History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 215

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1818

USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 215

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The men who in Bristol County championed this system were mostly physicians in the true and full sense of the word, who, in working for homeopathy, were working for the ultimate advancement of medi- eal science. Hence, while their business and the necessarily close study occupied the greater part of their time, they still kept themselves posted thoroughly in all the theories and advanced ideas of the day. Homeopathy was not taken by them simply as a theory of disease, but as the best practical method of prescribing for disease, and its law as the only one which seemed to have a perfectly practical and uni- versal bearing. Their principal labor was in the line of the development of this law; for this they were willing to suffer ostracism, and for this and its re- wards were they anxious to labor. Safe in the fold of their own medical society, safer in the love and confidence of their patients, safest in the certainty of the results which were sure to follow their labors, they could well afford to wait the results of the truth of the law to which they had given their allegiance.

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HOMEOPATHY IN BRISTOL COUNTY AND ITS PRACTITIONERS.

Later years have proved the justice of these claims, for pari passu with their presentation has been the acknowledgment of their rights, and homeopathic physicians now stand in the eyes of the communities and the local governments on a level, at least, with the educated men of any school.

The first of these physicians, in point of time, to settle in the county, was Dr. Manning B. Roche. He was a pupil of Dr. Constantine Hering, and was a graduate of the Allentown Academy. No one could be a pupil of Dr. Hering and not be thoroughly versed in all that pertains to the education of the physician, and Dr. Roche's education was complete, and especially so in the matter of the Materia Medica. He was a man of strong character, and well calculated to command the respect and attention of those with whom he came in contact. He settled in New Bed- ford in 1841, and though at first he met with little encouragement, he gradually acquired a foothold, and at length obtained a large practice. He retired on account of failing health in 1861, and died at River- side, N. J., July 5, 1862, aged seventy-three years.

Dr. Roche met with but little active opposition to his practice, which may have been due to the liberal example of the late Dr. Lyman Bartlett, who, at the time of his death, had stood for a quarter of a century at the head of his school in this locality. He stead- fastly refused to be bound by the bigoted rules of the Massachusetts Medical Society, and always met ho- mæopathic physicians in consultation whenever re- quested so to do.

At this same time, in the northwestern portion of the county, in the little town of Norton, Dr. Ira Barrows was practicing "after the straitest sect of allopathy." But in 1842 his attention was called to the new theory of therapeutics by his friend, Dr. P. P. Wells, now of Brooklyn, N. Y. But he was not a man to take things on any one's statement, and he accordingly obtained the "Organon" and Hull's Jahr, and commenced his experiments. The result of these experiments filled him with wonder, and he very soon gave in his adherence unreservedly to the new school. . It has been a mistaken notion that all of those who practice homœopathically must, of necessity, give in their whole adherence to all of the theories by which Hahnemann tried to account for the action of reme- dies ; but in every case individual opinion has been duly exercised, and the facts of the master taken without regard to the theories which he advanced. Hence the far larger part of the converts which were made to homœopathy were those who had previously been firm adherents of the theory of the dominant school, and while putting their whole faith in the power of the therapeutic law, nevertheless did not feel themselves required to adopt all of the theory of disease presented by Hahnemann. Homœopathy in Bristol County was represented by these same inde- pendent thinkers, and facts, not theories, were required for their guidance.

In August of 1842 an epidemic dysentery spread very generally over the region around Norton, and Dr. Barrows treated sixty-three cases with the loss of but one,-a very wonderful showing for that disease and those times. The knowledge of his method of treat- ment spread very rapidly over the adjacent towns, and soon his circuit extended to at least twenty miles. He was the pioneer of homeopathy in Tann- ton, Middleborough, Raynham, the Bridgewaters, Easton, Mansfield, Foxborough, Wrentham, Attlebor- ough, Seekonk, Rehoboth, Dighton, and Pawtucket. He met with a great deal of opposition from his pro- fessional brethren, and was finally, without a fair hear- ing and on a technical charge, expelled from the Mas- sachusetts Medical Society, the first martyr in this section of the country to the bigotry of medical intol- erance. This action of the society, and the fact that it was based technically, not really, on " gross immor- ality," was exceedingly galling to Dr. Barrows, and he never could afterwards speak of it with composure. It was a gross libel on the life of a man whose whole life was given to the relief of suffering humanity. He soon left Norton, and commenced practice in Provi- dence, which he held to the day of his death. He died Oct. 14, 1882, and his funeral, held in church, was attended by crowds of interested professional lay friends.

He graduated at Brown University in 1824, and re- ceived his medical diploma from Harvard in 1827.

It was not till 1845 that Fall River was settled by homeopathy. In that year Dr. Isaac Fiske be- came interested in it, and the more that he studied the law and the more that he put it into practice the more did he love it, till finally he practiced under its ægis solely. At this time Fall River was a small manufacturing town, with its great possibilities not yet developed, and its population almost wholly made up of those who were connected with the mills. With this class homeopathy was not popular, and Dr. Fiske mnet with much and unreasonable opposition in his new practice, both from his professional brethren and the people. But his own high scholarly attainments, his social power, and his love for his newly-found truth, enabled him to overcome all difficulties, and to establish himself in a good practice.

Although the town of Taunton had weekly, and oftener if needed, the services of Dr. Ira Barrows, yet there was no settled homeopathic physician here till the advent of Dr. George Barrows, in 1846. Dr. Bar- rows was a graduate of Amherst in 1840, and of Berk- shire Medical College in 1843, which he had entered as a sturdy allopath. But his attention had been drawn to homeopathy by the increased success of his brother since his change of practice, and by the urgency of Dr. William Peck, of Cincinnati. While at Pittsfield he made the. change, and openly avowed and practiced the new way, and it was perhaps then that the college first heard the truth so plainly uttered.

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HISTORY OF BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Upon his graduation he came to Taunton and began

dent of the despised practice. In 1849 he came to business. He met with a great deal of opposition, this country, located for a short time in Boston, and but it was not malignant, and his kindly ways, his became a member of the Massachusetts Medical So- ciety. He continues in New Bedford, a highly-es- teemed practitioner. gentlemanliness, and his quiet persistence in asking his opponents " to come and see," made him hosts of friends and compelled to be respected the practice of which he was almost the sole exponent. In difficult cases he had the experience of his brother to aid him, and the remembrance of him as a physician and a man stands high in this community to-day.

He was always ready to welcome the young physi- cian, and to give him all the aid in his power, some- times to his own professional hurt, but homeopathy was his enthusiasm, and to its advancement he was ready to sacrifice everything.

He died Jan. 19, 1878, and those who regretted his loss filled the large church in which his funeral was held.

Such were the men who were the actual pioneers of homoeopathy in Bristol County, men of thorough education, of good social standing, of high religions and moral sentiment, and those whom their profes- sional brethren could not ignore or relegate to the class of quack or charlatan.

The homoeopathic literature of those days, to those who could not read German, was limited to the copy of Hull's "Jahr," and the "Symtomen Codex,"-blessed be its memory,-and to sundry re- ports of cases which were scattered through the little periodical literature which was then printed. Hence most of the time of the homœopathist was used in the endeavor to find, among the moderate number of the remedies then " proved," the simillimum of the disease under consideration. But little time was left for other study than that of the materia medica, for the disease in hand must be cured, all other things to the contrary notwithstanding, and it must be cured homœo- pathically, or else the failure would be used as a long lever against the truth of the law, a thing which could not be endured by one of those sturdy pio- neers.

In 1847, after Dr. Barrows had left Norton for Providence, Dr. Benjamin M. Rounds commenced practice in Norton, and has been its principal physi- cian to the present time.

In 1850, Dr. G. M. Matthes made New Bedford his permanent residence. He received his degree from the united universities of Halle and Wittenberg in March, 1836, but continued his studies for two years longer in Vienna, Prague, and Berlin. He commenced prac- tice in the latter place in 1838, but in 1841 moved to his native place, Schwedt, Prussia. Notwithstanding he had all of the usual bitter prejudices against Hah- nemann, yet in 1845 his attention was compelled to his theories by the favorable results obtained by the neighboring owners of the large and costly herds of merinos, who had entirely discarded their profes- sional veterinary physicians and adopted the homœo- pathic practice. He soon became a thorough stu-

In 1851, Charles Harris, M.D., came to Taunton, and remained for several years. He was a graduate of Berkshire Medical College in 1847. He had a good and successful practice, but was obliged to return to Wareham, where he had formerly practiced, on ac- count of ill health. He is now located at East Bridgewater, where he has many and lasting friends.

In 1852, Henry B. Clarke, a graduate of the Homoeopathic Medical College of Pennsylvania, com- menced practice in New Bedford, and soon took the high rank which he has since maintained.

The year 1854 was an eventful one to homeopathy in Bristol County. In that year three young physi- cians, all supplemental graduates of the Homeopathic Medical College of Pennsylvania, took up their resi- dence in three different cities of the county. They were educated to the full extent of the knowledge that could be furnished by the allopathic schools of the country, and yet deliberately chose to practice according to the despised law of the new school. In order to fit themselves for this work they took gradu- ation from the only homeopathic school of eminence in the land. This school, while teaching the whole curriculum of the old school in self-defense, made the peculiar tenets of homœopathy its prominent point. Its hospital enforced these points, and its daily clinic made evident the wonderful power of the attenuated doses. The proof could not be ignored, and, once accepted, the proof of daily practice made it only the stronger. These graduates accepted fully the proof thus offered, and the fact that during a practice of thirty years they have not swerved from it is proof that it has never failed them.

In the spring of 1854, Dr. John L. Clarke com- menced practice in Fall River, and at once took a very high stand among the practitioners of the place. Owing to the peculiar construction of the population homœopathy did not spread much among the general people, but was received by the intelligent portion, and its hold upon them has never been lost. There are in Fall River now six homoeopathic physicians, all of them in full practice, and all of them men who have come, not merely to try the situation, but who have come to stay, and no one of whose experience there has been less than five years.

In 1872, Dr. Thomas A. Capen, a graduate of the Massachusetts Agricultural College and of the Hahne- mann Medical College of Philadelphia, commenced practice, and to-day remains a successful practitioner.

In 1874, Dr. David W. Vanderburgh commenced practice in Fall River. Dr. Vanderburgh was grad- uated in the regular course in Ann Arbor in 1866. In August of 1862 he passed examination for medical cadet, United States Army, and served as such till

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MISCELLANEOUS.

April, 1863, when he was appointed assistant sur- geon, Tenth Regiment, Michigan Infantry, which post he held till he was mustered out, Aug. 1, 1865. After his graduation he was appointed acting assistant surgeon in the United States Army, serving with the Seventeenth United States Infantry. A year after he took up the study of homeopathy.

Dr. D. A. Babcock graduated from the New York Medical College in 1874, was in partnership with Dr. Clarke, of New Bedford, till 1878, when he succeeded to the practice of Dr. George Barrows, of Taunton. After the death of his uncle, Dr. J. L. Clarke, he re- moved to Fall River, where he has largely increased the practice and has made his permanent residence.

Drs. Stowe, Finch, and Walker are also settled in the city, and are finding good practices.

In 1854, Dr. Edward Sisson, a student with Dr. Roche, and a graduate both of the Berkshire Medical School and of the Homeopathic Medical College of Pennsylvania, completed his studies, and commenced a very successful practice, which he still maintains.

There are several other physicians in New Bedford who have recently settled there, who will do honor to the cause. Among them may be mentioned Helen M. Wright, M.D., a graduate of Boston University School of Medicine, 1881.

In this same eventful year Dr. E. U. Jones came to Taunton, at the repeated and urgent request of Dr. Barrows, and for two years was his assistant before commencing practice on his own account. Previous to this Dr. Jones had been in a good prac- tice in Dover, N. H. It was in this summer that cholera was a dread visitant to the town, but the pages of homœopathy stand with but one death re- corded upon them. The practice of Dr. Jones has been among the best and most intelligent of the citi- zens. He was for seven years secretary of the Mas- sachusetts Homeopathic Medical Society, and, as an especial honor, was elected its centennial president in 1876. He is the chairman of the first board of health of the city of Taunton. He is also Lecturer on Sani- tary Science and Malarial Diseases in Boston Uni- versity Medical School. His experience of thirty years is not without its value to a large clientage at the present day.

Joseph W. Hayward, M.D., was graduated from the Medical School of Maine in 1864, but was en- tered as medical cadet in the regular army in 1863; served in general hospitals till March, 1864; re- entered in June of the same year as assistant surgeon United States Volunteers. After passing the regular army board served in the field in front of Richmond until Nov. 25, 1865. He then came to New York, took lectures at Bellevue, and came to Taunton in March, 1866. He is at present Lecturer at Boston University School of Medicine, a member of the city school board, and in a large and successful practice.

Dr. B. L. Dwinell is a graduate of Tuft's College, 1876, and of Boston University School of Medicine,

1878. Immediately after graduation he settled in Taunton, and is having a very successful practice.

Dr. Fred. D. Tripp is a graduate of Boston Uni- versity School of Medicine, 1881; spent one year in the hospital at Ward's Island, and in March, 1883, became city physician.

Dr. Caleb Swan, a grandson of Dr. Caleb Swan, of Easton, and son of Dr. James C. Swan, of Brockton, coming from a line of physicians, is recognized as one who will be prominent in the future history of medi- cine in the county.

His grandfather was among the earliest of those who recognized the value of the new therapeutics, and, while not taking a decided stand upon the point, yet practiced it more and more till his death, and claimed himself as a homœopath. His circuit extended over the whole county, and his judgment was much relied upon.

CHAPTER LXXII.

MISCELLANEOUS.

The French Canadians in the County of Bristol.1 -About one-sixteenth of the population of Massa- chusetts is composed of French Canadians. Of all the cities in the State, Fall River and Lowell have the largest French Canadian population. Although we lack certain data for an accurate determination of their numbers, yet a reliable estimate may be reached by reference to their church records, the opinions of their journalists, and the last Federal census.

Relying upon these sources of information we may state that there are one hundred thousand French Canadians in Massachusetts, and from ten to twelve thousand both in Lowell and Fall River.

Most of these immigrants have come here since the war. Like other aliens they come to better their condition, and while the majority of them come to work in our manufactories, yet they are followed by a relative number of professional men, physicians, clergymen, and lawyers, as well as educated mer- chants. The latter, especially, bring some capital with them, while the larger number of the others trust to whatever opportunity there may be here for persons able and willing to work.

It is the opinion of those who are acquainted with this class of people that they are orderly, sociable, and intelligent, and that sooner or later their influ- ence will be felt in the society and politics of this State.

The French Canadian is very much attached to his language. French is spoken in the family and in the church. It is not true, as some suppose, that the French Canadian speaks a patois unintelligible to a

1 Contributed by Hugo A. Dubuque.

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HISTORY OF BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

person well versed in the French language. The curriculum of schools and colleges in Canada is based upon that of the lyceums and colleges of France, and any one familiar with the literary works produced by French Canadians is well aware that the French lan- guage has been preserved with remarkable vigor and purity by all the descendants of the Cartiers, Maison- neuves, and Champlains. We shall have occasion later on to refer to Mr. Louis Fréchette, the French Canadian poet-laureate, whose works were crowned by the French Academy (Paris, 1880).

The first French family came to Fall River about the year 1859, but it was not until 1866-68 that the French from Canada came here in large numbers.

We often hear that these people return to Canada after a few years' sojourn here. It may have been so before 1870, but since then the French population has increased rapidly in every city and county of the commonwealth.

Let us now glance at the social and religious con- dition of this element. While some thirty or forty families attend Protestant churches, the remainder belong to the Catholic Church.

The French Protestants meet for worship in the mission chapel on the corner of Pleasant and Sixth Streets.

The first French Catholic Church (called Ste. Anne) was built in 1870, on Hunter Street, Rev. A. de Mon- taubricq, a native of France, being its first pastor.

In 1867-68, Rev. A. J. Derbuel, another native of France, at present pastor of the French Church in West Boylston, Mass., was ministering to the wants of the French families then in Fall River. He was then one of the assistants in St. Mary's (Irish ) parish.

Another church (Notre Dame) has since been built on Bassett Street to accommodate the residents of the eastern portion of the city. Rev. P. J. B. Bedard has been its pastor from the first.

There is a part of the city of Fall River called French village ( Petit Canada, or Little Canada, as the French themselves name it), which includes all the houses of the American Linen Company, and is bounded on the east by Broadway and on the north and south by Division and Bay Streets. It received that appellation because the early French Canadian immigrants lived mostly in that vicinity.

The French in Fall River have since 1870 organ- ized, and they maintain to this day, various national, benevolent, and literary societies. The most impor- tant of them, called the St. Jean Baptiste, was founded in 1874, as a national and mutual relief association ; it was reorganized in 1878, and is now in existence. It has taken the lead in the celebration of the 24th of June, the national holiday of the French Cana- dians, St. John the Baptist being their patron saint. An event of some importance to the French popula- tion of Fall River was the publication in the French language of a weekly paper called L'Écho du Canada (1873). It was owned and edited by Dr. Alfred Mig-

nault and H. Beaugrand. The former practiced as a physician in Fall River for some nine or ten years, and died recently. The latter is the proprietor and manager of a large and successful daily, La Patrie, in Montreal (P. Q. Canada).

Mr. Beaugrand was educated in a French Canadian college, and came to this country while young. He enlisted in the French army in Mexico, and after- wards settled in Fall River, and worked at the trade of a printer until he commenced the publication of L'Écho du Canada. He was very active, studious, and enterprising. He sold his paper to Mr. Archam- bault (a photographer, now in Montreal), who trans- ferred it to Mr. Remi Benoit, who in turn became its editor. This paper was succeeded by Le Protecteur Canadien, edited by contributors. Before that, in 1874, Mr. Benoit had successively edited Le Charivari, a comical paper, and L'Ouvrier Canadien, which was a. rival to L' Echo du Canada. While Mr. Beaugrand lived in Fall River he wrote a book entitled Jeanne La Fileuse (Jane the Spinner).

It is an interesting novel. The heroine is an or- phan, who leaves Canada and comes to Fall River; works in the mills, and has two lovers, one in Canada, the other in Fall River; the latter saves her life in the Granite Mill fire in 1874, but dies in consequence of injuries received in the performance of that self- sacrificing deed. Jeanne marries the former. The book contains a faithful description of the life and manners of the French natives of Canada at home and abroad.

In September, 1873, the French Canadians had a large meeting to rejoice over the withdrawal of the last German troops from French territory, after the payment of the last installment of the war indemnity (September 5th). The French Canadian is a great lover of France, which he calls the mother-country.

In 1876-77, Mr. H. Beaugrand published another weekly paper in Fall River, entitled La République. In 1877, Le Cercle Montcalm, a literary society, was founded. In 1878, Mr. Louis Fréchette, the poet- laureate of Canada, was invited to deliver a lecture in French, under the auspices of that society, in Concert Hall. Mr. Beaugrand composed L' Hymne Montcalm for the occasion. Dr. Mignault adapted the words to music, and he was also the leader of the orchestra, called Le Septuor. Mr. Frechette, who formerly lived in Chicago, spoke on the future prospects of his com- patriots in their adopted country, and recited some of his poetry on Papineau (the French leader of the insurrection in 1837) and on the discovery of the Mississippi. In 1881, Mr. Fréchette was again invited to deliver a lecture, in Waverly Hall, on Washington and the duties of citizenship. The audience was so large that many were unable to gain admission to the hall. In the same year the Club Frechette was founded, with the object of giving theatrical entertainments in the French language. It was incorporated in the Cerele Salaberry, which society has given a number of

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MISCELLANEOUS.

performances on the stage of the Academy of Music. Before that, however, the French clerks formed a society to further their own interests, under the name of La Société des commis-marchands.

It should be noticed that the principal business houses of the city are obliged to secure the services of French clerks to ivait upon those customers who are unable to speak the English language.

There are, however, French Canadian merchants engaged in almost every branch of trade in Fall River.

In the professions, the French in Fall River are represented by two clergymen, one lawyer, nine physicians, and one veterinary surgeon.

There are two convents attached to the French churches noticed above; they are under the control of Catholic Sisters. An orphan asylum, which gives refuge to orphans of any creed or nationality, is con- nected with the convent Notre Dame on Mason Street.

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History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 215

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1818

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1818