USA > Nebraska > Dodge County > History of Dodge and Washington Counties, Nebraska, and their people, Volume I > Part 14
USA > Nebraska > Washington County > History of Dodge and Washington Counties, Nebraska, and their people, Volume I > Part 14
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49
W. H. Munger came to the county in the early days, being guided to Fremont by that nestor of early days, C. A. Baldwin, of Omaha. I heard Mr. Munger say that he studied law in Cleveland, Ohio. When I came to Dodge County he had a very extensive and select practice which he held until his appointment as judge. He was then in his prime. The old timers are nearly all gone, but those left here and those who knew Mr. Munger will admit that it never occurred to any man to question Mr. Munger's fairness or honesty, or any statement that he made. He was professionally and personally the cleanest of men, and the last of men to be influenced in any way by consideration of profit. He was quiet in his tastes and genial and when engaged in investigating a legal question or proposition his mind worked with great rapidity. His intel- lectual cast was that of analysis, and he had a sensible grasp of men and things. I do not think that ambition to get on in a worldly way ever disturbed him. He was appointed Federal Judge for the District of Nebraska in the nineties, when those two great lawyers of the State of Nebraska, Honorable W. V. Allen and Honorable John M. Thurston represented the State of Nebraska in the United States Senate. I know that Mr. Munger worked much harder as a judge than as a practitioner. I know that his appointment and confirmation were welcome to all,
95
DODGE AND WASHINGTON COUNTIES
irrespective of party. He was the one man that the great powers of a federal bench did not turn arbitrary or tyranical. His record is that of an ideal judge.
N. H. Bell was the most interesting member of the Dodge County bar and the most picturesque personality in it. He labored under diffi- culties that the public was not aware of. Mr. Bell was a genius. He was the master of plausibility in argument. His reasoning was nearly all by analogy, and he had that greatest of wit that never wounded the feelings of others. Many incidents could be recorded of his wit. He was my opponent in the last jury trial that he tried, the question being as to whether a certain mechanical device worked or not. My client was on the stand and this mechanical device, being the first of the kind in the county, of course restricted our side simply to the tech- nical mechanical proof. Mr. Bell knew the weakness of it, and touched up my client with the exclamation "You never saw it work" following it up with "How do you know it will work?" About the third time that he touched it up, my client got warmed up and stated that he knew it would work because it was made to work. Judge Bell in an instant jumped up, threw out his arms and in his inimitable way said, "So was I, but I don't." The result was a roar over the court room that the presiding judge good-naturedly joined in. To this day among the lawyers are reported many instances of his wit, and his power of mimicry. He was an imaginative man, a great reader and given to amusing conceits. Mr. Bell in the early days served a term as the County Judge of Dodge County, which is the only official position that I know of his having held. In his life he had the usual inaptitude of the professional man to accomplish anything except professional labor. He died about eighteen years ago and is buried at Newton, Iowa.
William Marshall was the only one of the bar who was a Civil war veteran. He had held the position of Lieutenant-Colonel in the war and had acted for many years as state's attorney. He acted as state's attorney in the old district here until he got the position of district judge which he held until his death along in 1900. Judge Marshall was a painstaking, plodding worker, working slowly, had great respect for precedents and the wisdom of the past. He was an earnest, honest man, whose integrity I never heard questioned. He gave to the office of judge that attention that no man could have done better. It was nothing unusual for him to be up past the midnight hour working upon instructions or hunting through the books on questions of law. His mind had a mathematical cast to it, and I often thought that he was too prone and insistent in establishing a proposi- tion to demonstrate it as one would a problem in mathematics. As a lawyer he was probably the best posted in criminal law that was ever known in the Dodge County bar. Judge Marshall never married and he followed his profession with a singleness of purpose and attention. He felt and knew that he was made for the law, and the other things of life did not allure him, except his hunting and fishing diversions. He had the most elaborate hunting and fishing equipment of any member of the bar.
George L. Loomis is the present collector of internal revenue, and virtually retired from the active practice. In his time Mr. Loomis held the position of county attorney and representative before his present position. Mr. Loomis devoted his time more to the commercial branch of the law than any of the other lawyers of the bar, and he gave his business that careful attention that could not fail of success.
96
DODGE AND WASHINGTON COUNTIES
He is methodical in his work and painstaking and worked more in detail than any of the other members of the bar. Mr. Loomis also gave much attention to the Odd Fellows Lodge and has held the highest positions in it. I would not mention him because he is living yet and still a member of the bar, only for the fact that he is the last here of the bar who were here when I came in 1881.
C. Hollenbeck came to Nebraska in 1878 from Pennsylvania, and I have to revise my statement as to Judge Marshall being the only veteran of the Civil war, for Judge Hollenbeck enlisted at the age of sixteen and passed through the Civil war. He was admitted to the bar in Pennsylvania, and represented his county in the Legislature of that state before coming here. He held the office of county attorney for two terms and then judge of the District Court until he was elected six years ago Chief Justice of Nebraska, and died in that office shortly after taking his place on that bench. Judge Hollenbeck was an interest- ing personality and during his practice was my closest chum at the bar. He was a man who was well educated and possessed great mental powers. He was not a ready speaker but his mental cast was that of judgment. and he excelled in his judgment of men as well as things. He was not a great or extensive reader in the law, but he worked hard in analyzing the proposition and getting it distinct and clear. He was a broad man and had studied the Constitution of the United States and of the State and had decided views as to the purposes of contitutional law. His individual peculiarities as a man and lawyer are well known and remembered. His standing and ability as a district judge are exceptional. He possessed the faculty of locating the ruling point in a law suit.
J. E. Frick, since 1881 until leaving Nebraska in 1897, was my partner in practice. He had taken up the law after being in business and after having learned and practiced a trade. He was a man of broad and very general information and a great reader. Mr. Frick had natural oratorical abilities in voice and appearance to a marked degree, and was the orator of the bar during his residence here. In Utah he gained the Supreme bench and is now a member of the Supreme Court and a candidate for re-election. Mr. Frick took naturally to the law and the comments among the lawyers reading his opinions as Supreme Judge leave no room to doubt that the people of Utah in his case have made no mistake.
D. M. Strong was an old resident of this county, and served as sheriff, from which office he graduated into the law. He was established at North Bend when I came and remained there until his death. He was the second member of the bar who never married, He was killed by an accident on a train at the station of Valley. His work was mostly that of counsel, but he had a legal mind and his analysis of a case for a self-taught man as he was, was remarkably good.
About 1883, Robert J. Stinson came to North Bend. He was a young man then, who had gained his education by great sacrifice, and he started in partnership with a man named Harry Clair, which was unfortunate · for him owing to the fact that Clair had imposed on him and on the people here and was in fact a criminal and extradited from the state afterwards. Mr. Stinson, about the year 1885, removed to Fremont, and entered the partnership of Judge Frick and myself and afterwards was in partnership with Grant G. Martin. Following this he was elected County Judge of Dodge County, and held that position until his death some eight years ago. Mr. Stinson came originally from New York, and
97
DODGE AND WASHINGTON COUNTIES
for years preceding his death was suffering from the disease which finally terminated fatally.
Grant G. Martin came to the county from one of the Dakotas about twenty years ago and remained a member of the bar until he took the position of deputy attorney general since which time he has lived in Lincoln. Mr. Martin held the position of county attorney for two terms, and following his position of deputy attorney general, became attorney general of the state, and has served as commissioner of the Supreme Court and is at present a candidate for Chief Justice.
During my time, Frank Fowler of Nye-Schneider-Fowler Company, and B. H. Dunham, now of Omaha, and Master in Chancery of the Federal Court, became members of the Dodge County bar, both study- ing in the office of Mr. Munger. Mr. Fowler was in the office of Mr. Munger during the partnership between Mr. Marlowe and Mr. Mun- ger in the early days, and after his admission to the bar took up a commercial career. Mr. Dunham moved to Omaha and served long years in the law offices of the Northwestern Road.
Waldo Wintersteen, the present County Judge, also became a member of the bar by studying law in a law office. He had been County Judge some years before his present term of service.
A. H. Briggs, an old resident of Dodge County, was a member of the Dodge County bar for many years. His family settled in the county in a very early day, and Mr. Briggs gained his education and at times had engaged in farming and in mercantile pursuits. He opened an office in Scribner, and finally moved to Fremont. He was elected County Judge of Dodge County and served in that office for two terms, and afterwards retired from law practice to a farm in the neighborhood of Cedar Rapids, Nebraska, where he now lives.
Henry Maxwell, son of Judge Samuel Maxwell, studied law and was for considerable time with Fred W. Vaughn, a member of the bar now, and afterwards removed to the City of Omaha, where he is still in practice.
A. Clark Records was admitted to the bar from study in the law office of Judge Hollenbeck but did not stay with the practice of the law.
Frederic W. Button, the present judge of the District Court, entered the practice of law in Dodge County with Judge Hollenbeck shortly before Judge Hollenbeck was elected to the district bench.
The foregoing, with members of the bar that are here now, con- stitute all the men which occur to my mind as having been connected with the practice of law in Dodge County since my coming here.
JUDGES OF THE DISTRICT COURT
It may not be amiss to refer to the men who have served as judges of the District Court. When I came in 1881, the late George W. Post, of York, Nebraska, was the judge. He was succeeded when a change was made in the district, by his brother, A. M. Post, of Columbus, who has the interesting record that after having quit the District bench thirty years he has again returned to it, and is now one of the judges of the District Court. William Marshall was made judge when the district was given two judges. J. J. Sullivan, formerly of Columbus, until his elevation to the Supreme Bench, served as District Judge. I. L. Albert, now of Columbus, Nebraska, served for a short time by appointment when Judge Hollenbeck was elected to the bench. After- wards for one term J. A. Grimson, of Schuyler, was one of the judges,
98
DODGE AND WASHINGTON COUNTIES
and he was followed by George H. Thomas, formerly of Schuyler, Nebraska, and now of Columbus, Nebraska.
I have not mentioned any of the present members of the bar of Dodge County, who are engaged in active practice, as it would not be deemed by me proper, nor do I take it, would it be acceptable to make comments upon the active members, for they have not yet passed into history and what might be said would be subject to misunderstanding and misconstruction.
The writer takes pardonable pride in having spent his professional life as a member of the Dodge County bar because of the membership of the bar and the kindly associations, and he takes great pride in the fact that the judges who have served upon the District Court of Dodge County and as county judges during his time have performed the functions of those high offices in a manner highly commendable in the administration of justice.
CHAPTER X
MEDICAL MEN OF THE COUNTY
FIRST AND SUBSEQUENT DOCTORS OF DODGE COUNTY-LIST OF PHYSI- CIANS-SHORT PERSONALS OF SOME OF THE COUNTY'S MEDICAL MEN -LIST OF PRESENT PHYSICIANS-THE DODGE COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY-HOSPITALS, ETC.
Ever since the dawn of civilization the "art of healing" as the work of a physician has long been called, has been foremost in the minds of intelligent men and women-especially is this true when the body is prostrate with some one of the numerous fevers-when the world looks dark and gloomy, and pain is constantly reminding the patient of a seri- ous illness. It is then, if not at other times, that men and women desire the care of a well-read and fully competent physician. They may, in full health, about the affairs of life, have spoken lightly of the family doctor and his medicine chest, of the theory of his particular school of medicine, but when languishing upon a bed of sickness, they take a different view of the physician and ask that he be sent for at once.
It should be remembered that the leading professions of the world have always been the doctor, the minister, the lawyer. These professions are of the higher and more dignified type of callings which men every- where respect and at some time during the short span of years have need for. True, not every doctor since Galen, has been competent and even honorable and trustworthy, but the exceptions are few, for our physi- cians in modern times must needs be intelligent, trained, thinking men and women, who realize they hold the lives of the community in their hands. Great advancement has been made in the science of medicine in the last half century. In surgery and dentistry the improvement in twenty-five years has been a marvel to all who stop and think of old treatments. Dodge County is old enough to have lived under "old fashioned" and newer doctors, and both classes have averaged with others in their times. :
DODGE COUNTY PHYSICIANS
As near as can now be ascertained the following comprises about all of the Dodge County physicians who have practiced for any considerahle period of time, since the earliest settlement, in the fifties :
Abbott, Luther J. Agee, James C. Anderson, Louis N. Atkinson, Ira E. J.
Barnes, Charles E. Bates, H. Y. Bear, Alexander Bell, Mrs. Nelly
Borglum, M. D. Buchanan, Albert E.
Burbank, F. L.
Braucht, F. E.
Brown, Nathan H.
Brown, Frank W.
Brunner, Henry
Byers, George A.
Byers, Samuel J. N. Byers, R. C.
99
·
100
DODGE AND WASHINGTON COUNTIES
Calkins, F. E. Capek, Ernest
Metzinger, J. J.
More, Z. N.
Colburn, C. L.
Morrow, H. N. Mullens, A. B.
Crabbs, J. H. Croll, Nercer B.
Crook, Charles V.
Nayel, Dr. Nieman, Gustav
Davies, William J. Davies, Rupert A.
Overgaard, Andrew P.
De Myers, Henry Devries, J. S.
Oxford, Edwin J. Oxford, Charles
Earhart, Dr. Eby, C. D.
Pederson, H. C.
Eigler, Charles O.
Porter, Dr. Preston, S. A.
Fees, Arthur W.
Geragosian, Vahn James Golding, D. G. Guidinger, W. A.
Richardson, Ira F. Robinson, Charles O.
Hardy, J. M.
Schemel, Karl
Harvey, Andrew
Schoettler, Dr.
Haslam, George J.
Seiver, Mrs. Charlotte
Hunter, Major H.
Sexton, T. C.
Sexton, Thomas C.
Inches, Charles
Smith, Leander, B.
Stratton, M. D.
Kinyoun, F. H.
Kirby, Lupper Knallenburg, W. H.
Townsend, Louis J. Turay, Charles E.
Leake, E. N.
Unlan, M. D.
Martin, E. W.
McDonald, Robert C.
McKnight, H. P.
Zellers, M. T.
PAST AND PRESENT PHYSICIANS OF DODGE COUNTY
It is always a difficult task to write the history of the medical pro- fession in any given locality, for the simple reason that the physician is usually too busy about the cares of his office and outside practice. to take sufficient time to record data that might in years to come be of invaluable service to the local historian, in treating on such a topic. Outside of short sketches, of now and then a prominent medical doctor. found in "Who's Who?" or similar publications, there is but little com- · piled concerning physicians until death and then their obituary notices are seldom long preserved, save by their own families. In this connection let it be stated that the writers and compilers of the History of Dodge and Washington Counties, have used every known effort, called upon well posted members of the profession, etc., for data relative to the men who have lived and practiced medicine in these counties, yet have been unable to secure much to make an interesting medical chapter.
Parchen, H. W.
Rathbun, G. H.
Reeder, Grant S.
Van Buren, E. Van Metre, Richard T.
101
DODGE AND WASHINGTON COUNTIES
However, that the names of such physicians as are recalled, with such notes as have been furnished the writer, the following incomplete list of the physicians and surgeons who have practiced here from an early day to 1920-some for a short time and others for a longer period- will be here given :
Doubtless the first physicians who treated the ill who lived in Dodge County, as now bounded, was a physician living at the Quincy Colony in Fontanelle, which is in Washington County now but then within Dodge The files of the Fremont "Tribune" give in their issue of July 24, 1868, the names of Drs. L. J. Abbott, J. H. Crabbs and Dr. Bear, practic- ing in Fremont then. It is believed there were but few ahead of them in this county. In a list furnished the writer by Dr. George J. Haslam, of Fremont, he gives it as his belief that the first physician in the city of Fremont was Doctor Stratton. Dr. Alexander Bear was about the same time, and later located at Norfolk, Nebraska. Other very early doctors in the county were: Doctors Schoettler, Earhart, Borglum, who moved to Omaha, Henry Brunner, who graduated at Wurzburg, Germany, prac- ticed there and at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, and in Iowa, after which he located in the practice at Fremont in the '50s. Dr. E. Van Buren moved to Hooper, practiced till death in July, 1881. Doctor Nayel, Doctor Porter, Doctor Unlan, Doctor Inches, a graduate of New York University Medical College, and is now practicing in Scribner.
Dr. J. H. Crabbs was among the first in Fremont and has been dead many years, as has also Dr. L. J. Abbott, above named ; he was appointed as superintendent of the State Insane Asylum at Lincoln and made an excellent man at the head of that great institution. Doctor Abbott was a rugged, strong, many-sided character and held numerous public posi- tions ; he was a member of the last Territorial Legislature and had to do with the formation of the State of Nebraska. He was the son of a doctor and was born in Blue Hills, Maine, September 15, 1831. He graduated from Ohio Medical College, spent two years in Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, from which school he received his diploma March 12, 1854. He commenced his medical practice with his father, at Troy, Ohio, continuing six years. In the autumn of 1860 he came to Douglas County, Nebraska, bought a claim in what is now Irvington. He developed his claim and practiced medicine at the same time. His chief business, however, was raising sheep, he being among the first in the Territory of Nebraska to engage in such an enterprise. He continued until 1866 when he sold and moved to Fontenelle, where he practiced two years, then located in Fremont. He was a pioneer doctor and had many professional drives more than fifty miles in length, up and down the Platte and Elkhorn valleys. He helped organize the first State Medical Society in 1868, and was its president in 1877. He was United States examining surgeon for pensions from 1871 to 1881; was inter- ested in educational affairs, member Fremont School Board; delivered able addresses at the corner-stone laying of the second courthouse of this county ; wrote an authentic "Centennial History" in 1876 of Dodge County, and was author of many able articles for the press.
Dr. George J. Haslam, still a leading practitioner in the City of Fre- mont, graduated from the University of Ireland, Dublin; member of the Royal College of Surgeons, England; B. S. Victoria University, Eng- land; F. R. C. S. and a member of the American College of Surgeons ; has practiced in Fremont since 1891; with Dr. L. J. Abbott founded the first hospital of Fremont. (See biographical sketch.) Doctor Has- lam is a member of the American Medical Association; surgeon to the
102
DODGE AND WASHINGTON COUNTIES
Chicago & Northwestern Railway, the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railway and the Union Pacific Railway at Fremont; is Medical director of the North American Life Insurance Company, Omaha; Lieutenant U. S. Army Medical Reserve ; is a thirty-second degree Mason.
Doctor Inches is a graduate of New York University College, and is now practicing at Scribner.
Dr. Leander B. Smith is a graduate of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, at Keokuk, Iowa; came to Fremont to practice in 1879; retired in 1913; is now the oldest continuous medical doctor in Dodge County ; never lost three weeks time for vacations.
Dr. William J. Davies; graduate of Rush Medical College, 1887; conducted a drug store in Fremont twenty-five years; commenced the practice of medicine in 1887.
Dr. J. S. Devries, a graduate of the University of Nebraska; came to Fremont in 1888; in 1897 moved to Fontenelle and in 1903 back to Fremont ; took post-graduate course at Jefferson Medical College, Phila- delphia ; in 1918 took a post-graduate course in New York.
Dr. M. T. Zellers, of Hooper, is among the pioneer physicians of this county, having settled in Hooper about 1890, and is still in practice there. He is a graduate of Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio. (See biography.)
Dr. Ira E. J. Atkinson practiced in this county for a time, moved first to Dodge Village and later to Lincoln.
Dr. E. W. Martin graduated at Cincinnati Medical College, 1881 ; first practiced five years in Kentucky ; came to Fremont in 1886; belongs to the various medical societies and associations; still in practice in Fremont.
Dr. C. L. Colburn practiced here in the nineties, later moved to California and is now deceased.
Dr. N. H. Brown, deceased.
Dr. T. C. Sexton, graduate Washington University School of Medi- cine, Baltimore, Maryland.
Dr. H. W. Parchen, graduate of Northwestern Medical College, St. Joseph ; practiced here at one time and is now practicing at Hoskins, Nebraska.
Dr. Nercer B. Croll left this county for Omaha, practiced there, but is now deceased.
Dr. E. N. Leake, graduate of New York Homeopathic Medical Col- lege ; also of Flower Hospital, New York. (See biography in this work.)
Dr. Nellie Bell, graduate of Kansas City Homeopathic Medical College in 1895.
Dr. Charles Oxford moved from this county to Omaha, where he died.
Dr. Charles O. Eigler moved from this county to Denver, Colorado.
Dr. J. J. Metzinger, graduate of University of Iowa ; Iowa College of Homeopathy, Iowa City, 1899; came to Fremont in 1900; member of the various medical societies ; has been president of the county society. Dr. Andrew P. Overgaard, University of Nebraska ; College of Medi- cine, Omaha ; practiced for a time here and later removed to Omaha.
Dr. Frank W. Brown after a short practice here moved to Omaha.
Dr. F. E. Calkins, graduate of State University of Iowa; College of Homeopathy, Iowa City, 1899 ; practiced at Hill City, South Dakota. to 1902, then came to Fremont.
Dr. Ira F. Richardson, graduate of Southwest School of Medicine and Hospital, Kansas City.
103
DODGE AND WASHINGTON COUNTIES
Dr. Arthur W. Fees removed from this county to Blair and later entered practice at Omaha.
Dr. Lupper Kirby moved from this county to Fort Kearney.
Dr. Ernest Capek, formerly of Dodge County, is now practicing in Schuyler.
Dr. D. G. Golding, graduate Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, now resides in California.
Dr. S. A. Preston, University of Nebraska; College of Medicine, Omaha ; came to Fremont in 1908; belongs to various medical societies ; was railway surgeon at Howells, Nebraska, six years; also contract sur- geon for the United States Steel Company, in Michigan.
Dr. L. J. Townsend, a graduate of Rush Medical College, Chicago, practiced here for a time but is now at Sioux City, Iowa.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.