History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 161

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1464

USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II > Part 161

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1864 .- Dale United States Army General Hospital .- Established by order of the War Department, in the spring of 1864, and designed to receive chiefly soldiers from Massachusetts regiments. This hospital was formally dedicated February 22, 1865, in the presence of the Governor and his staff, and many gentle- men distinguished in military and civil life. The brick Academy building on Providence Street served as a nucleus for offices, etc., and in the rear were erected fourteen wooden pavilions, each one hundred and sixty by thirty feet, all connected by a corridor along the frontage, and that again with the main building. Stables, carpenter shop and bakery were also built. The whole would accommodate one thou- sand patients, but there were never more than six hundred in the hospital at any one time.

Dr. C. N. Chamberlain, now of Lawrence, was in

charge from August, 1864, to October, 1865, when he left the service, and was succeeded by Surgeon Warren Webster, United States Army, who remained a few months longer, soon after which, the emergency for which the hospital was created having passed, it was discontinned.

The name, Dale Hospital, was in compliment to the surgeon-general of Massachusetts.

1871 .- City Hospital. - Dr. Albert Wood, city physician, in his annual report to the city govern- ment in 1870, strongly advised the establishment, by the city, of a hospital to accommodate at least twenty-five patients.

After much agitation of the subject, an act of Legislature (approved May 25, 1871) provided that the city of Worcester might " establish and main- tain a hospital for the reception of persons who, by misfortune or poverty, should require relief during temporary sickness."

The Abijah Bigelow estate, on the northwest cor- ner of Front and Church Streets, was rented and the old house altered to accommodate eight to ten persons. Dr. John G. Park was appointed super- intendent of a staff of twelve physicians chosen, and the first patient received October 26th of the same year. The building was immediately crowded, and during the last three months of the first year twenty patients were rejected for want of room. In March, 1872, Mr. George Jaques, always juterested in the hospital project, and secretary of the Board of Trustees, presented to the city the deed of three and a half acres of land, valued at thirty-five tlou- sand dollars, on the south side of Prince Street (Jaques Avenue), as a site for a hospital. He died in August of the same year, leaving the bulk of his property-of the estimated value of over two hundred thousand dollars-for the furtherance of the same object.

This property included a large tract of real estate on Wellington and Chandler Streets, and in Janu- ary, 1874, the Front Street property was abandoned and the hospital transferred to the Jaques home- stead, on Wellington Street, as quieter and more commodious. This building stood at the head of the present Jaques Avenue. Sixteen patients could now be cared for, but there was still constant demand for more room, and in 1876 two pavilions of wood were added to the house, one accomo- dating eight and the other five patients. By

the terms of Mr. Jaques' bequest, the city was obliged to pay a forfeit of two hundred dollars a month until a permanent building should be erected on the site bequeathed for that purpose. Strong objections to this site existed in certain quarters, but work on a permanent structure was begun in 1880, and, December 8, 1881, the patients were transferred to the present building, then consisting of the administrative building, and the two wards, known as F and M, with kitchen and laundry.

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WORCESTER.

In 1882 an isolating ward-now a corridor-was added. In 1884 a new isolating ward of wood was built, and in 1885 the gift of Mrs. Sarah Gill and Mr. Stephen Salisbury enabled the trustees to build the Gill and Salisbury wards-both imperatively demanded by the great increase in applications for admission. A bequest of Mrs. Helen C. Knowles, of the amount of twenty-five thousand dollars, be- came available in 1887, and in 1888 the. Knowles Lying-in Ward, admirably adapted for the purpose for which it is designed, was erected and is now in operation as part of the hospital. In seventeen years the number of beds has been increased from eight to sixty, and the yearly number of admissions from one hundred and sixty-nine to eight hundred and forty-five. A training-school for nurses was established in 1883 ; during the last year extensive improvements were made in kitchen and general arrangements, and the hospital may now fairly be considered to fill the place, not only of a city, but, to a large extent, of a county hospital,1 many of its patients coming from the neighboring and more dis- tant towns.

More than six thousand patients have been treated since it was opened. Dr. John G. Park was super- intendent in 1871-72, Dr. L. Wheeler in 1872-74, Dr. C. A. Peabody in 1874-76, Dr. J. B. Rich in 1876-81, and Dr. C. A. Peabody from 1881 to the present time.

Of the original visiting staff, Drs. E. Warner and G. E. Francis still remain; Drs. J. G. Park and H. Y. Simpson resigned in 1872, Dr. Gage in 1880, Dr. Martin in 1882, Drs. R. Woodward and G. A. Bates in 1883, Drs. Wood and J. N. Rice in 1886, while Drs. H. Clarke and J. N. Bates died while still members, the former in 1880 and the latter in 1883. Vacancies thus occasioned were filled by the appointments of Drs. J. O. Mar- ble and L. Wheeler in 1872, Drs. J. B. Rich and C. A. Peabody in 1880, Drs. W. H. Workman and Wesley Davis in 1881, Dr. O. H. Everett in 1883, Dr. S. B. Woodward in 1886 aud Dr. A. C. Get- chell in 1888.

At present the staff consists of-physicians : Drs. J. O. Marble, Wesley Davis, J. B. Rich, A. C. Getchell ; Surgeons : E. Warner, G. E. Francis, O. H. Everett, S. B. Woodward. Dr. Dixon, oculist and aurist from 1874, was succeeded in 1888 by Dr. D. Harrower, Jr., and Dr. W. H. Danforth was appointed pathologist. Dr. L. Wheeler has charge of the Knowles Maternity Ward. On the consulting staff are Drs. Martin, J. M. Rice and J. G. Park.

The Board of Government consists of seven trus- tees, chosen by the City Council in concurrence in

January,-one from the Board of Aldermen, two from the Common Council and four from the citi- zens at large. On this board the medical profession has been represented by Drs. Sargent, Kelly, Gage and Wood.

PRIVATE HOSPITALS .- 1863 .- Wellington Hospital. -From January to October, 1863, Mr. Timothy W. Wellington maintained, at his own expense, on Mason Street, a hospital for sick and disabled soldiers. There were accommodations for thirty persons, and, per- haps, one hundred in all received treatment and care. " Dr." Lunsford Lane, once a slave, was in charge and was assisted by his wife and daughter. Dr. O. Martin, who, as surgeon of the board of enrollment, had charge of everything medical or surgical pertain- ing to soldiers in this Congressional district, visited the sick as opportunity offered, other physicians oc- casionally assisting.

1867 .- Sisters of Mercy Hospital .- In January, 1867, Rev. John J. Power, pastor of St. Anne's Church, on Shrewsbury Street, opened, in the building next east of that structure, a hospital for the benefit of girls living out in service. To "encourage providence and maintain self-respect," a trifling monthly sum (twenty-five cents) was required by which the payer became entitled to a bed, nursing and medicine in time of sickness. Eighty-three hundred dollars was ob- tained by a fair held in October, 1866, and the hospital remained in operation until the City Hospital was opened in 1871. About fifteen patients were treated each year; the nursing was done by the Sisters of Mercy. Dr. Peter E. Hubon was in regular attend- ance, but the institution received visits from other physicians of the city, many of whom offered their services.

1872 .- Herbert Hall, a private hospital for mental disease, established by Dr. Merrick Bemis, who still manages it, is situated on Salisbury Street, near the Highland School.

1874 .- Washburn Free Dispensary .- By the will of Ichabod Washburn, who died in 1869, a generous sum was left in the hands of trustees to be expended in the foundation and maintenance of a hospital and dispensary in memory of his deceased daughters. When, in 1873, the bequest became available, the City Hospital was in operation, and, as another would at that time have been superfluous, it was de- termined, after ineffectual attempts to consolidate the interests of the two institutions, to open the dispensary only. Accordingly the building on Front Street, just vacated as a hospital, was secured and the dis- pensary maintained there, and at the building No. 11 Trumbull Street until 1888, when it was transferred to a house fitted up for it, on the grounds of the Me- morial Hospital on Belmont Street. Physicians are in attendance daily from 11.30 to 1, Sundays and holidays excepted. Patients unable to come to the dispensary are visited at their homes.

In the fourteen years since it was established about

1 In 1850 great efforts were made, for the establishment of a county hospital here, but sufficient money could not be secured. Dr. Wilder, of Leominster, first presented the subject at a meeting of the District Medical Society.

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thirty-five thousand poor persons have received medi- cal advice and treatment, to whom eighty thousand visits and consultations have been given.

The attending physicians at present are Drs. O. H. Everett, David Harrower, Jr., A. C. Getchell, W. H. Danforth and Homer Gage. Drs. E. Warner, G. E. Francis, L. S. Dixon, L. Wheeler, W. H. Workman, S. B. Woodward and L. F. Woodward have at various times been members of the staff.

1888 .- The Memorial Hospital, incorporated under the will of Ichabod Washburn, April 20, 1871. This hospital was first opened in June, 1888, in the Sam- uel Davis house on Belmont Street. It is designed exclusively for women and children, and can accom- modate eighteen patients. Since it was opened it has been quite constantly full, and additional buildings will evidently be needed in the near future. Miss F. F. Rice is superintendent, The visiting staff of six physicians includes : For women, Dr. L. Wheeler, Dr. O. H. Everett, Dr. S. B. Woodward ; for chil- dren, Dr. L. F. Woodward, Dr. G. O. Ward, Dr. Homer Gage.

MISCELLANEOUS .- 1850 .- Worcester Medical Insti- tution (Worcester Medical School, Worcester Botan- ico-Medical College) .- This school, for which the many turreted building on Providence Street now oc- cupied by the Worcester Academy was originally erected in 1850-51, was founded by the efforts of Dr. Calvin Newton, for the instruction of those practi- tioners of medicine variously known as Thompson- ians, Beachites, eclectics and botanic physicians. Courses of lectures had been given in rooms in Waldo block in 1846-47; an act of incorporation was ob- tained from the Legislature March 10, 1849; finally sufficient funds were secured to build a school on land given for the purpose by John W. Pond. Instruc- tion was given by a full faculty, and in 1851 a cla-s of fourteen was graduated, while nearly two hundred students had been in attendance since 1846, some from States as remote as Mississippi, Indiana and Tennessee. The school collapsed from want of pat- ronage soon after the death of Dr. Newton, always its leading spirit.

The Worcester Water Cure, established by Dr. Seth Rogers in 1851 in a building rented by him of Mr. Edward Earle on Fountain Street, was maintained there with varying success until Dr. Rogers' with- drawal from the city in 1864. (See biographical notice of Dr. Seth Rogers.)

1877 .- Board of Health .- This important board, established in accordance with legislative enact- ment in 1877, consists of three members, of which the city physician is ex officio one. The remaining two are appointed biennially by the mayor and alder- men. Its duties involve the abatement of nuisances, investigation and regulation of contagious diseases, and general oversight of all that pertains to the health of the city.

CHAPTER CLXXXIX.

WORCESTER-(Continued.)

HOMOEOPATHY.

BY CHARLES L. NICHOLS, M.D.

JOSEPH BIRNSTILL had the honor of introducing the practice of homeopathy to the citizens of Wor- cester in the year 1844. His office was in the west side of the house on Walnut Street, at the corner of Maple Street, and he continued here in practice until 1847. He then removed to Boston, where he remained for several years in active work, until his removal to Newton, where he died in 1865.

J. K. CLARK came to Worcester May 8, 1849, and remained here until 1855, when he removed to Eliza- beth City, Ohio, and thence, in 1858, into Kentucky. A few years later he moved to Sacramento, Cal., where he continued to practice for a number of years.

DR. BUGBEE was in practice here in 1853 and 1854, and then removed to Warren, Vt., where he died in 1859.

LEMUEL B. NICHOLS was born in Bradford, N. H., October 6, 1816. His father though a physician of considerable skill and attainments, had destined him for a farmer's life, but literary tastes and hereditary instinct prevailed and he entered Brown University and graduated in 1842. The next four years he spent in teaching, and was instrumental in raising the grade of the public schools of Providence. While there he married Lydia C. Anthony, daughter of James Anthony, a prominent manufacturer in Provi- dence. In consequence of the sickness of his family he became acquainted with homeopathic practice and studied its principles with Drs. Okie and Preston in that city. After the required amount of study he received his degree as a regular physician, in 1848, at the Philadelphia College of Medicine. In 1849 he came to Worcester, where he practiced as a homo- opathic physician until the time of his death. Al- though slight in form and delicate in appearance, in consequence of his sedentary life, he possessed a wonderful constitution and great power of endur- ance. His quiet confidence and ready sympathy won him a large place in the public heart and gave him an extensive practice from the beginning. His death, September 28, 1883, left a wide circle of friends and patients to deplore their loss. He was one of the founders of the Worcester County Homoeopathic Medical Society, and was its first president in 1866. It was his custom to avoid all public office and to confine himself strictly to the limits of professional life, seeking to elevate his chosen profession by steady, conscientious effort.

J. E. LINNELL was born at Orleans, Barnstable County, Mass., June 9, 1822. He removed to Am- herst at the age of sixteen, and was educated at

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Amherst College. Having studied medicine with the late Dr. L. J. Gridley, of Amherst, he obtained his diploma at the Medical Department of Dartmouth College in 1844. He began the practice of medicine in Prescott, Mass., in the spring of 1845, where he remained for one year and then formed a partnership with Dr. Wood, of East Douglas. Soon after this, in consequence of the death of Dr. Wood, he suc- ceeded to his extensive practice, covering a large circle of families. The long rides, extending often into Connecticut and Rhode Island, and the constant strain of work at the end of nine years rendered it necessary for him to withdraw for a time. During this resting time, his attention being called to the favorable effects of homœopathic treatment, he at- tended a course of lectures at the Homoeopathic Medical College of Philadelphia, and then settled in Worcester, January 1, 1855, as a homeopathic phy- sician. For.ten years he continued practice here in connection with Dr. L. B. Nichols, but again in con- sequence of failing health he was obliged to retire and gave up his practice to Dr. W. B. Chamberlain. He removed, in 1865, to Norwich, Conn., as general agent of the New York Life Insurance Company, but feeling again recruited, in a few years resumed his practice, which was continued until 1886. Since that time, his health being seriously impaired, he has withdrawn from active practice. He married, No- vember 27, 1848, Fanny A. Graves, of Sunderland, Mass. He was a member of the Massachusetts Homeopathic Medical Society for many years and was, in 1864, president of that society. By his kindly and sympathetic manner he attracted many friends, and by his careful and conscientious treatment he aided materially the establishment of homoeopathy in this city.

JOHN B. MOORE was born in Concord, N. H. After his academic education he studied medicine in the office of Dr. Alpheus Morrill in his native town. He came to Worcester in 1869, but in consequence of the death of his father a year later he returned to Con- cord, where he still continues in active practice.

W. E. RICHARDS practiced in Worcester during the years 1868-69. In 1870 he removed to Syracuse, N. Y., but the climate proving too harsh, he settled in Boston, where his practice was very extensive. He spent much of his time, also, in extending the advantages of homœopathic practice to the poor in the dispensaries ; but a few years ago, his health being broken down by work and necessary exposure, he re- tired to Newton, where he now resides.

DAVID HUNT, born in Providence, received his degree at Harvard Medical School and began prac- tice in Worcester as a homœopathic physician in 1868. Soon after his marriage he removed to Bos- ton, where he was associated with Dr. I. T. Talbot for a short time. After several years of study in this country and abroad he returned t, Boston, where he has since practiced as a specialist in dis-

eases of the 'eye. He was an active, earnest worker settled in Worcester.

WM. B. CHAMBERLAIN was born in Loudon, N. H., September 15, 1827, After a good academic education at Tilton, he entered as student of medi- cine in 1849 the office of Dr. Alpheus Morrill, in Concord, N. H. With him and with Dr. S. M. Cate, of Augusta, Me., as preceptors, he studied during the intervals of lectures at the Dartmouth Medical School. Later he attended a course at the Cleve- land Medical College, where he graduated in 1854. He at once settled in Keene, N. H., where he re- mained until May, 1863. He was one of the first to introduce homoeopathy to that part of the State, and by his natural qualities and earnest labors he suc- ceeded in making the new method very popular, as well as in gathering for himself an extensive field of practice. His health giving way under the strain, he was obliged to resign his work. He went to Fitchburg for a few months to assist his brother-in- law, Dr. J. C. Freeland, and thence to New York to study in the hospitals and gain a much-needed rest. On January 1, 1866, he was called to Worcester to take the field of Dr. J. E. Linnell, and has remained here since that time. He was one of the founders of the Worcester County Homoeopathic Medical So- ciety, was twice its president and was, in 1872, pres- ident of the Massachusetts Homoeopathic Medical Society. Since the beginning of his labors in Wor- cester he had associated with him some other physi- cian, either as partner or assistant, each of whom, in turn, has settled here in independent practice. His ever-ready and generous aid has endeared him to his professional brethren, while his personal qualities and extensive medical knowledge have everywhere surrounded him with numerous friends aud a large clientele. Though frequent absences from work have been necessary in consequence of the strain of his professional labors, he has always been overbur- dened with the number of those seeking his aid as soon as he resumed practice, and he still continues to do good work for the cause of homeopathy, as well as in aid of suffering humanity.

MARY G. BAKER came to Worcester in the fall of 1868, from Middleboro', Mass., where she had been engaged in a large practice in association with her husband. She gained many friends during her labors here, and was engaged in active practice until her death, February, 1880.

JOHN M. BARTON, born in Worcester, September 4, 1845, graduated at the Homoeopathic Medical School of Philadelphia in 1870. After two years of practice in Newark, N. J., he came to Worcester in 1872, and was associated with Dr. W. B. Chamberlain for the succeeding three years. Since that time he has engaged in independent practice.

JOHN H. CARMICHAEL, born at Sand Lake, Rens- selaer County, N. Y., January 29, 1851, graduated from the Medical Department of Union University in

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

1874. He settled in Worcester February, 1874, where he remained for two years, and then removed to Warren. After two years of practice in that town, and a year of renewed medical study at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, he returned to Worcester in 1879, where he remained until January, 1883. In 1883 he entered into partnership with Dr. L. A. Phillips, of Boston, but in consequence of the death of Dr. H. A. Collins, of Springfield, he removed to that city, succeeded to his practice, and still con- tinues to enjoy a large field of labor.

FRANCIS BRICK was born in Gardner in 1838, his ancestors being among the original settlers of that town. Having studied with Dr. Sawyer, of his native · place, he entered the Homeopathic Hospital College of Cleveland, from which he graduated in 1861. After some years of practice in Keene, N. H., he came to Worcester in 1875, where he took the prac- tice of Dr. Chamberlain for one year during his absence abroad. The subsequent year he remained with Dr. Chamberlain as equal partner, and then established a separate office.

CHARLES L. NICHOLS, born in Worcester, May 29, 1851, studied at the Highland Military School. He graduated at Brown University in 1872, and at Har- vard Medical School in 1875. After a year at the Homeopathic Hospital of Ward's Island, New York, he entered the office of his father, Dr. L. B. Nichols, in 1876, and was associated with him until his death, in 1883, when he succeeded to his practice.

C. OTIS GOODWIN was born in Reading, Mass., April 19, 1849. Educated at Phillips Academy, An- dover, he studied for some years in the office of Dr. J. N. Bates, of Worcester. He attended the Homco- pathic Medical School of Boston University, and graduated in 1877. In the summer of this year he settled in Worcester, where he has remained since that time.

EDWARD L. MELLUS was born in Lubec, Me., May 24, 1848. After being engaged in business in the West for seven or eight years, he determined to enter the medical profession, and studied at Jefferson Medical School, in Philadelphia, whence he gradu- ated in 1878. He settled in Cherry Valley in 1878, where he remained for one year, and then entered the office of Dr. W. B. Chamberlain, with whom he was associated until 1883. Since this time he has been in independent practice.

JOHN K. WARREN was born in Manchester, N. H., March 1, 1846. He graduated at the New York Homeopathic Medical College in 1870, and settled at once in Palmer, Mass. He remained there for nine years and then went abroad for a year's study in the Hospitals, returning to Palmer, where he practiced until 1882. He then came to Worcester in December of that year and has remained until the present time.

ADALINE WILLIAMS graduated from the New York Hospital College for Women in 1880, and came to Worcester after the death of Dr. Mary G. Baker, in

1880. She is now associated with Dr. W. B. Cham- berlain.

In addition to those mentioned, several have estab- lished themselves in Worcester during the past two years, and the number of homeopathic physicians in the city at this time being fifteen, there seems to be a very satisfactory growth among the public in favor of this method of practice. Among the societies and associations under the auspices of the homeopathic physicians, two only need be noticed here :

1. THE WORCESTER COUNTY HOMEOPATHIC MED- ICAL SOCIETY, founded in 1866, with a membership of eight, to-day numbers forty-five active members and holds its meetings quarterly, at the society rooms, 13 Mechanic Street, where a library of about one thon- sand volumes has already been collected.

2. THE WORCESTER HOMEOPATHIC DISPENSARY ASSOCIATION consists of all homeopathic physicians in the city. The meetings, on every alternate week during the winter months, are held at the rooms of the association. The dispensary, established at No. 58 Mechanic Street, October 4, 1880, by the labors of Drs. Charles L. Nichols and J. H. Carmichael, was incorporated Jannary 15, 1885, and is supported by voluntary contributions and by a legacy of the late Mrs. L. J. Knowles. The dispensary rooms are at 13 Mechanic Street, and the hours are from ten to eleven, every forenoon. The work is in charge of the homeopathic physicians of the city, each one of whom has contributed his share of the labors of this charity.

CHAPTER CXC.

WORCESTER-(Continued.)

MILITARY HISTORY.

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History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 161

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Publication date: 1889 Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1464

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1464