USA > Michigan > Oakland County > History of Oakland County Michigan a narrative account of its historic progress, its people, its principal interests Volume I > Part 32
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The First State Savings Bank was organized as the First National Bank of Holly in December, 1870, with a capital of $50,000 and James
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B. Simonson as president. On January 1, 1872, this amount was in- creased to $60,000. J. C. Simonson was the second president of the insti- tution, which in 1890 was reorganized as a state savings bank-J. C. Simonson president and E. M. Newell cashier. In 1895 Charles A. Wilson was elected cashier, and Mr. Simonson retained the presidency until January 1, 1907. Eli Bird served as president for the suceeding four years and on January 1, 1911, D. D. Hadley, present incumbent, assumed the office. Since that date J. W. Mckinney has been vice presi- dent. The capital of the bank is $30,000; surplus and undivided profits, $60,000 ; deposits, $640,000.
FARMERS' STATE BANK OF OXFORD
The Farmers' State Bank of Oxford, Michigan, was organized in 1905 with the following official personnel: G. W. Mackinnon, president ; J. B. Shoemaker, vice-president ; M. L. Hagle, second vice-president and W. W. Lyons, cashier. In April, 1907, Mr. Hagle succeeded W. W. Lyons as cashier, Mr. Lyons resigning to accept a similar position with the Otisville State Bank, and T. C. V. Kline stepped into the vacancy thus brought about. In June, 1909, Mr. C. H. Fuller, who had been with the Oxford Savings Bank for six years as teller, succeeded M. L. Hagle as cashier, and A. McCarty was appointed assistant cashier. The capital stock of the bank is $20,000; surplus and undivided profits, $3,735; de- posits ; $155,284.
ROYAL OAK SAVINGS BANK
The Royal Oak Savings Bank was established in 1907. Its official report issued in April, 1912, indicates its financial condition to be as fol- lows: Capital stock, $20,000; surplus and undivided profits, $10,460.50; deposits, $254,152.05. George J. Baker is cashier.
THE ORION STATE BANK
Since its organization on July 28, 1896, the Orion State Bank has built up a surplus fund of $15,000 out of its earnings, a circumstance which gives it place on the "roll of honor" list, being one of but two banks in the county to claim that distinction. Upon organization, Ira Carpenter was elected president of the bank and has retained that position through- out the years that have elapsed. J. C. Predmore was the first vice-presi- dent, and after two years service he was succeeded by Alfred G. Had- drill, who has continued in the office to the present time. Gleason F. Perry was the first cashier, and he was succeeded in turn by Cramer Smith, W. W. Lyons and Lee Earle, the latter of whom assumed his duties on September 1, 1905, continuing to the present date. The capi- tal stock of the bank upon organization was $15,000; surplus, as noted above, $15,000; total deposits at this writing (July, 1912) aggregate about three hundred thousand dollars, with loans of about two hundred and sixty thousand, of which more than seventy-five per cent is repre- sented by real estate first mortgages.
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HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY STATE SAVINGS BANK OF SOUTH LYON
The State Savings Bank of South Lyon, Michigan, was established on April 17, 1905. Its present officers and directors are named as fol- lows : H. Letchfield, president ; J. H. Sayre and J. B. Bradley, vice presi- dents ; D. B. Lyons, cashier. The capital stock of the bank is $20,000; surplus and undivided profits, $5,927.50; deposits, $179,128.17.
CHAPTER XVII
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION
PIONEER CONDITIONS-PRIMITIVE STATE OF MEDICAL PRACTICE-ALLO- PATHIC PRACTITIONERS PRIOR TO 1837-DR. WILLIAM THOMPSON, FIRST PHYSICIAN-DRS. OLMSTEAD AND JOHN CHAMBERLAIN-DR. EZRA S. PARKE-DR. CYRUS CHIPMAN-DRS. LAMB, LAMOND AND ALGER-DR. JOHN C. EMERY-THE OLD COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY -ALLOPATHIC PRACTITIONERS FROM 1837 TO 1866-THREE EARLY- TIME HOMEOPATHS-PRESENT COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY-PONTIAC MEDICAL SOCIETY-PRESENT PRACTITIONERS.
By Mason W. Gray, M. D.
The first settlement in Oakland county in 1817 was followed, one year later, by the opening of the Erie canal to Buffalo and by steamboat navi- gation between Buffalo and Detroit in 1819, thus making the region ap- propriately called Oakland more accessible for these heroic men and women from New York state and the eastern states who were destined to transform the wilderness into the productive farms and the modern fire- sides enjoyed by the present generation.
PIONEER CONDITIONS
Consequently the first settlement was rapidly followed by others, so that two years later the territorial government found this section of suffi- cient importance to establish the boundaries of Oakland county. In 1820 the population of the county was 300, but so rapidly did settlers occupy the land that in 1830 it was 5.000, and in the territorial convention of 1836 Oakland was entitled to six delegates and Wayne eight, which pre- sumably was an index of the comparative number of inhabitants of the two counties.
During this period it is doubtful if the pioneers enjoyed any more of the physical comforts than had been the common lot of English-speaking people for three hundred years. . It is true they were a free people to whom were vouchsafed full civil and religious liberty, but their homes were crudely built, as we know, from the unhewn trees of the forest and heated by a single fireplace which served also for cooking purposes. The outfit of the pioneer consisted chiefly of his axe, his rifle and his ox-team.
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PRIMITIVE STATE OF MEDICAL PRACTICE
But if the life of the average pioneer was one of privation and hard- ship, that of the pioneer doctor was one beset with greater difficulties. His patients were widely scattered throughout the wilderness, and pre- vious to 1830 Oakland county roads were little better than blazed trails, which during a good part of the year were impassable.
The outfit of the pioneer doctor was quite as meager as was that of his brother settler. His lancet and calomel, his turnkeys and Peruvian bark, constituted his essential armamentarium. We, in this generation, are sometimes prone to speak jestingly of the practice of those early doctors, but due reflection will accord to them a full measure of credit for what they did for their patients. In the first third of the nineteenth century the healing art was primitive and largely empirical. But two epoch-mak- ing discoveries had been made in the world of medicine up to that time- namely, the discovery of the circulation of the blood and that of vaccin- ation. The use of ether as an anesthetic was not demonstrated until 1846, and chloroform was introduced two years later; so that any neces- sary surgical operation was most painful for the patient and difficult for the doctor. The great scourge of those times was the malarial fevers, but chemistry had not devised a method for the separation of quinine from Peruvian bark until 1820, and for years after, this drug was so very expensive that only the rich could obtain it. Pharmacy had not yet come to the aid of medicine, so the practitioner necessarily was obliged to make his own tinctures, triturate his powders, roll his pills and gather, each in its season, the native herbs and plants having medicinal qualities.
However, it is certain that the early practitioners of the county were men capable of bringing to their work in the care and relief of the sick every available means and influence. They were, moreover, prominent in the community. They were the educated men and therefore the in- fluential citizens. As family physicians they sustained with their patients the relation of counsellor and friend. Indeed, it has been said the pioneer doctor was generally present at all the important family events: "He was present at every birth, he sat with the minister by every death-bed, and his signature was affixed to every will." Most of these physicians had, for the time, thorough qualifications. Many of them were graduates of medical colleges. Some had graduated in New York; others in Philadelphia; still others, from European insti- tutions. Some, of course, had not had the benefit of collegiate train- ing, but they had served long and active apprenticeships under the tute- lage of some physician and surgeon, and had earned the right to prac- tice by passing a rigid examination before a committee of the County Medical Society.
The first Oakland County Medical Society being chartered and hav- ing authority to grant licenses to practice had been organized under a permit granted June 12, 1831, on petition of Drs. William Thompson, Daniel L. Porter, Ezra L. Parke and Thaddeus Thompson. The per- mit to organize was granted by the first Michigan Medical Society which had been organized August 10, 1819, under territorial law.
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PHYSICIANS OF OAKLAND COUNTY PRIOR TO 1837 DR. WILLIAM THOMPSON
The first physician to locate in this county was Dr. William Thomp- son. He came to Michigan from Lisle, Broome county, New York, in 1815, visiting Detroit and stopping for a time in Mt. Clemens. He then came to Avon township and finally to Pontiac, in 1819, where he spent the remainder of his active life in the practice of his profession. Wil- liam Thompson was the son of Thaddeus Thompson, a surgeon in the American army during the Revolutionary war, and Betty Whitlock, the widow of a British officer. He was born at Lenox, Berkshire county, Massachusetts, January 15, 1786. His education was obtained in the dis- trict school and academy for Latin and Greek of his native town, and when fourteen years of age he was said to be fitted for college. At about this period of his life, with his parents he moved to Lisle, Broome county, New York. He commenced the study of medicine in the office of John McWhorten in the neighboring village of Cincinnatus, New York, a graduate of Glasgow University, a man of strong personality and rare qualities as a practitioner. After two years of study Dr. Thom- son was licensed to practice his profession, but not being satisfied with his preparation he attended the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York City for two years, from which institution he was graduated, receiving the degree of M. D. in 1810. His death occurred in 1867.
There were few, if any, specialists in those days, but Dr. Thompson for many years after locating in Pontiac was the acknowledged expert obstetrician in this part of the country. His former preceptor had taught him the use of the obstetric forceps, and his personal reminiscences and notes on practice record many cases of instrumental delivery by him- self to which he had been called in consultation, some of them in Detroit, others as far away as Romeo and Saginaw.
That Doctor Thompson soon occupied a prominent place in the com- munity is evidenced by his appointment by Governor Cass as the first chief justice of the newly organized county court, there being two asso- ciate justices. The first session of the court was held July 17, 1820, and the doctor held the judicial office until 1827. Dr. Thompson was also one of the organizers of the Pontiac Company which was such a factor in the settlement and organization of the county.
Dr. Thaddeus Thompson, brother of William, located at Troy, this county, previous to 1828, where he practiced his profession for many years, afterward moving to Detroit.
DRS. OLMSTEAD CHAMBERLAIN AND JOHN CHAMBERLAIN
Among the first to settle and practice in Pontiac after Dr. Thompson were Dr. Olmstead Chamberlain and Dr. Sterling W. Allen. The latter came from Monroe county, New York, and located at Pontiac in 1825. He was a skillful physician and afterwards resided at Grand Rapids.
Dr. Olmstead Chamberlain came from Lewiston, New York, but did not follow his profession as a business. He settled in Pontiac in 1821. He was born in Richmond, Vermont, in 1787. He was a prominent citi-
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zen of Pontiac and Oakland county for forty-three years, and was post- master of Pontiac for several years. While a resident of Pontiac in the early days, an epidemic broke out among a company of United States troops stationed at Saginaw, from which many soldiers died, and the surgeon of the post was stricken down. A courier was sent to Pontiac for aid. The only road was an Indian trail through the woods, but the doctor at once mounted his horse, and traveling night and day, at times obliged to dismount and feel for the trail on his hands and knees, arrived in good time, and rendered good service for the sufferers. In 1864 he left Pontiac and went to reside with a son, Samuel, at Waupun, Wiscon- sin, with whom he remained until October 10, 1876, at which date he died, aged eighty-nine years.
Dr. John Chamberlain came from near Auburn, New York, in 1825, or thereabouts and located at the village of Auburn. He was the most learned physician in the county in his day, and was a most able practi- tioner. He removed from the county in or about 1830, and died in the early seventies.
DR. EZRA S. PARKE
Dr. Ezra S. Parke, a native of Middle Haddam, Connecticut, and brother of Captain Hervey Parke, of Pontiac, came to Bloomfield, from Onondaga county, New York, in 1822. He studied medicine with Dr. Ransom, of Camden, Oneida county, New York. He had a good prac- tice, which he continued to follow until his death, which occurred in 1846. He was postmaster at Bloomfield for several years. (Hervey Parke, organizer and senior partner of the great firm of manufacturing chemists, was his son.)
DR. CYRUS CHIPMAN
Dr. Cyrus Chipman came to Avon township in 1821, and was for many years a prominent physician in the township. He held the position of postmaster twelve years, and then removed to Rochester village. He was originally from Vermont, and about 1850 removed to Grand Rapids, . where he died a few years ago. He was a good practitioner and a very excellent man. He was in Troy for a time previous to his removal to Grand Rapids.
DR. EBENEZER RAYNALE
Dr. Ebenezer Raynale was born in Vermont, but spent the most of his life until 1828 in New York and Pennsylvania. At this date he came to Michigan and located at Franklin, Southfield township. He read medicine in Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, and Niagara county, New York, and had for many years an extensive practice in Oakland county, and even beyond, in the early days. He retired from practice in 1873 on account of ill health, surrendering his business to his son, Dr. Charles M. Raynale, of Birmingham, with whom the old doctor after- ward resided until his death. The young doctor read medicine with his father, and graduated from Detroit medical college,. Ebenezer Raynale was a prominent citizen outside of his profession, was a member of the
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state senate in 1836-37, and also a member of the first and second consti- tutional conventions of Michigan. (A sketch of the Doctor is given in the chapter on "State Politics.")
DRS. LAMB, LAMOND AND ALGER
Dr. Caleb Lamb, a Baptist divine as well as a physician, came to Oak- land county in 1830 from western New York and located first in Bloom- field, at Gilbert's lake, and subsequently at Farmington for a time. He changed his practice during his later years in Oakland county to the homeopathic school.
Dr. R. D. Lamond located in Pontiac previous to 1833, coming there from Canada, but was a native of the United States. He removed to Flint where he was for many years the principal physician of the place.
Dr. Josiah Alger located in Troy in or before 1831. Dr. Z. M. Mow- rey came to Milford in 1840, and was in practice with Dr. Foote ; was in the legislature in 1849, and in the constitutional convention in 1850. He died in 1874 with the harness on, actively engaged in his profession.
DR. JOHN C. EMERY
In the year 1830 Dr. Emery came from Seneca, New York, and lo- cated in Novi township. He was born in New Hampshire July 11, 1796, served in the Thirty-first Vermont Volunteers in the War of 1812 under Major Hamilton, and was in several important battles of that war with the British and Indians in northern New York and the Canadian fron- tier. The education of Dr. Emery was received in Ludlow (Vt.) Acad- emy, at the Castleton (Vt.) Medical College, and a course of study under the auspices of the New Jersey Medical Society. He commenced the practice of medicine in 1822. In 1823 Dr. Emery married Miranda Haines, of Marion county, New York. He resided in Novi until 1850, when he went to California, but finally settled in Lansing, Michigan, in 1868, where he died January 21, 1880. Dr. Emery was the grandfather of Josiah Emery, of Waterford, and Charles S. Emery, of Lansing.
THE OLD COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY
The first Oakland County Medical Society was organized by author- ity granted by the Michigan Medical Society June 12, 1831, to Drs. Wil- liam Thompson, Daniel L. Porter, E. S. Parke and Thaddeus Thompson. The parent society had authority from the territorial council and was organized August 10, 1819. Although the organization never flourished vigorously, it lived until well into the 'seventies.
THE NORTHEAST DISTRICT MEDICAL SOCIETIES
In the meantime (June 14, 1854) the Northeast District Medical and Scientific Association had been formed at Romeo, Macomb county. This organization had jurisdiction over that county, as well as Oakland, La- peer, St. Clair and Sanilac. Its first president was Philo Tillson, of
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Romeo, and the association held yearly meetings for nearly half a cen- tury, excepting for two years during the Civil war period. In 1870 its name was abbreviated to the Northeast District Medical Society. The society came to an end at the time of the reorganization of the profession in the state during 1902, when the existing medical society of the county was founded.
ALLOPATHIC PRACTITIONERS FROM 1837 TO 1866
Dr. Pliny Powers came to what was known as Deming's Corners, Ox- ford township, in 1837, from the state of New York. In 1838 Egbert Burdick, of New York, was associated with him in practice, and at Ox- ford village, in 1839. He removed to Detroit, where he died.
Dr. Morrison practiced in Addison. He came there in 1842.
Dr. Drake came to Royal Oak in 1849 from Cayuga county, New York. He was a brother of Hon. Thomas J. Drake, and died in the late sixties.
Dr. W. G. Elliott was first located in Pontiac previous to 1850, and removed shortly after that date to the state of New York, from whence he entered the hospital service of the army at Alexandria, and after the war returned to Pontiac, where for many years he followed a lucrative practice. He pursued his medical studies with Dr. Paddock, and gradu- ated at the Cleveland Medical College.
Dr. J. N. Donaldson came to Lakeville in 1854. He pursued the study of medicine under the instruction of Dr. Asahel Barnard, of the United States army, at Dearborn, Michigan, and graduated at the Uni- versity of Michigan in 1853. He practiced sixteen years in Lakeville, and then removed to Pontiac, where he opened a drug store and con- unued in the business for four years, when ill health compelled him to cease active work of all kinds. He died in Pontiac, July 15, 1877. He was a native of Mendon, Monroe county, New York.
The late Dr. F. B. Galbraith, of Pontiac, was a graduate of the Uni- versity of Michigan, class of 1860, and of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York City, in 1861. He was surgeon in the Tenth Michigan Infantry and Fourth Michigan Cavalry, and located in Pontiac in 1865.
Dr. Lawrence located in Oxford village in 1862.
Dr. Robert Le Baron, of Pontiac, graduated from the University of Michigan, class of 1861. He practiced with Dr. Hayes, in Livingston county, one year, was two years surgeon of the Fourth Michigan Infantry, and located at Pontiac in 1864.
Dr. Chauncey Earle graduated in 1853 at the Michigan University, having pursued his studies under Dr. Spaulding, of Oxford, Dr. Earle began his practice in Addison township, where he remained one year, and then removed to Orion, where he remained till the fall of 1866, when he came to Pontiac.
Dr. F. Curtis, long a practioner of Holly, located first at Rochester in 1832. At one time he was the physician of every family in Livingston county, when there were not well persons enough to take care of the sick. This was between 1835 and 1840.
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Dr. B. P. McConnell, a brother of William M. McConnell, of Pontiac, was for many years a prominent physician of that city. He was a skill- ful surgeon, and went into the military service as surgeon of the Twenty- second Michigan Infantry, Colonel Wisner commanding. He removed to Ludington in 1873.
Dr. William Wilson settled at Pine Lake, in 1835. He was a Scotch- man, educated thoroughly at the Glasgow University, and had a very extensive practice. He was a skillful surgeon. He died in August, 1863. His son, John P. Wilson, read with his father and graduated at the New York College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1851, and was long in prac- tice. He was surgeon of the Fifth Michigan Cavalry, and also brigade surgeon of the cavalry brigade.
Dr. William Aitcheson located in Ortonville, Oakland county in 1873 immediately after graduating in medicine from the University of Michi- gan and lived and practiced his profession there until his death. He was born in Paris, Ontario, in 1846; prepared for college at the Galt Col- legiate Institute, and graduated from Toronto University in 1869. In 1871 he entered the medical department of Michigan University from which he was graduated in 1873. Dr. Aitcheson was a valued member of the Oakland County Medical Society, Michigan State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. He married Isabella Murdie who was born near Seaforth, Huron county, Ontario, of Scotch parent- age, but had no children. He died at his home in Ortonville, January 10, 1909, of pneumonia.
THREE EARLY-TIME HOMEOPATHS
The first practitioner of the school of Hahnemann was Dr. Caleb Lamb, who located first in Farmington, and practiced under the allopathic system, but came to Pontiac in 1847, and began the practice of homeop- athy. He removed from Pontiac in December, 1847.
Dr. Amos Walker, of Pontiac, begun the practice in 1847, in Brook- lyn, Jackson county, Michigan. He was educated under the allopathic system, graduating at Pittsfield, Washtenaw county, Massachusetts, where he remained eight years, and then went to Brooklyn, and thence came to Pontiac in 1848, where he remained for thirty years or more, with the exception of the years 1871-73, when he was in Arkansas.
Dr. E. C. Fuller came to Pontiac in 1863, from Dutchess county, New York; was a graduate of the Geneva medical college, and graduated from the Detroit Homeopathic College in 1872.
PRESENT COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY.
Pursuant to a circular letter sent out by Dr. C. D. Burr of Flint, Michigan, councilor of the Sixth District, of the Michigan State Med- ical Society and a call issued by Drs. M. W. Gray, Wm. McCarroll, George H. Drake and J. Morse, these being then the executive com- mittee of the Pontiac Medical Society, thirty-two members of the med- ical profession of Oakland county assembled at Pontiac, September 9, 1902, and organized the Oakland County Medical Society, Dr. F. B.
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Galbraith, of Pontiac, was unanimously elected as the first president for one year; Dr. D. W. C. Wade, of Holly as vice president, and Dr. William McCarroll as secretary and treasurer. A constitution was later drawn up and adopted. The society is designated as Branch No. 5 of the Michigan State Medical Society. It has continuously grown in numbers and usefulness until at the present time it has nearly fifty mem- bers throughout the county. Meetings are held six times annually- the first Thursday of February, April, June, August, October and De- cember, the later being the annual meeting. Three meetings per year are held at the county seat, usually during the winter and spring, the balance of the time throughout the county. Two or three papers are usually given at each meeting which are followed by general discus- sion.
Outside talent is very often secured for the meeting and many prom- inent members of the profession, both in and outside the state, have addressed the society on various occasions.
The society issues a publication appearing every two months previous to the meetings, entitled the Journal of the Oakland Medical Society.
The officers of the society for 1912 were: Dr. E. A. Christian, pres- ident; Dr. William McCarroll, vice president; Dr. J. B. Chapman, sec- retary and treasurer, who also acts as editor for the Journal; directors -Dr. R. Y. Ferguson, Dr. George H. Drake and Dr. M. W. Gray.
PONTIAC MEDICAL SOCIETY
The first Pontiac Medical Society was organized June 27, 1892, but while it served a useful purpose for a time it soon became dormant largely because of the informal plan of organization without a president.
October 8, 1901, a meeting of former members of the Pontiac Medical Society was called in the office of Dr. M. W. Gray, to consider plans for reorganization. At this meeting there were present Drs. William Mc- Carroll, Jason Morse, Irving H. Neff, George H. Drake, and Mason W. Gray. A reorganization on a more permanent basis was effected and the following officers elected: President, Mason W. Gray; vice president, Jason Morse; secretary, Mr. McCarroll; treasurer, George H. Drake. This society has proved a valuable means for the unification of the profession of the city and for the advancement of scientific work of its members. Its present officers are: President, Edward V. Howlett; vice president, Geo. H. Drake; secretary, Harry Sibley ; treasurer, Samuel A. Butler.
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