USA > Indiana > Allen County > Fort Wayne > Valley of the upper Maumee River, with historical account of Allen County and the city of Fort Wayne, Indiana, Volume II > Part 40
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turned to education he graduated at the West Rockford high school in 1862, prepared for college at Clinton, N. Y., and entered Hamilton col- lege in 1863. In the fall of 1864 he went into the Shenandoah valley; was chief abstract clerk at twenty years of age at General Sheridan's headquarters at the post at Winchester, and remained in the South until the close of the war, being present at the grand review of all the armies at Washington. He became editor and joint owner of the Adrian Expositor in 1865, the office where he had learned his trade. Subse- quently he entered the employ of Clark Waggoner & Son, of the Toledo Commercial, where he remained until' he came to Fort Wayne in 1871, as superintendent of the job department of the Fort Wayne Gazette, under McNiece & Alexander. He was connected with the Gazette until June, 1874, when, with C. F. Taylor, he established the News, which he still publishes.
Nathan R. Leonard, editor and proprietor of the Gazette, was born November 29, 1832. He is a native of Franklin county, Ohio, whence his parents moved to Burlington, Iowa, in 1844, settling on a large farm a few miles north of that city. Here Mr. Leonard grew to manhood, devoting the summers to labor on the farm and the winters to study in the school, academy and college in the adjacent village of Kossuth. From this college he graduated in 1857, and having been from child- hood fascinated with scientific and mathematical research, he attended lectures upon those subjects at Harvard university. Returning to Iowa in 1860, he became professor of mathematics and astronomy in the state university at Iowa City. This chair he filled for twenty-seven years, contributing in great measure to the development of that institution. He was dean of the college faculty, and at various periods, ranging from six months to three years, acted as president. He also filled the office of state superintendent of weights and measures, and in that capacity ably advocated the introduction of the metric system. Aside from his routine duties he did much in the way of independent research, and con- tributed a number of valuable articles to the scientific journals, mainly on astronomical subjects. In 1875 he was elected a fellow of the Amer- ican association for the advancement of science. In 1887 Mr. Leonard came to Fort Wayne, and purchasing the Gazette, has since devoted himself to the upbuilding of that influential newspaper, and it has pros- pered under his management. Having been a republican since the organization of the party, the Gazette, in his hands has become an influ- ential champion of that party. He is an ardent temperance man, but strongly opposed to the organization of parties for reform in this direc- tion. He is a prominent member of the Presbyterian church, and rep- resented the Iowa City presbytery in the general assembly of the United States in 1881. Mr. Leonard was married in 1853, to Elizabeth Heizen, who still lives to bless his home with her cheerful presence. They have four children living: Levi O., editor and proprietor of the Anaconda (Montana) Review, and superintendent of the Rocky Mountain tele- graph company; Charles R., a member of the law firm of Maxwell &
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Leonard, Creston, Iowa; Frank M., who was for a time associated with his father in editing the Gazette, now of the Inter-Mountain, at Butte City, Montana; and Minnie E., who makes her home with her parents at their pleasant home on Washington street.
Frederick W. Keil was born near Hamilton, Butler county, Ohio, and lived on the farm until seventeen years of age, when he was appren- ticed to learn the carpenter's trade. When that was completed, he entered Wittenberg college at Springfield, Ohio, and graduated in June 1856. In 1857 he entered the law office of Isaac Robertson, at Hamil- ton, and completed the prescribed course of two years' reading, as required in Ohio, and was admitted to the Butler county bar. He at once entered upon the practice of law, forming a partnership with Abram C. Martz, and continued in the practice until the breaking out of the rebellion in April, 1861, when he enlisted as a private in Company F, Third Ohio, April 17th and served until mustered out, August 18th. He re-enlisted as private in Company C, Thirty-fifth Ohio, August 20th, and was soon thereafter appointed first lieutenant in the same company. The regiment entered Kentucky via Covington, September 26, 1861, and took possession of the Kentucky Central railway between Cynthiana and Paris, guarding bridges until November, when it was ordered to join the brigade under Col. Bob McCook, which, however, it did not unite with until the battle at Mill Spring, January 6th. He followed the fortunes of his regiment from Mill Spring to Nashville, and marched with Buell from Nashville to Shiloh, reaching the field at the close of that contest: took part in the siege of Corinth, and moved with Buell up the Tennessee valley and thence after Bragg, into Kentucky; took part in the battle of Perryville and the pursuit of the rebel forces, which took the army back as far as Nashville. The regiment served in the Fourteenth corps, and was with the same in all its campaigns up to the capture of Atlanta. Mr. Keil had command of his company nearly two years, and was commissioned captain in the Atlanta campaign. In 1865 he came to Fort Wayne to enter upon the practice of the law, but was induced to purchase a book establishment, and form the part- nership known as Keil & Bro. In this enterprise he engaged until 1875, when on account of failing health he spent a year in Europe, under the direction of his physician. On his return the Keil Bros. purchased the , Fort Wayne Gazette, July, 1876, and he became managing editor. April, 1877, he was appointed postmaster at Fort Wayne, to succeed J. J. Kamm. He held this position during two terms, and was removed by Cleveland on the charge of being an " offensive partisan," being con- nected with the Fort Wayne Gazette, a paper advocating views opposite to those held by the administration. He has been connected for ten years with the management of Island Park association, being strongly impressed with the importance of the summer assembly movement, as a means of substantial popular education. The beneficial effect which those assemblies have over a community is seen in a marked manner within the communities where held, and upon the people that attend the
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sessions. No attempt at the popular culture of the masses has surpassed in effect what these assemblies have already accomplished.
William W. Rockhill, president and manager of the Fort Wayne Fournal company, owning a controlling share of the stock, is a native of the city, and son of one of its most distinguished pioneers. His father, Hon. William Rockhill, was born in Burlington, N. J., in 1792, and was married to Eliza Hill, who was born at Baltimore, Md. William Rock- hill came to Fort Wayne as early as 1823, and at once took a leading position in the affairs of the rising settlement. He was one of the first county commissioners in 1824, and when the city was organized he was a member of the first council, in 1840, and in 1843 was elected city assessor. For several years he was a member of the school board. He was elected to the Indiana senate in 1844, served for one term, and four years later was elected as the representative in congress of the large dis- trict of which Fort Wayne was the principal town. Politically, he was always a democrat. This notable pioneer died at Fort Wayne in 1865. His wife died at this city at about the age of forty-five years. To them seven children were born, of whom five are living. Their son, William W., was born August 23, 1849. He was reared and educated in the city, and becoming a prominent and popular citizen, was elected in 1881, city clerk, a position which he held by successive re-elections, until June IO, 1889, when he assumed control of the fournal. In this property his associates in ownership are Andrew J. Moynihan, the estate of Sam- uel Miller, deceased, the former proprietor, Judge Allan Zollars, and M. V. B. Spencer. Mr. Rockhill acquired a reputation during his clerkship as one of the most efficient officers the city has had, and he possesses business qualifications of a high order. He is prominent in fraternal circles, being a Knight Templar, an Odd Fellow and a Knight of Pythias. He was married in 1875, to Sarah Holt, of Huntington, who died in 1877, leaving one child, Sadie M.
Andrew J. Moynihan, editor and one of the owners of the Journal since the change in its management in June, 1889, has been for almost a score of years connected with newspaper work in Fort Wayne. He was born in Dromulton Paddocks, county Kerry, Ireland, March 15, 1858, and when five years of age accompanied his parents, Martin and Joanna Moynihan, to America. They settled first at Elizabeth, N. J., where they remained four or five years, then coming to Fort Wayne at the solicitation of Robert Townley, who formerly lived at Elizabeth, and became the founder of the dry goods house of Townley, De Wald, Bond & Co. Mr. Moynihan was reared in Fort Wayne and was educated in the Catholic and public schools. His editorial career was begun about the year 1882, having previously passed through a career in the mechan- ical department, first with Dumm & Fleming, then proprietors of the Sentinel, and subsequently with the succeeding proprietors of that office. During this period he began the study of medicine, and attended a med- ical college at Chicago, but his love for journalism drew him back to his original profession. He served as telegraph editor of the Sentinel tw
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years, and then was given local and editorial charge of that paper, in which position he continued until June, 1889. His energy and notable tact and success as a newsgatherer have made him conspicuous among the newspaper men of Fort Wayne.
Elias H. Bookwalter, a popular and well known citizen of Fort Wanye, is a native of Wabash county, Ind., born May 9, 1854. His parents, Josiah and Elizabeth (Riley) Bookwalter, were respectively natives of Ohio and Pennsylvania. They located in Wabash county in 1850, and there resided on a farm until 1868, when they removed to Fort Wayne, and are now worthy citizens of this city. Elias H Book- walter has lived in Fort Wayne ever since he was a lad of fourteen, and and he was formerly no less favorably known as an honest, industrious, straightforward youth, than he is now as an honorable, upright man and a worthy and useful citizen. Shortly after coming to Fort Wayne, he became employed in the mechanical department of one of the city papers, and it was not long until the mysteries of the printing office were fully solved and understood. He has continued to be thus employed, and for the past fifteen years has held the responsible position of press- man on the Fort Wayne Daily Gazette. In addition to this, for the past twelve years Mr. Bookwalter has been a manufacturer of printers' roller composition, and for seven years, he has been a whole- sale and retail dealer in printers' supplies. His honesty and courtesy, united with a disposition to please, have enabled him to build up a large trade, and his acquaintance with the newspaper fraternity has conse- quently become very extensive. Mr. Bookwalter was married Septem- ber 3, 1874, to Katie L., daughter of James and Kezia (McWorter) Perrin. Her parents were natives of Franklin county, Ind., but, in an early day, located in Marshall county, where she was born. Mr. Book- walter and wife are the parents of an only son, Clyde, who was born July 16, 1875. Mr. Bookwalter is a member of Harmony lodge, No. 19, and Summit encampment, No. 16, I. O. O. F., and in the latter is a past chief patriarch. He is also a member of E. S. Walker camp, No. 159, Sons of Veterans, in which he has held the position of quartermaster since the organization. Politically, he is an ardent republican. Mr. Bookwalter's friends are numerous, and socially both he and wife stand very high.
1
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THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
BY BENJAMIN S. WOODWORTH, M. D.
Looking back half a century in the practice of medicine in the valley of the Upper Maumee, it is apparent that great changes have occurred, not only in the treatment of diseases, but in the quantity of drugs used. It has been a question among physicians whether diseases have changed their type, or physicians themselves have changed. The writer is inclined to the latter theory. Physicians have discarded the vast quantities formerly used, and have become much more conserva- tive, both in quantity and quality. Less than forty years ago it was considered necessary to administer immense doses of calomel, drastic cathartics, tartar emetic, to say nothing of bleeding. Now, what is called the expectant plan, in other words, ignoring drugs in great meas- ure, is most in favor. On the other hand, in the early days, physicians heard nothing of those diseases called septicemia and pyæmia, that are now said to cause the death of so many women, and in twenty-five years, the writer does not remember meeting a case of puerperal fever, and no doctor thought of using such precautions as carbolic acid, bichloride of mercury, and other antiseptics. We are still without remedies that will cure many if any of the diseases called malignant, such as phthisis and cancer, to say nothing of the real croup, diphtheria and scarlatina. .
The ague, or "chills and fever," as the early settlers called it, or the malaria, as later sufferers describe it, was in the early days as now the great endemic of the Maumee valley, as it is of more than half the hab- itable world. These manifestations, so familiar in the early days, have passed away. Then it was a terror to new comers. It appeared to be aggravated by the opening up of the new land. Its hours of attack re- curred with frightful precision. Chills, with spasmodic attacks that shook the movables in the cabin, alternated with fevers that seemed to consume all the vitality that had not been shaken out of the afflicted body. Quinine, the only effective medicine, seemed to add to the gen- eral discomfort of the victim, and he was in fact, woe-begone, disconso- late, sad, poor and good-for-nothing. With all our progress in the past half century, we still rely on bark and its preparations for a remedy, and hope that the drainage of swamps, marshes and all filthy places will act as a preventive, though the exact poison that causes malaria yet re- mains to be discovered. But the days of ague for everybody at least once a year, with the enlarged spleens called "ague cakes," have passed away forever. Before quinine came into general use, while the Wabash & Erie canal was building, nearly all the inhabitants confidently expected to have the ague, and not being able to obtain quinine, or not knowing its efficacy, dragged out a miserable existence. It was said of the Pan- ama railroad that every tie cost a life, and the fatality attending the
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construction of the canal in that region is familiar to more recent readers. Similar dangers attended the construction of the Wabash & Erie canal. The work was done in proximity to a large, sluggish river, and the deep rich soil was stirred up from the depths necessary for the canal, and it seemed as if more than a Pandora's box of evils were let loose upon the devoted pioneers.
An interesting view of Fort Wayne in 1848, from a medical stand- point, was given by Dr. Daniel Drake, in his Principal Diseases of the Valley of North America, and is quoted below :
"Where the town of Fort Wayne now stands, * is a post- tertiary plain, at the junction and on the right or eastern side of the two rivers which form the Maumee. This plain rises above high water mark; but is overspread with basin-like depressions in which foul waters and rain water accumulate, to be acted upon by the sun. At a depth of twenty or thirty feet, hard well water of an excellent quality is obtained. Between the town and the river there is a slip of low ground, which, although subject to inundation in the spring, formerly became dry in summer, but is now kept wet by the leakage of the canal. On the op- posite side of the St. Mary and of the Maumee rivers, there are rich, alluvial grounds under cultivation. About two miles west of the town a grassy marsh or wet prairie begins, and stretches off indefinitely, to the southwest. Its width is from a few hundred yards to a mile and a half. The St. Mary as it comes from the southwest, flows through the eastern edge of this swamp. Beyond the low lands, which have been mentioned, there is on every side a post-tertiary plain; which, at the distance of a few miles to the east of Fort Wayne, becomes a wooded swamp-the western edge of the " Black swamp," known here as the " Maumee swamp." Doctor Charles E. Sturgis, in a communication from which this description has been made out, says, 'I could name several instances where families settled in the unbroken woods, and clearing a very small space only, enjoyed uninterrupted health for three or four years; when other immigrants arrived, and extensive clearings were made, with the consequent breaking up of a great deal of new soil, and intermittents appeared among the whole.' As to Fort Wayne, from the time it was settled as a military post, down to the present day, it has been infested with intermittents and remittents; which, according to Doctor Sturgis, still occasionally present a malignant character. Of the prevalence of these fevers a judgment can be formed from the fact, stated by Doctor Sturgis, that about 400 ounces of sulphate of quinine are annually con- sumed by the people of Fort Wayne and its vicinity."
Subsequent to the great drought of 1838, as Dr. Drake records, there was an outbreak of the "autumnal" or malarial fever, of such severity as had not been known before. From that time until the chol- era scourge of 1849, there was nothing unusual in the category of afflictions of the settlers of the valley.
In May, 1845, there was a terrible outbreak of cholera at Lahore, in far distant India, and there started what may be termed a wave of
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infection that was felt with disastrous and terrifying effects in the valley of the Upper Maumee. Twenty-two thousand died at Lahore; the dis- ease was carried down the Indus river and into the Persian gulf; thence it spead into Russia; it attacked the armies of the Kossuth war with greater fatality than the shock of battle; it spread over Europe in three months, and there were 33,000 cases in Paris. The disease reached New York and New Orleans late in 1848, in the south attacking the soldiers of the Mexican war, and causing the death of Gen. Worth. Spreading rapidly over the interior, as fast as the infected victims could travel, it reached the Maumee valley. It was a cold, wet season, which appeared to favor the disease, and whenever the northeast wind blew, which was frequent, there was a severe outbreak of the disease. The origin is supposed to have been with a laborer on the canal, who died in the east- ern part of the town, and strangely the disease was most severe on East Washington steet, and was almost entirely confined to East Wash- ington, Wayne and Jefferson streets. There were very few cases until August and September, and during that season there was no ague, or very little. There were about 200 deaths in the little town, which considering the population, was a severe mortality. A great panic resulted, and many fled from the region. Medical treatment was ineffectual here as elsewhere, and only one case is remembered where a patient recovered who was taken with purging and cramping. Doctors Sturgis and Wehmer worked together during this epidemic, in every family. The favorite remedy was tremendous doses of calomel, the panacea of that age, and cayenne pepper. Dr. Cartright was another who practiced during the panic. The village of New Providence, down the Maumee, was depopulated by the cholera, and at Perrysburg the greater number of the prominent citizens were carried away. The disease lingered with less fatal results in various parts of the country, until 1852, when there was another violent outbreak, and in July the disease was very fatal at Sandusky and Dayton, coming thence to this locality, where there was another season of great mortal- ity. In the same way the disease lingered in Europe, and broke out with tremendous violence in Russia, in 1853, and spreading over the continent again the infection was so general that there were that year twenty-eight vessels carrying cholera cases that arrived at American ports. This produced the epidemic of 1854, which was also severely felt at Fort Wayne and vicinity. During each of these years, 1849, 1852 and 1854, there were about 200 deaths here. At times the small- pox caused a considerable number of deaths, but it never was prev- alent enough to cause a panic. 'l'hese diseases no longer threaten the country, thanks to quarantines and the preventive measures which com- pel cleanliness and drainage, and stop these terrible scourges of the past at their fountain head.
" The short and simple annals of the poor" doctors who were the pioneers of the practice in the Upper Maumee valley were soon told if we were to rely upon any written statements in their history, and even
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.
the traditions are very meagre. Their contemporaries are nearly all long ago dead. The oldest person now living, who may be said to have been connected with them, is the widow of Dr. Lewis G. Thompson, now residing ou South Broadway. The oldest physician whom this chronicler remembers was Doctor Henry Cushman, who lived near New Haven. He died previous to 1845. A nephew of his, a rather wild young man, practiced in Fort Wayne in 1845-6. He had formerly practiced dentistry, but studied and graduated at the university of New York in medicine. Going to the west, he died some thirty-five years ago. Next after Cushman was Dr. Lewis G. Thompson, of whom appreciative mention is made in Hon. Hugh McCulloch's " Men and Measures of Half a Century," as follows :
" Lewis G. Thompson was for many years the leading physician of Fort Wayne. He had that instinctive knowledge of diseases which dis- tinguishes the born physician, and without which medical knowledge derived from books is a snare. Belonging to the old allopathic school, he believed in medicine, and gave evidence of his faith by prescriptions which were the reverse of homeopathic, but so accurate was his intui- tion in locating diseases that he was rarely at fault in treating them. I admired Dr. Thompson for his medical skill and for his many noble and manly qualities, but more than all for the conscientiousness and humanity which compelled him to treat with equal carefulness and attention those were able to pay for his services and those who were not."
" Dr. Thompson died suddenly while away from home engaged in a canvass for election to congress, against Andrew Kennedy. He had a younger brother who had been, but for one fault, fitted to wear the mantle of the elder. A contemporary and partner of Dr. Thompson, Dr. Charles E. Sturgis, was for many years the leading practitioner here. Dr. James Ormiston, among the earliest physicians, was a graduate of the college of physicians and surgeons of Fairfield, N. Y. He returned to Otsego county, N. Y., where he died a few years ago. His daugh- ter is the widow of Thomas Hamilton. One of the earliest prominent physicians in the Maumee valley was Dr. John Evans. He was born
in Bourbon county, Ky., January 16, 1794, studied medicine in Philadelphia under the talented Dr. Rush, after whom the younger brother of S. C. Evans was named. Dr. Evans in February, 1823, took possession of a log cabin left by Gen. Armstrong's wagoner at Camp No. 3, four miles down the river from Fort Defiance, and here his son S. C. was born. He was a very energetic man, filled many offi- ces, and died in 1842 at Defiance, while on a business trip. The writer well remembers being told by Dr. Evan's daughter, the late Mrs. Pliny Hoagland, of her going in the night, with Dr. Thompson, to visit her father in his last illness.
The most prominent physician in Fort Wayne forty-three years ago, was Dr. Lewis Beecher, who came here from New York, a graduate of the Fairfield college of physicians' and surgeons. He retired from the general practice of medicine and kept a drug store on East Columbia
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street. He was a man of great natural force of character, with one exception, and that lack was a most unfortunate one. He was a cousin of the great Beecher family, and possessed some of their peculiar, ec- centric traits of character. The family is now scattered and none re- main here. Dr. Carl Schmitz, who died about a year ago, had resided here half a century or more, and having an extensive and lucrative prac- tice, accumulated a large estate. His name will be fitly perpetuated by the magnificent block which his widow is erecting at the corner of Cal- houn and Washington streets. He and Dr. Bernard Sevenick were the easliest German physicians. The latter besides attending to his surgical practice, conducted a brewery where he dispensed beer in profusion. Dr. H. P. Ayres, who practiced here about fifty years, had a large clientele. After practicing a few years, he graduated at the university of New York in 1845-46. Dr. James W. Daily practiced here for twenty-five to thirty years, and had an extensive reputation as a surgeon. He graduated at the Jefferson medical college of Philadelphia. His widow, the daughter of the venerable Calvin Anderson, resides here.
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