USA > Indiana > Johnson County > History of Johnson County, Indiana > Part 50
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PERSONAL MENTION.
The pioneers had no historians and the swift flight of time has swept into oblivion the life work of many physicians who came to the county in an early day. Their names and locations and the approximate dates of their coming, dimly revealed by oral tradition, are all that is left of their life stories of stress and toil.
The following list includes the names of physicians who located in Franklin prior to 1855: Dr. Handy Davis, 1830-1832; Dr. Samuel Ritchey, 1835-1836; Dr. Mack Smiley, 1838-1839; Dr. A. D. Sweet, 1838-1842; Dr. Daniel Webb, 1840-1848; Dr. Moses W. Thomas, 1840-1853; Dr. J. H. Donnell, 1841-1891 ; Dr. J. H. Woodburn, 1845-1847; Dr. Samuel Thomp- son, 1847-1854; Dr. Raymond, 1847-1848; Dr. Winslow, 1848-1850; Dr. John McCorkle, 1849-1856; Dr. John Ritchie, . 1832-1857; Dr. J. P. Gill, 1849-1866; Dr. Lewis Mclaughlin, 1850-1851; Dr. George Cook, 1851- 1852,; Dr. J. T. Jones, 1851-1898; Dr. James McMurray, 1852-1853; Dr. Benj. Leavett, 1852-1860; Dr. John W. Scott, 1854-1860; Dr. H. D. Fisk, 1855-1861.
Dr. Samuel Ritchey was a brother of Dr. James Ritchey, but was a man of less ability. He died in Jasper county, Indiana, in 1892.
Dr. Mack Smiley was a pupil of Dr. Pierson Murphy. After practicing medicine in Franklin one year, he went to Edinburg in 1839, where he prac- ticed until 1853. He then abandoned the practice of medicine and engaged in farming. He died in 1876.
Dr. A. D. Sweet was the first eclectic physician to practice medicine in Franklin.
Dr. Raymond came to Franklin with great picturesqueness of appear- ance, in June, 1847. He was dressed in a United States army surgeon's uni-
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form and a Mexican sombrero. He brought with him a Mexican mustang and Mexican saddle, a parrot, a gun and a galvanic battery. With this bizarre equipment he impressed the credulous pioneers and reaped a rich harvest for a season. But his success was so short-lived that in nine months he found it expedient to take his departure in the night. Nothing was ever heard of him, save that he was not a physician at all, nor even a medical student, but that his vocation before coming to Franklin had been that of bartender on an Ohio river steamboat.
In pleasing contrast to this bubble reputation was that of Dr. J. H. Don- nell.
Dr. J. T. Jones was one of the physicians of that period, who continued to practice till a recent date. He was born in Johnson county, Indiana, Jan- uary 23, 1825. He was educated in the county schools of the day and in Franklin College. He read medicine in the office of Drs. Webb and Thomas at Franklin and began practicing at Westfield, Indiana, in 1846. He re- turned to Franklin for the practice of medicine in 1851. He went to Provi- dence in 1858 and to Bargersville in 1861. In 1862 he returned to Franklin and remained until 1870, when he went to Urneyville. In 1874 he came to Franklin for the third time and remained in practice until his death on Sep- tember 30, 1898.
In outlying parts of the county physicians early located in little neigh- borhoods that gave promise of work sufficient for a livelihood. Dr. William Woods located in the Smock neighborhood, on the present site of Green- wood, in the year 1828. To the same neighborhood came Dr. Benj. S. Noble, in the year 1835. He was a brother of ex-Governor Noah Noble and was a man of more than ordinary natural ability. Though having never heard a medical lecture, yet by studious habits and great self-confidence, he established a large and successful practice. He served one term in the Indiana State Legislature. He left Greenwood in 1853, locating in Iowa, where ne died in 1869.
Dr. Isaac N. Elberry, the first man to practice medicine in Clark town- ship, located near the present site of Clarksburg in 1832. He was appointed postmaster of Yellow Springs, as the place was then called, July 24, 1837. In addition to being the village doctor and postmaster, he was also a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church. He was evidently a useful man to the pioneers, though not brilliant in any sense, for he failed to impress himself upon the memories of the people living in that neighborhood. His suc- cessor in the postoffice of Yellow Springs was appointed June 2, 1838. Dr.
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Elberry left Yellow Springs at that time and tradition remembers not whence he came nor whither he went.
The postoffice of Yellow Springs was discontinued September 19, 1854. It was re-established under the name of Rock Lane in the year 1867.
In the year 1832 the people in the opposite corner of Johnson county were also needing medical help and Dr. Trower located in Hensley township, about one mile west of the present site of Samaria. He was the first physician to locate in Hensley township.
Six years before Dr. Trower's advent, Arthur Bass, from North Caro- lina, had located among the "bold hills, bearded with trees" just south of In- dian creek, and not far from the present site of Bethlehem church. He had brought with him to the wilderness a turnkey and a thumb lancet, with which he had rid the pioneers of their aching molars and their sluggish malaria- poisoned blood. Dr. Trower, before many years, moved to Morgantown, which then consisted of only a few log cabins, so hopelessly bemired in the primitive mud of Morgan county that it was known only by the very appro- priate appellation of "Mudtown."
Thus the people of Hensley township, being without a resident physi- cian, either called Dr. Trower or Dr. McCauley until 1840, in which year Dr. Ward came from Bloomington and located in the little village of Williams- burg. Dr. Ward was not a graduate, but people then were not exacting in that respect and his services were soon in great demand. In order to in- crease his medical knowledge, he induced Dr. John McCorkle, an older physician, to come to the village as his partner and preceptor. Thus, while doing a busy practice, he pursued his medical studies under the tutelage. of his older and more experienced partner.
In 1842 Dr. Nathan Schofield came to Williamsburg. He took a deep interest in his professional work and assisted in the organization of the first Johnson County Medical Society. Unfortunately, the records of this society are lost and it is impossible to give any data in regard to it.
DR. ROBERT M'CAULEY.
One of the earliest in the county was Robert McCauley, who was born near Edinburgh, Scotland, August 22, 1793. His mother died when he was six years old. After this he attended boarding school in Edinburgh for several years. He worked to pay his board and learned the cooper's trade. He even attended boxing school and became quite proficient in that science.
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At the age of eighteen he came to America. He liked to travel and was seldom long in one place. When out of money he stopped and replenished his purse by teaching school. The boundless expanse of the great new world lured him on and on until in 1822 we find him in Henry county, Kentucky. Here he met Margaret Banta, a young lady some five years his junior, and in 1824 the two were married. McCauley worked in his father-in-law's dis- tillery for a couple of years .. . In October, 1826, he and his familyncame to Johnson county, Indiana, and moved into a little cabin in a hollow, just north .of where Joseph Vandiver lived. The woods were dense and boundless and -Franklin, over five miles away, was a little village of only five or six houses :and contained. no doctors. In fact as yet I have not been able to locate any doctor in the county. So McCauley began at once the practice of medicine. His services were in demand so soon that he had not time to build a door to .his cabin, but stretched. a blanket over the opening and then rode. forth night and day to see his patients. . The wolves came and sniffed and howled around the house, while his wife and babies on the other side of the blanket sat and shivered with terror till morning came. Soon he rode miles in every direction. He passed through Franklin, crossed Sugar creek and practiced in Shelby county ; through Edinburg into Bartholomew county, along Indian creek, and into the rough hills and wild woods which.skirted Brown county and west- : ward far towards White river. : He sometimes made trips which consumed two or three days. He. charged very little in those days and collected less. His neighbors for a mile or. two around always paid their bills in work. He :died August 14, 1842. At the time of his death he owned nearly five hun- dred acres of land, but very little of his wealth had been made by the prac- tice of medicine. He was a typical pioneer physician, living and practicing « in the woods, exposed to wild animals.and inclement weather, and encounter- ing all the imaginable hardships. incident to. hisprofession in that early day ....
DR. PIERSON. MURPHY.
Pierson Murphy was born in Fairfield county, Ohio, in 1800. His childhood and 'youth were spent on his father's farm. Finally he concluded ito study medicine, and began reading with the village doctor. In November, :1825 ;! he entered: the Ohio Medical College, Cincinnati, where:he attended. two terms and graduated in the spring of 1827. " He returned home, bought a horse, and immediately set out for Franklin, Indiana, which place he reached in the summer of 1827. with no earthly possessions but his horse, bridle and saddle, gun and fifty cents in money.
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Franklin then consisted of some half dozen families, living in log houses. The surrounding country was very sparsely settled and no physician had as yet seen fit to favor the village with his presence. In fact, the only doctor in all the country round was Dr. McCauley, then living and practicing in the great woods some five miles west. The young doctor secured lodging in the family of Mr. Taylor, the only family in the village able to extend such accommodations. He then entered bravely into the practice of his profession; but though he worked early and late, he could not obtain money nor any sort of income. He boarded at the Taylor house a year and a half and in that time had not made one-tenth enough to pay his board. But despite his lack of pecuniary success, he had done something of infinitely greater moment in his life history, for in the midst of his struggles he had won the affections of Mary Catharine Taylor, the sweet and amiable daughter of his host, and in the spring of 1829 the two were married. He won a faithful wife, and, incidentally, as he afterwards jocularly said, cancelled his board bill.
But his troubles were not yet over. His horse died and he was compelled to visit his patients on foot, and at last the sting of poverty became so sharp 'that, in addition to his practice, he was constrained to teach the village. school, that he and his wife might not suffer for the bare necessities of life. But he was ambitious, well informed and a successful practitioner, and after a few years of undaunted effort, the clouds cleared away and his pathway hence- forth was bright and prosperous.
In 1828 Dr. Murphy, assisted by Dr. Smith of Edinburg, Indiana, per- formed paracentecis abdominalis by making an incision into the abdominal cavity with a thumb lancet; then, having first removed the bark and pith from a small elder limb, they introduced this into the incision and drew off the fluid.
Dr. Murphy's practice became very extensive and he rode over a territory almost as large as that of Dr. McCauley, and, although his charges were merely nominal, he was finally able to buy a farm of three hundred and sixty acres one-half mile south of Whiteland. To this farin he retired in 1842, with his wife and son Guilford, then eleven years of age. But this move did not stop his practice or even seriously interrupt it. "For awhile he lived in a small cabin, but in the year 1845 he built a large" brick residence, which is still standing and, though unpretentious now, at that time it was the talk and wonder of all the neighborhood.
In this house, in April, 1852, Mary, the mother of his child and the wife 'of his youth, was taken from him. ' But he still lived in' the old home with
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his son, who married May 20, 1852. His practice for the next two and a half years was considerably interrupted.
In October, 1854, while in Ohio, he was married to Mrs. Chloe Knox Smith. He came back to the farm and lived for about a year. In October, 1855, he returned to Franklin, and again entered into the practice of his pro- fession, where he had begun under such inauspicious circumstances over twenty-eight years before. Many changes had occurred during his absence. His young protege of thirteen years ago, Dr. Donnell, then so discouraged and gloomy, was now full-fledged and ripe in years and experience.
Others of his craft had also come. in; the country had developed, the town had grown into a prosperous county-seat. Moreover his old-time vigor was beginning to yield to the inroads of age, so, while highly respected for his experience, he did not enter so energetically into actual practice as had been his wont in former years. He died in 1864 in the sixty-fourth year of his age.
DR. HIRAM SMITH.
By Dr. George T. MacCoy, Columbus, Indiana, all traditions concur in giving to Hiram Smith the post of honor of having been the first doctor to locate in Columbus, his arrival occurring in April, 1821 ; at least he was there as early as May 1, 1821, for on the return made by the assessor for that year (May 14, 1821) Dr. Smith is charged with a "poll tax and no other prop- erty."
Dr. Smith came from Mercer county, Kentucky. What his medical education was, or where and how it was obtained, I am unable to learn; but this much I have learned, by the perusal of some old records-that he was well read in his profession, better than the average of those times, and that his fine address made him a favorite at once in the primitive settlement. That Dr. Smith was a man above the average may be readily believed from the records of St. John's Lodge No. 20, Free and Accepted Masons, of Colum- bus. At a meeting to organize a society, it was found that Dr. Hiram Smith was the unanimous choice for master, and when the grand lodge met in ses- sion at Corydon, October, 1822, a charter was granted to St. John's Lodge, and Dr. Hiram Smith, although he was not present at the session, was named 'as the first worshipful master. This office he held for several years.
As to Dr. Smith's methods in practice, I can say very little. He was a firm believer in the lancet and heroic doses of calomel and Peruvian bark. Tablespoonful doses of the powdered bark, in molasses, given every two
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hours, during a remission or intermission of fever, were one of his stand-bys in the treatment of malarial fevers.
Dr. Smith continued in active practice here for many years, until the death of his wife, which occurred during confinement. To suppress a uterine hemorrhage, the Doctor used large quantities of cold water. She died. His enemies claimed that the cold water killed her. This so worried and embit- tered him that he left Columbus and located in Mooresville, but shortly after moved to Edinburg, Johnson county, Indiana, where his death' occurred October 1, 1869, from gastric ulcer.
The date of his birth can not be determined, but it is known that he was seventy-nine years old when he died.
This is the Dr. Smith who, working conjointly with Dr. Murphy of Franklin, performed paracentecis abdominalis with a thumb lancet and a canula made of elder, and which has already been mentioned in the sketch of Dr. Murphy.
DR. JOHN RITCHIE.
Dr. John Ritchie was born in Adams county, Pennsylvania, January 5, 1782. He had a common school education, which he added to by study after his marriage. He studied medicine with Dr. Warwick, near Brycelands Cross Roads, twenty miles west of Pittsburgh. He practiced a few years in Ohio and then located in Columbus, Indiana, in 1827, where he remained five years. In 1832 he located in Franklin, Indiana. He was sociable and affable. a fair public speaker, and a safe practitioner of medicine.
His wife was an educated woman and was the first of her sex to teach the higher branches in Columbus. Not only in Columbus, but in Franklin as well, Dr. Ritchie enjoyed a lucrative practice, and was held in high esteem for many years. He was once a candidate for the office of probate judge, but was defeated by a few votes. He died in Franklin October 10, 1857.
DR. JAMES RITCHIE.
Dr. James Ritchie, a son of Dr. John Ritchie, was born in Erie county, Pennsylvania, June 6, 1804. He studied medicine with his father and at- tended one course of lectures in the Medical College of Ohio in 1828-9. After leaving school he came to Columbus and practiced medicine with his father for awhile and then moved to Edinburg. He soon left there and spent one (33)
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year in Greenwood, as the partner of Dr. William Woods. He then returned to Columbus and from there came to Franklin in 1832.
. He, like his father, was a man of pleasing address and of ability in other lines than medicine. He was twice sent to the Indiana State Legislature and in 1850 was chosen a member of the constitutional convention, which gave to Indiana her present Constitution.
It is a matter of tradition that he took a special interest in the care and treatment of the insane. He left Franklin in 1865 for Rensselaer, where he died in 1888.
DR. SAMUEL RITCHIE.
Dr. Samuel Ritchie, a brother of Dr. James Ritchie, began the practice of medicine in Franklin in 1835. He left Franklin in 1836 for Fountain county, where he practiced until 1850, when he moved to a farm near Indi- anapolis, where he lived and practiced until 1865. He then moved to Jasper county, where he died in 1892.
DR. CHRISTIAN KEGLEY.
Among the pioneers in the healing art, the name of Christian Kegley deserves mention. He was born on a farm near Wytheville, Wythe county, Virginia, March 29, 1803. He was of German descent, his father being an accomplished German scholar and the boy was taught to speak his mother tongue even before he learned English. When old enough he attended the village school at Wytheville and obtained a good education, extending into the higher mathematics to such a degree that he attained a practical knowledge of surveying.
The Ribble family, to whom his mother belonged, had for three genera- tions displayed a talent and predilection for the healing art. The boy's grandfather was a physician, two of his uncles were physicians and his mind seemed cast in the same mold. As a result of this early inclination he went to live and study medicine with his uncle, Dr. John Ribble, of Blacks- burg, Montgomery county, Virginia. Here he studied and practiced under the guidance of his uncle for a few years and finally, when ready for a loca- tion, he determined to seek it in the West-in the wilds of the great Missis- sippi valley. In pursuance of this determination, he located in White River township, Johnson county, Indiana, about one and three-fourth miles south- west of the present site of Stone's Crossing, in the spring of the year 1834.
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But there was then no town at Stone's Crossing nor Smith's Valley, nor Whiteland, nor Bargersville. The nearest town was the now extinct town of Far West, situated on the bluffs of White river some four miles west.
Dr. Kegley began practicing almost as soon as he was located. He mar- ried Miss Jane Doty October 26, 1837. Year by year his practice grew until he had patients upon whom he called as far east as Sugar creek, around Clarksburg, in the Glade neighborhood, and in the territories now occupied by the Whiteland and Bargersville physicians.
On the west his territory was practically bounded by White river, but he was often called beyond that natural boundary. The malaria-stricken pioneers were everywhere crying for help, and Dr. Kegley's whole time was taken up in riding far and near over this great territory, along the bridle paths and through the mire of the primeval forests. This work was too great for Dr. Kegley's strength. He had the lofty spirit of the pioneer, but lacked his sturdy sinews. Though he wore leggings to the knees, and wrapped himself in a great coat, reaching to his feet, yet he often came in drenched to the skin or covered with sleet or mire, the result of labored riding through the swamps of White river bottoms. Such exposures brought on recurrent attacks of inflammatory rheumatism, which grew more severe with time. Finally in 1850 he became entirely helpless and during the re- mainder of his life he required the care and nursing of a child. He died January 19, 1861.
DR. JOHN HOPKINS DONNELL.
J. H. Donnell was born in Bourbon county, Kentucky, July 8, 1818. He came to Indiana with his parents in 1823. He attended medical college at the University of Louisville about 1839 and 1840. He came to Franklin January 27, 1841, and was married to Elizabeth Herriot September 1, 1842. At one time early in his career he was much discouraged and thought of leaving Franklin, but was fortunate in securing a partnership with Dr. Pier- son Murphy, after which his success was assured.
In 1860 he left Franklin and located at Hopewell on the "Donnell Hill." In April. 1865, he located in Greensburg, Indiana, his former home, but in November, 1865, he returned to Franklin, which place was thenceforth his home. In the year 1875, after a busy practice of about thirty-five years. he retired. His death occurred June 6, 1891.
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DR. J. A. MARSHALL.
Dr. J. A. Marshall was born in Carroll county, Ohio, October 24, 1826. He begain to study medicine at the age of fourteen, was a student at Han- over College and of Western Reserve Medical College. He began the prac- tice of medicine at Mapleton, Ohio, where he remained two years, whence he came to Londenville. Meeting financial reverses there, he came to In- diana and located at Nineveh in this county on the 10th day of January, 1851. He practiced medicine without interruption until his last illness.
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CHAPTER XVI.
HIGHWAYS AND TRANSPORTATION.
One of the first problems confronting the pioneer settlers was the estab- lishment of ferries across the rivers and streams. While there were no large streams in Johnson county, Sugar creek and Blue river were serious hin- drances to travel during most of the year. As early as 1831 James Thompson was granted a "license to keep a ferry on his land below his mill on the south side of Blue river," and he was required "to keep one good, substantial ferry boat and one good skiff," and he was authorized to charge "for setting over a footman, six and one-fourth cents; for a man and horse, twelve and one-half cents; for a two-horse wagon, twenty-five cents, and for a wagon with four horses and upwards. thirty-seven and one-half cents." A year later John Campbell was allowed to keep a ferry on Sugar creek west of Edinburg, and it is also remembered that a ferry was established at the crossing of the Madison and Indianapolis state road and Sugar creek.
Just how early bridges began to be built across the streams of the county is not known. most of them having been erected by the various neighborhoods without county aid. The first record of the expenditure of county funds for the building of bridges is found at the August term. 1851. when one hundred dollars was appropriated for a bridge across Indian creek on the state road north of Franklin, and two hundred dollars was appropriated for another bridge over "Shugar Creek near Garrison's Mill." The first iron bridges erected in the county were erected at the public charge in 1869-70. In the first named year a bridge was ordered at Thompson's mill and in the next year bridges were built at Needham's ford and at Bradley's ford on Sugar creek and on South Main street in the town of Franklin. In 1873 bridges were built across Sugar creek at Smiley's mill and on the Nineveh road and one at Hamner's ford across Young's creek.
The only stage coach route ever maintained in the county was established along the line of the Madison and Indianapolis state road about the time that railroads began to be built in the state. Taverns were built along the line of this road about five miles apart for the accommodation of travelers and to enable the drivers to change horses when necessary. In addition to the
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taverns in the towns of Edinburg and Franklin, there were country taverns, one located about a mile north of Sugar creek near the present residence of Robert Shelton, and another was located about one mile north of the Worths- ville road in Pleasant township; the frame work of the latter is still standing on a part of what is now known as the "old Law farm." Another of these taverns was kept in the town of Greenwood and still another just north of the county line near where the interurban railroad now crosses the state road. This stage coach route was abandoned about the time that the Madison & Indianapolis railroad was completed to the city of Indianapolis.
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