USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Groton > Groton historical series. A collection of papers relating to the history of the town of Groton, Massachusetts, Vol III > Part 3
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DR. JOSHUA GREEN was a son of Joshua and Mary (Mosley) Green, and born at Wendell, on October 8, 1797. He at- tended school at the academies in New Salem, Westfield, and Milton, and graduated at Harvard College in the Class of 1818. Hle studied medicine with Dr. John Collins Warren, of Boston, and took the degree of M.D. at the Harvard Medi-
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cal School in the year 1821. Soon after taking this degree, he was appointed apothecary at the Massachusetts General Hospital, then just opened for the reception of patients, where he remained for one year. At that time the apothecary, in addition to his own duties, performed those of the house- physician and house-surgeon.
Dr. Green began to practise his profession at Sunderland, in March, 1823. He was married on January 5, 1824, to Eliza, daughter of Major Samuel and Susanna (Parker) Law- rence, of Groton. His wife was born on March 13, 1796, and died on August 20, 1874. During a winter of his college course he taught a district school at Groton, now known as the Moors School, and boarded in the family of Major Law- rence, who lived on Farmers' Row. This fact is supposed to have some connection with his marriage, as well as with the life and lot of the writer of these lines. In the spring of 1825 Dr. Green removed to Groton, where he continued the prac- tice of medicine; but after about ten years, owing to ill health, he gradually gave up his profession. In the year 1832 an attack of bleeding from the lungs compelled him to pass a winter in the island of Cuba, where to a fair degree he re- gained his health. He joined the Massachusetts Medical Society in 1826, and for many years was one of its Coun- cillors. He represented the town in the Legislature during the years 1836 and 1837; and was one of the Trustees of Lawrence Academy at Groton from 1831 to 1867, and for most of this time was either the Secretary or the President of the Board. He had a fondness for antiquarian and gene- alogical matters, and was chosen, on August IS, 1849, a Corresponding Member of the New England Historic, Gene- alogical Society. On the seventy-first anniversary of his birthday (October 8, 1868), he had a paralytic stroke, from the effects of which he never fully recovered. After the death of his wife he went to live with an only daughter, Mrs. Elizabeth Lawrence (Green | Kendall) Swan, at Morris- town, New Jersey, where he died on June 5, 1875, from a general feeble condition of the body. She was the wife of Dr. Charles Young Swan, who took his medical degree at
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the New York College of Physicians and Surgeons in the year 1856. Iler first husband was John, son of the Honor- able Amos and Jane (Kyle) Kendall, and a graduate of Dart- mouth College in the Class of 1853. Mrs. Swan died at Morristown, on March 29, 1882.
For a notice of Dr. Green, see "The New-England His- torical and Genealogical Register " (XXX. 126) for January, 1876 ; and also pages 98 and 140 of Volume II. of this Ilis- torical Series.
DR. COALE. In Elizur Wright's " Reminiscences of Groton during the Years 1826 and 1827 " (page 9), which comprises the second number of Volume I. of this Historical Series, there is an allusion to Dr. Coale, though I can find out noth- ing about him. I once asked Mr. Wright if he was sure as to the Doctor's name, when he told me that he had a good recol- lection both of the man and of the name, and that for a while they boarded together in the three-story house at the south corner of Main Street and Broad Meadow Road ; but beyond this he could give no information. Probably Dr. Coale did not remain long at Groton, as he seems now to be forgotten by the townsfolk.
DR. MICAH ELDREDGE was a son of Ilezekiah and Abigail (Whiton) Eldredge, and born at Ashford, Connecticut, on May 24, 1776. His parents were married on January 16, 1766; and his mother was a sister of Dr. Israel Whiton, of Winchendon. He studied medicine with an elder brother, Dr. Hezekiah Eldredge, of Princeton, and in 1798 began the practice of his profession at Dunstable, where he resided for many years, living first on one side of the State line and then on the other.
It may be noted that the running of the Provincial boun- dary between Massachusetts and New Hampshire in the year 1741 nearly bisected the old township of Dunstable, and created two towns of the same name, adjoining each other, one in each Province. This condition of affairs continued until January 1, 1837, when the New Hampshire town, by legis-
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lative enactment on December 8, 1836, dropped its old name and took that of Nashua.
During the years 1809 and 1811 Dr. Eldredge was a repre- sentative from Dunstable to the Massachusetts Legislature. In 1 826 he removed to Groton, where he remained for two years, living on what is now Hollis Street, in the house occupied by the Reverend John Todd, when Mr. Butler's Map of the town was published in 1832. He left Groton early in IS28, and went to Dunstable, now Nashua. The honorary degree of M.D). was conferred upon him by Dartmouth College in 1841. Wherever he lived, he always identified himself with the Con- gregational church, and both at Dunstable and Nashua he was chosen a Deacon. Ile died at Milford, New Hampshire, on July 2, 1849, and was buried in the Hollis Street Cemetery, at Nashua.
On October 1, 1797, Dr. Eldredge was married to Sally, daughter of Tilly and Abigail (Hale) Buttrick, of Princeton ; and they had twelve children, among whom were Hezekiah (M.D., Brown, 1825) and Frederick Augustus (Dartmouth, IS32).
For references to the Eldredge family, see pages 98-101, and 241, 242 of Volume II. of this Historical Series.
DR. JACOB WILLIAMS was a son of Jacob and Hannah (Sheple) Williams, and born at Groton, on July 16, 1789. His father, a son of Jason, was born on August 28, 1755, and died on May 2, 1829 ; and his mother was born on August 26, 1761, and died on November 25, 1826. The following notice of Dr. Williams is found in Daniel Lancaster's History of Gilmanton, New Hampshire ( 18.45) : -
Dr. Jacob Williams, a native of Groton, Ms., came to Gilmanton Iron Works about the year 1816, and was married in June, 1822, to Irene Locke of Epsom. In 1828, he returned to his native town, where he was in practice for a time, but is now established in Kensington, N. HI. (Page 231.)
Ilis wife, Mrs. Irene ( Locke) Williams, died at Groton, on March 11, 1831 ; and he was married during the next year,
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secondly, to Betsey Wakefield, of Kennebunk, Maine. Dr. Williams became a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society in the year 1831. While practising in Groton he lived on what is now known as Hollis Street, and the site of his house is given on Mr. Butler's Map. He remained here until the year 1835, when he removed to Kensington, New Hampshire, where he died on July 7, 1857. His remains were brought to Groton, and placed in the family tomb on the northerly side of the old Burying Ground.
DR. JAMES WILSON was a son of the Honorable Abiel and Abigail (Putnam) Wilson, and born at Wilton, New Hamp- shire, December 4, 1796, on the farm where his maternal great-grandfather, Jacob Putnam, began a settlement in the year 1739. Ilis early education was received at the common schools, with some help from the Reverend Thomas Beede, the minister of the town. He studied medicine under the tuition of Dr. John Wallace, of Milford, New Hampshire, and graduated at the Dartmouth Medical School in the Class of 1821. He was practising his profession at Boston in the carly part of 1825, as his name appears in the Directory of that year, and he removed to Groton near the beginning of 1828. He was married in February of that year to Elizabeth l'. Wilson, of Boston, whose father was the City-Crier, and by her he had a son and a daughter. The publishment of their intended marriage was on February 11, 1828. Dr. Wil- son came to this town under the patronage .of Dr. Amos Ban- croft, who desired some respite from a large practice, and acted as his sponsor in the community. He lived in the house between the Academy building and the First Parish Meeting-house, where he remained for more than two years. After leaving Groton he returned to Boston and passed a brief period, and then resided in New York for a short time. Soon afterward he went to Cuba, where he spent the re- mainder of his days, and died in Matanzas, on November 23, 1868.
Dr. Wilson was twice married, his second wife being a Spanish lady. After taking up his residence in Cuba, he
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returned to New England two or more times, on short visits ; and the tradition is that on these occasions he was both frail and feeble.
DR. GEORGE STEARNS was the youngest child of Ephraim and Molly (Gilman) Stearns, and born at Walpole, New Hamp- shire, on May 10, 1802. He studied medicine, - according to the Annual Catalogue of Harvard College, October, 1825, first, with Dr. Moses Hale, -- and, secondly, with Dr. Amos Twichell, of Keene ; and he graduated at the Harvard Medical School in the Class of 1827. He began to practise medicine in Boston, where he remained about three years, and then he established himself in Groton. Here he met with consider- able success, having a wide practice in the neighborhood, and became somewhat noted as a surgeon. For many years he was a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society, and always took a deep interest in professional matters. He was married late in life, on July 2, 1868, to Mrs. Ann (Moulton) Gilson, widow of Joshua Gilson, of Groton. She was a native of Framingham, and died on April 11, 1874, aged 72 years and 8 months.
Dr. Stearns was the last survivor of thirteen children, and died on March 7, 1882, at which time he was the oldest physician in Groton.
See Dr. Henry Bond's " Genealogies of the Families and Descendants of the Early Settlers of Watertown, Massachu- setts " (page 506), and George Aldrich's " Walpole as it was and as it is " (pages 362-364), for other facts concerning the Stearns family.
DR. AMOS FARNSWORTH was a son of Major Amos and Elizabeth (Rockwood) Farnsworth, and born at Groton on August 30, 1788. Ilis father was an officer of distinction during the Revolutionary War. In his boyhood the son attended school at Groton Academy, when that institution was under the preceptorship of William Merchant Richardson. On June 1, 1809, he began the study of medicine under the tuition of Dr. Calvin Thomas, of Tyngsborough, though he subsequently left this instructor, and on July 10, 1811, resumed
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his studies with Dr. John Collins Warren, of Boston. On April 14, 1812, just before war was declared by the United States with Great Britain, he was commissioned as Surgeon's Mate in the Fourth Massachusetts Infantry Regiment ; and two months later, on June 15, his regiment left South Boston for Burlington, Vermont, for service on the frontier. He remained with the Fourth Infantry during thirteen months, when he resigned his commission on May 14, 1813. He graduated at the Harvard Medical School in the Class of IS13 ; and at the time of his medical examination he pre- sented a thesis on pneumonia, which was written, by the light of pine-knots, while in camp on the northern borders. On May 1, 1814, he began the practice of medicine in Boston, and in the autumn of 1816 was chosen a Fellow of the Massa- chusetts Medical Society. He continued in the active practice of his profession during sixteen or eighteen years, and lived in Hanover Street. In 1832 he removed to Groton, residing at the southerly end of the village street, on the place formerly owned by Dr. Oliver Prescott, and retired from the profession.
Dr. Farnsworth was married, on March 21, 1823, to Mrs. Mary (Bourne) Webber, widow of Captain Seth Webber, of Boston. He died in Roxbury on July 31, 1861, and his wife in Boston on October 27, 1828, aged 37 years. They had three children, namely : two sons, Amos Ilenry Farnsworth (born on August 8, 1825), of Troy, New York, a graduate of Harvard College in the Class of 1844, and George Bourne Farnsworth (born on February 29, 1828), a graduate in the Class of 1847, who died in Roxbury, on April 11, 1887 ; and a daughter, Mary Elizabeth Farnsworth (born on December 28, 1823), who was married, first, on December 9, 1851, to Josiah Burrage Kilbourne, and, secondly, on May 21, 1861, to Samuel Hall, of Brookline.
See " Medical Communications of the Massachusetts Med- ical Society" (X. 159), published at Boston in 1866, for a brief notice of Dr. Farnsworth, signed "M. E. H.," the initials of his daughter; and also the first volume of this Historical Series (No. XI. page 20) for another notice.
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DR. AMOS BIGELOW BANCROFT was a son of Dr. Amos and Sarah (Bass) Bancroft, and born at Groton, on April 3, 1811. He attended school at Groton Academy, and graduated at Harvard College in the Class of 1831. He studied medicine with Dr. George Cheyne Shattuck, Senior, of Boston, and graduated at the Harvard Medical School in the year 1834, when he began the practice of his profession at Groton in connection with his father, Dr. Amos Bancroft. On June II, 1840, he was married to Marietta, daughter of Nathan and India (Emerson) Shepley, of Pepperell. He joined the Massa- chusetts Medical Society in 1837, and for some years was one of its Councillors. Dr. Bancroft remained here until the spring of 1853, when he removed to Charlestown, and became associated with Dr. Jonathan Wheeler Bemis. While living in Charlestown he was physician to the State Prison during more than ten years. Under the administration of General Grant he was appointed Superintendent and Surgeon in charge of the Marine Hospital at Chelsea, which position he held from August 1, 1869, to June 30, 1877, when he took up his residence in Boston. While travelling abroad with his family, he died in Florence, Italy, on November 8, 1879, much lamented by a wide circle of friends and patients at home, -leaving a widow and two daughters to mourn his loss.
.DR. ABEL HERVEY WILDER was a native of Winchendon, where he was born on June 16, 1801. He was a son of Levi and Grace (Wilder) Divoll; but by an Act of the Legislature on February 7, 1824, his name was changed from Hervey Divoll to Abel Hervey Wilder, keeping the surname of his mother's family. He graduated at the Dartmouth Medical School in the Class of 1828, and began to practise his pro- fession at Temple, New Hampshire. On February 29, 1828, he was married at New Ipswich to Mary, daughter of Ephraim and Elizabeth (Bent) Brown, who was born at Lincoln, Massa- chusetts, on November 16, 1803. Dr. Wilder next removed to Pepperell, where he was associated for a while with Dr. Nehe- miah Cutter in the management of an institution for the
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treatment of nervous diseases. In the year 1836 he came to Groton and bought the house on Main Street, next to Dr. Green's place, where he organized a similar institution for the care of nervous patients. In this specialty he met with considerable success, and at the same time maintained a good standing in general practice. He became a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society in the year 1837, and continued to live at Groton until the death of his wife, which took place on February 12, 1843; and from this town he removed to Pittsfield. While living in Richmond, Virginia, he was married to a second wife, who had been a school- teacher.
The following sketch of Dr. Wilder is found among the obituary notices in the Appendix to the Report of the Stand- ing Committee, printed in the Transactions of the Medical Society of New Jersey, at their Ninety-eighth Annual Meeting in 1864,- which gives his subsequent career after leaving this town, though in some particulars it is not strictly accurate : -
DR. ABEL HERVAY WILDER was born in Winchendon, Mass., June sixteenth, 1801 ; he died at Bloomfield, N. J., January second, 1864.
He was educated at Dartmouth College, and studied medicine with Dr. Mazzy [Mussey], of vegetarian celebrity, who lived at Hanover. He attended lectures in Boston, and began practice at Pepperal, N. H. [Pepperell, Mass. ], among the granite hills. The severities of the climate brought on the asthma, which never ceased to give him more or less inconvenience to the close of his life. He next removed to Groton, Mass., where he remained till the death of his wife. Relinquishing practice for a while, he resided at Pittsfield, Mass., where his only child -a daughter [Mary Elizabeth], now the wife of Henry J. Mills, Esq. - was pursuing her education. Dr. Wilder, seeking a warmer climate than that of Massachusetts, next removed to Richmond, Va., where he practiced medicine for several years. He returned North and be- came associated in the proprietorship of a lunatic asylum at North- ampton, Mass. This proved a commercial failure, and with broken fortune he crossed "the plains" to California in 1848, where he remained several years with considerable pecuniary advantage, and
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finally settled in a pretty cottage on the wooded summit of the hill that skirts the village of Bloomfield, N. J., on the west, where he spent the remainder of his life. His funeral was numerously at- tended, and many who sincerely mourned his loss followed his remains to his family vault in Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, near Newark. Rev. Dr. Newlan, his pastor, bore abundant evidence of his entire preparedness for death. He paid a feeling tribute to the deceased as a beloved physician to whom he owed his life .. He was from his youth an invalid on account of his asthmatic difficulties, but he died at length in consequence of an attack of congestion of the brain. Although he did not intend to seek practice in Bloomfield, he was serving many families with great acceptance. He was a well-educated man, had a patient, investigating mind, with consid- erable physical courage, and had seen in the course of his life considerable practice. His professional engagements had increased to the full extent of his ability to meet them. He visited his patients till within a few days of his death.
Dr. Wilder was the soul of honor. On this subject he was in- tensely sensitive, and some events of his life, if related, would show how far his nice sense of honor exceeded the ordinary com- mercial honor of the present day. Although he felt that his fail- ure to meet his engagements at Northampton was owing to no fault of his, still after his successes in California, he arranged that his creditors at Northampton should be invited to a dinner, and under each plate he caused to be placed a check for the full amount with the interest due the person to whom that particular place was as- signed. A silver pitcher now adorns his parlor, which affords the evidence of the appreciation of those so unexpectedly repaid. Dr. Wilder was a stout, well-built man. His erect carriage and courtly manners gave him a military air. The effect was hightened by the single-breasted coat and ruffled shirt, which he invariably wore. Though not readily accessible to all, none knew him well but loved him, or employed him professionally without readily giving him their entire confidence. In politics he was wholly and entirely loyal. His allegiance was not doubtful or divided. (Pages 77, 78.)
DR. JAMES MERRILL CUMMINGS was a son of Jacob Abbot and Elizabeth (Merrill) Cummings, and born in Boston on July 27, 1810. His father was a native of Hollis, New Hampshire, where he was born on November 2, 1772; he
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pursued his preparatory studies at Groton Academy, and graduated at Harvard College in the Class of 1801. After leaving Cambridge the father became a teacher for several years, and later a bookseller and publisher, and a member of the well-known house of Cummings and Hilliard in Boston. The son was educated at Phillips Academy, Andover, and at Bowdoin College, where he graduated in the Class of 1830. He studied his profession with Dr. John Barrett, of Portland, Maine, and in the year 1834 took the degree of M.D. at the Bowdoin Medical School. On November 4, 1835, he was married to Sarah Thurston Phillips, daughter of Joel and Sarah Phillips (Thurston) Hall, of Portland, who was born on September 10, 1804, and died on January 29, 1890
Immediately after graduation from the Medical School, Dr. Cummings took up his residence at Calais, Maine, for a year or thereabouts, and then went to Nashua, New Hampshire, where he remained for about two years. In 1839 he removed to Cairo, Illinois, and lived there for the next two or three years. In the spring of 1842 he came to Groton and bought out the establishment of Dr. Wilder, which he conducted for four years. He became widely known in this town and neigh- borhood as a physician of the homeopathic school, and there are still many persons among his former patients who remem- ber him with much pleasure. In the spring of 1846 he went to Salem, where he remained during four years, and then removed to Portland, which became his final abiding place. Ilere he died after a week's illness, on July 20, 1883, leav- ing a widow, and a son, James Abbot Cummings, and a daughter, Elizabeth Wainwright Cummings, to mourn his loss. A man of most agreeable manners, he left behind him a large circle of friends.
DR. RUFUS SHACKFORD is a son of Captain Samuel and Hannah (Currier) Shackford, and was born at Chester, New Hampshire, on December 17, 1816. He went to school at Groton Academy, in the year 1840, and afterward studied medicine in the office of Dr. James M. Cummings, of Groton. He attended a course of lectures at the Dartmouth Medical
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School in 1842, and two courses at the Harvard Medical School in 1844 and 1845, graduating at the latter institution in the Class of 1845. His practice at Groton was of short duration, after which he lived at Lowell for a brief period, when he removed to Portland, Maine, where he is still in practice. Dr. Shackford has been married twice, but has no children:
DR. NORMAN SMITH was a son of Jesse and Nabby (Kit- tredge) Smith, and born at Mount Vernon, New Hampshire, on October 13, ISII. He was married, first, on May 3, 1838, to Harriet, daughter of John and Lydia Sleeper, of Frances- town, New Hampshire, who was born on September 7, 1816, and died at Groton, on September 2, 1839; secondly, on November 6, 1843, to Mariett Sleeper, a sister of his first wife, who was born on October 9, 1826, and died at Groton, on July 6, 1846; thirdly, on September 22, 1847, at Lowell, to Abigail Maria, daughter of Ephraim and Sarah (King) Brown, of Wilton, New Hampshire, who was born on August 26, 1828, and died at Groton, on July 17, 1852 ; fourthly, on September 12, 1853, to Sarah Young, daughter of Solomon and Dorcas (Hopkins) Frost, of Groton, who was born on July 13, 1832, and died at Fitchburg, on December 4, 1856; and, fifthly and lastly, on September 11, 1866, at Barre, to Mrs. Mary Jane (King) Lee, daughter of Daniel and Rebecca (Parmenter) King, of Rutland, Massachusetts, and widow of George Huntington Lee, who was born on November 5, 1828.
Dr. Smith came to Groton about the year 1837, when he was associated for a time with his cousin Franklin Otis Kit- tredge, in the business of making fancy boxes. From an early age he had a decided taste for medicine and surgery, and he found it impossible to repress the natural tendency of his de- sires. In the year 1843 he graduated at the Vermont Medical College, Woodstock, and soon became widely known as a sur- geon in this neighborhood. He had a large practice, extend- ing over the northern part of Middlesex County, and over the southern part of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire. In April, 1861, at the beginning of the War of the Rebellion, he
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went out as Surgeon of the Sixth Massachusetts Militia Regi- ment, and was with that famous organization on its march through Baltimore, and during its first campaign of three months. On June 9, 1875, Dr. Smith sailed for Europe, where he passed several months in visiting hospitals and other medical institutions, and after his return he settled in Nashua, New Hampshire. Here he remained until the year 1879, when he came back to Groton and resumed practice, but owing to the condition of his health, which had been broken down by exposure in the army, it was not now exten- sive. During the last few years of his life he received a pen- sion from the Government for his disabilities. He was a member of the Congregational Union Church, and prominent in all matters connected with the welfare of the town. He died on May 24, 1888, at his farm on Common Street ; and the funeral, on May 28, was conducted under Masonic rites.
For an account of Dr. Smith's services in the army, see pages 358-360 of Volume II. of this Historical Series.
DR. BATCHELDER, a Botanic physician, came to Groton in the summer of 1843 to practise the healing art, as expounded by his school of medicine. He lived in the Chaplin house, on School Street, then owned by James Needham, but now by Charles Woolley, and situated just north of the Burying Ground. I well remember the sign placed along the ridge- pole of the building, which read " Dr. Batchelder's Thomso- nian Establishment." Dr. Batchelder did not remain in the town more than six months, as the house took fire on the evening of January 4, 1844, when the roof and the upper story were burned off; and the establishment was then given up. I know nothing in regard either to his antecedent or his subsequent career.
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