USA > Illinois > Macoupin County > History of Macoupin County, Illinois : biographical and pictorial, Volume I > Part 33
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Robert S. Cowan, a native of Tennessee, was born March 9, 1833. He ar- rived in Macoupin county in 1865 and began the practice of medicine at Nilwood, where he remained until 1869, when he removed to Girard and practiced there for many years. Dr. Cowan was a member of the Macoupin County Medical Society and also of the State Medical Society.
Dr. William A. Shriver was a native of Ohio and began the study of med- icine with Dr. Pitzer of St. Louis. He attended lectures at the Eclectic Medical Institute at Cincinnati, Ohio, and received a diploma. He began practice at Virden in 1866 and soon gained a reputation as a successful physician.
Dr. Albert Campbell Corr specialized on diseases of the eye, ear and throat and associated with him his wife, Dr. L. H. Corr, both of whom became prom- inent in the profession. Dr. Albert Corr was a native of Macoupin county, his birth occurring in Honey Point township, February 10, 1840. He received his early education in the pioneer schools and in 1863 entered Blackburn University. In 1864 he enlisted in Company F, One Hundred and Thirty-third Illinois Volunteers, in which he served four months. He then returned to the farm and at intervals began the study of medicine. The year 1865 found him at Chicago Medical College, where he remained a student two years. During the vacation of his last year he studied in the office of Drs. J. P. and L. Matthews, of Car- linville. March 4, 1868, was the date of his graduation, soon after which he began the practice of his profession in Chesterfield, remaining there seven years, when he took up the practice in Carlinville. He was one of the charter members of the Macoupin County Medical Society, which was organzed in 1873. He became its president in 1880. In 1886 Dr. Corr relinquished his general prac- tice to devote himself to specializing on diseases of the eye, ear and throat. April 20, 1865, the marriage of Dr. Corr and Miss Lucinda Hall occurred. She also become his associate professionally. Dr. Corr was the first delegate from the County Medical Society to the State Medical Society and the third physician in Macoupin county admitted to membership in that organization, Dr. John A. Halderman, one of its charter members, being the first and Dr. J. P. Matthews Vol. 1-18
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the second. He was also a charter member and surgeon of Dan Messick Post, No. 339, G. A. R. A complete sketch of the Doctor will be found in the bio- graphical volume of this work.
Dr. C. T. Buffington was born in Jersey county, Illinois, in 1856. He was the son of a physician, one of the oldest in Jersey county. Dr. Buffington being a natural student and of an investigating mind, gave his early attention to the study of his profession. After reading medicine with his father he took up the study under the direction of Drs. Hadway and Lyon of Jerseyville, and after- ward practiced with them until he located in Shaw's Point township in 1869, soon acquiring a lucrative and extensive clientele. Dr. Buffington married Miss Jennie Masters, daughter of John B. Masters, in 1875.
Dr. William Dwight Graham was a son of Milo and Hannah (Dugger) Graham, natives of Pennsylvania. Dr. Graham was an early physician of Carlinville and for forty-two years engaged in the drug business in this city. He was a veteran of the Civil war and died in 1906, at the age of fifty-eight years. His widow survives him and is a resident of Carlinville. A more ex- tended sketch will be found in Volume II.
Dr. A. R. Sawyer was one of the early physicians of Bunker Hill. In 1867 he became proprietor of the Union Gazette at that place. He died in 1868.
Dr. Levi Hutchinson, for many years deceased, was also one of the early physicians of Bunker Hill.
Dr. Isaac R. Lane located for practice in Chesterfield in 1868 and there re- mained until 1883, when he removed to Mountain Grove, Missouri, and there died May 19, 1911.
Robert J. Mitchell became one of the leading physicians of Girard. He was a native of Pennsylvania. In the fall of 1869 he entered Rush Medical College at Chicago and graduated with the class of 1871. A few weeks thereafter Dr. Mitchell located in Girard, where he soon gained the esteem of a large clientele for his professional knowledge and practical ability.
Dr. Joseph Hunter was born in Virginia, September 2, 1837. He was raised and obtained his education at Bath and began the study of medicine under Dr. Joseph Brown, later attending medical college in Cincinnati. In 1858 he was a resident of Greenfield, Illinois. Dr. Hunter became a surgeon in the Civil war and had charge of the refugee hospital at Jackson under General R. J. Oglesby. By reason of disability he left the service and returned to Illinois, settling in Medora in the spring of 1872. Here he established a drug store, which he carried on in connection with his practice.
Dr. Charles H. Black began the practice of medicine at Dorchester in 1873. He had read medicine in 1870 in the office of Dr. William A. Allen, of Green- ville, and in the fall of 1871 entered the Chicago Medical College, from which he graduated in the spring of 1873. He soon thereafter began his medical career at Woodburn, in Macoupin county, and in November of the same year estab- lished himself as a physician at Dorchester. He made a good professional record.
Dr. William A. Allen was born in Green county, Illinois, October 28, 1848. He received his elementary schooling at his native place and then entered Black- burn College in Carlinville, where he remained two years, after which he
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taught two terms and at the same time read medicine. He entered the office of Dr. R. M. Wilson, at Palmyra, at the age of twenty-three as a student, where he remained a year and a half. He then entered Rush Medical College of Chicago, graduating from that institution in the spring of 1874. Immediately thereafter Dr. Wilson began practice in Palmyra, where he remained until the following spring. Dr. Allen bought the practice of Dr. Wilson in 1876 and located permanently in Palmyra, at once entering upon a lucrative prac- tice. He was married to Anna Corn, daughter of A. M. Corn, near Decatur.
Dr. George Herbert Gilson was born in the village of Brighton, Macoupin county, September 15, 1853, and is a son of James W. Gilson. The young man attended the common schools until his seventeenth year, when he entered Black- burn University, at Carlinville, and took a scientific course. After remaining there three years he commenced reading medicine and in 1874 entered the St. Louis Medical College, graduating therefrom in the spring of 1876. He immediately commenced the practice of his profession at Shipman, this county where he succeeded in building up a lucrative and extensive practice.
Dr. Charles J. C. Fischer is a native of Illinois, born in Madison county, January 28, 1854. When sixteen years old he began the study of Latin and German under a private tutor. Soon after completing these branches he be- gan reading medicine under the guidance of Dr. A. M. Powell, after which he attended lectures in St. Louis Medical College, graduating therefrom in 1877. He was married in 1879 to Sofie Schuricht, whose birth place was St. Louis, Missouri. The Doctor is a member of the Macoupin County Medical Society, Illinois Medical Society and Mississippi Valley Medical Association.
Robert E. Bley became a practitioner at Bunker Hill in 1877. He was a son of Dr. George Bley, one of the pioneer physicians of the county.
Dr. Marvel Thomas is a native of Macoupin county, born in Gillespie town- ship, October 8, 1855. He entered Blackburn University in the fall of 1873, graduating with the degree of B. S. He then entered Missouri Medical Col- lege at St. Louis, from which he was graduated in 1884. He at once entered upon the practice of his profession in Palmyra, where he remained until 1890.
MEDICAL SOCIETIES.
The first effort toward organizing a medical society in Macoupin county was the result of a resolution offered before the State Medical Society, by Dr. John 'A. Halderman, in 1856. But when the society came into being cannot now be determined definitely. The year here mentioned must suffice for the purposes of this article. There is still extant a pamphlet, published in that year, in which is given the constitution and by-laws of the society, the names of its members and officers; also a code of ethics governing the profession and an established fee bill. This pamphlet was printed at the office of the Spectator.
The official list of names of the Macoupin County Medical Society for the year 1856 was as follows:
President, John A. Halderman; vice president, John Logan; secretary, Alex- ander P. Bettersworth; treasurer, John W. Hankins; board of censors, John A. Halderman, John Logan, M. Morton; publishing committee, Alexander P.
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Bettersworth, John Logan, M. Morton. Members, J. A. Halderman, A. P. Bettersworth, J. W. Trabue, W. B. Brink, E. E. Webster, J. D. Marshall, C. H. Holliday, E. Howell, Bunker Hill; J. Logan, J. W. Hankins, Charles E. Smith, Palmyra; F. Jones, A. Miller, J. Ash, Brighton; E. C. Ellet, M. W. Seaman, Shipman; A. Hildreth, Chesterfield.
Among other things mentioned in the "code" were paragraphs relating to "the duties of the profession to the public, and the obligations of the public to the profession," which are deemed worthy of reproduction and follow below :
DUTIES OF THE PROFESSION TO THE PUBLIC.
Section 1. As good citizens, it is the duty of physicians to be ever vigilant for the welfare of the community, and to bear their part in sustaining its institu- tions and burdens; they should also be ever ready to give counsel to the public in relation to matters especially appertaining to their profession, as on subjects of medical police, public hygiene and legal medicine. It is their province to en- lighten the public in regard to quarantine regulations, the location, arrangement and dietaries of hospitals, asylums, schools, prisons and similar institutions ; in relation to the medical police of towns, as drainage, ventilation, etc. and in regard to measures for the prevention of epidemic and contagious diseases ; and when pestilence prevails, it is their duty to face the danger, and to continue their labors for the alleviation of the suffering, even at the jeopardy of their own lives.
Section 2. Medical men should also be always ready when called upon by the legally constituted authorities, to enlighten coroners' inquests and courts of justice, on subjects strictly medical, such as involve questions relating to sanity, legitimacy, murder by poisons or other violent means ; and in regard to the other various subjects embraced in the science of medical jurisprudence. But in these cases, and especially where they are required to make postmortem ex- amination, it is just, in consequence of the time, labor and skill required, and the responsibility and the risk they incur, that the public should award them a proper honorarium.
Section 3. There is no profession, by the members of which eleemosynary services are more liberally dispensed than the medical; but justice requires that some limits should be placed to the performance of such good offices. Pov- erty, professional brotherhood, and certain public duties referred to in section one of this chapter, should always be recognized as presenting claims for gratu- itous services; but neither institutions endowed by the public, or by rich in- dividuals, societies for mutual benefit, for the insurance of lives, or for an- alogous purposes, nor any profession or occupation, can be admitted to possess such privilege. Nor can it be justly expected of physicians to furnish certifi- cates of inability to serve on juries, to perform militia duty, or to testify to the state of health of persons wishing to insure their lives, obtain pensions, or the like, without a pecuniary acknowledgement. But to individuals in indigent circumstances, such professional services should always be cheerfully and freely accorded.
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Section 4. It is the duty of physicians, who are frequent witnesses of the enormities committed by quackery, and the injury to health and even destruction of life, caused by the use of quack medicines, to enlighten the public on these subjects, to expose the injuries sustained by the unwary from the devices and pretentions of artful empirics and impostors. Physicians ought to use all the influence which they possess, as professors in colleges of pharmacy, and by exercising their option in regard to the shops to which their prescriptions shall be sent, to discourage druggists and apothecaries from vending quack or secret medicines, or from being in any way engaged in their manufacture or sale.
OBLIGATIONS OF THE PUBLIC TO PHYSICIANS.
Section I. The benefits accruing to the public directly and indirectly from the active and unwearied beneficence of the profession, are so numerous and important that physicians are justly entitled to the utmost consideration and respect from the community. The public ought likewise to entertain a just appreciation of medical qualifications, to make a proper discrimination between true science and the assumption of ignorance and empiricism ; to afford every encouragement and facility for the acquisition of medical education.
This society lived how long? No one exactly knows. But its life was a short one and several years elapsed before its successor came into being.
In the summer of 1873, through the efforts of Drs. R. M. Wilson and A. C. Corr, then of Chesterfield, after securing the endorsement of Drs. J. P. Mat- thews, John Logan and E. H. Head, the society was reorganized. The first preliminary meeting was held in July, of which Dr. Corr was chosen as chair- man. But a small number of the fraternity was present. Those now recalled were R. M. Wilson, Reuben J. Allmond, W. C. Day, R. S. W. Cowan, R. J. Mitchell, J. R. Lane and C. E. Smith.
For reasons then important, an adjournment was taken to September 16, 1873, and on that day another meeting was held, at Shipman. There were present then Drs. Seaman, chairman; Trabue, Butler, Penniman, Black and Dickerson. The organization was perfected by the election of M. W. Seaman, president ; F. Brother, vice president ; R. M. Wilson and W. C. Day, secretaries ; A. C. Corr, treasurer.
Carlinville was chosen as the first meeting place, but owing to the non-appear- ance of any physicians of the county seat at the organization meeting, the place was changed to Girard. Drs. Wilson, Mitchell, Corr and Day were appointed a committee to draft a constitution and by-laws ; Penniman, Cowan and Brother were appointed as a board of censors.
At the Girard meeting, on the third Tuesday in October, 1873, the commit- tee on constitution and by-laws reported and this important measure, chiefly the work of Dr. Corr, was adopted.
From this time up to the present the society has held its regular meetings, where papers pertinent to medicine and surgery have been read by men from various sections of the country, eminent in the profession, and discussed by members of the society.
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There were thirteen charter members, to wit: M. W. Seaman, A. B. Penni- man, Ferd Brother, R. S. Cowan, J. R. Lane, R. M. Wilson, A. C. Corr, W. C. Day, R. J. Mitchell, C. H. Black, J. W. Trabue, C. E. Smith, J. P. Matthews. This number grew to forty-seven within a short time and below is given the present membership, as it appears by the records of the secretary, J. P. Matthews.
Carlinville-J. P. Denby, J. H. Davis, C. J. C. Fischer, J. S. Collins, J. P. Matthews, J. Palmer Matthews, L. H. Corr, E. S. Head, Robert Bell, F. M. Wood.
Gillespie-C. D. King, E. B. Hobson, William Gross, Thomas H. Hall, J. N. English.
Virden-E. K. Lockwood, M. H. Farmer, T. W. Morgan, E. R. Motley, E. G. Motley.
Girard-R. S. Cowan, G. E. Hill, W. W. Van Wormier, A. H. Simmons, J. H. Riffey, R. J. Mitchell.
Staunton-D. L. Bley, A. H. Hunter, U. G. Auer, J. S. Patterson.
Mount Olive-G. A. Floreth, C. S. Ambrose, O. F. Allen, Maximillian Leon. Bunker Hill-S. D. Rockefeller, H. C. Kibbie, Robert E. Bley, E. S. Milton. Nilwood-D. A. Morgan.
Brighton-J. R. Ash, T. A. Horine.
Scottville-W. B. Dalton, Dr. Doan.
Plainview-M. J. Donahue.
Palmyra-Ben Hudson, Martin McMahan.
Atwater-W. A. Trout.
Chesterfield-W. A. Knoop.
Shipman-J. P. Hale, R. R. Bobzin, J. L. Kerrell, J. B. Listen.
Greenfield-A. G. Kinkead, H. W. Gobble.
Benld-H. A. Pattison, F. A. Renner, H. B. Beeson.
Dorchester-F. B. Bushni.
Medora-J. E. Walton, O. P. Irwin.
Modesto-J. A. Kennedy.
The present officers are: President, C. D. King, Gillespie; vice president, T. W. Morgan, Virden ; secretary-treasurer, John Palmer Matthews, Carlinville.
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CHAPTER XVI.
BENCH AND BAR.
SOME MENTION OF THE PIONEER LAWYER-THOSE WHO SHED LUSTER ON THE LEGAL PROFESSION AND MADE A STIR IN THE WORLD-GENERAL JOHN M. PAL- MER-GENERAL JOHN I. RINAKER AND OTHERS-PRESENT MEMBERS OF THE MA- COUPIN BAR.
Perhaps no body of men, not excepting the clergy, may exercise a greater influence for good in a community than those who follow the profession of the law, and it must be admitted that to no other body, not even to the so-called criminal classes, are committed greater possibilities for an influence for evil. What that influence shall be depends upon the character of the men who con- stitute the bar of the community-not merely on their ability or learning but on their character. If the standard of morality among the members of the bar is high, the whole community learns to look at questions of right and wrong from a higher plane. If the bar consciously or unconsciously adopts a low standard of morality, it almost inevitably contaminates the conscience of the community. And this is true not only in the practice of the profession itself, not only because of the influence of members of the bar as men rather than lawyers, but in the effect upon other professions and occupations to which the bar acts as a feeder. The members of the legislature are recruited largely from the legal profession. How can legislation, designed solely for the welfare of the public, be expected from one whose honor as a lawyer has not been above suspicion? And since lawyers, outside of the legislature, have a great influence in shaping the law, how can the people expect that influence to be exerted in their behalf when the bar itself is unworthy? Still more does the character of the bar affect the judiciary, which is supplied from its ranks. It is not always, perhaps not generally, the case that members of the bench are chosen from those lawyers who have attained the highest rank in their profession. If a judge be industrious and honest, but not of great ability, or if he be able and honest, though lacking industry, the rights of the litigants are not likely to suffer seri- ously at his hands. But there have been instances where judicial office was be- stowed solely as a reward for political service ; and while it is sometimes realized that one who has been a strenuous and not too scrupulous politician up to the moment of his elevation to the bench, has thereafter forgotten that there was such a trade as politics and has administered justice without fear or favor, the experiment is a dangerous one. No one need be surprised if in, such a case the
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old maxim holds true: "He who buys the office of judge must of necessity sell justice." Let our judges be men who are subject to other influences than those of the facts submitted to them and the law applicable to those facts, let them lack that independence which is an imperative requisite to one who holds the scale of justice, let a well founded suspicion arise that their decisions are dic- tated by something outside of their own minds and consciences, and the con- fidence of the people in the maintenance of their rights through the agency of the courts is destroyed.
It has been the good fortune of the city of Carlinville and the county of Macoupin that the members of the bar here have been, for the most part, men of high character as well as of ability and learning, so that its bar has won a high and honorable reputation throughout the rest of the state and because of the high character of the bar it has followed that those of its members who have been elevated to the bench have enjoyed the confidence and respect of the public and have been honored not only in their own locality but in many cases throughout the state and in other states.
Yet the preparation of a history of the bar, so far at least as that part of it which lies back of one's own generation is concerned, is attended with consid- erable difficulty. Probably few men who in their time play important parts in the community or even in the state or nation, leave so transient a reputation as lawyers do. A writer on this subject who took for his text the Lawyers of Fifty Years Ago, said: "In thinking over the names of these distinguished men of whom I have been speaking, the thought has come to me how evanescent and limited is the lawyer's reputation, both in time and space. I doubt very much if a lawyer, whatever his standing, is much known to the profession out- side of his own state." Those who attain high rank in the profession must realize that with rare exceptions their names are "writ in water." One may turn over the leaves of old reports and find repeated again and again as counsel in different cases the name of some lawyer who must have been in his time a power in the courts, only to wonder if he has ever seen that name outside of the covers of the dusty reports in which it appears. Hamilton, in the conventions, in the Federalist and in the treasury, and Webster, in the senate and in public ora- tions, have perpetuated and increased the fame of lawyers Hamilton and Web- ster; but were it not for their services outside the strict limits of their profes- sion one might come upon their names at this date with much the same lack of recognition as that with which one finds in a reported case the names of some counsel, great perhaps in his own time, but long since forgotten.
And there is another difficulty in preparing such a history as this, brief and therefore necessarily limited to a few names, and that is that some may be omitted who are quite as worthy of mention as those whose names appear. It is not often that any one man stands as a lawyer head and shoulders above the other members of the profession; and the same may be said of any half dozen men. In many cases the most careful measurement would fail to dis- close a difference of more than a fraction of an inch, if any. Lives of eminent men who have at some period been practicing lawyers have contained the as- sertion that while they were engaged in the practice of their profession they were the "leaders of the bar;" but there is almost always room for doubt as
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to whether the title is now a brevet bestowed by the biographer alone. There- fore the mention in this article of certain lawyers must not be taken as any dis- paragement of those who are not mentioned, and, finally, it is to be observed that this article, so far as the bar is concerned, will treat not only of those mem- bers who are past and gone but will make mention of some of those now in the flesh.
General John M. Palmer was one of the early members of the Macoupin county bar and about a year before his death, or in 1899, wrote a history of the bench and bar of Illinois, in which he devoted considerable space to members of the bar of his day and generation and those who came before him, who prac- ticed in the courts of this county. He wrote understandingly and entertainingly. He, himself, became famous in his profession and in other walks of public life and anything coming from his pen, relating to the men who followed the profes- sion of the law at this bar, is deemed of more than ordinary importance and worthy of preservation. Hence, his remembrances upon the subject are tran- scribed to these pages and appear below :
WHO WAS THE FIRST LAWYER?
"Macoupin county was organized under an act of the legislature approved January 17, 1829. Thomas Carlin was then a state senator from Greene county, and was active in procuring the passage of the act, and the county seat of the new county was named in his honor, Carlinville.
"Senator Carlin afterward became governor of the state, elected in 1838. It is not certain whether Palemon H. Winchester or John S. Greathouse was the first lawyer to settle in Carlinville; they were both residents here in 1831. Judge Scott, in his volume 'Supreme Court of Illinois, 1818,' refers to him as 'Winchester, named as counsel for appellee in same case (Coleen and Claypole versus Figgins), was evidently P. H. Winchester, a teritorial lawyer.'
"Palemon H. Winchester, who was referred to by Judge Scott, was a native of Tennessee and was reputed to have been a nephew of General James Win- chester, who commanded the American forces at Frenchtown, or Raisin river, and surrendered them to the British commander, Procter. Major Winchester, as he was called, came to Illinois in 1817, and settled in Edwardsville, where later he married a daughter of Colonel Benjamin Stevenson, who was then one of the leading citizens of Madison county. Colonel Stevenson was so intimate with Governor Edwards that the late Judge Benjamin Stevenson Edwards was named for him.
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