History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, 1622-1918, vol 1, Part 46

Author: Cook, Louis A. (Louis Atwood), 1847-1918, ed
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: New York; Chicago, The S.J. Clarke publishing company
Number of Pages: 644


USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, 1622-1918, vol 1 > Part 46


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Erastus Worthington, native of Belchertown, was born October 8, 1779; graduated at Williams College in 1804; taught school a few terms; studied law with John Heard of Boston; was admitted to the Suffolk bar in 1807, but soon afterward removed to Dedham; was representative to the General Court in 1814- 15; in 1827 he published a History of Dedham written by himself ; was one of the founders of the Norfolk Mutual Fire Insurance Company ; and was the author of an "Essay on the Establishment of a Chancery Jurisdiction in Massachusetts," which is believed to have been the first published argument in favor of an equity jurisdiction in the state. He died at Dedham on June 27, 1842. His son, who also bore the name of Erastus, was admitted to the bar in 1854, and was for many years one of the most active members of the Dedham Historical Society. He was trial justice for eight years and in 1866 was chosen clerk of the courts.


Theron Metcalf, one of the most prominent lawyers in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the early years of the Nineteenth Century, was born in the Town of Franklin on October 16, 1784. In 1805 he graduated at Brown University and soon afterward began his legal studies with a Mr. Bacon of Canterbury, Con- necticut. He was admitted to the bar in that state, after attending the law school at Litchfield (then the only law school in the United States), and then spent a year in the office of Hon. Seth Hastings at Mendon, Massachusetts. In Septem- ber, 1808, he was admitted to the Norfolk bar, and in October, 181I, as a counsel- lor of the Supreme Judicial Court. In April, 1817, he was made county attorney, which office he held for twelve years; served three terms as representative in the General Court and was elected state senator in 1835; opened a law school in Dedham in the fall of 1828, where he had a number of students, some of whom afterward became prominent in the profession; and was for a time the editor of the Dedham Gazette. In December, 1839, he was appointed reporter of the decisions of the Supreme Judicial Court, where he performed his duties with such ability and fidelity that it has been said his volumes of the Massachusetts Reports are "the model and despair of his successors." On February 25, 1848, he was appointed a justice of the Supreme Judicial Court and remained upon the bench until August 31, 1865, when he resigned. In 1844 his Alma Mater conferred


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upon him the degree of LL. D. and four years later he received a similar honor from Harvard. While on the bench of the Supreme Judicial Court his opinions were noted for their precision of statement and their familiarity with precedents, both English and American, as well as with the principles and maxims of the com- mon law. Judge Metcalf died in Boston on November 13, 1875.


Ezra Wilkinson, who was admitted to the Norfolk bar in 1828, was born in Attleboro, February 14, 1801; graduated at Brown University in 1824; studied law with Peter Pratt of Providence, Rhode Island, and Josiah J. Fiske of Wren- tham; and in 1832 was admitted as a counsellor of the Supreme Judicial Court. He located at Dedham in 1835 and in 1843 was appointed by Governor Morton as district attorney for the district then composed of Norfolk and Worcester coun- ties, which office he held for twelve years. When the Superior Court was estab- lished in 1859, Mr. Wilkinson was appointed one of the associate justices and he remained on the bench until his death on February 6, 1882. Judge Wilkinson was one of the prominent men in the democratic party in his day. He repre- sented Dedham in the General Court in 1841, 1851 and 1856; was a member of the constitutional convention of 1853; and in one campaign was the nominee of his party for Congress against John Quincy Adams.


William Gaston, son of Alexander and Keziah (Arnold) Gaston, was born at Killingly, Connecticut, October 3, 1820, and was of Huguenot ancestry. In 1838 his father removed to Boston and in 1840 William graduated with honors at Brown University. He then entered the law office of Francis Hilliard in Rox- bury, later completing his legal studies with Curtis & Curtis of Boston, and in December, 1844, was admitted to the bar. Beginning practice in Roxbury (then in Norfolk County), he soon rose to a position in the front rank of attorneys. In 1865 he formed a partnership with Harvey Jewell and Walbridge A. Field, under the firm name of Jewell, Gaston and Field, which partnership lasted until 1874. Roxbury was annexed to Boston in 1867, and in 1871-72 he served as mayor of the city. In 1853-54-56 he represented Roxbury in the General Court, and in 1868 was elected to the state senate. In 1874 he was elected governor of Massachusetts and while governor received the degree of LL. D. from both Brown and Harvard universities.


Ellis Ames was born in Stoughton on October 17, 1809, and was a descendant of William Ames, who settled in Braintree in 1634. In 1830 he graduated at Brown University and then studied law in the office of William Baylies of West Bridgewater. In December, 1833, he was admitted to the bar in Plymouth County and began practice in West Bridgewater, representing that town in the Legisla- tures of 1833 to 1836, inclusive. In March, 1837, he removed to Canton and soon became identified with the bar of Norfolk County. It has been said of him that "His only vocation was his profession, his only avocation was historical study. The one was his life work, the other was his pleasure. To the two together he gave his time, and few were more skillful or accurate in either. He would have graced a professor's chair in history, as well as a judge's seat upon the bench." He died at Canton on October 30, 1884.


Seth Ames, the youngest child of Fisher Ames, was born in Dedham, April 19, 1805; graduated at Harvard with the class of 1825; studied law with Theron Metcalf, and was admitted to the bar in 1828. He began practice at Lowell, and in fact never practiced in Norfolk County. In 1859 he was appointed a justice of


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the Superior Court and became chief justice of that tribunal in 1867. From 1869 to 1881, he was one of the associate justices of the Supreme Judicial Court. He died at his home in Brookline on August 15, 1881.


Edward Avery was born in Marblehead on March 12, 1828. His father, Gen. Samuel Avery, was a native of Vermont and was an officer in the War of 1812. Edward was educated in the Marblehead public schools, the Brooks Clas- sical School in Boston, and the Harvard Law School. He studied law with Frederick W. Choate and was admitted to the bar in Worcester County in 1849. About two years later he located in Boston, where he formed a partner- ship with George M. Hobbs, becoming a resident of Norfolk County a little later. In 1866 he was elected to represent Braintree in the lower house of the Legislature and was one of the eight democrats in that body at the ensuing session. The following year he was reelected, and was also elected to the senate from the district composed of Norfolk and Plymouth counties. He was also the candidate of his party for attorney-general and member of Congress.


This list of attorneys might be extended indefinitely, but enough has been said to show the character of the men who have upheld the legal profession in Norfolk County since its establishment. Others of more or less prominence in the profession were: Naaman L. White, of Braintree; Samuel Warner and Josiah J. Fiske, of Wrentham; James Humphrey, of Weymouth; Nathaniel F. Safford, of Milton; Samuel B. Noyes, of Canton; Waldo Colburn, of Ded- ham ; Thomas Greenleaf, of Quincy; Jonathan H. Cobb, of Sharon; and Edward L. Pierce, of Milton. Of the lawyers now living and practicing in the county,- they are too well known to need mention in this chapter.


BAR ASSOCIATION


In Hurd's History of Norfolk County, published in 1884, is a chapter on the Bench and Bar, written by Erastus Worthington, in which several references are made to a bar association, but no further record of that organization can be found.


In January, 1886, a number of attorneys, engaged in or waiting for hear- ings in the Superior Court at Dedham, were gathered in the law library adjoining the court room, when the subject of forming a bar association was mentioned. The result was that Everett C. Bumpus, Erastus Worthington and Charles A. Mackintosh were authorized to send invitations to attorneys practicing in the county to meet at the office of James E. Cotter in Boston, Saturday noon, January 23, 1886, to form such an association. Twenty-eight lawyers responded to the invitations and met at the appointed time and place. Asa French was chosen chairman, and Oscar A. Marden, secretary. These two gentlemen, with Charles A. Mackintosh, Erastus Worthington, George W. Wiggin, Everett C. Bumpus and James E. Cotter, were chosen as a committee to present a plan of organization at an adjourned meeting to be held at the district attorney's office in Dedham on February 16, 1886.


At the adjourned meeting, the committee submitted a constitution, which was adopted, and the following officers were elected : Asa French. president , Erastus Worthington, vice president ; Oscar A. Marden, secretary; George W. Wiggin, treasurer ; Everett C. Bumpus, James E. Cotter, Moses Williams, Alonzo


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B. Wentworth, William G. A. Pattee, Henry F. Buswell, Charles H. Drew, James Hewins and Charles A. Mackintosh, council. The name, adopted at that meeting, is "The Bar Association of Norfolk County."


Henry F. Buswell, George K. Clarke and Sigourney Butler were elected a committee to arrange for the first dinner of the association, and Mr. Buswell and Mr. Clarke have been on the dinner committee from that date to the present. The annual meeting and dinner of the association is held on the Saturday next preceding the third Tuesday of February.


Any attorney regularly admitted to practice in the Massachusetts courts, residing or practicing in Norfolk County, is eligible for membership. The roll of membership, as published in 1917, bears the names of 215 who are or liave been members. Fourteen of the original twenty-eight who met at Mr. Cotter's office on January 23, 1886, are still living and engaged in practice. Fifty mem- bers have been removed by death, and the present active membership is about sixty. The presidents of the association have been as follows: Asa French. 1886-92: Edward Avery, 1892-95; Erastus Worthington, 1895-97; James E. Cotter, 1897-99 ; Frederick D. Ely, 1899-1901 ; Oscar A. Marden, 1901-03 ; George W. Wiggin, 1903-05 ; Asa P. French, 1905-17.


Oscar A. Marden served as secretary until 1892, when he was succeeded by George K. Clarke, who was succeeded in turn in 1900 by Edward S. Fellows, who served but one year. Charles F. Spear was elected in 1901, and served until 1908, since which time Robert W. Carpenter has been secretary. The treasurers have been-George W. Wiggin, John P. S. Churchill, Ira C. Hersey, Edwin C. Jenney and Albert P. Worthen.


The officers for 1917 are as follows : President, Henry T. Richardson; Vice President, John W. McAnarney; Secretary, Robert W. Carpenter; Treas- urer. Albert P. Worthen; Council, the four officers above named and Albert E. Avery, Homer Albers, Joseph P. Draper, Frederick G. Katzman, Fred. L. Nor- ton, Russell A. Sears, George A. Sweetser, H. Ware Barnum and Everett C. Bumpus.


LAW LIBRARY


A Law Library Association was organized in 1815 and continued in existence until 1845. An attempt was made to reorganize it in 1860, but it was unsuc- cessful. The present Norfolk County Law Library Association was formed in the year 1898 by the organization of attorneys-at-law resident in the county. The law provides that the inhabitants of the county shall have access to the library and may use the books therein subject to the provisions of by-laws adopted by the association. The county treasurer is required to pay annually to the association all sums paid into the county treasury by the clerk of the courts to an amount not exceeding $2,000 in one year, such sums to be applied to main- tain and enlarge the library for the use of the courts and of citizens. Since the formation of the association a total of $39,819.80, not including the sums accrued in 1916, has been contributed by the county for the support of the library. The library is provided by the county with rooms at the court house in Dedham.


CHAPTER XLIV


THE MEDICAL PROFESSION


MEDICINE AMONG THE ANCIENTS-CHINA-EGYPT-THE HEBREWS-INDIA-GREECE -HARVEY AND SYDENHAM-EARLY NORFOLK PHYSICIANS-BRIEF SKETCHES OF PROMINENT DOCTORS-FIRST VACCINATION IN AMERICA- THE NINETEENTH CEN- TURY-MEDICAL SOCIETIES-HOMEOPATHY-DOCTOR MORTON.


The practice of medicine in some form or another is almost as old as the human race. When the first man "felt out of sorts," he doubtless sought for some plant that would relieve his suffering. If a remedy was discovered, he told his neighbor and in this way was built up a crude materia medica that has been improved upon by the succeeding generations, until the physician has come to be one of the established institutions in all civilized countries.


According to Chinese traditions, a system of medicine was introduced in that country by the Emperor Hwang-ti, about the year 2687 B. C. Although the early Chinese doctor knew nothing of the circulation of the blood, noting the action of the pulse was a part of his elaborate diagnosis. He knew nothing of anatomy and his remedies were compounded with certain spells and incantations to add to their effectiveness. Yet some of the methods employed by the ancient Chinese physician-such as cupping, blistering and the application of plasters- are in use by the doctors of the present day. Missionaries finally introduced modern medicine into the Celestial Empire and the old school has largely passed away.


Egyptian papyri of the period of 1600 B. C., or even earlier, show that the- art of healing was not unknown in that country. It was practiced by the priests with many ceremonial rites. Some of these priests were specialists in certain diseases, and Baas, in his History of Medicine, says: "The last six volumes of the Sacred Book contain much information regarding the art of healing, and in completeness and arrangement rival the Hippocratic collection, which they ante- date by a thousand years."


Among the Hebrews disease was regarded as a punishment for sin until after the two captivities, when physicians made their appearance. Compared with modern physicians, they were ignorant of the first principles of medical science, but even they were looked upon by the multitude as men of great wisdom. They knew little or nothing of human anatomy and their system of treatment appealed to the superstition of the patient more than to his good sense.


Records in the Vedas or sacred books of India show that demonology played an important part in the healing of the sick. Before any treatment could be effective, the evil spirit must be expelled from the person who was ill. Physi- cians among the Brahmins, or highest caste, were given a rigorous course of


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training, in which "piety and diet" constituted the principal subjects to be mastered.


Chiron the Centaur was the first to practice medicine in Greece. He was the fabled preceptor of ÆEsculapius, and the names of Galen and Hippocrates are still held in respect by the members of the medical profession, the latter being known as the "Father of Medicine."


As an example of the opposition the science of medicine has had to overcome, note the discovery of the circulation of the blood by Dr. William Harvey. Doctor Harvey studied in various schools and received his degree in 1602. In 1615 he was made professor of anatomy and surgery in St. Bartholomew's Hos- pital, London, and the next year announced his great discovery. Prior to that time anatomists had taught that the blood was always in motion through the veins, but that the arteries were air passages, because they were always found empty after death. Harvey's theory was received with ridicule by the laity, and even some of the most learned physicians of that period looked upon it with suspicion. Investigation proved the correctness of his theory and the action and functions of the heart became known to the profession for the first time in history.


Another physician about this time-Thomas Sydenham-introduced lau- danum into the practice of medicine. The deleterious effects of opium had long been known and the idea of using it in any form as a remedy for disease did not appeal to the practicing physicians. One eminent doctor branded Sydenham as "an agent of the devil." Sydenham also was the first to use cinchona in the treatment of malarial diseases, but this remedy met with less opposition. Be- cause he went with Parliament against King Charles, the College of Physicians refused him a fellowship, but after his death his bust was placed in the hall by the side of Harvey's. The famous Sydenham Society, for the publication of medical works, bears his name.


Voltaire, who wrote as late as the latter Eighteenth Century, defined a physician as "a man who crams drugs of which he knows little into a body of which he knows less." That may have been true of a certain class of empirics in Voltaire's day, but it will hardly apply to the profession of a century later. One by one the obstacles interposed by ignorance and prejudice have been surmounted, step by step the profession has been placd upon a higher plane, until today the physician is usually a man of mark in the community, regarded alike for his professional skill and his, standing as a citizen.


EARLY NORFOLK PHYSICIANS


When the first settlers came into Norfolk County, the professional physician was "conspicuous by his absence." Many of the immigrants brought with them from the mother country plants (or seeds of plants) known to have a medicinal value, and these were assiduously cultivated and preserved to be used in rem- edies in ordinary cases of illness. From the Indians they learned of native plants and almost every household had a supply laid away against the time when they should be needed. Teas, decoctions, poultices and plasters were the most com- mon of these "home-made" remedies and applications.


It would be impossible to give a complete list of the early doctors who prac-


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ticed in the county. Some lived their allotted time and passed away without leaving any record of their doings. Others, after dwelling in one of the pioneer settlements for a few years, removed to other fields of labor and have been for- gotten. One of the earliest physicians to follow his calling in the Massachusetts Bay colony was Dr. William Dinely, who practiced both medicine and surgery and was in great demand. He was lost in a snow storm between Boston and Rox- bury and perished. About two weeks after his death his widow gave birth to a son, who was named "Fathergone Dinely."


A number of the early clergymen understood the rudiments of medicine and administered simple remedies in cases where the character of the disease was well known. One of these was Rev. Peter Thatcher, who came to Milton in 1681 as the first regular pastor of the Congregational Church. "A man he was of uncommon gifts and acquirements," says Cotton Mather, "spending in medicines, it may be some scores of pounds and a great part of his yearly salary, which he freely bestowed upon the invalids among his people-ay, it may be, on those of all the country round." He died in 1727.


Henry Dengayne, one of the signers of the Dedham Covenant in 1635, was a physician, but there is no evidence to show that he ever resided or practiced his profession within the presente limits of Norfolk County.


Dr. William Avery, another signer of the Dedham Covenant, located in that town as one of the first settlers. An old record gives his occupation as "physi- cian and apothecary." He was a member of the artillery company in 1654; rep- resentative to the General Court in 1669; lieutenant of the town's militia company in 1673; and in 1680 gave the town sixty pounds for the purpose of establishing a Latin school. One of the public school buildings in Dedham is still known as the "Avery School." Doctor Avery died in Boston on March 18, 1687, aged about seventy-five years, hence he could not have been more than twenty-three years of age when he first came to Dedham. His son, also named William, was for a long time a deacon in the church and was a member of the board of select- men for twenty-two years.


Dr. Thomas Boylston, whose father, Thomas Boylston, settled at Watertown. in 1635, became an eminent surgeon. His son, Dr. Zabdiel Boylston, was born in 1680 and followed the profession of his father. He was one of the first physi- cians to locate in Brookline and became a Fellow of the Royal Society. In his professional career is seen another instance of opposition to the introduction of new methods of treatment of disease. Boston was scourged by an epidemic of smallpox in the spring of 1721 and Rev. Cotton Mather explained to Doctor Boyl- ston the transaction of the Royal Society respecting the practice of vaccination (or inoculation as it was at first called). Being of a progressive turn of mind, Doctor Boylston immediately acquainted himself with the method of introducing the virus into the human system, after which he broached the subject to some of the Boston physicians. There he met with violent and unexpected opposition, the medical men holding that to introduce the germs of a deadly disease into a patient was a crime which came under the classification of poisoning, while the ministers preached against it and wrote pamphlets to show that the smallpox was "a judgment from God for the sins of the people, and that to try to check its sway would only provoke Him the more." Nevertheless, Doctor Boylston, on June 27, 1721, vaccinated his only son and two negro servants. This was the first


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time the operation was ever performed in America. The following account of the event is taken from Barber's Historical Collections of Massachusetts :


"Probably there never was greater opposition to any measure of real public utility than was exhibited on this occasion. Doctor Boylston was execrated and persecuted as a murderer, assaulted in the streets and loaded with every species of abuse. His house was attacked with violence, so that neither himself nor his family could feel secure in it. At one time he remained fourteen days in a secret apartment of his own house, unknown to any of his family except his wife. The enraged inhabitants patrolled the town in parties, with halters in their hands, threatening to hang him on the nearest tree, and repeatedly entered his house in search of him during his concealment. Such was the madness of the multitude that, even after the excitement had in some measure subsided, he only ventured to visit his patients at midnight, and then in disguise. He also had to encounter violent opposition from most of the members of his profession, and notwith- standing he invited them all to visit his patients and judge for themselves, re- ceived nothing but threats and insults in reply. Indeed, many sober, pious people were deliberately of the opinion, when inoculation was first commenced, that should any of his patients die, the doctor ought to be capitally indicted. He was repeatedly summoned before the selectmen of Boston and received their repre- hension. His only friends were Dr. Cotton Mather and other clergymen, most of whom became zealous advocates for the new practice and consequently drew upon themselves much odium from the populace. Some of them received per- sonal injury ; others were insulted in the streets and were hardly safe in their own dwellings; nor were their services acceptable on Sunday to their respective audiences."


A bill for prohibiting the practice of vaccination passed the lower branch of the Massachusetts Legislature, but failed to pass the Council. Now mark the sequel. In 1792, only a long lifetime after the persecution of Doctor Boylston, when another epidemic of smallpox appeared in Boston, "the whole town was inoculated in three days to appease the infatuation of the inhabitants respecting the danger apprehended from this deadly pestilence." It is due to such men as Dr. Zabdiel Boylston that the human race makes progress. His death occurred on March 1, 1766. One of the principal streets in Boston bears his family name. He was the first American to be made a Fellow of the Royal Society.


Special inducements were sometimes made to physicians to locate in a town. At a town meeting in Weymouth on March 14, 1727, it was "voted to grant to Dr. Nathaniel White the five acres of land formerly granted to John Vinson, provided Doctor White continues in the town of Weymouth and in the practice of his profession, and in case he shall remove out of the town, said White to purchase said land or return it to the town again." Doctor White was born in Weymouth in 1701 and graduated at Harvard in 1725. He then studied medicine and began practice in his native town, accepting the grant above mentioned. It is related of him that when anyone called upon him to visit a patient when the weather was inclement, his answer was almost invariably, "It is too bad to go out," yet he always went. For years he resided at the corner of Main and Paul streets, Weymouth. He died on November 23, 1758.




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