History of Chicago. From the earliest period to the present time, Part 129

Author: Andreas, Alfred Theodore
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas
Number of Pages: 1340

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ORDER NO. 44. A. G. O., WASHINGTON, 19 Aug., IS2S. ( Extract. )

In conformity with the directions of the Secretary of War, the following movements of the troops will be made without delay :

. Wolcott Genealogy ; Chicago Historical Society.

+ American State Papers ; Military affairs, Chicago Historical Society.

American State Papers, Indian affairs, Vol. II., 312, Chicago Historical Society.

" Ibid. p. 314.

# Ibid, p. 403.

457

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HISTORY OF CHICAGO.

I. Two companies of the 5th Regiment of Infantry to re-occupy Fort Dearborn, at the head of Lake Michigan. * * * The Surgeon-General to provide medical officers and suitable hospital supplies for the posts to be established and re-occupied. By order of

MAJOR-GENERAL MACOMB.

(Signed)

R. JONES, Adjutant General.

Companies A and I, of the 5th Infantry, being des- ignated as having arrived on October 3, 1828, the reason- able presumption is that Dr. Finley was the medical officer designated by the Surgeon-General to accompany the troops to Fort Dearborn. Prior to the date that Dr. Finley is reported to have been relieved from duty at the fort, Dr. Harmon arrived in Chicago .*

DR. ELIJAH DEWEV HARMON was born August 20, 1782, in Bennington, Vt., and pursued his medical studies at Manchester, under the auspices of a celebrity in the profession named Benjamin Swift ; commencing to practice in the fall of 1806, at Burlington, Vt. On October 30, 1808, Dr. Harmon married Miss Welthyan Loomis. During the war of 1812, he was a volunteer surgeon on board the "Saratoga," Commodore Mc- Donough's flag-ship, and was with that officer in the celebrated naval engagement of Plattsburg, September 11, 1814 ; returning to Burlington at the close of the · war and resuming his practice. On January 22, 1816, Dr. Harmon was appointed Postmaster at Burlington, but how long he held the position is unknown. In 1829 the Doctor suffered some pecuniary reverses and re- solved to attempt recuperation in the Great West. He arrived at Chicago in May, 1830 ; his family follow- ing him the succeeding year. He took the place of Dr. Finley, who was absent, and was installed at the fort as post surgeon, performing the duties of that office in addition to such private practice as was attainable in those days. On the night of the 10th of July, 1832, General Scott arrived with troops, on the steamer "Sheldon Thompson," among whom the cholera had manifested itself-six cases developing on the morn- ing of July 9, subsequent to which the disease quickly attacked the whole command In consequence of this the two companies in the fort antecedent to the arrival of General Scott were isolated and placed under the charge of Dr. Harmon, who ascribed his success in the treatment of the cholera cases that broke out in the sequestered troops to abstinence from the use of calomel by him. During this period historians relate that a mis- understanding occurred between Dr. Harmon and the "old martinet," relative to the practice of the Doctor ; General Scott requiring him to devote his medical skill exclusively to the military assigned to his charge, which the Doctor refused to do. In the winter of 1832, Dr. Harmon performed an amputation upon a half-breed Canadian, who had frozen his feet while transporting the mail upon horseback from Green Bay to Chicago; this being the first surgical operation of any importance performed. One foot and a portion of the other were successful removed. A case of rusty instruments, a library of about one hundred volumes and a stock of medicines brought from the Green Mountains, con- stituted the stock in trade of the Father of Medicine in Chicago. His residence was a cabin of hewn logs; his larder, a repository of flour, bacon and coffee. But the epigastric regions of pioneers do not long for pate de foie gras nor Chambertin or Tokay, and the doctor's practice increased and multiplied as rapidly as Jacob's cuttle. Dr. Harmon pre-empted one hundred and forty acres of land, the northern boundary of which was in

* These particulars were obtained by the courtesy of Mrs. A. G. Burley, a daughter of Dr. Harmon.

the vicinity of Sixteenth Street, and upon a portion of which plot the home of the Burley family-1620 Indiana Avenue-is now situated. In 1834, Dr. Harmon mi- grated to Texas, and until the time of his death-Jan- uary 3, 1869-divided his sojourns between that State and Chicago. Dr. Harmon had nine children, four of whom died in infancy. The remaining five are Charles Loomis Harmon, Isaac Dewey Harinon, Harriet Har- mon, Lucretia Harmon, and Welthyan Loomis Harmon. In honor of the Doctor, Harmon Court received its name.

In Order No. 17, dated Adjutant-General's Office, Washington, February 23, 1832, Assistant Surgeon De- Camp, on duty at Madison Barracks, was assigned to duty at Fort Dearborn, and ordered to accompany the troops sent to that post. He appears upon the roster of the fort as having arrived thereat (with companies "G" and " I " of the Second Infantry, under command of Major William Whistler), on June 17, 1832; remain- ing until November 23, following. Dr. Samuel G. I. DeCamp was appointed Assistant Surgeon, October 10, 1823 ; promoted Surgeon December 1, 1833 ; retired from the army in 1862, and died at Saratoga, N. Y., September 8, 1871. From a report made by Dr. De- Camp during the prevalence of the cholera at Fort Dearborn in 1832, if would appear that he was engaged in the performance of his official duties at the time, and he states that one-fifth of the entire force of one thou- sand soldiers were admitted into the hospital within a week, afflicted with this frightful scourge. In the ros- ter to which allusion has been heretofore made, it is re- marked that " Fort Dearborn having become a general hospital, on the 11th July last (1832) no returns were rendered until its re-occupation.'

On February 3, 1833, Assistant Surgeon Philip Max- well is reported as having assumed his official duties at the fort. He was a witness to the Indian treaty on September 26 of that year.

PHILIP MAXWELL was born at Guilford, Windham Co., Vt., April 3, 1799, and subsequent to his gradua- tion, commenced the practice of medicine at Sackett's Harbor, N. Y. He temporarily relinquished practice upon being elected a member of the State Legislature. After his appointment and arrival in Chicago, as Assist- ant Surgeon, he remained in that military position un- til the abandonment of the fort on December 29, 1836. Dr. Maxwell was promoted to Surgeon, July 7, 1838, and subsequently served with General Zachary Taylor. After his resignation from the army, Dr. Maxwell prac- ticed medicine in Chicago, being mentioned in Fergus's Directory for 1839 as at the garrison, and in the direc- tories from 1844 to 1847, as a physician, with his office at the corner of Lake and Clark streets. In the direc- tory for 1848, he is specified as being in partnership with Dr. Brock McVickar, subsequent directories not mentioning his association with any one in the practice of his profession. Dr. Maxwell is described as having been of stature approximating to the Anakim and to have been Falstaffian in his abdominal rotundity. In his jocundity, his geniality and the simulation of stern demeanor, beneath which he carried the kindest of hearts, he has been likened to " Lawrence Boythorn "- Charles Dickens's prototype of Walter Savage Landor. The Chicago Republican of September 13, 1868, thus justly speaks of Dr. Maxwell : "It is not easy to es- cape his name and influence in turning over the pages of twenty years of the growth of Chicago. He was one of nature's noblemen. He was of that choice material that God makes to follow the first rough work of the pioneers in laying the foundations of new society. By

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MEDICAL HISTORY.

education and training, learned, urbane and intelligent, . with an acute brain, a large heart, a warm hand, with a geniality that made sunshine wherever he went; quick to conceive, skillful to execute, Dr. Maxwell's name is upon the most solid pillar of our growth. From Chi- cago he went under Government orders to the Florida war, and thence returned only to civilian duties in which he here passed the rest of his life. His home was here for several years. Though often on our streets, and never relinquished as a citizen, he later removed to a beautiful country place, looking out on Geneva Lake, Wisconsin, where, since his death, a few years ago, his family still reside. Dr. Maxwell was a leading spirit here in the old garrison times. He mingled largely and controllingly in the growing social element." Dr. Max- well died on the 5th of November, 1859, at the age of sixty years.

Dr. Valentine A. Boyer next entered the ranks of the medical pioneers, on May 12, 1832 ; and achieved military honors May 15, 1840, being then commissioned assistant surgeon of the City Guards, 60th Regiment, on that date.

In 1832, Dr. Edmund Stoughton Kimberly arrived here. He was clerk of the town meeting to decide whether Chicago should be incorporated, and voted in favor of that measure. He was also elected Trustee of the town August 10, 1833. Dr. Kimberly died in Lake County, Ill., October 25, 1874, aged seventy-two years.

Dr. John Taylor Temple was an early practitioner in Chicago. He was a voter at the election held August 10, 1833. He graduated at the Middlebury College, Castleton, Vt., December 29, 1830. The first autopsy made in this city was performed by him. Dr. Temple, however, is more intimately identified with these early days by reason of his stage line than of his medical practice ; he having secured the contract for carrying the mail between this city and Ottawa, and making the first trip January 1, 1834, on which occasion the Hon. John Dean Caton was a passenger: The bills for his stage line were printed at the Democrat office. An ad- vertisement that appeared in the American on Angust 6, 1836, specifies that " John T. Temple & Co., are pro- prietors of a stage line from Chicago to Peoria ; " that " the through trip is made in two days-to Ottawa the first day ; " that "the stage leaves Chicago at four in the morning and arrives at Juliet *. in two," and that " seats can be taken at Markle's Exchange Coffee House." The same paper states, April 1, 1837, that Dr. Temple " has sold his stage line," and in another issue the Doctor advertises. November 17, 1840, that he " has resumed the practice of medicine at 214 Lake Street." Dr. Temple afterward became a homeopathic practitioner and founded the St. Louis school of homeo- pathic practice, dying in that city, February 24, 1877, at the ripe age of seventy-three years.

George F. Turner, assistant surgeon United States Army, was one of the witnesses to the Indian treaty at Chicago, on September 26, 1833. This officer was ap- pointed to that rank on July 23, 1833 ; promoted to surgeon United States Army, January 1, 1840, and died at Corpus Christi, Texas, October 17, 1854.

In the fall of 1833 Dr. William Bradshaw Egan came to the city and " commenced acting well his part : " to use the phraseology of his favorite author. In the Doctor's unfailing confidence in the future of Chicago; in the unhesitating manner with which he embarked his means upon the then ebb-tide of the city's prosperity, he was a typical pioneer. Dr. Egan was born near * In early days the name nif Joliet was Juliet, and one of the early changes of " pust-uttices " state's that the name of Juliet is to be changed to Romeo; the change appears to have never been made.

Lake Killarney, County Kerry, Ireland, September 28, 1808. At the age of fifteen he went to Lancashire, England, and commenced the study of surgery and medicine under the tuition of Dr. Maguire, also visiting the English metropolis in pursuit of medical knowledge. Returning to Dublin a few years afterward, he attended a course of medical lectures there and "walked " the Dublin Lying-in Hospital, and then embarked for

Canada. Shortly after his arrival in Quebec, he ob- tained a situation as teacher in one of the schools in that city, and afterward was a preceptor in Montreal and New York, and in the grammer school of the Universi- ty of Virginia, at which latter academic institution he also attended medical lectures for two terms. In the spring of 1830 he was licensed by the medical board of New Jersey, and inaugurated his professional career in Newark and New York. On January 21, 1832, he was married to Miss Emeline Mabbatt, who accompanied the Doctor in his pilgrimage to this city. On the zed of August, 1834, Dr. Egan was appointed on the health committee for the South Division, and on the 4th of July, 1836, when the ground was broken for the con- struction of the Illinois & Michigan Canal, he was se- lected to deliver the oration. While he was performing this office he observed that at a spring near by were a large number of people. The spring had been natural-

حبه

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HISTORY OF CHICAGO.

ized by the addition of lemons, sugar and whisky. Turning to them, he said: "'Drink deep, or taste .not the Pierian spring; there shallow draughts intoxicate. the brain, and drinking deeply sobers it again.'" It is understood that his advice was followed, with results other than those ascribed to the Pierian fount. Dr. Egan, during the primary years of his residence here, purchased the Tremont House block of General Beau- bien, and thereon erected five houses, which were desig- nated as Egan's Row. In his real estate transactions, the Doctor was conspicuous, and by connection with him in his operations many families laid the foundation for subsequent wealth and prosperity. In the adjustment of the canal claims by the Legislature of the session of 1841-42, the Doctor did excellent service. He was a delegate to the first Democratic convention held at Joliet, May 18, 1843; was Recorder of the city and county in 1844, and was a Representative to the State Legislature during the sessions of 1853-54. In his jocose temperament, his classical education, his kindly generosity and his trenchant sarcasm, he was an Orestes to the Pylades of Dr. Maxwell. Dr. Egan died in this city October 27, 1860.

Dr. Henry B. Clarke migrated to Chicago in 1833, and advertised in the American of February 18, 1837, that his office was at Collins & Butterfield's on Dear- born Street. His residence is stated to have been a large white house near the lake, about where Four- teenth Street is now situated.

Dr. Henry Van Der Bogart graduated at the medi- cal college in Fairfield, N. Y., in the winter of 1833; came to Chicago in the spring of 1834, and died at Naperville on April 8, 1835, aged twenty-five years.

Dr. W. Clarke appears to have been a resident here early in 1834, as a letter is advertised for him in the letter-list published in the Democrat in January of that year, and in the account books of Hibbard Porter * this gentleman is debited with purchases made from June to December, 1834, comprising a coffee-mill, cord and cloth.

Dr. Peter Temple was an early practitioner in Chi- cago, and advertised in the Democrat of July 7, 1834, that he was located at Franklin Street, near Lake, ad- jacent to the dwelling of Dr. J. T. Temple, and was .there to practice dentistry. In August, 1834, he be- came associated with Dr. John T. Temple in the practice of medicine, Dr. Peter Temple attending to such cases as were exclusively dental. A Dr. Temple is stated by Colbert to have been appointed on the first permanent Board of Health in Chicago June 19, 1835. + Dr. P. T. Temple is stated in the American to have been one of the executive committee of the Chicago Bible Society August 22, 1835, and Dr. Peter Temple was one of the secretaries of the canal meeting No- vember 7, 1835. The latter left Chicago in 1837, and after practicing medicine according to the regular school for twenty years, was led to practice homeopathy through the influence of his brother. This gentleman is now (1883) a resident of Lexington, Mo.

Dr. William H. Kennicott was engaged in the dental art in 1834, an advertisement that appeared in the Democrat determining his presence here on May 25 of that year at the Eagle Tavern. He pursued the prac- tice of dentistry for many years in this city. Of an old horse that belonged to him in early years the fol- lowing anecdote is told : After a long career of use- fulness the equine, becoming unfit for service, was turned loose to shift for himself, and, finding some

choice picking in the court-house square, he made that a resort. The citizens recognized the old animal and, compassionating his condition of marasmus, assembled and determined upon giving the veteran a donation party. At the appointed time they flocked to the square with provender and building material. A. shed was constructed by the embryonic humane society, and the food stored therein. Then a procession was formed, with the equine beneficiary at its head, and after parad- ing the streets to the martial music of a fife and drum, the steed was installed in his stable, where he existed until spring, when Death mounted the pale white horse, and rode him to the happy hunting grounds. Peace to his mane[s].

Dr. John W. Eldredge came to Chicago in the spring of 1834, a graduate of the medical college of Fairfield, N. Y. He was born in Hamilton, Washing- ton Co., N. Y., October 2, 1808 ; commenced the prac- tice of his profession in Pittsfield, Penn., continuing therein upon his arrival in Chicago, and has since his arrival been intimately identified with the measures relative to the prosperity, social, medical and political, of

Man. Eldudge

the city. Dr. Eldredge was married in Chicago in the year 1840 to Miss Sophia Holton, and has one daugh- ter, Hette, the wife of George C. Clarke. The objec- tion that Dr. Eldredge had to the least appearance of publicity or notoriety has been regarded by the com- piler ; but the life of the Doctor is too well known by the citizens of past and present Chicago to require com- ment. His works speak for themselves ; and now that he has passed from our midst they remain the most dur- able monument to his memory. Dr. Eldredge relin- quished the practice of his profession in 1868, after which he lived in the retirement of private life until the date of his death, January 1, 1884.

Dr. Josiah C. Goodhue came from Canada about this period ; and on September 1, 1835, was engaged with Dr. J. H. Barnard in the practice of the medical and surgical profession, with their office on Lake Street, three doors west of the Tremont House ; and on Febru- ary 15, 1836, Dr. Goodhue formed a copartnership with Dr. S. Z. Haven. Some time subsequently he re- moved to Rockford, Ill., where he died from the effects of an accident.

Charles Volney Dyer, son of Daniel and Susan Olin Dyer, was born in Clarendon, Vt., on June 12, 1808, and was the youngest but one of ten children. When he entered college he pursued medical studies to the ex- clusion of the classical course, and graduated, Decem- ber 29, 1830, with high honors at Middlebury College. In February, 1831, he commenced practice in Newark, Wayne Co., N. J. Leaving therc he migrated to Chi- cago, where he arrived in August, 1835. In 1837, he married Louisa M. Gifford, of Elgin, from which union six children were born, three of whom still survive ; Stella Louisa, born November 22, 1841, now Mrs. Lor- ing; Charles Gifford, born December 29, 1845, and Louis, horn September 30, 1851. In 1863, Abraham Lincoln, as a personal compliment to Dr. Dyer, gave him the appointment of Judge of the Mixed Court for the suppression of the African slave trade ; Dr. Dyer having been, for years previously, one of the prominent

. In possession of the Chicago Historical Society.

t This was Dr. John T. Temple.

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officers of the celebrated "Underground Railroad " of Chicago, and had helped in resening from slavery and the fangs of human blood-hounds who sought to overtake them, thousands of fugitives. To a resident of the State that gave birth to Abraham Lincoln, it would seem suffi-

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cient eulogy to say that a man was prominently connected with the underground railroad ; no more grateful reflec- tion can be entertained by Dr. Dyer's descendants, than that many former slaves can point to his grave and say " there lies the man who helped me to life and liberty." Judge Dyer died April 24, 1878, at the residence of his adopted daughter at Lake View, Lake Co., Ill.

In the American of May 28, 1836, Dr. D. S. Smith *. offered his services, in an advertisement dated May 25, 1836, at an office with S. Abell, on Lake Street, one door west of New York House; on August 16, 1837,

the Doctor occupied an office adjoining Clarke's drug store on Clark Street, near Lake, first door north of Collins & Butterfield's office.

It has been found impracticable to chronometrically designate the physicians whose names appear as identi- fied with the germinating metropolis at this period of its history; a fixed date, 1839, has therefore been se- lected ; and those who were here at that time, or prior thereto, are mentioned in this paragraph with such data as is extant to determine the priority of their coming.

Mrs. Robertson, the first female obstetrician, was here in 1839, and for many years subsequently, and may justly be termed the feminine Hippocrates of Chi- cago. Dr. J. Jay Stuart, with J. D. Caton, second door east of Breese & Sheppard's, Lake Street, advertised in the American of June 11, 1836. Dr. Stuart, in 1848, was in partnership with H. K. W. Boardman, and died August 8, 1850. Dr. H. Spring died November 10, 1835, aged thirty-two; Dr. W. Spring advertised his office with G. Spring in the American of September 12, 1835; Dr. Levi D. Boone, a distant relative of the celebrated Daniel Boone, was here in June, 1836; was in partner- ship with Charles V. Dyer in IS39, and practiced for a long time in Chicago, subsequently entering the real estate business. Dr. W. G. Austin, on August, 7, 1835, in American, notified. the citizens that he had com- menced the practice of medicine, and opened an office on Lake Street, near the post-office; and that he prac- ticed the botanic healing art, "which is not connected by ties of consanguinity to the Thompsonian system"- a nice distinction. On December 5, 1835, Dr. Austin announced that he had vegetable medicines for dis- pensation on Lake Street, three doors east of Cooke's coffee-house, and on October 10, 1836, entered into partnership with Dr. W. B. Dodge, with their office on

* For fuller particulars concerning Dr. Smith see the account of Homeop- athy in Chicago in this chapter,

Lake Street, opposite Rice's coffee-house. This co- partnership was dissolved April 3, 1837. Dr. John Brinkerhoff, subsequently of the firm of Brinkerhoff & Penton, druggists, cautioned persons against purchas- ing a note given by him in favor of Samuel Ressigne, in the American of December 3, 1836. Dr. J. H. Bar- nard advertised in the American of June 8, 1835, under date of June 3. Dr. J. C. Bradley, surgeon dentist, proffered his odontological ability in the same paper, under date of June 13, 1835, and was subsequently in business with Mr. Kennicott. In the Democrat of August 24, 1836, is an advertisement of Dr. Daniel Brainard, who proffered his services to citizens of Chi- cago and vicinity at his office, with John Dean Caton, on Dearborn Street, opposite the Tremont House. In the language of the Hon. John Dean Caton, is the fol- lowing reminiscence of Dr. Brainard given: " About the first of September, 1835, Dr. Brainard rode up to my office, wearing pretty seedy clothes and mounted on a little Indian pony. He reported that he was nearly out of funds, and asked my advice as to the propriety of commencing practice here. We had been profes- sional students together in Rome, N. Y., when he was there in the office of Dr. Pope. I knew him to have been an ambitious and studious young man, of great firmness and ability, and did not doubt that the three .years since I had seen him had been profitably spent in acquiring a knowledge of his profession. I advised him to go to the Indian camp, where the Pottawatomies were gathered, preparatory to starting for their new lo- cation west of the Mississippi River, sell his pony, take a desk or rather a little table in my office, and put his shingle by the side of the door, promising to aid him, as best I could, in building up a business. During the first year the Doctor's practice did not enter those cir- cles of. which he was most ambitious. Indeed it was mostly confined to the poorest of the population, and he anxiously looked for a door which should give him admission to a better class of patients. While he answered every call, whether there was a prospect of remuneration or not, he felt that he was qualified to attend those who were able to pay him liberally for his services. At length the door was opened. A schooner was wrecked south of the town, on which were a man and his wife, who escaped with barely their clothes on their backs. They were rather simple people, and belonged to the lowest walks in life. They started for the country on foot, begging their way, and, when distant some twelve miles, encountered a party of men with a drove of horses, one of whom pretended that he was a Sheriff, and arrested them for improper purposes. When they were set at liberty, they returned to the town, and came to me for legal advice, the woman being about five months advanced in pregnancy. I commenced a suit for the redress of their grievances, and the Doctor took an active interest in their welfare. He procured for them a small house nn the North Side, and made per- sonal appeals to all the ladies in the neighborhood. for pro- vision for their needs. Mrs. John H. Kinzie became par- ticularly interested in their case, and paid frequent visits to the cabin with other ladies. The nervous system of the woman had been greatly shattered, and a miscar- riage was constantly apprehended. The Doctor was unremitting in his attentions, and finally carried her through ber confinement with marked success, exhibit- ing to the ladies who had taken so much interest in the patient a fine living child. This was the long desired opportunity, and it did not fail to produce its results. Dr. Brainard immediately became famous. His disin- terested sympathy, his goodness of heart, his skillful

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History of Chicago. From the earliest period to the present time, Part 129

Author: Andreas, Alfred Theodore Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas Number of Pages: 1340

Author: Andreas, Alfred Theodore
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas
Number of Pages: 1340