The history of Detroit and Michigan; or, The metropolis illustrated; a chronological cyclopedia of the past and present, Vol I, Part 17

Author: Farmer, Silas, 1839-1902
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Detroit, S. Farmer & co
Number of Pages: 1096

USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > The history of Detroit and Michigan; or, The metropolis illustrated; a chronological cyclopedia of the past and present, Vol I > Part 17

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

In January and February, 1879, there were no frosts, but on the 6th and the 17th of June this remissness of the winter was atoned for. On July Io there was an immense fall of rain, flooding the sewers and filling cellars. On August I hailstones as large as walnuts fell in great quantities; during the last week in January, 1881, and the first two weeks in the February following, we had clear weather and sunshine every day, and the ground was entirely free from snow.

The first two weeks of February, 1883, were in marked contrast ; there were several inches of snow, and the trees during the entire period were covered with sleet and ice. During the night of Monday, May 21, there was a heavy wind, accompanied with rain, which turned to hail and snow the next morn- ing, the storm continuing at intervals all the day. On the night of September 8 there was a heavy frost, which did great damage to fruits and vege- tables.

A remarkable snow storm began at 12 A. M. April 6, 1886, and by 3 P. M. there were seventeen inches of snow on a level, and by II o'clock it had reached a depth of twenty-four inches. A high wind also pre- vailed, blowing the snow into such drifts that travel was almost impossible. The street cars stopped running, and twenty-six cars were left in the snow on the Woodward Avenue line between the Campus Martius and the Grand Circus, and no cars ran until noon on April 7.

A noticeable feature of the summer of 1887 was the intense heat that prevailed ; the season was the hottest known for fifty years. The heat reached its maximum on July 16 and 17, when thermometers registered 101°, the wind being like a blast from a furnace.

CHAPTER X.

DISEASES .- DOCTORS .- MEDICAL SOCIETIES.

DISEASES.

DETROIT cannot be recommended as the paradise of physicians. The general mildness of the climate, the pure breezes from the river and lake, the com- plete system of drainage, for which there are excep- tional facilities, the inexhaustible supply of superior water, the abundance and variety of fish, meat, fruits, and vegetables in its markets, the favorable sanitary conditions, resulting from our wide and well-kept streets, the enlightened and efficient efforts of the Health Officers and Sanitary Police, the almost entire absence of tenement houses, and the fact that a large majority of the inhabitants own their homes, are all to be taken into account in explaining its fortunate condition as one of the most healthy cities in the world.

In cases of disease, these advantages are favor- able to the physicians, making their prescriptions more effective and increasing the average of cures. The doctors thus get full credit for their skill, and this fact, added to other desirable features, makes the city attractive to physicians as a place of resi- dence, notwithstanding its general healthfulness.

During the last forty years the prevailing diseases have been malarious fever, rheumatism, pneumonia, choleraic affections, croup, and pleurisy. There have also been occasional visitations of the ordi- nary epidemic and contagious diseases, such as influenza, measles, scarlet-fever, small-pox, etc., and within twenty years typhoid, or rather typho- malarial fevers and diphtheria have been added to the above list, which, it will be observed, embraces only the diseases common to temperate climates.

Detroit has an advantage over other ordinarily healthy cities in the same latitude, in that these dis- eases, when they occur, are exceptionally mild in type. The yearly death-rate averages only about twenty for every 1,000 persons. The total number of deaths reported in 1880 was 1,074; in 1881, 1,709; in 1882, 2,712; and in 1883, 2,957.

Old records show that in 1703 the small-pox made severe inroads upon the infant colony. It ap- pears from statements made in Zeisberger's diary, that small-pox was very prevalent at Detroit in De- cember, 1785, and that the population generally were

greatly alarmed. It also appears that in September. 1789, a pestilence of some sort prevailed of which many people died. It is also undoubtedly true that the first American settlers suffered much from fever and ague, and whiskey, as an antidote, was freely used by almost every one. In course of time qui- nine was substituted, and this, combined with other remedies, was first administered under the name of Dr. Sappington's Pills.

In the fall and winter of 1813 a severe epidemic prevailed in General Harrison's army. Hundreds of soldiers died, and were buried near the fort. The removal of their remains in 1826, at the time the Military Reserve was laid out into lots, was doubt- less one of the causes of the illness of that year which carried away H. J. Hunt, A. G. Whitney, and other prominent citizens.

The first serious epidemic among citizens occurred in 1832, and in anticipation of its coming the Board of Health, on June 25, issued printed instructions for the prevention and cure of the cholera, including lists of medicines and prescriptions for children and adults. The mayor's proclamation, appended to these instructions, forbade vessels from any other port to approach within a hundred yards, or to land any person until after an examination by a health officer.

On July 4 the steamer Henry Clay arrived ; she was on her way to Chicago with three hundred and seventy soldiers for the Black Hawk War, under command of Colonel Twiggs. On July 5 one of the soldiers died of cholera, and the vessel was immedi- ately ordered to Hog Island. From there she went on her way, but the disease attacked so many of the troops that it was useless for the vessel to proceed, and she was compelled to stop at Fort Gratiot. From there the soldiers began to make their way to Detroit, but many of them died on the road, and were devoured by wild beasts ; only one hundred and fifty reached the city, arriving here about July 8. They then embarked on the steamboat Wm. Penn, but the disease compelled them to leave the vessel, and they went into camp at Springwells, where they remained until the scourge had expended its force.

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DISEASES.

Meanwhile, on July 6, two citizens died of the dis- ease, and a panic was at once created. Many per- sons left their business and fled from the city. In the country the excitement was even greater than at Detroit. On the arrival of the mail-coach at Ypsi- lanti, the driver was ordered by a health officer to stop, that an examination of passengers might be made. The driver refusing, his horses were fired on ; one was killed, and the driver himself had a narrow escape. At other places fences were built across the roads, and travelers were compelled to turn back. At Rochester persons from Detroit were turned out of the hotel and their baggage thrown after them, and the bridges were torn up to prevent persons from entering the village. At Pontiac a body of men were armed, and sentinels were stationed on the highway to prevent ingress. One of the citizens of this latter place, Dr. Porter, came here to investigate the disease, but on his return he was refused admittance to his own home and compelled to revisit our city. In Detroit the Board of Health issued regular bulletins, and the court and jury- rooms in the old capitol were used for hospital pur- poses. By August 15 the epidemic was practically over. The deaths, ninety-six in number, could be traced in most instances to intemperance and care- lessness.

Two years later the disease again appeared, and this time with added horrors. It began its work of destruction the first of August, and continued till the last of September. The greatest number of deaths in any one day was sixteen. In twenty days there were one hundred and twenty-two deaths from cholera, and fifty-seven from other causes. Ninety- five of these victims were strangers. Seven per cent of the population died in a month. The old- est and best citizens, as well as those comparatively unknown, were numbered among the dead. Busi- ness was hardly thought of. The air appeared un- usually oppressive, and to purify it large kettles of pitch were burned at night in front of various houses, and at intervals along the streets; the burial rite was shortened; and persons were not allowed to enter or leave the city without inspection and due delay. It had been the custom to toll the bell on the occa- sion of a death, but the tolling became so frequent that it increased the panic, and was therefore discon- tinued.

Mayor Trowbridge was especially active. Day after day he visited the hospital, and in many ways cared for the sick, most honorably fulfilling his duties as the chief magistrate of the city in its time of greatest need. A nurse corps was organized, and among those who gave special and personal atten- tion to the patients were Drs. Whiting, Rice, and Chapin, Peter Desnoyers, Z. Chandler, John Farmer, and W. N. Carpenter.

Some of the patients were saved by the care of volunteer attendants after they had been given up by the regular physicians. In the case of one man thus given over, Mr. Farmer asked if he might give the man some " No. 6." The answer was " Yes ; give him arsenic if you want to,"-meaning that the man's case was hopeless, Some "No. 6" was ad- ministered; the man's pulse returned, he got better, and in three days was up and at his work.

Tall, strong, brave Father Martin Kundig out- shone and outdid all others by his tireless devotion to the sick and the dying. Soon after the cholera made its appearance, Father Kundig bought the old Presbyterian Church, which had just been moved to the northwest corner of Bates Street and Michigan Grand Avenue, and divided it into two apartments, for male and female patients respectively. Out of four rows of pews, every second one was removed, and his hospital was ready. A one-horse ambulance was then prepared, and morning after morning, night after night, he went here and there, gathering in the sick and taking them to the refuge which combined sanctuary and hospital. He was so much of the time among the patients that he was avoided on the streets lest he should spread the contagion. Dying patients, as they passed away, committed their chil- dren to his care, and the trust was faithfully admin- istered. The Legislature, on March 18, 1837, voted him $3,000 in acknowledgment of his services ; but, as is shown elsewhere, he was never fully reimbursed for the expenses he incurred.

Father Kundig was ably seconded by the Catholic Female Association and by the Sisters of St. Claire. Mr. Alpheus White also rendered efficient aid, not only neglecting his business himself, but giving also the time of his employees.

In June, 1849, the reappearance of the cholera was feared, and the following notice appeared in the daily papers :

THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

Friday, the 22d inst. having been appointed by his Honor, the Mayor, as a day of prayer, fasting, and thanksgiving in view of an impending and terrible yet withheld epidemic, the Public Schools of the city will therefore be dismissed for that day.

LEVI BISHOP, Chairman Committee on Schools.

At this time the citizens turned out in force to clean up the city and to see that all nuisances were abated. The Common Council, at the suggestion of the Board of Health, passed an ordinance forbidding the sale of fresh fish, oysters, fruits, vegetables, veal, or pork. On July 9 the first death took place. July 16 there were three deaths. July 18 there were four, and on the 19th there were ten cases of cholera. On the 23d three died, and on the 25th seven deaths were reported. The mortality con- tinued to increase, the aggregate of interments for

DISEASES .- DOCTORS .- MEDICAL SOCIETIES.

the month being seven hundred and eighty-one. The average of deaths from cholera was twelve per day, and on several days the number of deaths ranged from thirty-five to forty. From the Ist to the 20th of August the number of deaths was two hun- dred and eighty.

The scourge, at this time, was a national one, and by proclamation of President Taylor the first Friday in August was observed as a day of fasting and prayer. Soon after this the mortality decreased, and on August 22 a Committee of the Council, appointed to make a daily report, was discharged, and the ordi- nance prohibiting the sale of certain fruits, meats and vegetables was rescinded. On August 25 the disease again broke out, raged with virulence until the early part of September, and then gradually sub- sided. Its last victim died on September 12.

In 1854 the pestilence again visited the city, and the papers made daily appeals to citizens to " sprinkle lime." It made its appearance in the latter part of May. In June the number of deaths averaged two or three per day. In July the number of deaths from all causes was two hundred and fifty-nine, a majority being reported as from cholera. During August the scourge disappeared.

DOCTORS.

" Medicine men " are no modern innovation. The red men of the forest used long words and mys- terious decoctions long before the French chirur- geons came. The Wa-be-no, a secret society of In- dian prophets, or medicine men, once held its annual meeting near Springwells, and their mystic incanta- tions and incomprehensible compounds formed a fitting prelude to the cabalistic signs and abbreviated Latin of their regular and irregular successors.

The old records of St. Anne's Church contain the names, not only of the cures, but of the healers as well, and as early as May 9, 1710, the name of M. Henry Bellisle, Chirurgeon, was inscribed there- in. The names of others appear, on the following dates : November 26, 1715, M. Jean Baptiste For- ester ; January 20, 1720, M. Pierre Jean Chapoton, Jr. February 8, 1755, the name of Gabriel Christo- pher Legrand, "Surgeon-Major of the Troops," appears. The records also show that, as a titled surgeon, he outranked any of his predecessors or successors. He was the " son of Gabriel Louis Le- grand, Esq., Sieur de Sintre, Viscount de Mortoim, Chevalier of the Royal and Military Order of St. Louis, and of Henriette Catharine de Cremay."

A return of January 12, 1761, by George Croghan, of persons employed by the Government at Detroit, contains the name of " Doctor Antoney," at " five shillings per day." This is undoubtedly meant for the name of Dr. George C. Anthon. He came to Detroit on November 29, 1760, with Major Rogers,

and was the sole medical officer of the post. The troops of the army and navy, the inhabitants, and the Indians, all alike in turn were patients of this gifted physician. He resigned on August 4, 1786. In 1780 the name of Dr. William Menzies ap- pears.

The earlier physicians carried medicines and little scales, weighing out their prescriptions at the houses of their patients, and their long cues, powdered hair, and ruffled shirt-fronts enforced the respect which their profession commanded. In his relation to their personal well-being, the doctor often comes to be esteemed and reverenced among men as much as the pastor. His touch and his tread become known and loved, and his questions and his quassia even are longed for. The names of some of the physicians of the past are "as ointment poured forth," and their memory lingers like the perfume of cedars; strength and grace were theirs. Among the most widely known of the physicians of former days were the following :

William McCoskry, William Brown, Stephen C. Henry, J. L. Whiting, Marshall Chapin, Douglas Houghton, E. Hurd, Zina Pitcher, A. L. Porter, R. S. Rice, Shelomith S. Hall, A. R. Terry, George B. Russel, Abraham Sagar, J. B. Scovel, L. F. Starkey. Robert McMillan, T. B. Clark, E. A. Theller, H. P. Cobb, L. H. Cobb, E. G. Desnoyers, Francis Breck- enridge, Justin Rice, Linus Mott. J. H. Bagg, E. W. Cowles, Pliny Power, Moses Gunn, J. C. Gorton, E. Batwell, C. S. Tripler, C. N. Ege, Ira M. Allen, J. M. Alden, Richard Inglis, E. H. Drake, George Bige- low, E. M. Clark, A. L. Leland, J. J. Oakley, Isaac S. Smith, N. D. Stebbins, S. B. Thayer, S. M. Ax- ford, Rufus Brown, D. Day, E. Kane, A. B. Palmer, L. C. Rose, M. P. Stewart, S. G. Armor, A. S. Hea- ton, and D. O. Farrand.

The physicians now resident in Detroit are located conveniently all over the city. Many of them are established on and near Lafayette Avenue, and those desiring treatment by any of the popular "pathies " of the day can be accommodated.

The Medical College graduates a large number of students every year, several excellent hospitals afford exceptional clinical advantages, and a number of valuable medical journals are published in the city.

MEDICAL SOCIETIES.

While the doctors have often been enabled to keep their patients alive, their own societies have over and again died for want of care and because of improper treatment. It is evidently easier to com- pound drugs than to harmonize the views of mem- bers of the profession, and a diagnosis of some "Society" cases would perhaps reveal symptoms of mental poisoning.

The first society was authorized by an Act of the

MEDICAL SOCIETIES.

Legislative Council of June 14, 1819. Under this Act the physicians and surgeons of the Territory were authorized to meet in Detroit on July 3, 1819, to form a medical society.

The Act also provided for the formation of county societies, who were authorized to examine persons seeking to practice, and to grant diplomas. A fee of $10 was to be paid for each diploma, and without such diploma no one might practice. Dis- aster of some kind soon terminated the existence of these organizations. In 1839 the Michigan Medical Society was in existence, with D. O. Hoyt as president and E. W. Cowles as secretary. A few years later the Sydenham Medical Society was organized. It ceased in 1848. The Wayne County Medical Society was organized in May, 1866, and lived for ten years. It was then disbanded, and on August 17, 1876, a new society by the same name was organized. William Brodie, president, and W. H. Rouse, secretary, have served from its organization, except for 1884 and 1885. when C. C. Yemans was President.

A Wayne County Homoeopathic Institute was organized July 3, 1868, and continued in existence for ten years. It was succeeded, in 1878, by the Homoeopathic College of Physicians and Surgeons, organized October 21, 1878, and incorporated on January 20, 1879. The presidents and recorders of this institute have been as follows: Presidents,- 1878-1881, F. X. Spranger; 1881, C. C. Miller; 1882, R. C. Olin ; 1883, J. McGuire ; 1884-1887, Phil. Porter ; 1887, E. P. Gaylord. Recorders,- 1878-1883, J. G. Gilchrist ; 1883- , J. M. Griffin.

Since April, 1880, it has maintained a Free Dispen- sary, which is a continuation of a Free Homœopa- thic Dispensary organized by a number of ladies in 1876.

The Detroit Academy of Medicine was organized on September 18, 1869, at the office of Richard Inglis. The officers have been as follows: Presi- dents,-1869, Richard Inglis; 1870, E. W. Jenks; 1871, H. F. Lyster; 1872, James F. Noyes; 1873, Henry A. Cleland; 1874, E. L. Shurly; 1875, C. B. Gilbert; 1876, George P. Andrews; 1877, Leartus Connor; 1878, A. B. Lyons; 1879 and i880, Theo- dore A. McGraw; 1881, H. O. Walker; 1882- 1884, Judson Bradley ; 1884, W. H. Long ; 1885, J. E. Emerson ; 1886- , W. H. Long. Secretaries, -1869, W. H. Lathrop ; 1870, A. B. Lyons ; 1871, L. Connor ; 1872, A. B. Lyons; 1873, Frank Liver- more ; 1874, A. B. Lyons; 1875, H. O. Walker ; 1876 and 1877, James D. Munson; 1878, E. A. Chapoton ; 1879 and 1880, J. W. Robertson; 1881, A. E. Carrier; 1882, Morse Stewart, Jr. ; 1883- , A. B. Lyons.

The Detroit Medical and Library Association was organized October 4, 1876, and incorporated March 12, 1877. The officers have been as follows : Presi- dents,-1877, J. A. Brown ; 1878, A. S. Heaton ; 1879, E. L. Shurly; 1880, H. A. Cleland ; 1881, T. A. McGraw ; 1882, N. W. Webber; 1883-1885, R. A. Jamieson ; 1885, D. Inglis ; 1886, C. J. Lundy ; 1887, H. O. Walker. Secretaries,-1877 and 1878, T F. Kerr ; 1879, F. D. Porter; 1880-1885, Willard Chaney ; 1885-1887, Geo. Duffield; 1887, F. W. Mann.

CHAPTER XI.

CEMETERIES .- BURIALS AND SEXTONS .- COUNTY CORONERS.

CEMETERIES.

THE cemeteries of the past and the present are naturally divided into eight classes, viz .: The old Indian burial places, the Military, Catholic, Protes- tant, City, Jewish, and Lutheran grounds, and the cemeteries of private corporations.

Indian Burial Places.

" They have put the sand over him " was the common Indian expression when telling of the death of one of the tribe. One of the places where the Indian dead were buried was the Navarre Farm, more lately known as the Brevoort Farm. Both the village and the burial place of the Potowatamies were there, and the tribe deeded the entire farm to Robert Navarre on May 26, 1771. The deed said, " We give him this land forever that he may culti- vate the same, light a fire thereon, and take care of our dead; and for surety of our word we have made our marks, supported by two branches of wampum." At various times since the deed was made the march of improvement and the shovel of the Milesian have seriously disturbed the re- mains of the dusky forms there buried. In 1867, while Woodbridge Street was being graded, twenty- five or thirty skeletons were exhumed. There were also found several pipe-bowls, together with toma- hawks and flints in great number. Other remains have been found within the last few years.

Military Burying Grounds.

As early as 1763, and probably much earlier, the ground immediately in the rear of the present First National Bank was used as a military burial-place. After the battle of Bloody Bridge, or Bloody Run, the remains of Captain Dalyell,1 and other officers who perished in that fearful massacre, were buried there. In 1847, while workmen were excavating for a building near the northeast corner of Griswold and Woodbridge Streets, skeletons and portions of old tombstones were found; and one stone was broken up and put in the cellar-wall. It is a sad commentary on the spirit of the age that there is scarce a grave or gravestone left, or even a record of the present place of burial of those who died at

Detroit a century ago. All, all, have disappeared ! The tombstone of Hamtramck alone remains as a memorial stone for the thousands who passed away before him.

In 1813, and later, a portion of the grounds be- longing to Fort Shelby, and even the glacis itself, were used as burial places. Seven hundred soldiers were buried west of the fort in the winter of 1813- 1814. On October 31, 1817, Lieutenant John Brooks was buried on the grounds of the fort. There was a long funeral procession, and the services were con- ducted by Rev. Mr. Larned.

After the granting of the Military Reserve to the city, the street commissioner, on August 27, 1827, was directed to re-inter, in the new cemetery, the bones of soldiers which were exposed by grading about the fort; and a large number were removed. The ground was located between Michigan and La- fayette Avenues, and occupied a part of both blocks between Wayne and First Streets. In 1855, when Cass Street was being paved, many coffins were dug up, and excavations for cellars in that locality have frequently unearthed other old graves. In 1869 twenty-five bodies were dug up on Cass Street, and in 1881, while preparing foundations for a new block on the corner of Michigan Avenue and Cass Street, the remains of several bodies were revealed.

The little enclosure shown at the left in the pic- ture of Detroit in 1796 is believed to have been a graveyard, and from a comparison of maps and plans it seems probable that the bones alluded to in the Detroit Journal of December 9, 1829, were from this little military burial-place. The Journal says:

The workmen employed by Major Schwartz in removing earth from premises adjoining the Mansion House in this city discovered a tombstone inscribed to Ensign John Gage of 31st Regiment of Foot. Masonic emblems are engraved on it. The date is 1778.

What was done with the stone is now unknown.

Catholic Cemeteries.

The location of the earliest known burial-place is shown on the maps of 1749 and 1796. The records of St. Anne's Church state that on June 25, 1755, certain bodies were transferred from the old ceme- tery to the new one. This new cemetery was inside of the stockade, and covered a portion of the grounds of St. Anne's Church, then located on what is now Jefferson Avenue, between Griswold and Shelby

1 Often written Dalzell.

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CEMETERIES.

Streets. The records of St. Anne's Church give the names of a number of priests, commandants, and other persons of distinction who, at various periods, were buried even within the church walls. The stockade was enlarged just before the removal in 1755, and this seems to have been deemed a fitting time to bring certain remains into ground nearer the church. It is well known that many persons were buried about the old church, and there are living wit- nesses who, as late as 1818, saw graves occupying a portion of what is now Jefferson Avenue ; and from time to time since then, as excavations have been made for sewers and cellars in the vicinity, re- mains have been uncovered. When the new town was laid out in 1806, the question of allowing the old graveyards to remain gave rise to much hard feeling, and for nearly a dozen years there was a quadrangular struggle between two parties in the church, Father Richard, the priest, and the Governor and Judges, as to the vacating of the grounds. The question was not settled until the arrival of Bishop Flaget, in 1818. The following transcript from St. Anne's records gives the date of removal of certain remains from the old grounds :

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The history of Detroit and Michigan; or, The metropolis illustrated; a chronological cyclopedia of the past and present, Vol I, Part 17

Author: Farmer, Silas, 1839-1902 Publication date: 1889 Publisher: Detroit, S. Farmer & co Number of Pages: 1096

Author: Farmer, Silas, 1839-1902
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Detroit, S. Farmer & co
Number of Pages: 1096