USA > Indiana > Wayne County > Richmond > Memoirs of Wayne County and the city of Richmond, Indiana; from the earliest historical times down to the present, including a genealogical and biographical record of representative families in Wayne County, Volume I Pt. 2 > Part 5
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Prof. Wilbur A. Fiske was for several years a teacher in the Richmond High Schools, teaching Chemistry and Applied Sciences. He met with marked success in his work here and was there-
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fore offered a place in Occidental College, California, where he continues the good work begun here with even greater success. Ile married Edna Bayne, of Greencastle, Ind. He wrote the "Physical Laboratory Manual," which was used as a text book in the Richmond High School. He also has written a number of monographs on scientific subjects as: "Science and Character," "Relative Value of Science and History," and "Chemistry of Pho- tography." He was a member of the Indiana Academy of Science.
Mordecai Hiatt Fletcher, M. D., was born in Richmond, Ind., Sept. 18, 1849. His early life was spent in Richmond. He at- tended the preparatory department of Earlham College, about 1869 and 1870. From 1870 to 1879 he lived in New York, St. Louis, and Richmond, Ind. He began the study of Dentistry under Dr. J. W. Jay, of Richmond, in 1877. In the autumn of 1879, he entered the Ohio Dental College at Cincinnati, at which institution he graduated in 1880. In 1883 he entered Miami Medi- cal College, where he graduated in 1884. He married Miss Anna E. Perry, of Richmond, April 2, 1884, one month after graduating in medicine. He belongs to the American Medical Association and has given a paper at that society almost every year for twenty years. In 1887, by request, he gave a paper before the Oral Surgery section of the International Medical Congress at Washington, D. C., on the "New Growth of the Pulp Chambers of Teeth of Mamalis," which was the result of seven years of in- vestigation. He filled the chair of Oral Surgery and Diseases of the Mouth at the Woman's Medical College at Cincinnati. He taught some subjects in the post-graduate courses at Miami Col- lege ; also Histology at the Cincinnati Dental College. In July, 1895, Dr. Fletcher finished a course, and received an academic degree in Electrical Science and Electro-therapeutics at the Na- tional School of Electricity. In 1903 he took a course in Embry- ology at Earlham College and gave a course at the same time in Photo-micrography. He also received the degree of Master of Science from Earlham College. At the present time he is practicing in Cincinnati. He has written many papers in the en- deavor to advance the science and art of the profession. Some of them are: "New Growth of the Pulp Chambers," "Some Notes on Experimental Implantation of Teeth," "What a Dentist Saw in Examining 500 Craniums," "A Lesson in the Recuperative Power of Bone Tissues," "Periosteal Caries from Bacterial Or- igin," "Alkaline Saliva." "Tolerance of the Tissues to Foreign
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Bodies," "Unclean Mouth," "To What Extent are Teeth Neces- sary to Civilized Man," "What Is the Effect upon Progeny of the Loss of Teeth in Ancestry," "Alveolitis, or Some Pathologic Con- ditions Arising from Inefficient Care of the Mouth."
James Farquar Hibberd, M. D., was born near New Market, Frederick county, Maryland, Nov. 3, 1816, and died Sept. 8, 1903. His ancestors were of English birth and came to America with William Penn, settling in Pennsylvania and later moving to Mary- land. From 1825 to 1837 Dr. Hibberd lived with his uncle, Aaron Hibberd, near Martinburg, Berkley county, Virginia, attending school and working on the farm and in the woolen mill. He sub- sequently took a course in the Hallowell Classical School at Alex- andria, Va. Having chosen the medical profession as his life work, in 1838 he commenced reading under his cousin, Dr. Aaron Wright. In 1839-40 he attended lectures at the Medical Depart- ment of Yale College and, Aug. 14, 1840, he commenced practicing at Salem, Ohio. In 1848 he entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York and graduated in March, 1849. He was immediately appointed surgeon of the commercial steamship Sena- tor, which made a trip around South America to San Francisco, the voyage consuming seven and a half months. He remained in California until 1855, practicing medicine and dealing exten- sively in real estate. In June, 1856, he opened an office in Day- ton, Ohio, but four months later moved to Richmond, Ind., where he built up a large practice. During the session of 1860-61, he filled the chair of Physiology and General Pathology in the Ohio Medical College, Cincinnati. The Doctor spent 1869-70 travel- ing through Europe and Asia Minor. Dr. Hibberd was married three times. His first wife was Nancy D. Higgins, to whom he was married in March, 1842. In May, 1856, he married Catherine Leeds, and in April, 1871, he married Lizzie M. Laws. He was a member of the city council, State and Tri-State, Rocky Moun- tain, and American medical associations, and was president of them all. He wrote a large number of articles for the medical journals. The following are the subjects of some of his addresses to the State Medical Associations: "Sanitary Conditions and Necessities of School Houses and School Life," "Addresses in Medical Jurisprudence, Psychology, State Medicine and Public Hygiene," "Relation of Matter and Mind in Hypnotism," "Essen- tial Relation between Biology and Medicine," "A Short Study in Biology," "Past-partum Hemorrhage," "Inflammation-Past and Present," "Disinfectants," and "Urea."
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Oliver N. Huff, M. D., was born in Fountain City, Ind., and received his primary education in the school of that place. Later he became a student in Earlham College. After working in Foun- tain City and Muncie, Ind., for some time, he took up the study of medicine, residing with Dr. John S. Harris. He then took a course at the University of Michigan, taking an extra year's work and graduating in 1878. Returning to Fountain City, he practiced two years with Dr. Harris; then he opened an office for himself and built up a good practice and remained until 1888. when he located in Chicago. He spent ten years in Chicago, tak- ing a special course at the Chicago Clinics. Some five years after moving there he was appointed chief of the medical staff at the Augustian Hospital, at which institution he gave lectures. He also lectured before the Cook County Medical Clinics. While in Chicago, Dr. Huff wrote a treatise on typhoid fever and its causes in that city which attracted much attention. He married Miss Sophia R. Bogue in June, 1892. He is a member of the Chicago Medical Society, the North Chicago Medical Association, the Illinois State Medical Society, and the Wayne County Medical Society. He has had several papers before the county and State medical societies, one on "Etiology and Treatment of Acute Crou- pons of Lobar Pneumonia," before the State society.
Joseph Iutzi, M. D., was born in Middletown, Ohio, March 27, 1846. He began to study medicine in his native town and at- tended a course of lectures in the Cleveland Medical College. in 1868, and a second course in the Medical College of Ohio. gradu- ating in 1871. He began to practice in Butler county, Ohio, but moved to Richmond in 1878. In 1889 he developed paralysis agitans, which finally caused his death. He had a clear, analyti- cal mind that did not relax during his long suffering. Even to the last he kept in the closest connection with the world. in science, ethics, and politics. He could converse in French, Ger- man and Spanish. He was an active member of the county and State medical societies, having been secretary and president of the former. He was also a member of the American Medical As- sociation. He served as a member of the Richmond Board of Health and contributed to the current periodical medical litera- ture.
Vierling Kersey, M. D., was born in Guilford county, North Carolina, Sept. 8, 1809, and died in Richmond, June 3, 1875. 11e attended a course of lectures at the Jefferson Medical College. Philadelphia. in 1838, and graduated in the Ohio Medical College
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in 1841. After practicing a few years outside of the county, he located in Milton in 1844. In 1861 he moved to Richmond, where he resided until his death. He was a leading member of the county and State medical societies. Dr. Kersey was one of the founders of the Indiana State medical society, and met at its first convention in Indianapolis in 1849. He was its vice-president in 1852 and was elected president of the State society in 1866. Dr. Kersey was one of the most prominent physicians of the State when he died, and was always painstaking and conscientious in his work. He wrote many medical articles for the Indiana Medi- cal Society.
James Mooney was born in Richmond, Ind., Feb. 10, 1861. His parents had emigrated from Ireland. He was educated in the public schools and after graduation taught a few years. In 1879 he entered the office of a daily paper, learning the trade and working both at the case and in the editorial room. In IS85 he moved to Washington, D. C., where he became a member of the Bureau of American Ethnology. He married Ione Lee Gaut, of Tennessee, in 1897. For years he has conducted extended field investigations among the Southern and Western Indian tribes, par- ticularly those of the Great Plains, and he has prepared Govern- ment Indian exhibits for the Chicago, Nashville, Omaha, and St. Louis expositions. He is a member of the American Associa- tion for the Advancement of Science; American Anthropolic As- sociation ; Washington Academy of Sciences, the Anthropolic So- ciety of Washington, and other scientific societies. He has written many articles on the Indians, their habits and customs. Some of them are: "Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees," "Siouan Tribes of the East," "The Messiah Religion and the Ghost Dance," "Calendar History of the Kiowa Indians," and "Myths of the Cherokees.".
Virginia Claypool Meredith was born in Fayette county, In- diana, Nov. 5, 1848. She completed her school course by her graduation from Glendale College, in 1866. She is a student and reader, and experience, observation, and thought have continually broadened her knowledge. She was married on April 27, 1870, to Henry Clay Meredith, and spent the greater part of her mar- ried life on Oakland Farm, near Cambridge City, Ind. After the death of her husband, in 1882, she assumed the management of the farm, for which work she was well fitted, for during her hus- band's active business career she was closely associated with him and had become an expert in the history and pedigrees of Short-
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horn cattle. She was Professor of Home Economics in the Col- lege of Agriculture, University of Minnesota, from 1877 to 1902. When the State authorized the holding of farmers' institutes and placed the management of the same with Purdue University, Mrs. Meredith was invited to address these meetings, which was the beginning of her career as a speaker. Her addresses were very interesting and showed that she was a master of the subject.
Joseph Moore was born Feb. 20, 1832, near Salem, Ind., and until he reached his majority lived at home on the farm, save when he was engaged in teaching school. He was educated in the Blue River Seminary, a Friends' school near his home, and was also employed as a teacher there one term. His first labors as a teacher were conducted in Jackson county, and his third term as a teacher was at a school near Azalia, Bartholomew county. Then he came to the Friends' Boarding School, now Earl- ham College, for special study, and at the end of the first term was engaged to act as assistant to the Principal. From 1853 to 1859 he studied science and taught in the college, and at length he entered Lawrence Scientific School, Harvard College. In 1861, at the end of two years' work, he received the degree of Bachelor of Science. Returning to Richmond, he accepted a pro- fessorship in Earlham College, which he held four years; but on account of failing health he resigned and entered upon educational work among the Friends of North Carolina and Tennessee, which work he continued three years. In 1869 he was honored by be- ing called to the presidency of Earlham College, which he held fourteen consecutive years. From 1888 until he retired he held the chair of Geology and Botany in Earlham College and was the curator of the justly celebrated museum. In 1862 he married Deborah A. Stanton, who died two years later. In 1872 he mar- ried Mary Thorne, of Salem, Ohio. President Moore died July 9, 1905. He wrote many scientific articles. One of the most fa- mous is: "Concerning a Skeleton of the Great Fossil Beaver, Cas- toroides Chioensis." He was very much interested in Geology and wrote a number of articles on the subject. Among them are : "An Inquiry as to the Cause of Variety in Rock Deposits as Seen in Hudson River Beds at Richmond, Indiana;" "Glacial and Pre-glacial Erosion in the Vicinity of Richmond, Indiana ;" "Ac- count of a Morinal Stone Quarry of Upper Silurian Limestone near Richmond, Indiana;" "The Randolph County Mastodon," and "A Cranium of Castoroides at Greenfield, Indiana."
John Thomas Plummer, M. D., was born in Montgomery
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county, Maryland, March 12, 1807. He moved to Cincinnati, in 1819, and from thence to Richmond, in 1823, where he resided until his death, April 10, 1865. He began the study of medicine when eighteen years old and graduated in the medical depart- ment of Yale College just before attaining his majority. One of his friends writes of him: "He obtained by his own exertions a good, nay, a critical, knowledge of the English language; he studied Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, and German, and acquired some knowledge of several other languages. He was the per- sonal friend and correspondent of Noah Webster. He was an active and practical naturalist and was a frequent contributor to "Silliman's Journal." His cabinet of specimens and preparations was at one time large and thoroughly classified and of special value as illustrating departments of natural science, as they were developed in his immediate neighborhood. While all the branches of medical science received his careful attention, chemis- try and pharmacy were his favorites. He wrote for the "Journal of Pharmacy" and also many articles upon agricultural, educa- tional, and scientific subjects. His strong feeling against every kind of personal show or exhibition caused him several times to decline professorships in medical schools and leading positions in other educational institutions, and kept him from uniting with or attending formal medical societies that held public meetings. In 1857 was published a "Directory of Richmond." To this work Dr. Plummer contributed a "Historical Sketch," and he also wrote on many scientific subjects, namely, Botany, Geology, Medi- cine, etc.
I. F. Sweney, M. D., was born at Winchester, Preble county, Ohio, Feb. 2, 1835. He was reared on a farm; but received suf- ficient education to enable him to teach, and while thus engaged commenced the study of medicine under the direction of his uncle, Dr. C. Sayler: He then attended a course of lectures at the Ohio Medical College, Cincinnati. After practicing two or three months, he enlisted as a private in the Eighty-fourth Indiana infantry. He participated in the battle of Chicamauga, the Atlanta campaign, the battles of Nashville and Franklin, and in the fall of 1864 was appointed hospital steward of the regiment. He was discharged in 1865 and soon afterward entered the Ohio Medical College, in which he graduated in 1866. He located in Milton, Ind., and is still there. He has written a number of articles on medical subjects and is a member of the National, State, and county so-
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cieties, as well as the Union District Medical Society. He has been president of the county society several times.
Mary F. Thomas, M. D., was born in Maryland, not far from Washington City, in 1816. She studied medicine with her hus- band, a physician in Wabash county, Indiana. She attended a course of lectures in Penn's Medical College for Women, in Philadelphia, in 1851-52; took another course in Cleveland Medi- sal College, in 1852-53, and graduated in Penn's Medical College for Women in 1854. She also attended a course of lectures in the Indiana Medical College, at Indianapolis, in 1869. After prac- ticing two years in Fort Wayne, she moved to Richmond, in 1856, where she resided until her death. She was elected a member of the Wayne County Medical Society in 1875, after having been twice rejected because of her sex. After having passed an cx- amination and having been recommended by its censors, she be- came a member of the State Medical Society in 1876, being the first woman admitted to membership in that body. In 1877 she was a delegate from the State Medical Society to the American Medical Association and was the second female physician admit- ted to membership in that association. During the war, under the direction of Governor Morton, she spent considerable time in special hospital service for Indiana soldiers at Washington, Nashville, and elsewhere. She gave many addresses before the State Medical Society, a few of them being: "Its Hospitals for Insane Women," "Some Thoughts on Post-Partum Hemorrhage," and "Heredity."
John F. Thompson was born in Crawford county, Ohio. He was reared on the farm and went to the district school. He gradu- ated in the Fremont (Ind.) High School, in 1885, and at Hills- dale College, Michigan, in 1888, with the degree of Bachelor of Science, and in 1890 with the degree of Master of Science. After graduation he began teaching Biology and Botany in the Rich- mond High School and, with the exception of a year of post- graduate work in Chicago University, has remained there ever since. He has written a number of articles. They are as fol- lows: "Katahdin," "Agassiz and Pennikese," "The Manitou Islands," "The Camera in Science," "The Microscope in Second- ary Schools," "Morals in Science," "The Yellowstone Park," "Pop- ular Physiology," "Trees and their Habits," and "Life History of Natural History."
Samuel Albert Thompson was born Jan. 2, 1855, in Richmond, Ind. He was educated in the public schools, graduating in 1871.
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He took one year of post-graduate work in the Richmond High School and spent two terms at Earlham College and a year in the University of Cincinnati. He was in business in Minneapolis from 1881 to 1886, and traveled over the Northwest during the years of the rapid extension of railways in Minnesota and the Dakotas. He made a specialty of the economics of transportation. In 1886 he began the study of waterways, while in the newspaper business in Duluth. From 1890 to 1894 he was the secretary of the Chamber of Commerce of Duluth. During these years he spoke at many conventions, and then and since has written largely for the newspapers. He is now the Field Secretary of the Na- tional Rivers and Harbors Congress. He has written many ar- ticles for magazines, both literary and scientific. Those that are mainly scientific are: "Possibilities of the Great Northwest," "The City of Duluth," "American Emigration to the Canadian Northwest," "The Effect of Waterways on Competing Railways," "Will it Pay," "Waterways and the Nation's Growth," and "The Nation's Need of Waterways." Prof. Lewis M. Haupt, a dis- tinguished consulting engineer of Philadelphia, and a member of two of the Isthmian Canal Commissions, referred to Mr. Thomp- son, in an address before the National Association of Manufac- turers, as "the foremost American authority on the economics of waterways."
Joseph M. Thurston, M. D., was born in Warren county, Ohio, July 2, 1842, and, after he had obtained a liberal English education, took up the study of medicine under the tutelage of Dr. Davis, of New Holland, Ohio. He enlisted for the three months' service in Company G, Second Ohio infantry, as a private, and participated in the dreadful first battle of Bull Run. Upon the expiration of his term of service he re-enlisted, in Company F, Nineteenth Ohio infantry, and continued in the army until the war closed. Among the numerous battles in which he took part were Murfreesboro, Perryville, Wild Cat, Stone's River, and Chickamaugua. In the last mentioned engagement he was taken prisoner and for over a year suffered the horrors of Libby and other prisons. After the war he became a student in the Physio- Medical Institute at Cincinnati. After his graduation, in 1866, he located at Hagerstown, Wayne county, and for twenty years was successfully engaged in practice there. In 1888 he came to Rich- mond and has enjoyed an extensive practice. He is a member of the State and American medical societies and that of Northwest- ern Ohio. On Oct. 19. 1869, he married Ida Elliott, to whom were
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born two children. When not practicing, he spends his time paint- ing and drawing, mainly from medical subjects. Besides his ad- dresses in the medical societies, he has written a book, "Philos- ophy of Physio-medicalism," which he has illustrated with his own drawings. He also has a book in preparation which is to be called "The Triumph of Man."
Ithamar Warner, M. D., was born in New England, about the year 1783. He came to Salisbury, about 1815, and remained in practice in that town until after the removal of the county seat to Centerville, moving to Richmond in 1820. He never married, and for several years boarded with Robert Morrisson. He acquired a large practice and accumulated a fortune. Although not a graduate of any college, Dr. Warner was a man of strong natural abilities, physically and mentally. It is said that he was singu- lar in many respects and irritable to a degree that his patients were pretty certain to carry out his directions. Dr. Warner died in March, 1835, and was buried in the old cemetery in the south- ern part of the city. In 1876 his remains were removed to Earl- ham Cemetery. He bequeathed most of his fortune to the city of Richmond; the City Building on North Fifth street and the school building known as the Warner Building, on North Seventh street and Fort Wayne avenue, were given by him. He wrote a number of medical articles which were a help to other physicians.
Jacob R. Weist, M. D., was the most noted surgeon during the past century in Eastern Indiana. He was born in Preble county, Ohio, Nov. 26, 1834. His ancestors were German. He received his early education in the common schools, which was supplemented by study in the Ohio Wesleyan University, at Dela- ware, Ohio, where he pursued a classical and scientific course. In 1858, the Jesuit College, St. Xavier, of Cincinnati, conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts. Prepared by a broad, gen- eral knowledge, as an entrance into professional life, he entered the office of Dr. Samuel Ferris, of Preble county, Ohio, and later attended a course of lectures in the Western Reserve Medical College, of Cleveland, Ohio, and then for a time practiced in his native county. Then, entering the Jefferson Medical College at Philadelphia, he graduated in 1861. That year he opened an office in Richmond and, in March, 1862, was appointed assistant sur- geon to the Sixty-fifth Ohio infantry and served in that capacity until July of the same year, when he was transferred to the Fourth Ohio cavalry, where he saw active service for fourteen months. In September, 1863, he was commissioned surgeon of
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the First United States Colored Troops and continued in that service until the close of the war, being discharged in November, 1865, when he returned to Richmond. His service as assistant surgeon was with the army of the Cumberland, a part of the time in charge of a hospital in Nashville, and his service as surgeon was in Eastern Virginia and North Carolina, first in the field, then in charge of hospitals in Newbern and Goldsboro, subse- quently Chief Operating Surgeon in the First Division of the Eighteenth Army Corps, and finally becoming acting medical in- spector and director of the Twenty-fifth Army Corps. All this was a splendid training school for the young physician, and as a natural result, on his return from the war, he made a specialty of surgery, and his success was most marked. He was the surgeon of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company for over twenty consecu- tive years, and for twenty years served on the Board of Pension Examiners. Dr. Weist was a member of the Wayne County Medical Society, of which he was president, and was for several years secretary of the Indiana State Medical Society, of which he was also president in 1879-80. He was one of the original mem- bers of the American Surgical Association, which is limited to a membership of 100, and served as its secretary fourteen years. He was also a prominent member of the Southern Gynecological Association and the American Medical Association, which he rep- resented at the International Medical Congress, in London, in 1881. In 1856, Dr. Weist married Miss Sarah I. Mitchell, of Portsmouth, Ohio. They have one son living, Dr. Harry H. Weist, of New York City. Dr. Weist was a Knight Templar Mason, a Knight of Pythias, and a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and the Loyal Legion. His death occurred May 14, 1900. His ashes lie: in Earlham Cemetery, he being a firm advocate of cremation, as he believed it was for the public good. He wrote for the medical journals and read many papers before the different associations to which he belonged. In his profes- sional writings, next to surgery, perhaps his most important dis- sertations were on Hygiene and sanitary affairs. One of his most noted papers, read before the State Medical Society, was a "Prize Essay," in 1860, on "Treatment of Cerebro-Spinal Meningitis." Some of his other addresses are: "Evolution of a Doctor," given as an annual address before the graduating class of Jefferson Medi- cal College; "Foreign Bodies in the Air Passages;" "Report of the Water Supply of Richmond;" "Problems in Relation to the Prevention of Diseases," and "Civil Malpractice Suits."
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