History of Goodhue County, Minnesota, Part 35

Author: Curtiss-Wedge, Franklyn
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Chicago, H.C. Cooper
Number of Pages: 1264

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The medical history of this county begins with the arrival of Dr. W. W. Sweney, in 1852. He was born in Pennsylvania in 1818. After receiving an academic and professional education, he was graduated at Rush Medical College in 1851. He was presi- dent of the Goodhue County Medical Society in 1872. and of the

HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY

State Medical Society in 1873, author of several prize essays, and member of the territorial legislature. Dr. Sweney was a practi- tioner of wide repute, and possessed the confidence of the people in a rare degree. He was endeared to all by his remarkable integ- rity, gentleness, sterling worth, and high professional morality. The constant influence of his example, personal and professional, has alike honored him and the calling to which he was chosen. Dr. Sweney had a long and honorable career. The writer knew him as one of the finest specimens of the kind-hearted. ever-help- ful, modest medical gentlemen of his generation. He was laid to rest amid general regret and deep sorrow in August, 1882.

Another of the earliest physicians was Dr. John Kelly, born in New York, in 1801. He crossed the plains in 1849, and came to Goodhue county in 1853, settling in Florence. He was chairman of the first board of township supervisors and member of the board of county supervisors. In 1856, Dr. J. E. Tebbetts settled in the village of Cannon Falls. He was of Maine birth, and a fine type of the old doctor. Ile grew gray in the pioneer service. and passed away in 1877. Dr. Charles Hill came to this county in 1857, settling in Roscoe that year, and in Pine Island in 1859. He was born in Illinois in 1826, and was graduated at Rush Medical College in 1857. In 1869 he was elected to the state senate. At the reorganization of the Goodhue County Medical Society, in 1902, he was chosen president. Dr. Hill is a gentleman of the old school. He is the Nestor of the profession in the county. Him we should be tempted to call venerable if he had not suc- ceeded in remaining young through the aid of his eternally youth- ful enthusiasm. In the same year a valuable addition to the pro- fession in Red Wing was made in the arrival of Dr. A. B. Hawley. a native of New York, born in 1833. Dr. Hawley was of attractive personality. He was a man of the most genial nature, fine phy- siqué, tall, active, keen-eyed and perfectly unostentatious; an able practitioner, and very popular. Ile was a leading citizen, and one of the prime movers in the building of Christ Church. He passed away September 20, 1878. Other physicians who came in ante-bellum days were Drs. C. II. Connely. William Brown and F. F. Hoyt. Dr. Brown was commissioned as surgeon in the Civil War. Dr. Hoyt had the honor of being elected a member of the first city council. Some time in the fifties. Dr. Ole Oleson settled in or near Leon. His name appears in the records of the period as a judge of elections. In 1862, Dr. E. S. Park established him- self in Red Wing. He was born in Pennsylvania in 1811. Alto- gether his practice covered forty years of earnest. active work. He served the county many years as coroner. Ilis death occurred February 12, 1888. It is to be regretted that so little is recorded of the pioneer physician and his stirring and hazardous lot. At

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the conclusion of the war Red Wing was chosen as a field by Dr. Charles N. Ilewitt. a native of Vermont, born in 1835. Dr. Hewitt has had a long and honorable career. He has held various high offices. In the medical history of the county he takes a high place as physician and surgeon. As sanitarian, it is difficult ade- quately to estimate his great services to the commonwealth of Minnesota. He has left the imprint of his work upon the whole subject of public health. In 1865 Dr. C: IIveem, born in Norway in 1835. settled near Hader, where he continued to practice with success for many years. In the following year Dr. Christian J. Gronvold settled in Norway, township of Wanamingo. He was born in Norway in 1833. and died in the nineties. Dr. Gronvold was appointed a member of the state board of health in 1876. He was a man of much natural ability. one of the foremost authorities on leprosy, and somewhat of an original. Some time in the sixties Dr. A. W. M. Archarius endeavored to establish himself in Red Wing. Unfortunately for the community, he did not succeed. He was a tall, spare, extremely dignified and learned gen- tleman. Ile complained to the writer, who made his acquaintance in Chicago in 1875. of his inability to make a living here, and of the success of the advertising quaeks. He returned to Sweden, where the king gave him office commensurate with his abilities. The first homeopathie phyiscian to take up his residence in Red Wing was Dr. C. G. Highee, born in New York, in 1835. He came in the sixties, and remained about ten years. He was a captain in the Union army. made choice of the medical profession, and was a successful practitioner. After an honorable Civil War reeord, O. H. HIall. born in Erie county. New York, in 1842, studied medi- eine, was graduated at the Buffalo University, and settled in Zuumbrota in 1868. He is a charter member of the Goodhue County Medical Society. and a successful physician. In 1869, Dr. Bruno Jaehnig established himself in Red Wing. He was born in Saxony. February 19, 1841. . Dr. Jaehnig has filled various positions of trust with faithfulness, and places of honor with mod- esty. He served the city as health officer, 1898-1907, and the state as physician to the training school since 1892. The people are indebted to him for long and valuable services.

The practitioners whose lives have been faintly outlined here are the pioneers of the profession. They are among the most notable makers of history. Special homage should be paid these men-or the memories of these men-for their toil. devotion and sacrifice in the rude and eventful days forty or more years ago. They were the peers of any in all the useful elements of man- hood. They were citizens most relied upon by their neighbors in foul as well as fair weather. It would be hard to find a person in the county who owes no debt of gratitude to one of these men.

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Many who were present at the beginning are at rest. Their places have been filled by worthy, though younger, men.

One of the first of the younger practitioners was Dr. Douglas Shiley. He came to Red Wing in 1871; became the associate and partner of Dr. Sweney. and moved to another field in 1876. Another newcomer was Dr. W. G. W. Tupper, a native of Maine, who located in Zumbrota. Subsequently he moved to Red Wing, then to Wabasha, and later back to Zumbrota. where he died about 1890. In the early seventies Dr. Galen Allen, a homeopath, and native of Vermont, born in 1833. established himself in Red Wing. He was a well-educated, respectable and successful prac- titioner. He died in 1900. In 1875. Dr. George C. Wellner, born in Bavaria, May 24, 1849, selected Red Wing as a field. He twice moved to other fields, returning in 1883 and 1893. Hle is presi- dent of the board of health and secretary of the board of United States examining surgeons. In 1907 he was chosen president of the Goodhue County Medical Society. Others who located in Red Wing a little later were Dr. John HI. Beauford. Dr. F. Laus and Dr. Lund, none of whom continued there long. In 1876 Dr. W. M. Sweney, son of the pioneer physician, entered upon the practice of medicine in Red Wing. He was born in Marietta, Ill., November 6, 1849. He was in active practice about ten years. In 1882 Governor Hubbard appointed him member of the State Fish Commission. He has served the city as health officer in vari- ous emergencies, and the county as coroner. Dr. Sweney is a member of the city council and the board of health, and is earn- estly devoted to the service of the city. His favorite study is anthropology. In the same year the county received a notable accession in Dr. A. T. Conley, who established himself in Cannon Falls. IIe was born in Jefferson county, New York, December 6, 1847. Dr. Conley is one of the veteran figures of the profession. He has a wide repute as a physician and a man, as attested by his popularity. His has been a life worthy of emulation, distin- guished for sacrifice and service . to others. He has served the Goodhue County Medical Society as president, and the city of Cannon Falls as health officer. In 1877 Dr. George H. Overholt settled in Kenyon. He was born in 1842, and was graduated at the Albany Medical College in 1866. In the following year Dr. Philo E. Jones, an Ohioan by birth and education, took up his residence in Red Wing. He built up a large practice in a short time, and maintained the same for fifteen years. Dr. Jones pos- sessed culture, an infinite store of information, industry and sur- gical and business ability. Dr. William M. Newhall was his able associate and partner. About 1880 Dr. H. L. Brynildsen began the practice of medicine in Vasa. He was born in Norway, July 29, 1850, and was for many years a most serviceable practitioner to

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the people of Vasa and vicinity, being highly appreciated by them. Ilis usefulness was cut short by death, June 29, 1908. The eighties brought to Red Wing a large number of physicians, prominent among whom were Drs. M. Magelsen, Peter Mogstad, Edward Boeckman, J. F. A. Twetan, J. H. Sandberg, Ed. Hart, Noble Jones, O. J. Brown, George Leininger, E. A. Shannon, H. L. Scheide and Drs. Babcock and Simons. Nearly all of them were able practitioners, and several of them continued there for years, but all have removed from the county or passed away, not, how- ever, without leaving behind them the enduring fragrance of good deeds. In 1886 Dr. II. E. Conley permanently established himself in Cannon Falls. He was born in Palo, Ia., July 11, 1855. Dr. Conley is a brother of A. T. Conley, and one of the successful physicians of the county. He is president of the Goodhue County Medical Society. Dr. II. L. Mckinstry came to Zumbrota in 1875 and to Red Wing in 1888. He is a Pennsylvanian, born June 14, 1847. Dr. MeKinstry served the Third Regiment, M. N. G., as major and surgeon, 1886-1901, and the city as health officer and councilman. and in various honorary capacities. Two years later Red Wing was chosen as a field by Dr. JJ. V. Anderson, born in Sweden, March 20. 1860. Dr. Anderson is one of the prosperous physicians. He is the medical director of the Scandinavian Relief Association and a member of the board of United States examin- ing surgeons, and has served the city as health officer. In the nineties a number of practitioners located in Red Wing, among others Drs. B. Dearborn. N. Juell, Th. N. Thoresen, L. L. Mayland and Marens Thrane. They. like their colleagues of an earlier date, practiced here for a space of time, then sought other fields. In 1893 Dr. F. W. Dimmitt opened an office in Red Wing. He was born in Cambridge, Ill., August 25, 1859. Dr. Dimmitt found an extended field of usefulness, and has built up a lucrative practice. He is vice-president of the Goodhue County Medical Society, and one of the most ardent promotors of the society's interests. In the following year Dr. A. W. Jones, a native Ohioan, born April 12, 1863, selected Red Wing as a field. Dr. Jones is a well- equipped physician, a man of intellectual interests, and a scholar of wide range and various cultivation. IIe is a member of the board of United States examining surgeons and a member of the board of education. In 1893 the village of Goodhue was chosen as a field by Dr. H. P. Sawyer. He was born in 1870. Dr. Sawyer has for years had an extensive clientèle, and has much endeared himself to the community in which he lives. In 1894 Dr. M. W. Smith and his wife, Dr. Grace Gardner-Smith, established them- selves in Red Wing. Dr. Smith was born in Rockford, Ill., Octo- ber 27, 1870. He is a member of the board of education and county examiner for the state sanatorium for consumptives. Dr.

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Smith has in various ways proved himself a useful citizen. Dr. Grace Gardner-Smith is a native of Pennsylvania. She is physi- cian to the girls' department of the state training school and a member of the library board. In 1895 Dr. J. A. Gates, of Kenyon, entered upon his successful career as physician, business man, and in 1905 as legislator. As a member of the legislature he has effectually blocked measures prepared in the interests of quack- ery. Dr. Marshall Stephens, a homeopathi, located in Red Wing in 1894. He was born near Pittsburg, Penn., in 1840. He was pro- fessor of mathematics and natural sciences in Hamline University. and served as member of the board of United States examining surgeons. In the later nineties, Dr. K. E. Gryttenholm located in Zumbrota. He is a native of Norway, born December 6, 1862. Dr. Gryttenholm is surgeon to the C., G. W. railway, an able practitioner, ever active in medical affairs, and has served the Goodhue County Medical Society as president. About 1900 Dr. Edward Backe, born in 1862. settled in Kenyon. Dr. Backe is a graduate of the Royal University. Christiania, a successful prac- titioner, and a former president of the Goodhue County Medical Society. In 1902 the medical fraternity of Red Wing received further accessions. They were: Dr. M. H. Cremer, born in Cashton, Wis., March 12, 1870, and graduated at Rush Medical College in 1893, and Dr. L. E. Claydon. born in England, April 5, 1869, and graduated at the University of Minnesota in 1895. The same year Dr. A. E. Johnson commenced practice in Zumbrota, and four months later in Red Wing. He was born in Kasson, Min., June 23. 1876, and is a graduate of Rush Medical College. of the class of 1902. In 1904 Dr. S. B. Haessly entered upon his professional career in Cannon Falls. He was born in Campbells- port, Wis., December 25, 1875, and was graduated at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Chicago, in 1904. He came to Red Wing in 1909. After graduating at the University of Minnesota in 1907, Dr. C. E. Gates located in Goodhue, and became the asso- ciate and partner of Dr. H. P. Sawyer. He was born in 1879. In the same year. Dr. O. O. Larson. born in Rush River, Wis., in 1877, and a graduate of the University of Minnesota in 1907. opened an office in Zumbrota. Dr. Larson is the county physician for the Zumbrota district. A further addition to the profession in Red Wing. in 1907, was made in the arrival of Dr. P. H. Cremer. He was born in Wisconsin, March 21, 1878, and was graduated at Rush Medical College in 1904. In 1909 he removed to Cannon Falls. Early in 1908 Dr. N. L. Werner, born in Diamond Bluff. Wis., October 21, 1877, established himself in Red Wing. He is a graduate of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Chicago, of the class of 1903. Later in the same year Dr. P. J. Weyrens came to Red Wing. He was born in Stearns county, Minnesota, March

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12. 1873, and was graduated at the University of Minnesota in 1900. Other physicians than those named established themselves in the county since the beginning of its settlement. They are embraced in the lists following the various points of location.

Cannon Falls-Drs. Goodwin. W. Greaves. JJ. A. Armington, Ifill. E. L. Hills. R. Frettheim. G. Bjornstad, S. Stringer, Magnu- son. Golberg. W. B. Jorgerson. Goodhue-Drs. S. E. Howard, E. S. Swartout. P. D. Whyte. Kenyon-Drs. A. Brown, A. H. Hewitt, Rutherford, Coleman, Turner, Mrs. Turner, Wing, MeDade. Mrs. McDade. R. Leland. Pine Island-Drs. P. R. Weil, Holmes. R. C. Banks. Baker. W. Woodward, Sr., W. Woodward, Jr., Bothwell. W. S. Craddock. E. L. Jewell, C. B. MeKaig. Red Wing-Drs. A. II. Jones. Mills, E. C. Bolander, Eliza Paulson, F. Keller, F. Delaine, M. Johnson, C. A. Burnett. A. C. Clum, N. Nelson, O. Nelson, Swedenburg. P. C. Bjorneby. Vasa-Dr. Tigerhjelm. Zumbrota-Drs. O. I. Hall, Slawson. Shattuck. Well- come. D. Brainerd. J. C. Cockburn. A. Hirsh. A. Koren, Sedgwick, C. M. Frye. Beebe, J. C. Crewe. T. R. Watson. Courtney. G. C. Hoff.

No man, woman or child in this county can be so situated as not to be a debtor to one of these men. They are the members of a profession which exacts from them the largest responsibility and the greatest death rate in the world. receiving no rewards comparable with the work done or the burdens borne. They are the men that are fighting in behalf of the people against death. We need not begrudge destructive heroes their fame, but the con- structive ones ought not to be forgotten. The heroism of skill and toil belonging to the latter class is worthy of as grateful record. No other men under heaven can do humanity so much good as physicians.

To create a medium for intellectual exchange and to give pro- tection to the public and the profession, the Goodhue County Medical Society was founded in 1869. The charter members, so far as now known were: Drs. W. W. Sweney. A. B. Hawley, C. N. Hewitt. E. S. Park. F. F. Hoyt. B. Jaehnig, of Red Wing; Charles Hill, of Pine Island: Christian J. Gronvold, of Norway; O. H. Hall, of Zumbrota. The official records of the society have, unfortunately. not been preserved, and it is now quite impossible even to outline its usefulness in its infancy. However, we may still be able to impress the reader with the sterling integrity of its members, who traveled twenty or thirty miles by team to attend these meetings. They had a deep and enduring interest in the manifold problems of medicine and a human interest in the affairs of their brotherhood and our Great Master's entire family. They found that society work was both a direct aid and a stim- ulus, and that in a multitude of counsel there is wisdom. The

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meetings were held in Red Wing, Cannon Falls, Norway and Zumbrota. In those distant times only advanced age and illness were reasons for members staying away, and then their interests did not die out with the termination of presidential or other office. In the seventies and eighties the society added to its mem- bership. Its meetings were both well attended and profitable. The last meeting the writer attended was at the home of Dr. Gronvold, in Norway, in 1884. It was an outdoor meeting on a beautiful day in July. Every preparation had been made for the occasion. The table was set under a leafy canopy. The dinner, as the saying is, came off triumphantly. It comprised a bound- less profusion of everything nutritious in the garb most light and digestible for an infirm stomach. The host admirably filled the chair, and the post-prandial enjoyments, including the society's program, were rarely, or never, surpassed by any banquet the writer ever saw. Much that was delectable at the time, and that is not unpleasing on reflection now, could be recited, but would probably be less interesting to the reader than to the writer.

"But pleasures are like poppies spread. Yon seize the flower, its bloom is dead."

Flourishing as the society was, its existence was terminated in 1891. The causes need not be traced here. They recall no divisive memories. The few facts in the possession of the writer give no special significance to the event. In October. 1902, the society was reorganized at Red Wing. The new organization has been strengthened and improved. Its boundaries have been pushed forward. It brings medical men more constantly together, making consultations more easy and more natural, and stimu- lating fraternal feeling. It makes collective and comparative experiments possible, furnishing a center in which is focussed the "group opinion." Its programs are stronger than before. It discusses its problems from time to time with the leaders of the profession. It invites joint meetings with other connty societies. The society has a membership of twenty-three, consisting of the following gentlemen: J. V. Anderson, Edmund Backe. A. T. Conley, H. E. Conley, M. HI. Cremer, P. H. Cremer, F. W. Dimmitt, J. A. Gates, C. E. Gates, K. Gryttenholm, C. N. Hewitt. Charles Hill, S. B. Haessly, Bruno Jaehnig. A. W. Jones, O. O. Larson, H. L. Mckinstry. C. B. MeKaig, G. H. Overholt, H. P. Sawyer, M. W. Smith, George C. Wellner, N. L. Werner. The society con- siders all respectable physicians its rightful subjects, and rejects all whose so-called education is unaccompanied by any fruits of character. The admission of no clean-handed, honorable and competent physician is opposed. Membership in the society is a guarantee of the physician's good standing, and that he pursues

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a legitimate practice. The mission of the society is to elevate the profession to a higher standard for inereased public usefulness.

My friends and brothers in art! A few short years and a new generation shall search these pages for the meager record of our lives. God grant that it may be said of us that the world was better for our having lived. Let us always bear in mind that the thing that shall comfort us when we step down into the Valley of the Shadow will not be the size of the estate we shall leave behind, nor the places of honor we have held among men; but, rather, the reflection that we have been able to relieve some poor sufferer in his mortal pain, that we have been useful men in our generation, and that we may look forward with confidence to the reward which awaits a life of honest labor. Grant us an honest fame, or grant us none.

With the opening of the twentieth century the boundaries of medical science have been broadened. A radical change between the physician and the public is at hand. "Recent events," says President Charles W. Eliot. "have brought into strong light a new function of the medieal profession, which is sure to be extended and made more effective in the near future. We mean the function of teaching the whole population how diseases are caused and communicated, and what are the corresponding means of prevention." The great public does not realize that in the medical profession the whole line of discovery and effort is toward hygienic living as the preventive of disease, and that in this the doctors are laboring to make the human race immune from disease, and willing to teach the people their part in the struggle. We are all naturally interested in the preservation of health by the prevention of disease. Most people have a fairly distinet idea that proper attention to sanitation is essential to good health, but the great majority are not informed of the possi- bilities out of which disease may come. When a family stands at the grave of a relative who has succumbed to a condition which could have been prevented. as has been proven by different action in the selfsame condition in other people, a new idea takes pos- session of them. This new idea, where the value of prevention is more appreciated than the importance of cure, is the ideal situation.

The tendency of modern research is to give especial promi- nence to preventive medicine. To relieve suffering is a godlike office. but to prevent suffering is a higher office still. In the past the field of medicine was restricted to the relief of disease already present. without taking note of its broader and higher mission. On the practical assumption that the function of medical skill is to cure disease. not to discover and ward off its approach, the physician is seldom afforded an opportunity to apply his art

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before the disease has progressed too far. The question of the necessity for treatment is not decided by the family physician, but by those not qualified to determine the meaning or gravity of the symptoms. To recognize disease and apply the remedies for it, is to the lay mind, the extent of the physician's office, and is all that custom demands. A large proportion of serious eases which come before physicians are made serious by negleet, and the neglect arises from the disease not being recognized in its early enrable stages. This fact accounts for a large proportion of operations that are performed nowadays. The frequency of sudden death from unsuspected heart and kidney disease further illustrates how seldom the physical condition of a person not consciously ill is made the subject of investigation. There are few children of school age free from one or more physical ail- ments, few adults not afflicted with some chronie disability. All this would be guarded against if the family physician were the sanitary adviser, having constant supervision of the family, instead of being called only when someone has broken a leg or one of the children has the croup. So long as a man sees in his physician only a feeler of pulses and a writer of prescriptions, the relation of medicine to him cannot be expected to improve. Today physicians are no longer a group of men and women to whom one only looks for a diagnosis and a prescription. They have come to recognize the fact that their usefulness as physi- cians in dealing with disease problems depends in a great meas- ure on the cooperation of the public. They must have intelligent cooperation to make their work as effective as it is possible for it to be. Prevention of disease is typical of the line in which medi- cine as a whole is to have its principal development in the near future. Let onee the idea be grasped that the physician is engaged in preventing disease. instead of waiting for an opportunity to cure it-that his mission is a wider one than merely to deal out pills or open abscesses. or attend confinements-and men will prefer to put themselves under such directions as will tend to avert illness, instead of relying upon this or that method of enre in case they should beeome ill.

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History of Goodhue County, Minnesota, Part 35

Author: Curtiss-Wedge, Franklyn Publication date: 1909 Publisher: Chicago, H.C. Cooper Number of Pages: 1264

Author: Curtiss-Wedge, Franklyn
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Chicago, H.C. Cooper
Number of Pages: 1264