USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > History of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of its prominent men, Volume I pt 2 > Part 4
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Dr. Asa Burbank was born in Williamstown, September 28th. 1773. He devoted his early life to study, and graduated at Williams College in 1797; was appointed tutor in 1798, and held the position two years. In 1800 he commenced the study of medicine in the office of Dr. Towner, at. tended courses of lectures in New York, and commenced practice in Lanesboro. Here he continued in extensive and lucrative practice, not only in this but adjoining towns, giving universal satisfaction to all. In 1824 he removed to Albany and remained four years, till he was attacked with brain trouble brought on by a fall, when he returned to Williamstown. He became blind and remained so till his death in 1820. He stood high in the estimation of his medical brethren. In 1822 he was appointed professor of obstetrics in the Berkshire Medical Institution. then connected with Williams College, retaining his connection for two years to the great satisfaction of the students. Dr. Williams says of
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him : "He was one of the most companionable and facetious of men and his happy turn of relating anecdotes, of which an abundance was stored in his capacious mind. often kept an assemblage in a roar of laughter. He had a most happy and enviable faculty of cheering up the minds of his patients, even in the most desponding cases, and often of smoothing their descent to the grave." "No one can doubt that he was both a moral and religious man." In a letter from his daughter she writes : " In his profession his love of doing good seemed to be the governing principle of his life. I think he braved the winter storms of old Berk- shire with more readiness to visit the very poor, than those who had ample means to reward him for so doing. To benefit the town in which he lived he was willing to and did make great sacrifices, both to encour- age education and in many other ways to improve society. My father was tall (6 feet) and well proportioned. with an eye that seemed to read character at once; retiring in his manner, but could indulge in severe satire when he thought he was not honorably dealt with. He had a ! appy faculty in the sick room, and many a nervous, desponding patient rallied and recovered after his encouraging conversation. He was a re- ligious man." His disease was dropsy of the brain, and his age 56.
Dr. William H. Tyler was born in Lanesboro, May 18th. 1780, and died December 13th, 1868. He worked upon his father's farm until eigh- teen years of age. studied one year with Dr. Silas Hamilton. continued his studies with Dr. Joseph Jarvis, of Lanesboro, and completed them with Dr. Asa Burbank. He took a full course of lectures at Columbia College, New York. He says, "The Marine Hospital was at hand : bone, muscle, arteries, and veins were no longer presented to the imagination only. I could examine them with my eye and the dissecting knife." At that time a spirited discussion was in progress on contagion in yellow fever. Dr. Tyler commenced practice in Lanesboro in 1815, and soon had an extensive ride. He practiced among the best families in and out of town and the poor he never neglected, whether there was prospect of re- muneration or not. He was an honored member of the Massashusetts Medical Society, censor, councillor, and president of the Berkshire Medi- cal Society, and he always enjoyed to a high degree the confidence and esteem of his medical brethren. In 1815, 1820, 1831. and 1835 he repre- sented his town in the Legislature with usefulness and great credit to himself. An extract from his writings when he was seventy-five years old will throw light upon him as a thinker, and give a clew to the char- acter of the times. "I have had an anxious, arduous, and laborions life. and have not been more than one-half remunerated for it. I have tried to be an honor to the medical profession, and obtain honor and a good reputation, but very many of the faculty have dishonored themselves by dishonest and intriguing efforts to obtain business. Quackery and pre- tension to skill have supplanted and broken down many who were worthy of the best public patronage. Quackery is now in the ascendancy. In medicine, religion, and politics a greater effort seems to be made to deceive
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and gull the human family than to enlighten and lead them to a knowledge of the truth. I have hoped and desired a reform for many years but the last twenty years have been growing worse, -there is wrong somewhere. I never saw such a world as this before and hope I shall never see a worse one. Who is I, I think I is a sentient spirit, an immortal soul that will know and be known by other spirits or souls when separated from the body." He goes on and speaks of the repulsiveness of the doctrine of the sleep of the dead, throughout evincing a profound trust and faith in the Lord. His intimacy with Governor Briggs was only sundered by death.
Dr. Robert C. Robinson, of Adams, was born in 1784 and died in 1846, having practiced medicine forty years in the north part of the county and the adjoining county of Hampshire. He studied his profes- sion under the direction of the distinguished Dr. Peter Bryant, of Cum- mington, whose reputation for scientific and professional attainments is widely known. Dr. Robinson was a self educated man. and a writer of considerable eminence, as evidenced by his essays and public addresses on various subjects. With talents of a high order, he might have ex- celled as an orator, if his course had been in that direction. In the sphere in which he labored he was useful and respected.
Dr. Snell Babbitt was born in Norton, Massachusetts, September 9th, 1783, and died March 9th, 1853. While young his parents removed to Savoy. When a lad he worked upon the farm, though he early mani- fested a strong desire for the acquisition of knowledge, and under the direction of Rev. Jeremiah Hallock, of Plainfield, he pursued preparatory studies. He studied medicine with Dr. David Cushing, of Cheshire. There he practiced a short time, then removed to Hancock, where he re- mained till 1831. He continued in the practice there twenty-two years, "successful as a general practitioner, and distinguished particularly as an obstetrician."
" He was not merely a reader, but a thinker, a discriminating observer, and a man of sound judgment, and withal, a memory so accurate that at the bedside of his patient he could draw from this storehouse all that was valuable in the formation of a correct opinion of the case in hand.
"Dr. Babbitt was an intelligent and agreeable man in all his associations with his brethren-courageous in his practice and however urgent the case his energies were made to correspond-cheerful and pleasant at home in his family, and in inter- course with his fellow citizens. He possessed those qualities which made him not only very acceptable in the chamber of the sick, but contributed largely to the com- fort and restoration of his patients. His townsmen elected him repeatedly to the Legislature. He was a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society, and counsellor for several years. In the latter part of his life he made a public profession of his faith, departing this life in the confident hope and trust of the gospel."
Dr. Eliku S. Harkes, of North Adams, was born at Deerfield July 25th, 1801, and lived there until he was eight years old. There were superior educational advantages there, and he was unusually advanced in
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studies when he left the village. From Deerfield he removed to Charle- mont and then went out to live with his uncle, Dr. Allen, of Buckland, till fourteen years of age, and from there he went to Sanderson Academy. and two years afterward to a store in Rowe as clerk, then partner. But drink ruined both the partner and his business, and he.entered the office of Drs. Smith & Clark, in the spring of 1821. His first practice was in Rowe, where with Dr. Haynes he practiced five years. In 1829 he came to Adams when the population of the village was 466. He says. "At that period New England was drenched with New England rum and cider brandy." He at once identified himself with a few Congregationalists and solicited funds for the erection of the first church of that denomination in that place, of which he was a prominent member, and for which he sacrificed much, pecuniarily. He early engaged largely in real estate and gained much, giving liberally to public improvements and private charities. He established the first newspaper ever published in North Adams, purchas- ing press and type from Williams College, and paying for them from his own funds. He was a man of great activity, indefatigable in his medical work, and he had a very large obstetric practice. He was a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society, and the Berkshire Medical Society, and the Northern Berkshire Society. He was a genial and companionable man, very much respected by his medical brethren. He died May 17th, 1879.
Dr. George Carlisle Lawrence was born at Londonderry. Vt .. April 3d. 1820. He was the son of Stephen Lawrence, who was born in Groton, where the Lawrence family had lived from very early times. At fourteen years of age Dr. Lawrence's parents moved to Ohio, where he attended school and subsequently entered Oberlin College, completing his course in 1844. He graduated at Berkshire Medical College in 1847. commenced teaching school at Adams, and we have heard him relate that he was summoned from his school to attend his first obstetrical case. He soon acquired a large practice. September 17th, 1857, he married Jane E. Pelton, of Great Barrington. In 1859, solicited by prominent men in North Adams, he removed there. His practice, especially obstetrical, was large, and his attention or rather devotion to his practice was unre- mitting, taking but two short vacations in twenty-five years. He died Jan- uary 6th, 1884, after an illness of only a few days, of typho-malarial fever. Dr. Lawrence never took any part in local politics and never held any local office except that of chairman of the board of health. He was a large and tall man. He was very genial and humorous. His kind heart was as well known as his expressive face. He was a member of the State and county medical societies and of the local society which he helped to establish and of which he was president. He was liberal in his views. and adopted that which his judgment approved. His presence among his medical brethren was always a source of pleasure, although he had posi- tive opinions and was free to express them. He leaned somewhat to the heroic in treatment, and in the latter part of his life his large doses of
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quinine, with frequent repeatings in fever, startled some of his brethren. He used opium and chloral very largely in his obstetrical practice, and trusted in difficult cases very much to the powers of nature. It is to be regretted that he, with his fine mental and moral endowments. was so engrossed by the cares of a harassing practice that he mingled so little in society, and fell too early, worn out by his unremitting toil.
Dr. Henry Halsey Childs, of Pittsfield. was born at the Child's homestead, on Jubilee Hill, June 7th, 1783. As a youth he was both noble hearted and noble minded. He graduated at Williams College in 1802, and at that time all the faculty and trustees but one were federalists. His commencement oration, which was submitted to the president for approval, was full of the rankest Jeffersonian democracy. The utterance of what was considered heresy was forbidden, and some harmless and probably glittering generalities substituted. But when it came his turn to speak, out leaped the pestilent democracy. The president tried to stop him, but he could not be silenced, and he went on to the end amid mingled hisses and applause. And this foreshadowed this young man's future. He studied medicine, and practiced with his father as long as his father lived. They introduced vaccination, in spite of strong opposition, as his father had inoculation. In May. 1822, at a medical meeting, after a long interval, Dr. Childs introduced the subject of a medi- cal college, urging it with his usual ardor, and originated the Berkshire Medical College. From the time of its establishment he was its soul, laboring and sacrificing greatly for it. He was its president, and the great good to Pittsfield, and the county, and State emanating from it, counted with his personality, it would be impossible to estimate. He had a large medical practice, and besides lecturing in Pittsfield. was a member of the faculty at Woodstock, Williams, and Willoughby, and at Columbus, Ohio. Though his professional labors were sufficient for an ordinary man, he found time for the activities of a zealous and un- compromising democrat, and he wielded great influence in his party. He was representative in 1816 and 1827 : member of the Constitutional Convention of 1820 ; State senator in 1837 ; and lieutenant-governor in 1843. In the Constitutional Convention, in advocating his motion to amend Article 3 in the bill of rights, "he particularly distinguished him- self as the champion of the voluntary system in the support of public worship, saying that it is the inalienable right of every man to render that worship in the mode most consistent with the dictates of his own conscience." He was an eminent Christian. As deacon, Sabbath school teacher, and president of the Berkshire Bible Society. he exemplified the grace, tenderness, and power of Christianity. He was gentle, but strong : tender, yet true hearted ; with a strong will, but under loyal dominion ; with aspirations and affections resting not alone upon those near him. but reaching forth as far as the mission of him he so faithfully served. It was sad, that desiring it so much, he did not in his last days rest his eyes on the dear old hills of Berkshire, and with the deep blue arch
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studded with stars that had through the long, lonely night rides been to him an inspiration, filling him with trust and hope. He was with his daughter in Boston at his death in March, 1868, in the eighty-fifth year of his age.
At the resuscitation of the society in July, 1819, Dr. H. Burghardt was chosen president, and Dr. Alfred Perry, secretary.
Dr. A. Perry was born in Hamilton, Conn .. where his father was the pastor, but in 1784 removed to Richmond, Berkshire county, with his parents. In 1803 he graduated at Williams College. For several years he was in feeble health. He taught school for a time in the Westfield Academy, and for a few years in South Carolina, whither he had gone for his health. He completed his medical studies at Richmond Medical Col- lege. and commenced practice in Williamstown. November Ist. 1814. he married Lucy Benjamin of that town, and in November, 1815, he removed to Stockbridge. In 1837 he went to Illinois, and having fixed upon a location, removed his family in 1838, but died September 10th of the same year.
"As a member of the church he was very active, as a physician fervently be- loved by his patients, and trusted with a fearlessness which was sometimes denomi- nated idolatry. He was a man of great patience and firmness, and he differed from many of his day in both his religious and medical views. In religious matters, though he steadfastly adhered to what he believed to be right, still he maintained an unusual degree of quietness and self possession, and when convinced of an error, no man was more prompt to acknowledge it, and seek forgiveness."
He was a firm temperance man, and as early as 1827, in Stockbridge. through his energetic efforts an auxiliary temperance society was formed. He was an ardent anti-slavery man when to be such or for total abstinence was exceedingly unpopular. " He never let self stand between God and duty. He went to the West against the earnest oppositions of friends. following his own convictions in respect to duty even unto death."
Dr. Charles Worthington, of Lenox, was born August 27th, 1778, and died May 23d, 1840. He was an active member of the Berkshire Medical Society, and held various responsible positions in it, and he appears to have had the respect and esteem of his medical brethren.
Dr. Robert Worthington, of Lenox, was born September 29th, 1791. and died in August, 1856. He was well known as a physician. having long resided in the county. He was for years secretary of the Berkshire Medical Society, and was highly honored and esteemed. Not only was he well known in the walks of professional life, but in those of Christian benevolence. He was a member of the Congregational church in Lenox. and one on whom much was imposed, and sustained with ability and constancy. He was for many years treasurer of the Berkshire Bible So- ciety, and was made a life director of the American Bible Society. He was secretary of the county Seaman's Friend Society, and an earnest friend of every measure of popular reform. His Christian faith was vital. energetic, active, and the true faith that works by love. His memory
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will always be cherished with honor. These brothers were sons of Captain Daniel and Lois (Foote) Worthington, and were born in Colchester, Conn. The family removed to Lenox probably in the early part of this century, and there the parents and the two sons above named died.
Dr. Daniel Collins was a native of Lenox, and during many years a practitioner there. He was a thorough scholar and a man of ability and acute observation. As a practitioner he was many years ahead of his time, but like many others of advanced ideas he was thought by some to be almost insane. He prescribed fresh air, a cooling regimen, and even milk punch for fever patients when, by many, such treatment was con- sidered nearly equivalent to manslaughter ; and in many other things he was equally in advance of his age. He was not an orthodox Christian of the times when he lived, and he was consequently unpopular among those who regarded orthodoxy as a sine qua non ; but among those by whom he was best known he was highly esteemed.
Dr. John M. Brewster, of Pittsfield, was born October 22d, 1789, in Becket, Mass. His early education was at the Lenox Academy. He studied medicine under his father, graduated in Boston, reached home the day his father was brought home dead of apoplexy, and commenced immediately the practice of medicine in Becket, which he continued till 1821, when he removed to Lenox and successfully practiced there for 16 years.
" In 1837 he removed to Pittsfield, purchased the old home of General Willis, and continued his profession with zeal, fidelity, and success for thirty years, making in all fifty-five years of continuous prae- tice." " His physical constitution was of the most robust kind." The old Brewster homestead is one of the historic landmarks, inasmuch as it has the credit of having been a station of the underground railroad for fugitives from the South on their way to Canada. Dr. Brewster welcomed to his house Gerritt Smith, Elihu Burritt, and Henry Wilson, and a strong friendship existed between him and Charles Sumner, to the close of his life. Studious of social propriety and civil obligations, he firmly and conscientiously took his chances on the side of manhood and right, calmly and quietly awaiting the result. He died May 3d, 1869, aged 80 years.
Dr. Oliver E. Brewster, son of Dr. John M. Brewster, was born in Becket, January 31st, 1816. His early education was received in Lenox. his ยท collegiate in Williams College. His medical studies were under his father and at Berkshire Medical College, where he graduated in 1839. He com- menced practice in Pittsfield, and married Clarissa A. Allen in 1841. In 1862 he was commissioned as surgeon of the Forty-eighth Massachusetts regiment. He was painstaking in the investigation of disease, and very successful in the treatment of it. He was fearless, and in the army was neither afraid to utter his convictions nor defend them. He had the confidence and esteem of all who knew him. His habits were active, and in his whole army life, he was, unless sick, always present at the morn-
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ing call. When on Morris Island, S. C., he was attacked with chronic diarrhea, and it necessitated his leaving the army, October 3d, 1863. As soon as he was able, he resumed his business in Pittsfield. He had a warm heart, hated pretense and sham, was very social in his nature. and it was his great delight to be in the society of his medical brethren. He was at the time of his death president of the Berkshire Medical Society. He died in Pittsfield, September 12th, 1866. after a short illness. and was mourned by a large circle of those who had learned his strength and firmness of character.
Dr. Oliver S. Root was born in Pittsfield, July 1st, 1799. .. He was fond of books and early showed the unusual powers of observation that made him afterward so enthusiastic and successful a student of natural history. He pursued his studies in Lenox Academy and Westfield, studied medicine with Dr. H. H. Childs, graduated at Berkshire Medical College in 1824, and was afterward many years one of its trustees. His health was poor, and he spent two winters in the South and taught natural history in Columbia, S. C. He was an accomplished botanist. His sympathies were warmly enlisted in the cause of education, and for nearly thirty years he was connected either as chairman or member with the school committee of Pittsfield.
" In his talks to the children he tried to impress upon their minds the import- ance of reverence for their elders, gentleness and courtesy of manners. He was con- nected with the Bible Society, and a life director of the American Bible Society. It was greatly owing to his influence and exertions that the beautiful site of the Pitts- field Cemetery was chosen. A public spirited man, he took a deep interest in all that pertained to the improvement and welfare of his native town. In 1859 he travelled through England, Scotland, etc. He was an earnest, consistent Christian an active member of the Congregational church, and his prayers and ministrations by the bedside of the sick and dying were welcome and comforting. He had a high sense of honor and delicacy of feeling, and always held sacred the family trusts re- posed in him. His services were cheerfully given to the poor and destitute, the widow and orphan. During the war he offered his services to the Christian Commis- sion and went to the hospitals of City Point and Petersburg, but his services were too taxing, although admirable, and he never fully recovered from the effect of it. He kept at his practice to the last, never refusing to go out to see a patient even in the stormiest night. He died of pneumonia, October 22d, 1870."
Dr. Abel Kittredge was born in Tewksbury, Mass .. in 1773. and set- tled in the town of Hinsdale as a physician in 1801. He was the first and only physician in the town for twenty-five years, and had a large practice there and in the surrounding towns. He was commissioned as surgeon's mate in one of the Massachusetts regiments in 1812. by Gov. Caleb Strong. He was brother of Dr. William Kittredge. then settled in Pittsfield. In 1827 diseased eyes obliged him to abandon his profession. He afterward was much interested in agriculture, being one of the largest farmers in the town. In 1797 he married Eunice Chamberlain, of Dalton, and had four sons and six daughters. He had a noble, generous nature.
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full of kindness. He was foremost in supporting education. good morals, and religious institutions in the town. He died in 1847, aged 74 years.
Dr. Benjamin F. Kittredge. son of the foregoing, was born in Hins- dale, in 1802. He was a student with his father. attended lectures in New York and at the Berkshire Medical College, graduated in 1827, and en- tered upon the practice of medicine.
"With a conscientious regard to the obligations of his profession and enthusias- tic love for it, he devoted himself unceasingly and unsparingly to a large and labor- ious practice for 35 years, and was reputed a good physician.
" He took a lively interest in all public matters, especially education, being very efficient in establishing and maintaining the Hinsdale Academy in 1848. Everything tending to improve and elevate society had his sympathy and active support as well as material aid. He was much interested in agriculture and when his professional duties permitted, he took great pleasure in his flocks and herds.
"In 1829 he married Harriet Marsh, of Dalton, and had nine daughters but no sons. He was a kind and tender husband and father. His family was his pride, and his highest ambition was to make them happy, and so train and educate his children as to prepare them for useful lives. He died in April, 1862, leaving a fair compe- tence to his family."
Dr. Robert Campbell, son of David Campbell the elder, was born at Pittsfield in 1796. He was a graduate of Berkshire Medical College in 1822, first class. He had previously studied medicine, with whom we do not know. From Smith's history of Pittsfield we extract the following :
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