History of Indianapolis and Marion County, Indiana, Part 53

Author: Sulgrove, Berry R. (Berry Robinson), 1828-1890
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 942

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JOSHUA AUGUSTINE COMPTON, M.D .- Tradition relates that four brothers of the Compton family emigrated from England, two of whom settled in New York, one in New Jersey, and one in Virginia. From one of these brothers was descended Joshua Compton, the grandfather of Dr. Compton, who was born at Liberty Corner, Somerset Co., N. J., Jan. 15, 1779, where he subsequently became a farmer. He married a Miss Catharine Cazad (originally spelled Casatt or Gazatt), and had ehildren,-Mercy, Lydia, Catharine, Mary, Reuben, Anthony, Joshua, and Israel. Reuben, of this number, was born March 25, 1803, at Liberty Corner, N. J., and continued actively employed as a farmer until twenty-one years of age, when he removed to Western New York and engaged in mercantile pursuits. He married Miss Catharine Rhoades and had children,-Mary A., Joshua Augus- tine, Catharine, Reuben, William, Anthony, Sarah

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A. a. Compton

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Israel, Lydia, and Charles. The death of Mr. Comp- ton occurred in Bradford, Steuben Co., N. Y., July 20, 1871. His wife still survives and resides at Bradford.

Joshua A., the subject of this biography, was born Feb. 26, 1835, in Bradford, N. Y. Excellent oppor- tunities were at that day afforded at the Bradford Academy, where the doctor's earlier studies were pursued ; not without difficulty, however, for he had at twelve years of age a severe attack of pneumonia that left him with weak lungs, which the confinement incident to close application greatly aggravated, neces- sitating the frequent postponement of his studies for months at a time. He had long before fixed his mind on the law, and in 1862 entered Chancy J. Herring's office at Corning, N. Y., but remained only a few months, the confinement heing irksome to him. During the fall of that year his father sent him to look after the welfare of his brother William who had been wounded at the battle of Antietam, and sent to the Fifth and Buttonwood Streets Hospital of Phila- delphia. While there the doctor had the range of the hospital, and embraced the opportunity which offered of hearing most of the clinics. He also had a special invitation from the faculty of the college at Sixth and Willow Streets to attend many of their lectures during the winter of 1862-63, which he em- braced. He had early become distrustful of the effi- cacy of old physic and espoused the water-cure sys- tem. He took a water-cure journal, purchased Dr. Trall's " Eneyelopædia," studied and applied it in his own case ; not having found the desired relief under that treatment, he was induced in the spring of 1863 to try the homeopathie, which was speedily followed by a permanent cure. The doctor was so elated over the result that he immediately adopted the medical profession as his life-work, and began study about the first of May of that year with Dr. G. C. Hibbard, at Springville, Erie Co., N. Y. He attended his first regular course of leeturcs in 1864-65 at the New York Homeopathie College. Occupying the summer months in the practice of his chosen profession at White's Corners, Erie Co., N. Y., where he practiced through a severe epidemic of dysentery without the loss of a single case, he repaired to Cleveland, Ohio,

in the fall, and graduated at the Western Homœo- pathie College with high honors in the spring of 1866, having aeted as demonstrator of anatomy for his elass during his period of study. The West then opened an inviting field of labor to young men engaged in professional or business pursuits, and Dr. Compton determined upon Indiana as his future home. He first opened an office in Muncie, Delaware Co., May 1, 1866, and remained until 1873, meanwhile establish- ing a reputation for ability and skill which won him both practice and profit, embracing among his patients many of the most wealthy and influential families of the city. Having faith, however, in his own capacity and ambition to fill a larger sphere than was possible within the limits of a country town, he sought the . metropolis of the State. Here his professional attain- ments gave him a leading position and a lucrative and extended practice. He has been so successful as sel- dom to have lost a case when given full control of it.

Dr. Compton is a member of the Erie County (New York) Medical Society, a charter member of the Indi- ana Institute of Homeopathy, which he was instru- mental in organizing, and of which he was elected vice-president, member of the American Institute of Homoeopathy, of the Marion County Homoeopathic Association, and of the Hahnemannian International Association of Homoeopathy.

He gives but little time to affairs of a political char- acter, though a supporter of the principles of the 'Re- publican party. He is a member of the Muneie Commandery of Knights Templar. Dr. Compton was educated in the religious creed of the Protestant Episcopal Church.

In 1873-74 the Physio-Medical College of In- diana was organized, and has annnally issued its notices and collected its pupils sinee. This school of medicine seems to be an enlarged and systematized form of the Thomsonian practice, which a recent ad- dress of one of the professors, Dr. Davidson, traces to Dr. Kittredge, of New Hampshire, in 1788, and to Dr. Thomson, of the same State, eight years later. The following is the faculty of the Indiana Physio- Medical College for 1883-84: George Hasty, M.D., Professor of the Principles and Practice of Medicine and Clinical Medicine ; E. Anthony, M.D., Professor

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of the Principles and Practice of Surgery ; C. T. Bedford, M.D., Professor of Obstetrics and Diseases of Women and Children ; G. N. Davidson, M.D., Professor of Botany, Materia Medica, and Thera- peutics ; J. M. Thurston, M.D., Professor of His- tology and Physiology ; William A. Spurgeon, M.D., Professor of Surgical Anatomy ; W. W. Logan, M.D., Professor of General and Descriptive Anatomy ; J. Redding, M.D., Professor of Microscopy and Patho- logical Histology ; J. P. Julian, M.D., Professor of Chemistry and Toxicology ; John Young, LL.D., Lecturer on Medical Jurisprudence ; A. W. Fisher, M.D., Lecturer on Diseases of the Rectum; M. Veenboer, M.D., Lecturer on Sanitary Science ; C. T. Bedford, M.D., Secretary of the Faculty; E. Anthony, M.D., President of the Faculty. The college is located in the Wesley Block, on the south west side of Indiana Avenue, near Tennessce.

In 1879 the Central College of Physicians and Surgeons was organized, and excellent quarters fitted up in the upper stories of the Ryan Block, north- west corner of Tennessee Street and Indiana Avenue. The session of 1882-83 had forty-four matriculates and twenty-three graduates. In this college two prizes are offered annually, one a gold medal, prc- sented by the faculty on commencement day to the member of the graduating class who shall have ob- tained the highest general average in all the depart- ments at the final examination ; the other is presented by Dr. John C. Waters, an Irish physician, a gradu- ate of Trinity College, Dublin, and equally distin- guislicd in Ireland as a politician and patriot and phy- sician. It is a gold medal awarded on commence- ment day to the student in the graduating class who passes the best competitive examination in the pa- thology, diagnosis, and treatment of the diseases of the respiratory organs.

The present faculty is: Charles D. Pearson, A.M., M.D., Professor of Diseases of the Nervous System ; W. S. Haymond, M.D., Dcan, Professor of the Prin- ciples and Practice of Surgery ; John Moffett, M.D., Professor of Obstetrics; R. E. Houghton, M.D., Professor of Surgical Pathology, Operative and Clinical Surgery ; G. C. Smythe, A.M., M.D., Pro- fessor of the Principles and Practice of Medicine and

Sanitary Science ; Joseph Eastman, M.D., Secretary, Professor of Medical and Surgical Diseases of Women, and of Clinical Surgery ; George N. Duzan, M.D., Professor of Physiology and Clinical Medi- cine ; R. French Stone, M.D., Professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics, and Clinical Medicine ; Ira A. E. Lyons, M.D., Professor of Diseases of the Eye and Ear; John A. Sutcliffe, A.M., M.D., Professor of Anatomy and Genito-Urinary Diseases ; Philip S. Baker, A.M., M.D., Professor of Chemistry and Toxicology ; W. II. Thomas, M.D., Demonstrator of Anatomy and Lecturer on Osteology ; J. I. Rooker, M.D., Lecturer on Physical Diagnosis ; Hon. John Coburn, Lecturer on Medical Jurisprudence ; J. T. Barker, M.D., Lecturer on Physiology ; S. E. Earp, M.S., M.D., Demonstrator of Chemistry ; Canada Button, M.D., Prosector to the Chair of Anatomy ; John B. Long, M.D., Assistant Demonstrator of Anatomy and Curator of the Museum ; Thomas Low, Janitor.

HON. WILLIAM S. HAYMOND, M.D .- The family of Dr. Haymond are of English descent. His grand- father was William Haymond, who was born in Frederick County, Md., and at an early day followed the profession of a surveyor. He was deputized soon after the Revolutionary war, in which he participated, to make surveys in behalf of the State in West Vir- ginia, and before embarking on this expedition passed an examination as to his qualifications at William and Mary College, Virginia. He was endowed with rare mathematical ability, and wrote a practical and original treatise on trigonometry which was never pub- lished. He married Cassandra Cleland, and later Mary Powers. Among his children was Cyrus Haymond, born near the town of Clarksburg, in West Virginia, who followed the business of surveying and farming until he became an octogenarian. Though enjoying but ordinary advantages of education, he possessed great natural ability, which, combined with strict in- tegrity, won for him a position of influence in the community. He married Jane Sommerville, who was born in Ireland, and came to America when but five years of age. Their children were three sons,-Wil- liam S., Thomas A., and Sydney, the eldest of whom, William S., the subject of this sketch, was born on

M. S. Haymond

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Edward Howard

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the 20th of February, 1826, in Harrison County, near Clarksborough, Ind., where his early years were passed. His early education was gained at a log school-house of primitive construction. These limited opportunities stimulated a desire for further study and the possession of a greater number of books than were then at his command. Hc at the age of eigh- teen engaged in teaching, meanwhile pursuing his studies and becoming proficient in the science of mathematics. For a limited period surveying and engineering engaged his time and energies, after which, at the age of twenty-three, he began the study of medicine at Clarksburg, Va., with Dr. Jobn Edmondson of that placc. He attended two courses of lectures at the Medical College of Cincinnati, and later hecame a student of the Bellevue Hospital Medical College, graduating from both of these insti- tutions. He chose Monticello, Ind., as an advan- tageous point for a young practitioner, and having met with success in his practice remained thus located until 1877. Dr. Haymond rapidly rose in his pro- fession and soon took rank among the leading phy- sicians of the county, established a reputation for skill in surgery, to which branch of practice he has since devoted special attention. He has also con- tributed many able and valuable papers to the medi- cal journals of the day on subjects of peculiar interest to the profession. His range of study has not been confined to the sciences and mathematics, but in its scope has included the languages, in several of which he is proficient. He served during the war of the Rebellion as assistant surgeon of the Forty-sixth Indi- ana Volunteers, and was for weeks stationed at Fort Pillow. During his service he was ou several occa- sions detailed for important duty at general hospitals. He was in 1874, as a Democrat, elected a member of the Forty-fourth Congress, and served on the Com- mittees on Banking and Currency, bringing much financial ability and judgment to bear in the dis- charge of his dutics. He distinguished himself as a speaker, his culogy on the death of Speaker Kerr having been pronounced the finest literary effort of the occasion. Other speeches, on the subject of finance, internal improvements, etc., attracted marked attention. The doctor is a member of the White

County Medical Society, of the Marion County Medi- cal Society, of the Tri-State Medical Society, and of the Indiana State Medical Society. He is professor of the principles and practice of surgery in the Central College of Physicians and Surgeons of Indian- apolis, and dean of the faculty. He is also actively engaged in practice in that city. Dr. Haymond was, in 1853, married to Miss Mary M., daughter of Abel T. Smith, of White County, Ind. Both the doctor and Mrs. Haymond are members of the Cen- tral Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church of Indian- apolis.

Among the arrivals of the last thirty or thirty-five years have been a number of physicians who now hold or have lately held the first places in public estimation and patronage. Among these, and specially noted for his treatment of cancer without the use of the knife, is Dr. E. Howard, who has maintained a cancer hospital on his system of treatment, on South Illinois Street near Georgia, for a quarter of a cen- tury or more.

EDWARD HOWARD, M.D., is of English, Scotch, and Irish ancestry, and the son of George Howard, who was born in Germany, and having at the age of sixteen emigrated to America, settled in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he followed the butcher's craft until his later removal to Warren County, Ohio, where he cul- tivated a farm during the remainder of his life. He was married to Miss Susan Pierce, and had children (nine in number), as follows : Nancy, George, Mary, Elizabeth, Sarah, Edward, Washington, Susan, and Noble P. Edward, of this number, was born in Warren County, Ohio, on the 21st of February, 1815, and prior to his fifteenth year resided in the county of his birth. He was then apprenticed to David Taylor, of Middletown, Ohio, and served three years at the trade of a saddler, after which he pur- sued this vocation in the city of Cincinnati. He became, in 1835, a resident of Decatur County, Ind., and general manager for the business of Thomas G. Anderson. The doctor continued thus employed until the fall of 1836, when he was married to Miss Clarissa, daughter of Nathaniel Lewis, M.D., of the same county, the ceremony having occurred on the 8th of September of that year. Their children are

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two sons,-Lewis N. and William O. Dr. Howard soon after began and continued the study of medicine with Dr. Lewis for four years, after which he engaged in general practice in Decatur County, Ind. In 1855 he came to Indianapolis and opened an office as a specialist in the treatment of cancer and chronic dis- eases. He has for twenty-eight years resided in the capital of the State, and during this time followed his specialty with signal success and performed some remarkable cures. The condition of many of his patients, who after a period of thirty years from the time of treatment are enjoying excellent health, is a sufficient tribute to his ability and skill. His sou Lewis N. is associated with his father in his special branch of practice. Dr. Howard is in his political convictions free from partisan feeling, and chooses for office men of integrity and ability, irrespective of party ties. He has never participated in the exciting scenes of a political campaign, and does not aspire to the honors of office. He is in religion a supporter of all religious denominations, but more especially of the Presbyterian Church, of which Mrs. Howard is a member.

To the same period belong Dr. George W. New and Dr. Alois D. Gall.

GEORGE W. NEW, M.D .- The grandfather of Dr. New was Jethro New, a native of Kent County, Del., who was born Sept. 20, 1757. He served under Gen. Washington in the war of Independence, and was one of the guard over the unfortunate André, whose execution he witnessed. He married Sarah Bowman, also a native of Kent County, Del., the mother of Elder John Bowman New, who was born in Guilford County, N. C., on the 7th of No- vember, 1793. Soon after Mr. and Mrs. New re- moved to Franklin County, Ky., and later took up land in Owen County, where their son received his earliest rudimentary instruction. Subsequently he served in the war of 1812. The religious sentiment was early developed in him, and formed the control- ling element in his later career. He received re- ligious instruction with great readiness of mind, and at a very tender age became a Christian. At the age of sixteen he conceived the idea of becoming a preacher of the gospel. This plan was eventually

carried into execution, and Elder New became one of the most devout and earnest of the pioneer preachers of the State of Indiana. His exhortations were effective, his style argumentative, his manner eccentric. His area of usefulness was widely ex- tended, while his bold and fearless defense of the truth gave him a commanding influence in various parts of the State where he was accustomed to labor. He married Miss Maria Chalfant on the 19th of February, 1818.

Their son, George W. New, was born in Madison, Ind., on the 27th of February, 1819, and early removed to Vernon, Ind., where his youth was spent. He received an academic education, the intervals from study having been spent in labor on the farm or in the shop of a neighboring cabinet- maker. From 1836 to 1838 he became interested in the study of forestry and botany, and in 1837 began the study of medicine under Dr. W. Clinton Thompson, of Indianapolis. After a thorough course he graduated at the Medical College of Ohio in the spring of 1840. He chose Greensburg, Ind., as the field of his earliest professional labors, and formed a copartnership with Dr. Abram Carter, a student of Dr. B. W. Dudley, of Lexington, Ky., a physician of repute. Dr. New was, on the 1st of November, 1841, married to Miss Adelia, daughter of Dr. Carter. Their children are Frank R., born June 14, 1843, and Orlando, whose birth occurred Sept. 1, 1845, the latter of whom is deceased. The doctor when he settled in Greensburg was the only graduate in the county, and speedily attained a practice which extended to the adjacent counties, having performed all the surgical operations for a wide area of territory. He removed in 1860 to Indianapolis, and in April, 1861, during the late war, entered the army as sur- geon of the Seventh Regiment Infantry, Indiana Volunteers, receiving the first commission as surgeon issued by Governor Morton. After three months' service in West Virginia, where he dressed the first amputated leg of the war and attended the first wounded Federal colonel, the regiment was reor- ganized and the doctor continued as its surgeon. He followed the fortunes of this regiment until the fall of 1864, and no case of surgery under his charge

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ALOIS D. GALL.

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proved fatal, though he had the supervision of an operating table on the occasion of every battle. During this time he was surgeon-in-chief both of a brigade and of a corps. In the fall of 1864 he was commissioned by Governor Morton Military Agent of Indiana, and assigned to the Department of the Gulf, with headquarters at New Orleans. At the close of the war he was commissioned by the Sec- retary of the Treasury examiner of drugs for the port of New Orleans, and returned to Indianapolis in 1867, after an absence of six and a half years, where he has since engaged in the active pursuit of his profession. He is a member of the American Medical Association and of the State Medical So- ciety. He is also connected with the Masonic fra- ternity. The doctor was formerly a Whig in his political convictions, but may now be spoken of as a conservative Republican, though with little taste for the active and exciting scenes of a political cam- paign. In religion he became in early life a member of the Christian Church.

ALOIS D. GALL, M.D., who at the time of his death stood in the front rank of the medical profes- sion in the West, was of German birth and parentage. He was the son of Alois D. Gall, who resided in Wiel-die-Stadt, Würtemberg, whose life was passed in mercantile pursuits. The subject of this brief bio- graphical sketch was born in the above-mentioned town March 16, 1814, and there the early years of his life were spent. With a decided bent for learning and an aptness in acquiring knowledge, he went to Stuttgart, and there continued his studies. On com- pleting his course his young and adventurous spirit, which desired an expansion it could not then find in his own country, prompted him to seek in the United States a field for the exercise of his abilities. In 1842, therefore, he came to this country and settled in Green Bay, Wis., where he purchased land, and where he remained for one year, after which he removed to Pittsburgh, Pa., and studied medicine with Dr. Gross. Previous to emigrating to this country he had married in Stuttgart, in 1839, Caro- line E. Hock, of that eity, and with this willing help- meet in a strange land they climbed the hill together. After his graduation in medicine his first medical

service was at Zellianoble, Pa., whence, after a year of active and laborious practice, he removed to Slip- pery Rock, in the same State, and subsequently to Portersville, also in Pennsylvania. The struggles of the young physician need not be here enumerated. The early days of his practice in those villages of the Keystone State were a rugged discipline that gave him strength and courage for other and larger fields in the years to come, and enabled him to bear greater responsibilities. In 1847 he removed to In- dianapolis, where he at once established a successful practice which was continued until 1853, when he was appointed United States consul at Antwerp, Bel- gium, which position he held through the adminis- trations of Presidents Pierce and Buchanan. In this responsible position he merited and received the hearty approbation of his government and of all her citizens with whom he came in contact, discharging all the duties of his office with honor to himself and credit to the power he represented. As an illus- tration of this, it may be said that he was immensely popular with all American captains who put in at the port of Antwerp, and that, as an expression of their appreciation of his fidelity to the United States and the interests of her citizens abroad, they presented him a beautiful and elaborately wrought gold-headed cane, which he always counted among the chief of his treasures. In 1860 he returned to Indianapolis, to be met with the warmest greetings of old and appreciative friends, and resumed his professional labors. In 1861, feeling the call of duty, he entered the army as surgeon of the Thirteenth Indiana Regi- ment. Within a brief period he was appointed brigade surgeon, and later, his ripe experience as a physician and surgeon becoming known, medical di- rector of Gen. Peck's corps. After three years of arduous duty in the field, resulting in the impairment of his health, he resigned. Previous to returning home the officers of his regiment, who well knew his army services and the self-sacrificing spirit in which they had been given, presented him a magnificent sword as a testimonial of their appreciation and esteem.

Returning to civil life, he again entered upon the duties of his profession, which continued to engross

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his time and talents until his death, which occurred on the 11th of February, 1867, of apoplexy, after a brief illness. He was a member of Centre Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, of Indianapolis, of the Chapter, and of Raper Commandery, No. 1, Knights Templar, of which he was at one time generalissimo. Though always a stanch Democrat politically, and much relied upon in the counsels of that party, he cared nothing for the honors and emoluments of office for himself, his inclination and duty keeping him in the path of his profession.

Dr. Gall was of a warm and sanguine temperament, and genial as summer to his friends, whose name was legion. To the younger members of the profession was this kindliness most freely given, and his en- couragement, advice, and assistance many of the most prosperous of the Indianapolis physicians of to-day now hold as a sweet and pleasant recollection. There are numerous anecdotes of his medical forti- tude and heroism current in the profession to-day, for he was a man who shirked no duty and was absolutely without fear.

Dr. Alois D. Gall and his widow, who survives him, had children,-Bertha (Mrs. Fred. P. Rush), born in Stuttgart, Johu Wallace Albert, born in 1842, in Green Bay, Wis., Edmund F., born in 1846, at Portersville, Pa., and Louis Washington, born in 1850, in Indianapolis, who died in 1851. A niece, Miss Carrie Gall, born in Memphis, Tenn., has since her childhood resided in the family.

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History of Indianapolis and Marion County, Indiana, Part 53

Author: Sulgrove, Berry R. (Berry Robinson), 1828-1890 Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co. Number of Pages: 942

Author: Sulgrove, Berry R. (Berry Robinson), 1828-1890
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 942