Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. I, Part 40

Author: Conard, Howard Louis, ed. 1n
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: New York, Louisville [etc.] The Southern history company, Haldeman, Conard & co., proprietors
Number of Pages: 856

USA > Missouri > Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. I > Part 40

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Bernays, Augustus Charles, one of the most eminent of American surgeons, and equally famous as a contributor to the literature of anatomy and surgery, was born in the town of Highland, St. Clair County, Illi- nois, October 13, 1854, son of Dr. George J. and Minna Bertrand (Doering) Bernays. IIis father was a physician of fine attainments, and his mother was a woman of brilliant intellec- tuality, who in her early life had been a teacher in the famous school known as St. Mary's Hall, of London, England. Born to the rich inheritance of mental and physical vigor, the younger Dr. Bernays enjoyed also the best educational advantages from his youth up. Under private instruction he acquired a knowledge of the French and German lan- guages as well as the rudiments of an English education at an early age, and after the re- moval of his father's family to St. Louis his scholastic training was continued in the public schools. When prepared to enter upon his academical course of study, he matriculated at McKendree College, of Lebanon, Illinois, and was graduated from that institution with the degree of bachelor of arts before he was eighteen years of age. The trend of his genius having been clearly indicated from childhood, there was at no time any question as to the vocation which he should follow, and

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immediately after his graduation from college he was sent to Germany, where he entered the University of lleidelberg as a student of med- icine. From that world-renowned institution he received his doctor's degree at the end of a four years' course of study, graduating with the highest honors, in the class of 1876, the "summa cum laude" being conferred upon him, an honor then awarded by the university to an American student for the first time. After his graduation from the university he remained for a time in Heidelberg as assistant house surgeon of the Academic Hospital, add- ing to his knowledge of operative surgery through his practice in this connection and his association with the renowned surgeons, Gustav Simon and Herman Lossen. Ile then took a postgraduate course in operative surgery under the Baron von Langenbeck- considered the most accomplished operator of his time-at the University of Berlin. From Germany he went to England, and there passed the examination and was made a mem- ber of the Royal College of Surgeons. Soon afterward he returned to St. Louis and entered regularly upon the practice of surgery, evi- dencing the thoroughness of his education and his skill as an operator at the very outset of his career. Ile was from the beginning not only an operator of wonderful skill but an exhaustive and tireless investigator in the field of original surgery, with the happy faculty of presenting the results of his researches in such form as to make them most valuable to his profession. The first successful Caesarian section in St. Louis was an operation which he performed in 1889, and he also performed the first successful coeliotomy for gunshot wound of the abdomen, and the first gall stone op- erations in Missouri. When the discovery of antiseptics and aseptics made successful ab- dominal surgery a possibility, he was leader among those who possessed the delicacy of touch, the keenness of vision, the steadiness of nerve, and that accurate knowledge of the structure of the human body which enabled them to utilize one of the greatest of modern discoveries and perform operations which had theretofore been deemed beyond the limit of surgical skill. That he has few peers in the field of operative surgery is proven by the record of his achievements. The "St. Louis Medical and Surgical Journal" of December, 1897. contained a review of his work in ap- pendicectomy for fifteen months preceding its

compilation, which showed results unequaled in the history of modern surgery. After nearly twenty years of practice in this connec- tion, he had arrived at a method of treatment peculiar to himself, and the results of this treatment were reported in the paper above referred to. This report showed that Dr. Bernays had performed. during the period covered by the record. eighty-one operations for appendicitis, in all but one of which the appendix or its stump was removed. Of this series of cases, seventy-one were done in suc- cession with perfectly satisfactory results, all making a complete recovery. In the seventy- second case the patient failed to recover, but in the nine subsequent cases recovery was

complete in every instance. The record stood, therefore, eighty successful operations ont of eighty-one cases treated consecutively, a record which has not been equaled by any surgeon of the present day in any part of the world. A vigorous and original thinker, he has long been known as one of the most trenchant and forceful writers identified with the practice of surgery in this country. A series of monographs, published under the title of "Chips from a Surgeon's Workshop," have recorded the progress of his work, and few more interesting contributions have been made to medical literature. At the Interna- tional Congress of Medicine, held in Berlin in 1890-in which he was secretary of the surgical section-he read a paper on the treatment of intestinal wounds, which at- tracted at the time much attention, and was afterward published in many languages and in every civilized country. Many other papers on kindred topics have been read by him be- fore gatherings of surgeons and physicians, and he has made a marked impress upon the literature of his profession. Before he was twenty-nine years of age, he was made pro- fessor of anatomy in the College of Physicians and Surgeons of St. Louis. Later he became professor of anatomy and surgical pathology in the Marion-Sims College of Medicine and the Woman's Medical College, and for more than a decade he has occupied a conspicuous position among the medical educators of the country. "As an educator," says a distin- guished medical journalist, "he has the gift of being able to change the usual didactic and very tiresome method of lecturing on anatomy into a most interesting demonstration. By us- ing colored chalk upon the blackboard to illus-

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trate every detail of form and relative location of the parts, the points usually difficult to ex- plain to students are made clear and are readily understood. It is in the surgical clinic, as a diagnostician and operator, however, that he commands the greatest admiration. His very strict and careful training in pathology have given him an insight into the processes of disease which give him such knowledge as he can use to the greatest advantage in the clinics in making diagnoses. Nature has been lavish in giving him such organs of sense and motion as were capable of being trained to a high degree of acuteness and dexterity. As an operator he is an artist, and his results are such as to command the highest praise from his coworkers in the profession." Both as writer and speaker Dr. Bernays is epigram- matic, the following extracts from his fare- well address to the graduating class of Marion- Sims College being fairly illustrative of his style :

"Remember that it makes no difference at all what a man believes, but a great deal what he knows." "Remember that after to-night you must give up text-books in order to study nature. The only way in which you will be able to advance the interests of our profession will be by adding to our knowledge ; the only way in which you will be able to do that, will be by using your trained senses in observing facts and by recording your observations and reflections in a scientific medical journal." "Remember that the way to conquer prejudice is to live it down. Do not discuss it with others; waste no thought on it yourself." "Remember that it is brave to be in the minor- ity. That is where the strong usually are. Weak natures can not stand alone, but must lean on the majority." "Remember that it is the nature of science to ignore authority, to look away from it. to pursue its own course in order that it may arrive at the highest and most important truths without prejudice." "Finally, gentlemen, remember 'there i: 10 darkness but ignorance,' and remember in your toilsome professional career to shed as much light along your course as you may be able to create or reflect. Remember my oft- repeated commandment : Scientific truths must be freely given away ; they are priceless, and one who trades in them is unworthy of the ware. Give them to others just as you have received them from me at this college, from which you have graduated to-night. I hope

that the wants of your bodies and the hunger of your minds may be satisfied, so that you will be happy enough to make others happy."

The devotion of Dr. Bernays to his profes- sion is chivalrous in its character, and to al- leviate the sufferings of humanity has been the chief aim of his professional life, regardless of the remuneration he might receive for his services. Charitable institutions and indigent patients have commanded his knowledge and skill almost at will, and in the impartation of his knowledge to his professional brethren he has been no less generous. A born optimist, he looks continually on the bright side of life, notwithstanding the fact that he is in constant contact with those upon whom rests the shadow of physical suffering. Unflinching in the performance of duty, he has at the same time a woman's tenderness of heart and a graciousness of manner which makes lasting friends of those who sustain to him the re- lation of patients, and attaches to him, as with hooks of steel, those brought into more inti- mate relationships with him, in social and domestic life.

Bernays, Charles L., was born at Metz, in 1815, and died in St. Louis, in 1879. In his youth he became a writer for German newspapers and his articles revealed the high talent which distinguished him at a later day. In 1848 he came to the United States, and located at St. Louis, where he became editor of the "Anzeiger des Westens," published by his friend, Dr. Boernstein. In 1861 he was appointed by President Lincoln consul to Zurich, and at the expiration of his term re- turned to St. Louis and resumed his writing, contributing to the "Republican" and the "An- zeiger." He was a man of extensive and ac- curate learning, and among the newspaper writers of St. Louis his articles were held in high esteem as models of the writing art.

Bernie .- An incorporated village in Lib- erty Township, Stoddard County, sixteen miles south of Bloomfield, on the St. Louis Southwestern Railroad. It has three saw and two flouring mills, two cotton gins, two hotels and a few stores. Union and Baptist denomi- nations have churches in the town. Popula- tion, 1899 (estimated), 400.

Berry, John Marshall, physician, was born October 1, 1855, in St. Louis County,

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Missouri. His parents were Philip Penelton Barber and . \levie ( Welborne) Berry. His pa- ternal grandfather, Thomas Berry, a native of Virginia, was the first of the immigrants from that State to settle in St. Louis County. His son, Philip, father of Dr. John Berry, was there reared, and there died, February 8, 1899. Dr. Berry acquired his early education in the public schools of Rock Hill, afterward taking an academic course at Washington University in St. Louis. He then entered St. Louis Med- ical College, from which he was graduated in 1876. He subsequently returned to Rock Hill and engaged in the practice of his profession, to which he continues to devote his attention. The educational interests of the community engage his deep interest; he has been re- peatedly chosen a member of the board of school directors, and has served for six years past as president of that body. In political mat- ters he has always been a Democrat, reserving to himself the right of independent action when necessity requires. Ile is a member of the Presbyterian Church of Rock Hill, and is now serving as president of its board of trustees. He is a member and the medical examiner of Webster Lodge, Ancient Order of United Workmen, and of Grove Council of the Le- gion of Honor of Benton. He also holds membership in the Webster Protective Home Circle, and Kirkwood Tent of the Maccabees. Dr. Berry was married, March 8, 1878, to Miss. Annie Sutton, daughter of Merritt 11. Mar- shall, an old resident of St. Louis County. To them have been born three children. Those living are John Collier and Leslie Welborne. The second child, Russell Sutton, is deceased. Dr. Berry is one of the substantial men of St. Louis County, and his efforts and means are freely devoted to the interests of the prosper- ous community with whom he is so promi- nently identified.

Berthold, Bartholomew, was born near the city of Trent, in the Italian Tyrol, in 1780, and died in St. Louis, April 20, 1831, at the age of fifty-seven years. He served, at the age of seventeen years, in the Italian army which opposed Napoleon's invasion, and at the battle of Marengo received a sabre cut on the forehead, which marked him for life. In 1708 he came to the United States, and after a short stay in Philadelphia settled in Baltimore. In 1800 he removed to St. Louis with Rene Paul and engaged in the

mercantile business. In 1811 he married Pelagie Chouteau, only daughter of Major Pierre Chouteau, Sr., one of the founders of the city. They had seven children, one of the daughters, Clara, becoming the wife of Wm. L. Ewing, and mother of Win. L. Ewing, Jr., who was mayor of the city from 1881 to 1885. He formed a partnership with his brother-in- law, Pierre Chouteau, Jr., and conducted a successful business for several years, and after- ward, with Pierre Chouteau, Jr., John P. Cabanne and Bernard. Pratte, became as- sociated with John Jacob Astor in the Amer- ican Fur Company. The business was very profitable, and Mr. Berthold, at the time of his death, was counted one of the wealthy citizens of St. Louis. He was well educated and ac- complished and was held in high esteem for his elegant manners and his sterling uprightness. He was master of several languages, and it is recorded of him that when Lafayette, with his staff of friends came to St. Louis, in 1825, Bartholomew Berthold sat at the banquet table and conversed with them all in their several tongues. His widow survived him forty-four years, dying in 1875, in her eighty- fifth year.

Bertrand .- A village on the Cairo branch of the Iron Mountain Railroad, in Long Prai- rie Township, Mississippi County, six miles southwest of Charleston. It was laid out in 1859 by 11. J. Deal. It has four general stores. Population, 1899 (estimated), 221.

Beshears, William B., merchant and farmer, and prominent also as a public official, was born in Montgomery County, Kentucky, August 24, 1814, and died in Vandalia, Au- drain County, Missouri, in October of 1899. He grew up in Montgomery County, Ken- tucky, residing there until he was nineteen years of age, when he came with his parents, Robert and Elizabeth (Whitton) Beshears, to Missouri. His father was a native of Virginia, and his mother of Maryland, and both came of good Southern families. Upon coming to Missouri the family settled in Pike County, among the pioneers residing there in 1833. Trained to agricultural pursuits, William B. Beshears followed that occupation in his young manhood, and was identified with farm- ing interests thereafter, throughout his life. March 10, 1836, he married, in Ralls County, Missouri, Miss Zethlinda Lewellyn. He was

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a resident and farmer in Ralls County there- after until 1847, when he removed to Clark County, Missouri, and engaged in merchan- dising. After a time he returned to Pike County, and four years later removed to Mont- gomery County. In Montgomery County he became prominent as a man of affairs, and also rendered valuable services to the public as a county official. He was three times elected a member of the county court of that county, and held the office continuously up to 1863. when he was ousted on account of his refusal to take the test oath of loyalty required of Missouri officials during the Civil War. He returned to Pike County in 1865, and in the fall of the same year removed to Ralls County. In 1867 he again became a resident and citizen of Pike County and engaged in farming and merchandising. In 1870 he established his home in Curryville, but in 1871 again removed to Ralls County, where he was engaged in farming until 1879. He then removed to Au- drain County, living near Vandalia until 1880, when he became a resident of that prosperous and growing town. This place continued to be his home until his death. He was a large dealer in real estate and a sagacious and suc- cessful man of affairs. His first wife died in 1866, leaving six of a family of nine children who had been born to them. Those then living were James R., Thomas J., William H., Basil L., Pauline E. (now Mrs. Shackleford), and John G. Beshears. Basil L. and John G. Beshears have since died. Mr. Beshears mar- ried for his second wife Mrs. Margaret Eliza- beth Hutchinson, a widow with one child, C. L. Hutchinson. Mrs. Beshears' maiden name was Margaret Elizabeth Rogers. The children born of this union were V. L. and Pearlie L. Beshears. V. L. Beshears is now head of the hardware firm of Beshears & McCarroll, of Vandalia.

Bethany .- The judicial seat of Harrison County, located on the east fork of Big Creek, about six miles south-southwest of the center of the county, on the St. Joseph & lowa Di- vision of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad. It was laid out and settled in 1845 by a number of Tennesseeans. and that year was made the county scat. It was incorpo- rated in 1858, and is now a city of the fourth class. It has a good courthouse, built at a cost of about $15,000; a jail, Methodist Epis- copal, Christian and Presbyterian Churches,

a graded public school, an opera house, two banks, two newspapers, the "Democrat" and the "Republican"; a canning factory, cream- ery and about seventy other business places, including miscellaneous stores and shops. The city is connected with neighboring towns by telephone. The population in 1900 was 2,093.

Bethel .- An incorporated village in Shel- by County, five miles north of Shelbyville, and thirteen miles from Shelbina, the nearest rail- road point. It was settled in 1845 by William Kiel and others, who seceded from the Lu- theran Church in Pennsylvania, and decided to found a colony in the West and establish an independent church. Kiel collected about him several hundred followers, all of whom settled at or near the present site of Bethel. Since the founding of the town two colonies have branched out from Bethel. The village has a good church, a school, a bank, a flouring mill, half a dozen general stores, two hardware stores, furniture store and a few small shops. The inhabitants of the town are representative of the thrift and industry of the German race. Population, 1899 (estimated), 250.

Bethel Mission .- One of the most in- teresting, helpful and far-reaching charities in St. Louis has grown out of the organization of the St. Louis Bethel Association on the 30th day of October, 1868. As stated in the re- cords. "The original object of this organiza- tion is to aid and give local direction to the work of the Western Seamen's Friend Society in the city of St. Louis, said work being to pro- vide for the temporal and spiritual welfare of rivermen and their families and such others as may be unreached by regular church organi- zations. Also to carry on the Sabbath school work among the neglected."

Its first board of trustees were General Clinton B. Fisk, Honorable Nathan Cole, Governor E. O. Stanard, James Richardson, Samuel Cupples, Captain Isaac M. Mason, Thomas Morrison, Captain Joseph Brown, Nathan Ramsey, Thomas S. Rutherford, Austin R. Moore, E. D. Jones, John C. Cope- lin, George Partridge, William C. Wilson. Clinton B. Fisk was chosen president ; Samuel Cupples, vice president : William C. Wilson, treasurer : Austin R. Moore, secretary, and Rev. M. Himebaugh, chaplain. On May 26, 1870, Mr. William C. Wilson was elected

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president and served until October 11, 1874, when Captain William F. Davidson was elected president, and W. W. Carpenter was elected secretary. Honorable Nathan Cole was elected president May 16, 1882, and has filled the position until this time. Mr. D. Crawford is vice president, having been elceted May 7, 1891. Mr. G. H. TenBroek was elected secretary and treasurer December 8. 1891, and is still discharging the duties of both offices.

Bethesda Homes. - The Bethesda Home for the Aged, St. Louis, was established by Mrs. Roger Hayne, and opened July 8, 1889. During the first year of the existence of the Bethesda, one hundred and seventeen persons were sheltered and provided for, and $1,662.10 was contributed. The following were the officers : Mrs. Roger Hayne, presi- dent: Mrs. Morton, secretary: Mrs. V. O. Saunders, treasurer : Mr. W. S. Maury. Mr. Roger Hayne. Dr. E. W. Saunders, trustees ; Mr. Willard Watts, legal advisor. and Dr. E. W. Saunders, physician. From the begin- ning, as set forth in their publications, "it was a work of faith and labor of love, and the means were provided by the voluntary gifts of God's people. Never in the conduct of this work had solicitations been used beyond mak- ing the public acquainted with the facts." The home occupies an antique stone house, erected seventy-five years ago, at 917 Russell Avenue. It was terribly racked by the tor- nado of May 27, 1896, and a heavy roof and a mass of debris piled up against it and on the porch. In 1898 it was occupied by eighteen old ladies, with Mary Stewart as superintendent.

Foundlings were originally admitted to this institution, but in 1892 the infant wards were transferred to the building known as "The Soulard Mansion," at the corner of Twelfth and Soulard Streets. In 1805 this institution, which took the name "Bethesda Foundlings' Home," removed to the corner of Hickory and Grattan Streets. In 1806 the building occupied was unroofed by the cyclone, and subsequently what had previously been the Methodist Orphans' Home, at 3533 Laclede Avenue, became the Home of the Bethesda Foundlings. The corner stone of a new building intended for their occupancy was laid June 11, 1808, on Vista Avenue, near Grand Avenue.

The Bethesda Maternity Home was the third institution formed under the auspices of the same band of charitable people. This home was established in September of 1892. at 1814 Schild Avenue, the Missouri Medical College donating $500 to the founders. In October of 1893 the institution was removed to 1210 Grattan Street.

A home for nurses has also been estab)- lished under Bethesda auspices, on Chestnut Street, near Grand Avenue.

Bevier .- A city of the fourth class in Ma- con County, on the Hannibal & St. Joseph branch of the Burlington, five miles west of Macon. It is in the center of the coal field of Macon County, and the mining of coal is the chief industry. The town has seven churches, a graded school, a bank, a hotel, a newspaper, the "Appeal," and about sixty stores and shops. Population in 1899 (estimated), 2,200.

Bible and Tract Society. - The first Bible society west of the Mississippi was established in Washington County, Missouri, in 1817. The work was preceded in the year 1814 by the visit to St. Louis of two mission- aries, Messrs. Mills and Smith, who first awakened an interest regarding the circulation of the Bible in the city and State, but nothing came of it. On December 15, 1818, a Bible society was formed at a meeting held in the courthouse, at which Colonel Rufus Easton presided, and John Simonds acted as secre- tary. On December 22d following an ad- journed meeting was held at the house of Rev. Salmon Giddings, at which the following officers were chosen-of the Missouri Auxili- ary Bible Society, as it was named: Nathaniel B. Tucker, president : Stephen Hempstead, Colonel Alexander McNair and Rev. James Welsh, vice presidents ; Colonel Samuel Ham- mond. treasurer : Rev. S. Giddings, secretary; Colonel Rufus Easton. Rufus Pettibone, Rev. John M. Peck, John Jacoby. Charles W. Hunter. John Simonds, and Thomas Jones, directors. Bible societies at that time met with sneers and ridicule from the irreligious. In 1819 an auxiliary Bible society was estab- lished at St. Charles, and for several years these societies barely retained their existence, until in 1825 efforts were made to revive them. December 11, 1826, the Missouri and Illinois Tract Society, auxiliary to the American Tract Society in New York, was organized. In

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February, 1843, the Evangelical Society of St. Louis, for the distribution of Bibles, religious books and tracts among the inhabitants of the city, was formed, which continued in existence several years and accomplished much good. In 1847 the Missouri Bible Society was estab- lished, its principal promoters being Honor- able Peter G. Gamble, Honorable Edward Bates, Trusten Polk, George K. Budd, H. S. Geyer, J. B. Crockett, Nathaniel Childs, and David Keith. The Bible society established by the Presbyterians is still in operation. and Rev. Dr. Allen is the secretary. The tract society has no headquarters in St. Louis, but an agent of the American Tract Society in New York occasionally visits St. Louis to en- courage, aid and give assistance in the work of disseminating religious literature.

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Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. I, Part 40

Author: Conard, Howard Louis, ed. 1n Publication date: 1901 Publisher: New York, Louisville [etc.] The Southern history company, Haldeman, Conard & co., proprietors Number of Pages: 856

Author: Conard, Howard Louis, ed. 1n
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: New York, Louisville [etc.] The Southern history company, Haldeman, Conard & co., proprietors
Number of Pages: 856