796, then about 20 years of age. He was born in South Manchester, which was the birth place of his father, Dr. George Olcott. He was full of courage in the daytime, and as great a coward in the night; was very loth to respond to calls after retiring, always requiring a second or third rapping up before he made his appear- ance. He stood very high in his profession; his consul- tation practice in adjoining towns was very large; was quick as by an intuition to recognize disease, and very positive in his diagnosis. The second case of tying the external iliac artery, in this country, was performed on a patient of his, in 1820, by Nathan Smith. The diagnosis and subsequent treatment were by Dr. Olcott. The limb was œdematous at the time of the operation. The an- eurism held eight ounces. The operation was perfectly successful, the patient living thirty-six years afterward, enjoying perfect health.

Dr. Olcott had a very large practice for nearly half a century, the most of the time having no one but himself to support; had no bad habits, and died in destitute cir- cumstances from a failure to keep his accounts and col- lect his bills. He always rode on horseback to visit his patients. He died in 1843, aged 68 years.

Josiah Byles removed from Griswold to Clinton in 1841, where he died in 1843.

Dr. Denison H. Hubbard, son of Deacon Nathaniel Hubbard, was born in Bolton, Conn., in 1805. He studied medicine with Dr. J. S. Peters, of Hebron, governor of the State of Connecticut, and with Dr. William O. Tal- cott, of Winsted. He graduated at Yale Medical Col- lege, in 1829. He began his practice in Glastonbury, Conn., removed from there to Bloomfield, where he prac- ticed till 1844, when he removed to Clinton, where he practiced till his death, in 1874. Dr. Hubbard was a good man, socially, professionally, and religiously. It was a part of his creed that beyond a reasonable provi- dence for the uncertainties of the future, a Christian had no right to accumulate property; and his practice seems to have been in exact conformity to his creed. For while he was economical in the management of his af- fairs, and for more than forty years received a fair in- come from his business, he left comparatively little prop- erty. In 1872 he had an attack of hemiplegia from which he never fully recovered, although able to attend to a limited amount of business. In March, 1874, he had a renewed attack, which terminated in death, Au- gust 12th, of the same year.

David Austin Fox, born in Lebanon, graduated at New York University in 1852, soon after commenced practice in Clinton.

Dr. G. Harrison Gray and G. O. Johnson, each prac- ticed in Clinton a few years.

Silas E. Peck, homœopathist, practiced a few years in Clinton.

Gideon Noble, a native of Coventry, probably, prac- ticed in Cromwell from 1791 to 1802, when he removed * to South Glastonbury. He had a good education, pleas- ing manners, and acquired a respectable practice in both places. He died in 1807.

Titus Morgan was born in Westfield, Mass. He prac- ticed in Cromwell from 1802 to 1811. He was a gentle- man of refined poetic taste, and agreeable manners, a respectable physician.

Dr. Bulkley practiced in Haddam from 1821 to 1830. Richard Warner (Yale, 1817), son of Selden Warner, of Hadlyme, studied medicine with Dr. Thomas Miner, of Middletown, and attended lectures at Yale college, where he graduated in 1821. He practiced several years in his native place and adjoining towns. He removed to Mid- dletown, Upper Houses, in 1832, and died October, 1853, after a brief illness, about fifty-nine years of age. He succeeded his brother as clerk of County Medical Society, and was president of the Connecticut Medical Society at the time of his death. He had a large prac- tice and was popular with his medical brethren. His power of observation was strong; he was fond of botany and mineralogy; his name is mentioned several times in Silliman's Scientific Publications, as a discoverer of the localities of different minerals.

As a citizen he was first in every good work, a leading member of church and society, with strong convictions | of right and wrong, standing firm for the right often to

GENERAL HISTORY.

the sacrifice of his own interest. He was popular with the masses.

With the anti-slavery and temperance movements he was early and warmly engaged. One of the first to ban- ish liquors from his sideboard, and to stand firm for total abstinence.

He was born at least a quarter of a century too early for his own comfort. He gained nothing but ridicule and the title of a visionary fanatic for pushing innova- tions which have since become established successes. He was prime mover in setting the town of Cromwell off from Middletown. He selected the name of the new town. He held successively all the offices of the church society and town. In the improvements of the village he was earnestly engaged, as many of the fine elms bear testimony. In the movement for an academy and a new church edifice, he was foremost and persistently success- ful.

William Meigs Hand was born in Madison, and was graduated, M. D., at Dartmouth College in 1812, and came immediately to Cromwell. In 1816 he moved to Worthington in Berlin. He was amiable and well- informed, interesting in conversation, and happy in writing sketches and essays; a successful practitioner and a man of good moral character. He published a pamphlet entitled " A Trip to Ohio," and a manual of medicine and surgery for the family. He died in 1822, aged 32.

Ira Hutchinson, son of John and Mollie Hutchinson, was born in Gilead Society, in Hebron. He studied medicine with Dr. Silas Fuller, then of Columbia, subse- quently of Hartford, and graduated at Yale Medical College in 1825. After the death of Dr. Warner he located in Haddam, where he made successful practice till 1853, when he removed to Cromwell, where he died. Here, as in his former field, he soon secured a full prac- tice. He was in every sense a gentleman.

J. Francis Calef graduated at Yale in 1880. He suc- ceeded Dr. Hutchinson in Cromwell.

Winthrop B. Hallock, proprietor of Cromwell Hall, was born in Utica, N. Y. He graduated from Long Island College Hospital, and was several years first assistant in the Insane Hospital at Middletown.

Dr. Jesse Cole was a physician in Durham at the time this society was organized; he was not a member, as Durham belonged to New Haven county, till some years afterward. He was born at Kensington, 1739; was a son of Mathew Cole and Ruth Hubbard; settled in Dur- ham in 1765, and did a large and successful business till 1793. He died in 1811, leaving eight children.

Dr. Cole, it is said, had two pills that he relied on, one of which he called the black dog, and the other the white dog. If the black dog failed, he would send the white dog into the stomach of the patient.

On the south side of Mount Pisgah, in Durham, he cultivated rare plants and herbs. The place still bears the name of Dr. Cole's garden. He was engaged at one time in the manufacture of potash, on what is now called Potash Brook and Potash Hill. .

Dr. Thayer located in Durham before Dr. Cole left.

Lyman Norton, son of Stephen and Abigail, was born in 1763. He studied medicine with Dr. Jared Potter of Wallingford, commenced practice before 1797, and died in 1814, aged 51 years. He was a man of agreeable man- ners, and generally beloved.

William Foote, born in Northford, studied medicine with his brother, Dr. Malica Foote, in Rye, N. Y., and with Dr. Benjamin Rockwell of New York. He came to Durham in 1802, removed to Goshen in 1807, and after two years returned to Durham, where he resided till his death in 1842. He was contemporary with Dr. Norton, and had a better education than he, but less tact as a physician.

William Seward Pierson, son of a descendant of the first president of Yale College, was born in Killingworth, graduated from Yale College in 1808, and studied with Dr. Nathan Smith, at Dartmouth College, where he took his medical degree in 1813. He came to Durham on a formal invitation of the inhabitants as was the custom in those days, upon the death of Dr. Norton. He remained four years, and then, upon the invitation of the people of Windsor, removed there. He died in 1860.

Jared Potter Kirtland, born in 1793, was a grandson of late Dr. Jared Potter. In 1810 he studied medicine with Dr. John Andrews, and afterward was a private pupil of Dr. Eli Ives and Dr. Nathan Smith, of New Haven. In 1812 he entered the first class in the medical department of Yale College, and in 1814 studied in the University of Pennsylvania.

John T. Catlin was born in New Malborough, Mass. He was the son of Rev. Dr. Catlin, who was the teacher of Dr. David Smith. He attended a course of lectures at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at New York city in 1816 and 1817; was licensed to practice by the New York State Medical Society; practiced several years in Salisbury, and moved to Durham when Dr. Kirtland left. He died of fever, July 28th 1825.

Henry Holmes, son of Uriah Holmes, of Litchfield, took his medical degree at Yale College, in 1825. He came to Durham about the same time with Harrison; boarded with Rev. Dr. Smith; spent the winter of 1830-31 at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York; re- turned to Durham, where he resided until 1833, when he went to Hartford, where he died in 1870. He held various offices in Hartford, was town physician, chair- man of Board of Health Committee, city coroner, &c. He died a bachelor. He was polite almost to a fault. Dr. Russell, his biographer, says, " How often in after years he referred to this old town (Durham) and the happy time he spent there, many of us can remember. It was with the greatest pleasure that he referred to this or that event as having occurred when he was in Durham,-that when in Durham such or such a case had been treated by him, the minute details of which were still fresh in his memory."

David Harrison was born in North Branford; gradu- ated, M. 1)., at Yale College in 1826; soon afterward came to Durham at the death of Dr. Catlin; removed to Mid-

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.

town in 1831; practiced in Cuba; returned to Middle- town, and died a bachelor in December 1856, at Fair Haven, of heart disease.

William Hayden Rockwell graduated at Yale College in 1824; studied medicine with Dr. Thomas Hubbard, of Pomfret, who was afterward Professor at Yale, and with Dr. Eli Todd, of Hartford; took his medical degree at Yale College in 1831; came to Durham soon afterward, and remained in that town until the following year. He is now superintendent of the Insane Retreat, at Brattle- boro, Vermont.

Erasmus D. North was a son of Dr. Elisha North, of New London. He was graduated at Chapel Hill College, North Carolina; took his medical degree in New Haven in 1833, and in the same year removed to Durham. He practiced four years in Durham, and left to be an instructor of elocution in Yale College. He died in 1855.

Seth L. Childs was born in Barnston, C. E. He studied he removed to the central part of the town, where he medicine at Fort Covington, New York, and graduated at Woodstock, Vt. He came to Durham in 1838, was a member of the State Senate in 1845, built the house op- posite the academy, which he sold to Dr. Fowler in 1845, and in the spring of 1846 removed to East Hart- ford, where he now resides.

Benjamin L. Fowler was born in Northford, studied medicine with Dr. Stanton, of Amenia, New York, and N. B. Ives of New Haven; graduated at Yale Medical School in 1845, and the same year came to Durham. He left Durham, in 1856, for Poughkeepsie, N. Y., and there died, in September 1858, of pneumonia.

Rufus W. Mathewson was born in Coventry, R. I .; studied medicine in Norwich with W. Hooker, now pro- fessor of Practice of Medicine in Yale College, S. John- son, and N. B. Ives of New Haven; attended lectures at Yale College in 1834-35; received his medical degree from the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, in 1835, then the only medical school in the city; re- mained in Norwich till 1846, then attended another course of lectures in New York; removed to Gale's Ferry, in Ledyard, where he remained till he came to Durham, in 1856, and purchased the house of Dr. Fowler. He is still a practitioner in Durham.

Chauncey Andrews was born in Southington, Conn .; studied medicine with James Percival, of Kensington, father of the celebrated James Gales Percival, and prac- ticed in Haddam, Hamdem, and Durham. He died of cancer, in 1863.

Erasmus Darwin Andrews, son of the above, was born at Killingworth, Conn., in 1806. He graduated from Willoughby College, Ohio, practiced in Ohio and Dur- ham. He died at the latter place in 1874, aged 65 years.

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History of Middlesex county, Connecticut, with biographical sketches of its prominent men, Part 7

Author: Whittemore, Henry, b. 1833; Beers, J.B. & Company, publishers Publication date: 1884 Publisher: New York : J. B. Beers & co. Number of Pages: 818

Author: Whittemore, Henry, b. 1833; Beers, J.B. & Company, publishers
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York : J. B. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 818