USA > Iowa > Sac County > History of Sac County, Iowa > Part 8
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During the last dozen years or more of his life, Doctor Brenton spent the winter seasons in Florida. His health had failed and he could no longer stand the rigors of the Northern winters. The last two or three years he re- mained in the South continuously at the home of his daughter. He died October 26, 1912, at Havelock, Iowa, in the home of his son Max, whose sick wife the Doctor had come north to attend professionally.
Doctor Brenton was twice married, first to Harriett Ellen Wright, in Dallas county, Iowa, to whom were born two sons and two daughters. Mrs. Brenton died in Florida in the winter of 1895. His second wife, to whom he was married in 1898, was Mrs. Sarah E. Allen, widow of a Sac City pioneer. who survives him.
Being human, very human, Doctor Brenton had faults, his most serious faults, however, making him "his own worst enemy." and it would seem that generosity should restrain comment here at length, remembering rather the many good traits and the valuable service hie rendered this community for so many years.
Thomas Browning Mansfield, M. D., was born in Unionport, Jefferson county. Ohio, June 15. 1844, where he lived until the outbreak of the Civil War, when, at the age of seventeen years, he enlisted in the Fifty-second Regi- ment of Ohio Volunteer Infantry, under Col. Dan McCook, serving therein
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until mustered out at the close of the war. This young soldier showed special aptitude for nursing and otherwise caring for the sick and wounded. and was early assigned to the hospital corps where he remained throughout the service. This experience led him to decide to adopt the profession of medicine as his life work. At the close of the war he entered Harlen College, from which he was graduated in 1867, after which he taught school for some years, utilizing every spare moment in the study of medicine under the guid- ance of two physicians. Later he engaged in the drug business, at Smith- field, Ohio, in connection with Doctor Clancy of that place, afterward attend- ing Ohio Medical College, Cincinnati, from which he was graduated.
Doctor Mansfield commenced the practice of medicine at Jefferson, Greene county, Fowa, in 1873. A year or two later, having occasion to be in Sac City, he became so favorably impressed with the place that he removed there in 1875. Throughout all the remainder of his life there was no other place so dear as Sac City and surroundings. Here nearly all the remainder of his life was spent, although circumstances led to his absence at times for considerable periods. On September 30, 1879, he was married to Cornelia Kate Taylor, a daughter of Samuel C. and Jane H. Taylor, pioneer residents of Cedar township. Sac county. In 1892, because of his wife's failing health. he removed to Denver, Colorado, where they remained about two years. From there they moved to Harrison county, Ohio, to care for his aged par- ents, where they remained until the death of his father in 1900. The Doctor and his wife then returned to Sac City where he resumed his practice. His wife's failing health induced him to remove to California in 1906. They located first at Ocean Park, but later went to the Sierra Nevada mountains, near Yosemite Park, but returned to Ocean Park in September, 1909, where he died of apoplexy, February 11, 1910. His widow survives him ( 1914) and lives at Ocean Grove, California. They had no children.
In the words of her who perhaps knew Doctor Mansfield best. "He was a man of fine presence and generous to a fault in his professional life. The qualities of character which were fundamental in him, led him to the places where the work was hardest, the strain heaviest, the need greatest. It was a part of his very nature to help the poor, to relieve the distress of those who had little with which to repay him. Doctor Mansfield was genial, generous, and had many and steadfast friends in the community where he so long labored, having an etxensive practice during all the years of his residence here."
In politics, Doctor Mansfield was a life-long and steadfast Republican and was at various times honored with positions of trust and responsibility.
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The one which he, perhaps, prized the highest, was as a member of pension examining boards, which he held in Iowa for more than twenty-five years, during Democratic as well as Republican administrations. He was also a mem- ber of an examining board during his residence in Harrison county, Ohio.
Doctor Mansfield was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and also a member of the Methodist church.
Doctor William Warren came to Sac county in 1870, settling on land in section 17. in Boyer Valley township, where he henceforward lived for thirty years, managing his farm and also serving as physician in the sur- rounding community. During the pioneer days, especially when physicians were few and far apart. Doctor Warren's professional services were much in demand, without which the pioneers should have been obliged to depend for such services upon physicians much farther away-Sac City, Storm Lake and Ida Grove-which in those days, before telephones and automobiles, would have necessitated travel of from twelve to twenty miles, usually on horseback. To have a physician in their midst was certainly a great con- venience to that rather isolated Boyer Valley community, which was well appreciated. and Doctor Warren had an extensive practice. Doctor Warren was born in Rutland county, Vermont. December 29, 1817. When he was thirteen years old his parents removed to Genesee county, New York, re- mained two years, then to Orleans county and later to Niagara county. . At the age of about twenty-one years young Warren commenced the study of medicine with Doctor Pratt, of Somerset, New York. In 1857 he came west. locating in Dane county, Wisconsin, where he remained three or four years, then to Dodge county, coming from there to Sac county, Iowa, where he re- mained until his death, June 20, 1901.
B. F. Stevens, M. D., was born in Montrose, Pennsylvania, where he lived until fourteen years of age, when he came with his parents to Illinois, settling near Elgin. He remained there until he came to Sac county in 1871. settling in Levey township, on section 21, where he resided about ten years, then removed to Odebolt where he died in 1891.
Doctor Stevens was graduated from Bennett Medical College, Chicago, in 1869, and practiced about two years before coming to Iowa. He wished to abandon practice, but several of his Illinois neighbors settling near him in Levey township, being remote from other doctors in the early days, they naturally called upon him for professional services. He was thus called upon so frequently that he became actively engaged in practice, having little or no time left for the business of farming. to which he had intended to devote his entire attention on coming to Sac county. After about ten years' residence
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on his farm, he removed to Odebolt, where he was engaged in the practice until his death, March 20, 1891.
Doctor Stevens' eldest son, A. E. Stevens, also took up the study of medicine and was graduated from the same college as his father ( Bennett ) about 1878. He located at Wall Lake, where he was in practice about two years, then removed to Odebolt, where he practiced with his father for a time, removing to Malino, Florida, and there practiced until his death in 1908.
J. W. Cannon, M. D., was among the pioneer physicians of Sac county, who located in Grant City, October 12, 1874, where he remained in practice until October, 1883. Doctor Cannon was born in Carthage. Illinois, April 15. 1849, graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Keokuk, Iowa, June 17, 1873. He also attended lectures at the same college during the winter of 1876, and in 1889 did post-graduate work at the Post-Graduate College and Hospital of New York City. During his residence in Grant City, Doctor Cannon was married to Jennie Dobson, a daughter of one of the most estimable Sac county families. After his removal from this county, he was engaged in practice, for a time, in Atlantic, Cass county, Iowa, from whence he removed to Canyon City, Colorado, on account of his wife's health. Later he removed to Boise, Idaho, where he is now located.
Dr. W. S. Duncan, came first to Sac City, July 3. 1874. remaining per- haps a year or so, was elsewhere four years, and then returned in 1878, re- maining several years and acquiring a considerable practice. He received his medical education at the Cincinnati Medical College and Eclectic Institu- tion (now extinct). Doctor Duncan possessed considerable natural ability, as well as professional skill. During his later residence here he became interested in the profession of law, and read law for a time with a thought of changing to that profession, but that was never done, so far as known to the writer. He left Sac City sometime in the eighties and located in Sheldon. lowa.
D. C. Cook, M. D., located in what was then Fletcher ( now Lake View ) in 1881, being associated with L. . \. Chapman in a drug store at that place. Ile received his preparatory education at Mount Vernon, Iowa, and was graduated from the medical department of the lowa State University in March, 1873. He commenced practice at Calamus, lowa, from whence he removed to Sac county, and remained several years.
Caleb Brown, M. D., was born January 27. 1850, on a farm in Knox county, Ohio, where his boyhood was passed. He received his early educa- tion in the common schools of the state and from a private tutor, who gave
OHE BOLT HOSPITAL
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HOSPITAL AT ODEBOLT
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him instruction in Latin. In 1870, he came with his parents to Iowa, where the first year he was engaged in teaching school ; the next year he entered the lowa State University in the classical department. While so engaged, he began the study of medicine, entering the medical department of the uni- versity in September, 1874. He received his degree in medicine from the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Keokuk, lowa, in 1877. For two years, beginning in September, 1892, he held the chair of chemistry, toxicology and microscopy in that college, but resigned that position on account of inter- ference with other professional work. A part of two years he spent in post- graduate work in Chicago. He was a member of the Northwestern lowa Medical Society, the Medical Society of the State of lowa, the American Medical Association, the International Association of Railway Surgeons, and in 1894 was elected a member of the American Electro-Therapeutic Associa- tion, of which he was made second vice-president in 1897. He was an active worker in all these societies, having prepared and read papers of merit before each of them at various times, having special interest in electro-thera- peutics, some of the papers prepared by him in this latter eliciting very favor- able comment, from men of note in this specialty. Doctor Brown held the position of local surgeon for the Chicago & Northwestern railway for several years preceding his death; had been health officer of Sac City; had been county coroner, and was a trustee of the Sac City Collegiate Institute, in which he was lecturer on physiology and chemistry. He took not only an active interest in this but in all other educational matters. He was a men- ber of the United States pension examining board for this district. Doctor Brown located in Sac City, 1882, where the remainder of his life was spent in active practice of his profession. On November 7, 1884, he was married to Elizabeth Prindle Baxter, who survives him. They had no children. Five weeks before his death, the Doctor was attacked by pneumonia and, his vitality being a good deal reduced by overwork and his general health having been somewhat impaired during several weeks preceding, there was appre- hension from the first as to the result. The attack proved to be comparatively mild, however, but during convalescence catarrhal jaundice supervened, then gastritis and other complications resulting in death, June 4. 1899.
Doctor Brown was a man of marked ability, a close student and a hard- working practitioner, keeping fully abreast of the advancement of his pro- fession : a man of the strictest honor and integrity, with an active interest in all that is good and right : a gentleman in the best sense of the word; a valued and much appreciated citizen of the community. He had a wide ac-
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quaintance with many fast friends and an extensive practice. He had good business ability, an attribute lacking in most physicians. During the later years of his life he owned and conducted a drug store in Sac City, which was a profitable business. He acquired considerable means, all of which was invested in Sac City property.
SURGICAL WORK IN THE COUNTY.
Like most similar communities having no hospital facilities, very little major surgical work has been done in Sac county, excepting such as comes under the head of emergency surgery, of which there has been perhaps about the usual amount, though not large, incident to communities almost wholly agricultural. When such emergencies have arisen they have been met and such service rendered as was possible by general practitioners. They have necessarily done a very wide range of surgical and medical work, anything which came in the line of duty, and usually with creditable success, and in some cases with results that were really brilliant.
Such other surgical procedures as needed hospital facilities for their proper care have been sent away, a good deal of such work going to Dr. A. L. Wright, of Carroll, Jowa, who established a small private hospital at that place about 1893. His hospital was later superseded by St. Anthony's, a general public hospital, where Doctor Wright continued to do his surgical work during the remainder of his life. A good deal of such work has been sent to Chicago, Des Moines, Omaha and Rochester, Minnesota. At the present, probably the most of it is going to Des Moines ; some of it, chiefly from the western part of the county, going to Doctor Crane's hospital which was established at Ida Grove, and later moved to Odebolt. Doctor Speaker, at Lake View, recently fitted up some hospital facilities in connection with his office, where some surgical work is being done. Doctor McCray, of Schaller, is doing more surgical work, perhaps, than is usual with general practitioners having no hospital facilities. He operates at patient's homes for appendi- citis, as well as doing some other major surgical operations. But the medical men in this county generally hold to the common opinion that, aside from minor and emergency surgery, it is usually preferable and more satisfactory to send surgical cases to surgeons of special training and experience doing their work in the general hospitals of the larger cities.
The following is a list of physicians, of various schools of medicine who have registered under the state law of 1885, in and for Sac county :
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Adams, Charles B., Sac City, born in New York, graduated Cleveland, Ohio, certified in this county December. 1886, eight years in practice.
Andre, T. J .. Schaller, born in Ohio, graduated at Rush Medical, certified here December, 1886, four years in practice when coming here.
Acres, Lois F., (homeopathic) Sac City, born Pennsylvania, graduate of Chicago Homeopathic College.
Brown, Caleb, Sac City, born in Ohio, certified here September. 1886. nine years in practice when he came here.
Brenton, Thomas Andrew, born Indiana, certified April, 1887. eighteen years in practice before coming here.
Berry, Joseph P., Auburn, born Illinois, certified May, 1891.
Brookhart, Edward W., ( eclectic ) Ulmer, certified April, 1906.
Behrens, George W .. born Illinois, certified here 1911, graduate of the Chicago Medical College.
Blackstone, Bigelow P., ( homeopathic ) born Iowa, certified here May, 1899, graduate of lowa State University.
Duvall, W. H., Schaller, born Kentucky, certified August. 1886, in prac- tice at time of coming here nine years.
Dunkelburg, B. C., (regular) Schaller, born New York, graduate of University of New York, certified 1889.
Dobson, William C., Sac City, born in New Jersey, certified April. 1910, when four years in practice.
Duncan. William Cass, (regular) Sac City, born Wisconsin, certified November, 1898, graduate of lowa State University-medical department- in practice fourteen years when he came here.
Denny, B. F., Nemaha, born Missouri, certified October. 1909.
Francis, William H., Sac City, born Ireland, certified 1886, in practice at time of coming twenty-six years.
Farquhar, Thomas. (regular ) Early, born Pennsylvania, eighteen years in practice at date of coming here.
Fuller, 2 ... ( regular ) Sac City, born Indiana, certified here March, 1876, eleven years practice before coming here.
Farquhar. Elwood M., (regular) Early, born Pennsylvania, certified May, 1897, graduate of Chicago College of Physicians and Surgeons.
Findley. William John Kennedy, Sac City, born lowa, certified May, 1904. graduate Chicago Medical College. five years in practice when he came.
Graham, J. W., (regular ) Early, born Jowa, certified November, 1886. six years in practice at date of coming here.
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Groman, August, Odebolt, born Indiana, certified here July, 1887. grad- uate of Chicago Homeopathic Medical College. in practice eight years when he came here.
Gannon. W. 1 .. (eclectic ) Grant City, born New Jersey, certified Septem- ber, 1886, graduate of Bennett Medical College. Chicago, in practice twenty- seven years at date of coming here.
Gibson, George G., ( regular) Odebolt, born Ohio, certified May, 1898, graduate lowa College Physicians and Surgeons, Des Moines.
George. Albert B., ( regular ) Lake View, born Illinois, certified May. 1890.
Gregg, Orion Russell, ( regular ) Nemaha, born Iowa, certified July, 1908, graduate of Kansas City Medical College.
Green, Loren, ( osteopath ) Sac City, born in Wisconsin, certified Augu- ust, 1912, graduate of Still College, Des Moines.
Hopkins, Christopher M .. ( regular) Wall Lake, born Illinois, certified January, 1887. graduate of Chicago Medical College, eleven years in practice at date of coming here.
Higgins. J. W., ( regular ) Grant City, born in Vermont. certified here January, 1887, in practice nine years.
Hall. A. A., (regular ) Odebolt, born Iowa, certified July. 1889, twelve years in practice then.
Hayden, A. S., (homeopath) Wall Lake, born Illinois, certified May, 1894.
Hendricks. J. M., ( osteopathy ) Sac City, born Missouri, certified Aug- ust, 1902. now in Woodbine, Iowa.
Iwerson. J. C., (regular ) Early, certified October. 1904. graduate of University of Nebraska, six years in the practice at date of his coming here.
Johnson. Frank S., Odebolt, born lowa, certified here May, 1887. grad- uate Iowa State University, in practice at date of coming here eleven years.
Lanyon, William H., ( regular) Wall Lake, born in England, certified August, 1894, graduate of Rush Medical College, Chicago; in practice fifteen years at time of coming here.
Mansfield, Thomas B., ( regular ) Sac City, born in Ohio, certified here December. 1886, graduate of Medical College of Cincinnati, Ohio, sixteen years in practice at date of his coming here.
Maker. Louis G., (regular ) Sac City, born in Iowa, certified May. 1897, graduate Iowa College of Physicians and Surgeons.
McCrary, Frank II., ( regular ) Schaller, born lowa, certified May, 1897.
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graduate of Sioux City College of Medicine, one year in practice when he came here.
Mereness. H. D., (regular) Carnarvon, born in Iowa, certified May, 1898, graduate of Iowa State University.
Pierce, Edward F., ( regular) born Pennsylvania, certified 1889, grad- uate of Iowa State University.
Presnell, James F .. (regular) Lake View, born Iowa, certified May. 1894, graduate Jowa State University, seven years in practice at date of com- ing here.
Petersmeyer, William, ( regular) Odebolt, born in United States, certi- fied May, 1898, graduate of College of Physicians and Surgeons, Chicago.
Ray, Newton D., ( regular ) Lake View, born Illinois, certified here May, 1889, graduate of Iowa State University, seven years in practice.
Roberts, Thomas G., (osteopath ) Odebolt, born lowa, certified here July, 1911, graduate Still College, Des Moines.
Stevens, Allen E .. ( eclectic ) Odebolt, born Illinois, certified here Decem- ber. 1886, graduate of Bennett Eclectic College, Chicago, eight years in prac- tice when he came here.
Stevens, Benjamin, ( eclectic) Odebolt. born Pennsylvania. certified De- cember, 1886, graduate Bennett Eclectic College. Chicago, seventeen years in practice at date of coming here.
Sitzer, George D .. (regular) Sac City, born New York. certified June, 1887, graduate of lowa and New York State Universities, eleven years in practice when coming here.
Stalford, John H., ( regular) Sac City, born in Iowa, certified here May, 1892, graduated at Iowa College of Physicians and Surgeons, in practice two years at date of coming here.
Slemmons, William T .. (regular) Odebolt, born Iowa, certified June. 1893. graduate of Rush Medical College, Chicago, thirteen years in practice at date of coming here.
Speaker, E. E., ( homeopathy ) Lake View, born in Illinois, graduate Iowa State University.
Selby. 1. Milton, Odebolt, born in Ohio, fifteen years in practice when coming here.
Stensgaard, N. C. J., born in Denmark, certified December, 1898, grad- uate Keokuk Medical College, four years in practice when he came here.
Sebern, Richard C., Odebolt. horn Iowa, certified July, 1904, graduate lowa State University.
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Shaffer, Raymond C., Odebolt, born in Jowa. certified July, 1912, grad- uate of St. Louis College of Medicine and Surgery.
Swearingen, Guy H., (regular ) Sac City, born Illinois, certified July. IQII, graduate of Drake University, Des Moines.
Timm, John F., (homeopathy ) Schaller, born Germany. certified here June, 1895.
Townsend, William H., (regular) Sac City, born Iowa, certified here May, 1897. graduated at Iowa State University.
Gysbert, Peter Van Marcel, ( regular) Odebolt. born Iowa, certified here August, 1896, graduate of Sioux City College of Medicine.
Warren, William, { eclectic ) Early, born Vermont, certified November. 1886, thirty years in practice at date of coming here.
Williams, William C., ( osteopathy ) Sac City, born in California, certi- fied here June, 1901, one year in practice at date of his coming here.
Wilcutt, Clarence E., Schaller, certified 1909.
Dr. Elwood M. Farquhar, son of Dr. Thomas Farquhar. studied medi- cine with his father, graduating from the College of Physicians and Sur- geons, Chicago, class of 1898, entered practice with his father at Early, where he remained about ten years, removing thence to Denver, Colorado, and later to some point in Nebraska.
Dr. Christopher MI. Hopkins located at Wall Lake soon after the found- ing of the town, in the seventies, engaging in practice for a number of years, and then took up other business, retiring from active practice. He died at his home in Wall Lake about 1900.
Dr. George W. Anderson located in the new town of Nemaha June 12, 1901, where he continued in practice perhaps five or six years, then moved to Colorado.
Dr. Orin Russell Gregg located in Nemaha, July 29, 1908, but remained only a short time.
Dr. Benjamin F. Denney located in Nemaha, July 6, 1910, remained a short time.
Dr. William J. Herrick located in the new town of Lytton, June 12. 1901, and remained about four years.
Dr. David W. Wheelwright was in practice at Wall Lake a number of years, perhaps eight or ten.
Dr. William H. Williams, a young physician who had grown up in Sac county, located at Wall Lake and soon acquired a large practice, but after a few years died of appendicitis.
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Dr. Newton D. Ray located at Lake View, March 4, 1898, and remained three or four years.
The following named physicians have been located at the several towns of this county at different times, in most cases for only short periods of time, and of which the writer has no further knowledge: Alfred G. Hopkins, John H. Hovenden, Peter Jauss, Samuel I. Kirby. William H. Lanyon, Am- brose M. Longel, Ray S. Leadingham, Carl P. Mueller, Charles E. Orelup, Edwin F. Price, William Petermeyer, Thomas G. Roberts, William T. Slen- mons, I. M. Selby. Neils C. J. Stensgaard, Richard C. Seborn, Raymond C. Schaffer, William M. Tigner, John F. Timm, Edward W. Bookhart, J. J. Crider, Henry A. Cobb. W. H. Durall, William C. Dobson, William H. Francis, W. T. Garmon, George G. Gibson, Abel B. George, J. W. Higgins, Elijah H. Hall, Edward T. Twining. Peter Van Marel, Augustin H. Warren, William Claude, Claren E. Willcutt.
Dr. ( Miss) Meta Davis, whose parents were long-time residents of Sac City, graduated at the State University about 1899, locating in Sac City the same year, for a short time associated with Dr. Adams; remained about two years, then moved to Fremont, Nebraska, where she married, gave np practice and removed to California.
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