USA > Iowa > Louisa County > History of Louisa County, Iowa, from its earliest settlement to 1912, Volume I > Part 30
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Another of the doctors in the north end of the county before the war was Solomon Dill, who in 1859 was located at Altoona, which was the postoffice name for llillsboro and Lafayette: Dr. Dill afterward lived at Fredonia for many years. Dr. A. L. Baird lived at Ononwa in 1859.
Many of the Louisa county doctors are referred to in an excellent paper prepared by Dr. W. S. Grimes, of Wapello, and read at a recent meeting of the Louisa County Medical Society. With Dr. Grimes' permission, we copy the article in full :
"The Lonisa .County Medical Society was organized April 24, 1852, at Wapello, Iowa. It evidently is one of the pioneer county societies of the state, the State Medical Society having been organized and incorporated in 1861. At the first meeting of the society, Dr. J. M. Robertson, of Columbus City, was elected president ; Dr. T. G. Taylor, of Wapello, secretary : Dr. J. B. Latta, of Grandview, treasurer. Drs. H. T. Cleaver, John Bell, Jr. of Wapello, and J. H. Graham, of Morning Sun, were appointed censors. At that meeting a con- stitution, by-laws and code of ethics were adopted.
"It seems that the above named physicians were all that were in attendance at the time of organization. At the next meeting. January 19, 1853. Drs. H. Belknap, John Cleaves of Columbus City, and A. S. Condon were admitted to membership. Where the latter was located in the county I have been unable to learn. Dr. John Bell, Sr., of Wapello, was admitted as an honorary member of the society, April 16, 1853. Dr. W. M. Clark, of Columbus City, was admitted at the same time. In January, 1854, Dr. B. G. Neal, of Columbus City, was admitted to membership. On January 3. 1855. the operation of removing a bar of lead from the stomach of L. W. Bates, was performed by Dr. John Bell, Jr., assisted by Drs. J. M. Robertson, H. T. Cleaver, J. H. Graham and T. G. Taylor. This operation was performed at the home of the patient, a small cabin, six miles northwest of Wapello. A full report of the case was made by Dr. John Bell to the 'Boston Medical and Surgical Journal,' January 10, 1860, a reprint of which will be attached to this report. ( This bar of lead is now in my possession ).
"May 23, 1855, Dr. W. A. Colton, of Columbus City, was admitted to membership, and on April 19, 1856, Dr. W. S. Robertson, of Columbus City was admitted to membership. Some years after this he was elected professor in the medical department of the Iowa State University, which position he held until the time of his death, which occurred in Muscatine, Iowa.
"May 28, 1856, Dr. D. McCaughn, of Morning Sun, was admitted to mem- bership. There were no other accessions to the society until April 18, 1857. when Dr. John Muldoon, of Wapello, was admitted. July 17. 1858, Dr. C. H.
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Curtis (location unknown to me) was admitted to membership. April 20, 1861, Dr. S. E. Jones, of Grandview, was made a member. [Dr. Curtis died at Colum- bus City in 1859 .- Editor.].
"November 16, 1864, Dr. I. C. Brown, of Columbus City, was admitted. November 15, 1865, Dr. J. F. Grimes, of Wapello (a brother of the writer). was admitted to membership. July 12, 1866. Dr. D. W. Overholt, then at Grandview, but later of Columbus Junction, was admitted. April 17, 1867, Drs. J. W. Holliday, then at Morning Sun, now located at Burlington, and O. E. Deeds, of Wapello, were made members.
"April 18, 1871, Drs. A. B. McCandless, of Columbus City, Frank Tustison, of Wapello, and B. G. Kimmel, of Winfield, were admitted. May 30, 1872, J. A. Thompson, of Cairo, and later of Letts, was admitted. April 19, 1873, W. S. Grimes, of Wapello, was made a member, and on May 15, 1873, Drs. H. Ochiltree and S. R. Spaulding, of Morning Sun, were admitted.
"July 10, 1873, Drs. Thomas Blackstone, of Cairo, S. Dill, of Fredonia, and George P. Neal, of Columbus Junction, were admitted to membership. Novem- ber 13, 1873, Dr. N. W. Mountain, of Lettsville, was admitted. In April, 1874, Dr. J. A. Scroggs, of Grandview, was admitted to membership. Soon after he located in Muscatine and later in Keokuk. Iowa, where he accepted the chair of obstetrics in the Keokuk Medical College in 1882. He held this position until 1908, when the college was merged with Drake University. He died in Keokuk, August 23, 1910. Dr. M. W. Lilly, of Grandview, now of Chicago, was admitted in 1875.
"Dr. H. S. Rogers, of Grandview, joined the society in 1878, which mem- bership he held until his removal to Red Oak in 1885. Drs. D. J. Higley. of Grandview, and J. L. Overholt, of Columbus Junction, were admitted prior to 1890, the exact date of which I have been unable to learn.
"From 1887 to 1890 no meetings of the society were held. On April 26, 1900, a meeting was held in Columbus Junction, when the following named physicians were admitted to membership: D. Y. Graham, W. R. Smyth, W. S. McClellan, of Morning Sun : J. H. Chittum, of Wapello: J. W. and C. S. Clegg, of Columbus Junction ; and J. W. Morgan and S. J. Lewis, of Columbus City.
"May 9, 1901. H. C. Brown, of Columbus Junction, J. H. Wallahan and E. A. Sailor, of Wapello, were admitted to membership. October 24. 1901, Dr. G. W. Armentrout, of Letts, was made a member, and on June 14, 1902, A. M. Cowden, of Grandview, was admitted. September 10, 1903. Drs. A. M. Rogers, O. G. Messenger, of Wapello, and R. C. Ditto, of Oakville, were admitted to membership. October 13, 1904, Drs. F. A. Hubbard and E. C. Rogers, of Columbus Junction, were admitted. The latter is now a resident of Wapello.
"It is my belief that the following named physicians were at one time mem- bers of the society, but the records of the earlier meetings having been destroyed by fire, so I am unable to be definite. They were: Frank Graham, now of Atlantic, Iowa ; E. I. Hall, at one time a resident of Columbus Junction, after- ward moved south to Louisiana; E. F. Latta, a son of J. B. Latta, of Grand- view, and formerly a partner with his father, later located at Unadilla, Nebraska, where he died January 29, 1894.
"So far as I have been able to ascertain, this included all who are or have been members of the society from its organization to the present time. For-
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merly the meetings were held quarterly and one day's program covered a broad field. To illustrate : At a meeting held April 19, 1856, the following members were appointed to give 'dissertations' at the next meeting, viz: Dr. J. M. Robert- son, 'On General Practice;' Dr. T. G. Taylor, 'Obstetrics and Diseases of Women and Children:' Dr. H. T. Cleaver, 'On Surgery:' Dr. John Cleaves, 'Pathological Anatomy :' Dr. W. A. Colton, 'Materia Medica and Therapeutics.'
"In those days the only means of transportation was private conveyance ( there being no railroads in this part of the state). Hotel accommodations not being good, all were entertained at the home of a member, where the meet- ing was held. One pleasant feature was customary, for the wives to accompany their husbands and enjoy the hospitality of the host, which, I assure you, added interest as well as pleasure to the occasion.
"All the original organizers of the society were living when I became a member. It was not only my privilege, but my pleasure, to become intimately acquainted with some of them. and some of whom I considered very dear friends. Joining the society one year before graduating from medical college, I was required to write a thesis on a subject selected by the society and pass examination before the board of censors.
"Remembering my association with these medical pioncers, I wish to speak particularly of some of them, Dr. J. H. Graham being the oldest. He was born in Kentucky, April 22, 1823, and graduated from Ohio Medical College, March 2, 1847. He practiced in Ohio for two years, when he came to Iowa, locating at Morning Sun, where he remained until 1869, when he moved to Grandview. After a few years he returned to Morning Sun and continued in practice until the time of his death, which occurred June 12, 1897. Thus, you see, for fifty years he remained in active practice of his chosen profession. Diagnosis was one of his strong points. He often said to me, 'When you have made a correct diagnosis, it will be very easy to apply the remedy.' He was also a severe critic, and for a time, until I became thoroughly acquainted with him, I thought him to be not only severe, but sarcastic. After I learned to know him, I found this was only outward, for beneath it all, his feelings were of the warmest, kindliest and most sympathetic. At the time of my admission to the society, he was one of the board of censors, and I assure you no question was left unasked; no criticism unsaid, until I thought he surely 'had it in for me.' This feeling after- ward gave way to one of admiration, and I always am glad of an opportunity to meet him in consultation and ask his advice in difficult cases. I knew I would get an honest opinion, based upon his many years of experience.
"Dr. T. G. Taylor, one of the original organizers of the society, was in active practice in Wapello for many years. He was a native of one of the Carolinas. I have no reliable information from which I can give his biography. It has been reported to me he was not a graduate of any medical college. His manner was very pleasant and affable, winning the confidence of his patients. He moved to Muscatine, where he continued in active practice until his death, which occurred in 1887 or 1888.
"Dr. J. B. Latta, another of the organizers, and a pioneer physician of Louisa county, was born in Ohio, November 26, 1823. He graduated from Ohio Medi- cal College in 1849 and located at Grandview, Iowa. I was not as intimately acquainted with him as with some of the other old members, but knew him to
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be a very competent and successful physician and to have had an extensive practice for many years. He later moved to San Diego, California, where he died November 26, 1896.
"Dr. Hiram T. Cleaver was born in Pennsylvania, February 17, 1822. While knowing him. 1 was never closely associated with him but obtained the follow- ing information from his daughter, Mrs. Dr. Scroggs: 'He graduated at New Lisbon, Ohio, in 1841. While in that institution his tutor in Greek and Latin was the famous Clement C. Vallandingham, who became so prominent in the history of that section during the Civil war. He read medicine with Dr. T. Green at New Lisbon, with whom he remained for three years. He then formed a partnership with him and practiced there until 1848. He then moved to Wapello, Iowa, and practiced here until 1862. While here he served as state senator from 1854 to 1858. In 1862 he moved to Keokuk and assumed charge of the Estes House Government Hospital. In the same year he was granted a diploma from the College of Physicians & Surgeons, of Keokuk. While there he accepted the chair of obstetrics and gynecology in the college, which position he held until 1881. In 1878 he was one of five delegates from the American Medical Association sent to the British and Foreign Medical Asso- ciation held in Barte, England. He died in Las Vegas, New Mexico, January II, 1888.'
"Dr. J. M. Robertson, of Columbus City, while a pioneer practitioner, was not a graduate of any medical college, so far as I can ascertain. He was still in active practice in the county when I joined the society, but it was never my pleasure to meet him. He was reported to have had a good practice and was a very successful physician.
"Dr. John Bell, Jr., was one of the original members of the society. He prac- ticed medicine at Wapello for some years, when he removed to Davenport, where he remained several years, then moved to Dallas, Texas. He was a very suc- cessful practitioner. The operation which he performed-removing a bar of lead from Bates' stomach-showed him to be a daring and successful surgeon. This operation was performed before the days of antiseptics, and when very little abdominal surgery had been performed. I had the pleasure of meeting him but once during his life. He died in Dallas, Texas, some twenty-five years ago.
"It would afford me pleasure to go down the line and speak of other pioneer members of the society with whom it was my pleasure to be acquainted. I feel I must make mention of Dr. B. G. Neal, who was located at Columbus City in 1848 or 1849. At that time he was not a graduate in medicine but in 1856 received a diploma from Rush Medical College of Chicago. I have been reliably informed he performed a "Caesarean Section" in the early '6os near Columbus City, the only time that operation was ever performed in the county, so far as I can learn. He died a few years ago at his home in Columbus Junc- tion, Iowa."
Dr. Grimes might have claimed for the Louisa County Medical Society that it was the first county medical organization in Iowa, as this is undoubtedly the fact.
Dr. B. G. Neal was a printer by trade, also, and, in the printing office of George Paul, at Iowa City set a great part of the type for the publication of the Code of 1851.
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EXTRACTING A BAR OF LEAD FROM THE STOMACH
The operation performed by Dr. John Bell. Jr., of extracting a bar of lead from the stomach of 1. W. Bates, which is referred to by Dr. Grimes in his paper. made Dr. Bell quite famous among the medical fraternity of the country. Dr. Bell wrote an account of this operation, which was originally published in the Iowa Medical & Surgical Journal, of April, 1855. and was republished in the Boston Medical & Surgical Journal, in January, 1860. We make the fol- lowing extracts from the article: "On Christmas day. 1854, I was summoned to see L. W. Bates. aet. 32, who it was said, while performing the feat of running a bar of lead down his throat, had accidentally let it slip, so that it descended into his stomach ; but before I left my office, he came in, followed by a crowd. I asked him if he had swallowed a bar of lead. He said that he had and that it was nothing wonderful for him to do, as he had swallowed a number at previous times. This was said in a half waggish manner, and being to all appearances partially intoxicated and having withal a reputation of being an expert at juggling and sleight of hand. I supposed it to be one of his tricks, and this opinion was strengthened from the fact that he seemed to be suffering no inconvenience. I believed it to be a hoax ; but to satisfy myself further. I passed a sound down the aesophagus into the stomach but could discover nothing."
Dr. Bell then relates in his article that Mr. Bates returned again in a little while, accompanied by Dr. Cleaver, and that after a brief consultation, he and Dr. Cleaver examined him but found no satisfactory evidence of the bar of lead being there. They told Bates to go about his business and if it troubled him any to let them know. It seems that Bates went to work and worked for about four days, and becoming unwell, sent for Dr. Robertson, of Columbus City, and the latter sent for a number of outside physicians to meet him at the patient's home, which was about six miles from Wapello. Drs. Bell, Taylor and Cleaver, from Wapello, Drs. Robertson and Neal from Columbus City were there, as well as Dr. Graham, and Dr. Crawford. This was on January Ist. These doctors were unable to convince themselves that there was any bar of lead in Bates' stomach, but they prescribed treatment for him and awaited results. Dr. Bell was called again the next day and found the patient in great suffering. and vomit- ing a dark watery fluid. An examination then convinced the doctors that he had in fact swallowed the bar of lead. On January 3d, Dr. Bell performed the oper- ation in the presence of Drs. Robertson, Cleaver. Graham and Taylor. The operation is thus described by Dr. Bell in the paper referred to:
"The patient having been properly placed and secured, chloroform was ad- ministered. It produced. at first, some nausea, and he threw up a quantity of black. fretid, watery fluid. As soon as insensibility ensued, I made an incision from the point of the second false rib to the umbilicus, dividing the skin and the cellular membrane; thence through the abdominal muscles to the peritoneum, which I laid bare the whole length of the incision. I then made a minute opening at the lower end of the section, through the peritoneum, passed in the director, and with a probe-pointed bistoury divided it through the entire length of the incision. The division of the peritoneum produced a spasmodic contraction of the muscles of the abdomen, and a large quantity of the omentum and bowels was ejected from the orifice. Increasing the chloroform controlled the spasm.
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and I replaced the bowels as speedily as possible, and passed my hand inward and upward through the incision. grasped the stomach and immediately discov- ered the bar of lead and its position. It lay in a direction from right to left. the upper end resting against the wall of the stomach to the right of the cardiac orifice ; the lower end in the greater curvature of the stomach, to the left of and below the pylorus. As it was impracticable to reach the upper end. I seized the bar between my thumb and middle finger, and with the fore finger on the lower end of it. I retracted it upward and backward for the purpose of making the incision in the stomach as high up as possible. I then passed a scalpel in, along the sides of the fore finger as a director, and divided the coats of the stomach immediately at the end of the bar, making the incision parallel with the muscular fibres, and not larger than to admit of the removal of the lead. I then introduced a pair of long forceps, seized and drew out the lead, and placed the stomach in its natural position. The external orifice was closed with the ordinary interrupted suture and adhesive straps, a compress applied, and a roller around the body. The time occupied in operating was twenty minutes."
Dr. Bell's article then gives a medical history of the case subsequent to the operation, from which it seems that the patient was discharged as cured on Wednesday, January 17th. This operation is considered one of the most re- markable ever performed. The editor of the Boston Medical & Surgical Journal says of it: "We believe this extraordinary case to be wholly unique in the an- nals of medicine."
The original bar of lead is now in possession of Dr. W. S. Grimes, and at a recent meting of the railway surgeons held in Denver, Dr. Grimes, in response to numerous requests, took the bar of lead there and exhibited it, and read Dr. Bell's report of the case.
Not long after the operation. Bates went to Kansas and soon got into some sort of trouble there. We have no authentic history of him but in the Columbus City Enterprise it was stated in 1859 that a report had come from Kansas that Bates had been hung there for horse stealing. This is certainly a mistake, as Bates was seen by N. W. ("B") Mckay in the Missouri Penitentiary in 1861. At that time Mr. McKay was on guard duty, and recognized Bates.
We may add to Dr. Grimes' notice of Dr. Bell that he taught school in Des Moines county in the winter of 1854-5; that he was one of the original mem- bers of the Iowa State Medical Society; that he was one of the leading demo- crats of the county in his day, having been at one time their candidate for State Senator. Tradition says that at the time Dr. Bell performed his famous opera- tion, the other doctors present were quite certain that even if the bar of lead could be located and extracted. the patient could not recover ; and some of them were a little nervous at the thought of possible criminal prosecution. Dr. Bell graduated from the Missouri Medical College at St. Louis, first practiced at Palmyra, Ohio ; then, in 1837, located at Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, and a little later at Columbus City, and settled in Wapello about 1844.
Dr. William H. Darrow deserves special mention. He was an early settler, having come to Columbus City with his father and other members of the family some years prior to 1850. He was born in Summit County, Ohio, August 17, 1838, his father being George Darrow, who, after settling at Columbus City, en-
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gaged in the timber business and at one time had a saw mill on the lowa river about twelve miles north of Columbus City.
In 1851, when only thirteen, William entered the drug store of Clark & Coi- ton, at Columbus City, where he earned and saved enough to take him through the Keokuk Medical College, at which he graduated in February, 1859. He at once hung out his shingle at Columbus City. At that time there was probably a surplus of medical talent there, for we find our young doctor, a little later, en- gaged in the grocery business. When Captain John L. Grubb, of Columbus City, got up Company "C" of the 5th Iowa, Dr. Darrow enlisted as a private in that company. This was on July Ist, 1861. He was mustered into service July 16th, 1861, and was, about this time, appointed Hospital Steward. On April 30, 1862, he was promoted "Additional Assistant Surgeon," and on September 16. 1862, he was made Assistant Surgeon, which position he held until he was mustered out, at Chattanooga, Tenn., July 30, 1864, his term of service having expired. After his return from the army he practiced medicine at Cairo, in this county, until 1872, when he moved to Columbus Junction, becoming not merely one of its pioneer business men, but also one of its most useful and successful citizens, In 1875. in addition to his medical practice, he engaged in the drug business, forming a partnership with Mr. G. A. Salmon, which continued for a great many years. Dr. Darrow first married Miss - - Clark, a sister of Dr. William M. Clark, one of his first employers. This was not a happy marriage.
In 1872, he married Miss Emily Frances Weaver, of Marshall Township. and she, with their son, John Donald Darrow, still reside at Columbus Junction, at which place Dr. Darrow died, Sunday, July 15th, 1894.
The sterling qualities of manhood possessed by Dr. Darrow are well at- tested by the affection which the soldiers of the 5th Iowa always had for him, and which led them, on one occasion, to present him with a case of surgical instruments "as a small token of esteem and regard for the unwearied care and great skill with which he treated them when sick and wounded at New Madrid. Tiptonville, Fort Pillow, Corinth, Iuka, Yazoo Pass, Raymond, Jackson, Cham- pion Hill, Vicksburg, and Missionary Ridge." And so long as he continued in practice, he exercised the same "unwearied care and great skill," and his patients had much the same regard for him as did his army comrades.
Ignatius C. Brown, M. D., of Columbus Junction, Ia, was born in Roane County, Tenn., May 10, 1835, and was a son of the Rev. Thomas and Jane ( Mc- Dowell Patton ) Brown. His parents were born in Virginia, and were of Scotch- Irish descent. Ignatius was educated at Maryville College, at Maryville, Tenn .. and pursued his medical course at the Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia, Pa., being graduated in the class of '61. He began practice in Eastern Tennessee, at a place called Philadelphia, and in the spring of 1863 removed to Danville, Ind., where he remained one year, after which he became a resident of Columbus City, Ia., where he pursued the practice of his profession for a term of two years. He next established himself at Clifton, then a thriving station on the Chicago Rock Island & Pacific Railroad, in Louisa County, since abandoned. Dr. Brown was the first established physician at that point, where he remained in practice until 1876, and then removed to Columbus Junction, where he was in successful practice up to the time of his death. At Danville, Ind .. in the month
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of January, 1864, the Doctor was united in marriage with Miss Ruth A. Ham- let, who was born at Danville, and was the daughter of William Hamlet, Esq. Dr. Brown died March 21st, 1900, and Mrs. Brown died October 18th, 1909.
Dr. Brown was one of the best educated physicians we ever had, and was often called in consultation by the other doctors of the county. He was well informed on general subjects, and, because of his modesty and genial disposi- tion, was a general favorite. He never "dissected" the characters of his profes- sional brethren.
Another Louisa County doctor who deserves special mention was Frank Tustison. He was born January 25, 1837, in Crawford County, Ohio. His father's name was Charles Tustison and was a native of Pennsylvania. The Tus- tison family lived for a while in Defiance County, Ohio, and later in Edgar County, Ill. Dr. Tustison studied medicine under the direction of Dr. Hull, a prominent physician of Newville, Ind., where Dr. Tustison had attended school. Dr. Tustison graduated at the Keokuk Medical College in 1864. He practised medicine at Ainsworth in Washington county, Iowa, until 1871, when he moved to Wapello, and later in 1874. formed a partnership with Dr. W. S. Grimes under the firm name of Tustison & Grimes. Dr. Tustison was married three times, his last marriage being August, 1880, when he married Miss Sophia Hook, daughter of George W. Hook, a prominent settler in Jefferson township. Dr. Tustison died in Wapello in the fall of 1900. He was one of the ablest and most successful physicians who ever practised in Louisa County, and had the respect and good will of all who knew him.
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