USA > Iowa > Linn County > History of Linn County Iowa : from its earliest settlement to the present time, Volume I > Part 13
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71
Center Point P. O .: Jonathan Osborne, William B. Davis, James Downs. Samuel C. Stewart, Thomas G. Lockhart, James Chambers. E. B. Spencer. W. A. Thomas, Dr. S. M. Brice ( Whig).
Lafayette P. O .: Samuel Hendrickson (Co. Com.), Nathan Reynolds. Duff Barrows, Smith Monnee, Perry Oliphant ( Whig). JJohn Wischart. Abel E. Skin- ner, William Hunt, William Chamberlain. Paddoek Cheadle.
Marion P. O .: And. D. Bottorff, Esq., V. Beall, Alpheus Brown, Esq., Richard Thomas, Perry Oxley, Wm. II. Chambers, Nathan Wickham. Wm. L. Winters,
83
POSTOFFICES AND POLITICS
Wm. M. Harris, Albert Kendall, Elihu Ives, Iram Wilson, Jno. Millner, Seth Stinson, Wm. Smythe, Frederick Beeler, Elisha Moore, Robert Jones, J. P. Brown, Orlando Gray, Daniel IIarris, Jno. S. Torrence, Jno. Riley, James M. Berry, Thomas S. Bardwell, Wm. Hunter, Geo. A. Patterson, Captain Benj. Waterhouse, L. D. Jordan, Chandler Jordan, M. E. MeKenney, Jos. Clark, Samuel Powell.
Springville P. O .: Col. Isaac Butler, Horace N. Brown, Jos. Butler, Ezekiel Cox, Esq., Wm. Brohard, Squire Rob, Geo. Perkins, Jas. Butler, Geo. House, Harvey Stone, Wm. Evans, Edward Crow, John Johnson.
Ivanhoe P. O .: Robt. Smythe, Mr. Bunker, Dan'l Hahn, Henry Kepler, And. J. McKean, J. Briney, - Hoover. Hersia Moore, And. R. Sausman, A. I. Wil- lits, C. C. Haskins, - Cook, Jos. Robeson, Dr. Jno. Evans, John Stewart, Mason, Thos. MeLelland.
St. Julian P. O .: And. Safely, Esq., (Co. Com.). - McShane, Jas. Scott, Preston Seott. Jno. Scott, Jos. Conway, Geo. IIunter, David McCall, John Emmons.
Hollenback P. O .: Edward Railsback, Jno. Cue, Doctor Williams, Dan'l Richards, Thomas Lewis, Geo. Slonecker, Lawrence Hollenback.
Cedar Rapids P. O .: Jos. Greene, Jno. L. Shearer, C. R. Mulford, Jno. Hunter, Esq., Joel Leverich, - Klump, E. T. Lewis, N. B. Brown, David W. King, Jason C. Bartholomew, Stephen L. Pollock, - - Nelson, Dr. Ely, Jno. Weare, Sen., Jos. MeKee, Thos. Railsback, Abel Eddy, Mr. Simms.
Post Office Department Appointment Office, Ang. 9, 1854.
Sir :
S. M. Briee, the Postmaster at Center Point, County of Linn, State of Iowa, is said not to have deserved the appointment. The late P. M. recommends George Melton.
Before submitting this case to the Postmaster General, I have to request the favor of any information you may possess, or be able conveniently to obtain, respecting it.
I have the honor to be, Very respectfully, &c,
HORATIO KING, First Assistant Postmaster General.
HON. A. C. DODGE, U. S. Senator.
Endorsed : (Private)
Dear Friend :
Please enquire into the matter herein referred to & let me know the result & greatly oblige,
Truly your friend, A. C. DODGE.
S. W. Durham, Esq.
Dr. S. M. Brice was located in Center Point about 1840-41, going there from Cedar Rapids. He remained but a short time. Dr. Brice was a whig in politics, and Center Point had always been strongly democratie. He was the first post- master of the village.
The objections set out in the letter must have been political for he was con- sidered a wide-awake and estimable man in every particular.
84
HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY
Post Office Department, Appointment Offiee, July 22, 1854.
Sir :
A. P. Risley, the Postmaster at Springville, County of Linn, State of Iowa, with 58 citizens, recommends the change of site and name of the office to Lindon.
Before submitting this case to the Postmaster General, I have to request the favor of any information you may possess, or be able conveniently to obtain, respeeting it.
I have the honor to be, Very respectfully, etc.,
HORATIO KING, First Assistant Postmaster General.
IION. A. C. DODGE,
U. S. Senator.
Endorsed, The same of this, etc., greatly oblige Yours truly.
A. C. DODGE. S. W. Durham. Esq.
In 1842 the first postoffice was established in the township known as Brown by Isaae Butler. It was the third postoffice in the county and was known as Spring- ville. Mail was received on horseback weekly. A. P. Risley opened a store in 1845 and became postmaster. He is the person referred to in the letter of Sen- ator Dodge. Mr. Risley sold out and removed a mile cast of the town, and with A. E. Sampson laid out a new town ealled Lindon. A postoffice was secured though not without a fight, and the town of New Lindon assumed the airs of city life. A hotel and blacksmith shop also kept the town alive for the time, but it died like other towns when the railroad was seeured by Springville, and the booming town of Lindon has been for many years a good corn field and a rich pasture. Sterling became postmaster at Springville after Risley. He was sne- eeeded by John Hoffman.
THE CEDAR RIPIDS POSTOFFICE
While Joseph Greene was postmaster he also acted as the first storekeeper of the town. and it is related of him that he earried his mail in his hat. The following, written by J. L. Enos, in the Cedar Valley Times, may give the reader an idea of the postoffice sitnation up to the elose of the Civil war. Ile writes as follows :
"The postoffice was established in 1847 and Joseph Greene appointed post- master. Mr. Greene was removed on a change of administration, and L. Daniels appointed to succeed him. Homer Bishop was the third ineumbent and held the offiee through a succession of years, giving very general satisfaction. At the commenecment of Lincoln's administration Mr. Bishop was removed. and in accordance with a mistaken and dangerous poliey which promotes men of a particular class or profession in places of trust, without regard to their moral or any other qualifieations - J. G. Davenport, until then the editor of the Cedar Valley Times, was appointed.
"Those acquainted with Davenport did not suppose he would be able to present satisfactory bonds but after some little delay he succeeded in procuring them and in due course of time took possession of the office. (Though a republican in polities, Mr. Davenport had to appeal to democratie friends for these bonds. J. J. Snouffer was one of them and shared in the subsequent loss.)
PROF. H. H. FREER Mt. Vernon
REV. GEO. B. BOWMAN, D. D. Founder of Cornell College
JOSEPH MEKOTA Cedar Rapids
W. F. SEVERA Cedar Rapids
JUIN
85
POSTOFFICES AND POLITICS
"A large number of clerks ( ?) was found necessary and it became evident that the office was managed with great recklessness. Money was lost through the mail when sent to the nearest postoffice on the route, and money sent to persons in the city from adjacent offices never came to hand. Postage stamps were bor- rowed from neighboring offices and return payment obtained with great diffi- eulty, and in some cases there was a refusal to pay - because as he (Davenport) said, he had already paid the amount borrowed. He was at last removed, and on settling up the affairs of the office, there was found to be a shortage to the amount of fifteen hundred dollars. His bondsmen went to work and finally succeeded in effecting a eredit on a part of the amount and had the satisfaction of paying about one thousand dollars, which had been stolen from the government by this areh swindler. After minor swindling operations he absconded, thus relieving the eity of the most bare-faeed falsifier and swindler that has infested the city since the time of Shepard & Co., in the early day.
"George M. Howlett, the present ineumbent, was appointed his successor and makes an efficient officer. In the spring of 1865 Cedar Rapids was designated as a money order office, commeneing operations as such on the 3d of July fol- lowing. This enlarges the responsibility of the office and great care is necessary to keep all things right - though the blanks furnished make the work simple in honest hands."
L. Daniels was another of the early postmasters. He, also, was a merchant, and so was Homer Bishop, his successor in office. It was not until JJ. G. Daven- port became postmaster that the postoffice got into polities. In faet it was no plum worth having till about the time of the Civil war. A number of prominent men have since that time held the postoffice - such as Captain W. W. Smith, Charles Weare, Alex. Charles, Geo. A. Lincoln, W. R. Boyd, and W. G. Haskell, the present ineumbent.
A. C. Taylor relates how, when he came to Cedar Rapids, he carried on his jewelry store in the postoffice building, his store being located on the alley, in the rear of where the Masonic Temple now stands. The postoffice at Cedar Rapids soon outgrew the first government building, ereeted in the '90s, and the second was completed in 1909 at a cost of $250,000.
If a person asked for his mail in the olden days more than once a month he was considered too important, and the postmaster would gently remind him that he had no legal right to bother a man more than once a month, at least, about such a small matter as a letter. The postoffice during the past sixty-three years has grown to enormous proportions, till it now takes the entire time of a score of people to expedite the handling of the mails.
CHAPTER XI The Physicians of the County
BY FREDERICK G. MURRAY
Among the first doetors who located in and around Marion should be men- tioned S. H. Tryon, F. W. Tailor. and James Cummings. 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 aeted as county elerk 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 inelination to be very sick. In ease 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 inelined to blow his own horn. J. L. Enos, the editor of the Cedar Valley Times, has the following to say : "Onee when he had returned from Museatine he claimed to have lost forty pounds of quinine in one of the streams below the Cedar. Constable Lewis once ealled on him with an execution to secure a judgment. The doctor threw off his eoat 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; Hollenbaek P. O., Dr. Williams; Cedar Rapids P. O., J. F. Ely.
Thus during 1848 the above named persons must have been residents and prae- tieing physicians in their respective localities. Dr. Brice was the second doetor 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 medieal profession in Linn county must be largely made up of a list of names, as the intrinsie work of the medical practitioner is seareely 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 passed 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 practitioners 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 settle- ments in the county and he had practiced there for some four years previous to 1847, in which year he fell a vietim to a typhoid epidemie. Dr. Amos Witter
87
THE PHYSICIANS OF THE COUNTY
was one of the first physicians in Mt. Vernon. He passed 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 carly 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 & South- western Railroad. Some of the other early practitioners were Dr. E. L. Mans- field, 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 Mitchell, 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, Mans- field & 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, class of 1853 University of Pennsylvania, is the oldest living practitioner in the county. IIis two sons are now associated 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. Cronse, 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.
88
HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY
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 F. 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 grad- ually from the excellent practice for which he at first found time. To the elose of his life, however, Dr. Ely kept himself well informed on the progress of scien- tific medicine. Perhaps the first autopsy in this loeality was performed by Dr. Ely in the interests of both science and sobriety, if early annals are authentic, the subjeet 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 sonth. Dr. Carpenter is still living in a hale old age in Chicago.
Dr. Freeman MeClelland, a talented gradnate 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 remembranee 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. Ilolmes passed 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 lowa Infantry.
Dr. J. F. Ely, surgeon 24th Iowa.
Dr. J. H. Camburn, surgeon 16th lowa Infantry, also 6th łowa Cavalry.
Dr. Freeman MeClelland, surgeon 16th lowa Infantry.
Dr. H. M. Lyons, surgeon 16th Iowa Infantry.
Dr. John F. Smith, assistant 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 Towa Infantry as captain and later as surgeon.
Dr. Amos Witter, surgeon 7th Iowa Infantry.
Dr. T. S. Bardwell served as first assistant surgeon with the 6th lowa 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 lieuten- ant colonel of the 12th Iowa Infantry. Ile 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 passing 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.
THE LATE DR. J. S.LLOVE, SPRINGVILLE
89
THE PHYSICIANS OF THE COUNTY
Dr. W. HI. French served through the war in the 89th Illinois Infantry.
Of those men whose distinctly professional work brought them especial esteem, space will allow for the mention of only a few.
Perhaps for no other one of their brethren did the Linn county profession award so universal preference as to Dr. Henry Ristine. Pioneer, patriot, and publie-spirited citizen, he was first and before all a doctor, combining in gener- ous measure the traits and faeulties that make an eminently successful surgeon, with eulture and genial sympathies. It could be truly said of him that he adorned his profession. His portrait hangs in St. Luke's Hospital along with that of the late Judge Greene, whom he ably seconded in the work of founding that institution. Jurist and surgeon alike believed in the hospital as the workshop without which the doctor could not do his best work, and their efforts accomplished mueh toward the establishment of medical and surgical justice to the physically afflicted, a form of service that deserves more and more publie recognition in every community where moral justice to the criminally aceused is so amply facilitated by the courts of law.
Among other well remembered physicians were Dr. J. S. Love. of Springville, Dr. James Carson, of Mt. Vernon, Dr. D. MeClenahan, of Cedar Rapids, and Dr. G. L. Carhardt, of Marion. Beginning at an early date and devoting them- selves exclusively to their practice till advaneing age forced retirement, they all four typically exemplified in their respective communities the life of the family physician. They were, none of them, modern doctors, but they lived not only to see but to rejoice in the day of modern medicine. Long after they had ceased from practice they kept up attendance at medical society meetings, keenly alive to the advancements of medical art and scientific research there discussed. They were resourceful men, and they had labored faithfully and well with the art available in their day, how often futilely none felt more keenly than themselves. The realization that modern methods promised control of much that had baffled them seemed to lighten the burden of their declining years. Their abiding interest and faith in the future things of medicine was an inspiration to their successors.
Of medical organizations in Linn county the oldest is the Union Medical Society, founded as the Linn County Medieal Society at Mt. Vernon in 1859 by Drs. Love, Ely, Ristine, Carson, and Lyon. Dormant during the war, it resumed in 1866 and ran till 1873, when its name was changed to the Iowa Union and it became a district society, taking its membership from half a dozen or more counties and centering in Linn and Johnson counties. It still meets twice a year at Cedar Rapids, occasionally at Iowa City for scientific work. Its officers now are : president, C. W. Baker, Stanwood ; secretary, F. G. Murray, Cedar Rapids ; treasurer, C. P. Carpenter, Cedar Rapids.
The present Linn County Society was organized in Cedar Rapids in 1903. It holds meetings twice a year and is the unit of the State and American Medieal Associations. One of its members, Dr. G. E. Crawford, is the outgoing president of the Iowa State Medieal Society. Its present officers are : president, Dr. A. B. Poore ; secretary, Dr. H. W. Bender ; treasurer, Frank S. Skinner.
There are other local organizations at Mt. Vernon and Cedar Rapids. The Practitioners' Club of the latter place meets once a month for discussion and action upon medieal subjects of special interest to the members. Its officers are: Dr. II. S. Raymer, president; H. E. Pfeiffer, secretary ; G. P. Carpenter, treasurer.
St. Luke's Hospital at Cedar Rapids has already been mentioned. It was founded in 1983. On its consulting staff are Drs. G. P. Carpenter, J. M. Ristine, G. R. Skinner. G. E. Crawford, A. B. Poore, and A. H. Johnson. It has an attending staff of younger men. The hospital has seventy-five beds, having recently added a new and completely appointed maternity department. Mercy Hospital, ninety beds, founded at Cedar Rapids in 1902 and housed in its spacious
90
HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY
new building in 1904, is under the care of the Sisters of Merey. These finely equipped institutions serve Cedar Rapids, Marion, the railroad systems and their contributing territory with facilities for the best of medical. surgical and maternity work. Few realize the large amount of free humanitarian work they accomplish every year. Together with Linn county's own excellent infirmary north of Marion they represent in a material and public way the present status of medical art, seienee. and humanitarianism in the county. Personally and privately these are represented by the 125 active practitioners of medicine.
It will be noted that the names of only a few of these have been mentioned and then only incidentally. The seope of this sketch does not allow adequate individual reference to the remainder. Nor is this the place to record contem- porary progress. The lives of all the present members of the profession belong not to the past but to the future history of medicine in Linn county. The at- tached list gives the names of the practicing physicians in Linn county in 1910:
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.