USA > Iowa > Page County > History of Page County, Iowa : also biographical sketches of some prominent citizens of the county, Vol. I > Part 13
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John B. Johnson began the practice of law in Clarinda and shortly after- ward removed to Des Moines.
W. F. Thummel was admitted to the bar in Clarinda. He became a member of the firm of Hepburn & Thummel and was connected with much important litigation during his stay here. Something like twenty years ago he became connected with insurance companies as an attorney and is now residing in New York City, where he is to be found in the law department of one of the great life insurance companies of this country.
Judge Thomas R. Stockton was among the early settlers. His father, a Cumberland Presbyterian minister, was a pioneer of Taylor and Page counties, and Thomas R. was about eighteen years of age when his people moved to this section of Iowa. He helped to open up a frontier farm and taught school in winter until 1850, when he commenced reading law. In 1860 he came to Clarinda, entering the law office of J. J. Barwick as a stu- dent. He was admitted to the bar in May, 1861, under Judge Sears. In January, 1862, he opened his office at Clarinda and commenced practice. In 1862 he took editorial charge of the Clarinda Herald and continued until November, 1863. At the fall election of 1863 he was elected to the office of county judge, serving for two years, practicing law at the same time. In May. 1866, he removed to Sidney, Iowa. In the fall of 1872 he was elected circuit judge of the thirteenth district. In 1879 he was elected as representative from Fremont county. In 1883 he removed to Shenandoah and practiced law until 1886, when he was elected as the first county attor- ney under the new law creating such an office. He then removed to Clar- inda. He was reelected in 1888. He was a man who made friends wherever he went. He was educated and refined, yet plain and unassuming. His legal opinions were seldom reversed and among the members of the bar he was a favorite. He was a natural lawyer, loving the profession. He took pride in keeping pace with all that belongs to it and sought in his official capacity to mete out justice according to "law and evidence." regardless of fear or favor. While visiting in Chicago he died there and his remains were brought back to Clarinda for interment.
T. E. Clark was one of the leading lights of the fraternity, at Clarinda. He was a self-made lawyer. He studied with Hepburn & Morseman, com-
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mencing in the fall of 1867, reading two years. He was admitted to the bar under Judge James G. Day and commenced practice as a partner of Captain Morseman. In the fall of 1881 he was elected senator from the seventh dis- trict and was the father of the noted "Clark Liquor Law." Notwithstanding his early career was cast in other lines, foreign to the legal calling, yet by hard study and close application he distinguished himself as a most excel- lent attorney, as well as a far-seeing political engineer, with his efforts aimed morally high. Mr. Clark died about 1901.
J. E. Hill, of Clark & Hill, who had previously been a soldier, farmed in Page county and had been clerk of the courts for several years, finally studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1884 under Judge D. D. Gregory. He opened an office in 1885 and has been a successful attorney ever since. He formed a partnership with Hon. T. E. Clark in 1887, which existed up to the time of Mr. Clark's death.
John R. Good, attorney and ex-mayor of Clarinda, was admitted to the bar in March, 1881, under Judge R. C. Henry, and moved to Lyons, Kansas, where he began practice. After six months he returned to Clarinda, associating himself with Judge N. B. Moore for six months, then opened up an office alone. He was also county attorney. Mr. Good left Clarinda some years since and is now a resident of Boise City, Idaho.
Il. E. Parslow, a native of Ontario, Canada, came to Clarinda in 1875 and clerked for several years. In the fall of 1878 he entered the law depart- ment of the State University at Iowa City, Iowa, finishing his course in June, 1879. He then entered the law office of T. E. Clark, at Clarinda, and soon became a partner. This continued for two years and in October, 1881, he opened an office of his own and continued alone until January, 1884, when a new partnership was formed with his former partner, T. E. Clark. This existed until 1887, since which time he has practiced alone. He was city attorney in 1882-83.
Raymond Loranz was one of the leading members of the bar in Clar- inda. He was reared in Page county. When eighteen years of age he com- menced the study of law with T. E. Clark and was admitted to the bar in September, 1873. In 1875 he formed a partnership with T. E. Clark, the same lasting one year. He practiced alone until 1884, when he formed a partnership with his brother, Henry. They carried on an extensive busi- ness in law, loan and real estate. He occupied a good position at the bar and was mayor of Clarinda. Under his administration the waterworks was built. Later he was in the interior department at Washington, D. C., and now occupies a responsible position with the Inter State Commerce Commission.
PAGE COUNTY BAR OF TODAY. CLARINDA.
H. H. Scott, H. E. Parslow, William Orr, T. F. Willis, Earl Peters, J. E. Hill, George I. Miller. C. W. Stewart, W. F. Stipe, A. B. Clark, W. A. Turner, Orville C. Greene and Will Anderson, Harlan township.
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SHENANDOAH.
W. P. Ferguson, judge superior court, Earl R. Ferguson, George H. Castle, G. B. Jennings, J. L. Foster, Denver L. Wilson, Thomas W. Keenan, L. H. Mattox.
THE MEDICAL FRATERNITY.
During the past sixty years Page county has had a great number of Esculapins' followers, some unworthy the title of physician, and many others have been quite celebrated for their honesty and skilfulness in the healing art.
Dr. Alexander H. Farrens, one of Page county's very earliest settlers, first located in Buchanan township, then moved farther north along the ridge between the two Nodaway rivers and in 1856 came to Clarinda, where he died in March, 1858. The chances for a doctor were not then what they are now. Money was scarce and appliances hard to obtain, yet, though young, Dr. Farrens was naturally a physician and surgeon and was a suc- cessful practitioner of his day. Many of the early pioneer men and women here recall his visits and the relief and good cheer his coming brought to their sick ones.
Dr. James L. Barrett, the first thoroughly schooled medical practitioner in Page county, came to Clarinda in 1855 and was the first physician and surgeon at this place. He was born in Kentucky and reared in Indiana. He commenced the study of medicine in 1838. He was a man whom to meet was to respect and become attached to for his noble, generous im- pulses, as well as for his wonderful fund of general and classical knowledge of the great world in which he labored, not in vain, for over three score years. No better physician every practiced in Page county, and no more polite and genial companion ever graced the good society of Clarinda than Dr. Barrett, who was known far and near. He died several years ago.
James H. Conine was born in New Jersey on the 17th of August, 1827, and died at Dallas, Texas, September 3, 1874. At about twenty years of age he left his native state and made his home in Ohio. In that state he read medicine and attended medical lectures at Columbus. After the com- pletion of his studies he took up the practice of his profession in Mercer county, that state, and continued it with success for a period of about three years when, his health failing, he determined to remove farther west. He started with a team and buggy and arrived in Clarinda in April. 1856. There he began to recover his strength and entered upon the practice of his profession and continued with success until 1858. In that year he built a small business room on the lot now the site of Orth & Beckner's shoe store. In this room he put in a light stock of drugs, but fully sufficient for the wants of the community at that time, and gradually went out of the practice of medicine and confined himself exclusively to the drug business.
In 1857 there was a post or pole in front of what is now known as the Scott property on the north side of the square. This post supported a sign, shaped and made like the pictures we see of sign posts in front of
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inns and taverns in old prints. The sign just mentioned was embellished with gold leaf letters. This was the first sign of the kind in the county. It bore the words, "Galt House," in imitation I presume of the famous hotel of that name in Louisville, Kentucky. In 1858 Dr. Conine put up a sign, "Drug Store," that was the first business sign that bore gold leaf let- ters in the county, and while it is an insignificant event in the life of that gentleman, it is somewhat indicative of the man. In all his building and improvements he had an eye to the beautiful and his buildings and im- provements were fully up to the standard of the time and country. In 1862 he built what was then the best dwelling house in the county and in 1868, just ten years after he began his business, he built and equipped the finest drug store in southwestern Iowa, the building being the one now owned by Mrs. Parish, located on the northwest corner of the square.
At the time of Dr. Conine's arrival in Clarinda he was unquestionably the best educated and probably the best read man and furthest advanced in the studies of his profession of any physician in the county. In the early '6os he was a magnificent specimen of manhood, approximately six feet in height and weighing possibly two hundred pounds. He was of a dignified and pleasing appearance, kindly in disposition, affable in his man- ner, and would impress any one with the thought that he was a superior man. Notwithstanding his realization of the earnestness of life, he was fun-loving, enjoying sport and anecdote and in his way a mighty Nimrod. In the '6os many are the deer he brought home in his sleigh after a day's hunting, to share with his friends. He was an accumulator of property and in his day was considered a wealthy man. No one ever impugned his integrity or doubted his honesty. He never indulged in palavering or courting any one man. On the contrary, if he said anything, he was plain and outspoken, and in serious matters not disposed to mince words or shun the expression of his views. In 1873 Dr. Conine and his wife traveled extensively, to the end that his health might be improved, but finally reach- ing Dallas, Texas, he succumbed to his ailments on the morning of Sep- tember 3, 1874, being in the forty-seventh year of his age. His remains were deposited in the Clarinda cemetery, with Masonic honors.
Dr. H. C. Brandt came to Clarinda in the summer of 1855 to look after some land he was improving. He was enticed by the rolling and splendid land and finally concluded to remain here, and he was soon known as a most thorough gentleman and well schooled physician, who possessed the valuable knowledge gained from the best medical schools of Europe. His knowledge was not alone in medicine but he had gleaned much from the literary world. His time was divided between his old home in In- diana and Clarinda. He finally, having gained a competency, removed to Kansas City, Missouri, where he enjoyed the fruits of an industrious and useful life.
Dr. Albert Heald came to Page county in 1858 and located in Valley township. He came to Clarinda in 1859, and notwithstanding he was al- ready a victim of consumption himself, he practiced on. He was an able man and made many friends and few, if any, enemies. He died in 1863.
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He was a brother of Mrs. N. L. Van Sandt, and when his death occurred the entire community were numbered as mourners.
Dr. A. H. East came to Hawleyville in 1851, before that village had yet been platted. He had been reared in Indiana, learned the carpenter's trade and finally studied medicine. His schooling in boyhood was in- cluded in two weeks, but by nature he was a physician. He was a remark- able man in that respect and he had much success both as a physician and expert surgeon. He was also somewhat of a lawyer as well as a physi- cian. He was at one time a member of the law firm of John R. Morledge & Company, at Clarinda. In the latter days of Dr. East's life he was asso- ciated with Dr. Lewellen, which copartnership continued until the former's dleath about 1873.
Dr. Samuel H. Kridelbaugh, a native of Ohio but reared in Indiana, came to Iowa in April, 1855, locating at Clarinda in September of that year. He first learned the printer's trade, next entered the legal profes- sion and graduated from the Ohio Medical College in March, 1855. Until 1874 he practiced at Clarinda with marked success, but at that date his health gave way and he was incapacitated for further professional duty until July, 1880, when he again resumed the practice of medicine. The Doctor in early life was a writer of considerable note, having edited the Indiana Globe, the Hoosier, and Columbus (Ohio) Weekly Ledger. In Page county he was conspicuous in organizing the Southwestern Iowa Medical Association and in the establishment of the Page County Fair Association. In the last years of his life misfortune overtook him. He removed to Dakota and died there in 1883. Through the generous and noble impulses of Dr. N. L. Van Sandt, his remains were brought to Clar- inda and buried midst the friends of other days.
Dr. E. T. Farrens, son of Dr. A. II. Farrens, another practicing physi- cian, whose birthplace was in Page county, is worthy of attention in this connection. He played under the trees of Clarinda in his childhood, at- tended the public schools and grew to manhood under the influences which now surround him. He read medicine with Dr. Enfield and graduated at the Missouri Medical College in St. Louis, after which he took up the practice of medicine in his home town.
Dr. J. K. Rickey came to Clarinda in the '8os, from Keokuk, Iowa. He had been in medical practice over fifty years and by reason of his wide range of observation and careful study, he was looked up to by many of his brethren in the profession. He was the inventor of an operating table which made him a blessing to thousands of physicians and surgeons in the land. He is now deceased.
Dr. H. L. Cokenower removed from Pleasant Plains, Illinois. to Clar- inda, in 1880, and he at once commenced to have a large practice and had one of the best paying ones in his county. All his life he had been a student and was till the latest hour of his life. He had a just pride in his profes- sion and spared neither pains nor expense in providing himself with the best appliances known in his art. He now rests in the Clarinda ceme- tery.
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Dr. A. G. Wall was one of the physicians who came to Clarinda sub- sequent to the war. He was a learned and scientific physician. When he began the study of medicine he possessed a thorough classical education, an advantage that will always place one in advance of one not thus schooled. All who knew him admired his elegant manners and high cul- ture. He was a great favorite with other physicians in Page county. The last known of him he was practicing in his native state, Pennsylvania.
Dr. P. W. Lewellen came to Page county in May, 1865. He did not come for the purpose of entering the fraternity of medical men but was impressed with the "goodly land" and finally commenced his practice at Clarinda. He was known far and near as a physician far above the average, indeed quite eminent and very reliable. He was a close student and philo- sophical reasoner in medical science, never satisfied with surface knowl- edge but to him the depths must be probed and seen in the clearly de- fined light of scientific reason. Not alone was he prominent in medicine but in politics as well. In 1878 the people of Page and Fremont counties elected him to the state senate, serving four years with unusual value and credit to his constituents. For several years he had been a member of the state board of health and a trustee of the Mount Pleasant Insane Hos- pital. When the Hospital for the Insane was established at Clarinda, partly through his executive ability, he was chosen as its superintendent, which position he held for a long time. He died several years ago.
Dr. N. L. Van Sandt first made his home in Clarinda in May, 1858. He came from Ohio and soon established a practice which continually in- creased. He came to be looked upon along with Dr. Barrett as a pioneer doctor, and both were respected by the great mass of the people in Page county. Countless thousands are the miles he had driven over this county, attending to those languishing on sick beds. He had been an active man in all enterprises and also a man of political history. He served as a representative in the Iowa legislature. He is now deceased.
Dr. W. C. Stillians came to Clarinda at quite an early date and at- tended the common schools. He was a modest, unassuming man. He was a graduate from one of the colleges of Chicago. He did not live to prac- tice long. Had Providence been more kind he would today have been foremost among the physicians of this county.
Dr. W. H. Vance practiced at Clarinda a number of years. He was a graduate of the Indiana Medical College at Indianapolis.
Dr. W. H. Pittman came to Clarinda in February, 1886. He attended the Cincinnati Medical College in 1872 and the medical department of the University of Tennessee in 1879, and also the Medical College of New York in 1882. He succeeded well here, having the reputation of being a careful, painstaking physician. He left Clarinda several years ago for other fields of usefulness.
Dr. M. Enfield came to Clarinda in 1873. He graduated in that year from Rush Medical College of Chicago. He was numbered among the best physicians of this section and had traveled many thousands of miles over the hills and dales of Page county during all sorts of weather and
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roads. His mind was richly stored with useful information concerning his chosen profession and he was always possessed with courage to speak and do his true convictions. He lies buried in the Clarinda cemetery.
Dr. T. E. Powers, another of Clarinda's physicians, was born in Page county, educated in her public schools and attended the Missouri Medical College at St. Louis, graduating from the same about 1881. He then commenced the practice of medicine at the home of his boyhood and now enjoys a successful and lucrative practice. (See sketch.)
A. M. Stearns, M. D., a graduate of the St. Louis Medical College of the class of 1877, commenced the practice of medicine in Kansas and came to Essex, Page county, Iowa, in 1878.
Dr. W. T. West, a graduate of Keokuk Medical College, February 24, . 1884, practiced at Clayton, Illinois, until July, 1887, when he removed to Shenandoah, Page county, Iowa, where he became pastor of the Christian church. In January, 1890, he removed to Essex, Iowa, and resumed the practice of medicine.
W. H. C. Moore, M. D., after a five years' literary course at Mon- mouth College, Illinois, and Union College, New York, took a medical course at the Michigan University, also at Rush Medical College, Chicago, graduating at the latter January 25, 1867. He at once engaged in prac- tice at Savanna and Canton, Illinois, where he continued four years and then removed to Essex and vicinity, where he has lived and practiced ever since. He is a man of much intelligence and a skilled physician.
"Dr." G. W. Wright was known in and around Essex as a physician of considerable note. He was not a thorough graduate but had some native ability and had a hankering for relieving suffering humanity.
Dr. O. M. Burhans began practice in Essex in 1871. He was a graduate of Rush Medical College in 1878. He continued practice at Essex until 1883, when he removed to Hazelhurst, Nebraska.
Dr. J. N. Page practiced at Essex from 1873 until 1877.
Dr. Dunlap practiced from 1875 until 1877.
Dr. Goodrich, homeopathic, practiced at Essex in 1876-77.
Dr. E. Eckerson came to Essex in 1878, following the regular practice until 1889, and then removed to Denver, Colorado. He was a graduate of Buffalo (New York) Medical College.
The pioneer physician to locate at Shenandoah was Dr. B. M. Webster, who removed to Manti, Fremont county, Iowa, in 1870. He was a graduate of Rush Medical College, at Chicago. He remained at Shenandoah until 1875, when he saw a better field at the new village of Essex and there en- gaged in the banking business in a small way. He was a great money maker and soon made a fortune. In 1888 he moved to Council Bluffs.
The next man to establish himself in the practice of medicine at Shen- andoah was Dr. H. P. Duffield, a Rush Medical College graduate of much ability.
Dr. G. J. Ross, now of Sioux City, came next. He was from a Cincin- nati eclectic school and soon became a partner of Dr. Whiting, at Shen- andoah.
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Dr. Whiting was one of Shenandoah's physicians of a Cincinnati electric school and was a successful practitioner.
Dr. J. W. Humphrey came to Shenandoah next. He was of the new school and quite successful.
Dr. E. K. Bailey enjoyed a lucrative practice at Shenandoah. He gradu- ated from the Chicago Medical College in 1877 and first commenced to practice at Hepburn, Page county, Iowa, but soon removed to Shenandoah, where he built up a good practice by virtue of his ability and general man- liness. Both he and his wife were greatly respected in Page county. Mrs. Bailey was a well known worker in the temperance cause in lowa, both as a lecturer and writer.
Dr. D. L. Allen, a good physician and surgeon, came to Shenandoah in 1881. He was a graduate of Long Island, New York. He was very skill- ful and admired by all. He died of consumption when thirty-six years of age, January 24, 1884, at Princeton, Kansas, leaving an estimable wife and one child.
Dr. F. E. Stevens, homeopathic, was the next to enter the role of phy- sician at this point. He graduated at Iowa City, Iowa.
Dr. Hester located at Shenandoah in 1884. He was from a St. Louis medical school and was counted a good doctor. He later removed to Glen- wood, Iowa.
Dr. Bolton, homeopathic, who came from Canton, Illinois, practiced a short time at Shenandoah and then went west.
Dr. Wright came from Canton, Illinois, in 1880. He was a well read student in medicine and was a very successful practitioner. He had been in the army during the rebellion and had become a wreck through army life and finally ended his career by suiciding with a revolver.
The next to locate at Shenandoah was one of the present physicians, Dr. Sutton, who came from La Harpe, Illinois, in 1888, and formed a co- partnership with Dr. Whiting.
Another "doctor" (?), who should not be forgotten in history, is Wil- liam Crawford, an "Indian doctor," who died at Shenandoah in 1889, aged eighty years. He came to Page county in 1880 and claimed to have prac- ticed sixty years. He had attended medical lectures at Cincinnati, Ohio, and Iowa City, Iowa, also traveled among the North American Indian tribes. He was fairly successful, but perhaps a more careless, uncouth man never lived in Page county.
The physicians who have been from time to time located at the village of Coin are as follows :
Dr. A. H. King, Dr. A. T. Rice, Dr. J. C. Burton, Dr. J. W. Cox, Dr. J. A. Gillispie (eclectic), Dr. S. L. Claybaugh and Dr. F. L. Brackett.
Dr. A. H. King graduated at Keokuk Medical College from the class of [879 and at once located at Snow Hill, Page county, a mile from where Coin now stands. In the fall of 1879 he moved to Coin, where he still practices.
Dr. J. A. Gillispie was at one time Coin's principal physician. He grad- uated from Des Moines College April 17. 1888.
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Among those who have floated in and out of the village of Northboro, may be named Dr. William L. Freeman, who remained two years; C. V. Beaver, M. D., who remained two years and went to Hepburn; Dr. J. Whit- tier, homeopathic, who was here only a few months; and Dr. S. L. Clay- baugh, who remained a year and removed to Yorktown.
At Blanchard were Dr. J. W. Holliday and Dr. G. A. Pruitt. The former came in 1882 and the latter in 1884. Dr. Allan also practiced at Blanchard.
Others having practiced at Blanchard are Dr. Rogers, who came in 1880. Dr. J. V. Bightol came the same year. In 1882 came Dr. J. M. Livingstone, Dr. J. W. Chambers, Dr. J. W. Holliday and Dr. M. Carter. The above were all allopathic physicians ; also Dr. A. W. Davies, now at College Springs.
At the village of Hepburn have practiced Drs. Case, Bailey, Williams, Jackson, Beaver, Oliver, McColm, Sams, Dodds and Mrs. E. J. Carlson.
The present administrator of medicine at Braddyville is A. F. Large.
DECEASED PHYSICIANS OF PAGE COUNTY.
The physician's life is one of the most strenuous and, in most instances, he lays down his life in the service of his fellow-man. As a rule he has little control over his own time but must go to the bedside of a patient at a moment's notice. Especially is it true of the country practitioner that he endures the stress of weather and the toil of travel over roads many times almost impassable. He leads the "strenuous life" and goes the way of all flesh, practically worn out and many times prematurely by reason of his inordinate activity. Through the courtesy of Herbert H. Scott, of Clarinda, the following list of physicians whose remains lie peacefully and at rest in the Clarinda cemetery is here given :
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