USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > Northfield > History of Northfield, New Hampshire 1780-1905: In Two Parts with Many Biographical Sketches and. > Part 15
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He not only ministered to diseased bodies, wrote wills and 84 estates, but woke in many a soul a belief in the resurrection hope of eternal life. He removed from Northfield to Framing Mass., in 1846, and there he completed 54 years of medical prac
At the 50th anniversary of the Tilton and Northfield Church, 18, 1872, he, its only living charter member, returned and delivery address which embodied its history for the half century, and characteristic generosity made a donation of $300.
He died, March 25, 1875, amid the tears of both rich and poc whom he had given many years of service, often without any or quate compensation. The number and variety of the interest managed to crowd into his life are a constant wonder to all who him.
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ENOS HOYT, M. D.
HON. JEREMIAH F. HALL.
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DR. JEREMIAH F. HALL.
(See portrait.)
JEREMIAH FORREST HALL received his early education at Sanbornton and Franklin academies. He graduated from Dartmouth Medical . School in 1837 at the age of 21 years and settled at Wolfeborough, where he practised his profession 24 years. In 1862 he was commis- sioned surgeon of the Fifteenth New Hampshire Volunteers and ac- companied the regiment to Louisiana. He was obliged to resign the next year on account of ill health. May 6, 1863, he was appointed sur- geon of the first district of New Hampshire, and went to Portsmouth, where he remained until the dissolution of the board, August 1, 1865. He remained there and practised his profession until his death. He was a member of the State Medical Society and its president in 1872 ;. was also a member and 'president of Carroll County Medical Society, and also an honorary member of Strafford County Medical Society. In 1874 he was elected to the New Hampshire Senate and re-elected in 1876. For 11 years he was director of the Lake National Bank at Wolfeborough and trustee of the Five Cent Savings Bank of the same place, and president of the board of trustees of Wolfeborough Academy. He was trustee of the Portsmouth Trust & Guarantee Company 11 years, and was its president at the time of his decease. He served three complete terms of four years each as trustee of the New Hampshire Asylum for the Insane, and held that office at the time of his death. He was also alderman of the City of Portsmouth. He has published several valuable medical papers; one on "Hay Fever". (from which he suffered many years), which he read at Bethlehem in 1873. He also wrote poetry, and read a poem at the semi-annual gathering of the medical society (with ladies) at Centre Harbor in 1874.
The following notice was printed in the Dartmouth Memoranda at the time of his death:
"In the discharge of the duties of the many positions of responsibility and trust which Dr. Hall was called upon to fill, he showed rare financial and executive ability and the most scrupulous integrity. He stood at the head of his profession, and many families in Portsmouth will miss his ready skill and inspiring confidence. Although of a ner- vous temperament and afflicted for a long time by disease, he main- tained to the last the genial and hearty manner that characterized his life. He was one of those self-made men, so many of whom New Hampshire has delighted to honor as her sons, and whose place, when gone, cannot be easily filled."
DR. NANCY SMITH GILMAN. (See portrait.)
MRS. NANCY SMITH GILMAN was born at Northfield, May 2, 1806. She married on her 21st birthday William Gilman of Northfield, who ap- peared in the midst of her Monday's washing and convinced her that
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it was a most suitable time for their prospective marriage. She promptly arrayed herself in a calico dress and, in less time than it takes to write it, became Mrs. William Gilman in 1831. She was a natural teacher and had no need of being instructed in normal methods, and even while she acted the part of a farmer's wife found time for her large class of young children. Her methods were far in advance of the times and almost identical with those of the modern kindergar- ten. She devoted 20 years to this calling, some of them in Western schools of high grades. . She then studied medicine at the Boston Female Medical College and practised more than 30 years. Her natural aptitude as a nurse, combined with her knowledge of medicine, called her into the strenuous life of the home during the last years of her parents' life and after their decease she performed the same tireless service for a. sister who came from the West to share her ministrations in her home at Lexington, Mass. She was a woman of tremendous energy, an uncompromising, whole-souled champion of the antislavery cause, a lecturer of great force on social customs and vices, a daring advocate of woman's suffrage, and was for many years an officer of the New Hampshire State Woman's Suffrage Association, and was actively identified with that work in several states. She was always on the side of right and justice for all. Her husband nobly seconded all her efforts in these directions and they lived to celebrate their golden wedding at Lexington, Mass., in 1881. Possessed of a strong, brave, vigorous mind, she retained her youthful faculties to an unwonted degree. In a little poem, written on her 85th birthday, she Bay8:
"At eighty-five should we repent That life with us so far is spent? In looking backward does it seem We've done enough to tip the beam? May sweet faith whisper in our ear And say our sun is setting clear."
Mrs. Gilman died at Roxbury, Mass., May 25, 1894.
DR. MARK R. WOODBURY.
DR. MARK R. WOODBURY came to Northfield from Rumney. His wife was a daughter of Dr. Burns of that place. None of their four children were born here. He was a skillful practitioner and, after a few years, returned to his former home.
He bought the triangular piece of land at the entrance to Bay Street and moved to it with many yokes of oxen, the newly-erected home of the late Darius Winslow for his residence. He sold it in 1853 to Dr. Parsons Whidden, who succeeded to his practice and resided there many years.
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NANCY SMITH GILMAN, M. D.
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Eng 2 by AH Hatchie.
AB Places
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DR. PARSONS WHIDDEN.
PARSONS WHIDDEN was the sixth child of Parsons and Hannah (Doe) Whidden. He was born in Canterbury, May 22, 1801; studied medicine with Dr. Enos Hoyt of Northfield; took his degree of M. D. at Dart- mouth Medical College in 1836, and soon after commenced practice in Danbury and Alexandria. He next practised in Pembroke. After a few years he moved to Warner, remaining there several years. In 1853 he returned to Northfield, purchasing the residence of Dr. Mark R. Woodbury at the foot of Bay Street, and succeeding to his prac- tice. A few months before his death he moved to Chichester, where he died, March 29, 1869. He was deacon of the Northfield and San- bornton (now Tilton) Congregational Church many years. He mar- ried, January 31, 1832, Mary (Polly) P. Tilton of Sanbornton Bridge, who died in Northfield, October 5, 1875, aged 72 years, 10 months. They had one child, George Parsons Whidden, born July 3, 1845.
DR. ADINO B. HALL. (See portrait.)
ADINO B. HALL was born in Northfield October 17, 1819. He was the son of Jeremiah and Han- nah Haines Hall and was the youngest of six children. He was a descendant, also, of Thomas Abbott of Concord, who kept a garrison near the present court house, and his father was a faithful deacon of the Congregational Church for 40 years. Dr. Hall was a pupil of the celebrated Dyer H. Sanborn at the "Square" and the "Old Academy." He read medicine with Dr. Enos Hoyt and graduated at Dartmouth Medical School.
He located first at Kingston, but remained there only three years. He had won confidence, however, and during his life was often called there for critical cases, either in consultation or continuous practice. He was the first to allow the use of cold water in typhoid fever and gained great reputation and success in its use. He was never afraid of anything because it was new. He was also among the first to ad- minister ether. In 1852 he went abroad for study and for two years followed, in the hospitals at Paris, the most noted doctors and surgeons in the world.
In the fall of 1854 Dr. Hall settled in Boston, where for 40 years he lived the active and self-denying life of a physician in full practice. He was a born doctor; his uncles, older brother and several cousins were doctors, and he was wont in his childish plays to visit imaginary patients. He was courageous, had good sense, great kindness of heart, a genial presence and unfailing courtesy. It was said that "He was a stranger to conceit." He was satisfied to be quietly and continually doing good and in receiving in turn the constant love and trust of a host of friends. It has been well said that "no one but a physician
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can know the toil of such a life and perhaps no one else can know such a reward."
During the Civil War Dt. Hall was a volunteer surgeon in McClel- lan's army before Richmond, where, in 1862, he contracted malarial fever in the swamps, from which he was never entirely free. He was for 25 years a councilor in the Massachusetts Medical Society and an active member of the Boston School Board for an equal time. 'He married, in 1864, Mary, eldest daughter of Rev. J. P. Cowles of Ips- wich, Mass.
April 16, 1880, after several cases of severe labor, overheated and fasting, he suffered a chill and died of pneumonia five days later. His many friends, rich and poor, rallied around him in the most distressing anxiety and awaited some word of relief, which never came. He had been a generous friend to the poor and they showed their apprecation of it by their anxious faces and their tears. This trait of sympa- thetic benevolence . was an inheritance from his mother, who was followed to her last resting place by a crowd of poor women she had befriended.
A beautiful memorial to his memory by his devoted wife keeps both their memories green here in the town of his birth and early sojourn.
DR. SAM G. DEARBORN. (See portrait.) -
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Among the first settlers of Exeter, over two and a half centuries ago, was a family by the name of Dearborn. The descendants of this family are now to be found in every county of New Hampshire. Beginning at an early date, it is worthy of note that with the Dearborn family .
the practice of medicine has been a favorite occupation. In the last century Portsmouth, North Hampton, Seabrook and Nottingham had each a physician of marked reputation bearing the name, and today several among the abler physicians of the state are of the same descent.
Sam Gerrish Dearborn, son of Edmund and Sarah Dearborn, was born in Northfield, August 10, 1827. His father was an honest, indus- trious farmer and his mother attended well to the duties of the house- hold. He was educated at the district school, the Sanbornton Academy and the New Hampshire Conference Seminary.
He began the study of medicine with Dr. Woodbury at Sanbornton Bridge, in 1847, and graduated from the medical department of Dart- mouth College in November, 1849. After a few months' practice at East Tilton, in February, 1850, he opened an office at Mont Vernon, where he soon began to acquire a reputation as a skillful, safe and sa- gacious physician.
In June, 1853, Dr. Dearborn removed to Milford, where he had al- ready gained some practice. For 20 years he had an increasing prac- tice, not only in Milford and adjoining towns, but patients frequently came from a considerable distance. Nashua being a railroad center, Dr. Dearborn removed there in May, 1873. His practice there was,
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SAM . G. DEARBORN, M. D.
OBADIAH J. HALL, M. D.
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perhaps, more extensive than that of any other physician in the state. A large proportion of his patients came from a distance, Grafton, Belk- nap and Coos counties furnishing a large number annually, and this the result of no advertising other than that of his successful treat- ment.
. During the Rebellion Dr. Dearborn, in 1861, served one year as sur- geon of the Eighth Regiment of New Hampshire Volunteers ih Louisi- ana, and in the summer of 1863 he served in the same position for three months in the Army of the Potomac.
In politics he was a Republican, and represented Milford two years in the state Legislature. Denominationally, he was associated with the Unitarian Church.
On the 5th of December, 1854, he married Miss Henrietta Starrett of Mont Vernon, an educated and accomplished woman. The two sons of this union, Frank A. and Sam S., are prominent practitioners in Nashua. The elder, Frank A., was born September 21, 1857, studied medicine at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York, and graduated in 1883.
The younger son, Sam S., was born January 30, 1872, and is a grad- uate of Phillips Exeter Academy, Harvard College and the Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Dearborn died May 8, 1903, after a short illness. He leaves one sister, Mrs. Jonathan Dearborn of Mt. Sterling, Ill.
DR. O. J. HALL. (See portrait.)
OBADIAII JACKSON HALL was born at Northfield in 1826 and spent his boyhood on the homestead farm. Deciding early to study medicine and make its practice his life work, he studied first with his brother, Jeremiah, at Wolfeborough, and went, later, to Dartmouth College, where he graduated in 1850.
He located first at Lancaster but, on account of the severity of the climate, romoved to Wheelersburg, Scioto County, O., in 1851. Two years later, after establishing a good business, he removed to Empire Furnace and, later, to Junior Furnace, where he labored nine years with little reward except the consciousness of having been true to duty.
In December, 1861, he took charge of the Thirty-third Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in the capacity of surgeon. On account of failing health he was obliged to leave his post of duty and return to practice. May 7, 1862, he married Mary Elizabeth Boynton of Laconia and removed to Portsmouth, O., where he lived and practised almost continuously until his last illness. He died May 30, 1868.
His life, though short in years, was full of deeds that have lived in the hearts of those for whom he worked. He united with the church In early manhood and always lived in a sincere belief and trust in the
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teachings of the Master. He had not passed the golden milestone that marks the highest point in physical or mental existence, when he lay down by the wayside and fell into that dreamless sleep that kisses down his eyelids still.
He was, at his death, vice-president of the Scioto County Medical Society and the tribute to his memory and worth before that body was heartfelt and. touching. "While yet in love with life and rap- tured with the world he passed to silence and pathetic dust."
After his death, Mrs. Hall entered the public schools of Portsmouth and was a faithful and beloved teacher for 16 years. She died Septem- ber 1, 1889. They had two daughters.
Bessie Mary Hall, elder daughter of Dr. O. J. and Mary Boynton Hall, was born in southern Ohio, but a short distance from the town which has always been her home.
She was educated in the public schools of Portsmouth and graduated as valedictorian of her class.
After graduation, she went to New Hampshire, remaining for a year among the granite hills. While in Manchester she became much in- terested in the subject of teaching, a vocation for which she had always had a fondness. Returning there later she entered the training school for teachers, where she successfully completed the course of training in all classes of the work, from kindergarten to high school. She then returned to Ohio and entered the public schools of Portsmouth. She remained here for sometime as teacher in the grammar department, but not being satisfied with this and looking higher, she obtained leave of absence and entered Mt. Holyoke College at South Hadley, Mass., taking a special course preparatory to continuing her chosen work as teacher of the sciences. The time spent here proved invaluable to her and before the close of the second year she was called to the position of special teacher in the department of science in the high school from which she was graduated.
She was devoted to her profession, enthusiastic, and thoroughly awake to all the best interests of her pupils; possessed in a marked degree the power of imparting knowledge; by nature a fine disci- plinarian, and of a most genial temperament. Possessing these quali- ties and with an ambition to reach the highest, she is a worthy ex- ample of those who play such an important part in the development of the world's good men and women. She is an earnest Christian and identified with the church in many ways, being a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Portsmouth and a teacher in its Sabbath School. She married, in 1900, Arthur Titus of Portsmouth and has two daughters.
Grace Forrest Hall, younger of the two daughters of Dr. O. J. Hall, spent her childhood in Portsmouth, O., attending the public schools of that city. . After being graduated she spent one year at home and then visited the East, where she remained one year, becoming ac- quainted with her relatives and friends. Her stay proved no less an
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CHARLES R. GOULD, M. D.
DANIEL BRAINARD WHITTIER, M. D.
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education that that obtained in the schoolroom and had much to do with shaping and developing traits of character and independence which have since been prominent in her life. She went, on her return, to Willis College of Shorthand at Springfield, O., soon rising to foremost rank as an amanuensis and reporter of both journalistic and court | proceedings .. She remained in the college as first assistant teacher and reporter. She spends most of her time in Brooklyn, N. Y., and is engaged in her chosen profession.
DR. CHARLES R. GOULD .. (See portrait.)
DR. CHARLES R. GOULD was born at Antrim, December 28, 1841. He was educated at the New Hampshire Conference Seminary and Dart- mouth Medical School. He married, December 25, 1864, Mary S. Dun- bar and had three children. (See Genealogy, p. 154.) Besides an ex- tensive practice, he served the town as clerk, superintendent of schools and one of the board of education for Union District. His parents re- sided in his home and both died there, his father on December 2, 1874, and his mother, September 3, 1890. He is a fine musician and taught vocal music at the Seminary, as well as being the leader of Gould's orchestra. He was likewise leader of the choir of the Methodist Church for 14 years. He is surgeon at the Soldiers' Home and a mem- ber of the Tilton board of health. After many years' sojourn on Elm Street, he removed to School Street, Tilton, whence, after a short stay, he removed in 1896 to his newly-erected home on Prospect Street.
He married (second) Mrs. Kate Russell Emons. He is a member of Doric Lodge, A. F. and A. M., and past master of St. Omar Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, Pythagorean Council of Laconia and Mount Horeb Commandery, Knights Templar and Malta, Concord. He is also a mem- ber of Harmony Lodge, I. O. O. F., of Tilton, and of the American Medical Association and New Hampshire Medical Society.
DR. DANIEL BRAINARD WHITTIER. (See portrait.)
The Whittier family removed to Northfield when the subject of this sketch was a young child. Here his early years were passed, receiving his education in the public schools and the New Hampshire Conference Seminary. In 1855 he went to Iowa, intending to make a permanent home, but returned after two and a half years and commenced the study of medicine in the office of W. B. Chamberlain, M. D., Keene. In 1859 he attended lectures at Harvard University and in 1861 removed to Fitchburg, Mass. During the winter of 1862-'63, he attended medi- cal lectures in the New York Homeopathic Medical College, from which institution he received a diploma. At the time of the Civil War he was anxious to serve his country in the field, but on account of the scanty recognition accorded homeopaths, abandoned the idea, render- ing service by sending a substitute. October 14, 1858, he was married
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to Mary Chamberlain and proved a loving husband and father. There was one daughter and two sons.
. Despite the prejudice against homeopathy mentioned above, Dr. Whit- tier attained great success in his profession through hard work and per- sonality singularly fitted for the practice of medicine. He was revered and beloved in the medical fraternity, being often sought for consul- tation. He was president of both County and State Medical societies, a member of the American Institute of Homeopathy, president of the Gynecological Society of Massachusetts and served on the board of consulting physicians and surgeons of the Westboro Insane Hospital. In 1894 he was appointed on the Massachusetts State Board of Regis- tration in Medicine for the term of five years. His death occurred April 15, 1895.
He was possessed of no political ambitions, yet was intensely in- terested in all municipal and state and national affairs, and ever la- bored for the success of every good cause in the city where he resided. He was a member of the school committee and indefatigable in tem- perance work. There are men now living who owe largely their reformation and subsequent success to his timely aid and encourage- ment. He was a strong man in the Congregational Church and Sun- day School,-loyal, generous and earnest. The respect and confidence of the community was his, both as a practitioner and honorable Chris- tian gentleman. His benefactions were numberless and many could testify to his faithful attendance, unmindful of compensation. A man, modest and unassuming, ever the champion of the downtrodden; kind and sympathetic to the suffering and weak; a tower of strength in time of trouble. His memory is blessed.
DR. THOMAS BENTON. DEARBORN. (See portrait.)
DR. THOMAS BENTON DEARBORN was for 14 years a well-known prac- tising physician in Milford. He died at the age of 40 years and six months. He was a native of Northfield, a member of the famous fam- ily of physicians, being the youngest son of Edmund and Sarah Ger- rish Dearborn. He early commenced a classical course of study at the Seminary at Tilton. In 1855 he removed to Illinois with his brother and joined the preparatory department of the college at Jacksonville. He graduated at the State University of Indiana in 1861. While pros- ecuting his studies he engaged considerably in teaching and was em- ployed as principal of the high schools at Augusta and Carthage, Ill. He studied medicine with his uncle, Dr. Jonathan Dearborn, at Mt. Sterling, Ill., and also with his brothers, Drs. S. G. and H. G. Dear- born, then at Milford. After attending medical lectures at Burlington, Vt., and New York City, he entered the medical department of Dart- mouth College, where he graduated in 1864. He soon after associated himself in the practice of his profession with his brother in Milford
Thomas B. Dearbom
DEARBORN BROTHERS.
THOMAS BENTON. M. D. JESSE JUDSON. M. D. HENRY HALE, M. D. EDMUND GERRISH, M. D.
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and pursued it with untiring devotion and eminent success until dis- abled by illness. His death occurred June 10, 1879. To professional . skill he united the noble qualities of a true manhood. Those who knew him best, knew that in all his relations of life he was honorable, up- right and conscientious.
He was trained in the faith of the old Democratic party, believed in its ideas and, though never obtrusive in an expression of his political views, he held them unswervingly and conformed his action thereto. He won and held a very high rank as physician and surgeon. Gifted by nature with keen perception and discriminating and acute in- tellect, he had educated himself thoroughly for his profession, and with a pressure of business appalling to one of less physical strength and application, he kept himself by continuous study fresh in its latest methods. He was a member of St. George Commandery, Knights Tem- plar, of Nashua, King Solomon Royal Arch Chapter of Wilton, and Benevolent Lodge, No. 7, of Milford.
On the 25th of September, 1873, he was married to Miss Kate L. Hutchinson, only daughter of the late Judson J. Hutchinson of the world-renowned Hutchinson family of singers. Their union was blessed with four children, all boys, and at the time of his death the youngest was but six weeks old and the oldest not five years. Now they have grown to manhood and with their mother reside at the old home in Milford. The boys have followed in their father's foot- steps and are all doctors. The two eldest are settled in Milford and are occupying the same rooms as offices that their father used many years ago. The two youngest sons are at present internes in hospitals. Their group picture appears on another page. They all belong to the Masonic fraternity, the four brothers having joined the. Milford lodge together. They inherit the musical talent of their mother's family and for many years bore the name of the "Dearborn Male Quartette." (See group.)
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