History of Cass county, Michigan, Part 21

Author: Waterman, Watkins & co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago, Waterman, Watkins & co.
Number of Pages: 670

USA > Michigan > Cass County > History of Cass county, Michigan > Part 21

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he formed a law partnership with Hon. A. J. Smith, under the firm name of A. J. & H. D. Smith, which continued until the senior member was elected Circuit Judge in the fall of 1878, since which time Mr. Smith has been practicing at Cassopolis without a partner in business. In 1876, Mr. Smith was elected Prose- cuting Attorney of Cass County, upon the Republi- can ticket, and was nominated and re-elected in 1878, and in 1880 declined to be a candidate for re-nomina- tion. In politics, Mr. Smith has always been a Re- publican.

William G. Howard was a native of Cass County, being born in Milton Township, on the 18th of May, 1846. He was raised on a farm and lost his left hand, it being cut off by a mowing machine, when he was about ten years of age. After attending district school and a higher school at Kalamazoo, he entered in the year 1863 Olivet College, where he remained until 1865. He then returned to Kalamazoo College, from which he graduated in June, 1867, at the age of twenty-one. Commencing to read law in the fall of 1867 with Messrs. Balch, Smiley & Balch, of Kala- mazoo, he remained in their office continuously until the fall of 1869, with the exception of a term spent at Ann Arbor Law School. He was admitted to the bar at Kalamazoo in 1869, and on the 1st of Febru- ary, 1870, began the practice of law in Dowagiac, in partnership with James Sullivan. At the election that fall he was elected Prosecuting Attorney, run-

practice of law at Dowagiac until 1873, when he re- moved to Kalamazoo, and formed a partnership with Hon. N. A. Balch, which existed until 1878. He then formed a partnership with Arthur Brown and Ebert S. Roos, under the firm name of Brown, How- ard & Roos.

George Ketcham was born in Mason Township, Cass County, January 9, 1850, a son of Samuel and Abigail (Pullman) Ketcham. When eighteen years of age, he went to Hillsdale College, from which he graduated in 1873. He studied law with Judge Henry H. Coolidge, at Niles, and was admitted to the bar at Cassopolis, in 1874. In 1875, he was elected Circuit Court Commissioner and has held the office three terms since.

Merritt Alonzo Thompson, who lived at Vandalia and practiced law in the county from 1874 to 1881, was a native of Penn Township, and was born in the old homestead, where his mother and sister still reside, upon the 26th of April, 1847. He attended the com- mon schools until he was sixteen years of age, and worked at farming after that until he was twenty. In the spring of 1868, he entered the State Agrieultural College, which he attended two years. In 1870, he

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

entered the law department of the State University, from which he graduated in March, 1872. In June of the same year, he was admitted to the bar at Cass- opolis. In 1873, he began practice at Osceola City, Mich. ; but in 1874 returned to Cass County and opened an office at Vandalia, in partnership with George L. Linden. In 1875, Mr. L. withdrew and Mr. Thompson continued alone until October, 1881, when he removed to Little Valley, Kan.

John Wooster was born in Wheatland County, Mich., February 1, 1847. He graduated from Hills- dale College in 1873, and spent the two years follow- ing in reading law in the office of the Hon. Henry F. Severns, in Kalamazoo, being admitted to the bar in that county December 30, 1875. In the following year, he opened an office in Constantine, but not find- ing the location a favorable one for a young lawyer, removed in the fall of the same year to Dowagiac, where he has since lived and carried on a general law business. He was admitted to practice in the United States, District and Circuit Courts in the fall of 1878. Mr. Wooster is at present City Attorney of Dowagiac, having been elected to that office in the spring of 1880, and re-elected in the spring of 1881.

Joseph L. Sturr, of Vandalia, was born in Bergen County, N. J., in February, 1842, and lived there until 1854, when he removed with his parents to this county. He entered the army in July, 1861, and was in the service until September, 1864, when he received an honorable discharge. Upon his return home, he went to Wexford County, Mich., of which he was several times elected Sheriff. He studied law with the Hon. N. A. Balch, of Kalamazoo; was admitted to practice there, and located at Vandalia.

L. B. Des Voignes, of Marcellus, was born at Mount Eaton, Wayne Co., Ohio, October 15, 1857. In 1861, he removed, with his parents, to Mendon, St. Joseph Co., Mich., and, in 1875, entered the office of O. J. Fast, Esq. (then Prosecuting Attorney for the above county), to read law. In 1876, he was ad- mitted to practice at the bar of St. Joseph County, and was the youngest attorney ever admitted there. He then entered the Law Department of the State University, from which he graduated in 1878. Upon October 2 of that year, he located at Marcellus, where he has since followed his profession. He has been, for the past three years, City or Village Attorney.

Frank H. Reshore, of Dowagiac, was born in Ohio, in 1853, and removed to Michigan, with his parents, the next year. He graduated from the Dowagiac pub- lic schools in 1870. His father, Louis Reshore, who was an energetic Dowagiac merchant, dying that year, the young man took his place in the store, and man- aged it successfully for several years. While thus

engaged, he began reading law. He attended the Law Department of Michigan University from 1873 to 1875, graduating in the latter year. He was obliged to give up his profession and engage, for a time, in business; but resuming his law studies in the office of Spafford Tryon, he was admitted to the bar in 1879, and in 1880 opened an office in Dowagiac.

W. J. Sampson was admitted to the bar in Cass County August 7, 1880, and has since that time practiced at Marcellus. He was born in Hillsdale County, Mich., and received his education at Hills- dale College.

CHAPTER XV.

THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.

Practitioners in Cass County, Past and Present-Biographical Sketches -The Succession of Physicians in Cassopolis, Edwardsburg, Van- dalia, Dowagiac, Pokagon and Sumnerville-Physicians of La Grange, Brownsville, Jones, Adamsville, Williamsville and Mar- cellns.

CASSOPOLIS.

T THE first physician in the vicinity of Cassopolis, or the central part of the county, was a Dr. Grant, who made his arrival in 1830 or 1831, and boarded with Judge Barnard, of La Grange Prairie. He re- moved some time before 1835, "and left no mark." Little is known concerning his personality.

Henry II. Fowler settled at Geneva, on Dia- mond Lake, in 1831, and in 1835 went to Bristol, Ind. He was not prominent professionally, but be- came well known through his establishment of the village above named, and the manipulations by which he caused that place to be designated as the seat of justice for the county.

Isaac Brown, a native of Virginia, settled in Cassopolis in the year 1835, and about two years later moved to Prairie Ronde, where he continued to practice until his death.

Charles L. Clowes (pronounced Clews), a broth- er-in-law of Dr. Brown, and also from Virginia, came to the county seat in 1835, and remained in active practice from that time until his death, in March, 1850.

David E. Brown, a brother of Isaac Brown, prac- ticed in the village a short time at a period subse- quent to the above.

Benjamin F. Gould, a native of New Hamp- shire, born in 1804, came in 1837, and practiced until his death, in November, 1844. Dr. Gould was a man of fine medical and general education, and a graduate of Dartmouth College.

David A. Clowes, son of Charles L. Clowes, came to Cassopolis with his father in 1835, and prac- ticed with him during the last few years of his life.

Ihr E. F. Prinelle

J. R. Mcmaster M.D.

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

Subsequently, he was associated for a short time with Dr. David E. Brown, and in 1854 he removed to California.

James Bloodgood came to Cassopolis in 1838, and practiced for about ten years. He was born, May 1, 1813, in Albany, N. Y., and on first coming to Michigan, in 1835, located at Niles. He was mar- ried, July 3, 1843, to Miss Louisa Beckwith, sister of Walter G. Beckwith. Leaving Cassopolis about 1848, he went to Niles; from that place not long after, to Chicago, and from that city to Dowagiac, where he died quite suddenly, April 24, 1865.

E. J. Bonine, now of Niles, was one of the early and prominent practitioners in Cassopolis. He was born in Richmond, Ind., September 10, 1821, and was the son of Isaac and Sarah Boninc, who were of Quaker descent, and emigrated from Tennessee to Indiana at an early date. The young man entered the office of Dr. J. Prichet, of Centerville, Ind., and remained there three years and ahalf. In 1844, he removed to Michigan and settled in Cassopolis. From that time, onward, until the breaking-out of the war of the rebellion, he resided in this place and Vandalia, and carried on an extensive practice.

He was elected to represent Cass County in the Lower House of the State Legislature in 1852. The Doctor became quite prominent in politics, and in his later years has held several offices by election and appointment. He was originally a Whig, then a member of the Free-Soil party, and subsequently aided in the organization of the Republican party, of

which he has ever since been an adherent. On the breaking-out of the civil war, he enlisted as a private, and was soon afterward appointed by Gov. Blair as Surgeon of the Second Regiment of Michigan In- fantry. He received steady promotion through the various grades to the position of Surgeon-in-Chief for the Third Division of the Ninth Army Corps, which consisted of about 30,000 men. During his services, he participated in twenty-nine engagements, the prin- cipal ones being the battles of Yorktown, Williams- burg, Fair Oaks, the seven days' fight before Rich- mond, the second battle of Bull Run, Chantilly and Fredericksburg. In 1864, he returned to Michigan and located at Niles. He was elected to the Legisla- ture, but preferred to accept the position of Examin- ing Surgeon on the Provost Marshal's Staff for the Western District of Michigan, with headquarters at Kalamazoo, where he remained until the close of the war.

Ile was subsequently elected Mayor of Niles two terms; in 1873, was appointed Postmaster and re-appointed in 1877 and 1881. He has been Vice President of the State Medical Society, and for the

past twenty-five years a surgeon of the Michigan Central Railroad Company.

L. D. Tompkins, of Cassopolis, the oldest med- ical practitioner in the county, arrived in 1848, and had a large experience of the pioneer physician's life. At the time he began practice in Cass County, the labors of physician were much more arduous than they now are, and involved not a little of hardship. The Doctor soon secured a very fair practice and had an extended ride. During the first eight or ten years of his residence in the county, he almost invariably traveled upon horseback. The roads were not then as numerous as now, and most of those which had been cleared and improved were in a condition inferior to that of the present. Large bodies of land were unfenced, and it was the universal custom among those persons familiar with the country when travel- ing in the saddle to save time by " going across lots " by way of the numerous paths through the " open- ings " and the heavy timber. Dr. Tompkins rode very frequently upon these paths and often in the darkness of night was obliged to lean forward upon his horse's neck to avoid being brushed from the sad- dle by overhanging limbs of the trees. Sometimes, wearied with travel and loss of rest, he would fall asleep in the saddle, but the trusty horse, plodding on through the darkness along the winding, narrow path, would bring him safely home. Dr. Tompkins was born in Litchfield, Oneida County, N. Y., February 15, 1817. His parents, Elijah and Minerva (Barber) Tompkins, emigrated from New York to Trumbull County, Ohio, in 1832, and there the subject of our sketch learned the trade of cloth dressing and wool-carding which he followed at Newton Falls for three years. He studied medicine three years in Portage County, Ohio, practiced in North Bend, Columbiana County, about one year ; another year in Carroll; removed to Logan County, Ohio, in 1844, and from there to Cassopolis in May, 1848. He has since been in constant practice except during the interval when he attended the Rush Medical College at Chicago, from which he graduated in the winter of 1851-52. Dr. Tompkins was married December 19, 1850, to Miss Frances S. Bostwick, who is still living.

Alonzo Garwood, son of Isaiah and Caroline (Culver) Garwood, born October 15, 1824, in Logan County, Ohio, came to Cassopolis in 1850, and is still in practice in the village. Ilis medical education began in reading with Dr. James Hamilton in East Liberty, in his native county, in the year 1847. He continued under the preceptorship of Dr. Hamilton for one year and a half, then went to Columbus, Ohio, attended lectures at the Starling Medical College, and studied in the office of Dr. Howard, the Professor of

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

Surgery, and an eminent member of the College Fac- ulty. He graduated from the institution above men- tioned in 1850, and came directly to Cassopolis. Upon the 22d of October of the same year he returned to Ohio and married Miss Elvira E. Brown. Dr. Gar- wood has taken a deep interest in the affairs of the community in which he has lived, has been promi- nently identified with the management of the schools, and in 1857, was honored with election to the State Senate and filled that position satisfactorily to his constituents.

Richard M. Wilson came from Niles in 1854, and practiced until 1864, when he returned to his former location. He was of the eclectic school, and a graduate of the college of Cincinnati.

Alonzo B. Treadwell, one of the prominent and successful physicians of the village and one of its most popular citizens during his life, began practice here in 1864, and continued it until his death. Dr. Treadwell was born in Monroe County, N. Y., January 9, 1825. He obtained a good common school education mainly through his own exertions, and in 1845 or 1846 came with his father's large family to Calhoun County, Mich. Soon after their settlement, the young man left home rather against his father's wishes, and entered Albion College, and a year or so later went to Detroit to con- tinue his study of medicine. In 1850, he commenced practice in Hudson, Mich., in company with Dr. Buch, and remained there about two years, when he was called home to see a sick brother, whom the attending physi- cians had given up to die, but who was saved probably through the Doctor's skillful treatment and nursing. He soon after formed a partnership with a physician at Battle Creek, and while living in that place married Miss Augusta Phillips, who was attending school there, but whose home was in Cortland County, N. Y. From Battle Creek Dr. Treadwell went to Albion, and from there to Northville, Mich., where he remained five or six years, obtained a large practice and broke down under hard work. The next four years he spent upon a farm. At the breaking-out of the civil war, he en- listed in the army and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant, but, owing to an unfortunate accident, was incapacitated for the service. In 1864, his health was so far improved that he resolved to again commence the practice of his profession, and in the spring brought his family to Cassopolis. He was for a time in part- nership with Drs. Tompkins and Kelsey, and after- ward with Dr. F. F. Sovereign. He died April 21, 1874, universally lamented by those who knew him, and highly regarded both as a generous and kindly man and an able, conscientious physician.

William J. Kelsey, of the firm of Tompkins & Kelsey, was born in Niagara County, N. Y., August

20, 1839, and came to La Grange Township, Cass County, the same year, with the family of his father, James Kelsey. He studied medicine with Dr. C. P. Prindle, of Dowagaic, and attended the Rush Medical College, of Chicago, from which he graduated in 1865. In February of that year, he came to Cassopolis, and formed a partnership with Dr. L. D. Tompkins, which has existed uninterruptedly since. The firm has en- joyed a very large practice.

Robert Patterson came from Edwardsburg in 1867, and was a practitioner in the village for a period of about two years; after which he returned to Ed- wardsburg. He is now located at Leonia, Jackson County.

A little later than Dr. Patterson's time, Dr. Fred- erick F. Sovereign, now of Three Oaks, Mich., prac- ticed in the village for a short time, and following him came Dr. M. C. McOmber, a homeopathic physician, who remained about two years.

Fairfield Goodwin was born in Madison County, N. Y., May 12, 1835. His father and his grand- father were both physicians. His father's family re- moved to Detroit when Fairfield was only a year old, and the boy was reared in that city and there obtained a common-school education. He began the study of medicine in 1859, reading with Dr. D. Alden, in Pon- tiac, Mich., for two years. Upon the breaking-out of the civil war, he enlisted in Taylor's Chicago Bat- tery. He was promoted rapidly, and held every non- commissioned office below the rank of Captain. At the battle of Shiloh, he was seriously wounded and went home, being assigned to the recruiting service. He raised a company of men at Pontiac-Company C of the Eighth Regiment Michigan Cavalry-and, in January, 1862, was mustered as its Captain, in which capacity he served until the close of the war. Upon returning to Michigan, he clerked two years in Detroit, then went back with his old preceptor, and, upon his death, succeeded to his practice. In 1871, he went to Detroit, and entered the office of Dr. Will- iam Brodie, and, in the fall of the same year, began attendance at the Medical Department of the State University. After taking three courses of lectures, he graduated in 1874, and, in the same year, located in Cassopolis, where he has since practiced very suc- cessfully. Dr. Goodwin has, in the comparatively brief period of his residence in the village, done much to advance its interests. Few of its citizens have ex- hibited an equal degree of enterprise and publie spirit. The block on the east side of Broadway, in which is Goodwin's Hall, is noteworthy as a single example of the Doctor's zeal in building. Dr. Goodwin was first married December 25, 1861, in Pontiac, to Miss Mary Gordon, who died several years later. Upon January

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

15, 1879, he was united with his present wife, who was Miss Lida Wadsworth, of Lansing.

F. P. Hoy was born at Bellefonte, Centerton Co., Penn., in 1854; graduated at the Hahnemann Medical College in New York in 1879, and after taking extra courses of lectures, located in Cassopolis in the fall of the same year.

William E. Parker, born in Jefferson Town- ship, Cass County, in 1854-a son of John and Sarah J. (Ingling) Parker-graduated from the Rush Medical College, of Chicago, in 1879, and located in Cassopolis in 1880, after practicing one year in the eastern part of the county.

J. D. Mater, a graduate of the University of Virginia, came to Cassopolis in 1881, from Parke County, Ind., and formed a partnership with Dr. Goodwin.

EDWARDSBURG.

The first physician who practiced here was a Dr. Martin, a young man who came to the village in 1829. He remained only a short time.

Henry H. Fowler, afterward of Geneva, practiced in Edwardsburg a short time prior to 1830. He came from Connecticut a single man, and soon re- turned there and married. When he came back to the village with his bride, they boarded at John Sibley's, on Pleasant Lake.

Dr. Meacham, a consin of George Meacham, was another early practitioner.

P. P. Barker located here as early as 1834 or 1835, and died in the village. He was a man of much pro- fessional ability, and had been a surgeon in the regular army.

Henry Lockwood was one of the most prominent and popular physicians ever in the village. He was born in Little Falls, N. Y., in 1803, read medicine with a Dr. Green of that place, graduated at the West- ern Medical College, located at Fairfield, Herkimer Co., N. Y., and after practicing for several years in that region, emigrated to Michigan and settled in Edwardsburg in 1837, or the following year. In 1862, he left Edwardsburg, spent the winter and spring in New York State, and, returning, made a Western visit in the summer. On coming back to Michigan he determined to locate in Dowagiac, but had not fairly settled there when his death occurred upon the 17th of December, 1863. His remains were taken to Edwardsburg for interment. Dr. Lockwood was a leading member of the Odd Fellows Lodge.

Israel G. Bugbee, another well-known practitioner of Edwardsburg, was born in Putney, Vt., April 11, 1814. Some time in the thirties he came to Edwards- burg, and soon after commenced the study of medi-

cine with Dr. John Treat. He afterward went to the State of New York and attended lectures at Fair- field Medical College. He practiced Medicine for a time in Livingston County, N. Y., and there married. June 16, 1839, Elizabeth Head. Shortly after his marriage, he returned to Michigan, at first locating in Oakland County. In 1840, he removed to Berrien Springs, Berrien County. He remained there but a few months, and then went to Edwardsburg, where he formed a partnership with Dr. Henry Lock wood. With Dr. Lockwood he organized Ontwa Lodge, No. 49, I. O. O. F., at Edwardsburg, and he was its first chief officer. He was elected Grand Warden of the Grand Lodge of Michigan, in 1847, and Grand Master of the order in 1859. He was Representa- tive of the Grand Lodge of Michigan to the Grand Lodge of the United States, for the years 1861-62. In 1852, he was Democratic candidate for the office of Sheriff of Cass County, and was defeated by twelve votes. He was a successful business man and practitioner in Edwardsburg, until the fall of 1869, when he met with an accident which made him an in- valid for the remainder of his life. He died May 18, 1878.

Dr. Alvord and Dr. John Treat practiced in the village a portion of the period covered by the resi- dence of Drs. Lockwood and Bugbee. The latter sold out in 1839 or 1840, to Philogene P. Mailard, a West India man, who had received his medical edu- cation at Philadelphia. He went from Edwardsburg to Niles.

A Dr. Wheeler, a young man, was in partnership with Dr. Lock wood for a brief period, about 1845-46, and a Dr. Sargent came to the village in 1847.

Enos Penwell, a man who became very prominent, and gained a large practice, came to Edwardsburg in 1846, from the Medical College at La Porte, Ind. He moved away in 1854, and is now at Shelbyville, Ill. During a portion of Dr. Penwell's practice in Ed- wardsburg, he had as a partner, Dr. Edgar Reading, whose parents lived in the township of Ontwa. Ile was also a graduate of the college at La Porte. He went to Niles in 1853, built the Reading House there, and subsequently removed to Chicago.

John B. Sweetland came to Edwardsburg in 1861, having graduated from the University of Buffalo in the same year. Ile was born in Tompkins County, N. Y., in 1834. He enlisted in the Fourth Regiment Michigan Cavalry, in August, 1862. About a year later, he was made a surgcon in the regular army, and sent to Louisville. In this position, he gained an experience which has been of great value to him in subsequent private practice. In 1875, he was sent to the Legislature as Representative of Cass County,

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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

being elected upon the Republican ticket. Latterly he has found time for journalistic labors in addition to his large medical practice, and has ably edited the Edwardsburg Argus. Dr. Sweetland was married, February 19, 1868, to Frances E., daughter of Will- iam Bacon, one of the pioneers of Ontwa.

Levi Aldrich, born in Erie County, N. Y., Jan- uary 27, 1820, was the son of James and Hannah Aldrich, who at an early day settled in Milton Town- ship, where Levi was reared. He studied with Dr. J. V. D. Sutphen, of Bertrand, for a year and a half, and then went to Erie County, N. Y., and finished under the preceptorship of Dr. George Sweetland. He then took a course of lectures at Buffalo, another at Albany, and the final one at Buffalo, graduating there in 1849. He practiced in Erie County and then came to Edwardsburg, where he has successfully practiced ever since.

Robert S. Griffin was born in Erie County, N. Y., September 25, 1828, and came with his parents to Cass County when quite young. The family located near Edwardsburg. Young Griffin read medicine with Dr. Henry Lockwood, and with Drs. Penwell & Reading. He graduated from the Indiana Medi- cal College at La Porte, in 1849; then practiced at Baldwin's Prairie (where now is the village of Union); removed to Edwardsburg in 1853, and to Van Buren County in 1855. Afterward, he spent one year at South Bend, and in 1875 returned to Edwardsburg, where he still resides.

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History of Cass county, Michigan, Part 21

Author: Waterman, Watkins & co., Chicago, pub Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Chicago, Waterman, Watkins & co. Number of Pages: 670

Author: Waterman, Watkins & co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago, Waterman, Watkins & co.
Number of Pages: 670