USA > Michigan > Monroe County > History of Monroe County, Michigan > Part 74
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Crities speak in terms of the highest praise when reviewing the works of Dr. Dorsch. He was a deep thinker, in fact too deep for the master, as the thinker overruled the poet, and while holding himself to logie of the strictest kind, he does not permit his eyes to rove in beautiful ecstasies ; still it would be doing him an injustice to say he did not feel real inspira- tion, as with the head of a philosopher and heart of a poet, he worked or blended the two together in the most of his poetical works. Yet, perhaps some of them would have been better had they been written in prose, as in many cases, carried away by the inspiration of his theme, throwing his entire soul into the subject in hand, and with an earnest desire to create in the reader the same determined oppo- sition to slavery and ardent love for freedom which inspired him, his argument and the language was so strong that the verses oft- times lost their harmony.
As to his last work, " Lieder aus der Alten und Neuen Welt," it is characteristic of the man and the-poet, and gave scope to powers which were not known, perhaps even to himself, until this opportunity afforded him the chance to use it to the uttermost. To his own keen in- sight and intense sympathy he owes everything of valne in his writings. An ardent lover of books and a just critic in art, he threw his whole soul out and showed his innermost thought and feeling, until his poems were so beautiful and rich in thought and quaint ex- pression you could almost call them pictures. They give the inner and outer life of a high- minded, fine-feeling and warm-hearted, talented man, of whom the editor of the " Deutsche Amerikanische Dichtung," in speaking of Dr. Dorsch, says he was one of the most prominent German-American poets, one of the purest, noblest and worthiest priests, who died while soaring in the zenith of his fame as a poet and writer.
Were it possible for us to translate into
English and preserve the force and expression of the original, we feel that for depth of thought, warmth of feeling and terseness of expression the writings of Dr. Dorsch would equal those of a Longfellow or a Whittier. In addition to his almost innumerable original poems, cover- ing over forty years, mostly written by the in- spiration of nature while visiting his patients, he had the rare faculty of grasping the idea of the author, and his translations of English poets into the German tongue are coneeded to be masterpieces of art, and will of themselves make his name a shining star in the firmament of German literature. On his death he left a large collection of manuscript poems, which are from time to time published in different German papers.
Personally, Dr. Dorsch was of a very retiring disposition. A careful student, he was bound up in his books, and while a great favorite with all who knew him, generous to a fault, he had few intimates, and his warmest and truest friends were his books. A connoisseur in art he gathered a fine collection of artistic works, and on his death several thousand volumes of his valuable library were donated to the Uni- versity of Michigan at Ann Arbor.
DR. SILAS R. ARNOLD
Was born August 17, 1810, at Fairfield, Herki- mer county, New York. He was educated at Little Falls, and received his diploma in Albany as assistant surgeon. He entered the service of the United States July 1, 1837, and was stationed first at Fort Dodge, Southern Florida, afterwards at Sault Ste. Marie, where he re- signed from the service, preferring private practice. He there married his first wife, Miss Jane Holliday, by whom he had five children, only one of whom survives him - Mary, who is teaching in the high school at Chattanooga. Tennessee.
He came to Monroe in 1840 and entered upon the practice of his profession. From his long experience in the army he was a very suc- cessful practitioner, and stood high in his pro- fession as a surgeon. In 1857 he married for his second wife Miss Marianne Norman, of Monroe, Michigan. He was a consistent mem- ber of the Protestant Episcopal church ; was junior warden, in 1842, and at the death of the
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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
senior warden Jonathan Stevens, was elected senior warden, and held the position up to the time of his death, which occurred March 9, 1875.
CHARLES TRACY SOUTHWORTH, M. D.,
Was born May 19, 1827, at Coventry, Chenango county, New York. He was a son of Dr. Tracy Southworth (a practicing physician and for many years copartuer of Dr. George Lan- don) and Ruth M. Easton Southworth, both of Otsego county, New York, the one of English descent, the other of German. When he was sixteen his parents moved to Monroe, where they lived until their death, that of his father occurring in September, 1844, and of his mother in September, 1859.
He received his classical education at Oberlin, Ohio, and at the Michigan University, and at- tended his first course of medical lectures at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at New York in 1845, subsequently taking the course of six months under Ricord and Trousseau in Paris, and spending two years as interne in a hospital at Madrid, Spain, graduating at the University Madrid in May, 1849. In Septem- ber, 1849, he settled in Havana, Cuba, from which, in March, 1851, he went to Matamoras, Mexico, whence, in October of that year, he removed to Vera Cruz. In April, 1853, he was commissioned division surgeon of cavalry by General Santa Anna, on his return to Mexico as dictator, and accompanied him to the city of Mexico, retaining his commission as surgeon until the abdication of Santa Anna in 1855. In September of that year he sent in his resigna- tion, and in the following April was appointed surgeon general of the army of the North by Santiago Vidaurri, then governor and comman- der-in-chief of the forces of Coahuila and Nueva Leon. In 1857 he resigned the commis- sion of Vidaurri, and returned to the city of Mexico, which he left by way of Acapulco in October of the following year, arriving at Mon- roe, Michigan, January 5, 1859.
He was married February 9, 1859, to Frances H. Blakelee, who died June 28, 1865, leaving him two daughters.
In February, 1863, he was commissioned sur - geon of the Eighteenth Michigan Volunteer Infantry, but resigned his commission, June 11, 1864, on account of ill health.
In September, 1865, he was married to Eliza Jane Clark, who with three children, two sons and a daughter, survives him.
On returning from the war he again entered into active practice, which he enjoyed until his death, which occurred on August 12, 1884, as the result of an injury to the heart, received 'by a runaway team running into his carriage from behind while he was driving on his way to Maybee on February 26th preceding. He suffered greatly from that time until his death.
He was a prominent member of the Ameri- can Medical Association ; also of the Michigan State Medical Society, of which he was fourth vice president in 1868, and first vice president in 1869; also of the Southern Michigan and Northern Indiana Medical Society, and its president when it held its meeting at Monroe, Michigan, in 1876.
He was a member of the Masonic fraternity, a Royal Arch Mason, and High Priest of River Raisin Chapter, No. 22.
In politics, he was a Democrat always, al- though never a politician.
CHARLES TRACY SOUTHWORTH, Jr., M. D.,
Son of Charles Tracy and Eliza J. Clark South- worth, was born at Monroe, Michigan, Decem- ber 12, 1866. At the age of sixteen he gradu- oted at the Monroe high school, and in the fol- lowing September entered the Michigan College of Medicine at Detroit. This institution he attended for two years, when it became the Detroit College of Medicine, at which he studied for one year longer, and graduated in March, 1886. In September of that year he went to New York and entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons, where his father had attended forty-one years before.
During the winter of 1886 and 1887 he served a term of four months in the surgical department of the New York Hospital. In June, 1887, he returned to Monroe, Michigan, and on June 6th he opened his office at his father's old stand, where he is now in active practice.
On January 30, 1889, he was married to Nellie F. Cochran, of Monroe.
He is a member of the American Medical Association, which he joined at Newport, Rhode Island, in June, 1889, ard of the Michigan State Medical Society, which he joined in 1887.
435
THE MEDICAL, PROFESSION.
It is generally admitted that the doctor is a young man of extraordinary qualifications and promise.
WILLIAM C. WEST
Was born in Allegany county, Maryland, February 26, 1834; graduated from College of Physicians and Surgeons at Keokuk, Iowa. He pursued his studies still further at St. Louis, Missouri, where he attended lectures and prac- ticed his profession in one of the large hospitals of that city for some time. Dr. West was mar- ried in Georgetown, Missouri, to Miss Mary, daughter of Judge Brown of Kentucky, and settled in Sedalia, Missouri, where he practiced for some years. Here two daughters were born : Anna M. and Henniebelle ; his wife did not long survive the birth of the latter. Dr. West was married in Monroe, Michigan, in 1864 to Miss Eliza, daughter of Christopher Bruckner, a prominent and highly-educated citizen of Monroe. A son and daughter were born of this union: William B. and Mabel. Dr. West continued to practice his profession in the South until failing health required a change, when after several years he returned to Monroe, where for some years he had an ex- tensive practice, but his health again required a change and he settled in Chicago. Here his talented and very promising daughter Hennie- belle died, and soon after the Doctor returned to Monroe. He has identified himself with many of the interests of the city, among which ranks prominent in notice Woodland cemetery. Owing to the Doctor's unflagging zeal a cor- poration was formed and the cemetery was im- proved and pat upon an almost self supporting basis. His son, William B. West, after graduating at the Monroe High School, entered the Detroit Medical College, from which he graduated in 1889. While in Detroit he practiced as a phy- sician in one of the largest hospitals. Soon after his graduation he received an appoint- ment as physican at Lake Linden, where he now resides.
PHILANDER SHELDON ROOT, M. D.
When Horace Greeley gave his advice to the young man to " Go West," he simply put into words the spirit which has been the moving spring of American progress.
It was among the earlier bands of emigrants who started to spy out the land, early in the present century, that two brothers, William and Elihu Root, left Great Barrington, Connec- tient, bound for the undefined. Following the Connecticut river to the Berkshire Hills, they reached the mountains which fringe the Hud- son. Across that river, to the north, the blue Adirondacks loomed hazily in the far distance, and to the south the Kaatskills seemed to bar the way. Between these, a gateway to the land they sought, was the valley of the Mohawk, and up this valley they took their way. Earlier settlers who had preceded them had located the lands nearest the Hudson, and it was not till they had penetrated a hundred miles into the wilderness that they pitched their tents and began the work of building homes. That wilderness where they settled is now Oneida county, New York, one of the fairest of the many fair counties in that im- perial commonwealth.
It was near the present town of Vernon the brothers settled, and began their warfare with reluctant nature, to make the wilderness to blossom as the rose. Their sturdy worth made them of influence in the community. Their children grew about them, and one by one stepped forth to perform with honor their allotted duties among the world of men. The old pioneers have long since been gathered be- neath the churchyard mould, and where their lonely cabins once stood, the eye may see over valley, plain and mountain the monument of their work.
Elihu Root left to perpetuate his name seven sons: Philander Sheldon, a prominent judge at Utica, New York ; O. P. Root, of more than local fame as an engineer and railroad builder, having planned and constructed a por- tion of the elevated railway in New York City ; Eliakim, an educator of note in Eastern New York; Orin, for many years a professor in Hamilton College; Huet, a lawyer of ability and promise, but whose bright career was brought to an untimely close in early life ; Elihu, who likewise died young, and Erastus Clark Root, who, following in the footsteps of his father Elihu, was a tiller of the soil. Elihu Root, jr., a son of Prof. Orin Root, and a lawyer of marked ability, was prominently mentioned for a cabinet place as attorney-general of the United States during the Arthur administration.
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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
To Erastus Clark Root and his wife Jane (French) Root were born six children, one of whom is dead. The youngest of these children, the subject of the present sketch, was born in the old homestead, April 26, 1856. He led the life of a farmer's boy in his earlier years, but there burned in his breast that desire for edu- cation which forces its possessor over any obstacle which adverse fortune may throw in his way. The " midnight oil " was to him far more than a poetic fiction : it was a sad reality. After an ordinary education he entered Ver- non Academy, whence he graduated in 1872 at the age of sixteen. The succeeding year young Root began the world for himself as a peda- gogue, and for six years was engaged in teach- ing. The earlier portion of this time he was employed near home. Then he came to Ohio, and for a time taught near Springfield. In 1876, at the age of twenty, having determined upon the profession of medicine as his life work, he returned to Vernon and entered the office of Dr. F. A. Gary as a student. While pursuing his medical studies, he continued teaching till 1879. Dr. Gary being a graduate of Detroit Medical College, recommended his pupil to that institution. He matriculated in 1879, and graduated in 1881 with the reputation of being one of the hardest workers of his class.
At his graduation and while he was casting about for a place to display his newly gilt shingle, young Root, now " Dr." Root, acci- dentally met Dr. W. C. West, of Monroe, who was then contemplating a removal to the South- west, and desired to dispose of his office and practice. Dr. Root accompanied Dr. West to Monroe to look over the field, and although he found a discouragingly large number of people who were cheerfully pegging away at the age of three score and ten and upwards, and a lugubrious aspect of health seemed prevalent, he evidently found some inducement to remain and the deal was consummated, and Dr. Root entered upon the practice of his profession in our midst. On September 15, 1881, Dr. Root made another bargain with Dr. West's family, but this time it was with Anna M., Dr. West's charming and accomplished eldest daughter. From this marriage has resulted two children, Erastus Clark Root, aged seven, and Mary B. Root, aged three years.
Dr. Root's professional success has been of a remarkably agreeable nature. While the
usual diseases incident to our latitude have engaged his attention, he has proven specially successful in those ailments of the lungs and air passages which are largely prevalent in this county, probably induced by the low-lying character of the land. the proximity of large bodies of water and the resulting dampness.
Believing that study is essential to progress, and always aiming to keep in the front rank, Dr. Root is an earnest and a practical student. Early in his professional carcer be began the practice of keeping systematic notes and data of interesting and intricate cases. The results of his observations have in many instances been published as monographs in various medical publications, among which are the Medical Age, Medical Record, Therapeutic Gazette, American Lancet, etc., and the editors are always glad to welcome his fresh and timely articles.
For the past eight years he has held the appointment of physician to the Monroe county house, and for three years has been surgeon of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Rail- way.
The burdens of a large and increasing pro- fessional practice have not sufficed to smother his taste for literary studies, nor stifle his inter- est in the cause of education; nor have the cares of the household been permitted to weaken the literary pleasures of his talented wife. For some years Dr. Root has been a painstaking and earnest member of the board of education, and the recent marked improvement in our public schools is to him a source of gratification and pride.
GEORGE FRANCIS HEATH.
George Francis Heath was born in Warsaw, Wyoming county, New York, September 20, 1850. Ancestry : paternal side, early settlers in Berkshire county, Massachusetts; maternal side, early settlers in Rutland county, Ver- mont ; grandparents settled immediately after the War of 1812 in Wyoming county, New York. On account of mother's death in 1860, and father entering the army in 1861, he went to reside with an uncle, Dr. W. W. Hibbard, of Poultney, Vermont, where he attended the public, private and commercial schools and assisted in drug store for seven years.
In 1870, Mr. Heath took the advice of Horace
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THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
Greeley and " went west," bringing up in War- rensburg, Missouri, where his father had located at the close of the war. Graduated in the high school of that city in 1871, he had entered ad- vanced classes in the State Normal school located there in 1871, when on the 1st of Janu- ary, 1872, he was placed in charge of the city postoffice, the postmaster having become a defaulter to the Government for several thou- sand dollars. He held this position until June, 1876, when he retired to enter the drug busi- ness, in which he continued until the fall of 1879. On December 25, 1876, he was married to Lucy M. Rayhill; has one child living, a boy about four years old.
In 1877 he was elected alderman of the third ward of the city of Warrensburg on the Repub- lican tieket. He declined a renomination, but the vote at election resulting in a tie, at the request of both parties he continued in office and served the second term.
In September, 1879, he entered the Medical Department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, graduating in 1881. In June of this year he was appointed by the board of regents resident physician and surgeon in charge of University Hospital. During the three years in charge over three thousand eight hundred patients were treated, a much larger number than has ever been cared for in the same length of time, cither before or since. Resigned in June, 1884, to enter general prac- tice at Monroe, Michigan, succeeding the late Dr. C. T. Southworth. Is division surgeon, district of Toledo, Michigan Central Railroad, and a member of the State Medical Society since 1881.
GEORGE BARCLAY MCCALLUM, M. D.
Dr. George Barclay McCallum is the third child and oldest living son of John and Marian MeCallum, and is of Scotch descent. When his father, John, who was born in the North of Scotland in 1818, was three years of age, he removed with his father to near Paisley, in Renfrewshire, Scotland. Here his boyhood, youth, and a portion of his manhood, were spent. He received a fair education during his early years, and at the age of fourteen entered the employ of an elder brother to learn the trade of a tanner. Ile continued with his
brother about fourteen years. Four years later, being then an inhabitant of St. George parish, Renfrewshire, he married Marian Lawson, of the parish of Abbey, in the same shire.
For some time the eyes of McCallum and his brother had been turned to America, and his marriage was but the preliminary step toward making a home beyond the seas. Shortly after his marriage John McCallum and his wife, accompanied by his brother and his family and their grandmother, set sail for America. About a month was consumed in the voyage. and they landed in New York, May 20, 1850. Here they found employment, and John remained there till late in 1854, during which time two children, Margaret and John, were born unto them. John died in October, 1854, a short time before the removal of the family to Ann Arbor, and Margaret died January 1, 1855. The family resided at Ann Arbor until the spring of 1859, during which time two more children were born to them, George Barclay, October 5, 1855, and Archibald, January 5, 1858, both of whom still survive, the eldest being the subject of this sketch.
Early in 1859 the family removed to Pontiac, Michigan, where they have since resided and still reside. Two more children were born to them, Marian in 1860, and Edward in 1862, both of whom, however, died in infancy.
George B. was educated at the schools of Pontiac, graduating from the high school at the age of nineteen. Naturally of studious tastes and inclined to literary research, he com- mitted the not infrequent mistake among stu- dents, of sacrificing physical to mental exer- cise. Not being of robust physique, his health demanded attention while yet a student of the high school, and this turned the bent of his mind toward medieal study.
In 1875 he entered the Freshman class at Michigan University, and in attempting to carry on two courses of study at the same time, his health, still precarious, utterly broke down, and he was compelled to return home. Here he remained till 1877 striving to rebuild his shattered health. In 1877 he again entered the University, this time in the medical depart- ment, and during his vacations read medicine with Dr. F. B. Galbraith, of Pontiac. During the first year he suffered seriously from ill health, but gradually grew better, and in the spring of 1880 received the degree of M. D.
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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
It was his intention, upon graduation, to pursue a special course with the design of seeking appointment as an assistant surgeon in the United States navy, but a more careful ex- amination of the surroundings of such a prac- tice on the part of Dr. McCallum and his parents, caused him to abandon the idea of such an appointment. Being still determined upon the special course of study in New York, however, in the fall of 1880 he went to Jersey City, New Jersey, where he began the practice of medi- cine, at the same time matriculating in the " College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York," being the medical department of the famous "Columbia College," and the oldest medical college in the country. From this he graduated in the spring of 1881, and not being particularly pleased with New Jersey returned to Michigan. He spent a short time in look- ing up a satisfactory location, and had settled upon one, when he learned that Dr. J. E. Brown, of Monroe, had received an appoint- ment as professor in one of the medical col- leges of Detroit. He came to Monroe and made arrangements to take Dr. Brown's office, and commenced the practice of his profession. In September, 1881, some two months after- ward, Dr. Brown removed to Detroit. A few months later, associated with H. P. Harring- ton, Dr. McCallum opened a drug store at the old stand of Brown & Chapin, having his office in the same building. Shortly afterward Mr. Harrington retired, and for some time Dr. Mc- Callum maintained the business alone, but finding it interfered to some extent with the practice of his profession. finally disposed of it, and removed his office to the Dansard build- ing.
On November 24, 1886, Dr. McCallum was married to Miss Minnie A. Bentley, second daughter of A. R. Bentley, Esq.
He has met with flattering success in his profession, and has built up a pleasant and re- munerative practice in the home of his choice.
Despite the duties of his profession and the cares of business, he still retains his love for literary work and study. He is an active and earnest member of the Congregational church, and his studies are largely in the line of Christian evidences and scriptural explana- tions. During his scanty leisure he has written a number of theses upon subjects connected with religion and church work, one of which has
been published for private circulation, and has been well received.
ALFRED J. MASECAR
Was born of German parents at Rockford, Norfolk county, Ontario, Canada, November 23, 1839; was the youngest of four brothers, sons of the Reverend Nicholas and Gertrude Masecar. His father was a large land and mill owner. He attended district school till the age of thirteen, when he entered a literary college at Portland, Maine. There he re- mained for two years, when he graduated, and returned to his native county, and in April, 1854, entered the office of James Moon Salmon, M. D., where he remained for two years. In October, 1856, he entered University Victoria College, Toronto, Canada. The rules of that institution at that time enabled him to enter as a second year student, having had two years' tuition with a regular practitioner. After attending a six months' course he re- turned to his private tuition till the following fall, when he entered the Buffalo Medical Col- lege, Buffalo, New York, where he graduated. In the fall of 1863 he re-entered University Victoria Medical College, and in May, 1864, graduated with honors.
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