USA > Michigan > Oakland County > History of Oakland County Michigan a narrative account of its historic progress, its people, its principal interests Volume I > Part 33
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PRESENT PRACTITIONERS
The following are the names of the profession in Oakland county with locations and years of graduation :
** E. A. Christian * 1882
** Frank S. Bachelder 1905
A. L. Brannack 1903
** Samuel A. Butler 1907
D. G. Castell * 1899
H. S. Chapman 1885
*Members of County Medical Society.
** Pontiac State Hospital.
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HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY 257
Joseph B. Chapman * 1906
N. B. Colvin * 1882
George H. Drake * 1893
L. A. Farnham 1905
R. Y. Ferguson
S. E. Galbraith 1896
1899
Mason W. Gray' 1880
H. C. Guillott 1891
E. V. Howlett *
1902
Robert Le Baron
1861
J. W. Losee .
1891
L. R. Lumby
1893
C. D. Morris
1894
James J. Murphy
John D. Riker * 1897 1890
C. T. Starker * 1905
** C. W. Mack 1908
J. T. Bird* 1908
William McCarroll * 1881
A. D. Mckinney 1903
R. E. Moss 1880
Elsworth Orton 1892
H. A. Sibley 1907
** Geneva Tryon 1907
Frank Gerls
1912
All the above are located in Pontiac.
W. L. Cole, Oxford 1881
L. E. Gibson, Oxford
1906
Dr. Watson, Orion
Dr. Hathaway, Orion
Dr. Hughes, Orion
C. A. De Cou, Orion
A. P. Schulz, Orion . 1906
E. B. Guile, Ortonville 1895
W. T. Tucker, New Hudson 1877
C. P. Felshaw, Holly * 1877
T. E. McDonald, Holly 1894
Ora Manly, Highland * 1879
E. F. Holcomb, Farmington 1 889
W. H. Carr, Davisburg 1902
C. J. Sutherland, Clarkston * 1891
J. L. Campbell, Birmingham 1880
C. M. Raynale, Birmingham 1869
N. T. Shaw, Birmingham 1892
Norman L. Baker, Milford 1902
Edward A. Lodge, Milford 1879
E. A. Chapman, Walled Lake 1876
William S. Gass, Royal Oak 1899
Ainsley Smith, Royal Oak 1884
*Members of County Medical Society.
** Pontiac State Hospital.
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HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY
Dr. Snyder, Royal Oak.
A. F. Novi, Holcomb
G. F. Hamlin, Rochester 1896
Floyd W. Lockwood, South Lyon 1909
Lyman A. Sayles, South Lyon 190I
1881
H. S. Demming, Oxford
1892
George W. Mckinnon, Oxford 1890
M. J. Uloth, Ortonville
1902
S. B. Robb, Leonard *
1892
F. L. Johnson, Holly *
1903
J. R. Van Sickle, Holly
1906
F. D. German, Franklin
1906
J. A. Miller, Farmington . 1900
C. W. Snyder, Clyde * 1903
J. W. Bennie, Big Beaver . 1910
P. D. Hilty, Birmingham * 19II
George P. Raynale, Birmingham 1902
John C. Black, Milford. 1887
Thomas J. Jackson, Milford. 188Q
S. L. Weisbrod, Milford * 1894
James W. Anderson, Royal Oak 1891
J. S. Morrison, Royal Oak. 1905
Jesse E. Wilson, Rochester* 1855
Charles S. Strain, Rochester. 1902
George M. Milliman, South Lyon. 1888
* Members of County Medical Society.
.1884
B. C. H. Spencer, Rochester.
CHAPTER XVIII
WOMEN'S INFLUENCE IN THE COUNTY
WHAT WOMEN HAVE DONE FOR OAKLAND COUNTY (BY MARTHA BALD- WIN )-WOMEN'S WORK IN PONTIAC-THE PONTIAC CITY HOSPITAL -PONTIAC PUBLIC LIBRARY-WOMEN'S LITERARY CLUB OF PONTIAC -THE ROUND TABLE CLUB-WEST SIDE READING CIRCLE-WOMEN'S CHRISTIAN TEMPERANCE UNION-BIRMINGHAM PUBLIC LIBRARY- BIRMINGHAM LITERARY CLUB-GREENWOOD CEMETERY ASSOCIATION -LADIES' LIBRARY ASSOCIATION OF HOLLY.
Women's influence in Oakland county, as everywhere, has been de- termined largely by what she has done; her thoughts and words have ever blossomed into deeds and institutions of charity and love. None of her sex is better qualified to speak for her from this standpoint than Martha Baldwin, of Birmingham, who, through her earnest words and practical works, has exerted a fine, invigorating influence upon her home community first, and upon a far more extended field with herself and Birmingham as the points of radiation. She speaks, therefore, as one having authority.
WHAT WOMEN HAVE DONE FOR OAKLAND COUNTY
By Martha Baldwin.
The part that women have taken in the building up of Oakland county can never be fully told. Coming into a wilderness nearly one hundred years ago, she bravely took her share of the burdens of pioneer life and bravely has she carried these burdens down through all these years.
She walked beside the ox-teams that were drawing the household goods ; she helped to build the log house ; she planted the tiny seed whence came the orchards for which the county was soon to be famous. She had left home and friends, her whole early life, but she resolutely faced the future ; she must find courage, not for herself alone, but for all. If she had tears and regrets the others must not know. She helped to build the school house and gathered the little ones within its walls.
She tended the sick and went miles on errands of mercy. She carded the wool, spun the yarn, wove the cloth, bleached the flax, baked in the out-of-door oven, made the garden, and then mended and patched the garments of the sleeping children till morning hours. The floors must Vol. I-17
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be scrubbed, for there were no carpets; the fruit must be dried, for there were no fruit cans ; the candles must be dipped; the geese must be picked ; the children must be helped with their lessons-and with all this she found time to read the news of the day and to keep up with the times in which she lived.
From that early day to this, she has led in all the reforms; she has kept up the interest in the church, taught in the Sabbath school and led in the social life of the community. How has she done it all? The lips are hushed now, and the hands are at rest; hands that toiled for us; lips that prayed for us; souls that struggled on patient to the end.
This interest in her home and in her country has come down from mother to daughter till today we see her through many different activities still doing her best. Through the W. C. T. U. she is striving to guard the young and uplift the fallen.
She is smoothing the pillow of the sick and suffering, for it is the noble effort of a courageous band of women that has placed the Oakland County Hospital in our midst. It is the women of our county that have carried words of cheer to our County Home, looking after the needs of their less fortunate sisters.
It is the women of Oakland county who have united in one the fifteen women's clubs from east to west and from north to south, and these gaining strength by union are working for better schools, for forestry, for the neatness of our highways, of our towns and villages, for civil service reform, for pure food, for better things in the home and for better state laws.
It was the women's clubs that worked for the rest rooms in our county court house. In this, as in all these works, they have been most generously aided by the splendid manhood of the county, without whose help they could not have succeeded. Take the work of the women out of our churches and how many would exist? Yet they question if women should vote on church government.
Girls are leading in our schools and universities and Oakland has her share in the great work, thanks to the mothers who have trained these women in the home. Conditions have changed, surroundings have changed, but not the workers. The loom and the knitting needles have gone from the home to the factory, the fruit is at the cannery, the cloth- ing comes to the home ready made, but she is not idle. If she has not been forced to follow these industries she is still working.
Today politics come into the home with the water, with the milk, with the meat and with the impure food, and if she would keep her home pure, her loving ones well, she must have a voice in these things that the politicians control. It is for this that she is asking for the ballot, for to- day all these things are settled by the voter.
Look back at her splendid record as pioneer, ever foremost in good works, as the home maker ever guarding all within that home, and ask yourselves if every weapon of defense should not be placed in her hands.
If Oakland county stands among the first counties of our state, thanks must be given to her women, as well as to her sturdy loyal men. She is
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HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY
now and ever will be urging the needed reforms, leading where the hon- est, the pure and best will gladly follow.
WOMAN'S WORK IN PONTIAC
There are few cities in southern Michigan where the women have accomplished so much both in the elevating influences of thought and deed as Pontiac. Its hospital, library, literary clubs and temperance union are virtually her sole creations, while it goes without saying that the churches would quickly perish without her ministrations. Mrs. Harry Coleman, Mrs. Samuel W. Smith, Mrs. Aaron Perry, Mrs. Charles Going, Miss Anne Murphy, Mrs. A. B. Avery, Mrs. J. S. Stockwell, Mrs. H. C. Guillot, Mrs. E. A. Christian, Mrs. Peter B. Bromley, Mrs. Arthur Davis, Mrs. Mark S. Brewer, Mrs. Joshua Hill, Mrs. Byron Stout, Mrs. A. L. Moore, Mrs. A. L. Craft, Mrs. E. H. Wilson, Mrs. F. J. Walters, Mrs. Maud Chattuck and others have been leaders in the charitable, literary and reformatory movements which have centered in Pontiac and raised her to such a high standard of municipal life.
At the county seat, as in other communities, the history of many of the most worthy and noteworthy institutions are placed to the credit of the women, and the following sketches bear out in detail all of Miss Bald- win's general statements.
THE PONTIAC CITY HOSPITAL
In a very comprehensive and appreciative article devoted to the his- tory of the Pontiac City Hospital, the Pontiac Press Gazette says in part : "When Mrs. Charles Going met Mrs. Harry Coleman on the corner of Lawrence and Saginaw streets, some ten years ago, and told a tale of a sick man being taken to the jail as the only place of refuge for a stranger and further remarked, from the depths of her pity, 'we ought to have a hospital !' neither knew what she was starting or getting into. For if they had been able to look into the future they might have elected not to have met at all, or meeting, to talk on any subject under the sun save that of sick strangers and jails! But at any rate, the meeting happened and the words were spoken, and a troublesome idea hatched out which grew in ten years to a very respectable looking bird, indeed.
"One of the secrets of success of the women who built the Oakland hospital was, of course, hard work. But perhaps the chief secret of suc- cess was in trying to solve but one problem at a time. They used to meet with Miss Webb or Mrs. Cowles in their dressmaking rooms in the Le Baron block and talk over the most simple plan of opening a room or two where the sick might be taken to be under the care of a trained nurse. This idea grew into a plan of renting a house. And thus the first prob- lem arose for solution. Should they rent a house? No. Nobody would have them. They wouldn't be desirable tenants. Should they buy a house? This they discussed very seriously. They looked at many houses and many thought it a grievous mistake that they did not accept the offer of the octagon house on Huron street, offered at a most generous figure for a hospital. The answer to this problem was that old houses require
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HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY
too much money in alterations to make them hospital-fit. Then should they build? Yes. And to that end they bought three lots of Robert J. Lounsbury on Huron street."
Thus was inaugurated a project which in the course of ten years has developed into one of the finest institutions known to the city of Pontiac, and probably the one of which the city is most proud.
With the beginning of the evolution of their idea, the ladies had be- gun to earn money for the support of the plan, and at the end of 1902 they had a credit of $886.57 in the treasury, variously earned, and it was then they bought the three lots of Mr. Lounsbury, paying for them the sum of $500. Many people considered them unwise in that they went so far out of town, but they knew what the qualities were which went to make a desirable hospital location, and accordingly chose a site sufficiently distant from any factory and on naturally high land and on a car line.
PONTIAC CITY HOSPITAL
On October 7, 1902, they incorporated under the state laws as the Pontiac City Hospital, and those who signed the articles of incorporation were: Mrs. Samuel W. Smith, Mrs. W. R. Sanford, Mrs. Harry Cole- man, Mrs. C. V. Taylor, Aaron Perry, Mrs. Charles Fisher, Mrs. J. R. Mitchell, Miss Anne Murphy, Mrs. S. S. Mathews, Mrs. M. S. Brewer, Mrs. J. S. Stockwell, Mrs. Elizabeth Smith, Mrs. Charles Going, Charles A. Fisher and E. W. Murphy.
In 1903 they began bringing the Lyman Howe moving pictures to Pontiac, and since then that has been an annual source of revenue to the board. At the end of that year they had a treasury fund of $1,602.19. At the end of 1904 they had $2,655.96; 1905, $3,530.80 ; 1906, $5,326.29. In 1907 they began to build, and their tribulations increased in complete accordance with their extended operations. Mrs. S. W. Smith at the time made searching studies of different hospitals in Washington, D. C.,
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HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY
and Mrs. Groom of Ann Arbor hospitals. Others visited hospitals in Bad Axe, Batavia, New York, and Detroit. Joseph Mills, the architect, was asked to plan a hospital to cost about $10,000, although some time previous they had rejected plans, very attractive, but in excess of the $6,000 which they originally expected to expend. They had made the discovery, however, that the absolute necessities of a hospital, including diet kitchen, baths, linen room, supply and chart room for each ward, besides operating room, sterilizing room, office, elevator, dining room and general room, must be maintained, no matter how small the hospital may be, and that all details of that nature must be considered as care- fully for ten patients as for one hundred. It developed that the hospital, built in dull times, with much of the work and material donated, cost over $17,000. It will accomodate twenty-five patients and is regarded as a model of completeness and convenience, experts claiming that it could be improved in but few minor details.
On July 12, 1908, the corner stone was laid, with interesting and im- pressive ceremony. Rev. Fr. T. J. Ryan made the opening prayer and the address by Judge Stockwell was a masterly effort. In May, 1909, the building was opened, absolutely free of debt. Mrs. E. A. Christian, of the board of trustees, supervised in person the furnishing of the hos- pital and saw to the placing of every item of equipment in the establish- ment. While the work of construction had been going on, the advisory board, a company made up of representatives from every church and women's society in the county, was busily at work making provision for the linen furnishing of the hosiptal, and on opening day, not only sheets, pillow cases, towels, mattress covers, table cloths, doilies, tray cloths and napkins were in place, but also bed gowns, door hushers and operating pads were in readiness for the first patient.
The operating room was furnished and equipped by the physicians of the city as a memorial to the late Dr. F. B. Galbraith.
The building committee was composed of Aaron Perry, Miss Anne Murphy, Mrs. R. W. Groom, Edwin M. Murphy and A. L. Dewey, with J. R. Prall as superintendent in charge. The committee on plans was rep- resented by Mrs. S. W. Smith, Mrs. R. W. Groom, Mrs. H. C. Guillot, Mrs. H. Coleman, Mrs. J. S. Stockwell, Mrs. H. S. Chapman, and Joseph E. Mills of Detroit, architect.
The work of raising money for the building extended over a period of eight years, and at no time the sums coming in were large. The amounts donated usually were small, and the largest subscribers were Mrs. David Ward who gave $500 and furnished two rooms and Judge J. L. Jacokes who gave $1,000. The bulk of the money came in as profits from enter- tainments given, rummage sales and catering. When the building was opened, $1,200 was raised through the columns of the Gazette to pay the final cost of the building.
It is the present plan of the board of directors to build an addition com- prising six private rooms, with room for nurses, they being housed at pres- ent in a cottage rented by the hospital. The institution is out of debt, and, when run at its capacity, is self-supporting. The average number of patients cared for during 1911 was fifteen. Thus far the city and county
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HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY
have each given $1,000 annually for the maintenance of the hospital, and the board of directors continues to raise about $1,000 annually.
At the time of the laying of the corner stone the hospital was a city institution, being known as the Pontiac City Hospital, but later designated as the Oakland County Hospital.
The present officers of the association are as follows : Mrs. H. C. Guil- lot, president ; Mrs. E. A. Christian, first vice president ; Mrs Harry Cole- man, second vice president ; Mrs. H. S. Chapman, financial secretary ; Mrs. Charles Going, treasurer ; Mrs. Fred M. Millis, treasurer ; Miss Margaret Meigs, superintendent ; Miss Bertha Berry, assistant superintendent. The board of trustees is composed of Mrs. Guillot, Mrs. Christian, Mrs. Cole- man, Mrs. Chapman, Mrs. Going, Mrs. Millis, Mrs. Jas. A. Cash, Mrs. Jayno Adams, Miss Emily Parent, Mrs. George Smith, Mr. Aaron Perry, Mr. Henry Pauli, Mrs. John J. Grant, Mrs. Peter B. Bromley.
With the solid establishment of the hospital, the women of the city and county have not "wearied in well doing," but have continued to give liber- ally to the support of the institution, and the shelves of the storerooms have been kept filled with canned fruit, vegetables and jellies by the women who have from the beginning displayed unusual interest in the project.
The hospital is in excellent hands with Miss Margaret Meigs in charge. She is a graduate of the Harper Hospital of Detroit, and was the former superintendent of the Lansing Hospital. A training school for nurses has been established, with a course of two years and three months, the last three months' instruction to be given in a Detroit hospital.
Rooms in the hospital have been furnished by Mrs. Pelouge, Mrs. E. M. Murphy, the D. A. R., the Pythian Sisters, the Y. W. C. T. U., the Walnut Lake ladies, Miss Marcia Richardson, and The Willing Workers -the last, an auxiliary organization of the advisory board of the hospital, furnishing two rooms. Mrs. Arthur Davis is president of this society ; Mrs. Oscar Carpenter first vice president; Mrs. Wilson Bailey, second vice president; Mrs. George Cotcher, secretary; Mrs. George Hoyt, treasurer.
The new apartments for the housing of the nurses in training men- tioned in a previous paragraph, now being planned for, it is estimated will cost in the neighborhood of $3,000. Joshua Hill has subscribed the first $1,000 of the amount.
The hospital board, while for the most part being made up of women, has been ably supported by men who have been particularly active in their labors for the institution. To Aaron Perry especially do they owe - a debt of gratitude for his wise counsels and timely help from their earliest operations as an organized institution up to the present time, which has been heartily acknowledged upon many occasions.
PONTIAC PUBLIC LIBRARY
An organization of which Pontiac is justly proud is the Ladies' Library Association, which has in the thirty years of its existence seen much growth and progress. The library is located on Williams street, and has a down-town department which is open on Tuesdays and Saturdays. The association today owns something more than five thousand volumes.
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HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY
The origin of the association and its struggles for existence during the earlier part of its thirty years of life make interesting history and show forth the unselfish devotion which has made the library a possibility and a fact. In May, 1882, the association was founded by the younger women of the city. Mrs. Byron Stout was one of the leaders in the movement, and was for years interested deeply in literary work of all kinds. She was ably assisted by Misses Louise Parker, now Mrs. Mark S. Brewer, Flora McConnell, now Mrs. Butts of Ann Arbor, Ella Green, Belle and Effie Harris, Mary Crofoot and Mary Dawson Elliott, all of whom de- voted many hours of hard and conscientious work to the project. They were aided by a number of the married women of the city, and received very material assistance from the merchants and other business men of the city.
In July, 1882, the library was opened in one of the second floor rooms of the old Gazette building on East Lawrence street. A little catalogue compiled and prepared by Mrs. Stout has been printed, giving a complete list of all books belonging to the library at that time. The patronage was small at first, and the finances of the little association were too often in a precarious condition, but they managed to weather the lean years by giv- ing frequent entertainments, catering at banquets and in various other methods, not finding any work too difficult for their cause.
The erection of the present library was due to the kindly interest of Mr. and Mrs. Byron Stout, each leaving to the association sufficient money to make the building a possibility. Mrs. Stout left the association the brick building at the corner of Auburn avenue and Saginaw street with instructions that the management should sell it and use the proceeds to- ward the erection of a library building. When Mr. Stout died a few years later, he left in his will a provision that the association might have his life insurance of $5,000, which, in conjunction with the bequest of his wife, was to be used in the erection of a building for the library. The will also contained the clause that if the building was ever used for other than library purposes, it should revert to the Stout heirs. This fact has given rise to a problem which the association has often discussed. For the present there is no necessity for larger quarters, but if at any time in the future the location should become undesirable, or for any reason it might be deemed best to move it elsewhere, the association would be powerless to realize anything upon the building or secure anything for the improve- ments which it has made upon it from time to time, and expects to make in the years to come.
At the present time the library has an endowment fund of $2,000, the interest of which is only used toward the support of the library. Mrs. D. C. Buckland left the association a gift of $1,000 at her death and Mrs. B. A. Palmer made a similar gift when she died.
The present officers of the association are : Mrs. Joshua Hill, president ; Mrs. A. F. Newberry, vice president ; Mrs. F. S. Stewart, secretary ; and Mrs. Charles H. Going, treasurer. These, with the following named ladies compose the executive board : Mesdames F. E. Starker, Joseph New- biggins, E. D. Benjamin, J. W. Lossee, George W. Smith, C. V. Taylor, John Dudley Norton, G. H. Drake, A. L. Craft, and the Misses Addie Jewell and Mae Woodward. The book committee is composed of Mes-
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dames F. E. Starker, Joseph Newbigging and A. F. Newberry. To this committee falls the lot of selecting the new books each year, although members of the association are permitted to send in the title of one book they wish purchased. The books are being added to the collection at the rate of about twenty volumes each month. Board meetings are held the first Tuesday in each month.
Among those women who served as presidents in the past years doing very creditable work for the library, are: Mrs. Byron Stout, who was the first president; Mrs. J. S. Powell; Mrs. J. A. Jacokes and Mrs. C. B. Turner, both of whom are now deceased.
Miss Agnes Cudworth has served as librarian for the past fifteen years and has been a most worthy incumbent of that post. The present membership of the association is one hundred and thirty-three, not a large membership in view of the size of the city. The membership fee is $1.00 a year, and all persons are eligible. This merely nominal fee entitles the members to draw two books each week. Six months and three months subscriptions are also accepted at corresponding rates. The as- sociation is one which has been of inestimable value to the city, and is deserving of better support in the way of annual memberships than it has yet experienced. The library is maintained by subscriptions from mem- bers, fines collected on books, and interest from the endowment fund. The sum of $100 is expended annually for new books.
THE WOMEN'S LITERARY CLUB
The Women's Literary Club of Pontiac is now in the twentieth year of its life, and as a society has a history both interesting and enviable. It was founded in 1892, as the successor of the Chautauqua, which was organized in 1884 and after four years was followed by the Ladies' Round Table, a club which lived for a year only. Thereafter until 1892 the energies of the ladies of Pontiac were directed in lighter paths, and it was not until 1892 when a Mrs. Lewis of Detroit, visiting friends in Pontiac, was instrumental in bringing about the organization of the Women's Literary Club. The first meeting was held at the home of Mrs. Lillian D. Avery in October, 1892, when the, club was organized, Mrs. Avery being chosen as president, and Mrs. Aaron Perry drafting its first constitution.
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