USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > History of Detroit and Wayne County and early Michigan: A Chronological Cyclopedia of the Past and Present, Vol. II > Part 12
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in 1881 he accepted the professorship of Obstetrics and Clinical Gynecology, a position he has ever since held, and on the consolidation with the Michi- gan College of Medicine, he was appointed to the same position in the Detroit College of Medicine. As a lecturer on medical subjects he has performed most satisfactory labors, is thorough in his investi- gations and in the application of knowledge gained by practical experience and unremitting research. He is terse, clear, and practical, and easily wins the respect of those who come under his teaching.
In view of the experiences of his father, it is but natural that Dr. Carstens should have a strong taste for politics. Ever since he has been old enough to understand the political situation in this country he has been a staunch Republican. Before his twentieth year he delivered political speeches, and this he continued for many years, speaking in either English or German in many parts of the State of Michigan. In 1876 he was elected chair- man of the Republican City Committee, and at the same time was a member of the County Committee. During the year he held these positions, he materi- ally assisted in securing Republican control of the city and county. Both as an organizer and as an earnest, effective worker, he has rendered valuable aid in gaining victories for his party, and has been often tendered party nominations. He has, how- ever, thus far refused to become a candidate for office, with the exception of a nomination as mem- ber of the Board of Education, to which he was elected in 1875 and re-elected in 1879. In 1877 he was appointed president of the Board of Health, and during his term of office rendered valuable assistance in checking the spread of small-pox, which was then prevalent. On the organization of the Michigan Republican Club, he was elected a director. His rapidly increasing professional duties, of late years, have prevented active political work, and with the exception of an occasional speech, his whole time has been devoted to his profession. His contributions to medical literature have been vari- ous and extended.
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He has reported many clinical lectures and has translated various articles from German and French medical journals. Among the more important of the articles written by him may be named : Cleft- palate and Iodoform, Medical Education, Embol- ism, Vaccination, Household Remedies, Phantasia, Clinical Lectures, A Case of Obstetrics, Dysentery cured without Opium, Strangulated Hernia. Hem- orrhoids, Clinical Lectures on Gynecology, A Case of Epilepsy caused by Uterine Stenosis, Three Cases of Battey's Operation, Uterine Cancer, Menorrha- gia and Metrorrhagia, Cancer, Ergot in Labor, Mechanical Therapeutics of Amenorrhoea, A Dif- ferent Method of Treating a Case of Freshly Rup-
tured Perinaum, Fibroid Tumor Removed by Lapa- rotomy, Vesico-Vaginical Fistula, Loewenthal The- ory of Menstruation, Mastitis, Laceration of the Cervix Uteri, A small Book on Amenorrhoea, Dysmenorrhoea and Menorrhagia. Nearly all of his articles have been extensively copied by medical journals in this country, and some by European journals. He holds the position of gynecologist to Harper Hospital, attending physician at the Woman's Hospital and obstetrician of the House of Providence. He is a member of the American Medical Association, and of the Michigan State Medical Society, of which he was vice-president in 1885, president of the Detroit Medical and Library Society, a member of the Detroit Academy of Medicine, and of the British Gynecological Society, honorary member of the Owosso and Kalamazoo Academy of Medicine and the Northeastern District Medical Society, and vice-president of the Ameri- can Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
His advance as a physician has been steady and sure; he has been a continuous student and a hard worker ; his practice has grown into an extensive and remunerative one and he finds his time and hands fully occupied. He has given to certain dis- eases close and special attention and has worked out for them peculiar, independent, and success- ful modes of treatment. Among his professional brethren he holds the place due to his talents and manly character, and is ever ready to aid any enter- prise that may be originated for the good of the public. Although his professional duties are oner- ous, he finds time for general reading and keeps well informed in a wide range of intellectual cul- ture ; is thorough and earnest in all that he under- takes, and has the undivided good will and respect of the community in which he dwells.
He was married October 18, 1870, to Hattie Rohnert, who had for some time been a teacher in one of the public schools.
HENRY ALEXANDER CLELAND, M. D. of Detroit, was born in Sterling, Scotland, March 14, 1839, and is the son of Henry and Mary . Young) Cleland, and a lineal descendant of William Cleland, the covenanter, who during the sixteenth century was a conspicuous character in the war of the cov- enanters, having great influence as a leader of the West country Whigs. In 1689, when the extortion and persecutions of Viscount Dundee, to whom King James entrusted the management of affairs in Scot- land, had justly aroused the anger of the covenant- ers, it was William Cleland, then living in Edin- burgh, who became the recognized head of the move- ment which for a time threatened to destroy the forces of Dundee. At that time, says Lord Macau- ley in his History of England, "the enemy whom
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Dundee had most to fear was a youth of distin- guished courage and abilities, named William Cle- land. * * * Cleland had, when little more than sixteen years old, borne arms in the insurrection at Bothwell Bridge. He had since disgusted some virulent fanatics by his humanity and moderation, but with the great body of Presbyterians his name stood high. With the strict morality and ardent zeal of a puritan he united accomplishments of which few puritans could boast : his manners were polished and his literary and scientific attainments respect- able. He was a linguist, a mathematician, and a poet, and his poems written when a mere boy, * * * showed considerable vigor of mind." He was killed in 1689, at the age of twenty-seven years. His namesake, an uncle of Henry Cleland, was for many years a prominent merchant of Wishaw, Lanarkshire. The ancestors of Dr. Cle- land's mother were farmers for many generations in the town of Stirling of the immediate vicinity.
Henry Cleland spent the earlier years of his life in London, England, where he learned the business of a cutler and instrument maker. At the age of twenty-five he went to Stirling and began business for himself, and died there in 1844, at the age of for- ty-five, leaving his widow with eight children and with but limited means for support. The family remained at Stirling until 1851, where Henry A. received his rudimentary education in the grammar school. The family then removed to Glasgow, and here for one year young Cleland attended St. James's Parish School. He then became an errand boy in a paint and music store, but diligently pursued his studies, attending the evening schools and the Mechanics' Institute, and later, the Andersonian University, and managed to secure not only a good English education, but a fair knowledge of the classics, physics, and natural sciences. Believing that superior advantage existed in America for advancement, he left Scotland in 1858 and came to Detroit, where an elder brother, named Wil- liam, had located a few years previously. Here he at first secured employment in the insurance office of M. S. Frost, but after a few months' service, he entered the office of Dr. Richard Inglis, to take charge of the financial management of his practice, and upon his advice soon began the study of medicine, and in 1859 became a student in the Med- ical Department of the University of Michigan. He graduated in 1861, and soon after enlisted as a pri- vate in Co. I, 2d Regiment of Michigan Infantry, and after a short period of service was made hospi- tal steward. During the Peninsular Campaign of Gen. McClellan he acted as assistant surgeon of his regiment, and was slightly wounded at the bat- tle of Williamsburgh. At the battle of Charles City Cross Roads, he was taken prisoner, and for four
weeks was confined at Libby Prison, when he was exchanged, rejoining his regiment just prior to the second battle of Bull Run. He continued with his regiment until the battle of the Wilderness, when he resigned his commission and returned to Detroit to take charge of the medical practice of Dr. Inglis, who on account of ill health desired to retire from professional work. Since then Dr. Cleland has been constantly engaged in the practice of his pro- fession, and it has steadily grown in extent. He has a natural liking for his calling, and possesses an untiring, painstaking, and studious nature; these qualities with a high order of skill, good judgment, and pleasing address, attract confidence and trust, and easily account for his success. " He is modest and retiring in his nature, and his patients esteem him, not only as a physician but as a friend. He has cultivated a family practice, and his professional labors have resulted in securing a large competence which has been judiciously invested in real estate in Detroit. His time is thoroughly engrossed in his professional duties and he finds little opportunity for any projects not connected with his profession.
He is a member of the State Medical Associa- tion, and is a charter member of the Detroit Acad- emy of Medicine, the oldest medical society of Detroit. In 1873 he went to Europe, and remained one year, spending considerable time in the hospi- tals of London, Edinburgh, and Paris. At one time he was a member of the staff of St. Mary's Hospital, and is now connected with Harper Hos- pital. He was married in 1865 to Agnes M. Cowie, daughter of Wm. Cowie, President of the Detroit Dry Dock Engine Works, and sister of Dr. Henry Cowie, Dentist, of Detroit.
GEORGE DAWSON was born at Falkirk, Scotland, March 14, 1813. His father was a book- binder, and resided near Edinburgh. He was mar- ried in 1810 to Mary Chapman and removed to Falkirk, where George was born. The father came to America in 1816, and found employment in New York. Two years later he removed to Toronto, and subsequently to Niagara County, New York. While there, when he was eleven years old, George was entered as an apprentice in the printing busi- ness in the office of the Niagara Gleaner, and remained two years.
In 1826, with his father, he went to Rochester, where he entered the office of the Anti-Masonic Inquirer, then conducted by Thurlow Weed, and in March, 1830, he aided Weed in starting the Albany Evening Journal. In 1836 he became ed- itor of the Rochester Daily Democrat, but in Sep- tember, 1839, left it to become editor and proprietor, with Morgan Bates, of the Detroit Daily Advertiser, and continued to manage that paper nearly three
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years, and his labors on the Advertiser had very much to do with the prosperity of the Whig cause in Michigan. After the fire of 1842 had destroyed the Advertiser office, he sold out to his partner, and returned to Rochester to resume control of the Democrat, and subsequently went to Albany and again connected himself with the Journal.
In 1861 he was appointed postmaster of Albany, and served six years. He retired from editorial work on the Journal on September 2, 1832.
He ranked high as a journalist, was elegant and and graceful in his style, and made a very honora- ble record. He was domestic in his tastes, fond of angling, and wrote a little work "On the Pleasures of Angling." As a politician he firmly adhered to his principles, but was always gentle and pleasant in asserting them. He became a member of the Baptist church in 1831, and ever remained an earnest and consistent Christian. He married Nancy M. Terrell in June, 1834, and died on Feb- ruary 17, 1883.
COLONEL ARENT SCHUYLER DE PEY- STER, whose name is associated with Detroit during its early occupancy by the British, was the second son of Pierre Guillaume de Peyster, of New Amsterdam. His ancestors were driven from France by the persecutions of Charles IX. and sev- eral of them settled in Holland.
Johannes de Peyster, the founder of the family in this country, was an eminent merchant in New York in the seventeenth century. He was born at Harlem early in that century, and in 1653, although he had just arrived in this country, he offered an amount only exceeded by twelve of the richest set- tlers, toward erecting the city palisades. He died about 1686, after a long life of activity and useful- ness. His second son, Isaac, was for many years a member of the Provincial Legislature, and one of the aldermen of New York from 1730 to 1734. His third son, Johannes, in 1698-9 was at the same time Mayor of the City of New York and a Repre- sentative of the municipality of the Provincial Legislature. The fourth son, Cornelius, was the first Chamberlain of the city, and was Captain of the Fifth Company of Foot, in the regiment of which his eldest brother was Colonel.
Colonel de Heer Abraham de Peyster, the eldest son of Johannes, was a prominent politician, and possessed of great wealth, being one of the largest owners of real estate in his native city. He was born in New Amsterdam, July 8, 1657. On April 5, 1684, at Amsterdam, in Holland, he married Catharine de Peyster. He filled many prominent offices, and died on August 2, 1728. His eldest daughter, Catharine, married Philip van Cortlandt, whose son was the well-known Lieutenant-Gov-
ernor Pierre van Cortlandt, of Croton. His second daughter, Elizabeth, married John Hamilton, Gov- ernor of the Province of New Jersey. His seventh son, Pierre Guillaume, married Catherine Schuy- ler, sister of Colonel Peter Schuyler, famous for his influence over the five nations of Indians. The second son of Pierre Guillaume was Colonel Arent Schuyler de Peyster, whose picture accom- panies this article. His nephew, namesake, pro- tégé, and intended heir, was a veritable rover, by sea and shore. In the course of his wanderings, he sailed twice around the world, doubled the Cape of Good Hope fifteen times, visited most of the Polynesian Islands, and in passing from the western coast of America to Calcutta, discovered the group of islands since known as the DePeyster or Peyster Islands. He married Sarah Macomb, the sister of Major General Alexander Macomb, of the United States army. He had in his possession an elegant testimonial given by the merchants of Michilimack- inac to his uncle, as a token of their grateful appre- ciation of his efforts to protect and prosper com- merce, and conserve the English interests in that region.
The funds collected for the testimonial were sent to England to secure a service of plate, but the gift never reached the hands for which it was intended. By the time the silver was shipped, the Revolutionary War was raging throughout the thirteen colonies, and a privateer belonging to Salem, Massachusetts, captured the vessel and the silver also. The service remained in the family of the owner of the privateer for some years and was eventually distributed among various persons. The punch bowl forming part of the service was sent to New York to be sold, and was purchased by Captain de Peyster ; in the course of its wan- derings the cover had been lost. The bowl is about fifteen inches high and nearly fifty inches in circumference ; it is said to have cost a hundred guineas, and a more beautiful specimen of the silversmith's art is seldom seen. It bears a figure of a tortoise or turtle, which was the emblem of Mackinaw, and in French the following inscrip- tion :
Thine image, Tortoise, ever will a fond memorial be, My sphere of duty and my home were six long years with thee.
FROM THE MERCHANTS TRADING AT MICHILIMACKINAC, To A. S. DE PEYSTER, EsQ.
Major to the King's or 8th Regiment, as a testimony of the high sense they entertain of his just and upright conduct, and the encouragement he gave trade during the six years he commanded at that post.
Colonel de Peyster came to Detroit in 1776, and
A. D. Syster
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was here most of the time up to 1784, and his con- nection with this city is alluded to in various places in other parts of this work. Soon after the conclu- sion of the Revolutionary war he settled in Dum- fries, the native town of Mrs. de Peyster. During the French Revolution, his zeal and talents were called into exercise for the training of the first regi- ment of the Dumfries volunteers, Robert Burns him- self being a member of the company, and a warm friend of the commanding officer.
Colonel de Peyster was tall, soldier-like, and commanding ; in his manners, easy, affable and open ; in his affections, warm, generous and sincere; in his principles, and particularly in his political creed, firm even to inflexibility. He died on No- vember 26, 1822. The remains were interred in St. Michael's churchyard.
The late Frederick de Peyster, President of the New York Historical Society, was a relative; his son, the well-known author, General J. Watts de Pey- ster, has preserved many memorials of his distin- guished ancestor.
JOHN FARMER, engraver and publisher, was born at Half Moon, Saratoga County, New York, on February 9, 1798. His paternal ancestors for two generations bore the same christian name and were natives of Boston, Massachusetts.
His father removed from Boston to Long Island about 1770. He was a staunch, warm and zealous friend of the American cause, and upon the British invasion of Long Island in 1776 he was captured and confined, at first in a dungeon and then on one of the British prison ships, and when released was so nearly dead that only the most careful medical attendance preserved him. In order to secure his release, Richard Sands, of the well-known firm of Prime, Ward & Sands, of Brooklyn, with Joshua Cornwall and Henry Sands, gave bonds in the sum of £1,500, for his continuance within the British lines during the war. After the war he married Catharine Jacokes Stoutenburgh, widow of Dr. Abraham Stoutenburgh, and settled in the town of Malta, Saratoga County, New York.
His son, the engraver and publisher, was edu- cated in the vicinity of and at Albany, New York, and taught a Lancasterian school in that city. By invitation of Governor Cass and the Trustees of the University of Michigan, he came to Detroit from Albany in 1821 to take charge of one of the Uni- versity schools, the said schools being the nucleus of the present University of Michigan.
Within two or three years after his arrival at Detroit, Mr. Farmer was engaged in surveying and preparing hand-made maps of the territory .. In 1825 he published the first map of Michigan, and the certificate of copyright bears the signature of Henry
Clay, who was then Secretary of State. He sub- sequently published, under various titles, twelve different maps of Michigan, Lake Superior, and Detroit, most of them being engraved by his own hand, and all who are acquainted with his works concede that they have never been excelled, and rarely if ever equaled in accuracy and completeness.
He was a remarkably elegant penman, and as a surveyor and draftsman had no superior in his day. In 1831 he compiled and drew for the Governor and Judges the first and only map transmitted by them to Congress, and that map is to this day the only legal authority and guide as to the surveys in the older portions of the city. It was accepted by Congress as authoritative and is reproduced in Volume V of the American State Papers, Public Land Series. In January, 1835, he issued the first published map of the city, which showed the size and correct outlines of the several lots.
His early maps of the Territory and State were sold by the thousands in all the leading eastern cities, and are conceded to have been greatly influential in promoting the extensive immigration to Michi- gan between the years 1825 to 1840. In 1830, at Albany, New York, he issued the first Gazetteer of Michigan , a work relatively as complete as any gazetteer since issued. He served repeatedly as District, City, and County Surveyor, and laid out many of the earlier roads and villages.
He had much to do with early educational matters in Detroit and was the first chairman of the first Board of School Inspectors in the city and was continued in the office of chairman for four succes- sive years, retiring in 1842. He subsequently served as a member of the Board of Education, and also as City Treasurer in 1838.
He was one of the corporators of the first Metho- dist Episcopal Church of Detroit and one of its earliest trustees. He took an active part in discuss- ing the interests of, and in moulding the affairs of the city, especially during the years from 1830 to 1850, and was energetic and successful in whatever he undertook. He was intense in his convictions, and in expressing his opinion was always clear and forceful. He was an early advocate of the abolition of slavery, and would have sympathized with any and every effort made by the slaves to secure their freedom.
In his profession as an engraver and publisher, he had a passion for accuracy and a tireless energy that hesitated at no expenditure of time or money to secure perfection of detail, and accuracy of in- formation, and it may well be doubted whether any person ever labored more assiduously in the prose- cution of their vocation. He seemed to love work for work's sake and seldom spent less than twelve to fifteen hours per day at his desk.
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As a neighbor and friend he was trusted and esteemed, and to him home was the most desirable of all places. He was married on April 5, 1826, to Roxana Hamilton, of Half Moon, Saratoga County, New York. Her father, Dr. Silas Hamilton, with his father and brother, were in the Revolutionary army and participated in the battles of Bennington, Ticonderoga, and in other campaigns.
Mr. Farmer died on March 24, 1859, leaving three children, John H., Esther A., and Silas Farmer. His wife is still living, and has been a resident of Detroit for over sixty years.
CHARLES HASTINGS, M. D., was born in Junius, Seneca County, New York, September 1, 1820. In early youth he was thrown upon his own resources, and by his industry and studious habits acquired the education which fitted him for his chosen profession. He studied medicine with Dr. N. W. Bell, at Geneva, New York, and graduated at the Columbian (allopathic) College of Medicine, and also at the Cleveland Homoeopathic Medical College.
After practicing for some time in Cleveland and going through the cholera epidemic at Sandusky, where he was at one time reported as dead, he came to Detroit in 1852 and practiced here for over thirty-four years, and at the time of his death was the oldest homoeopathic physician in the city. In 1853 he was appointed by the Board of Auditors, County Physician, and was the first of his school to receive an appointment to that position in Detroit. He was subsequently an officer of the Detroit Homoeopathic Institute, and did much to sustain it. He was also a prominent member of the State Homoeopathic Medical Society.
His practice was large and required close and laborious application, but in the midst of exhaustive professional duties he devoted much labor to the defense of the principles which underlie his school of practice, and was among the ablest exponents of those principles, both in professional success and in the strength and cogency of the arguments which he employed. He wrote many letters and articles which bear marks not only of his scholar- ship and comprehensive knowledge, but above all, of that candor and courteous demeanor toward opponents which always distinguished him. He read many papers upon different medical topics before the societies to which he belonged, and took a leading part in their discussions and always aimed to elevate the standard of the profession. He was an avowed opponent of all superficial and sensational methods in connection with the pro- fession of medicine, which he ever regarded as a sacred trust, and was always planning for the wel- fare of the profession and particularly of his patients.
Possessing a knowledge of both schools, he was free from the prejudices of either, and was liberal and catholic both in his sentiments and aims.
He was influential in getting the homoeopathic department established in the State University, and by his weight of character, no less than by his suc- cess in practice, did much to remove the preju- dice which had existed against the system he repre- sented. Though known as a strict homoeopathist, he had the respect and confidence of the profession generally, and was often called to consult with allo- pathic physicians. He had a quiet and somewhat retiring disposition and made but few intimates, but by those who knew him best and in his family, where he was a kind father and devoted husband, he was dearly loved.
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