USA > Nebraska > Douglas County > Omaha > Omaha: the Gate city, and Douglas County, Nebraska, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume I > Part 45
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Dr. Gilbert C. Monell, who came to Omaha in 1857, was born in Orange County, N. Y., October 20, 1816. At the age of nineteen years he graduated at Union College, Schenectady, N. Y., and immediately began the study of medicine. In 1836 he married Miss Lucinda Carpenter and a little later received the degree of M. D. from a New York medical college. For nearly twenty years he was engaged in practice in the East. In 1857 he came to Omaha, with the intention of returning to New York, but changed his mind and became a permanent resident. He was elected a member of the city council in 1860; was
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'y health officer in 1864; was a member of the first Omaha Medical Society, I was one o' the first executive committee of the State Institute for the Deaf " Dumb. He purchased the Omaha Republican soon after it was started in 38, and in 1859 was associated with W. N. Byers in founding the Rocky ountain New?'at Denver. In that year he served on the Omaha school board. About 1866 he became the owner of the Herndon House, which he sold to the Union Pacific Railroad Company for a general office building. As early as 1857 he and his son, John J. Monell, were associated in business as bankers and land agents, and about 1870 Doctor Monell retired from practice to look after his property interests. He died at Detroit, Mich., September 29, 1881, while visit- ing relatives there. His daughter was the wife of P. W. Hitchcock.
Another physician who located in Omaha in 1857 was Dr. William McClel- land. He was one of the first doctors to use a buggy in visiting his patients and the first set of light buggy harness ever made in Omaha was made for hini by David T. Mount. Doctor McClelland was one of the surgeons of the Pawnee expedition of 1859. In 1862 he succeeded Dr. James H. Seymour as surgeon of the First Nebraska Infantry and served in that capacity until the regiment was mustered out. He was one of the early members of Capitol Lodge, No. 3. Free and Accepted Masons, and a charter member of the first Omaha Medical Society. His death occurred a few years after the Civil war.
Dr. J. R. Conkling was also at Omaha in early days. In 1865 he was elected coroner of Douglas County ; was city health officer of Omaha from 1865 to 1868; was a charter member of the first Omaha Medical Society; was again elected coroner in 1871, and ten years later was county physician. After many years of active practice he retired.
Between the years 1865 and 1870 quite a number of physicians came to Omaha with the tide of immigration that followed the war. Most of them were young men, who had served in the army during the war as assistant surgeons, hospital stewards, etc., completed their medical education after the army was disbanded, and in casting about for a location selected Nebraska. Among the first to come were Dr. I. N. Rippey and Dr. Richard C. Moore, who arrived in the fall of 1865. Doctor Rippey was the first treasurer of the medical society organized about a year after he came to Nebraska.
Dr. Richard C. Moore was born at Quincy, Ill., November 25, 1841. Hc attended St. Paul's College at Palmyra, Mo., after which he entered the Chicago Medical College. Before completing the course in that institution he was made acting assistant surgeon in the army and placed on the hospital steamers on the Mississippi River. Later he was stationed at the hospital at Memphis, Tenn. At the close of the war he returned to college, graduated with the class of 1865, and upon coming to Omaha he became a partner of Dr. J. P. Peck. He was a charter member of the first medical society ever organized in Douglas County ; a member of every subsequent medical organization; was at one time vice presi- dent of the American Medical Association; held the chair of physiology and histology in the Omaha Medical College when it was organized in 1869; was afterward professor of materia medica and therapeutics in the same institution ; and at the time of his death in January, 1916, he was the oldest resident practic- ing physician in Omaha.
A list of the physicians in 1866 includes the names of George Tilden, S. D.
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Mercer. J. H. Peabody, C. H. Pinney, Augustus Roeder, L. F. Babcock and E. H. Den. Doctor Tilden was still living in the spring of 1916, though not in active practice. Doctor Mercer was a native of Marion County, Ill .; was a student in the medical department of the University of Michigan and graduated in the chemical laboratory there; was made assistant surgeon of the One Hundred and Forty-ninth Illinois Infantry ; after the war graduated at the Berkshire Medi- cal College in Massachusetts in 1866 and came direct to Omaha.
Dr. J. H. Peabody was stationed at Omaha as an army surgeon in 1863, when he first became acquainted with the city, and at the close of the war became a resident. He was the first treasurer of the Omaha Medical Society; later secre- tary of the reorganized society ; was a charter member and second vice president of the Omaha Academy of Medicine organized in 1888, and stood high among the members of the profession.
Dr. C. H. Pinney was elected coroner of Douglas County in 1867; owned a fine farm about six miles west of Omaha; was a charter member of the first Omaha Medical Society, and was a member of the faculty of the first school of medicine ever organized in Nebraska-the Omaha Medical College. Dr. Augustus Roeder conducted a drug store in connection with his practice, and little can be learned concerning Dr. L. F. Babcock and Dr. E. H. Den.
Dr. Jacob C. Denise, who came to Omaha in 1867, was born in Montgomery County, Ohio, December 3, 1828. He graduated at the Jefferson Medical Col- lege, Philadelphia, Pa., in 1855, and practiced at Dayton, Ohio, until August, 1861, when he was made assistant surgeon of the Twenty-seventh Ohio Infantry. In 1863 he was promoted to regimental surgeon and after the war was in charge of the Ohio Soldiers' Home at Columbus until he resigned to come to Omaha. In 1867 he was made county physician and held the office until 1871, though from 1869 to 1872 he was receiver of the land office at Grand Island under President Grant's administration. In 1872 he was appointed physician to the State Institute for the Deaf and Dumb at Omaha. He was one of the organizers of the Omaha Medical College, in which he was the first professor of medical and surgical diseases of women; was a member of the State Medical Society and was at one time editor of the Omaha Clinic-the first medical journal published in the city. During the last years of his practice he was a specialist in diseases of the eye and ear.
Dr. Victor H. Coffman, another physician who came to Omaha in 1867, was born near Zanesville, Ohio, September 10, 1839. When he was about fourteen years old his parents removed to Indianola, Iowa. After attending the Iowa Wesleyan University at Mount Pleasant until his senior year, he left school and took up the study of medicine with Dr. C. W. Davis. In 1859 he entered the Chicago Medical College and took two courses of lectures, when the war broke out and he was commissioned assistant surgeon of the Thirty-fourth Iowa Infan- try. He was a charter member of the present Omaha Medical Society and at one time held the chair of obstetrics and diseases of women and children in the Omaha Medical College.
Among the physicians who began practice in Douglas County during the 'Tos and '80s were the following: G. A. Arbuckle, George B. Ayres, C. M. G. Biart, W. O. Bridges, Ewing Brown, D. C. Bryant, James Carter, W. H. Christie, R. W. Colville, B. F. Crummer, Eleanor S. Dailey, J. S. Deories (county phy-
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sician in 1887), Harvey Durham, A. W. Edmiston, William H. Galbraith, Clark Gapen (city health officer in 1889), W. S. Gibbs (county physician in 1885), Harold Gifford, Robert Gilmore, A. P. Ginn, L. B. Grady, Paul Grossmann, C. P. Harrigan, Oscar Hoffman, M. A. Hughes, H. W. Hyde, H. P. Jensen, John C. Jones, P. S. Keogh (county physician in 1889), E. A. Kelly, W. G. Kemper, P. S. Leisenring (city health officer from 1879 to 1887), Harvey Link, J. P. Lord, W. L. McClannahan, L. F. McKenna, L. A. Merriam, W. F. Milroy, A. A. Parker, John D. Peabody (county physician in 1883), J. F. Presnell, Joseph Quinlan (county physician front 1877 to 1881), J. B. Ralph (city health officer in 1887), M. A. Rebert, W. C. Reeves, A. W. Riley, Charles Rosewater, W. L. Ross, Joseph W. Search, W. H. Slabaugh, A. B. Somers (city health officer in 1891), J. E. Summers, J. M. Swetnam, J. H. Vance, H. C. Van Gieson, E. E. Womersley and J. M. Woodburn. Some of these physicians are still engaged in practice, while others have joined the silent majority.
MEDICAL SOCIETIES
As early as 1858 a few of the practicing physicians of Douglas County got together and adopted a fee bill for their mutual protection. At that time the subject of a county medical society was informally discussed, but no definite action along that line was taken until some eight years later. On June 14, 1866, a meeting was held in response to a call issued by a few of the doctors. Dr. Enos Lowe was chosen chairman and Dr. I. N. Rippey acted as secretary. The fol- lowing preamble and resolution were unanimously adopted :
"Whereas, the regular practitioners of medicine in the City of Omaha, Neb., feel the importance of some organization for the advancement and promotion of medical science, as well as for the mutual protection and welfare of its members; be it
"Resolved, that we, the undersigned, do agree to form among ourselves (and the regular practitioners of medicine who may from time to time be admitted ) an association to be known as the Omaha Medical Society, of Omaha."
The attendance was so small that, after the adoption of the resolution, it was decided to adjourn to the ist of August, each one present being requested to "work up as much interest as possible." When the adjourned meeting as- sembled the following physicians signed the membership roll: L. F. Babcock, J. R. Conkling, E. H. Den, Enos Lowe, William McClelland, S. D. Mercer, C. G. Monell, R. C. Moore, J. H. Peabody, J. P. Peck, C. H. Pinney, I. N. Rippey and Augustus Roeder. A constitution was adopted, but the election of officers was postponed until November 12, 1866, when the following were chosen: Dr. J. P. Peck, president ; Dr. Augustus Roeder, vice president ; Dr. I. N. Rippey, secre- tary ; Dr. J. H. Peabody, treasurer. A few new members were admitted at that meeting and on December 17, 1866, a fee bill was adopted which remained the basis of charges for professional services long after the society was disbanded in 1881.
A special meeting of the society was held on February 12, 1868, for the purpose of preparing a formal request to the district judge for the body of Ott- way G. Baker, who was to be hanged on the 14th. A committee called upon the judge and presented the request, which was granted, but the Catholic priest
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who was Baker's spiritual adviser entered such a vigorous protest that the order was revoked. The committee which had made the request submitted a full report of the affair to a meeting of the society on the 24th, ten days after the execution, and a resolution was adopted condemning the action of the judge and severely criticizing the priest. About a month later the society voted $25 to defray expenses incurred by certain members (in what manner is not stated), "on con- dition that a certain skeleton shall, as soon as may be convenient, be turned over to this society." Was that skeleton the skeleton of Baker?
After this society went down in 1881, owing to dissensions and a general lack of interest in its work, the city was without a medical organization for about two years. On the evening of April 11, 1883, Drs. George B. Ayres, James Carter, J. B. Ralph and J. M. Swetnam met in the parlors of the Creighton House and issued a call for the physicians of Douglas County to meet at the Millard Hotel on April 18, 1883, for the purpose of organizing a county medical society. In response to the call twenty-eight physicians met at the appointed time and place and organized the Douglas County Medical Society by the election of the following officers: Dr. Harvey Link, president ; Dr. J. M. Swetnam, first vice president ; Dr. J. H. Peabody, second vice president ; Dr. James Carter, secre- tary ; Dr. L. B. Graddy, treasurer ; Drs. George B. Ayres, J. B. Ralph, L. A. Mer- riam, R. C. Moore and A. A. Parker, censors.
In the spring of 1884 the Nebraska State Medical Society held its annual meeting in Omaha and was entertained by the local society. This stimulated inter- est and a number of new members came in. But, as frequently happens with such organizations, many of the members lost interest in its welfare. An attempt was made to disband the society in May, 1886, but it struggled along for about a year after that, the last meeting having been held on March 1, 1887.
Following the Douglas County Medical Society came the Omaha Medical Club, which was organized on January 4, 1888. The fundamental principle of this organization was that it was organized for scientific work only, all discus- sion of professional ethics, etc., to be barred. Any reputable graduate of a regular medical school was eligible for admission, but to become a full-fledged member he was required to "read a paper before the club upon some subject relating to the practice of medicine." The largest membership of the club dur- ing the two years of its existence was twenty-five.
Physicians who did not belong to the Medical Club, seemed to have the opinion that it was too aristocratic, and organized as a rival the Omaha Academy of Medicine, the first meeting of which was held in May, 1888. D. C. Bryant was the first president ; George B. Ayres, first vice president ; James H. Peabody, second vice president ; C. P. Harrigan, secretary, and Ewing Brown, treasurer. The society was modeled after the New York Academy of Medicine and the membership was limited to thirty.
Neither the Omaha Medical Club nor the Academy of Medicine was organized upon a basis to insure a long tenure of life, and by 1890 they had "run their alloted span." Their limited and exclusive membership did not appeal to the gen- eral run of the doctors, who wanted a medical society of broader scope-one "that might include within its membership every practitioner who deserved to be recognized as regular and reputable." Consequently, early in 1890, a few doctors took the initial step toward the organization of such a society by sending
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out postal cards to physicians announcing a meeting at the Paxton Hotel on March 18, 1890. At that meeting about sixty-five physicians were present. Dr. B. F. Crummer was called to the chair and Dr. Charles Rosewater was elected secre- tary. Some general discussion as to what the society ought to be was followed by the appointment of a committee to draft a constitution and by-laws, after which the meeting adjourned to meet on the 25th. At the second meeting the constitution and by-laws were adopted and the following officers were elected : Dr. W. F. Milroy, president ; Dr. B. F. Crummer, first vice president ; Dr. A. F. Jonas, second vice president; Dr. Charles Rosewater, secretary ; Dr. S. K. Spaulding, treasurer; Drs. D. C. Bryant, W. H. Christie and J. P. Lord, censors. That was the beginning of the present Omaha Medical Society, concerning which Dr. W. F. Milroy, the first president, afterward said:
"The plan of this organization is simple, yet comprehensive, and it would seem that the time has come when the profession of medicine in Omaha is big enough, in respect both to numbers and spirit, to frown down effectually any internal convulsions that may threaten to disrupt the new society ; that there are, in other words, enough physicians among its members who place in higher esti- mation their divine art than the prosecution of personal animosities. Thus, there may be a grand future in store for this new association."
After a lapse of more than a quarter of a century, it would seem that Dotcor Milroy was right in his predictions. The organization adopted the name of "Omaha-Douglas County Medical Society," and admits to its membership any reputable regular physician. Soon after the society was formed, it took an active part in securing the enactment and enforcement of the medical law of 1891, and it has been equally active in urging better sanitary conditions as pre- caution against epidemics of infectious or contagious diseases. It is affiliated with the State Medical Society and the American Medical Association, and it is worthy of note in this connection that Dr. W. F. Milroy was elected president of the State Medical Society in 1916.
The society has a hall of its own, on the sixteenth floor of the City National Bank Building, where regular meetings are held on the second and fourth Tues- days of each month. Usually the program consists of three papers pertaining to some subject connected with the practice of medicine, but before the regular program is introduced, clinical cases and specimens are examined and discussed. For some time it has been the custom to have some physician of national repu- tation address the society. It is not always easy for doctors to leave their prac- tice to attend a meeting of the society, but the American Medical Association is authority for the statement that, during the year 1915, the average attendance. in proportion to membership, was larger in the meetings of the Omaha-Douglas County Medical Society than in any other county or city society in the United States. On the second Tuesday in December is held the annual meeting, when officers are elected for the ensuing year. At the election in December, 1915, Dr. . C. A. Hull was chosen president; J. H. Vance, vice president ; Dr. R. A. Dodge, secretary and treasurer. The annual meeting is a "good fellowship meeting" and is followed by a dinner. On August 1. 1916, the society numbered 224 members. The society has a medical library of some eight hundred volumes, which is now with the University of Nebraska College of Medicine.
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MEDICAL SCHOOLS
The first school of medicine in the State of Nebraska was organized in the spring of 1869. It was located in the City of Omaha and was incorporated under the name of the Omaha Medical College. The first board of trustees was com- posed of Drs. J. P. Peck, S. D. Mercer, J. C. Denise, H. P. Mathewson and J. H. Peabody. The date of the incorporation was May 22, 1869, and preparations were made for opening in the fall with the several chairs occupied as follows : Dr. H. P. Mathewson, descriptive and surgical anatomy ; Dr. Richard C. Moore, physiology and histology; Dr. S. D. Mercer, principles and practice of surgery and clinical surgery ; Dr. J. P. Peck, principles and practice of medicine and clinical medicine; Dr. J. H. Peabody, materia medica and therapeutics; Dr. George Tilden, chemistry and toxicology; Dr. V. H. Coffman, obstetrics and puerperal diseases of women and children; Dr. C. H. Pinney, general pathology and morbid anatomy ; Dr. J. C. Denise, medical and surgical diseases of women ; James W. Savage, medical jurisprudence.
Says Dr. W. F. Milroy: "A good deal of work was done by the trustees in arranging the preliminary details looking to the opening of the college; but owing to various obstacles in the way and a growing feeling among those thus occupied that the enterprise was premature, it was abandoned."
The Nebraska School of Medicine was organized in 1880, when its projectors issued the following statement :
"It is the mature judgment of our leading physicians, as well as prominent citizens of other business pursuits, that the time has arrived for the establishment of a medical school in our state. After deliberate consultation as to our demands and the available means of conducting such an enterprise, the school has been organized under the name and title of the Nebraska School of Medicine, and located at Omaha, a city of upwards of 32,000 inhabitants and growing rapidly, supported by a state with 500,000 people, and with well established commercial relations existing between it and adjoining states and territories.
"The school for the present will be preparatory simply, but the instruction given will be thorough in all branches. Each chair will be represented by a man of experience and ability in his department. A number of eastern schools of medicine have established graded courses and allow students who are far enough advanced to enter higher classes; hence, students in the West can attend our school for one or two terms and then be admitted to advanced classes of other schools, when their proficiency will warrant such advancement."
The school opened with fourteen students, two of whom were women, and the first faculty was composed of Drs. R. R. Livingston, S. D. Mercer, A. S. Mans- felde, George B. Ayres, J. C. Denise, P. S. Leisenring, R. C. Moore and W. S. Gibbs. The course of instruction included didactic, clinical and practical work and the school continued in session for twenty weeks-a modest opening. but full of promise for the future.
In the spring of 1881, at the request of those interested in the establishment of the Nebraska School of Medicine, the stockholders of the old Omaha Medical College of 1869 surrendered their charter and the name "Omaha Medical College" was assumed by the new institution. It was incorporated under that name on June 14, 1881, and opened with the following faculty: Dr. R. R. Livingston,
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principles and practice of surgery ; Dr. Victor H. Coffman, principles and practice of medicine; Dr. George B. Ayres, descriptive and surgical anatomy ; Dr. S. D. Mercer, clinical surgery ; Dr. P. S. Leisenring, obstetrics and diseases of women ; Dr. G. H. Peebles, diseases of children ; Dr. J. C. Denise, physiology, opthalmology and otology; Dr. Richard C. Moore, materia medica and therapeutics; Dr. A. S. Mansfelde, histology and general pathology; Dr. James Carter, chemistry and toxicology; Dr. H. P. Mathewson, diseases of the mind; Dr. W. S. Gibbs, demonstrator of anatomy ; John C. Cowin, lecturer on Medical jurisprudence.
The next step was to procure a home for the college. Two lots, located at the intersection of Eleventh and Mason streets, were purchased and a building of modest dimensions was erected at a cost of $4.500. In 1887 the college building was removed to the corner of Twelfth and Pacific streets and another story was added, giving a more imposing appearance and greatly increasing its facilities.
Soon after the college was founded, it was discovered that the most serious obstacle in the way of success was the lack of suitable clinical material. Being situated on the property adjoining St. Joseph's Hospital, arrangements were made with that institution by which the students of the medical college were admitted to the wards of the hospital. At that time the hospital accommodations of Omaha were rather limited in character, but in more recent years conditions have been much improved, so that the Omaha Medical College now has ample clinical facilities for its classes.
For some time the college, being a part of the University of Nebraska, gave the first two years of the course at the State University at Lincoln and the last two at the college building in Omaha. In 1912 a new building was erected and equipped with all modern appliances usually to be found in the best appointed medical colleges, and since then the entire four years' course has been given in Omaha. A school of pharmacy has also been established in connection with the school of medicine.
Numerous changes have occurred in the faculty since the college was estab- lished in 1880. The last published catalogue and bulletin of the University of Nebraska ( for the year 1914-15) shows the following members of the faculty at that time: Dr. Willson O. Bridges, dean of the college, professor of principles and practice of medicine and clinical medicine ; Dr. Irving S. Cutter, secretary of the faculty, professor of medical chemistry and director of the laboratories; Dr. Charles W. McC. Poynter, anatomy; Dr. August E. Guenther, physiology ; Dr. William A. Willard, histology and embryology; Dr. Oscar T. Schultz, pathology and bacteriology ; Dr. James D. Pilcher, pharmacology; Dr. Harold Gifford, ophthalmology and otology ; Dr. William F. Milroy, clinical medicine and physical diagnosis; Dr. Byron B. Davis, principles of surgery and clinical surgery ; Dr. August F. Jones, practice of surgery and clinical surgery ; Dr. John E. Summers, clinical surgery ; Dr. Harry M. McClanahan, pediatrics; Dr. Frank S. Owen, laryngology and rhinology; Dr. Andrew B. Somers, obstetrics; Dr. Solon R. Towne, hygiene and state medicine; Dr. Joseph M. Aikin, nervous and mental diseases ; Dr. Palmer Findley, gynecology ; Dr. Alfred Schalek, dermatology ; Dr. Leroy Crummer; clinical medicine ; Dr. John P. Lord, orthopedics. In addition to these twenty-one professors, there are fifty associate professors, assistant instructors, or aids in the laboratories or the free dispensary that is conducted
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