USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Littleton > History of Littleton, New Hampshire, Vol. II > Part 13
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Edward Josiah Brown, A.B., M.D., was one of the promising young men who have been engaged in practice in this place. He is a son of Ira Brown, M.D., who was a well-known Vermont practitioner, and was born at Burke, January 14, 1851. He received a thorough education at Kimball Union Academy, at Meriden, N. H., and at Dartmouth College, from which he gradu- ated in the academic department, class of 1874. He commenced the study of medicine in 1876, his father being his office pre- ceptor. He took three courses of lectures at the University of the City of New York, and at the Dartmouth Medical School, gradu- ating from the latter in October, 1878. In the following February he located in practice at Littleton, and remained until May, 1880. The next two years he practised at Haverhill, and in April, 1882, settled in Minneapolis, Minn. There he rapidly came to the front in his profession. The Minnesota State Board of Health gave him service in 1882 as health officer and inspector. From Janu- ary, 1883, to April, 1884, he held the position of quarantine
GEORGE W. MCGREGOR, M.D.
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The Profession of Medicine.
physician of the city. June 30, 1884, he was appointed to the chair of Preventive Medicine and Hygiene in the Minneapolis College of Physicians and Surgeons. He has also been active and useful in promoting the cause of medical organization. He was a member of the Moosilauke Medical Society in New Hamp- shire, Hennepin County Medical Society, and Society of Phy- sicians and Surgeons of Minneapolis, and treasurer of the two last named societies, member of the Minnesota State Medical Society, and a member of the American Medical Society.
He is an active member of the Congregationalist Church, and an efficient worker in social, philanthropical, and religious enterprises.
The town of Bethlehem has been a prolific contributor to the intellectual strength as well as to the brawn and muscle of Little- ton ; but the only member of the medical fraternity of Bethlehem nativity to locate here is George Wilber McGregor, son of Willard A. McGregory, who for many years was among the most active business men and political leaders from over the border. The doctor received a thorough academic education at Tilton Semi- nary, and became a medical student in the office of Dr. George S. Gove, of Whitefield, and subsequently with Prof. L. B. How, of Manchester. He then pursued the regular course of lectures at Dartmouth Medical College, and received his degree in June, 1878. He then settled in Lunenburg, Vt., where he practised two years, and in 1880 came to this town, where he has had a large practice since that time. He frequently takes a "season off " for the pur- pose of attending lectures at one of the medical schools at New York, and has thus kept thoroughly informed in regard to the progress of medical science. He has also been absent from his local practice two or three seasons to be house physician at Pinehurst, a noted winter resort at Southern Pines, N. C. He has an extensive summer practice at the summer resorts in this vicinity, especially those in Bethlehem, Franconia, Sugar Hill, and Lincoln. The doctor is an active member of local and State medical societies, and for several terms has been a member of the Executive Committee of the latter.
Dr. McGregor is a public-spirited citizen and has been active in assisting in the upbuilding of the business of the town. For some years he has been a member of the Board of Health and also of the Board of Education, and is its present president. He is the only physician of the place in active practice who is a mem- ber of the Democratic party ; his Scotch blood and Scotch tenacity of purpose have served to keep him true to the principles of his early manhood.
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History of Littleton.
The Canadian element constitutes a considerable part of our population, but they are not particularly clannish, and easily adapt themselves to their environment, and professional men of the race have seldom located among them. Louis Antony Genereaux, M.D., was the earliest Canadian to make an effort to build up a practice here, which he did in 1880, when he was fresh from the Medical Department of Laval University. The venture was not a success, though the doctor possessed the natural and acquired elements that unite to constitute an able physician, and he removed to Claremont, where he has a large practice.
In 1892 Dr. Edward Coutu was located here for a short time ; he finally located at Concord.
Dr. Dassoint, now of Groveton, was in practice a few months in 1893.
Dr. L. P. Caissac was also a physician at this point for a short time, but in 1898 removed to Nashua.
Another prophet, not without honor in his own country, is Dr. Benjamin Franklin Page, born in this place, July 7, 1843. His father was Benjamin Page, of Lisbon. Dr. Page is a brother of Samuel B. Page, of Woodsville. Dr. Page received an academic education at the old Newbury Seminary. In 1864 he began the study of medicine with Dr. Henry L. Watson, then of Newburg, and also studied with Dr. Charles H. Boynton, of Lisbon. He attended three courses of lectures and graduated at the Vermont University, Medical Department, in 1867. For five years there- after he was located at Lisbon in practice ; next, at St. Johnsbury, Vt., nine years, and, since 1881, at Littleton. He is a member of the White Mountain and Vermont State Medical Societies. His school of practice is regular; his church relations are somewhat Congregationalist ; secret society, Masonic. He married Caroline Farr, daughter of John Farr, in 1870.
Dr. Page, throughout his professional career, has adhered closely to the approved methods of the profession. He retired from active practice, or supposed he had, in 1898. The importu- nities, however, of patients have kept him in the harness, and his " retirement" was an illusion rather than a fact. The doctor is a Democrat in his political affiliations as well as habits and asso- ciations with his fellow-citizens. He has fulfilled the public duties imposed by custom upon physicians of the town by serving on the Boards of Health and of Education.
William Johnston Beattie comes from the Scotch stock that in the last quarter of the eighteenth century settled the towns of Barnet and Ryegate on the Vermont side of the Connecticut, and
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WILLIAM JOHNSTON BEATTIE, M.D.
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The Profession of Medicine.
since then has peopled many of the towns of Caledonia County with a sturdy race. This people were in fact, as well as tendency, Presbyterians, and adhered strictly to the ancient formulary of their sect. Dr. Beattie's father and his maternal grandfather, the Rev. James Milligan, were ministers of this church, a fact that has probably had something to do with the establishment of the doctor's religious convictions. He was educated at St. Johns- bury Academy, and pursued the study of medicine for four years in Bellevue Hospital Medical College, in New York. Having received his degree, he located in this town in 1889, and had not long to wait for patients. Few physicians at the outset of their professional careers have met with such a degree of success as did Dr. Beattie. Nor was this the result of circumstance or of kindly fortune, but was due in a large measure to attractive personal qualities and known educational qualifications for his chosen work. He is well equipped both on the surgical and medi- cal sides of the profession, especially for exacting emergencies, and possesses in a marked degree the essential quality of a well- grounded self-reliance.
The doctor is a believer in the theory of Dr. Jacob Bigelow, that " a physician might be accomplished, and serve his genera- tion in other ways than as a mere vehicle of pills and plasters," and has been active in public affairs. He represented the town in the General Court in 1899-1900, and in 1901-1902 was ap- pointed Surgeon-General on the staff of Governor Jordan, with the rank of Brigadier-General, positions he filled to the satisfaction of the public. He has recently been appointed to the office of Medical Referee for the county under the Act of 1903.
In the line of his profession his services are sought for beyond the borders of the town, and he has, until the season of 1903, had an office at Bethlehem for the accommodation of his patrons in the summer season, and is now house physician at the new Mt. Washington Hotel, and also professionally connected with the Boston and Maine Railroad.
Among the successful physicians of the town it may be said that Dr. George F. Abbott drifted, by reason of environment, into the profession. After leaving school he was for some years clerk in the apothecary store of F. F. Hodgman, and thereafter, through several business changes, never escaped a fondness for drugs and medicines. After leaving the shop of Mr. Hodgman he was in partnership with his father in a general store for a short time, and then in the pharmacy now conducted by W. F. Robins. He subsequently engaged in the same business at Bethlehem, where
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History of Littleton.
he remained nearly ten years. He moved to Tilton to engage in the same business, and there studied medicine under the direc- tion of Dr. Edwin Abbott. He attended a full course of lectures at Dartmouth Medical College, and one course at Baltimore. He received the degree of M.D. at Dartmouth in 1891, and opened an office in this town soon after in the same year. Dr. Abbott has an extensive practice, a fondness for the Methodist Church and the Republican party, and has a dry and effective humor which makes him much sought as an after-dinner speaker and on public occasions.
He has performed long and efficient public service on the local Board of Health, where his hard common-sense and long experi- ence with the practical questions of sanitation have made him an official whose special adaptation to the work is unquestioned.
Three generations of the doctor's family have been citizens of Littleton. His grandfather lived on Mann's Hill all his mature life, and his father came here when but a lad. The doctor was born in the town. All have been high-minded citizens, given to performing their part in the promotion of the public weal.
The late Edward Kenney Parker, M.D., son of Hollis M. and Sarah (Bronson) Parker, was born in Lyndon, Vt., December 21, 1863, and came to Littleton with the family in 1872. He was educated in the High School and received his medical instruction in the office of Dr. T. E. Sanger, the Homoeopathic Medical College and Hospital, the New York Post-Graduate College and Hospital, and New York Clinical School of Medicine. For eight years he practised at West Cornwall, Vt., and then came to this town in 1896, where he had an extensive practice until his death, which occurred suddenly from an over-dose of chloral, August 29, 1902. He was suffering intensely at the time from nervous prostration.
Dr. Parker was thoroughly educated in his profession, skilful in both medicine and surgery, and was regarded by competent judges as capable of taking high rank among his professional brethren.
Another physician of the same school, who came here a year after Dr. Parker, is William C. E. Nobles. He was born in Batavia, N. Y., in 1870; educated at the Rochester, N. Y., High School, and graduated from the Cleveland University of Medicine and Surgery in 1897. During this course he also attended the hospitals at Rochester, N. Y., the Cleveland, Ohio, Hospital, and also the Maternity Hospital in that city. The year of his graduation he located in this town, where he has from the start received a generous professional patronage, and established
EDWIN K. PARKER, M.D.
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The Profession of Medicine.
a reputation as an excellent physician and a surgeon of skill. Thoroughly grounded in the science of medicine, he keeps in close touch with its progress by attending each year a course of lectures at an approved Hospital Medical School. Dr. Nobles is devoted to his work and finds little time for affairs not directly connected with the profession. He is an Episcopalian and a Republican.
One of the young members of the local faculty is Dr. John M. Page, who entered the professional circle in 1896. He is a son of Dr. B. F. and Caroline (Farr) Page, whose intellectual strength is discernible in the mental equipment of the young doctor. From his schoolboy days he was destined to follow his father's profes- sion, and when graduated from the High School became a student of medicine in his father's office. He pursued and received his de- gree of M.D. at the Medical School of the University of Vermont, in 1896. He stands high with the profession for his medical knowledge, and is rapidly achieving a successful career.
David Russell Brown was in practice here in the summer and autumn of 1903. He is a young man of ability and attain- ments. At the close of the year he removed to Danville, Vt., where there was a promising opening for a young physician.
Christian Science, according to the statement of Mrs. Eddy,1 was an original conception on her part in 1866. The doctrines of Christian Science consist in part of religious tenets and in part of theories respecting the science of healing. Miss Julia S. Bart- lett, of Boston, was the person who first formally presented this faith in Littleton. A group of persons who had accepted these teachings organized for worship, for the practice of the principles of this method of healing, and for study and communion as be- lievers in a new theory, in 1883. Several of the professors of Christian Science have practised healing according to the teach- ings of the Eddy school at this place. Among them have been Mrs. Jennette (Gibson) Robinson,2 who was defendant in Robin- son v. Robinson,? a leading case on the question whether the prac- tices of those who espouse Christian Science, if tending to injure the other party physically or mentally, may be a ground of divorce; Mrs. Jane M. Rand, and Mrs. Mary S. Heald. This method of practice has lately acquired a more definite legal status in this State by the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Speed
1 Science and Health, p. 11.
2 Mrs. Robinson in recent years has resumed the name of Weller, which was that of her first husband, Mr. F. G. Weller.
3 66 N. H. Reports, p. 600.
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History of Littleton.
v. Tomlinson, decided at the October Term of the New Hampshire Supreme Court, 1903.1 The Christian Science association or group at this place maintain apartments for worship in Rounsevel's Building on Main Street. The organic membership of the be- lievers resident here, however, is understood to be directly or immediately with the Mother Church at Boston.
Osteopathy was introduced here as a distinct school of medical practice in August, 1900, by Mary A. Burbank. Subsequently (1901) Miss Burbank married Dr. Herman K. Sherburne, and both were from that time engaged in practice here and at Bethlehem until 1903, when they removed from this town to Rutland, Vt. Their successor here was Margaret J. Mathison, who was the only practitioner of that school located at this place or in this vicinity until her recent marriage and removal from town with her husband. Miss Mathison is a graduate of the Littleton High School, class of 1899. She was also for a time a student of Middlebury College, in Vermont, in the class of 1903, but not a graduate from that institution. She was a graduate of the American School of Osteopathy at Kirkville, Mo., in 1902. The Doctors Sherburne were also graduates of the same school. The president of this institution is A. T. Still, M.D., the founder of this theory and method of treating diseased conditions in gen- eral, as well as muscular and other misplacements and malforma- tions. This institution confers the degree of D. O. (Doctor of Osteopathy ).2
Although the Dartmouth Medical College, founded in 1798, is the nearest institution of the kind, a large majority of our prac- titioners have come from other medical schools. Dr. Burns attended its lectures in 1813 and again in 1834. The College at Castleton, Vt., was instituted in 1818, by charter, as Castleton Medical Academy, and closed in 1862, having been legally desig- nated in the mean time as the Vermont Academy of Medicine, and finally as the Castleton Medical College. Another flourished at Woodstock, Vt., from 1831 to 1854. That year the Medical Department of the University of Vermont was established, suc- ceeding the Woodstock school, and it has been successfully main- tained to the present time. Many of our students and practi- tioners were educated at these institutions. A few were at Harvard, New York, Philadelphia, Ann Arbor, or Bowdoin. A. R. Chamberlain, in 1819, and Harry Brickett, in 1842 and 1843,
1 This case has not been finally disposed of. It stands for reargument in the Supreme Court.
2 Dr. Nora L. Thompson is the successor of Dr. Mathison in the practice here.
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were catalogued from this place at Hanover. Horace White was a student with Dr. Burns and Albert Winch, and Dr. Ross with Dr. Moore. Edwin L. Farr, of Boston, James B. Sumner, of Lunenburg, Vt., Dr. Dunbar, of New Bedford, Dr. Henry West, Dr. Wheeler, of Peacham, Vt., who fell while heroically devoting himself to the treatment of the victims of ship fever in Quebec, Dr. Smillie, of Quebec, and many others, have been under the professional instruction of Dr. Tuttle. Francis Town, surgeon, retired, U. S. A., studied with the late Dr. Bugbee. Frank and Lafayette, brothers of the doctor, were also his pupils in medi- cine. With Dr. Watson, while he resided at this place, were N. Harvey Scott, afterward of Wolfborough, Fred Phelps, now deceased, and others. Dr. Sanger's students have been George S. Kelsea, late of Newport, Vt., Moses Whitcomb, of North Strat- ford, Bukk G. Carleton, of New York, Aaron Bond, of Nashua, and the late Edward K. Parker. It is not necessary to repeat here the names of those whose preceptors have been already stated in the personal sketches. The sons of our doctors have, in several in- stances, followed the paternal profession. James W. Moore is in practice in New York City ; Israel J. Clarke is now at Haverhill, Mass. ; Henry P. Watson, at Manchester ; George R. Bugbee, at Wausau, Wis. In recent years our boys have been more generally attracted in this direction than to the law. Charles E. Thomp- son, M.D., late of North Stratford, was a native of this town, born April 11, 1856, son of Merrill W. Thompson, a student in medicine with Dr. Moffett, and a graduate of the Medical Department of Vermont University, and Harvey E. McIntire, M.D., now of Wis- consin, a son of Warren MeIntire, born at Lyman, September 1, 1859, but reared in Littleton, a student of Dartmouth College, and of Dr. McGregor, and a graduate of the Bellevue Medical Col- lege, have both been well received in the practice, and have become useful members of their chosen profession.
Many facts of historical interest relating to this division of our subject must be derived from the annual catalogues of the medical schools. These are not readily accessible. Whoever accomplishes the task of collecting these scattered pamphlets from the nooks and crannies in which they are now concealed, will be the largest contributor of material for the personal his- tory of the medical profession. No satisfactory accomplishment of that work can be expected without that material.
The " White Mountain Banner " contained the business card of E. K. Cummings, M.D., now of Claremont, as a Littleton practi- tioner in 1856. He writes that his sojourn here was in February
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of that year and for only one day. He treated one patient in the night, but seems to have experienced an unfavorable impression of our climate at that season, for he got his fee, and, the next day, shaking the snow from his feet, abandoned the field.
Dr. C. Woodward came here in 1842. He was a disciple of Thompson, and advocated the theories and practised the healing arts of that school. In the few weeks of his sojourn in this place, the doctrines of Hahnemann received his attention, and he adopted them. Subsequently, locating in the practice as a repre- sentative of the school of Homoeopathy at Danville, Vt., he achieved a liberal measure of success and prosperity.
Dr. John L. Martin, a physician of the botanical school, was located here from about 1844 to 1855. He resided on Auburn Street, then the Farr Hill road, in the house now occupied by Mr. King. He removed to Gorham in 1855 or 1856.
Dr. Eldad Alexander, one of the strong men of the profession in Vermont, proposed to locate in this place in 1854, and estab- lished himself at Thayer's Hotel. Old associations were too strong for his new resolve, and he returned to Danville, after a six weeks' residence among us. He was a man of intellect, emi- nent as a surgeon and in all the branches of general practice. History will accord him a high rank among his contemporaries for professional accomplishments and native worth.
Dr. Jonathan Knight made a short sojourn at Littleton about 1837. He came from Stoddard, had studied medicine with the elder Twitchell, and shortly proceeded to Piermont, where he remained many years. Dr. Spaulding, of Haverhill, who knew him well, says he removed to the lower part of the State in his later years.
Dr. George A. Martin was a practitioner here since the War for the Union. It has been impossible to obtain the necessary personal response and biographical data from which to construct a sketch of him or of his professional history as a member of this community.
A summary of the items pertinent to this topic may be a con- venience in reference, and we include it in that view. Dr. Burns, Dr. H. L. Watson, Dr. Tuttle, Dr. Moffett, and Dr. Irving A. Wat- son have been surgeons, Dr. Adams Moore and Dr. Moffett, as- sistant surgeons, of regiments in the militia organizations. Dr. J. S. Ross and Dr. Francis L. Town, who were students of medicine here, became army surgeons, the former in the Eleventh Regi- ment of New Hampshire Volunteers, and the latter permanently in the regular army. Dr. Harriman, soon after his removal from
C
BENJAMIN F. BAILEY. M.D.
JAMES L. HARRIMAN, M.D.
ALBERT W. CLARKE, M.D.
PHYSICIANS.
GEORGE F. ABBOTT, M.D.
JOHN M. PAGE, M.D.
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The Profession of Medicine.
this town, became assistant surgeon of a Massachusetts war regi- ment, and Dr. Clarke had rendered similar service just previous to his final establishment in this place. Dr. Moffett, Dr. G. A. Martin, and Dr. Eudy came from service in the ranks to the study of medicine. The military spirit seems to have been felt in the medical profession, as in other classes of our citizens. It would, no doubt, manifest itself to-day, as in the past, for the com- mon good and the common defence.
Littleton has been the abode of a numerous medical fraternity in recent years. Formerly Waterford, our Connecticut River neighbor, had more settled practitioners than this town. It was convenient for our people to call their doctors from over the river to the neighboring farm-houses. Dr. Stephen (?) Cole was prob- ably the first physician to settle in Waterford. Dr. Freedom Dinsmore, Dr. Thomas McDole, Dr. Moses F. Morrison, Dr. Abner Miles, Dr. Beniah Sanborn, Dr. Newell, Dr. Cargill, Dr. Kelley, Dr. Richard Rowell, and perhaps others, might be recalled, who practised from that town for longer or shorter periods, and ministered to the sick in this place.
The old-time leaders of the profession in Caledonia County were Dr. Alexander, of Danville, Dr. Jewett, of St. Johnsbury, Dr. Socrates Tuttle and Dr. William Nelson, of Barnet, and Dr. Bugbee, of Waterford. These men were the oracles whose verdict in the hard cases was supposed to settle the question of life or death. A native of Ashford, Conn., and a graduate of Yale Medical School, Dr. Bugbee came to Waterford in 1816, and con- tinued there till his death in 1881. His professional skill gave him a practice over a large region. He was a man of learning and character. At times he encountered strong popular disfavor for his fixed and somewhat pronounced adherence to his princi- ples. He was one of the old Freemasons, and " adhered." This position he maintained against an almost universal clamor, which approached very near to persecution. But opposition, no matter how strong or intolerant, was not one of the methods of moving him from a position. He was also surgeon of his militia regiment. His four sons became regular practitioners, and his daughter became the wife of Dr. Enoch Blanchard, of Illinois, who was surgeon of the Seventh Vermont war regiment. A few years since, the doctor found a news item, paragraphied by Charles R. Miller, then of the " Springfield Republican," and indicating how he was surrounded by the atmosphere of medicine in his later years, in this wise: " Dr. Ralph Bugbee, Jr., of Littleton, had a little party in honor of his fifty-second birthday, a few days ago,
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