USA > Michigan > Van Buren County > A History of Van Buren County, Michigan: A Narrative Account of Its Historical Progress, Its. > Part 39
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63
"HARTFORD DAY SPRING"
The first newspaper to make its appearance in the thriving vil- lage of Hartford was the Hartford Day Spring. Its first issue ap- peared on the 16th day of November, 1871. Its founders were Messrs. O. D. Hadsell and A. H. Chandler, the latter, however, retiring from the venture when the paper was but a few weeks old. It was continued by Mr. Hadsell, who gained a great degree of notoriety, by reason of the quaintness, sarcasm and bluntness
Hosted by
362
HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY
of his writings, until October 28, 1876, when it was purchased by William H. H. Earle. Mr. Earle edited and published the Day Spring about a year, when Luther Sutton assumed the editorship, Mr. Earle continuing as publisher. In 1888 Charles C. Phillips acquired the paper by purchase and remained in its editorial charge until 1893, when the paper again experienced a change of owner- ship, L. S. Johnson becoming editor and manager. In 1898 H. F. Cochrane assumed charge of the paper under a lease, having as- sociated with him his son, Donald F. Cochrane. A year later a stock company was formed, which purchased the publication from Mr. Johnson. Complete ownership was later acquired by Editor Cochrane and his son, although the Day Spring still appears under the name of the Day Spring Publishing Company. With the for- mation of the stock company began a period of development, in which the old hand press and meager equipment that had sufficed during a succession of ownerships gave way to new machinery, until the Day Spring has today one of the most modern equip- ments possessed by any of the weekly newspapers.
Editor H. F. Cochrane died February 25, 1905, after which the editorship passed to his son, Donald F. Cochrane, who has since continued as editor and owner.
Of all the men who were identified with the early publication of the Day Spring, none survives except A. H. Chandler, who, then as now, is a lawyer located in the village. Editor Hadsell died in Chicago in 1892, where he had pursued a successful business career. Mr. Earle died while in charge of the paper; Sutton passed away in 1903. Mr. Phillips, who purchased the property of the Earle estate, is now quartermaster at the Michigan Soldiers' Home, Grand Rapids.
The Day Spring is now a six-column paper of from eight to twelve pages, all printed on its own presses, and is a lively ex- ponent of its field.
Mr. Hadsell was a schoolmaster with a limited newspaper ex- perience when he and Mr. Chandler planned the launching of Hartford's first newspaper. The venture was conceived and planned in a day, and so they christened the paper the Day Spring. Under the editorship of Mr. Hadsell, it was an aggressive Dem- ocratic sheet, reflecting the personal opinions of its editor with the emphasis characteristic of the times. With advent of Editor Earle came a change of political policy and the Day Spring has since been continued as a Republican journal, although it is first concerned with the unbiased publication of the news of its im- mediate field and of the county. The paper has been closely identified with the development of Hartford and few villages are represented by a more aggressive exponent.
Hosted by
363
HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY
During the time when the people of the country were all wrought up over "greenbackism," "free silverism," the crime of '73 ( ?) and other evanescent political issues, another newspaper, The Peo- ple's Alliance was established in Hartford by Sullivan Cook, who was an ardent advocate of what he, with many others, thought was necessary for the welfare of the people, a radical change in the cur- rency system of the country. The Alliance lived for a number of years, but with the decline of the money controversy the paper also declined, until it finally shuffled off its mortal coil and was peace- fully laid to rest, another unsuccessful venture in the uncertain field of rural journalism.
The first attempt at journalism in the village of Bangor was made by Charles Gillett in February, 1873, who started a news- paper which he christened the Bangor Journal. The venture did not prove a success from a financial standpoint and in the fall of the same year the Journal gently breathed its young life away, un- honored and unsung, and it has practically passed out of mind and memory.
Out of the remains of the Journal arose another and more vigor- ous plant. W. W. Secord purchased its remains-that is its type and other material-and established the Bangor Reflector, the first issue of which appeared in the month of December, 1873. The new project met with only a limited success under the direc- tion of Mr. Secord, who managed it until April, 1875, when it was purchased by Charles C. Phillips, who made it a valuable prop- erty and a paper of influence and fair circulation.
"THE BANGOR ADVANCE"
The West Michigan Advance was started by G. F. Burkett, in 1881, and was purchased by L. S. Russell the next year, at which time his son, M. F. Russell, started in to learn the printer's trade, and he has never since got the ink off from his fingers. In 1888 Mr. Phillips leased the Reflector to Mr. Russell, who consolidated the two papers, under the name of the Advance and Reflector. On the first of January, 1891, Mr. Russell turned over the busi- ness to his son. M. F. Russell, who found the venture to be profit- able, and after managing it for a year purchased the entire plant and it still remains in his possession. The name was changed to the Bangor Advance, the "Reflector" disappearing from view. The paper was originally started with a Washington hand press. Mr. Phillips purchased a "Prouty," which has been succeeded by a "Potter drum cylinder." The outfit of the Advance is modern and consists of the newspaper press, two job presses, a five-horse
Hosted by
364
HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY
power gasoline engine, abundance of type and all the equipment needful for a first class newspaper and job plant.
Bangor had, at one time, three newspapers, the other two being the Bangor Breeze and the Van Buren County Visitor. The local- ity proved to be too breezy for the Breeze and after a brief career it blew away. There was, for a considerable length of time, a fierce rivalry between the Visitor and the Advance, but the strife ended in 1907 by the amalgamation of the two papers, Mr. Rus- sell purchasing the Visitor outright, its publisher, Mr. B. F. Harris, entering the employ of the Advance as foreman where he has since remained.
EARLY LAWRENCE NEWSPAPERS
It was not until 1875 that the village of Lawrence could boast of having a newspaper. That year Theodore L. Reynolds estab- lished the Lawrence Advertiser. Mr. Reynolds continued this paper until some time in 1877, when he sold it to Robert L. Warren who published it for three years longer. In 1880, Mr. Warren. becoming the owner of the Decatur Republican, removed the Ad- vertiser plant to Decatur and consolidated the two papers, leav- ing Lawrence as an open field for some other venturesome news- paper aspirant. A job printing office was continued in the village by different parties, but it was not until November, 1882, that any further effort was made to establish a newspaper, and that effort proved to be exceedingly weak. Messrs. Wilson & Moon started a sheet that they christened the Lawrence Times, but it did not live long enough to learn its own name. Its ambitious originators had no press and their "forms" had to be taken to Paw Paw, nine miles distant, to be printed. Only three issues of the Times ever saw the light of day, and for about three years no further effort was made to publish a paper in Lawrence. In the spring of 1885 G. M. Vining began the publication of a little six-by-nine paper called the Basket of Locals and continued the little sheet until mid- summer, when he revived the Times which he continued for five years, but it was too much up-hill traveling; and the Times fol- lowed in the wake of its predecessors and lay down and died.
For a short time, in 1890, Messrs Cash & Vining published a paper called the Lyre, but it was not a success. Possibly people not up in orthography mistrusted the name and so refused to give it their confidence.
The Van Buren County Visitor, mentioned as among the Ban- . gor papers, was first established at Lawrence in 1895 by W. E. Thresher and by him removed to Bangor in 1897.
Hosted by
365
HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY
"LAWRENCE TIMES"
After so many abortive attempts to provide the people of Law- rence and the adjacent country with a local newspaper, it seemed that the time was ripe for a successful effort along that line. On the first of January, 1898, Ernest G. Klock, a newspaper man from Holland, Michigan, brought his outfit to Lawrence and started a new paper, taking the old name of the Lawrence Times. It was rather "hard sledding" for the paper and in the fall of 1899 Mr. Klock sold his plant to Miss Vera P. Cobb, of Middleville, Michi- gan, who conducted it until January, 1901, at which time she dis- posed of it to James G. Jennings. Mr. Jennings succeeded in giving the paper some prestige and continued to publish it until November, 1909, when he sold it to G. S. Easton of Onsted, Michi- gan. Mr. Easton has shown himself to be a hustler, has made the Times one of the foremost newspapers in the county and has spared no pains to advance the interests of the town. He has put in a large amount of new material, including a typesetting ma- chine. The business men of the village have accorded him a liberal support and the paper has every appearance of having become one of the well-established, permanent and paying newspaper plants of the county.
The first effort at the publication of a newspaper in the little village of Bloomingdale was made in the early seventies when a paper was started at that town, by Mr. W. W. Secord, under the name of the Bloomingdale Tidings. Mr. Secord continued the publication of this paper for a few years, but it did not prove to be a financial success, finally "lay down and died," and was buried in the newspaper cemetery of the county among numerous other unsuccessful aspirants for journalistic fame and fortune.
"BLOOMINGDALE LEADER"
On the 10th day of June, 1881, undaunted by the fate that over- took the Tidings, Messrs. M. A. Barber and C. F. Smith founded the Bloomingdale Leader, which proved to be possessed of a greater degree of vitality than the Tidings and which is yet, after the lapse of thirty years, still in the ring and doing a prosperous business. Originally, the paper was a five-column folio. Messrs. Barber & Smith continued to publish the Leader for a couple of years when Barber sold his interest to Smith, who became the sole proprietor, and who, in 1892, added new material, put in new presses and enlarged the paper to a five-column quarto, which it has since remained. In 1895 Mr. R. D. Perkins purchased the . plant from Mr Smith, and has successfully managed the property
Hosted by
366
HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY
for the past sixteen years. A large two story cement building, which will be the future home of the Leader, is in process of con- struction and is nearly completed, and the prospect for future successful business was never better than at the present time.
"GOBLEVILLE NEWS"
The Gobleville News was established in the hustling little vil- lage of Gobleville in the fall or 1890, by J. M. Hall, who was its editor and publisher for nearly fifteen years. Under his admin- istration of affairs the paper became a six-column quarto, with two pages only printed at home, the remainder of the sheet being "plate." In August, 1905, the present editor and publisher, J. B. Travis, became the owner of the plant and at once doubled the amount of home matter, giving the patrons of the paper four pages of home news, instead of two as theretofore. In June, 1907, the News moved into new and commodious quarters on State street, which it now occupies. During the six years of the paper under its present management, it has practically doubled its business in all departments, has purchased a full supply of new and up-to-date type and other material including a power press, and now has a superior outfit for a newspaper of its class. Its editor, Mr. Travis, is a "Michigan boy" born in Hillsdale county, and prior to en- gaging in the newspaper business was superintendent of schools in various localities in the state.
SOUTH HAVEN NEWSPAPERS
The South Haven Sentinel was the first newspaper to be es- tablished in the village (now city ) of South Haven. It was founded in 1867, by Capt. David M. Phillips, a veteran of the Civil war, and, unlike most of the first papers started in the county, it proved a success from the start. Captain Phillips, however, did not long retain the ownership of the Sentinel, for one year after it was born he sold it to Dr. Samuel Tobey, who, in turn, transferred it to Capt. W. E. Stewart, another Civil war veteran. Captain Stewart suc- cessfully conducted the Sentinel until his death, which occurred on the 11th day of July, 1899. The plant then passed into the possession and management of his daughter, Miss Nellie Stewart, who was a pretty good newspaper man ( ?) herself. The paper has, since that time, undergone change of name and change of ownership until it has finally landed in the office of the South Haven Daily Gazette. The change of name occurred while the plant was owned and published by Dr. H. M. Spencer, who came into its ownership after Captain Stewart's decease. It was after- ward owned and published by O. C. Schmidt. Under his adminis-
Hosted by
367
HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY
tration the paper was converted into a semi-weekly, but when it passed into its present quarters it was again changed into a weekly. While Captain Stewart owned the Sentinel it was a Republican paper and strenuously advocated the principles of that party. Since his death and since it became an Advocate it has sometimes advocated political ideas which, to draw it mild, have been very much at variance with the convictions of its founder and former owners.
In 1878 J. Densmore started a "Greenback" paper in South Haven, which he named the South Haven Record. After less than a year of life in the place of its birth it was sold to Kalamazoo parties and removed to that city where it continued to support the Greenback party until there was no Greenback party to support the Record.
There have been numerous other ventures in the newspaper line in South Haven that have had their little day and then passed into oblivion. Among them were the Fonetic Klips, a little monthly sheet issued by Almon J. Pierce. As its title indicates, the purpose of this little monthly novelty was to promote the use of phonetic orthography, of which system the publisher was an ardent sup- porter.
Other papers that have either been consolidated, amalgamated or abrogated are the News, the Avalanche, the Index and possibly others that have had their little day and passed off the stage.
There are published in the city of South Haven at the present time, two daily papers-the Tribune and the Gazette; one semi- weekly, the Tribune-Messenger, and one weekly, the Citizens Ad- vocate.
The Daily Tribune was founded in May, 1899, by Ira A. Smith, who converted it into a stock company. The articles of incorpora- tion were executed on the 31st of July, 1902. The stockholders were Ira A. Smith, Hattie B. Smith and Wilbur G. Smith, and the amount of the capital stock was $10,000. Later the paper passed into the possession of the present owners. The officers of the com- pany are S. H. Wilson, president; C. O. Monroe, vice president, editor and manager; C. J. Monroe, treasurer; F. W. Taylor, man- ager of advertising and job department. The Tribune is a six col- umn folio sheet. Soon after the paper passed into the possession of the present owners, the Messenger, a weekly paper that was be- ing published in the city at the time, was merged with the weekly edition of the Tribune, under the name of the Tribune-Messenger. This sheet was continued as a weekly until March, 1911, when it was changed to a semi-weekly and so remains.
The Daily Gazette was started about the first of May, 1909, with F. T. Lincoln as editor. On the 31st day of July, 1902, articles of
1
Hosted by
368
HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY
incorporation were filed under the name of the South Haven Gazette Company. The amount of capital stock was fixed at $10,- 000 and the stockholders were F. F. Rowe and A. E. Kettle, of Kalamazoo, and F. T. Lincoln, of South Haven. Mr. Lincoln con- tinues to be the editor of the paper, which is a seven column folio sheet.
The Citizens Advocate, which is the lineal descendant of the Sentinel, the first South Haven newspaper, is also published by the Gazette Company, as a weekly journal.
Two dailies, one semi-weekly and one weekly represent a fairly ample supply of newspapers for a town of the size of South Haven, but they all appear to be prospering and to be well patronized. Neither of these journals misses an opportunity to advance the in- terests of the city and vicinity and the enterprising citizens of the place appear to fully appreciate the efforts of the press in their behalf and to give their papers a generous support.
Hosted by
CHAPTER XVII
MEDICINE AND SURGERY
MEDICAL SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH-PREVENTIVE MEDICINE-SURGERY- THE COUNTRY PHYSICIAN AND THE TRAINED NURSE-EARLY PHY- SICIANS OF VAN BUREN COUNTY-PAW PAW PHYSICIANS-BAN- GOR - GOBLEVILLE - HARTFORD - COVERT - LAWRENCE - LAW- TON-THE PROFESSION IN SOUTH HAVEN-SOUTH HAVEN CITY HOSPITAL-DECATUR-WILL CARLETON'S "THE COUNTRY DOC- TOR"-THE VETERINARY SCHOOL.
By Dr. G. W. Cornish
In the compilation of this chapter it has been necessary to digress somewhat from the usual routine of county histories. On account of the wonderful advancement of medicine during the period which this work covers, a general review of the progress of this science would be the history of the progress of medicine in this county.
We have summed up as concisely as possible the recent changes that have taken place along this line, and have endeavored to present them in such a manner that they may be readily compre- hended and understood by the lay reader and may also prove both interesting and instructive.
In a work that covers so much ground it has been necessary to quote quite freely from the writings of medical profession and others.
To those whose kindly assistance and ready response to in- quiries have so materially aided us in acquiring much informa- tion and data for this chapter, we desire to express our most sin- cere thanks and hearty appreciation.
The problem of public health, always of vital interest, assumes with the advance of civilization, the increase of population, the social and economic condition incident thereto, greater import- ance from year to year.
The one great problem of life is the preservation of health, and this one word covers the whole realm of the physician's labors, and hygiene or science and art of the preservation of health is Vol. 1-24
369
*
Hosted by
370
HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY
receiving more attention today than ever before. Wherever people have correct ideas as to the requirements of health and make intelligent efforts to obey its laws, sickness is comparatively rare and the very best work both physical and mental is accom- plished. Not only does the individual help himself to progress and also those about him, but the community at large is benefited so that "public health is public wealth."
There are more people making themselves "physical bank- rupts" by violating the laws of health than the great majority of people think. Unfortunately, very few people will regard what the physician says on the subject until it is too late. However, it is the duty of every physician to do all in his power to teach his patrons the laws of the preservation of health and prevention of disease.
Roosevelt says: "The preservation of national vigor should be a matter of patriotism." Hygiene can prevent more crime than law. We need education along health lines. "Ignorance is the greatest criminal of the twentieth century. It smothers and strangles more babies, it eats out the hearts of more women, and cuts the throats of more men, it injures more homes, and fills more untimely graves than all the felons who fill the prisons of this world."
MEDICAL SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
A marked feature of this age is scientific research, and many great and useful additions have been made to the world's knowl- edge within the last fifty years.
The acquirement of a fuller knowledge of the properties of steam and electricity and their practical employment have revolu- tionized the world. Human conveniences have been multiplied and human comforts have increased, but the results of scientific ad- vancement have not been merely material; they have made for a greater amity and closer union between men and people. Medical science has gone apace with sister sciences. The physician has been no less active than the physicist and the electrician. Within the past three decades a great mass of actual pain has been lifted from off suffering humanity, social conditions have been improved, life has been prolonged, and made better and happier. The world is not ungratefully blind to the fact that progress in medicine and surgery has had an incalculable humanitarian importance.
Medical science can boast no less than any other science so far as progress is concerned, though our progress is not so visible to the eye as others are-such as ship-building that made it possible to cross the Atlantic in less than five days; steam and electricity
Hosted by Google
371
HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY
which revolutionized the commerce of the world and made it pos- sible to travel sixty miles or more an hour by rail; air ships which fly thousands of feet in the air; the telegraph, telephone, the wire- less system which in times of war and storms will be of untold benefit, and I cannot forget the horseless carriages that convey the doctors to suffering patients in almost no time with a speed of from twenty to one hundred miles an hour. These are some of the very conspicuous results of the present day progress in science that strike the eye. But stop and think of the number of human lives saved as a result of medical advancement and of the great undertakings that sanitation and hygiene have made possible as a result of discoveries of causes of disease. It can then be. com- pared more than favorably with the advances made in other branches of science.
The doctors are the connecting link between that great medical body which handles the vast majority of the diseases we would prevent and the general public, the victim of those diseases. This means that the doctor is awake and must awaken the people to their duty to themselves and make it, plain to them that no man has a right so to keep his house or so to live his life in a civilized community as to jeopardize his neighbor's health or hap- piness. It is said in China it is the custom to pay the physician a certain amount to keep you well. When the patient is ill the pay ceases. This unique practice has much to recommend it. It means that we, the doctors, shall teach all our people that the duty of keeping clean in a physical sense is as high as that of moral cleanliness. This is accomplished in a great degree by teaching patients how to prevent diseases, how to avoid diseases instead of curing them.
PREVENTIVE MEDICINE
The Philadelphia Ledger of May 5, 1911, reports in substance the speech of President Taft on preventive medicine: "Whatever hostages to civilization were given by the United States in the war of 1898 have been wonderfully redeemed. The unwelcome con- quest of undesired territory in the tropics has been turned to the world's advantage by the conquest over tropical disease. This is the greatest triumph in the history of the American army. The army did not do it all, nor is the progress achieved since 1898 to be boasted of as a peculiarly national achievement. The study of bacteriology and the causation of disease has been going on in the laboratories and hospitals of the wide world, from British India all the way round the globe, through Europe and America and over the Pacific to Japan. What our army doctors did was to keep
Hosted by
372
HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY
alert to every discovery and suggestion and apply it as the op- portunity came to them, with a scientific thoroughness and a military efficiency that changed the whole aspect of life in tropi- cal countries.
"Need I remind you of the names of men made famous, who are dear to the hearts of the nation for the great and unselfish work they have done to preserve health and life ? Close investigation and experimentation, demonstrated that the dread yellow fever was due to the mosquito and could be banished, and that malaria is not 'bad air' as its name indicates, but it is the poision of a cer- tain kind of mosquito, and 'Yellow Jack' is the same, only a dif- ferent kind of mosquito. It was early observed that exposure to night air was frequently followed by either malaria or yellow fe- ver, and this as well as other observations gave rise to a supposed similarity of cause of these two diseases. All this is now explained by the discovery of the fact that the two kinds of mosquitoes which communicate these two diseases are night birds. It is all very simple, after we know. It is very gratifying that our country has been able to show to the world one of the most striking examples in the history of preventive medicine by the extermination of yel- low fever through the discoveries of Drs. Reed and Carroll, and the practical application of their researches by Colonel Gorgas has made it possible for the nation to undertake a great engineer- ing task for years considered impossible by scientific men of other people. Medical science shall have its share in the glory of the achievement of the Panama Canal, a national dream realized. Were it not for this discovery this great canal could not be com- pleted. If United States had done nothing more than to show the Cubans how to prevent these terrible diseases it alone would have repaid many times over all the loss and suffering of the Spanish war. The redemption of the Philippines from all manner of dis- eases by efficient sanitation, vaccination and the extermination of disease bearing pests would make the American occupancy of the islands glorious, even if it had accomplished nothing for the men- tal advancement of the people.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.