USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Hanover > History of the town of Hanover, Massachusetts, with family genealogies > Part 10
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Rev. Charles Chauncey is said to have practised medicine for about fifteen years, soon after the settlement of Scituate, as indeed did every clergyman in those early days to a greater or less extent. About this time, there practised in Hanover, Dr. Benjamin Stock- bridge, born in 1704, who studied medicine under Dr. Bulfinch of Boston, and settled in Scituate about 1734. He was the first physician of his day. His son Charles, born the same year, was also a physician of high repute. None of the foregoing resided on the present Hanover territory.
Coming down to 1727, when Hanover was incorporated as a town, we find no physician resident within the territory which was set off from the mother town of Scituate. Apparently the services of a resident physician were not required sufficiently to induce one to settle here until 1749. Since that time the supply has slowly but steadily increased.
In 1749, Dr. Jeremiah Hall settled in Hanover and remained until 1764, when he removed to Pembroke. He proved himself a valuable citizen and, while residing in Pembroke, was chosen as delegate to the Provincial Congresses of 1774-5.
He was surgeon in Joseph Thatcher's Company in 1757, during the French and Indian war. He died in Pembroke.
Dr. Lemuel Cushing succeeded to his practice in Hanover and resided at the Corners. He was appointed by the Provincial Con- gress as Surgeon in the army during the Revolution.
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Dr. Cushing was followed by Dr. Peter Hobart, son of Peter Hobart of Hingham. Dr. Hobart was born July 31st, 1750, and for a time was an apprentice of Jeremiah Lincoln, an iron-smith. This service he left for the purpose of obtaining an education at Harvard University, where he graduated in 1775. He settled in Hanover and resided on Main street, north of Grove street. On November 16th, 1779, he married Mary Cushing of Hingham. He died at the early age of forty-three, and on his gravestone in Centre Hanover cemetery is the following epitaph :
"Thousands of journeys, night and day,
I've travelled weary on the way, To heal the sick - but now I am gone A journey never to return."
Dr. Hobart was succeeded by Dr. Caleb Marsh of Hingham, who was admitted to the Massachusetts Medical Society in 1792. In Hanover is recorded his intention of marriage, on January 10th, 1795 to Deborah Hobart of Bridgewater. He probably resided in the Baldwin House, as, in 1794, Robert Salmond, who was then living in this house, conveyed the same with 100 acres of land to Caleb Marsh, physician, of Hanover. (See Plymouth Deeds, Book 76, Page 238) His widow survived him many years and died in the State of New York.
Dr. David Bailey of Hanover began the practice of medicine in 1796 and died in 1836. He lived about one half a mile north of the Universalist church, in what is now Norwell. He was married, November 7th, 1800, by the Reverend John Mellen, to Joanna. Curtis of Hanover, and was probably married a second time.
Dr. Charles Stockbridge also practised here, being admitted to the Massachusetts Medical Society in 1781. He died in 1806, aged seventy-two years.
In 1797, Dr. Melzer Dwelley of Ashburnham, son of Joseph Dwelley, moved to Hanover to the house on Hanover street, after- wards occupied by Norman Chamberlain. He practiced medicine here until his death on November 20th, 1828, at the age of fifty- seven years. His skillful services were in great demand for miles around. He is said to have left descendants resident in South Boston and Ashburnham.
Dr. Nathaniel Jacobs, son of Nathaniel of Hanover, was born at Assinippi, July 16, 1782, in the house afterward used for an Alms house. He graduated from Harvard College in 1806, studied medicine with Dr. Smith, at Hanover, New Hampshire, and settled in Canandaigua, New York; there he died, August 25, 1814, leav- ing descendants.
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PROFESSIONAL MEN.
Dr. Gideon Barstow, born in Hanover, September 7th, 1783,. graduated from Brown University in 1801. He was admitted to- the Massachusetts Medical Society in 1808. In 1820, he was a member of the Convention for revising the Constitution of Massa- chusetts, and, in 1821-3, was a member of Congress from Massachusetts. After graduating from the Brown University, le- studied under Dr. Kittridge of Salem, where he settled for a time, before coming to Hanover. He removed to Brookline, Massachu -- setts, where he practiced until 1831, when he retired. He died in. 1852 at St. Augustine, Fla., where he went for his health.
Dr. Joseph Bossuet settled at the Corners, where he remained. for a few years. He was practicing, certainly, in Hanover in the years, 1799 and 1800.
Dr. Calvin Tilden of Hanson extended his practice into Han -- over. He was admitted to the Massachusetts Medical Society in 1810. He died in 1832, aged fifty-seven years.
Dr. Horatio Stockbridge of Hanover studied medicine with Dr. Freeman Foster of Scituate. He removed from Massachusetts tor Maine and then went to Woonsocket, R. I.
Dr. John Stockbridge of Hanover studied medicine with Dr .. Gad Hitchcock of Pembroke, now Hanson. In 1804, he went to Topsham, Maine; in 1805 to Bath, where he died in 1849. In 1822, he received an honorary degree of M. D. from Dartmouth. College.
Dr. Seth T. Barstow of Hanover studied medicine in Philadel- phia with Dr. Rush. He died in Bradford County, Pennsylvania,. at the age of twenty-three years.
Beginning the nineteenth century, there were two and, possibly,. three physicians in town. Dr. Charles Cartier, a native of Mar- tinique, who came from Plymouth and practised his profession here- for seven years, was an eccentric but educated man. He removed. to Hanson and, later, returned to his native country. While here, he boarded with Reuben Curtis. He was here in 1816.
Dr. Joshua Studley, born in Hanover, September 15th, 1784,. practised here from 1808 until his death on February 28th, 1848,. at the age of sixty-three years. He was an active and useful man and was Town Clerk for eight of the forty years he practised here. In 1829, he was admitted to the Massachusetts Medical Society. He resided on Hanover street, where Joshua Studley now resides.
Dr. Ezekiel Dodge Cushing, Jr., was born in Hanover, in 1790, and became an eminent physician, practising in some of the largest
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hospitals of France, before returning to Hanover in 1827, where he settled at the Four Corners. He died, April 5th, 1828, at the age of thirty-eight years. His death was a great loss to the town. He was admitted to the Massachusetts Medical Society in 1840.
Dr. Henry Wade was in Hanover in 1829 and died in 1830, aged twenty-six years. His widow taught a private school in the Whitman House, at North River bridge. She was a Quakeress and married for her second husband a Mr. Taber of New Bedford.
Dr. Jacob Richards practised in Hanover a few years after 1834. He removed to Braintree. While in Hanover, he resided at the corner of Oakland avenue and Broadway.
He was followed by Dr. Calvin Barton Pratt, who practised here two years, and, in 1838, removed to Bridgewater, where, in 1844, he was admitted to the Massachusetts Medical Society. He must have lived in the house, now burned, on the Pantooset Place at North River bridge. One son was born there. For many years he edited the Bridgewater Independent. He died in Bridgewater, February, 1898.
Dr. Joseph Bassett Fobes succeeded Dr. Pratt as a resident physician in Hanover. He practised here thirteen years, removing to Bridgewater in 1851. He practised there until 1886, when he retired, having returned to Hanover in the meantime for a few years. He was admitted to the Massachusetts Medical Society in 1856. At the time of his death, which occurred some few years ago, he was a resident of Bridgewater. He was a most accurate diagnostician and, although dogmatic in his adherence to the older practise, yet he was a most successful practitioner. Dr. Fobes was a very Englishman in appearance, of medium height and burly build. His visits were always very bustling and business-like.
Dr. Benjamin Whitwell came to Hanover in 1850, and resided in the house afterwards occupied by Dr. Woodbridge R. Howes, and now by his son, Dr. Clarence L. Howes, although he first started practice with his office at the Tavern, now called the Han- over House, in the southeast corner room. He graduated from the Harvard Medical School in 1848 and also studied at the Tremont Medical School under Drs. Bigelow, Storer, Jackson, and others. He started practice in Holyoke but soon removed to Hanover, and while here was admitted to the Massachusetts Medical Society in 1853. He died in 1857, aged forty years.
Dr. Alfred Charles Garratt, son of Richard Garratt of Brook- haven, Long Island, succeeded Dr. Fobes. He was born, October 3rd, 1813, in Brooklyn, New York. He was a graduate of Lenox
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Academy, College, and Medical School, College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York, in 1836, and also of the Berkshire Medical College. He was surgeon to the United States Dragoons at Fort. Des Moines, Iowa, and United States vice-consul at Port-Au-Prince for two years. He then settled in Abington, Mass., where he practiced medicine and kept an apothecary's shop at the same time.
He was admitted to the Massachusetts Medical Society in 1849 and retired from practice in 1888. Coming to Hanover in 1851, he resided in the house left vacant by Dr. Fobes, which was originally built by the Rev. Joab G. Cooper, rector of Saint An- drew's Parish, partly out of the wood of the Episcopal Church building at Church Hill, which was torn down, when the present edifice was erected in Hanover. This house is now occupied by Mrs. James T. Tolman and her daughter.
After practicing in Hanover for about twenty years, Dr. Garratt removed to Boston where for some time he had an office in the rear of the old Tremont House, on the site of which the Tremont. Building now stands. In 1889, he went out of the state and, in 1891, died in the State of New York, aged seventy-eight years.
Dr. John Ordway French came to Hanover in 1854, occupying the house where Drs. Fobes and Garratt had previously resided. He was born in Gilmanton, New Hampshire, November 9th, 1821. He graduated from Dartmouth Medical College in 1844 and prac- ticed several years in New Hampshire, before coming to Hanover. He married, first, Martha D., sister of Hon. Charles H. Peaslee, member of Congress for New Hampshire and afterward Collector of the port of Boston. Althoughi he had an established practice in Hanover and the surrounding towns, he offered his services to his country, as soon as the war of the Rebellion broke out, and served as assistant surgeon in the field at Washington, until the close of the contest. He was surgeon on the field during the battle of Bull Run, and at the Douglass and Carver Hospitals in Wash- ington. Later he was with the Twenty-third United States Colored regiment of Infantry of Brownsville, Texas, where he was ap- pointed Medical Purveyor of the Gulf District. He was never known to get excited; no matter how trying the circumstances, always maintaining a calm, firm demeanor. He had a strong con- stitution and great powers of endurance; was a cool and skilful operator, working often day and night without rest.
After the war he opened a drug store at 147 Leverett street, Boston, and, two years later, formed a partnership with his brother-
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in-law, Captain John Percival. 'Together they kept the well known drug store at the corner of State and Washington streets, which afterwards was moved to the corner of City Hall avenue and School street.
After a year or two with Captain Percival, Dr. French returned to Hanover and settled near North River bridge in the house now occupied by Dr. A. L. McMillan. He had a large and lucrative practice and enjoyed the confidence of those to whom he was re- lated as a family physician, until his death. On September 19th, 1887, as he was driving into his yard, he was thrown from his chaise, striking on his head. Four days later he became uncon- scious and died on September 27th, of concussion of the brain and cerebral hemorrhage, at the age of sixty-six years. He was ad- mitted to the Massachusetts Medical Society in 1860. On June 18th, 1861, he became a Royal Arch Mason in St. Paul's Royal Arch Chapter in Boston. He was also a member of the Old Colony Commandery of Knights Templars of Abington and of Phoenix Lodge, F. & A. M., of Hanover.
Dr. Francis Collamore of North Pembroke, a student at Hanover Academy, has always extended his practice somewhat into Hanover. He graduated from Dartmouth Medical School.
Dr. Ira Warren, author of the "Household Physician" so exten- sively used at home and abroad and on almost every ship for many years, was born in Canada and was a preceptor of Hanover Academy and a resident here. He later moved to Boston, where he was admitted to the Massachusetts Medical Society in 1853, and died in 1864, at the age of fifty-eight years. He is buried at Centre Hanover.
Dr. Woodbridge Ruggles Howes, born in Rochester, Massachu- setts, on August 12th, 1817, came to Hanover in 1863. He was educated in the Rochester schools and Middleboro Academy and taught school for several years, keeping books for a ship building firm at the same time. He studied medicine in the Pittsfield and Harvard medical schools, graduating from both. He was first Lieutenant, Company D, 18th regiment, M. V. M., from July, 1861 until May, 1862, when he was discharged for disability. Later he was appointed surgeon at Camp Joe Hooker and, in the autumn of 1862, he became assistant surgeon of the third regiment, M. V. M., in North Carolina, and returned with the regiment in 1863. In the fall of the same year he came to Hanover as assistant to Dr. Joseph Fobes, who still remained here. In 1864, Dr. Howes assumed Dr. Fobes' entire practice and was an active and much
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beloved practitioner for many years. He became a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society in 1866 and retired from practice in 1885. He was a member of the North River Lodge of the I. O. O. F. and other organizations.
In 1847 he married Mary W. White of Mattapoisett, Massachu- setts, who died in 1891. Dr. Howes died February 4th, 1898, at the age of eighty years.
Dr. Nathaniel L. Downes came to Hanover prior to 1869, and practiced in the town for several years. He was clerk of the Second Congregational Church from 1869 to 1873. In 1874 he left the State. He became a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society in 1846 and resigned in 1874. He again became a member in 1878, being then a resident of East Boston. He retired from active practice in 1892 and died, January 8th, 1903, aged 84 years. He lived in the house where Mrs. James T. Tolman resides.
Dr. Clarence L. Howes was associated with his father for many years and succeeded to his practice. He was born in Mattapoisett, March 24, 1848. He moved to Hanover in May, 1864. He fitted for college at Hanover Academy, graduated at Amherst in 1869, and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1873. He taught school and spent some years as a civil engineer. He then took a course in medicine at Dartmouth Medical School, and the Long Island College Hospital, where he graduated in 1878, and still enjoys a substantial practice in Hanover.
Dr. Charles P. French, the son of John O. French, was born in Chesterfield, New Hampshire, November 7th, 1847. He studied medicine at the Georgetown University, Washington, D. C., and at Dartmouth Medical College, where he graduated, in 1874. He practited in Duxbury, Massachusetts, and then went as ship's sur- geon to the Azores and Madeira. He was in the 3rd U. S. Cavalry in Arizona, and, later in Wyoming. Since then he has practiced medicine on Cape Cod. At the present time he is not practicing.
Dr. Henry L. Sweeny was born in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, April 3rd, 1858, the son of Edward M. and Lucy N. Sweeny. He was a student at Hanover Academy and afterwards at the Adams Academy at Quincy. He entered Harvard in 1878, and the medical school in 1879, having given up college owing to his health. He graduated from the Harvard Medical School as an M. D. in 1882, and began to practice at Kingston, N. H., but within a few months, he associated himself with a physician in Boston. In 1883 he came to Hanover, taking the practice of Dr. John O. French, dur- ing Dr. French's absence in Florida. In 1884, Dr. Sweeny opened
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an office in Bates Block, where Masonic Hall now stands. Later he moved to the old Wilder house. He was married in 1884 to Ella Towle of Kingston, N. H.
In 1890, much to the regret of many of his friends and patients in Hanover, Dr. Sweeny returned to Kingston, N. H., where he has since been in practice. He has the respect of the people of that place, and they have honored him with the offices of Town Clerk, member of the school board, county physician, moderator, secretary of the Board of Health, and Justice of the Peace.
Soon after the death of Dr. French, Dr. Andrew L. MacMillan came to Hanover, purchased Dr. French's house and succeeded to a large part of his practice. He graduated from Dartmouth College in the class of 1872, and froin the Albany Medical College in 1879, and was admitted to the Massachusetts Medical Society in 1890. He married and has a son, Andrew L., Junior, who graduated from Dartmouth in 1905, and from the Harvard Medical School in 1909. Since his residence in Hanover, he has had a large and lucrative practice.
In 1890, Dr. Nathaniel Kingsbury Noyes succeeded to the prac- tice of Dr. Sweeny. He was admitted the same year to the Massachusetts Medical Society. He was born at Manchester, N. H., January 16th, 1865. He graduated from the Dartmouth Medical School, November 18, 1889, and began as surgeon in St. Elizabeth's Hospital. He remained there until Nov. 19, 1890, when he opened his office at Hanover Four Corners. September 1st, 1892, he removed to Duxbury, where he has since practiced most successfully.
In 1894, Dr. Frank Hollis Burnett came to Hanover, where he practiced until 1896, when he removed to Brockton. He was admitted to the Massachusetts Medical Society in 1897.
In 1896, Dr. Charles Dudley, son of Dr. Henry W. Dudley of Abington, came to Hanover and succeeded to the practice of Dr. Burnett. He is a. graduate of the Harvard Medical School. He became a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society the same year. In 1898 he removed to Cambridge, where he has practiced. He is married and has several children.
The physician who succeeded Dr. Dudley, Dr. William Pride Grovestein, graduated from Tufts Medical College in 1896, being admitted to the Massachusetts Medical Society the same year.
The three physicians now resident at Hanover are Dr. Clarence L. Howes, Dr. Andrew L. MacMillan and Dr. Charles Hammond.
Dr. Moyses Rogers Simmons, son of Perez and Adeline (Jones)
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Simmons, was born November 15th, 1857, in the old Simmons home at Assinippi. He was educated in the public schools, at Assinippi Institute, and Harvard medical school, where he took his M. D. in 1882. He practised at Lynn, Boston, and Stoughton. He now resides at Brookline, Massachusetts and is out of practice. He married Ida M. Blatchford of Gloucester, Mass. He has no children.
Dr. Eli E. Josselyn was born in Hanover, May, 1846, the son of Eli C. and Hannah F. Josselyn. He attended the public schools and, for a few terms, was a pupil of John S. Crosby, at Assinippi Institute. His mind was not bound by tradition but his eagerness to try all things led him through many of the by-ways of thought. The last years of his life were passed as resident physician at the Pennsylvania Insane Asylum, at Philadelphia. He obtained his degree from a medical school in New York. He was married but was a widower at the time of his death, which occurred suddenly at his post of duty, Sept. 15, 1903. His remains lie in the cemetery at Hanover Center. He practiced for a time in Marlboro and afterwards was in the Vanderbilt Hospital in New York. He was very much liked in his work at Philadelphia. He was very sym- pathetic and kind in; his treatment of the insane.
Edwin Howard Brigham, M. D. (Harvard Medical School, 1868), is a summer resident of Hanover and has been, since 1893, living at the corner of Broadway and Winter street. The doctor is not in active practice of medicine but is assistant and executive librarian of the Boston Medical Library on the Fenway in Boston.
The doctor was born on Sept. 27, 1840. He was a private in the 4th Battalion of Rifles, M. V. M., and private in Company A, 13th Mass. Vols., in the war of the Rebellion. His service occurred in Maryland and Virginia, on General Bank's expedition, at the Battle of Thoroughfare Gap, and the second battle of Bull Run, where he was taken prisoner, Aug. 30th, 1862.
Dr. Lloyd Vernon Briggs was born in Boston, Massachusetts, August 13, 1863, and is the son of Lloyd and Sarah Elizabeth Elms Kent Briggs. His early education was obtained in the public schools and at Hanover Academy, of the Alumni Association of which he was for many years president. His medical education was obtained at Tufts College Medical School, Dartmouth College Medical School, and Medical College of Virginia, where he gradu- ated in 1899. In 1890 he went to Europe and again in 1905. He has travelled extensively. He married Mary T. Cabot of Brook- line, Mass., daughter of Louis and Amy Hemenway Cabot, June
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1, 1905, and is now practicing medicine at No. 208 Beacon street, Boston, devoting his attention especially to mental and nervous diseases.
Dr. Briggs has had a most active life. His interests have covered a broad and diversified field. He has been a business man and a notary public in connection with his father's very extensive practice in that line. He has written the following historical works :
History of Ship Building on North River, Plymouth County, Mass.
History and Records of the First Congregational Church, Han- over, Mass.
History' and Records of St. Andrew's Protestant Episcopal Church.
Genealogies of the different families bearing the name of Kent.
"A Consideration of Auto-Intoxication and Auto-Infection as cause of various mental disorders," and many other medical papers.
As further illustrating the doctor's intense activity, some of his responsibilities appear in the following list covering the year 1904.
Member of the staff of the Boston Dispensary; member of the American Medical Association ; member of the Massachusetts Medi- cal Society ; member of the Boston Medical Library Association ; president of the Alpha Kappa Kappa Society of the Dartmouth Medical College; treasurer of the Tyler Street Day Nursery Com- pany, Boston ; president of the Lever Suspension Bridge Company ; director of the Georgia and Tennessee Copper Company; member of St. Botolph Club, Boston ; member of National Arts Club ; mem- ber of Strollers Club of New York City; member of Eastern Yacht Club, Marblehead, Mass; member of Sequit Club, Wianno, Mass .; member of the Pilgrim Royal Arch Chapter of Masons; member of New England Sportsman's Association ; member of The Citizen's Law and Order League of Massachusetts; a mate of the Nautical Historical Society of Scituate, Mass .; member of New England Historic Genealogical Society; member of Bostonian Society ; member of Old Colony Historical Society ; member of Essex Insti- tute of Salem; member of Maine Genealogical Society; member of New Haven Colony Historical; member of Society of Connecti- cut; member of Hanson, Mass., Library Association; member of Missouri Historical Society ; trustee of Pilgrim Society, Plymouth ; honorary member of the Macon, Georgia, Society; member of Li- brary and Historical Society, of the State of Kansas Historical Society ; member of the New London County Historical Society
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of Connecticut; and of the Theatre of Arts and Letters; vice-presi- dent of the Hancock Historical Society, New Hampshire; member of the Old Colony Commission; member of the American Folk Lore Society.
Note: This chapter was prepared by Mr. Simmons before Dr. Hammond came to Hanover. A brief sketch of his life, however, is given in the genealogical portion of this work.
EDUCATORS AND OTHER DISTINGUISHED MEN.
Herbert Cushing Tolman, son of James T. and Mary T. (Briggs) "Tolman was born in Norwell, then South Scituate, November 4, 1865, and attended the public schools there. In 1879 his father purchased the house on the corner of Oakland avenue and Broad- way, at the Four Corners, and moved there. Mr. Tolman fitted for Yale college and graduated there, receiving the degree of B. A. in 1888. He made a special study of Sanskrit and Oriental languages, while in college, and, after graduation, he was assistant in teaching the Indo-European languages at his Alma Mater. He studied in the Universities of Berlin and Munich, Germany, and became assistant professor of Sanskrit in the University of Wis- consin.
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