USA > Massachusetts > Hampshire County > Northampton > Representative families of Northampton; a demonstration of what high character, good ancestry and heredity have accomplished in a New England town . > Part 14
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For six years the son was the village postmaster at West Cummington, and for a number of years he was justice of the peace and notary public and a member of the school board. He was appointed by Governor Greenhalge a special justice to take complaints, issue warrants, and fix bail in criminal cases. With this official and business training he was assisted in making his mark in Northampton social and business life.
Mr. Bicknell is a member of several fraternal orders and has reached the thirty-second degree in Masonry. He is a Past Commander of Northampton Commandery of Knights Templar, and is frequently called on to act as installing officer in the highest work of the order. He is a member of the Mystic Shrine, Odd Fellows, of the Elks, Knights of Pythias, Sons of Veterans, Sons of the Revolution (and is the highest officer in most of the orders). He has been vice-president of the Board of Trade, and president of the Northampton Club. He takes an interest in all movements for public welfare, and presided at the organization of the Public Forum at the Academy of Music in 1916.
He has been noted for his faithfulness and close ad- herence to the principles and traditions of the Democratic
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party. He was the party's candidate in 1909 and 1910 for Mayor of Northampton, and again in 1915, and for County Commissioner in 1912. On all these occasions he came sur- prisingly near defeating his successful opponents. Twice he ran for Alderman in the strong Republican Second Ward and was defeated only by a narrow margin. Mr. Bicknell's political action, as a Democrat dates back to the days of Grover Cleveland and William E. Russell, when many young men like himself rallied to the support of the Democratic party. To be a Democrat in Cummington, in those days, meant something - almost social ostracism - but young Bick- nell displayed those qualities, as a citizen of his native town, which compelled respect, helped him develop himself and build character which aided him when he came to more try- ing places. To the training he had in the little Hampshire hill town he owes, largely, the success he found later.
Young Mr. Bicknell had intended to study law and de- vote himself to the legal profession, but delicate health and trouble with his eyes prevented this, although as has been noted, it has not prevented his making himself useful in the world.
He married, October, 1896, Cora, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Lucius Buck of Cummington, and they have three daughters - Grace, now Mrs. Robert Spencer, Jr., Gladys, and Alice.
DR. J. B. LEARNED
A Reformer and Friend of Humanity
H E who can make two grains of wheat grow where but one grew before has been declared a public bene- factor with good reason, and so any one who has improved any human food product or directed and shown a more healthful course of living is equally entitled to be enrolled among the world's valuable citizens. Such an one was Dr. J. B. Learned of the village of Florence, Massachusetts.
There are comparatively few men who have made them- selves so useful to their fellow men in so brief a space of time as did he. For a trained medical man, he seems to have had a remarkable antipathy to the use of drugs, but he was only ahead of his time in discouraging the taking of them, and his love for the best and purest of food products was only another evidence of his desire to obtain for human beings the very best of circumstances and environment for the development of their life.
Genealogically, of course, such a family as his is of in- terest, and its story should be carefully recorded.
John Barr Learned was born in Dana, Massachusetts, February 19, 1839, and his death occurred January 24, 1910. His father, John Learned, was born at Templeton, Massa- chusetts, August 18, 1791, and died at Florence September
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2, 1883. Dr. Learned's mother was, before her marriage, Mary Barr. She was born at New Braintree, Massachu- setts, July 4, 1803, and died in Florence September 15, 1886.
Dr. Learned's grandfathers were: Thomas Learned, who was born at Templeton, Massachusetts, January 10, 1766, and died at Templeton July 8, 1839; John Barr, who was born at New Braintree, Massachusetts, May 10, 1762, and died at New Braintree November 30, 1832.
His grandmothers, before marriage, were: Lydia Tread- well, who married Thomas Learned; and Molly Bridges, who married John Barr.
Dr. Learned's father was a farmer by occupation in southern Vermont, and his marked characteristics were those of a hard-working pioneer.
The family ancestry is traced back to 1590, and to the following immigrant ancestors who came from England to settle in America: William Learned, who came from England in 1632, and settled in Charlestown, Massachusetts; Thomas Treadwell, who came over in the Hopewell in 1635 and settled in Dorchester; Edmund Bridges, who came over in the James from London in 1635 and settled at Lynn.
When John Learned was two years of age, the family moved to Whitingham, Windham County, Vermont. A few years later they moved again, and went to Readsboro, in Bennington County, Vermont. Here, on a small farm, the future physician's boyhood was passed. Two brothers, Thomas and Samuel, and one sister, Mary, made up the family. The older brother, Samuel, went to California, along with an overland party, in '49, and never returned. After being heard from for two or three years, he with two other miners headed for a remote field, and that was the last known of him. No explanation of his disappearance was ever received.
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Thomas enlisted early in the Civil War. He returned disabled, and died in 1863. Mary married Solomon Rice and died in 1866.
The family was supported by the small income from the farm, and the combined work of the mother and the children braiding palm-leaf hats. As soon as able, at twelve years or thereabouts, each of the boys was hired out to a neighboring farmer for six months. School for three months in the winter was the usual allowance at this time for boys. They had the same three months in summer until they could work on the farm. The braiding of hats was kept up in school months, morning and night. One or two hats a day was the usual stint. Carrying hats to market or "the store," and bringing back more palm-leaf and store things, was part of the work of boys. Horses were not so plenty then, and oxen were often used for traveling on the road. Boys were useful, however, if the freight was no more than a jug of molasses, a "bunch of leaf," some tea, and a bottle of "Cherry Pec- toral."
John was never fond of picking up stones, turning grindstones, or mowing hay before breakfast, and he urged his father to "sell him his time." He wanted to go to school more, and at fourteen he was in the high school, then kept by some college student who needed funds. He taught the winter following, and successively for several years. In the fall and spring he was in the high school or academy. At Powers Institute he closed his academical course, and after a year, during which he rented a farm and lived with his parents, began the study of medicine. He completed two courses at the Berkshire Medical College, and graduated in 1865 from the medical department of Columbia College, in New York City. His office study was with Dr. R. W. Ben- nett, of Bennington, Vermont.
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Soon after graduation he married Lucy Louisa Davis, of Halifax, Vermont, daughter of Amial K. Davis and Betsey (Sanders) Davis, and began his labors as a physician at South Vernon, Vermont. His wife died March 13, 1866, and he returned with an infant son, just born to him, to Readsboro, where his parents still resided.
After three years practice there he removed to Florence, Massachusetts, and he continued to be a dweller in that vil- lage for the rest of his days. He was active in his profession until 1880, when, because of an accident which nearly cost him his life, he abandoned all night practice, and much of his accustomed day work.
On December 20, 1870, he married Maria L. Bond, of Northampton, daughter of Daniel H. Bond, and a son was born to them. After her death, in January, 1882, this son was cared for by the mother's sister, Miss Mary Bond, until the doctor married Mrs. Emily K. Sheffeld, of Florence, February 13, 1884. She was the daughter of Samuel L. Hill, and is still living in Florence.
Dr. Learned's oldest son, Myron Leslie Learned, born at South Vernon, Vermont, February 19, 1866, is an attorney in Omaha, Nebraska. His second son, Henry Bond Learned, born July 30, 1873, was killed by a railroad train at a grade crossing in Hadley, January 3, 1891. His children by his third wife were: Wilfred Hill Learned, born May 22, 1896, who is now a farmer at Florence; and Raymond Hill Learned, born July 17, 1887, who is in the implement business at Indianapolis, Indiana.
Dr. Learned was never prominent in politics, but was generally a voter with the Republican party. Had he sought office he might easily have had it, for his opinions were held in the highest respect. He accepted the unpaid office of member of the school committee for several years, and his
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peculiar fitness for the duties of that position were clearly recognized by his fellow citizens. He was a member of the Hampshire County Medical Society, The Massachusetts State Medical Society, the American Medical Association, the British Medical Association, and the Franklin Harvest Club.
In religious matters he was very liberal, and was for many years a prominent member of the Free Congregational Society which holds its meetings at Cosmian Hall, Florence.
When the active life of Dr. Learned, in behalf of his convictions and services to his fellow men is considered, there is much more than can be related in the necessarily restricted pages of such a work as this. But what he said and did was of such vital interest and value that some resumé of it should be given for the benefit of a growing world. It would be well if the great mass of writings, letters, and ad- dresses which came from him were deposited in the Forbes Library or some other suitable place. He was as great a health preacher in his day as was Sylvester Graham of North- ampton in his, but there are few existing records of Graham's sayings or works. They would be greatly valued now had they been preserved.
Public opinion of Dr. Learned's work, in the future, will undoubtedly consider of most importance his writings and addresses on personal health matters, for on this topic he talked so well and wisely that he appealed to the common sense of all.
Naturally cautious and conservative, when convinced another way was better than the one generally pursued, he did not hesitate to take it. He early advocated less medi- cine and better care of health. Before the medical associa- tions of which he was always a prominent member, he made known his methods and fearlessly defended any departures
Residence of Dr. Learned and Family on "Strawberry Hill," Florence
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he had taken. He gave whole milk in place of milk and water to infants and met opposition, just as he did in the case of many other positions he took in medical practice. His reply to his critics was characteristic and convincing. He said:
" Doctors of the old school declared that whole milk would be too strong to begin with. A few of the 'old granny' nurses, speaking in an undertone from the rear, say, 'Well, if they don't give that baby some real milk, he'll never amount to anything.' I've never known one to grow up on milk and water and lime and sugar and paregoric and charcoal and bismuth, fed every fifteen minutes to keep wind off the stomach."
The doctor had the satisfaction of living to see his views regarding the feeding of infants generally approved by the medical fraternity at large, for it is now commonly conceded by them that breast milk fed babes are the healthiest.
But Dr. Learned had ever in his thoughts for human health the whole span of life from infancy to old age, and much could be transcribed here of value that he has said con- cerning the growing child. It was this interest which at- tracted him to school board service, and while a member of this board he said and did much that had a bearing on the health of the school children. His greatest fight, however, was against the use of drugs, and here he had the finding of true medical science back of him, with the statement that out of over ten thousand drugs in use, only two - mercury and quinine - had any curative value, and that there was little doubt that these had done more harm than good.
It may be asked how Dr. Learned's fellow practitioners in the medical field viewed his position. How could they conscientiously do aught but approve? And approve they did, but reserved to themselves, as a class, an often expressed
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opinion that it was folly for a doctor to think he could make any money by such affirmations.
This qualified position of the medical men was forcibly shown when Dr. Learned brought out his cure for insomnia. The remedy consisted of a muscular and mental treatment at the retiring hour. It had been suggested by his own ex- perience of acute wakefulness following the nearly fatal acci- dent to himself, referred to elsewhere. The doctor spent fifteen years experimenting with his method for inducing sleep before he ventured to give it to the public. He then spent much time demonstrating before medical associations and clinics, with the result that he gained great approval from the highest medical and health authorities all over the country. Yet this is what the doctor confesses in a note to a local newspaper: "I have heard but one comment, private or public, deserving of any attention, viz: 'Dr. Learned's method is scientific. It is at the front, but there is no money in telling people how to take care of themselves, and the doctor is a fool for spending time and money in that way.' "
The testimonials of satisfaction with the theory and practice of Dr. Learned's remedy for insomnia came from the heads of the most important sanitariums and insane hospitals all over the country, from presidents of colleges and specialists in nervous diseases, and there can be no question of the usefulness of his remedy as a substitute for the dan- gerous and generally used cures for insomnia. Dr. Learned has well said, "Drugless sleep, in full doses, adds a score of years to American commercial, professional, and political life, and enlarges the yearly product thereof. Drugged sleep, or the absence of normal sleep in full doses, subtracts a score of years from American life and diminishes the yearly product thereof."
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If the doctor had done nothing else than to lighten and cure the horrors of insomnia, as he did in placing his remedy at the service of the people, he is entitled to the everlasting gratitude of all present and coming generations of men. The remedy is within reach of all, and no one afflicted has any one but himself to blame if he does not choose to benefit by it. Nothing is required except patience and perseverance in the lightest application of muscular and mental energy, and those sufferers from insomnia who are too lazy to exer- cise the simple formula recommended by Dr. Learned deserve to suffer.
There was another interesting phase in Dr. Learned's life. As one concerned in the health of humanity, the neces- sary purity of food products appealed strongly to him. For several years he talked and preached most interestingly and convincingly on the importance of raising pure pork. He used the columns of one of the local newspapers for a long time in enforcing his ideas on this matter. Claiming, as he did, that pork was a cheap and nutritious food, he contended that it was most important that it should be produced in clean, hygienic surroundings instead of in the filthy styes generally used by New England farmers. He studied the matter and found that hog cholera and other diseases, both of the hog and those who used its flesh indiscriminately were caused by the filthy surroundings of the animal. The doctor com- menced the keeping of hogs to improve his fields. Cholera in the neighborhood called at his ranch. He had two droves not far apart. One was in limited quarters, being fed for fattening, and the hogs in this drove were attacked and suc- cumbed. The other hogs, with a much more extended range and variety of food escaped untouched. This experience led the doctor to consider the welfare of his pigs, and after that he applied the principles to pig raising that he had been ac-
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customed to apply in caring for the health of human beings. He concluded that pure air and water with wholesome sur- roundings are as needful to the lower animals as the higher. By means of his campaign of newspaper preachment he showed that much of the pork which came into the American market was diseased and unfit for consumption, and the only wonder was that any of it was fit to eat.
The doctor built up quite a trade in his product "Straw- berry Hill Pork," so named from the farm where it was pro- duced, but while the people are eager to learn, they as easily forget what they learn, and the cheaper thing usually wins popular approval. Dr. Learned's pork cost a little more than the common article, and people soon forgot about the risks they had been taking in the past and went back to the use of the cheaper market pork.
However there is this to be said, and again to the doc- tor's credit - he had told such wholesome truths that they attracted attention all over the country. People began to examine into the matter and since that time sanitary legisla- tion has helped the country at large, and farmers in this region, at least, no longer believe it economical or safe to raise pork in filthy styes. It is quite a common country sight now to see swine roaming in the fields and fertilizing them, and at the same time this method of feeding the swine con- tributes to their own growth and health.
Before raising pork, Dr. Learned had become noted for the strawberries he raised on the hill at Florence, and it was thus that the hill got its name. It included, at that time, about 1886, all Holyoke and Chestnut streets, since built up, and one hundred or more berry pickers were employed by the doctor in the few days allotted to the harvest. The raspberry was another of his products and there was a ready market for all he could raise.
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Some of Dr. Learned's more striking and sententious sayings, in relation to health were:
"When the products of the cook-book and the United States Dispensatory are served at the same table in alternate courses there is something wrong in Denmark.
"I believe that longer years and better years for the human family are not only possible but probable, when the same common sense is employed in rearing and caring for the young of the human family that has been and is being used in caring for the horses and cattle, the sheep and fowls, for which we receive in the market a price corre- sponding to their size and shape, their working and food-giving qualities.
"Let our ethical societies have a department for the study and proper care of the young animal known in the family as the baby. When this is done, I predict that pure air, plain food, and much letting alone will be the alphabet. I predict further that you will be early convinced that sick- ness and disability come largely by invitation. Later on it will not be complimentary to be on the invalid corps.
"When the calf, from a scrub native cow, that has eaten only poor hay and corn stalks in the winter time in the old barn, can be made by milk, ensilage, grain and good hay to weigh half of thirty-five hundred at six years of age, ready for Brighton - and no one can doubt it - why cannot the boy, equally well cared for, become larger and stronger than the father or mother. Why can he not approach the Scotch or Irish grandfather?
"Does the modern school-trained boy do this? No, he grows in the other direction rather than physically. He has been fed on brain food and there is no doubt about its having taken effect. Was it Scotch oatmeal for breakfast? No, more likely coffee and toast or doughnuts. He has had the
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good things that abound on the New England table, and when the nerve power wanes . with natural, undisturbed sleep, then the doctor gives phosphatic emulsions, tonics and hypnotics, brain stimulants, stomach stimulants, sleep producing agents.
"What else could the doctor do? He was asked to give the boy something to keep the boy up till graduating time in the high school. This is good orthodox treatment, medi- cally speaking. It would not be orthodox, regular, or scien- tific to shut off all drugs and coffee and pastry, cigarettes, and evening socials.
"No, this class of boys are not in training to perfect bones and muscle, brain and nerves, heart and lungs, liver and kidneys, stomach and pancreas - to enlarge the sum total of physical size and endurance that they may reach perhaps seventy years before showing signs of decay. This is no part of the school program of today. They are in pursuit of an education. They are to have cards from week to week, indicating their capacity to remember the text-book from the study hour to the recitation hour. They are to have finally a larger card, the diploma, to frame and hang on the office wall, if they stay in college and get through. This card is written in a dead language. The father and mother can't read it. The owner can't read it correctly, probably, after a few short months."
Naturally, a man with such striking ideas as Dr. Learned, was called on far and wide for his views, and he appeared at the sessions of many distinguished societies in this state and elsewhere. Nor was he, like so many, "a prophet without honor in his own country." He was formally requested by a score or so of his prominent fellow citizens, to give a series of health talks in the City Hall, which he did, to popular acceptation.
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What more can be said of a man so true to his name and such a credit to the community which honored him? It should be remembered that he was terribly in earnest in whatever he said and undertook, and he never failed to make an impression on those who saw and heard him. He was a man of varied knowledge and attainments, a portion of which he never had the time to make use of, for withal he was some- what of an inventor and patented at one time a calf feeder and a fire escape. In his practice in the sick room he was more than the cheerful physician, for he came with the heal- ing conviction which he imparted to his patients, that the curative power of nature must be appealed to and should be aroused in order to bring about any permanent betterment.
Dr. John Barr Learned was a most useful man to his generation, and undoubtedly he can be as useful to other generations that may read and heed his teachings, if these are again published, as some day they should be, in greater detail.
JAMES D. ATKINS
One of the Florence Pioneers in Community Days
W HEN James D. Atkins died in the summer of 1896 in Florence, that village saw the last survivor of the old Community days pass on to the higher life. James Dunn Atkins was born in Boston, February 17, 1817. His father, John Atkins, was a native of Nova Scotia. His mother was Jane Dunn, of Maine, the daughter of a commissary-general in the Revolutionary War. James was one of a family of nine children. He received a limited edu- cation in the schools of his native city, and at the age of seventeen was bound out to learn the trade of stereotypog- raphy at the University Press in Cambridge. There he worked eight years, but in 1842, when the company was printing the constitution of the famous Florence Community, Mr. Atkins became interested in the principles which it set forth. He thereupon went to Florence and was so favorably impressed with the energy and enterprise of the people of the village that he decided to cast in his lot with them.
He was engaged by the educational branch of the asso- ciation to learn the trade of dyer from an Englishman then in charge of the silk industry and he became a master dyer, holding the position for forty-five years, and commanding a salary of twenty-five hundred dollars, equal in purchasing power to double that amount to the present generation. The first hundred dollars he saved was invested in the stock of
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the silk company. Afterward he bought more, and for many years he was a director of the company. In 1887 he retired from business, and with his wife took frequent trips about the country.
Mr. Atkins was married in Chesterfield, September 14, 1844, to Octavia M. Damon, one of the many young girls employed in the silk mill, and the first to whom he had been introduced after his arrival. They celebrated their golden wedding, with a large number of relatives and over five hundred friends, in Cosmian Hall September 13, 1894. Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Atkins: George D. of Brookline, Effie D. Willey of Atascadero, California, and Fred T. of Florence. The latter is well known all about the western part of the state for the numerous hours of pleasure he has furnished the devotees of Terpsichore, by his man- agement and direction of orchestral and piano music, during many years.
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