USA > Indiana > Marion County > Indianapolis > Greater Indianapolis : the history, the industries, the institutions, and the people of a city of homes > Part 123
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 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117 | Part 118 | Part 119 | Part 120 | Part 121 | Part 122 | Part 123 | Part 124 | Part 125 | Part 126 | Part 127 | Part 128 | Part 129 | Part 130 | Part 131 | Part 132 | Part 133 | Part 134 | Part 135
1247
HISTORY OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.
stitute a valuable aequisition to the history of the state.
Dr. Wishard is a charter member of the Indiana State Medical Society, and of the other charter members of this organization only one is living-Dr. P. H. Jameson of In- dianapolis. Dr. Wishard was president of the society at the time of the fortieth anniversary of its organization, and at its fiftieth anniver- sary he gave the address of welcome and pre- sented a history of the organization. For many years he retained active membership in the American Medical Association, and he is still enrolled as a member of the Marion County Medical Society, of which he is. a charter member and of which he served as president in 1905. His retirement from this office was fittingly celebrated by the members of the society, who assembled at his home on his eighty-ninth birthday and, after the reading of his address as retiring president, presented him a beautiful parchment testi- monial, appropriately dedicated and in- seribed. On his ninetieth birthday a large oil portrait of the doctor was presented to the society by his sons.
In polities Dr. Wishard has been aligned as a stanch supporter of the cause of the Republican party from the time of its organi- zation, and he has shown at all times a loyal interest in publie affairs. His religious con- victions are of the deepest and most sincere order, and the spiritual verities have found in him a devoted and well fortified advocate. His religion has been a very part of his life, and by it his entire course has been guided and governed. He and his family hold mem- bership in the Presbyterian Church, and in a previous review of his career the following appreciative words appear, being well worthy of perpetuation in this volume as well: "Throughout his life, Dr. Wishard has never allowed the pressure of professional work to interfere with his church and religious duties, except in cases of emergency. For over sixty years he has been a ruling elder in the church of his choice and has served as commissioner in six meetings of the general assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, the last time being at Winona Lake, Indiana, in May, 1905, just fifty-nine years from the time he first represented the Indianapolis presbytery in that capacity. He has thus availed himself of the privileges, too seldom exercised by Christian physicians, of being able to minister to the sin-sick as well as to those afflicted with bodily ills.
It would hardly be consonant to speak of Dr. Wishard's usefulness as a citizen and physician without paying a tribute to his
wife, to whose unfailing devotion much of his success may be attributed. With great self-denial she eo-operated with him in the early struggles of their married life and was always the cheerful, patient helpmeet that is represented in the ideal wife and mother. Mrs. Wishard's death occurred April 28, 1902, after a wedded life covering a period of more than sixty-one years.
Retaining a deep interest in his old com- rades of the Civil War, Dr. Wishard has sig- nitied the same by his membership in George H. Chapman Post, No. 209, Grand Army of the Republic, of which he served as surgeon for more than fifteen years. Dr. Wishard has witnessed the development of Indiana from the primitive wilds and he lived up to the full tension of the pioneer days, even as it has been given him to enjoy the privileges of our glorious twentieth century. He was a passenger on the first through train that came from Madison to Indianapolis, being one of the interested persons who boarded the cars at Greenwood. He often recalled to mind that on his return trip he sat beside Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, who was that day leaving the Second Presbyterian Church of Indianapolis to assume the pastorate of Ply- mouth Church, in the City of Brooklyn. The doctor is the author of a short historical sketch touching the early history of the medieal profession in Indiana and including biographies of a few of the pioneer physi- cians. The little work is a valuable con- tribution to the history of the state. He has also published an interesting account of his experiences as an army surgeon.
From the article to which recourse has already been had are taken, with but slight metaphrase, the following interesting and pertinent statements, which were written in 1908: "Today Dr. Wishard occupies a unique position in the medical and social life of Indianapolis. He has frequently been called a walking historieal encyclopedia. His remarkable memory enables him to recall quickly and perfectly events and dates, even the days of the week upon which they oe- curred. This marked characteristic has not lessened his interest in current events, as is often the case with elderly persons, but he manifests an interest in the religious, pro- fessional and political questions of the day equal to that of a man in the prime of life."
The following tribute from the pen of the late Dr. Nathan S. Davis, of Chicago, founder of the American Medical Society and long a personal and professional friend of the sub- jeet of this review. is well deserving of repro- dnetion in this connection : "Dr. William H.
1243
HISTORY OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.
Wishard, of Indianapolis, Indiana, is one of the oldest, most intelligent, most useful and patriotic general practitioners of medicine in that state. Rendered strong and self-reliant by abundance of physical labor in his youth, with educational advantages limited to the public or district schools of his neighborhood, he is in the best sense a self-made man. Though contributing but little to the pages of medical literature he has for sixty-three years efficiently sustained the regular medi- cal organizations, both state and national, and as surgeon in volunteer regiments of In- diana during the Civil War, and especially during the siege of Vicksburg, his services were more than ordinarily efficient and valu- able, in the removal and care of the sick and wounded soldiers, many of whom had to be removed to northern hospitals. He is one of those pioneers whose integrity, industry and efficiency have been his prominent character- istics in every position he has been called upon to occupy."
In conclusion of this brief sketch, with no desire to lift the veil that graciously protects the sacred precincts of an ideal home life, it is but consistent that brief record be made concerning the marriage and children of Dr. Wishard. On the 17th of December, 1840, was solemnized his marriage to Miss Harriet N. Moreland, the youngest daughter of Rev. John R. and Rachel (McGohan) Moreland. Her father was one of the prominent mem- bers of the clergy of the Presbyterian Church in Indiana in the early days, and was for some time pastor of the First Pres- byterian Church of Indianapolis. Her death occurred April 28, 1902, as has already been noted in a preceding paragraph. Of the nine children of this union the first four died in infancy or early childhood, and of the five surviving the following data are given : William N .. a representative physician and surgeon of Indianapolis. is individually men- tioned on other pages of this volume. Albert W., is one of the leading members of the In- dianapolis bar and has served as state senator and as United States district attor- ney for Indiana. George W. is engaged in the real estate and loan business in Minne- apolis, Minnesota. Harriet J. is the wife of Dr. John G. Wishard, a medical missionary in Teheran, Persia, for twenty years. He is now in the practice of medicine in Wooster, Ohio. Miss Elizabeth M. remains with her venerable father in the attractive old family homestead at 506 Capitol avenue, North.
WILLIAM N. WISHARD, M. D. It cannot be other than gratifying to note that this native son of the fine old Hoosier commonwealth has chosen to follow and has gained marked dis-
tinction in the profession to which his hon- vied father devoted his attention for nearly seventy years, continuing in active practice until he had attained to the venerable age of ninety years and being still a resident of the City of Indianapolis. Of his career and family history a review is given on other pages of this volume, and thus it is not incumbent that the data be further con- sidered in the present article. In the medical profession Dr. William N. Wishard has ably upheld the prestige of the name he bears, as has he also as a citizen. It has been said that the sons of great men seldom attain to distinction, implying that more or less of handicap is entailed in standing in the shadow of such greatness. This may in many cases be true; in fact the annals of our as well as other nations show such to be the fact, but in contradistinction are found so many instances where sons have added lau- rels to honored names that there can be naught but perversity of spirit and obliquity of vision when it is maintained that the above premise is invariably well taken. Such an instance is afforded in the subject of this sketch, who is numbered among the distinc- tively representative members of a profession which his father dignified and honored by his exalted life and services, and he has achieved precedence through his own powers and abilities, not depending upon hereditary prestige for the success which has been his in his exacting profession, to whose work, in the City of Indianapolis, he has given himself with all of devotion and skill for more than thirty years.
Dr. William Niles Wishard was born in the village of Greenwood, Johnson County, Indiana, on the 10th of October, 1851. When he was nine years of age his parents removed to Glenn's Valley, Marion County, where he remained until 1864, with the ex- ception of one year which he passed in Tecumseh, Michigan, where he attended a well ordered private school. In the year mentioned the family removed to Southport, where he was reared to manhood and where he continued to make his home until the year 1876. He was afforded the advantages of the local high school and after leaving the same continued his studies in Wabash College, at Crawfordsville, this state. By reason of im- paired health he was unable to complete his course in this institution, but it is a matter of gratification to him that the college, in 1891, conferred upon him the honorary de- gree of Master of Arts.
In the autumn of 1871 Dr. Wishard en- tered the Indiana Medical College, in Indian- apolis, to which city his parents removed
1249
HISTORY OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.
about five years later, and from this institu- tion he was graduated as a member of the class of 1874, with the degree of . Doctor of Medicine. For a short time thereafter he was associated with his father in practice, at Southport, and in the spring of 1875 he took a course of lectures in Miami Medical Col- lege, in the City of Cincinnati. In the fall of the same year he resumed his work in that institution, in which he completed the regu- lar course and was graduated in 1876, thus securing his supplemental degree of Doctor of Medicine. Shortly after his graduation the doctor opened an office in Indianapolis, and his ability and loyal service in his pro- fession soon gained to him a satisfactory clientage and one of essentially representa- tive order. For seven and one-half years he was superintendent of the Indianapolis city hospital, in the construction and equip- ment of whose building he was the principal promoter. He has most consistently been designated as the "father" of this noble in- stitution of the capital city. He was also largely instrumental in the founding of the Indianapolis Training School for Nurses, an auxiliary of the city hospital, and this school had the distinction of being the first of its kind to be established in Indiana and the second in the entire west, a similar institu- tion in the City of Chicago having alone had priority. Dr. Wishard retired from the superintendency of the city hospital in 1887, but during the long intervening years he has served continuously as a member of its consulting staff of physicians and has taken a deep interest in its work and welfare. He has also served on the consulting staffs of St. Vincent Hospital, the Protestant Dea- coness Hospital, Methodist Episcopal Hospi- tal, the Bobbs Dispensary, and the Indian- apolis City Dispensary. During the time he was superintendent of the city hospital he was also a member of the faculty of the Medical College of Indiana, in which he lec- tured on clinical medicine.
After leaving the hospital Dr. Wishard went to New York City, where he passed one winter in effective post-graduate study un- der the preceptorship of eminent specialists. taking this course in order to prepare himself more fully for special work in genito-urinary and venereal diseases, and upon his return to Indianapolis he was elected professor of that chair in the medical college previously mentioned, a position of which he has since continued the able and valued incumbent. Since the 1st of April, 1888, he has limited his practice to the treatment of genito-urin- ary and venereal diseases, in connection with which specialty he has attained to high repu-
tation and become a recognized authority. In fortifying himself for the work of his special field he has several times visited Eu- rope, where he has made effective research and prosecuted his technical studies along these specific lines in leading hospitals and medical schools and under the direction of the most distinguished specialists. The fol- lowing record concerning his professional en- deavors is properly given reproduction in this sketch.
"Dr. Wishard gives his time to office prac- tice, consultation and operating, and the range of his patronage is very wide, patients coming not only from Indiana but also from other states. Not long after devoting him- self to a specialty his original work in pros- tatic surgery brought him prominently be- fore the profession at large. He performed the first, or one of the first, operations on record for removal of the lateral lobes of the prostate gland through a perineal opening. He invented an instrument for use of the galvanic cautery on the prostate gland through a perineal opening. This is the first instrument devised specially for this purpose, giving an -opportunity for direct inspection of the operative area, and it makes provision for an independent method as well as a supplement to other procedure. For a number of years Dr. Wishard has served as chairman of the committee on medi- cal legislation for the Indiana State Medical Society, and as such he wrote the larger part of the Indiana law governing the practice of medicine, being the leading spirit in se- curing its passage, in March, 1897, as well as the passage of its subsequent amendments. It is conceded by all the profession that no one exerted a larger influence in the merger of the three schools of medicine-the Med- ical College of Indiana, the Central College of Physicians & Surgeons, both located in Indianapolis, and the Fort Wayne Medical College-than did Dr. Wishard."
Dr. Wishard holds membership in the American Medical Association, the American Association of Genito-Urinary Surgeons, the American Urological Association, the Missis- sippi Valley Medical Association, the Indiana State Medical Society, the Marion County Medical Society, and other representative professional organizations. His personal popularity and the objective appreciation of his ability have been shown in his election to the office of president of the county and state societies mentioned, as well as of the Mississippi Valley Medical Association and the American Urological Association. The following appreciative statements have been
1250
HISTORY OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.
written concerning his efforts in such execu- tive capacity :
"In his capacity as president of these or- ganizations and the efforts growing out of them, Dr. Wishard has shown his unusual ability as a leader of men and as an executive officer. Considerate of the opinions of others, courteous to those who hold views different from his own, forceful and clear in argu- ment, calm in judgment, energetic and perse- vering in whatever he undertakes, his marked characteristics of leadership have gained for him a notable record in the profession of medicine. In medical legislation, college and hospital management, his counsel and advice are sought, and to their advancement he has given his time at the sacrifice of his own per- sonal interests. Selfishness has no part in his nature."
From definite and high sources come the estimates which find proper place in this ar- tiele and which are here given. Dr. A. W. Brayton, editor of the Indiana Medical Jour- nal, writes as follows: "Dr. W. N. Wishard has practiced medicine continuously in In- dianapolis for over thirty years. He was assistant coroner of Marion County two years. and for over seven years the superintendent of the city hospital, changing it from a rude barrack into a modern hospital with a full- fledged training school for nurses, and mak- ing it a model for all the hospitals since estab- lished in Indianapolis. For twenty years Dr. Wishard has confined his medical work to genito-urinary surgery, and he stands in the front rank in the country in this depart- ment of surgery. He has been the leader in Indiana in establishing the medical registra- tion and examination boards, and in the In- diana state health board, of which he was president. Dr. Wishard has also been a leader in medical education as well as in medical legislation. He belongs to the mid- dle group of Indiana physicians-those who were in touch with the great physicians and surgeons of the Civil War period, and who have also taken an active part in the medical and surgical renaissance which is the chief glory and beneficence of modern biological research. In all of Dr. Wishard's relations, in medical, sanitary and civic life, he has been a wise and conservative counselor, but, whenever the occasion required, an aggres- sive and successful actor, serving as condi- tions demanded, either as the watchman at the bow or the helmsman at the wheel. He is now only in the height of his medical and civic usefulness and has a large fund of acquired knowledge and experience, upon which he draws readily in surgical and gen- eral discussions and lectures." Dr. S. E.
Earp, of Indianapolis, editor of the Medical Monitor, writes as follows: "Dr. Wishard possesses rare executive ability and his power as a leader is recognized. In and out of pro- fessional life his methods show a comprehen- siveness and value which are the issue of an analytical mind. His contributions to the medical profession in the line of new instru- ments, to better and perfect his special line of work, are the products of an inventive genius. His place in medical literature and his merit as a teacher are in the first rank, .so that, all in all, his life and work make his position an enviable one." The foregoing quotations are indeed significant and well in- dicate the appreciative esteem in which the doctor is held by his professional contem- poraries. He has given the best of an essen- tially strong and loyal nature to the service of humanity, and measured by its beneficence, its rectitude, its productiveness and its un- conscious altruism, his life has counted for much, even as the angle of his influence is constantly widening to compass and aid his fellow men. In this connection his work as an instructor of youth has transcended mere technical lines and has been a power in the shaping of the characters of those who have thus come within the sphere of his influence. In evidence of this fact are entered the fol- lowing pertinent. statements: "No preceptor ever had a stronger following of faithful students than has Dr. Wishard, those who in the office under his direction and afterward as practitioners have always shown their in- tense love and devotion to him, both as a teacher and as a sympathetic friend and guide. His intrinsie nobility of character has won for him hosts of friends in every walk of life, -- those who recognize in him the earnest Christian gentleman as well as the skilful, conscientious physician."
Dr. Wishard is identified with various civie organizations and has ever given a hearty support to enterprises and institutions of a benevolent and charitable character. He and his wife are zealous and valued members of the First Presbyterian Church, in which he has long held the position of elder and which he has represented in the general as- sembly of the church in America. Though never desirous of entering the arena of prac- tical polities Dr. Wishard has in no wise been unmindful of the duties of citizenship, and his allegiance is given to the cause of the Republican party.
On the 20th of May, 1880, was solemnized the marriage of Dr. Wishard to Miss Alice M. Woolen, daughter of the late William Wesley Woolen. a representative citizen of Indianapolis. Mrs. Wishard survived only
1251
HISTORY OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.
about six months after her marriage, having been summoned to the life eternal on the 9th of December, 1880. On the 17th of June, 1896, Dr. Wishard was united in marriage to Miss Frances C. Scoville, daughter of Charles E. and Frances (Howell) Scoville, of Evans- ville, Indiana, where she was reared and edu- cated, and of the .five children of this union three died in infancy, Those surviving are William Miles, Jr., and Charles Scoville.
JOHN PERRIN. The name Perrin is one which has been long and prominently identified with banking interests in Indiana, and the sub- ject of this review has attained a high prestige in financial circles. He is now president of the American National Bank of Indianapolis, and his advancement in his chosen field has come through ability, energy and integrity-qualities which ever command public confidence and esteem. He organized the institution of which he is now the executive head, having previously been vice-president of the Perrin National Bank of Lafayette, Indiana, of which his father was the organizer and principal stock- holder.
The Perrin family is of French extraction, but John Perrin, the founder of the family in America came to this country from England. Records extant show that he became a resident of the colony of Connecticut about the year 1692.
The subject of this sketch was born at Ross- ville, Clinton County, Indiana, January 17, 1857, being the second son of James J. and Margaret Cason Perrin. James J. Perrin was born in Virginia, where he was reared and edu- cated, coming to Indiana as a young man. He married Margaret Cason, daughter of Judge Samuel Cason, a prominent and influential citizen of Boone County, Indiana, who served as judge of the county court and was the or- ganizer and president of the First National Bank of Thorntown. Judge Cason was of Scotch-Irish ancestry.
James J. Perrin was for a number of years the leading merchant of Rossville. In 1870 hie removed to Lafayette, having become finan- cially interested in the banking business in that city some years previously. In 1872 he converted his private bank into the Indiana National Bank of Lafayette, of which he was continuously president until his death, though the name of the hank was changed to the Per- rin National Bank after the expiration of the original charter. James J. Perrin achieved large success. IJe was a man of fine mental powers and great business acumen. High- minded and public-spirited, he held the regard of all who knew him.
John Perrin after a year at Wabash College, Vol. II-39
Crawfordsville, Indiana, entered Yale Univer- sity, from which he graduated in 1879, receiv- ing the degree of Bachelor of Arts. During the past five years he has been a member of the Executive Committee of the Yale Alumni Ad- visory Board. For ten years after leaving col- lege he engaged in a wholesale and retail hard- ware business in Lafayette, disposing of this to associate himself with his father and brother in the Perrin National Bank. Before entering upon banking he spent a year in Europe, where he gave attention to the study of currency sys- tems and banking methods. During the suc- ceeding ten years he devoted his entire energies to the Perrin National, displaying marked ability as a financier. In 1900 he came to In- dianapolis and organized the American Na- tional Bank, which opened its doors for busi- ness in February, 1901. Mr. Perrin has been continuously president of this institution, which has for its home the old postoffice build- ing. 'Though the history of this bank has not yet covered a decade, so ably have its affairs been administered under the direction of its president ; so strong and representative are its stockholders; so efficient has been the service of its various executive officers, that it now stands second to none in the state in solidity, in management and volume of business con- trolled. It has been arranged that on Septem- ber 3, the American National Bank will con- solidate with the I'letcher National Bank, the title of the new hank being Fletcher American National Bank. Mr. Perrin will be chairman of the board.
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.