A biographical history of eminent and self-made men of the state of Indiana : with many portrait-illustrations on steel, engraved expressly for this work, Volume I, Part 50

Author:
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Cincinnati, Ohio : Western Biographical Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1038

USA > Indiana > A biographical history of eminent and self-made men of the state of Indiana : with many portrait-illustrations on steel, engraved expressly for this work, Volume I > Part 50

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).

common law. The characteristics of the three judges were entirely different, yet, combined, served to secure for the bench this high reputation. As a man, Judge Sullivan's character was one of purity and integrity ; as an advocate, he was a deep thinker and plain speaker, commanding great power over a jury; as a jurist, his keen appreciation of equity in our own jurisprudence was such that his decisions possessed unusual weight and authority. Like every good magistrate, he bowed to the majesty of the law, yet was always desirous that justice should be administered. Soon after his retire- ment from the bench he was solicited to accept the nomination of the Whig party for Governor, but he preferred to resume the practice of law. Although for twenty-five years the servant of the public, and away from home the greater part of his time, the training of his children was not overlooked. The loving, tender care of the father was combined with dignity and firm- ness; and probably no family in the West was more thoroughly conversant with the purest literature of the day than his. Two of his sons followed him in his own profession; the third entered the navy of the United States, where he remained until he passed his final examination. He afterward served with distinction in the late Civil War, rising from the rank of captain to that of brigadier-general. Judge Sullivan remained a very decided Whig until that party was broken up, after which he became a Republican, though taking no active part in political affairs until the commencement of the war, in 1861. Then, with all the ardor of loy- alty and patriotism, he lent his abilities and influence to the support of Mr. Lincoln and his policy. In 1869, upon the formation of the Criminal Court of Jefferson County, Judge Sullivan was appointed, by Governor Baker, to organize the court and hold it until the gen- eral election; at which time, by the voice of the peo- ple, he was again made judge of the same court. The first term of the new court opened on Tuesday, December 6, 1870, when he was to be sworn into office, but on that morning the citizens were startled with the intelligence that Judge Sullivan had passed from time to eternity. The angel of death had been sent to summon him to attend a higher court, and peacefully, painlessly, and without objection, he had passed from earth, in the ripeness of his years and the maturity of his wisdom and usefulness. The resolutions of the Supreme Court of the state show in what respect he was held by the com- munity at large. Hon. Joseph E. McDonald said :

" May it Please the Court : I have been deputed by my brothers of the bar to make formal announcement of a sad event, by the news of which you have already been pained. Hon. Jeremiah Sullivan, who was one of the judges of this court from the year 1835 to the year 1846, died suddenly at his home, in Madison, on the sixth day of December, 1870. It is the sentiment of

REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF INDIANA.

[4th Disz.

my brothers of the bar, that the death of one to whom the jurisprudence of the state owes so much, should be noticed in fitting terms upon the records of the high court to which his labors in former years contributed so much of character and respect. As a judge, he was learned and inflexibly just, and an ornament to the bench. As a practicing lawyer, he was able and honor- able, and an ornament to the profession. As a sincere Christian, he was an ornament to the Church. As a man of exalted personal character, he was an ornament to society. I respectfully move, your honors, that the accompanying resolutions of the bar be ordered spread upon the records of the Court :

" At a meeting of members of the bar of the Su- preme Court of Indiana, held at the Supreme Court room, on the second day of January, 1871, convened because of the recent death of Jeremiah Sullivan, a former judge of the court, the following resolutions were adopted :

" Resolved, That it is fitting that some suitable ex- pression of regard for the memory of Judge Sullivan should be preserved among the records of the high court over which he once presided.

" Resolved, That, in the sense of the legal profession of this state, the name of Jeremiah Sullivan should be prominently inscribed in the list of those learned and able judges to whom Indiana will ever remain indebted for their services in laying the firm foundation of its jurisprudence.

" Resolved, That we will cherish the memory of Judge Sullivan as that of a learned and upright judge, a devoted Christian, and a man of unsullied purity and integrity of character."

UTTON, GEORGE, M. D., of Aurora, was born in London, England, on June 16, 1812. His father was of a literary turn of mind. He had a good library, and was remarkable for his memory and colloquial powers. He died in 1850. His mother's maiden name was Ives. She received her education at one of the fashionable boarding schools near London, and was accomplished in music, drawing, and needle- work. Her son has a piece of her needle-work represent- ing an Egyptian scene. Although it is now more than eighty years old, it still adorns the walls of his parlor, and is regarded as a masterpiece of art. She died in 1827. In the year 1819 the parents of Doctor Sutton emigrated to the United States, and went on to Cincin- nati, where they remained during the winters of 1819 and 1820. In the spring of 1820 the family removed to a farm in the valley of the White Water, in Franklin County, Indiana. There Doctor Sutton received as good an education as could be obtained in those days at the country log school-house. He was fond of field sports, and was a successful hunter of deer and wild turkeys, which were in abundance at that time in that section of country. In 1828 he was sent to the Miami University to acquire a knowledge of Latin and mathe- matics. In the winter of 1832 and 1833 his father re-

moved with the family to Cincinnati, where in the fol- lowing summer he commenced the study of medicine, under Doctor Jesse Smith. He was a pupil of Doctor Smith only a few weeks, as his preceptor died from a sud- den attack of cholera, at that time prevailing in the city as an epidemic. He afterwards became a student of Professor John Eberle, and also attended a course of private lectures given to a small class by Professor S. D. Gross, now of Philadelphia. He attended lectures at the Medical College of Ohio during the winter, and spent most of his time in the dissecting room in the spring and fall. In the spring of 1835, as he had been a, close student, he needed change, and a rest from study. For this purpose, and also to look at the country, he made an excursion with gun and knapsack, going from Cincinnati by the Miami Canal to St. Mary's, down the St. Mary's River in a flat-boat to Fort Wayne; thence on foot to Huntington. Here he purchased a small canoe and floated down the Wabash to New Har- mony. From Huntington to Logansport the river ran through an almost unbroken forest. He left Hunting- ton in the afternoon, intending to stay all night at La Grove, about twelve miles distant; but the Wabash was at flood height, and the branches of the trees on each side of the river hung down in the swift current, mak- ing it safer to keep in the middle of the stream than to attempt to stop. Night and a thunder-storm coming on just before he reached La Grove, he saw the lights of the town as he floated by, without attempting to land. By the flashes of lightning and the wall of trees on each side of the river, he kept in the middle of the stream until some time in the latter part of the night, when he lodged on the head of an island. To keep his canoe from turning he pushed his paddle down in the sand, and, with his head resting on its end and an umbrella over him, he dozed till morning. At day- light he pushed away the drift-wood that had lodged against the canoe, swung out into the river, and re- sumed his journey. He stopped a short time at Peru, and visited the Indian village, as the natives at that time had not left the Reserve. On this solitary voyage of several hundred miles down the Wabash he shot wild turkeys and wild geese, and saw other game in abun- dance. As night approached he occasionally built a fire on the banks of the river, made a temporary shelter, and remained at this camp until morning, then em- barked in his canoe and continued his journey. Invig- orated in health, he returned to Cincinnati, after being absent about two months, and resumed his studies. He graduated the following spring at the Ohio Medical College, after having attended three full courses of lectures. The title of his thesis was, "The Relations between the Blood and Vital Principle." In the spring of 1836 he commenced the practice of his profession at Aurora. He soon obtained an extensive practice, as

George Button MG.

REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF INDIANA.

4th Dist.]

there was at that time a large amount of sickness on the low malarial bottom lands, in the neighborhood of Aurora. On June 7, 1838, he was married to Miss Sarah Folbre, of Aurora. By this marriage they have had five children, four sons and one daughter. He has lost three sons, but his daughter and one son are still living. His wife died in 1868. In the winter of 1838, after failing to obtain a post mortem examination of a case in which he felt much interested, he wrote a series of articles on the "Importance of Post Mortem Ex- aminations to the Public." These papers were pub- lished in the Dearborn Democrat, during the months of December, January, and February, and were his first literary efforts for publication. In 1839 the citizens of Aurora celebrated the Fourth of July in grand style. On this occasion he was one of the orators of the day, and delivered an address to an audience of many thousands. In 1840 he published a paper in the American Journal of Medical Science, Volume XXVI, "On Enlarged Prostate Gland Connected with Thickened and Sacculated Blad- der." In the winter and spring of 1843, epidemic erysipelas, known by the popular name of " black tongue," prevailed at Aurora, and also in the surround- ing country, in Dearborn and Ripley Counties. Neigh- boring physicians were attacked with the disease. It

caused the death of one who resided a few miles from Aurora. The only physician in Wilmington, a little town two miles from Aurora, also had a severe attack, and at one time it was thought would not recover. The illness of these physicians enlarged the range of practice for Doctor Sutton, and gave him an extensive experience with the epidemic. In the fall of 1843 he published his observations on this epidemic erysipelas in the Western Lancet. He directed attention to the various forms assumed by erysipelas. He said :

"This disease has either assumed several characters, or we have had several epidemics traversing the county together. It attacks the mucous membrane of the respiratory passages, the tongue, the glands of the throat, the skin in the form of erysipelas; the lungs and thoracic viscera; the uterus and its appendages, producing puerperal fever, as this last disease in several places has also accompanied the epidemic."

At the time this paper was published these were ad- vanced views. The paper immediately attracted atten- tion, and extracts from it were republished in medical journals, and also in Copland's Medical Dictionary, and it was reprinted in full in Bell's edition of Nun- nerly on Erysipelas. Doctor Sutton has been closely identified with the formation and growth of the Dear- born County Medical Society, which at the present time ranks among the most prosperous county medical societies in the state. In the spring of 1844 he issued a circular, which was sent to physicians in Dearborn and adjoining counties, and the first meeting of the first medical society formed in Dearborn County was

organized at his residence, in Aurora, on the first Mon- day in June, 1844. This society continued in existence for some time. It was reorganized in 1867, and has since held regular monthly meetings. At this time (1844) he had a large and lucrative practice, and gave much attention to surgery. He was frequently selected to deliver public addresses, and took an active part in the temperance movement. In the summer of 1849 cholera made its appearance at Aurora in its most ma- lignant form. His labor was incessant night and day ; and while attending patients he was suddenly attacked with the disease himself. This was about two o'clock in the morning. He had been up during the whole night, and for a number in succession his rest had been broken. The epidemic was most violent in that portion of the town in which he resided. More than half of his immediate neighbors died. His whole family were stricken down one after another. His oldest son died after only a few hours' illness, and his youngest son sank into collapse so low that his recovery was despaired of for nearly twenty-four hours. Doctor Sutton partially recovered from the attack, and although feeble and emaciated again assisted, as far as he was able, in the treatment of the sick. The distress and anxiety of the citizens of Aurora at this time can scarcely be realized, for, in the midst of the pestilence, the destruction of the town by fire seemed at one time to be almost in- evitable. On the 23d of July, while Doctor Sutton was rendering all the assistance that he could in his feeble health, at the bedside of a patient in the collapse stage of cholera, the alarm of fire was given, and he was hurriedly called from this patient to attend one of the citizens who had received fatal injuries and burns at the conflagration. The flames for a time were uncontrollable, and the destruction of property was great. A large flouring-mill, distillery, corn-house, and a number of other buildings were destroyed. Seeing the difficulty citizens occasionally had in procuring a physician to attend immediately on the sick, Doctor Sutton, while convalescing from his illness, issued in pamphlet form, for gratuitous circulation. "A Summary of the Symptoms and Treatment of Asiatic Cholera," intended for a guide in the treatment of the disease until a physician could be procured. In 1852 a celebration was held in Aurora on the Fourth of July. He was selected as orator of the day, and delivered an address "On the Danger of Dissolution of the Union from the Question of Slavery." This oration was published in the newspapers, and also in pamphlet form. The danger of civil war, which oc- curred nine years afterwards, was forcibly predicted. This year he joined the Indiana State Medical Society, and was appointed chairman of a committee to report on the "Medical History of Cholera in Indiana." He issued a circular, which he sent to physicians through- out the state. It contained a series of questions with

REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF INDIANA.

[4th Dist.

blank spaces for answers. He succeeded in obtaining answers and communications from forty-six physicians, showing the extent to which the epidemic had prevailed in thirty-eight counties. A number of these communi- cations were from the most eminent practitioners in the state, and the report, it is believed, contains the largest amount of trustworthy information concerning the prev- alence of Asiatic cholera within the state of Indiana that has yet been published. The report was presented to the State Medical Society at its meeting in May, 1853, and is published in its Transactions. In that report he advocated the view that cholera was an infectious dis- ease, and was diffused over the globe by human agency. He also advanced the idea that cholera, like other dis- eases, presents different grades of severity ; and that the choleraic diarrhea, which at that time was regarded as a premonitory system only, was in reality a mild form of the disease. He divided cholera into four phases : the form of diarrhea; the form of dysentery ; a mild form resembling cholera morbus; and the malignant form, where there was failure of the circulation, in connection with vomiting and purging, blueness of the skin, cramps, etc. He argues at some length to show how the disease may be spread over the country by persons laboring under diarrhea, and how difficult it is to trace the manner of its diffusion. (See page 168, Transac- tions of Indiana State Medical Society.) He also ad- vanced the idea, which has since become widely be- lieved, that infection arose from the evacuations; and he directed attention to the local malignancy of cholera, and how this local malignancy may arise from the accu- mulation of infection, either from the soiled clothes or bedding of the sick, or from throwing the cholera evac- uations upon the ground. (See pages 162, 163, and 166.) He says in that report that-

"Six or seven hours before the first case terminated fatally, the evacuations from the bowels passed invol- untarily into the bed; consequently, the bed and straw became saturated with these discharges. Immediately after the death of this patient the straw in this bed was emptied upon a vacant lot on the west side of this house. Now, if we can conceive that from this straw there emanated a poison capable of producing cholera, that portion of the town which became infected is just that portion which a vapor emanating from this place would be most likely to pass over."

Continuing to discuss this subject through several pages, he says :

" When the disease prevails, each house at which a fatal case has occurred becomes a source of infection -- first from the patient, next from the bed and bedding, and also from the excretions, which from their watery appearance are generally emptied on the ground." (See page 163.)

Ile believed that cholera could be spread through the community from the clothing of an individual being slightly soiled by this painless or choleraic diar-

rhea, while the person himself wearing the clothing, although laboring under an infectious diarrhea, would scarcely be aware that he was unwell. It must be borne in mind that these views were formed in 1849, to account for the introduction and prevalence of chol- era at Aurora. They were presented to the profession in May, 1853, at the meeting of the Indiana State Med- ical Society. It is believed that in this report is found the first warning of danger arising from choleraic evac- uations, and consequently the danger of throwing them upon the ground. Doctor Snow, of London, in 1854, one year afterwards, presented his theory that cholera poison emanated from the evacuations, but that this poison must be swallowed, either in drinking water or otherwise, to produce its specific effects. Doctor Sutton's report is full of original observations, and is suggestive in the highest degree. It was read to the society at a morning session, and, as the views presented were new at that time, it was made the order of the day at two o'clock for discussion. It was taken up, and " discussed at large 'by Doctors Harding, Moffat, Lomax, Bobbs, Clark, Ritter, Reid, Demming, Mears, Yeakle, Sutton, and other members of the society, when the report was re- ferred to the committee on publication, and the com- mittee requested to continue the investigation, and report at the next session." On motion of Doctor Lomax, the thanks of the society were " tendered to Doctor Sutton for his able and interesting report on the medical history of cholera." (See pages 12 and 13, ibid.) In the spring of 1856 he was selected by Professor S. D. Gross as one of the collaborators for the Louisville Review, and also, in 1857, for the North American Medico-Chirurgical Review, published at Philadelphia. To both of these journals he contributed papers. This year he furnished a report to the Indiana State Medical Society on erysipelas, which is published in the Transac- tions for 1857. About this time the remarkable epizootic known by the name of "hog-cholera " made its appear- ance, not only in Dearborn County, but in other por- tions of the state, also in Ohio and Kentucky. The disease spread over the country, and the swine died by hundreds and thousands. But little was definitely known at that time of the nature of this disease. Some writ- ers thought it was a species of cholera resembling the Asiatic, from which it took its name, and depended upon an "epidemic influence ;" others, that it arose from crowding hogs together in the pens at the large distilleries. Some thought that the slop fed to hogs at the distilleries gave rise to the disease ; but none at that time had proved that it was a contagious or infectious disease. Doctor Sutton made a series of experiments to ascertain the etiology and pathology of this disease. By these experiments he ascertained the disease to be highly infectious, that it is self-limited, that this infec- tion had a latent period seldom exceeding twenty days,

REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF INDIANA.

4th Dist.]

and that an attack exempted the animal from a second. He also presented evidence to show that the disease could not be communicated to the human system. From the dissection of sixty-seven hogs, he ascertained that it was not a disease confined to the alimentary canal, but that nearly every tissue bore evidence of in- flammatory action. He came to the conclusion that this "disease appears to be intermediate between the specific eruptive diseases and erysipelas, partaking of the nature of each, and not having its exact resem- blance among the diseases to which the human system is subject." The first notice of these investigations was published in the Cincinnati Gazette, January 14, 1857. It was copied into several agricultural papers. A more extended series of experiments and observations was published in the May, 1858, number of the North American Medico-Chirurgical Review. Quotations were given in the agricultural reports and newspapers, and a lengthy review was printed in the Sanitary Review and Journal of Public Health, for October, 1858, published in London, England, and edited by Professor B. W. Rich- ardson, M. D. Professor Richardson says :

" In pursuance of our previous observations, we this time offer some account of a remarkable epizootic amongst swine in the United States of America. We had heard of the disease incidentally at our last issue, but not with sufficient accuracy of detail to warrant any description. This quarter we are more fortunate. The North American Medico-Chirurgical Review for May con- tains an able article on this subject from the pen of Doctor George Sutton, of Aurora, Dearborn County, Inciana. Doctor Sutton has made a long series of re- searches on the epizootic, and has contributed a paper which will not soon be lost in the rolis of scientific history. From this paper we shall borrow in full all the information as to the origin, nature, and transmis- sion of the new-disease visitor."

In concluding a very lengthy review, Doctor Rich- ardson says :

" We place its history, therefore, before our epidem- iologists, as a record of great importance, and in doing so we beg to offer to Doctor Sutton our respectful and earnest appreciation of his laborious and carefully con- ducted researches."

Twenty-two years have passed away since these in- vestigations were made, and time has confirmed the correctness of the conclusions then arrived at. The epizootic still prevails, and may now be regarded as one of the most remarkable known to have occurred upon our globe. Millions on millions of swine have died from the disease, producing a loss to our country al- most incalculable. When the history of this epizootic comes to be written, it will be found that the researches of Doctor Sutton were the first that unraveled the mys- teries surrounding the disease, and gave the proper direction for further investigation. Having had much experience with scarlatina in its most malignant form, he published in the North American Medico - Chirurgical

Review for November, 1857, his observations on the diversity of symptoms in scarlatina maligna. He di- rected attention to the four following modifications: I. Where the system is suddenly prostrated at the com- mencement of the disease, as if from a severe shock upon the organic nervous system. 2. Where the vio- lence of the disease is directed to the brain, producing congestion or inflammation of that organ. 3. Where the alimentary canal is the principal seat of irritation, producing symptoms resembling a violent cholera mor- bus. 4. Where the disease is principally directed to the throat and respiratory passages. He presented cases to show that these symptoms were occasionally as distinct as those upon which scarlatina is divided into the mild, the anginose, and the malignant varieties. Doctor Sut- ton was fond of the natural sciences, and, although ac- tively engaged in the practice of his profession, he devoted a portion of his time to their study and inves- tigation. In 1859 he delivered a course of lectures on geology, embracing the physical history of his own neighborhood, with which, from careful study, he had made himself familiar. These lectures were delivered in behalf of the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association, of which he was one of the advisory committee for Indi- ana. (See Mount Vernon Record for May, 1859.) A synopsis of these lectures was published in the Aurora Commercial at the time. This year he sent to the secre- tary of the Smithsonian Institute his observations of the great auroral display of September I and 2, 1859. Pro- fessor Henry sent extracts from this paper for publication to the American Journal of Science and Arts (Silliman's Journal), which may be seen in the November number for 1860, page 354. In 1862, a few days after the battle of Pittsburg Landing (Shiloh), Tennessee, he offered his services to the United States Sanitary Committee, visited the field of battle, and was assigned the surgical ward of one of the hospital's boats, which were, at that time, conveying the wounded and sick from the field of bat- tle to' the hospitals at New Albany, Louisville, etc. During the same year he wrote a series of articles of local interest on the financial complications of the city of Aurora with the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad and certain individuals. These papers were published in the Aurora Commercial, and presented the subject of dis- pute in so clear a form that, at the next election, he was brought out as a candidate for mayor; and, although contrary to his own wishes, was elected by an almost unanimous vote, only twenty-four votes out of the whole, including the different wards of the city, being cast for the opposing candidate. He was elected three times in succession, the last time without opposition. He refused to serve longer, as the office interfered with the duties of his profession. In 1866, as cholera was again ap- proaching the country, he published a summary of ob- servations on cholera, in which he reiterated the views

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.

A biographical history of eminent and self-made men of the state of Indiana : with many portrait-illustrations on steel, engraved expressly for this work, Volume I, Part 50

Author: Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Cincinnati, Ohio : Western Biographical Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 1038

Author:
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Cincinnati, Ohio : Western Biographical Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1038