USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > Concord > History of Concord, New Hampshire, from the original grant in seventeen hundred and twenty-five to the opening of the twentieth century, Volume II > Part 28
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Still another benefactress of the asylum was Mrs. Peggy Fuller, of Francestown, from whose estate it received, in 1862-'63, the sum of eighteen hundred and fourteen dollars and forty-two cents.
In 1862 the institution received from the executors of the will of Mrs. Fanny S. Sherman, of Exeter, a lady of great excellence of character, a legacy of five thousand dollars, the annual income of which is, by her direction, given to indigent patients, to assist them in paying the necessary expenses of their support, and is the first bequest ever received by the asylum to which any particular direction has been attached by the donor. Some five years later the sum of two hundred and two dollars and ten cents was paid to the asylum by his executors, as a legacy of Horace Hall, of Charlestown.
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HISTORY OF CONCORD.
The largest bequest ever made to the asylum was the munificent one of Moody Kent, who died in 1866. Having watched its prog- ress with great interest for a long series of years, he left to it, at his decease, the residue of his property, after the payment of numer- ous legacies to relatives and friends. From his estate the institution received about one hundred and fifty thousand dollars (one hundred and forty-nine thousand four hundred and forty-four dollars), which sum, increased by a small addition derived from accrued interest, now constitutes the present Kent fund of one hundred and fifty thou- sand dollars.
The Reverend Charles Burroughs, D. D., of Portsmouth, who, for about thirteen years, had held the office of president of the board of trustecs, left at his decease, in March, 1868, as an evidence of his deep interest in the asylum, a bequest of one thousand dollars, to be paid to the institution at the close of the life of Mrs. Burrouglis.
Isaac Adams, of Sandwich, after having served the institution for several years with signal ability as one of its trustees, upon retiring from the board, in 1868, accompanied his resignation with the liberal gift of one thousand dollars, requesting that the interest might be expended in affording means of indoor recreation to male patients so situated as to be deprived of it in the open air. The income of this fund, which now amounts to three thousand dollars, is used as the founda- tion of active measures to secure the important result suggested by its donor.
In 1872 John Conant, of Jaffrey, the constructing agent of the first asylum buildings, for many years a member of its board of trus- tees, and for six years its president, gave expression to a deep inter- est long entertained for the institution by a generous donation of six thousand dollars, as an addition to its permanent funds.
The third on the list of female patrons of the institution stands the name of Miss Arabella Ricc, of Portsmouth, who died in 1872 and left to it a legacy of twenty thousand dollars as a proof of her deep interest in its welfare and in that of the unfortunate class to whom it ministers.
Isaac Spalding, of Nashua, for many years a member of the board of its trustees, and from 1868 to 1875 its president, died the latter year, leaving to the asylum a legacy of ten thousand dollars as his contribution to its permanent funds.
In 1883 thic asylum received a legacy of one thousand dollars from the estate of Miss II. Louise Penhallow, of Portsmouth. In 1885, another of one hundred dollars was received from the estate of Mrs. Rhoda C. Piper, of Hanover, and, in 1886, still another of five hun- dred, from that of Mrs. Betscy S. Smith, of New Ipswich.
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NEW HAMPSHIRE STATE HOSPITAL.
In 1891 Mrs. Abigail B. Walker, a lifelong resident of Concord, died, leaving to the asylum a legacy of fifteen thousand dollars. Two years later it received from the estate of Abial A. Low, of Brooklyn, N. Y., a bequest of five thousand dollars, conditioned upon the support for life of an aged patient in whose welfare he had long manifested a deep interest. The last permanent fund received by the institution was a small one of two hundred dollars received from the sale of a spring on Rum hill, in Concord, whose use had been long superseded by water from another source.
These funds, twenty in number, amounted on the first day of October, 1899, to three hundred and one thousand eight hundred and eighty-one dollars and ninety-two cents. Their annual income, amounting to not far from fifteen thousand dollars, is mostly devoted to the aid of indigent patients and the procuring of such remedial agencies as the needs of the asylum, from time to time, require.
The settled purpose of the trustees as to each of these funds and to every other which may hereafter be given to the asylum, amount- ing to one hundred dollars or over, unless otherwise ordered by the donor, is to maintain the principal thereof intact, and so to expend the income, from time to time accruing, as the greatest good of the patients and of the asylum shall suggest. The following vote of the trustees, regulating their purpose in this regard, presents more in detail the rules by which they are governed :
" All funds amounting to one hundred dollars and upwards which have heretofore been or which may hereafter be given to the New Hampshire Asylum for the Insane shall, unless otherwise ordered by the donors, be entered upon the books of the financial agent as per- manent funds, with the surnames of the donors attached to each, and be forever kept intact. The income of each shall be expended from time to time, in accordance with the conditions upon which it was given, or, in the absence of conditions, in such manner as the trus- tees shall deem to be for the highest interest of the asylum and its patients."
Mention has been made of some of the asylum's earliest friends. Very prominent among them were Miss Catharine Fisk and Charles H. Peaslee.
The former was the principal of a young ladies' school in Keene, and a woman of large heart and good sense, who died in 1837. Foreseeing that success would, sooner or later, crown the efforts being made for the benefit of an unfortunate elass of persons for whose sufferings she felt a deep sympathy, she left her entire estate, temporarily charged with certain annuities, to the first hospital for the insane which should be established in New Hampshire. Hers
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HISTORY OF CONCORD.
was the first bequest made to the asylum, and now constitutes, with a single exception, its largest permanent fund.
During the protracted efforts put forth in the legislature by the friends of the insane to induce the state to co-operate with benevo- lent individuals who were ready to aid in measures to promote their welfare, General Peaslee stood most prominent, primus inter pares, in the circle of his associates. At no less than five successive sessions of the legislature he did his utmost to secure the establishment of an asylum by the state at which this unfortunate class of its citizens might receive the care of which they were in desperate need.
Indeed, never since its establishment, sixty years ago, has the asylum been in want of devoted and influential friends. Upon the roll of these are found the names of some of the foremost men of the state: of ex-President Pierce ; of ex-Governors Hill, Steele, Berry, and Goodwin; of Amos Twitchell, William Perry, Carlton P. Frost, and George B. Twitchell, all eminent in and without New Hampshire as members of the medical profession ; of Ichabod Bart- lett, Charles H. Atherton, Josiah Quincy, John P. Hale, William Plumer, George B. Upham, George W. Haven, Samuel E. Coues, Charles Burroughs, Isaac Spalding, Dexter Richards, and of many others equally worthy of mention.
In order to elevate the morale and increase the efficiency of the attendant force in the wards, a school for the instruction of nurses in service at the asylum was established in 1888, which has since graduated ten classes. Its course of study extends through two years, and is accompanied by examinations and illustrated by lectures by the faculty of the school. Certificates of graduation, signed by officers of the asylum, are awarded to such members of the school as have satisfactorily passed the prescribed examination at the close of the course.
During the session of the legislature in 1897, a question was raised in the house of representatives as to the ownership of the asylum, and it was referred to the committee on the judiciary. This committee subsequently reported that :
There is no doubt in the mind of the committee that by the terms of this act and the subsequent action of the trustees thereunder, the property and all interests of the New Hampshire Asylum for the Insane became invested in the state as completely and irrevocably as "though the original charter had created a state asylum.
At its next session (1899) the legislature submitted to the supreme court similar inquiries, in the form of definite interrogatories, to which the court made reply, in part, as follows :
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NEW HAMPSHIRE STATE HOSPITAL.
1. Who owns the real estate in Concord occupied by the New Hampshire Asylum for the Insane, and is the title a fee-simple, sim- ple, or charged with a trust ?
Answer. The nominal title to the property is in the corporation known as the New Hampshire Asylum for the Insane, and the state, being the only member of the corporation, is the real owner.
The asylum has accommodations for about four hundred patients, and in constant residence about one third of all the insane in the state.
It has been in operation about sixty years, being one of the older institutions of the kind in the United States. Up to the close of its last financial year (September 30, 1902) it had treated seven thou- sand seven hundred and thirty-three patients, of which number two thousand five hundred and fifty-five, or thirty-three per cent., had been discharged as recovered.
Its curative agencies have always been maintained abreast of the best of the time being, and to this fact is due, in a large degree, the high rank which it enjoys among the kindred institutions of this country. This is also due in some measure to the fact that it has met a want felt long before its organization, and which must forever exist.
CHAPTER XXV.
THE MARGARET PILLSBURY GENERAL HOSPITAL.
JAMES O. LYFORD.
To the zeal and energy of Dr. Shadrach C. Morrill is due the establishment of the first hospital of Concord, which was the first general hospital of the state. He went among his friends and secured pledges of money before active steps were taken to organize the hospital association, and when the nucleus of a sufficient sum had been promised, the first meeting was called of citizens interested in the subject. This was held July 3, 1884; and at a subsequent meet- ing the following associates were organized under the general laws:
Shadrach C. Morrill, Samuel C. Eastman, Granville P. Conn, Par- sons B. Cogswell, Charles R. Walker, John A. White, Franklin Low, Francis L. Abbot, Mrs. Mary Stearns, Henry Bedinger, George Cook, Oliver Pillsbury, Joseph C. A. Hill, Julia Wallace-Russell, Waldo A. Russell, William Abbott, Rufus P. Staniels, Jesse P. Bancroft, Joseph B. Walker, and Henry J. Crippen.
These associates were known as the Hospital association, and they chose the following officers and trustees: President, Oliver Pills- bury; clerk, Francis L. Abbot; treasurer, William F. Thayer; trustees, for one year, Henry J. Crippen, Parsons B. Cogswell, Mrs. Elizabeth P. Schütz; for two years, John A. White, Joseph C. A. Hill, Mrs. Frances C. Stevens ; for three years, Samuel C. Eastman, Mrs. Mary Stearns, Mrs. Lydia F. Lund.
A committee was appointed to select a suitable location. This committee fixed upon the Bowers house, situated at the corner of Allison and Turnpike streets, and such location was ratified by the trustces. A lcase of the premises was taken for the term of two years from October 1, 1884, with an option of buying at any time during the lease for the sum of six thousand dollars. Necessary alterations were made, and on October 20 the hospital was opened. Before the first report of the hospital, January 27, 1885, nine patients were admitted for treatment, of which number four were surgical cases. The permanent employees of the hospital at this date were the matron, a nurse, and one domestic. The contributions up to the time of the first report were three thousand ninety dollars and seventy-four cents, nearly all of which were in response to the
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THE MARGARET PILLSBURY GENERAL HOSPITAL.
personal appeals of Dr. Morrill. The first medical staff was organ- ized from among the physicians interested in the project, as follows :
Attending physicians : Granville P. Conn, Moses W. Russell, Fer- dinand A. Stillings, Charles R. Walker, Shadrach C. Morrill, Albert H. Crosby.
Assistants : George Cook, Herbert C. Cummings, Dennis E. Sulli- van, Henry M. French, Albion P. Chesley, Thomas Hiland.
Consulting physicians: Jesse P. Bancroft, William G. Carter, Charles P. Gage, Edward E. Graves, Julia Wallacc-Russell.
The services of the medical staff have from the first been gratui- tous, and it is not too much to say that no part of their professional work has been more conscientiously performed. The calendar year is divided into quarters, to each of which is assigned a surgeon and a physician, whose duty it is to visit the hospital daily. The associate staff has since been enlarged by the appointment of phy- sicians from no less than twenty towns of the state whose nearest hospital facilities are the capital of the state. The trustees also have a visiting committee, whose term of service is two months for each inember.
During the first full year of the hospital, from January, 1885, to January, 1886, the city government made an appropriation for the support of two free beds. This appropriation was nine hundred dol- lars, which was continued for the following year, and then increased to one thousand two hundred dollars, to be continued at that sum until 1892, when it was further increased to two thousand dollars, which has been the annual appropriation since.
The first endowments of the hospital were those of Benjamin F. Caldwell, Mrs. Jane A. Eames, and Mrs. Julia A. Whitcher; and subsequent gifts and bequests by Mrs. Pillsbury and others have increased the permanent funds to sixty-two thousand seven hun- dred and eight dollars and thirty-four cents. Donation parties were started in October, 1885, and have continued since that time; and the annual gifts have been of money, clothing, household articles, and provisions. A large assistance is given to the hospital cach year through these donations in which the entire community shows an active interest. The first gifts of surgical instruments and hos- pital apparatus were made by Dr. Albert H. Crosby, Dr. Hiram B. Tebbetts, Dr. Moses W. Russell, Dr. Sargent by his daughter, and Mrs. Frances K. Lane, the latter in memory of her husband, Dr. Charles I. Lanc.
For several years John HI. Lamprey freely supplied the Hospital with vegetables, and Edward J. Knce gave his services every Sunday to indigent patients in need of tonsorial work.
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HISTORY OF CONCORD.
Among the most praiseworthy of the endowments of the hospital is that of the children's free bed. This was suggested by Mrs. Frances C. Stevens, one of the trustees, and has grown by the self- denying gifts of children and their friends, and collections taken in Sunday-schools, until three thousand four hundred seventy-four dol- lars and sixteen cents of the necessary five thousand dollars have been obtained.
It was evident from the start that the hospital must find a perma- nent location, and an appeal was made early in 1885 for funds with which to buy the land and building then occupied. Not meeting with immediate response, the trustees in October, 1886,-the lease having expired,-took the necessary risk and bought the property, giving their personal note for the purchase. Extensive alterations and repairs were necessary, and these were undertaken in confidence that the public spirit of the people of Concord would make good the outlay of the trustees. For seven years it was a hard struggle to maintain the hospital, for its excellent work taxed its capacity, and constant appeals had to be made to the liberality of our citizens. Often the trustees incurred obligations with no surety that funds would be available to meet them, but they never wavered in faith that the hospital had come to stay and expand in its sphere of beneficence.
The year 1890 opened with a most gratifying announcement to the citizens of Concord. At that time the hospital had cost twelve thousand dollars, of which seven thousand dollars had been paid from contributions, leaving a debt of five thousand dollars. There was necessity for immediate enlargement, and the trustees were con- sidering the question of a new site and new buildings. The problem was solved by a former resident of Concord, George A. Pillsbury of Minneapolis. The history of his beneficence is this:
Mr. Pillsbury was on a visit to the state of his birth. Fortune had smiled upon him, and he determined to administer in part upon his own estate. To Sutton, his birthplace, he had given a monument to commemorate its heroic dead in the war between the states. To Warner, the town of his early manhood, he had given a public library building, and he came to Concord, for many years his home, to bestow upon her some benefaction. He had in mind a most worthy charity, and his intentions were confided to some of his Concord friends. Among these was the late John M. Hill, who had become interested in the hospital through a patient of Dr. Ferdinand A. Stillings, who had been there for treatment, and whom Mr. Hill frequently visited. It was Mr. Hill's statement of Concord's needs and the confidence Mr. Pillsbury had in him that led the latter after full correspondence with Dr. Conn to change the object of his benefi-
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THE MARGARET PILLSBURY GENERAL HOSPITAL.
cence. It was after the details had been worked out with Dr. Conn that Mr. Pillsbury made public his generous intentions.
The site for the new building was selected by Mr. Pillsbury, and the plans were made under his direction after consultation with the trustees. Mr. Pillsbury's generosity grew with his consideration of the project, and the building when completed had cost nearly double his original intent. Ground was broken in September, 1890, and the building was completed and furnished for occupancy December 15, 1891, when the transfer of patients thereto was made. It was pro- nounced when completed the "best hospital building of its size in
Margaret Pillsbury General Hospital.
New England." The furnishings were the undertaking of the citi- zens of Concord ; and these and subsequent additions are the fruits of their contributions.
The dedication occurred on Monday afternoon, October 5, 1891, Samuel C. Eastman, president of the Hospital association, presiding. The presentation of the deed and keys of the building was made by Mr. Pillsbury in behalf of himself and his wife, after whom the hos- pital was named, to which response was made by Mr. Eastman. Speeches were made by Mayor Clapp, Governor Tuttle, U. S. Senator William E. Chandler, and Dr. Granville P'. Conn. In the evening a reception and banquet were given to Mr. and Mrs. Pillsbury by the citizens of Concord, at the Eagle Hotel. For more than an hour a
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HISTORY OF CONCORD.
line of representative men and women surged through the parlors of the hotel to pay their respects to the benefactors of the city. At the banquet grace was said by the Very Reverend John E. Barry, and at the post-prandial exercises Dr. Ferdinand A. Stillings acted as toast- master. Responses to toasts were made by Governor Tuttle, Dr. Shadrach C. Morrill, John M. Hill, Joseph C. A. Hill, Reverend Daniel C. Roberts, Dr. Charles R. Walker, and Henry J. Crippen.
The new hospital has been a stimulus to the interest of our citi- zens in its beneficent work. Constant improvements have been made, the corps of attendants has been enlarged, and the extent of its usefulness increased. It has prompted Concord physicians to adopt for its use the latest appliances for the alleviation of the sick and the latest methods of surgical treatment. Dr. Ferdinand A. Stillings spent a winter in Philadelphia studying the details of aseptic surgical work, and on his return supplied the hospital with the neces- sary materials and instituted drills among the nurses to familiarize them with aseptic work. At the Concord hospital the first success- ful abdominal operation, with perfect aseptic detail, ever performed in the state, was done by Dr. Stillings. Previous to this, practically all abdominal cases were sent to Lowell or Boston for treatment, or surgeons were called from those places or more distant points to per- form such operations. Patients now come from all parts of the state to the Concord hospital for surgical treatment.
An incident of recent occurrence, showing the interest of the peo- ple of Concord in the hospital, is worth relating. The charitable work of the hospital has been a great tax upon its resources. Compulsory payments have not been exacted of any of its indigent patients, and at times the expenses have exceeded the income. At the close of the year 1899 the trustees found themselves with a debt of two thousand dollars incurred in a former year. Relief from this debt was essential to progressive work. Among suggestions made for raising funds was that of holding a charity ball. This met with favor, and the first endeavor to its financial success was the offer of the city hackmen to give their services. This example became contagious, and the actual expense of the ball was merely nominal. A check came from Mrs. Margaret S. Pillsbury for five hundred dollars toward the enterprise. The ball was held on February 20, 1900, and was a great social as well as financial success. The profits were over one thousand seven · hundred dollars,-including Mrs. Pillsbury's gift,-and the balance of the debt was paid by the voluntary contributions of citizens.
In 1889 a training-school for nurses was established, with Miss Har- riet Sutherland as superintendent,-an adjunct to the hospital most serviceable to the community and highly appreciated by our people.
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THE MARGARET PILLSBURY GENERAL HOSPITAL.
The number of patients admitted to the hospital from its opening, October 20, 1884, to the close of the year 1902, is three thousand two hundred and twenty-five, of whom two thousand nine hundred and eighteen have been discharged, two hundred and eighty-five have died, and twenty-two remain. Of the deaths that have occurred at the hospital, nearly eighty per cent. have been from chronic diseases and injuries requiring surgical treatment,-phthisis or consumption, taking the lead in chronic disease, and railway accidents causing most of the deaths by reason of casualty. Many cases of railway injuries are brought here because Concord is a railway center.
Of all its public institutions the city has reason to be proud of its hospital and its work. What it has done and is doing are sufficient reasons for continued liberality and bequests for its benefit.
CHAPTER XXVI. THE NEW HAMPSHIRE MEMORIAL HOSPITAL FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN.
JAMES O. LYFORD.
The first hospital for women and children in New Hampshire is the one established in Concord in 1896 under the auspices of the Woman's Hospital Aid association. It owes its founding and suc- cess to Dr. Julia Wallace-Russell of Concord, the dean of the women's medical profession in New Hampshire. The first considera- tion given to the subject grew out of the lack of facilities for the treatment, in hospitals in New Hampshire, of indigent women and children who wished to be under the care of women physicians. If one of Dr. Russell's patients were taken to the hospital here or else- where in the state the case had to be surrendered to the regularly attending physicians, unless the patient had means to pay for special medical attendance. The nearest woman's hospital was at Boston. The need of such a public institution was constantly brought home to Dr. Russell in her practice, which reached all parts of the state, but it seemed an almost impossible task when first considered. The earliest proposition looking to this end was that a plea be made to raise funds to aid the needy in our own state hospitals; that is, to have a fund to pay their board so that they could have attendance by their own sex. Dr. Russell reluctantly consented to adopt the chain- letter plan, and in this way to learn the sentiment of the women. One of the recipients of this chain letter, a New Hampshire woman residing in another state, was moved to learn more of the under- taking from Dr. Wallace-Russell. The outcome of that visit was a proposition for immediate incorporation, with a view to a bequest which this philanthropic woman promised to make. This was early in September, 1895, and on the 12th of that month "The Woman's Hospital Aid Association " was incorporated under the general laws of New Hampshire, with Mrs. Louisa F. Richards of Newport, Miss Mary Ann Downing of Concord, Mrs. Caroline R. Thyng of Laconia, . Dr. Ellen A. Wallace of Manchester, and Dr. Julia Wallace-Russell of Concord as incorporators.
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