USA > Illinois > Cook County > Chicago > Historical review of Chicago and Cook county and selected biography, Volume I > Part 28
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47
It is hardly needful to say that he was closely identified with the educational, moral and philanthropic institutions of the city wherever in civic relations his influence could be felt. He was one of the founders of the Northwestern University and one of its most influen- tial trustees until his death. In the Union Law School of Chicago he held the chair of medical jurisprudence. He gave years of time to the management of the Washingtonian Home for the reclamation of inebriates. He was also one of the founders of the Chicago Historical
284
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
Society, the Academy of Sciences and of the Chicago Microscopical Society. During his years of collegiate instruction he found time to publish his extended work on the "Principles and Practice of Medi- cine," in which his teachings are concisely embodied. Early in life he set himself to the accomplishment of three important purposes. The first was the organization of an American Medical Association which should unify the medical profession of the entire Union. The second was the foundation of a medical college in which a graded course of instruction should be inaugurated. The third was the pub- lication of a text book upon the "Principles and Practice of Medi- cine." Each of these in due time he lived to see realized.
Personally Dr. Davis, though slight in form, was a man of almost unparalleled endurance, which, with intense adherence to his con- victions, coupled with untiring industry, made him eminently success- ful in the accomplishment of his purposes. He was a man of strong religious convictions and an active member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and one of its most constant attendants. His home relations were ideal. Until almost the last he continued his daily visits to his office. When at last he fell asleep his loving family was at his side. He died June 16, 1904, aged eighty-seven years.
Dr. Hosmer Allen Johnson was a native of Wales, near Buffalo, New York. He was born in 1822, and spent his childhood among the rocks and dells which surrounded his home. There
DR. HOSMER A. JOHNSON. he imbibed a lifelong love of nature. When ten years old, his parents removed to Almont, Michigan, where, aside from the advantages of a good district school, he derived a still more valuable instruction from a gifted mother. He had the sad misfortune while yet a youth to suffer from a severe attack of acute bronchitis, from which in a chronic form he never fully recovered. Though tuberculosis was never developed, the affection was the oc- casion of repeated attacks of pneumonia, and these often so severe .as to imperil his life. Gradually his health began to improve, and at the age of eighteen he entered the Romeo Academy, and from thence the sophomore class of Michigan University. During the second year of his course his health so failed that he was obliged to leave col- lege, as his friends thought, not again to re-enter. Though seem- ingly thwarted in his purpose, his tireless ambition never permitted him to falter. He soon found himself at the head of a select school
285
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
in Vandalia, Illinois, and while thus engaged pursued the college cur- riculum of studies. He returned to the university in time to pass his examination and graduated with his class in 1849. For years it had been his purpose to enter the medical profession. In the further- ance of this design he came to Chicago and registered as a medical student with Dr. Wm. B. Herrick, then one of the leading prac- titioners, and a professor in Rush Medical College. At that time Mercy Hospital, the first to be established in Chicago, was being or- ganized, and Dr. Johnson, though not yet a graduate, was Chicago's first medical interne. He graduated from Rush Medical College in 1852, and only a year later became a member of its faculty. These relations continued until 1858, when he resigned from Rush, having in mind, with others, the organization of a new college in which to inaugurate a graded system of instruction. In 1859 that purpose was accomplished by the development of a medical department in Lind University, afterwards the Chicago Medical College, and later the Medical School of the Northwestern University. In addition to pro- fessional and college labors, he was also editor-in-chief of the North- western Medical Journal.
When by reason of the Chicago fire the Relief and Aid Society was formed he was one of those most active in its organization, through which important agency millions of dollars were distributed. and that without the shadow of a criticism. Such incessant labors so told upon his strength that he never fully recovered his former health. In civic life he bore a conspicuous part, not ostentatiously, but with signal effect. Many honors came to him and he bore them with that modesty becoming the man. Through life Dr. Johnson was a promi- nent member of the Masonic fraternity. Its highest honors came to him unsought. In his religious connection, in early life he was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. In later years he was prominently identified with the Central Church of Chicago under the ministration of Prof. David Swing. Dr. Johnson was exceptionally happy in his home relations. Soon after his graduation he was mar- ried to Miss Margaret Seward, a relative of Senator Seward, a lady of elegant culture and refinement. To them were born a darling daughter, who died while yet in the bloom of youth, and an only son, Frank Seward Johnson, who became dean of the college his father helped to found and president of its board of trustees. He ranks as
286
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
one of Chicago's most prominent physicians. Dr. Johnson's healtlı had been gradually failing, and an unfortunate exposure while visit- ing an old patient accelerated the result, and he sank to his rest Feb- ruary 26, 1891, at the age of sixty-nine years.
Dr. Andrews was born in 1824 and died at his residence in Chi- cago January 24, 1904. He was in its fullest sense a manly repre- DR. EDMUND sentative of the old New England stock. His ANDREWS. father was a Presbyterian clergyman and his mother a descendant of the celebrated Lathrop fam- ily. His academic days were spent in the Rochester Collegiate Insti- tute, New York, and in the Romeo Academy, Michigan. He matriculated in the Michigan University in 1846, and graduated in 1849. He then entered the medical department of that institution and received his diploma in 1852, and at the same date the degree of A. M. The following three years he was engaged in medical practice in Ann Arbor, the seat of the university. During that time he occupied the position of demonstrator of anatomy, and of com- parative anatomy. During these years he edited and published the Peninsular Medical Journal, of which he was both editor and pro- prietor. His ability as a writer was at once conspicuous. A larger field was awaiting him and in 1856 he became a resident of Chicago, and during that year was appointed demonstrator of anatomy, and professor of comparative anatomy in Rush Medical College. Three years later he was one of the prime movers in the organization of the medical department of Lind University, in which he occupied the chair of principles and practice of surgery and of clinical and military surgery. He held this position during his active service through life and later as an emeritus. He was surgeon in chief in Mercy Hospital, and in continuous service there since 1859, except while on duty in the field during the Civil war, or when absent on his summer vacation. He maintained active membership in the local societies, the State Medical Society, the American Medical Associ- ation, the Society of Physicians and Surgeons of Michigan, and was an honorary member of several foreign bodies. He was also the surgeon of the First Regiment, Illinois Light Artillery, and saw active service in the field at Corinth, Shiloh, Pittsburg Landing. and elsewhere. He was eminently a lover of science. In its interests he thought and wrote so much that one was not long in his presence
287
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
before being led into the discussion of some scientific subject, or to a visit with him to some far off unfrequented glen, or mountain side well nigh unknown where in his vacation hours he had heart to heart revels with wilds of nature not yet desecrated by the hands of man. Such were his investigations with reference to the geological con- formation of the Northern States and British America that on the e subjects lie was considered one of the most competent and reliable authorities. He was active in the organization of the Chicago Acad- emy of Sciences, to which in its early years it mainly owed its success. He was also a member of the Academy of Sciences of Wisconsin. Dr. Andrews did not reveal to others his strength and fullness so fully as when, seemingly almost oblivious to things around, he gave himself to abstract reasoning, for things he knew not he profoundly sought to learn. His methods of investigation were so manifest in his teaching as to leave lasting impressions upon the minds of his many pupils.
He was a man of strong and settled religious conviction, a critical student of the Bible, of which for many years he was a gifted instructor. His home relations were of all others most dear to him, and there he passed peacefully to rest, aged eighty years. Memorial services were held in the Second Presbyterian church, at which time Michigan University was represented by some of her ablest men, and successive speakers seemed to vie with others in paying loving tribute to his memory. There was nothing of fulsome adulation, but such portrayal of his character and work as well became the man.
On his father's side Dr. Freer was of Dutch descent, and his mother was from the Paine families, who were among the most prominent of the early New England settlers. He
DR. JOSEPH
IV. FREER. was born in Ft. Ann, Washington county, New York, in 1816. At the early age of eighteen he commenced the study of medicine in Clyde, New York, under the tutelage of Dr. Lemuel C. Paine. Relinquishing his medical studies only for a time, he came to Chicago in 1836, when the great land craze was at its height, and in connection with his father's family located government land near the present city of Wilmington, Illi- nois, where, while farming, he resumed the study of medicine. In 1844, he was married to Miss Emily Holden, daughter of Phineas Holden of Will county. Mrs. Freer died within two years of their
288
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
marriage. Though Dr. Freer had been successful as a business man, this sad event led to an entire change in his plans, and his fondness for the medical profession was such that he closed out his farming interests, came to Chicago, entered the office of Dr. Daniel Brainard, and graduated from Rush Medical College in 1849. He soon came to hold very intimate relation, both personal and professional, with Dr. Brainard and was his trusted assistant in a great number of capital operations, laying broad and strong the foundation of an extended surgical practice to which he soon`attained. While yet a medical student he served as demonstrator of anatomy, and when Professor Herrick was transferred from the professorship of anat- omy in Rush College, Dr. Freer was elected to fill the vacancy. Soon after his graduation he married Miss Katharine Gatter of Wurtem- berg, Germany. Three sons and a daughter were the fruitage of the union, each attaining to prominence in early life. One an eminent artist, another following in the footsteps of his father, a prominent physician in his native city. Dr. Freer was deservedly popular with the medical students who at his decease had come to be numbered by hundreds. In the organization of the faculty in 1859, at his request he was transferred to the chair of physiology and micro- scopical anatomy. In his pursuance of his physiological investiga- tions he gave much time to vivisection, not only before his classes but also by request in the presence of the State Medical Society. In connection with the hospital his labors were varied and arduous. In the United States Marine Hospital he was in active service with Dr. Brainard during the entire period that the latter was surgeon-in- chief of that institution. He was also a member of surgical staff at Mercy Hospital. At the reorganization of the County Hospital at the close of the Civil war he was appointed a member of the med- ical board and held that position until his death. At the outbreak of the Civil war he entered the military service and was immediately promoted to the rank of brigade surgeon. His health being unequal to the labors incident to that position he was obliged to resign. Later he received the appointment of enrolling surgeon for the Chicago . district and rendered most important service in deciding upon the fitness of those who were applicants for appointment in the army. For several years after the war Dr. Freer spent much time in Europe, repeating his visits until he was familiar with all the main medical
289
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
centers of the old world. For years he had been making rare collec- tions illustrative of his teachings, all to be swept away by the fire of IS71. After the death of Dr. Brainard in 1866, Dr. J. V. Z. Baleny succeeded to the presidency of the college, but his health soon failing he was obliged to resign the position and Dr. Freer succeeded to the presidency in 1872; thus the student who graduated in 1849 had been steadily advanced in position and in influence until after twenty-three years of active service he became the president of his alma mater. For five years after the Chicago fire he struggled manfully to retrieve his wasted fortune and in this he was rapidly succeeding. His plans for the future were wisely made and only needed time for their maturing, but this was not to be. Gradually he sank under failing health and died in April, 1877, at the age of sixty-one years.
Dr. William Heath Byford was born in Easton, Ohio, May 21, 1817. While yet a child his parents removed to New Albany, Indi- ana. His father died when he was nine years old
DR. WILLIAM
and he soon had need to be a helpful member of
H. BYFORD. the family. Seeking a trade he became apprenticed to a tailor in Palestine, and later completed his apprenticeship in Vincennes, Indiana. The beginnings of the man to be were in him from the first. His desire to obtain a liberal education was such that while faithfully plying his needle he not only mastered the primary branches of an English education but also a sufficient knowledge of the Greek and Latin classics to fit him to enter the sophomore class in a literary college. For a long time it had been his desire to fit himself for the practice of medicine. With this pur- pose in view he registered as a medical student with Dr. Joseph Matteson, then one of the leading physicians in Vincennes, and such was his progress, that in eighteen months he passed the requisite examination, was granted a certificate by the examining board, and entitled to practice medicine and surgery. For two years he was thus engaged when he removed to Mount Vernon, Indiana, and became the partner of Dr. Hezekiah Hammond, the daughter of whom, later, became his wife. Dr. Byford received his medical degree from the Ohio Medical College in 1844. In 1850, he was invited to the chair of anatomy in the Evansville College, and a year later was transferred to that of the theory and practice of medicine. He became one of the vice-presidents of the American Medical Asso- Vol. I-19.
290
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
ciation in 1857. The same year he accepted the chair of obstetrics and diseases of women and children in Rush Medical College. When the medical department of the Lind University was organized in 1859 he transferred his relation to a like position in the new insti- tution. Dr. Byford, though a wise and conservative teacher, was at the same time a bold and successful operator. He was the founder of gynecology as a specialty in Chicago, and by common consent has been termed its father. He was eminently successful as an organizer. The institutions which he was largely instrumental in founding he lived to see permanently established. He first projected a Women's Hospital in 1865, and a year later gave liberally of his time and money to the founding of a Women's College, which later came into the possession of a college building in immediate proximity to the City Hospital, where accommodations for two hundred students were provided at a cost of $40,000. In 1876, he was active in the organ- ization of the American Gynecological Association, was one of its first vice-presidents, and then became its president. He was also prominent as a medical writer. In 1875 he became editor-in-chief of the Chicago Medical Journal and Examiner, which he conducted until its management was assumed by the Chicago Medical Publishing Society. He published an extended treatise on "Chronic Inflamma- tion and Displacements of the Womb." This was soon followed by his elaborate text-book entitled, "The Practice of Medicine and Surgery as Applied to Women," which passed through a series of editions. His writings were founded largely upon the results of his personal observations, and in many instances show that he was blazing the way in which other footsteps were to follow. Just at the time when he seemed to have reached the zenith of a successful life and the fulfillment of a most commendable ambition, in an hour least antici- pated, his career was suddenly closed, and a family dearly beloved, and a retinue of friends were left to bemoan this sudden bereave- ment. Though brief, his life was full orbed, and he died at the age of fifty years.
Dr. Isham was born in Herkimer county, New York, in 1831. He received a thorough academic education and graduated at Bellevue
DR. RALPH N. Medical College in 1852. As surgeon of a ship, he ISHAM. crossed the ocean and visited many of the promi- nent foreign medical institutions. Returning he
291
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
came to reside in Chicago in 1856. He soon gained the favorable notice of Dr. Brainard, president of Rush College, then the leading surgeon of the northwest, and by this means, and his own native merit, his relations with the medical profession and with the commu- nity at large were soon successfully established. At first he was a partner of Dr. Norcom, but later was associated with Dr. David Rutter, formerly a noted obstetrician, from Philadelphia, but now retired from practice. It was in this office that in conjunction with Dr. Rutter and himself, Dr. Hosmer A. Johnson and Dr. Edmund Andrews met for a conference which resulted in the development of a medical department of Lind University. When the faculty of that institution was organized he assumed the chair of surgical anatomy and of operative surgery. Later when the college was reorganized and incorporated as the Chicago Medical College, he held the chair of principles and practice of surgery and of clinical surgery. He held many important professional positions. Not only did he give largely of his time and means to the building of the college with which he was connected, serving as its secretary for years, but he was actively employed elsewhere. For years he was surgeon-in-chief of the Marine Hospital; he was also surgeon of the Chicago Hospital, be- sides holding the position of surgeon-in-chief of the great Northwest- ern Railway System. As a skillful and successful operator to the end of life he held a prominent position in the profession. By mar- riage he was related to the family of George W. Snow, one of the leading pioneers of the city, and his home became one of the noted ones in the north division. Ample means gave him the opportunity to gratify his tastes along literary lines; his library was ample and of rare excellence ; his summer home at Lake Geneva was a favorite resort; his early church relation was with the Second Presbyterian church ; he was afterwards one of the leading men associated with Professor Swing. His son, George S. Isham, succeeds his father in the profession and college relations. Dr. Isham died at his home in Chicago. May 27, 1904.
On his father's side Dr. Allen was of Dutch antecedents. His mother's ancestral representative came in the Mayflower, a Puritan DR. JONATHAN of the Puritans. He was born at Middlebury, Ver- mont, in 1825, and died in Chicago, August 15. A. ALLEN. 1890, aged sixty-five years. He took his literary de-
292
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
gree at Middlebury College and received his medical diploma at Castleton Medical College, 1846, when only twenty-one years of age. In 1847 he located in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and the same year was married to Miss Mary Marsh of that village. While there engaged in practice, when the medical department of Michigan Uni- versity was organized in 1850, he was called to the chair of physi- ology and pathology. Here he entered upon his brilliant career as a medical teacher. He was a prominent member of the Michigan State Medical Society, of which he was president in 1858. In 1859 he was invited to the chair of principles and practice of medicine in Rush Medical College, which position he held for thirty-one years, and which only failing health compelled him to relinquish. He was a brilliant lecturer and an able instructor. Thousands of students who listened to his lectures have a fond memory of "Uncle Allen." He was a man of exquisite literary taste, and his fondness for an- cient classics was remarkable. His library was composed of excep- tionally rare books. He also gave his vacations to foreign travel. In Morocco, in Egypt, in Palestine, in England and upon the Conti- nent he was alike at home. He was a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity, its highest honors came to him unsolicited, and on many a public occasion he was the chosen orator. As a citizen and patriot, as a professional man and personal friend, few are per- mitted to achieve such distinction as that which was worthily won by Dr. Allen. After a brief illness he died at his residence in Chicago in 1890. Rush College accorded to him its highest honor and was richly requited by his thirty years of personal service.
Dr. Gunn was of Scotch antecedents, a lineal descendant of the Gunn Clan in the north of Scotland. He was born in East Bloomfield, DR. MOSES GUNN. New York, April 20, 1822. He graduated at Ge- neva Medical College in 1846. When the medical department of the Michigan University was or- ganized he was elected to the chair of surgery, which position he held for seventeen years. In 1848 Dr. Gunn was married to Miss Jane Augusta Terry, and made his residence in Detroit, though still continuing his connection with the university. The degree of A. M. was conferred upon him by Geneva College in 1856, and in 1877 he received the degree of LL. D. from the Chicago University. At the call of his country in 1861 he entered the army, and while thus serv-
293
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
ing he was perfecting himself in military surgery. At the close of the war he was called to the chair of surgery in Rush Medical College, made vacant by the death of Dr. Brainard, which position he held for twenty years preceding his death. As a surgeon he was held in high repute, and as a lecturer was always attractive and instructive. He was a man of remarkably fine physique, and in whatsoever sphere was one always to be noted. After a protracted illness he died at his home in Chicago, November 4, 1887, in the sixty-sixth year of age.
Dr. De Laskie Miller was a farmer lad until the age of seven- teen. He was born in Niagara county, May 29, 1818. Leaving the farm, he acquired a good academic education and
DR. DE LASKIE MILLER. for four years was engaged in school teaching. Dur- ing this period he was pursuing his studies, having in view the medical profession. He graduated from Geneva Medical College in 1842. He first engaged in practice in Lockport, N. Y., and then removed to Flint, Michigan, where he built up a fine lucra- tive practice. In 1852 he removed to Chicago, and entered into part- nership with Dr. A. D. Palmer, who later was called to the chair of theory and practice of medicine in Michigan University. In 1859 Dr. Miller was appointed professor of obstetrics and diseases of women in Rush Medical College, and he held that position with great accep- tance for thirty years. He traveled extensively in Europe, acquaint- ing himself with the prominent teachers in the old world, observing critically their methods and their facilities with a view to a betterment of medical teaching in this country. He went also as a delegate to the Seventh International Congress which was held in London in 1881. He was honored with the chairmanship of the obstetrical sec- tion of the International Congress when it met in Washington in 1887. His popularity at home was attested by the fact that he was appointed consultant in his department in St. Luke's, Cook County, Presbyte- rian and Michael Reese hospitals. He was a member of the local so- ciety at Chicago, of the State Medical Society, and of the American Medical Association. He was also honored by a life membership in the British Gynecological Society of London. As a member of vari- ous Masonic orders he was especially conspicuous and won for him- self the highest honors at their command. His religious affiliation was with the Episcopal church, of which he was an honored and ex- emplary member. He was an ardent patriot, an honored citizen, a
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.