USA > Michigan > St Clair County > St. Clair County, Michigan, its history and its people; a narrative account of its historical progress and its principal interests, Vol. I > Part 40
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6. Port Huron Academy of Medicine (1886-1902).
7. St. Clair County Medical Society (1902-1912).
MICHIGAN MEDICAL SOCIETY
According to the above list it will be noted that the first medical organization in Michigan came into being in 1819 in territorial days and bore the name Michigan Medical Society. This society was organ- ized at Detroit, August 10, 1819, and its organization was in pursuance of an act adopted by the governor and judges of the territory of Michi- gan on the 14th day of June of the same year. This act was entitled "An act to incorporate medical societies for the purpose of regulating the practice of physic and surgery in the territory of Michigan." It provided for the organization of a territorial medical society and county medical societies.
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In it authority was given to such societies: (1) To examine stu- dents and give diplomas, authorizing the holders to practice physic and surgery; (2) to acquire property and enaet by-laws.
Persons practicing without such diplomas were subject to fine and could not collect for serviees. To carry out these provisions a board of censors, consisting of from three to five members, was to be appointed by each society. The board required certificates giving the dates on which students were received into physician's offices to begin the study of medicine, as well as the time spent in the offices in the pursuit of medical knowledge. This requirement accounts for the following sample certificate found in the old records kept by the clerks of St. Clair county :
"St. Clair, St. Clair County, State of Michigan, November 30, 1847. This may certify that William Denton began to study medicine, sur- gery and pharmacy, likewise John Dawson Chamberlain, with me in the month of July, 1846, and Reuben Henry Ison, September, 1847. ["Witness my hand, ]
"J. B. CHAMBERLAIN, physician and surgeon."
Physicians in any county, not less than four in number, who had been licensed by the Territorial, afterward the State Medical Society, were granted the right to form a local society which, within the county, had nearly all the rights held by the state organization. The law pro- vided that each society should have four officers-a president, vice- president, secretary, and treasurer, and only required enough members present at the organizing meeting to fill those offices.
The only members of the first state medical society living in St. Clair county, of which we have any record, were C. M. Stoekwell and Geo. B. Willson of Port Huron.
MEDICAL SOCIETY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY
The announcement of the formation of this medical society is found among the records in the office of the St. Clair County Clerk, under the date, December 3, 1847, and is as follows:
"The undersigned physicians and surgeons met at St. Clair, St. Clair county, state of Michigan, for the purpose of forming a medical society in pursuance of the revised statutes of the state of Michigan to regulate the practice of physic and surgery in said state, at which meeting John B. Chamberlain was appointed president, Harmon Cham- berlain, vice-president; R. R. MeMeens, secretary, and Leonard B. Parker, treasurer.
"Signed "JOHN B. CHAMBERLAIN, "H. CHAMBERLAIN, "R. R. McMEENS, "L. B. PARKER.
"The meeting was adjourned to the last Saturday in January, 1848.
"December 3, 1847.
"R. R. MOMEENS, Secretary."
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No record has been found of any other meeting of the society until 1851. On May 21st of that year, a meeting of the medical society was held at the offices of Dr. Dyer, at which the following fee bill for pro- fessional services, by which the members agreed to be governed, was adopted : Verbal advice, one dollar to three dollars; letter of advice, five dollars; day visit in village, one dollar; night visit in village, one dollar and fifty cents; visit at a distance, one dollar for the first mile and fifty cents for each mile thereafter ; minor surgical operations, five dollars to twenty-five dollars; capital surgical operations, twenty-five dollars to one hundred dollars; midwifery, five dollars to twenty-five dollars; consultation, five dollars; medicine furnished, extra. The sign- ers were Laban Tucker, John T. Travers, C. M. Zeh and A. E. Noble, Port Huron ; Benjamin Dickey, St. Clair; L. B. Parker, Newport (Ma- rine City) ; John Galbraith, Lexington (now in Sanilac county) ; Walter B. Kellogg, Winthrop Dyer and Charles Gibson (location unknown).
There is a record of a meeting held by this society in Port Huron at the office of Dr. C. M. Stockwell on February 5, 1856. Dr. J. T. Travers occupied the president's chair and Laban Tucker was secretary. Drs. David Ward of St. Clair, and Reuben Crowell and Jared Kibbee of Port Huron were admitted to membership. These three entered little into the practice of medicine. Dr. Ward was graduated from the medical department of the University of Michigan in 1851, but began to devote most of his time to surveying and land buying and was elected county surveyor in 1852 and 1856. An old lady acquaintance of his says: "He surveyed and bought up tit-bits of land which laid the foun- dation of his becoming a twenty millionaire." Dr. Crowell early turned to "drugs," and Dr. Kibbee abandoned the practice of medicine, in which he had been engaged, while living in Mt. Clemens, for dentistry, when he settled in Port Huron.
On February 12, 1856, the society met in Port Huron at the office of Dr. J. Kibbee. At this meeting the committee appointed to mature a plan for prescribing for the poor of the villages, reported in favor of giving them gratuitous attendance. No list of members of this society can be found.
NORTHEASTERN DISTRICT MEDICAL SOCIETY
This society was organized at Romeo, Macomb county, on June 14, 1854. It embraced a membership from Macomb, Oakland, Lapeer, St. Clair and Sanilac counties. In 1896 Genesee county was included. The following is a list of the St. Clair county physicians who served as presidents of the society, and the years in which they were elected : C. M. Stockwell, 1857 and 1893, Port Huron; D. H. Cole, 1875, Mem- phis; C. B. Stockwell, 1886, 1890 and 1895, Port Huron; M. Willson, 1891, Port Huron; O. Stewart, 1896, Port Huron; Elizabeth M. Far- rand, 1897, Port Huron; A. E. Thompson, 1900 and 1903, St. Clair; G. S. Ney, 1902, Port Huron.
The following is an alphabetical list of the St. Clair county phy- sicians who at one time or another were members of the Northeastern District Medical Society : A. J. Abbott, Emmett; R. B. Baird, Marine
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City ; C. C. Clancy, Port Huron ; J. L. Chester, Emmett; A. L. Callary, A. H. Coté and Sarah E. Connor, Port Huron; D. H. Cole, Memphis; W. P. Derck, Marysville; G. W. Harris, Port Huron; G. E. Henson, St. Clair; T. F. Heavenrich, and W. S. Henderson. Port Huron; J. W. Inches, St. Clair; A. D. MeLaren, H. R. Mills, M. Northup, G. H. Nor- ris and G. S. Ney, Port Huron; D. Patterson, Capac; J. S. Platt, C. M. Stoekwell, C. B. Stockwell, G. A. Stockwell, S. K. Smith, O. Stewart, H. Shoebotham, S. W. Smith, C. E. Spencer, E. P. Tibbals and G. H. Treadgold, Port Huron; A. Thomson, Adair; A. E. Thompson, St. Clair; W. G. Wright, Yale.
ST. CLAIR, SANILAC AND LAPEER MEDICAL SOCIETY (1866-1886)
On August 4, 1866, at Port Huron, the Medieal Society of St. Clair and Sanilac Counties was organized. In 1871, Lapeer county was in- cluded.
The list of offieers who resided in St. Clair county, and the years of their election, are as follows: Presidents-1866, J. T. Travers, Port Huron ; 1870 and 1871, C. M. Stoekwell, Port Huron; 1874, J. G. Max- field, Ruby ; 1877 and 1878, H. R. Mills, Port Huron.
Secretaries-1871, H. R. Mills, Port Huron; 1872 and 1873, J. G. Maxfield, Ruby ; 1874, 1877, 1878, C. E. Speneer, Fort Gratiot; 1879 and 1880, C. B. Stoekwell, Port Huron.
Treasurers-1871 to 1880, E. P. Tibbals, Port Huron; 1882 to 1884, C. E. Spencer, Port Huron.
Members residing in St. Clair county were as follows: C. H. Alden, C. Carvallo, M. K. Taylor, United States surgeons stationed at Fort Gratiot; T. Baird and R. B. Baird, Marine City; * J. G. Bailey, Port Huron ; G. L. Cornell, St. Clair; * J. K. Farnum, T. Hammond and F. Heil, Port Huron; A. Howell, Brockway; J. Kibbee, Port Huron; A. Mitchell, Yale; J. G. Maxfield, Ruby ; T. S. Murdock, Port Huron; J. R. McGurk, Capae; H. R. Mills and M. Northup, Port Huron; A. L. Padfield, St. Clair; * P. W. Reed, C. M. Stoekwell, C. B. Stockwell, G. A. Stockwell and H. Shoebotham, Port Huron ; C. E. Spencer, Fort Gratiot : A. J. Shockley, Ruby ; S. W. Smith, J. T. Travers and E. P. Tibbals, Port Huron ; G. Todd, Jeddo; C. M. Woodward, Port Huron.
MICHIGAN STATE MEDICAL SOCIETY (1866-1912)
On June 5, 1866, at Detroit, was organized the Michigan State Medi- cal Society. Two St. Clair county physicians have been elected to the presidency in this society: 1866. C. M. Stockwell, Port Huron; and 1906, C. B. Stockwell. also of Port Huron. Two have been elected councilors of the seventh district, in 1902, O. Stewart, and 1903-10. M. Willson, both of Port Huron.
The following physicians in the county are recorded as members of the state society from its organization to 1902: A. J. Abbott, Emmett ; R. B. Baird, Marine City ; W. E. Burtless, St. Clair; C. C. Clancy, Port Huron ; M. A. Cook, Riley; Elizabeth M. Farrand, Port Huron; W. G.
*Dropped for unprofessional conduct.
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Henry, St. Clair; S. A. Howard, Port Huron; J. W. Inches, St. Clair; S. W. Merritt, Fort Gratiot; H. R. Mills, Port Huron ; J. R. MeGurk, Capac; M. Northup, Port Huron; L. D. Parker, Marine City; O. H. Patrick, Port Huron; J. S. Platt, Port Huron; C. E. Spencer, Fort Gratiot ; C. M. Stockwell, Port Huron; C. B. Stockwell, Port Huron ; G. A. Stockwell, Port Huron ; S. W. Smith, Port Huron; S. K. Smith, Port Huron; O. Stewart, Port Huron; W. L. Scholes, St. Clair; A. E. Thompson, St. Clair ; J. T. Travers, Port Huron; G. Todd, Jeddo; M. Willson, Port Huron.
On June 26 and 27, 1902, at Port Huron, the Michigan State Medi- cal Society was reorganized as to its constitution and by-laws, by which the membership thereafter was made up solely of the members of the county societies, these county societies becoming component parts of the state society.
PORT HURON ACADEMY OF MEDICINE. 1886-1902
The organization of this society followed close upon the meeting of the Michigan State Medical Society, which was held in Port Huron in 1886, and memory must be relied upon to furnish data regarding the Academy of Medicine, as the records of its proceedings seem to have been lost.
The following physicians held the office of president: 1886, C. M. Stockwell; 1887, M. Northup; 1888-9, H. R. Mills; 1890-1, M. Willson ; 1892-4, J. S. Platt; 1895-7, O. Stewart; 1898-9, S. K. Smith; 1900-2, C. C. Clancy.
Between 1886 and 1902 the office of secretary and treasurer was held by H. R. Mills, Elizabeth M. Farrand, O. Stewart, and A. H. Coté.
The members were J. P. Aiken, A. C. Callary, D. W. Campbell, A. H. Coté, C. C. Clancy, Sarah E. Connor, W. J. Duff, Elizabeth M. Farrand, J. A. Fraser. W. A. Giffin, S. S. Hanson, G. W. Harris, T. G. Howard, S. A. Howard, W. S. Henderson. E. E. Lewis, C. N. Laurie, F. Lohrs- torfer, A. A. McKinnon, A. D. McLaren, C. W. Morey, HI. R. Mills, R. E. Moss, G. S. Ney, G. H. Norris, M. Northup, A. Pollock, J. S. Platt, S. K. Smith, S. W. Smith, O. Stewart, C. M. Stockwell, C. B. Stock- well, C. E. Spencer, G. H. Treadgold and M. Willson.
ST. CLAIR COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY, 1902-1912
In 1902 the St. Clair County Medical Society was formed at Port Huron in order that it might become a component part of the Michigan State Medical Society. Membership in this society carried with it mem- bership in the state society.
Up to the present time (January, 1912) the following physicians have been elected to office :
Presidents : 1903, C. C. Clancy; 1904-5, W. P. Derck; 1906, J. S. Platt ; 1907. T. E. DeGurse ; 1908, G. S. Ney ; 1909, A. D. McLaren ; 1910, S. K. Smith : 1911. T. F. Heavenrich ; 1912. A. E. Thompson.
Secretary-Treasurers: 1903-5, A. H. Coté; 1906-7, A. J. MacKen- zie; 1908, A. L. Callary ; 1909-12, R. K. Wheeler.
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The membership list from 1902 to the present time includes the fol- lowing names: J. P. Aiken, B. E. Brush, A. L. Callary, C. C. Claney, A. H. Coté, Sarah E. Connor, R. J. Dunn, W. J. Duff, F. Edmeister. J. A. Fraser, R. C. Fraser, Isabella Holdom, W. S. Henderson, G. W. Harris, T. F. Heavenrich, S. S. Hanson, A. J. Irwin, F. Lohrstorfer, E. E. Lewis, H. R. Mills, C. W. Morey, W. H. Morris, R. E. Moss, A. D. Maclaren, A. J. MaeKenzie, A. A. MeKinnon, G. S. Ney, J. S. Platt, O. H. Patrick, S. K. Smith, T. Sleneau, O. Stewart, C. E. Spencer, C. B. Stockwell, G. H. Treadgold, M. E. Vroman, J. E. Wellman, R. K. Wheeler and M. Willson, all of Port Huron; C. W. Ash, W. E. Burtless, G. E. Henson, J. W. Inches, W. L. Scholes, A. E. Thompson and W. H. Smith, St. Clair; R. B. Baird, F. Blagborne, T. E. DeGurse and F. W. Lang, Marine City ; B. Clyne, A. Pollock, C. M. Turrell and W. G. Wight, Yale ; L. M. Ardill, Avoca ; G. C. Broek, Smith's Creek; W. G. Bostwick, Algonac : J. L. Chester, Emmett ; W. P. Derek, Marysville: C. McCue, Goodell; D. Paterson and G. A. Ross. Capac; A. Thomson, Adair ; R. J. Turner, Anchorville ; G. Waters, Memphis ; N. D. Campbell, Blaine.
MEDICAL MEN OF THE EARLY DAYS, (1820-1860)
Our medical forefathers were men of courage and endurance, and they played with hardships-to them they carried no fear. To alleviate another's suffering took from the weight of their own burdens. Although "medicine" was their calling, yet they were leaders in civic, eduea- tional and religious movements. They bore torches as did the preachers and the teachers. The lives of these early men of medicine reveal to us something of the times in which they lived, the conditions they had to meet and how they met them.
Previous to the establishment of St. Clair county, in 1821, there is a record of but one physician having located in any of the sparse settle- ments within its boundaries-Dr. Harmon Chamberlain.
DR. HARMON CHAMBERLAIN
Dr. Chamberlain is on record as having arrived in Algonae in 1819, "just fresh from his studies." Within a year he moved to St. Clair and entered into the practice of medicine-the first resident physician in that vicinity. He did not live wholly within his medical environ- ment. He moved outside, for he was a man of affairs. Dr. Chamber- lain held the position of supervisor of the township of St. Clair fifteen years altogether, at intervals between 1842 and 1863. He was sheriff of the county and state representative for two terms. A skilful physician. he displayed untiring energy in all of his work and is spoken of by one of the old pioneers as the "good physician and true friend." He was always ready to help the early struggling settlers and so, with them especially, was a great favorite. Dr. Chamberlain died at St. Clair in December, 1865.
Vol. I-22
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HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY
DR. AMASA HEMENGER
Dr. Hemenger settled in Newport (Marine City) in 1824. There he practiced medicine till his death, about 1840. Besides his interest in medicine he showed an interest in township affairs, for he was twice elected supervisor of the township of Cottrellville-in 1828, and again in 1831. When he first came to Newport he boarded with Capt. Wmn. Brown, whose farm home was a little south of that place. Here Dr. Hemenger used about an acre of ground to grow poppies, from which he made opium, and lettuce, an acrid variety, (Lactuca virosa), from which he extracted lactucarium for its hypnotic and anti-spasmodie properties. An old lady friend relates that "he believed in bleeding for most ills." As a physician and as a man, it is said he was well liked.
DR. JOHNSON L. FROST
Dr. Frost was a practitioner in Clay township in 1830. How long he was in that locality, or what became of him, is not known.
DR. JOHN S. HEATH
In 1833, Dr. Heath came to St. Clair with his father, Sargent Heath, who was a blacksmith and also a man of some importance in the com- munity. Dr. Heath, together with L. M. Mason, edited for some months, in 1835-6, the St. Clair Republican-in addition to his medical work- but came to Port Huron in the latter year.
It seems not to have been uncommon in the early days for doctors to combine office holding with the practice of their profession, and we find Dr. Heath an unsuccessful candidate, in 1836, for the state legislature, and in 1840. for the office of sheriff. Failing in the latter. he taught school during the winter of 1841-2. in the district school on the south side of Black river. In 1842 he was elected sheriff. After his term of office expired he engaged in lumbering in Huron county, with Peter F. Breakman, and in March, 1849, while returning in a small boat to Port Huron, he was drowned. He married Marilda James, daughter of Horatio James, a well known pioneer.
DR. NORMAN NASH
In 1836 there settled in Port Huron a missionary and teacher among the Indians, (who then had a reservation on the south side of Black river, ) appointed by President Andrew Jackson. He also served in the capacity of a physician-the first of whom we have any record in Port Huron- Rev. Norman Nash. Soon after his arrival the Indians were removed. The position to which he had been appointed being then devoid of duties, the missionary turned his attention more to medicine, and so his title "Rev." was dropped by the pioneers and to them he became "Dr." Nash.
Nevertheless, for several years, Dr. Nash kept regular appointments for religious services in outlying districts. These services were carried on
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by him in an independent way. To the younger generation of his day there was something weird and mysterious about him, as he lived alone in a diminutive castle (as their vivid imagination pictured it, for it had a tower) in a dense wood where now stands Grace church. His flowing locks brushed back from his forehead, falling in elusters about his neck. and his long frock coat, gave to him a venerable appearance.
DR. JOHN B. CHAMBERLAIN
Little ean be learned regarding Dr. John B. Chamberlain. He was a medical practitioner in St. Clair in the late thirties and was associated with his nephew, Dr. Harmon Chamberlain. As already mentioned, he was the first president of the first medical society formed in St. Clair county. The elder physician was not so much a "man of affairs" as was his nephew. A friend has placed on record one of his character- istics-a man "witty and sareastie, who joked friends and enemies alike." He had a son. John D., who began the study of medicine in 1846, but later on, in the fifties, kept a drug store in St. Clair.
DR. ALONZO E. NOBLE
Dr. Noble eame to Port Huron in 1838. He had studied medicine under Dr. Stearns at Pompey, New York, and later had taken a medieal course at Berkshire Medical College in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. His license to practice medicine in the state of Michigan was issued at De- troit, July 3, 1839, by the officers of the Michigan Medical Society, and is worded as follows:
"To all to whom these presents may come or in anywise concern : The President, Secretary and Censors of the Medical Society of the State of Michigan send greetings.
"Whereas, Alonzo E. Noble hath exhibited unto us satisfactory testi- mony that he is entitled to a license to practice physie and surgery ;
"Now know ye that by virtue of the power and authority vested in us by law, we do grant unto the said Alonzo E. Noble the privilege of prac- ticing physie and surgery in this state, together with all the rights and immunities which usually appertain to physic and surgery.
"R. S. RICE, "Z. PITCHER. "EDW. O. SPRING, Censors.
"In testimony whereof we have caused the seal of the society to be hereunto affixed. Done at the city of Detroit this 3rd day of January, A. D., 1839.
"Attest: J. B. SCOVIL, Secretary.
Z. PITCHER, President."
Dr. Noble, like Dr. Nash, had two callings. After engaging in the practice of medicine for about twelve years in the city of his adoption, he abandoned it for the jeweler's trade, which he had learned before medicine drew him on. Dr. Noble and Dr. Nash lived out their years in Port Huron and both died at advanced ages in 1870.
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HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY
DR. ALFRED E. FECHÉT
The next prominent medical pioneer to locate in St. Clair county came via the military post, Fort Gratiot. Dr. Fechet, a young French- man twenty-four years of age, settled in Port Huron after varied and interesting experiences. He had studied medicine and surgery at the medical school at Tours, and at the University of France, from which university he received his degree. Later, at the then famous University of Heidleberg, he took a post-graduate course. Returning to France he was appointed a junior medical officer in the French Army of Occupa- tion in Algiers. His service there was short, as he became involved in a military conspiracy to restore the Bonapartes. The plot was betrayed ; most of his companions were tried and sentenced, but although stationed in the interior of Algiers remote from the coast, he was enabled, through timely warning, to escape and finally reached New York with very little means.
A few weeks' trial practicing his profession in a strange land, the language of which he spoke but haltingly, brought the young French doctor to desperate straits. Fortunately at this time the government was seeking young doctors for service in the Seminole war in Florida, and Doctor Fechét luckily secured an appointment corresponding some- what to the contract army doctors of recent years.
Service in Florida was short, as the command he was attached to, a battery of the United States artillery, was ordered to Fort Gratiot. After a very short service at Fort Gratiot, Dr. Fechét engaged in the practice of medicine in 1841 in the village of Port Huron nearby, which had begun to exhibit a healthy growth. and he was the first practi- tioner in the county to make surgery his especial domain. Surgery was handicapped in many ways in those days. Ether and chloroform anes- thesia were unknown, and asepsis and antisepsis were still back in the night.
Dr. Fechét believed that doctors were called as much as ministers to a high vocation-that of relieving suffering humanity. He. with the high minded in the profession, believed that when a doctor was called to the bedside of the sick, no thought of the fee should ever enter his mind till after life had been saved, or suffering alleviated. Dr. Fechét died in 1869.
DR. HENRY B. TURNER
In 1836, Dr. Henry B. Turner, an eccentric rather crusty English- man from Norfolk, came to St. Clair and remained there until his death in 1850. Although a man of good education and well informed in his profession, he did not care to practice much and lived a rather retired life. His daughter, Clementina, married H. N. Monson, who was a prominent resident of St. Clair in the early days.
DR. JEREMIAH SABIN
The first physician who settled in Memphis was Dr. Jeremiah Sabin, in 1844. He continued in the practice of his chosen profession for ten
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years. In 1854 he moved away, leaving his praetiee to Dr. D. H. Cole. While in Memphis he built a saw mill, making use of the excellent water power which Belle river then furnished to run it.
DR. LABAN TUCKER
Dr. Tucker settled in Port Huron in 1845. A copy of the license to practice medicine, issued to him by the Medical Society of the State of Michigan is on file among the records of the clerk of St. Clair county. He was one of the active members of the old Medical Society of St. Clair County and filled the office of secretary in 1856.
Dr. Tucker was interested in religious affairs, having joined the Congregational church shortly after locating in Port Huron, and there- after was actively engaged in its support. He lived in a colonial house which he built on Military street, where the Boyce hardware block now stands.
DR. LEONARD B. PARKER
In 1846 there came to Marine City-then Newport-a physician whose record is unique, in that his years in the practice of medicine in St. Clair county have never been equaled by any other physician.
Dr. Leonard B. Parker had a medical life span which bridged fifty- eight years. He began his medical studies in St. Albans, Vermont, and continued them at Castleton (Vt.) Medical college, whence he gradu- ated in 1843. After practicing three years in New York state he came to Marine City in 1846. At that time, and for some years afterward, he dressed in the old-school fashion, wearing a blue swallow-tailed coat with large brass buttons and a tall stiff hat covered with long white fur-an "Uncle Sam" hat.
Dr. Parker acquired a large practice which he retained until age re- quired its relinquishment. He entered more or less into politics, having been made state senator in 1861-2; president of Marine City a number of times; its mayor, and member of the board of education. As already stated, he was one of the four who organized the first medical society in St. Clair county.
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