Memoirs of Georgia; containing historical accounts of the state's civil, military, industrial and professional interests, and personal sketches of many of its people. Vol. II, Part 30

Author:
Publication date: 1859
Publisher: Atlanta, Ga., The Southern historicl association
Number of Pages: 1166

USA > Georgia > Memoirs of Georgia; containing historical accounts of the state's civil, military, industrial and professional interests, and personal sketches of many of its people. Vol. II > Part 30

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DR. TOMLINSON FORT .* Dr. Tomlinson Fort was of English ancestry. His father, Hon. Arthur Fort, come to Georgia when a young man, before the revolutionary war, and was an active participant in the stirring scenes of that eventful period. As a member of the committee of safety; as a soldier in the field against British, tories and Indians; as a member of the legislature he gave to the patriots' cause and to his country the benefit of his clear intellect, his true heart and his strong arm. Dr. Fort was born in 1787, precisely coeval with the constitution of the United States. After the then usual period of a prentisage or private pupilage, he repaired to Philadelphia and prepared himself for graduation in the university of Pennsylvania, under the tuition of Rush, Physic and their confreres, who then illustrated that renowned institution. Returning to Georgia he settled in Milledgeville, the capital of the state, where he spent his entire professional life. His success came early and knew no diminution. His dignified manners and his absolute integrity inspired confidence and respect, and a peculiar magnetism drew to him the strong, personal attachment of all with whom he came into contact. His reputation was not long confined to the town or county of his residence, but extended widely over the state, and few, if any, of the physicians of the state have ever gained so large a clientage or such honorable distinction. Dr. Fort brought to bear in his practice a well-balanced mind, a large stock of common sense, keenness of observation and a power of analysis, which enabled him to judge truly of popular superstition, reckless assertions of authors, and to reject, when he deemed them erroneous, the dogmas, even of his favorite teacher, Dr. Rush. To the revolution in the practice of physic which occurred during his life, which delivered us from the ravages of mercury and salivation, from the dangerous, indiscriminate use of the lancet, and from the horrible torture of days of fever without the solace of a single drop of cold water, Dr. Fort contributed his full share. He was not a voluminous contributor to the periodical professional literature of the period, but late in life he published a volume of some 700 pages, which he modestly called a Dissertation on the Practice of Medicine. This book he dedicated to the physicians of the state of Georgia, as a grateful acknowledgment of the kindness, respect and confidence which he had experienced at the hands of every one of them with whom he had the honor of becoming acquainted. This work, he says, "is, in its nature, ephemeral." Its author does not claim for it a place among the standard works of the day, but

*From the "Atlanta Medical and Surgical Journal."

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some of the more important diseases are treated at considerable length and with great ability. It exhibits throughout the care, candor, acumen, originality and courage of conviction of its author. No physician can read it without instruction, or finish its perusal without the highest respect for his moral as well as profes- sional characteristics. Dr. Fort's popularity and influence in the city of his residence were overwhelming. The first case of smallpox that ever occurred there was under his care. He gave to it the conscientious attention hc deemed requisite, but the alarm in the community was so great that neither nurse nor shelter could be procured, and the doctor furnished onc and became the other. The alarmed citizens, in a town meeting, resolved to compel him, by violence, if necessary, to desist from his attentions. He quietly placed a loaded gun at his door and notified them that he would permit no one to interrupt the discharge of his professional duties. When the danger was past, the fickle mob again met and passed a resolution of thanks, complimenting him on his courage and fidelity. Laborious in his profession, as he was for many years, he was not unmindful of any of the duties of citizenship. In the war of 1812, he raised and commanded a company, and received in battle a wound in the knee, which gave him great suffering during the remainder of his life. He represented Baldwin county eight years in the halls of legislation, and the state two years in the congress of the United States. A sketch of his political character and standing, kindly furnished by his distinguished and venerable friend, the Hon. Junius Hillyer, is subjoined. At the close of his term in congress, Dr. Fort retired from active political life; the wants of a growing family and the expenses of a profuse and generous hos- pitality demanded the resources of his large professional income, and he sacrificed a most brilliant public career upon the altar of domestic and social obligation. He died in Milledgeville, May 17, 1859. During all that period he was at the summit of professional reputation, of social standing and political influence. Thc following is a sketch of Dr. Fort by Junius Hillyer: "My knowledge of Dr. Tomlinson Fort commenced in 1828. I saw him in Milledgeville during the session of the legislature in the fall of that year. In person he was tall, straight, symmetrical, and a form indicating endurance, health and a sound constitution. He had a sedate but chcerful, friendly expression that inspired his associates with respect and kind feelings towards him. And I do not believe that his feelings were ever wounded by his most bitter political opponents or by any of his personal associates. When I first knew him he was in the prime of manhood, perhaps between thirty-five and forty years of age. He was an active, working member of the old Clarke party, and was personally known by every prominent man in the state, for the men of both parties sought and valued his acquaintance. Dr. Fort was not numbered among the great orators of his day. I have often heard him speak in public. He rarely spokc over half an hour, and always kept close to the questions under consideration, and without any flourishes of rhetoric or effort at the beautiful, he gave his views in a plain, straightforward, earnest manner, which commanded the attention of his hearers, while everything lie said was understood clearly, and it was no labor to listen to him and follow his line of thought. Such a speaker must necessarily command attention and wield an influence. Dr. Fort, as a party man, was a strong, important leader. He held the most extreme partisan views; hc held and always openly avowed, the good old Jackson democratic doctrine, that "to the victors belong the spoils." His party motto was: "Turn them out; put the government in the hands of the democrats." As a partisan he was pre-eminently a bourbon democrat. He never learned any new principles and he never changed his old ones. He was a man of the people; he lived with the people; he guided their political ideas and

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moulded their judgments, In his party he preferred a position in the ranks of a private. He rarely sought office. I am sure he could have attained any office in the gift of the people if he had desired it. Here we have a man who began life in the midst of the angry strife of the federal and republican parties and participated actively in all the stirring scenes of the last war with England. The strife over the United States bank; the inauguration of the tariff policy; the bitter personal strife between the Clarke and Crawford parties and the Clarke and Troup parties; our controversies about the Indians and Indian lands; our angry strife about nullification and the Union; Gen. Jackson's war on the United States bank; the sub-treasury; the. war with Mexico and the acquisition of Texas; the slavery question and the compromise of 1850, stirring and moving the people through these long years down to the time of his death, a period of half a century-all these scenes he witnessed. He mingled with the actors. He participated in the discussion of all these momentous questions with much crimination and recrimina- tion, with many a duel, and many a fight, and wide-spread hatred and life-long animosity, yet from it all he came forth in his old age out of this fiery ordeal without the smell of fire on his garments, universally beloved by all men of all parties. The reason is plain-he was wise, he was good, he was just, and he was polite. Twelve years we were together on the board of trustees of the state university, and every year, for nearly thirty years, I saw him in Milledgeville, and often in other places, so I can say I knew him well. And I know his character, what his acquaintances say of him-of his private life. All can be said in one short line: He stood through his long life above reproach. Through all the length and breadth of the state, Dr. Fort was, in the judgment of all who knew him, in the first rank of his profession. More than one generation must pass away before, in Baldwin county, his skill, his patience and his kindness to the sick and to the poor will be for- gotten."

THOMAS FITZGERALD GREEN, M. D .* Dr. Thomas F. Green was born in Beaufort, S. C., on Dec. 25, 1804; he died in Midway, Ga., on Feb. 13, 1879, of apoplexy, while superintendent of the Georgia lunatic asylum. His parents were of the best class of Irish people. His father, a warm-hearted, highly educated, enthusiastic young Irish patriot, having joined in the ill-fated rebellion of 1798, was forced to flee the country; his wife, who was a Fitzgerald, a lady of noble blood, came with him to America. He had no fortune save his talents, no friends save those whom he won by his virtues. He began to teach, and as a teacher came to Beaufort, S. C. Here his eldest son, Thomas Fitzgerald, was born. He removed to Savannah, Ga., where he taught a high school, and was elected a professor in Athens in the Georgia university. He afterward removed to Milledgeville, the capital of Georgia, and here the son was educated. Dr. Green attended lectures in Charleston, S. C., and was past his majority when he studied medicine and began to practice. He located in Milledgeville, and was doing well as a physician when the current of his life was changed and turned in a direction which was to be full of blessings to his race. A northern philanthropist, who was interested in the welfare of the insane, visited Milledgeville to suggest and advocate the establish- ment of an asylum for them. He called a meeting of a few gentlemen of broad views and generous hearts and laid his plans before them. The warm heart of Dr. Thomas F. Green became much interested in the great question presented, and he gave it close attention. He was connected with the first effort made to secure the grant from the legislature. In 1846 he succeeded Dr. Cooper as superintendent of the asylum. He continued in the office for thirty-three years. It was very small when he took hold of it. It became a grand institution-one of the largest in the

*Written by T. O. Powell, M. D., Milledgeville, Ga.

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southern states-when he was called by death from it. Dr. Green in person was short, stout, of broad, grand, humane countenance in his youth, and in his old age, handsome. He was full of life, cheerful, merry, courteous, considerate. He was. a sincere Christian; in his home life, a model; one of the most benevolent and unselfish of men. He was devoted to the institution; he literally lived for the asylum. He thought of it, talked of it all the time. His success in the manage- ment of it was marvelous, and the blessed results of his work cannot be told in time. He was a delightful companion, a true and sympathizing friend, a man whom all loved, and one worthy of all the honor heaped upon him. The moral grandeur of his character was best illustrated by the interest he manifested in the unfortunate. In the walls of the main hall at the entrance of the asylum is inserted a handsome marble tablet attesting his virtues: "In memory of Thomas Fitzgerald Green, M. D., born Dec. 25, 1804, died Feb. 13, 1879. Thirty-three years of his life devoted with a supreme affection, unwearied zeal, and arduous labor, as resident physician and superintendent of this institution, Georgia's greatest charity, bear witness to his Christian character as a physician and philanthropist. Science mourns his loss, humanity reveres his name, religion embalms his memory. Erected by order of the board of trustees, 1879."

JAMES A. GRAY, M. D. This biographical sketch is from the pen of Dr. J. S. Todd, one of Georgia's noblest physicians and most gifted writers: I knew "Jim Gray" as intimately as though he were my brother, and loved him as a brother. I was his friend and confidant. Dr. Todd's sketch of him is true in every respect. He has written the life of Dr. Gray so frankly, so beautifully, so much better than I can do, that I have adopted it. I only add: The life of James A. Gray reflected honor upon his family, his state and his noble profession, and must ever remain an inspiration to the young men of Georgia.

"There is no death. The stars go down To rise upon some fairer shore, Where, bright in heaven's jeweled crown They shine forever more."

James A. Gray was born Dec. 29, 1849, in Monroe county, Ga. He passed over the river Sept. 27, 1887. He was, therefore, only thirty-eight years of age. His literary education was received in the country school near his home. At the age of twenty-seven he began studying medicine, graduating in 1879 with first honors from the Atlanta medical college. He connected himself with the Methodist church in 1866, and up to the day of his death was a consistent member and regular com- municant. Immediately after receiving his degree he began the practice of medi- cine in Atlanta, and at once made himself felt and known as a man of strength. During the winter of 1879-80 he conducted a quiz at the Atlanta Medical college, and so ably did he acquit himself, and so personally popular was he with the students that upon acceptance of the demonstrator's place and lectureship on minor surgery in the Southern Medical college, in 1880, this young doctor of eighteen months carried with him over half the second-course students of the old school. The faculty of his alma mater made haste to secure the invaluable services of her gifted son, and before another session, in 1881, he was her proctor, and occupied the chair of lecturer on venereal diseases and minor surgery. At the time of his death he was still honoring this chair, and had been further raised to the exalted position of dean of the faculty-dean of his faculty in seven years after receiving his degree. He was filling his second term as secretary of the State Medical association, how capably let the five large volumes of its transactions gotten out by him be the answer. He was a member of the board of censors in the American Medical association,

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surgeon of the Atlanta rifles, an active, live member of the Atlanta Society of Medi- cine, and managing editor of the Atlanta "Medical and Surgical Journal," a period- ical which he rescued from bankruptcy and ruin, and this, too, after many older heads had given up the fight. Dr. Gray left it an ornament to medical literature; a financial success, with a circulation larger than that of any similar journal in the south, and with an advertising patronage equal to any in America. Dr. Gray in person was corpulent, but in spite of this, and contrary to the usual rule that indo- lence and adipose are synonymous, he was possessed of an energy and persever- ance only equaled by his honesty of purpose and kindness of heart. I knew him and loved him from the time he entered our ranks. We were as intimate as broth- ers. He was in no sense a negative man; he had opinions, and boldly and freely gave expression to them. The last of all men to pick a quarrel (for he was con- geniality itself), being in one, he followed the advice of Polonius to Laertes: "Bear't that the opposed may beware of thee." One of the best of anatomists, he naturally leaned toward surgery. I often complimented him upon his thorough acquaintance with the human form divine. He would say, "Yes, I ought to know something of it, for from the first day I began the study of medicine until now not one has passed that I have not given, the subject study. I read Gray's Anat- omy four or five times every year." He read Gray's Anatomy four or five times a year! What an example for the living! No wonder that he builded so firmly, for the doctor whose medical education is grounded on anatomy stands on a rock foundation, and will stand when the winds come and the floods descend. But how did he find the time to do this, with so many other cares? And we know that he had, besides, a large, lucrative practice to look after. The answer is-he was sober. For twelve years preceding his untimely end he had tasted nothing alcoholic. He was systematic. If order be heaven's first law, that law was glorified in him. He walked as he talked-straight to the mark. His faculty for organization and system was a prominent feature in his character.

"He, while others slept, Toiled upward in the night."

He was a man marked in many ways. Determination was written on his face. Let him but know, after carefully considering and weighing, that he was right, then he considered obstacles only to brush them away. In touching upon the delicate subject to which I am about to allude, I do so after having asked myself the ques- tion, "Would he approve of it?" Before he began the study of medicine, he, for some time, drank to excess. The total abstinence he practiced for twelve years is a monument to his fidelity and will, and his victory is mentioned to elicit emulation from those who consider themselves the slaves of habit. He was no bigot; he did not object to others taking a social glass, but said, for himself, "I have determined never to allow another drop to pass my lips unless prescribed by a physician. I have never wavered from my purpose even so far as to consider whether I wanted to drink or not." Had he lived three score years and ten I am sure he would have gone to his grave with the vow unbroken. His early education was so defective and limited that even his speech betrayed him. How well do I remember his indignation when he heard that it had been said, by a member of this body, that he was incapable of bringing out the transactions. "If I never learn to speak correctly, I will write good English, and he shall confess it," said he with an empha- sis peculiarly his own. Freedom from grammatical errors and clearness of statement were marked peculiarities of his productions, and he was a voluminous writer. As a teacher he was in every way a success. The secret of his excellence as a lecturer was, first, his thorough familiarity with his subject; second, he was pithy, pointed, practical, truthful, earnest, thoroughly in love with his theme, enthusiastic,

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believing what he thought. While he was not eloquent, his thirst for knowledge' and honest endeavor to know the truth was contagious and drew the students to him with bonds of love and admiration. When James A. Gray put off his armor the Atlanta Medical college lost its right arm, its students their best friend and instructor, for until his death he was still their quiz master. I have known him to sit up with a dull student until three o'clock in the morning, preparing and drilling him for the "green-room." When Dr. Gray was no more, the army of medical men in America lost a young captain, whose career, though only just began, was even more glorious than that of nine out of ten of the gray-haired leaders. When this association is hoary with years, the antiquarian, looking over its archives, will find that no secretary in the long list has done his duty better than the genial, studious, systematic, painstaking Gray. When his body was slowly and sadly laid to rest in West View cemetery the city of Atlanta mourned for one of her most useful citizens. It was attested by his pastor, who spoke so feelingly over his lifeless form, "that, busy man as he was, he rendered unto God the things which were God's; that his pew in God's house was nearly always filled." Believing and trusting in God, he calmly

"Folded the drapery of his couch about him And lay down to pleasant dreams."

When from among his friends the icy monster took him, they lost one who was always ready to serve them; who was as purely unselfish as generosity could make him; whose ear was never deaf to the appeals of the poor; whose hands never tired doing charity. We give him up sorrowfully; but thank God for his shining exam- ple to the youth of our land, so beautifully illustrating what can be accomplished, in even a short life, by industry, suavity, sobriety, laudable ambition, persever- ance, morality, and determination.

DR. WILLIAM HANSELL HALL, M. D. William Hansell Hall was born in Milledgeville, Ga., on Nov. 1, 1828. Educated at Midway, Ga., in the Beman school and then at Oglethorpe university, where he graduated. After graduating he conceived it his duty to preach the gospel, and he spent one year at the Presbyterian seminary in Columbia, S. C. Giving up this idea he studied medicine, taking his first course in Charleston, S. C. Afterward two courses in Jefferson Medical college in Philadelphia, where-he received his diploma. He then spent one year as resident physician of St. Josph's hospital, Philadelphia. In 1854 he began the practice of medicine in Thomasville, Ga., from there he went to Milledgeville in 1861. Bright in intellect beyond most of his fellows, gentle- hearted as a woman, with an ever-ready sympathy, courteous with the delicate courtesy of a thorough gentleman, with a wit keen and subtle, but always tem- pered with such gentle sweetness that it left no sting, fitted in mind, in person, in culture to stand in the front rank among men, he chose to spend his life in his simple village home, winning the love and gratitude of those among whom he lived, to whom he ministered, bringing help and comfort in their hours of darkness and distress; or if that was beyond his power, soothing as best he might with his marvelous gift of sympathy. His friend, a hard-working minister of the gospel, once said of him: "I never go to any sick or utterly wretched one, but I find he has been there before me." He never spared himself. His life was one of charity and beauty. And now, in the many hearts of those who knew him, his name is a blessed memory. Dr. Hall was at the time of his death and for many years previously, a member and vice-president of the board of trustees of our state lunatic asylum. His associates adopted and published the following

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tribute to his memory: "In memoriam. W. H. Hall, M. D., of Milledgeville, Ga., died Oct. 7, 1893. Dr. Hall was a courtly man; a gentleman of the old school. He was a man of great literary culture, and profoundly versed in the lore of the great science of medicine. He was as simple-hearted as a little child, as tender and gentle as a woman in his ministrations upon the sick and wounded; deeply impressed with the nobility of his calling, he was ever full of self-sacrifice in the discharge of his high and sacred duties. Full of the meekness of humility, clear and strong in his faith in our risen Lord, he was an ideal Christian, and for a long number of years held the position of ruling elder in the Presbyterian church of Milledgeville. As a citizen his life was most exemplary. A man of exalted character, liberal views, Roman firmness and courage in the maintenance of his convictions of right or duty, he was ever prominent in all measures looking to the promotion of the welfare of his community. Great as was his worth as a citizen, beneficent as was his daily life in discharging the duties of his Christ- like vocation of healing the sick, it was as a trustee of the lunatic asylum that the most munificent services of his life were rendered to his fellow-man. He dearly loved this institution, labored in season and out of season to promote the welfare and happiness of its unfortunate inmates, and to put the asylum of Georgia upon as high a plane as any institution in America. Even when the trembling, halting steps of age came upon him and forced him to retire from the much-loved duties as a physician, he resolutely refused to lay down his work for this institu- tion-he continued to meet with us month after month-attended the meeting immediately before his death-literally died in the harness. Full of years, poor in worldly goods, though immensely rich in the honors of a well-spent life, he fell upon sleep respected, beloved, honored of all who knew him. In testimony of the high esteem in which Vice-President Hall was held by this board, it is ordered that a page in our minute book he dedicated to his memory, and this tribute be published in our next annual report."

DUDLEY W. HAMMOND, M. D .* The subject of this notice, of English and Scotch ancestry, was born in South Carolina, May 12, 1809. He studied medicine with Dr. Henry Freeman of Carnesville, Franklin Co., Ga., and Dr. Banks of Elbert county. His first course of lectures was taken at Charleston, S. C., during the session of 1827-28; and in 1830 he graduated M. D. at the Georgia Medical college of Augusta. He commenced the practice at Ruckers- ville, but after a few years removed to Culloden, in Monroe county, where for twenty-one years he enjoyed a large and lucrative practice. He soon won the confidence of the people, and not only did a large practice in his immediate community, but was sent for in consultation in all the surrounding counties. Possessed, as Dr. Hammond was, of a commendable ambition and laudable aspirations, he naturally felt that the circumscribed inland town of Culloden did not afford to him an ample field for usefulness and professional growth; the breadth of his order of talents should not be hid away in obscure inland country work; and hence Dr. Hammond grew restless, and began to look around for larger fields. After visiting several places, the young city of Macon presented to his mind the inviting field; hence he determined to make it his future home, and accordingly, in 1853, he removed to Macon and adopted it as his permanent home. He became associated in business with the late Dr. Boon, and was in copartnership with him for a good many years. It was but a short while before Dr. Hammond had arisen to the front rank in his new field, and no man ever lived in Macon who more completely held the universal confidence and esteem of its citizens than he did. Both with his professional confreres and with the *Written by K. P. Moore, M. D., Macon, Ga.

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Memoirs of Georgia; containing historical accounts of the state's civil, military, industrial and professional interests, and personal sketches of many of its people. Vol. II, Part 30

Author: Publication date: 1859 Publisher: Atlanta, Ga., The Southern historicl association Number of Pages: 1166

Author:
Publication date: 1859
Publisher: Atlanta, Ga., The Southern historicl association
Number of Pages: 1166