USA > Iowa > Marion County > History of Marion County, Iowa, and its people, Volume I > Part 30
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F. M. Frush, who was county judge from 1855 to 1861, was born in Rockbridge County, Virginia, April 2, 1822, and was reared on a farm in Ohio. In 1850 he came to Marion County, Iowa, and the next year was elected county surveyor. While serving as county judge he was regularly admitted to the bar, and upon retiring from office practiced for several years, when he turned his attention to mercantile pursuits. He died on August 11, 1900.
Jarius E. Neal was another early lawyer in Knoxille. He was active in every movement for the upbuilding of the town and county and was chairman of the committee on resolutions at the railroad meeting held at Knoxville on January 27, 1853. At that meeting he was appointed one of a committee to solicit stock subscriptions to the railroad and agreed to take twenty shares himself. About the close of the Civil war he became associated with Larkin Wright in the brokerage and banking business, but a little later left Knoxville and went to New York.
In 1855 James Matthews, the father-in-law of William M. Stone, came to Knoxville and associated himself with his son-in-law and former student in the practice of law. He was born in Trumbull County, Ohio, June 5, 1805; studied law with General Stokely, of Steubenville, Ohio, and was admitted to the bar in 1830. After representing the County of Coshocton in the Ohio Legislature, he was elected to the State Senate, and in 1840 was elected on the demo- cratic ticket to represent his district in Congress. After coming to Iowa he soon began to take an active part in political affairs, and in 1863 was appointed provost marshal of the district by President Lincoln. In 1867 he was appointed postmaster at Knoxville, but resigned in 1870 to become a professor of pomology in the State Agricultural College. His death occurred at Knoxville on March 20, 1887. He was the county attorney at the time of the treasury robbery in 1867, just before being appointed postmaster.
Absalom Black was another well-known attorney in early days, though but little can be learned concerning his history. From 1854 to 1856 he was prosecuting attorney. Old settlers say that "he was
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not much of a lawyer, but was a good fellow and did the best he could."
Thomas J. Anderson, who began practice in Knoxville in the fall of 1860, was born in Fulton County, Illinois, March 4, 1837, and came with his parents to Marion County in 1853. In 1858 he was elected county surveyor, and while holding this office he commenced the study of law under Jarius E. Neal, who at that time was one of the prominent attorneys of the county. In October, 1860, Mr. An- derson was admitted to the bar. In 1862 he enlisted in the Fortieth Iowa Infantry as first lieutenant of Company A, and served until the close of the war and being mustered out as captain of the company. Before going into the army he was engaged for awhile in editing the Democratic Standard at Knoxville. In 1887 he was the democratic candidate for governor of Iowa, but was defeated by William Lar- rabee by a plurality of 16,360 votes. He died at the Soldiers' Home, Los Angeles, California, April 13, 1910, and his remains were buried in that city.
Martin V. B. Bennett, commonly known as "Van" Bennett, was a journalist as well as a lawyer. He was associated with Mr. Ander- son in the publication of the Democratic Standard and when the Fortieth Iowa Infantry was organized entered the service as captain of Company A. After the war he was one of the founders of the paper called the Copperhead, which was published for a short time at Pella, and afterward was a member of the law firm of Bennett & Atherton.
P. H. Bousquet was admitted to the bar at Knoxville in 1862 and soon afterward established himself in practice at Pella. Mr. Bous- quet was born in the Netherlands on December 23, 1835, and came with his parents to America in 1849. He had the reputation of being a good office lawyer, but rarely appeared in court. He was one of the founders of the Pella Savings Institution, which later became the Pella National Bank. Mr. Bousquet died at Pella, February 14, 1908.
John B. Elliott, who in 1914 was president of the Knoxville National Bank, was admitted to the bar in 1876. He came to Knox- ville in 1869 and studied under Anderson & Collins. Upon being admitted he practiced for a time and in 1877 was elected to the Legis- lature. Two years later he was reelected. Not long after that he turned his attention to the banking business and gave up the prac- tice of his profession.
C. H. Robinson was born in Guernsey County, Ohio, February 3. 1843, and in the Civil war was a member of the Eighty-sixth and
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One Hundred and Twenty-ninth Ohio Infantry, being discharged from the latter regiment to become a lieutenant in the One Hun- dred and Thirty-sixth Illinois. After the war he taught school for a few terms in Ohio and then came to Marion County, Iowa. In 1875 he was elected county auditor and was twice reelected. While holding the office of auditor he read law with Stone & Ayres and in 1879 was admitted.
E. R. Hays, a brother of the present district judge, was born in Wood County, Ohio, May 26, 1848. After serving in the First Ohio Battery during the Civil war, he attended Heidelberg College, and then read law with Noble & Noble, of Tiffin, Ohio. In 1872 he was admitted to practice and the same year located at Knoxville, Iowa, where he soon acquired a high standing as an attorney. He served part of the term in the Fifty-first Congress, having been elected to the vacancy caused by the resignation of Edwin H. Con- ger. He died at Knoxville on February 26, 1896.
James D. Gamble and George W. Crozier, two of the oldest liv- ing lawyers in the county, are still residents of Knoxville. The for- mer began practice in 1860, in Decatur County, Iowa, but later re- moved to Knoxville, where he is now living practically retired. He served fourteen years as district judge. Judge Crozier was on the bench of the Circuit Court for two years and in 1914 was elected to represent Marion County in the State Legislature. He is the senior member of the law firm of Crozier & Welch.
The following list of present-day attorneys is taken from the county auditor's report for the year 1913: Gray Anderson, Crozier & Welch. George G. Gaass, James D. Gamble, I. H. Garretson, Hart & Hart, S. C. Johnston, Teunis H. Klein, L. B. Leonard, W. H. Lyon, Roche S. Mentzer, N. D. Shinn, L. D. Teter, George J. Thomassen, W. G. van der Ploeg and W. H. van der Ploeg. Of these lawyers, Gaass, Klein, Thomassen and W. H. van der Ploeg have offices in Pella and the others are located at Knoxville.
CHAPTER XVIII
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION
THE DOCTOR'S WELCOME IN A NEW SETTLEMENT-HOME REMEDIES OF PIONEER DAYS- CHARACTER OF THE OLDEN TIME PHYSICIAN-HIS STOCK OF DRUGS AND METHOD OF TREATMENT-HIS SOCIAL STAND- ING-SKETCHES OF EARLY MARION COUNTY PHYSICIANS-MEDICAL SOCIETIES.
One of the most welcome citizens in a new country is the phy- sician, yet the inducements to become a practitioner of the healing art in a frontier settlement were not of the most attractive character. In fact, about the only inducement was "to get in on the ground floor" and establish a practice before the population increased to such a point as would invite competition. At first the settlers were scattered over a wide expanse of country, no roads were opened in many localities, money was scarce and the doctor's fees, if he received any at all, were often paid in such produce as the pioneer farmers could spare and the doctor could use.
In the early settlement of the State of Iowa, as in other portions of the Mississippi Valley, every family kept on hand a stock of roots, barks and herbs, and these were administered for all common ail- ments without calling upon a physician. Old settlers can no doubt recall the bone-set or horehound tea, the burdock bitters, the decoc- tions of wild cherry bark, or the poultices and plasters that "Grand- ma" or "Aunt Jane" would prepare with the greatest of care and apply-internally or externally, as the nature of the case might de- mand-with more solemnity than the present-day surgeon amputates a limb or cuts open a man and robs him of his appendix. Yet these "home-made" remedies were not entirely devoid of merit. They would relieve a cough or stir up a torpid liver, and in some cases proved efficacious in that most common of complaints-the fever and ague.
Such was the condition in practically every frontier settlement when the pioneer doctor arrived upon the scene. The old-time doctor was not always a graduate of a medical school. Perhaps it
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would be nearer the truth to say the graduate physician on the fron- tier was the exception rather than the rule. In a majority of cases the professional education of the country doctor in the new settle- ments had been acquired by "reading" for a few months with some older physician and assisting his preceptor in his practice. When the young student felt sufficient confidence in his ability to branch out for himself he began looking about for a location, with the result that some new settlement appeared to offer the best opening. Occa- sionally some well educated and experienced practitioner would leave an established practice to seek his fortune in a new country.
And, if the professional or technical training of the pioneer doc- tor was limited, his stock of drugs and medicines was equally limited. A goodly supply of calomel, some jalap, aloes, Dover's powder, cas- tor oil and Peruvian bark (sulphate of quinine was too rare and expensive for general use) constituted the principal remedies in his pharmacopœia. In certain cases of fever the sovereign remedy was to relieve the patient of a generous quantity of blood, hence every physician carried one or more lancets. When blood-letting, a dras- tic cathartic, and perhaps a "fly blister" failed to improve the condi- tion of a sick person, the doctor would "look wise and trust to a rugged constitution to pull the patient through." But, to the credit of these pioneer physicians, it can be truthfully said that most of them were just as conscientious in their work and placed as much faith in their remedies as does the most distinguished specialist of the present generation. It can also be said that many of them, as the pop- ulation in the new settlement increased and demanded a higher order of professional skill, refused to remain in the mediocre class and attended some medical college, even after they had been engaged in practice for years.
Voltaire once defined a physician as "A man who crams drugs of which he knows little into a body of which he knows less." Possibly this may have been true of a certain class of French empirics at the time Voltaire wrote, but since that time the medical profession has made almost marvelous strides forward, and the physician of the present century is usually a man entitled to the confidence and re- spect of the community, both for his professional ability and his standing as a citizen. In this gradual development the old-time doctor, crude as were many of his methods, was the forerunner of- the man who paved the way for-the specialist in this beginning of the twentieth century. As a rule, the pioneer doctors were unself- ish. If one of them discovered a new remedy, or a new way of administering an old one, he was always willing and ready to impart
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the knowledge of his discovery to his fellow practitioners. Thus, step by step the profession moved forward.
If one of these old-time physicians could be permitted to come back to earth to visit the scene of his former labors and should step into the office of some leading specialist of today, he would doubt- less stand aghast at the many surgical instruments and appliances, such as microscopes, stethoscopes, X-ray machines, etc., and he might not realize that he had played his humble part in bringing about this high state of development.
When the first doctors began practice in Marion County they did not receive their calls over the telephone nor visit their patients in automobiles. The telephone was unknown and, even if the auto- mobile had been in existence, the condition of the roads-where there were any roads at all-was such that it would have been prac- tically useless. The doctor therefore relied upon his trusty horse to carry him on his round of visits. As his practice extended over a large territory, when making calls in the night, with no road to fol- low but the "blazed trail," he frequently carried a lighted lantern, so that he could find the road in case he lost his way. On his return home he would often drop the reins upon the horse's neck and trust to the animal's instinct to find the way, while he took a short nap in the saddle. In seasons when there was a great deal of sickness this was often the most refreshing sleep the doctor obtained.
There were then no drug stores to fill prescriptions, so the doctor carried his medicines with him in a pair of "pill-bags"-a contriv- ance composed of two leathern boxes divided into compartments for vials of various sizes and connected by a broad strap that could be thrown across the saddle. After the lancet, his principal surgical instrument was perhaps the "turnkey" for extracting teeth, for the doctor was dentist as well as physician. A story is told of a customer who complained to a negro barber that the razor pulled, to which the colored man replied : "Yes, sah; but if de razor handle doesn't break de beard am bound to come off." So it was with the pioneer doctor as a dentist. Once he got that turnkey firmly fastened on a tooth, if the instrument did not break the tooth was bound to come out.
Although the calling of the old-time country doctor was no sin- ecure, his life was not without its bright spots. Over and above his professional labors, he was a man of prominence in the community in other matters. His advice was frequently asked concerning affairs entirely foreign to his business; his travels about the settlement brought him in touch with all the latest news, which made him a wel-
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come visitor in other homes; often he was the one man in a neigh- borhood who subscribed for and read a weekly newspaper and this gave him an understanding of questions of public policy that made him a local political leader. A mere glance at the history of almost any county in the broad Mississippi Valley will disclose the names of physicians as members of the Legislature, incumbents of impor- tant county offices, and in numerous instances some doctor has been called upon to represent a district in Congress.
Dr. James L. Warren was no doubt the first physician to practice his profession in what is now Marion County. He was born in Greene County, Tennessee, July 1, 1801; was licensed as a local preacher of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1828; studied med- icine and began practice in 1831, and ten years later came to lowa and settled in Lee County. Subsequently he removed to Mahaska County, where he cut some logs and hired a man to build him a cabin, but soon afterward changed his mind and located about three miles southeast of the present City of Pella. He came to Lake Prairie in April, 1843, in company with John B. and Robert Ham- ilton, Henry Miller, Green T. Clark and Henry McPherson. The United States dragoons refused to let their wagons pass Libertyville, so the men packed enough provisions on horses to last them until the Ist of May and went forward to select claims. Doctor Warren organ- ized the first Methodist class west of Libertyville. After residing in Marion County some years he returned to Mahaska and died at Peoria, in that county. January 18, 1870, having practiced medicine for nearly forty years. He was a man who was noted for his charity and generosity and his practice extended over a large territory.
Two other physicians who came to the county soon after Doctor Warren were Drs. Reuben and Homer Matthews, who came with their father to Lake Prairie Township in May, 1843, and made claims there. Later they sold out to the Hollanders and Dr. Reuben Matthews practiced for many years in the Town of Red Rock, where he was the first resident physician. Dr. C. M. Gilkey and Dr. J. W. McCully also practiced in Red Rock at an early date.
Dr. Luther C. Conrey was one of the first settlers in Knoxville and was probably the first to practice the healing art in that part of the county. He served as deputy sheriff under James M. Walters and in January, 1846, was appointed agent for the board of county com- missioners to sell the lots in the Town of Knoxville. He was a typical old school doctor and he was a man of public spirit.
Dr. Norman R. Cornell, who came to Knoxville in 1850, was born in Steuben County, New York, September 11, 1824, and began
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the study of medicine with Dr. W. H. Thomas before he was seven- teen years of age. In 1848, after a residence of some time in Ken- tucky, he graduated at the Geneva Medical College of New York and two years later settled in Marion County. His early practice extended into the counties of Warren, Lucas, Monroe and Mahaska. When the Twenty-third Iowa Infantry was organized for service in the Civil war, Doctor Cornell was appointed assistant surgeon and a few months later was appointed surgeon of the Fortieth Iowa Infantry by Governor Stone. During the last year of his service he was brigade surgeon. After the war he became a specialist in diseases of the eye and ear, though he continued in general practice until a few years before his death, which occurred at his home in Knox- ville on April 9, 1912. Two sons, Corwin W. and Lindley P., both became practicing physicians. The former is still practicing in Knoxville, and the latter, after practicing for awhile at Pleasant- ville and Dallas, located at Knoxville and died there on March 29, 1910.
Dr. W. B. Young, another early practitioner and one of Marion County's representative citizens in his day, was a native of Mercer County, Pennsylvania, where he was born on November 12, 1812. While still in his boyhood his parents removed to Ohio, where he was raised on a farm and taught school during the winter months, studying medicine as opportunity offered until he was qualified to practice. After following his profession for several years in Wayne and Ashland counties, Ohio, he came to Marion County in 1852, where he continued in his chosen calling and also engaged in the drug business. In 1861 he was elected county judge and held that office for four years. At the expiration of his term he removed to Birmingham, Van Buren County, and lived there for three years, when he returned to Knoxville. Doctor Young died at the home of his son, James B. Young, at Toledo, lowa, February 10, 1893, and his remains were brought to Knoxville for burial.
The same year that Doctor Young located at Knoxville, Dr. B. F. Keables, a native of Genesee County, New York, settled at Pella and began practice, having graduated at the Keokuk Medical Col- lege in 1850. He was active in political affairs and was one of the organizers of the war democratic party that defeated the regular democratic ticket for the first time in Marion County. He was pres- ident of the Pella school board at the time the first public school building was erected. In the spring of 1862 he was commissioned assistant surgeon of the Third Iowa Infantry and in October of the same year was promoted surgeon at the colonel's request, continuing
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in that position until the regiment was mustered out. After the war he served two terms as a representative in the State Legislature. Soon after locating at Pella he married a daughter of Rev. H. P. Scholte, the founder of the city, and was for many years engaged in the drug business. He was a prominent Mason and an Odd Fellow. His death occurred on May 9, 1911, at the age of eighty-two years.
Dr. Elias Williams, who began the practice of medicine at Pleas- antville in 1853 or 1854, was born in Logan County, Ohio, July 9, 1822. About 1830 his parents removed to Michigan and in 1838 to lowa, settling in Van Buren County, where young Williams learned the Indian language. He was present at the Sac and Fox agency at the time the treaty of 1842 was concluded and early the following spring made a claim in what is now Clay Township, Marion County. In the spring of 1848 he began the study of med- icine with Dr. Reuben Matthews, of Red Rock, but soon afterward was struck by the gold fever and went to California. After a res- idence of two or three years on the Pacific coast he went to Cincin- nati, Ohio, where he attended lectures at the Eclectic Medical Col- lege. He then returned to Marion County and opened his office at Pleasantville, where he continued in practice for many years.
In the fall of 1855 Dr. Thomas J. Kirkwood located at Pleasant- ville. His grandfather was a soldier in the Continental army at the time of the War for Independence and his father served in the War of 1812. In November, 1875, Doctor Kirkwood removed to Otley, in order to be on the railroad, and there he opened a drug store in connection with his professional work.
Two physicians-Dr. H. J. Scoles and Dr. A. D. Wetherell- located in Knoxville in 1856, and afterward became prominently identified with the profession in Marion County. Doctor Scoles was born in Harrison County, Ohio, July 11, 1825. In 1850 he went to Keokuk, Iowa, where he studied under two members of the faculty, and in 1853 was graduated at the College of Physicians and Sur- geons of that city. In 1856 he came to Knoxville and soon won a high place among the physicians of the county. During the Civil war he served as assistant surgeon of the Fourth Iowa Infantry. He was a member of the first county medical society. Doctor Scoles died at Knoxville on January 25, 1897.
Dr. A. D. Wetherell was born at Burlington, Vermont, July 21, 1818, and in 1833 removed with his parents to Licking County, Ohio. He attended college at Granville, Ohio, and then began the study of medicine under the preceptorship of Dr. W. W. Bancroft. In 1844 he received the degree of M. D. from the Ohio Medical Col-
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lege at Cincinnati, after which he practiced in Licking County until the fall of 1856, when he became a resident of Knoxville, Iowa. He was the first president of the Marion County Medical Society and commanded the respect of physicians and the general public alike. His death occurred on November 20, 1896.
Dr. L. M. Timmonds, a brother-in-law of Dr. Norman R. Cor- nell, was a member of the first class that ever graduated at the Col- lege of Physicians and Surgeons of Keokuk. He began his profes- sional career at Knoxville, but after a year or two removed to the State of Missouri.
Dr. J. T. French, who came to Marion County in 1849, was born near Lebanon, Ohio, April 23, 1823, but was taken by his parents that summer to Shelby County, Indiana, where he was reared on a fårm. When about nineteen years old he began the study of med- icine with Dr. G. C. Paramac, of St. Omar's, Indiana, borrowing books from his preceptor, reading at home and walking the three miles once a week to recite his lessons. In the spring of 1843 his father died of a disease called the "Black Tongue," which also car- ried off other members of the family and came very near taking the embryo physician. The prevalence of this malady forced him into practice before he was fully prepared, an older physician placing him in charge of a family of thirteen persons afflicted, all of whom recovered except one. Young French then taught school two or three terms, continuing his medical studies in the meantime. In December, 1843, he married and on May 5, 1849, started with his wife and three children for Iowa. On the 28th of the same month he arrived at Bellefontaine, Mahaska County, and a little later crossed the line into Marion and took up his residence in an unfinished cabin belonging to Captain Ridlen. Like most of the early settlers. he and his family were afflicted with malarial fever until they became accustomed to the climate, though the doctor cleared his farm and practiced his profession when he was well enough to work. In the fall of 1851 he removed to the Village of Hamilton and practiced there until June, 1857, when he removed to Knoxville, where he continued his calling until just before his death. Doctor French was a successful physician and in the latter years of his life was fond of relating his early experiences as a country doctor, whose practice extended over a territory of some seven hundred square miles. He died in Hutchinson, Kansas, September 24, 1903, while on a visit to his daughter, but his remains were brought to Knoxville for burial.
Other physicians who practiced in the county between the years 1860 and 1880 were: W. T. Baird, W. E. Wright, Hugh Thomp-
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