USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Nashua > History of the city of Nashua, N.H. > Part 40
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HISTORY OF NASHUA, N. H.
Dr. S. G. Dearborn came to Nashua in the year 1873. He had previously practiced in Milford and also served as surgeon in the late War of the Rebellion. Since coming to our city he has become prominent as a gynecologist. His renown as such is not limited to Nashua, but is known throughout New Hampshire and the adjoining states. His practice among us has been great, but still greater among those outside the city. His success is well attested by the large property which he has accumulated by his efforts. Owing to infirmities of age, he has been obliged to limit his practice pretty much to office calls. He is ably assisted by his son, Dr. F. A. Dearborn.
Dr. C. S. Collins, practicing in the belief of Hahnemann, came to our place in 1875, and for ten or twelve years attended faithfully to a large paying practice, which, by his untiring efforts, he had built up for himself. His stay in the medical profession was limited to so few years by the fact that his large interest in the Londonderry Lithia water company demanded his whole attention. His life while in the practice of physic was full of that energy and indomitable pluck and vim which has since so markedly characterized his commercial career. He early entered politics and served faithfully both city and state. He has the honor of having at one time been both city physician and member of the board of health. His subsequent life is more fully elaborated among the business men in another part of this history.
Dr. Henry G. Dearborn came to Nashua in the year 1875, and died here in the year 1886. During the eleven years of his stay with us he won a host of friends. His full, round, smooth-shaven face, and jolly quizzical expression was always welcome to every household. He was essentially a family doctor; one to whom father, mother and children were equally dear, and to them likewise endeared. His compassionate heart and ready assistance were universally known and gratefully accepted by a large number of patients and friends who were members of the mystic circle. He was very successful as a practitioner and his early death cut short a very busy life. He had just purchased his passage to Europe, and was making ready to enjoy a little ease and comfort, when cruel death snatched all from him. His brother, Samuel G. Dearborn, and his nephew, Frank A. Dearborn, both physicians, retained the greater part of his practice.
Dr. R. J. Hallaren came to Nashua about the year 1875, and was the first Irish physician to live here until his death, which occurred in 18 . He had a sharp, ready mind, keen, caustic wit, with an incomparable native repartee which won him many friends and patients. He was universally successful and at his death had laid up quite a little competence.
Dr. W. S. Collins arrived in town about the year 1878 or 1879, and remained until his death in 1891. He came to assist his son, Dr. C. S. Collins who preceded him by a few years, and whose practice in the homeopathic line had so grown at this time as to demand another practioner of that school. The two, father and son, practically controlled that class of patients for some years, not only in the city, but in and about the surrounding towns. Dr. W. S. Collins was a very careful and conservative man and many were reckoned among his patients who always before were most antagonistic to the homeopathic faith. It may be said that in and about this time there was a decided drift to that belief, more so than at any other period. Both father and son united to cement the bond of friendship between the two schools of medicine and the good effects of their labors in this line have never been lost, but will always shine as a marked contrast to the feeling among a like class in other places.
Since the year 1880 there were nine physicians located in Nashua whose stay was of too brief a character for any extended report other than the statement that they each won many friends and were all well liked. The biographies of some of them can furnish a further account of their lives. Their names were as follows: Dr. John Nottage, Dr. C. C. Ellis, Dr. M. H. Tierney, Dr. A. M. Spalding, Dr. W. H. Dinsmore, Dr. N. E. Guillet, Dr. W. I. Blanchard, Doctor Conroy, Dr. G. H. Greeley. Dr. A. M. Spalding is a nephew of Dr. Edward Spalding, and is at present located in New York City with his brother, Dr. Geo. Spalding. He is physician to several public institutions and has more than average success. Dr. John Nottage died early in his practice and the others are scattered throughout the country.
Also since 1880, and who are now enjoying the full benefits of their practice, have settled the following named physicians: Drs. C. B. Hammond and J. N. Woodward in 1880; Dr. A. W. Petit in 1881; Dr. Geo. A. Underhill in 1883; Dr. C. S. Rounsevel in 1884; Drs. Bradford Allen and R. B. Prescott in 1885; Dr. A. W. Shea in 1887; Dr. Ella Blaylock in 1888; Drs. Katerine E. Prichard, F.
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HISTORY OF NASIIUA, N. H.
E. Kittredge, J. A. Lagace, M. T. Lajoie. and A. S. Wallace in 1889; Dr. H. H. Jewell in 1890; Drs. I. F. Graves, B. G. Moran, and F. A. Dearborn in 1891; Dr. I. G. Anthoine in 1892; Drs. J. T. Greeley, R. V. Vaillancour, and Emile Simard in 1893; Drs. Guertin and Matte in 1894; and Drs. Valcour and Nutter in 1895.
The biographies of nearly all of these have abundantly elaborated their lives and it would be but dull repetition to try to give a full account of them at this place. Dr. R. B. Prescott, who served in the late war, now limits his practice to the eye and ear and has become quite well known in the adjoining towns. Dr. C. B. Hammond is the son of the late Dr. E. B. Hammond and has always made Nashua his home, keeping his father's office as his own. Dr. J. N. Woodward came to town a stranger, but is now one of its best known citizens. Dr. A. W. Petit is a Frenchman and enjoys the honor of controlling the largest French practice of any local physician. Dr. C. S. Rounsevel is a quiet yet extra busy man, practicing in the homeopathic faith. Dr. Geo. A. Underhill was born and reared here and is quite prominent as an educator. Dr. Bradford Allen also camea stranger to town but now has a large, private practice. Dr. A. W. Shea, one of the brightest of all the physicians here, a Nashua born citizen, controls the bulk of the Irish practice in our city and also has an extra amount of work among the best class of people in the American families. Dr. Ella Blaylock and Dr. Katherine E. Pritchard are the only two lady physicians of whom Nashua can boast, either in the past or present, and their success is a guarantee that their stay here is one of profit to themselves as well as to their patients. Drs. F. E. Kittredge, J. A. Lagace and M. T. Lajoie are all young physicians, well liked and quite successful. To rightly appreciate Dr. A. S. Wallace we must have knowledge of his life in other places ; of his unconquerable thirst for learning in his earlier days and of his hardships in obtaining it; of his energy and push in finishing his medical education and of his ability and skill in the management of the difficult positions he has been called upon to occupy. His history in Nashua is short in time but abundantly fruitful and prolific of good results. He has a firm, convincing character and is stanch and true in all his friendships and beliefs. His practice is one of the largest, and the good labor he has already performed is much appreciated by his friends and patients.
Dr. H. H. Jewell is a homeopathic practitioner and with Doctor Rounsevel controls that class of patients in this city. Drs. I. F. Graves, B. G. Moran and F. A. Dearborn are all young in the work but have already made their mark.
Dr. I. G. Anthoine is another practioner who has seen a large amount of labor in the field of medicine before coming to Nashua. His skill has evidently preceded him, for in the short three years of his stay with us he can boast of an extra large number of patients. He is more than successful, and by the interest which he has kindly taken in our public institutions he shows a keen appreciation for the good and welfare of all. In the years to come he will form an important part in the city's history.
The remainder of those coming to Nashua are young both in years and in the field of labor chosen for their life's work. They are all earnest and conscientious workers, striving each year to add new laurels to their crowns. We boast, in no idle manner, of a collection of good, honest men, second to no other city in the country; a set of hearty, earnest workers, who scorn to harbor petty jealousies and hard feelings one against another; who are not at all envious, but on the contrary find great rejoicing in the success of each. And thus, as it has been in the past, may it ever be in the future, for no better wish could we have for our medical fraternity than that it shall never be less closely united in the bonds of true friendship as is exemplified by the practitioners of Nashua ať the present time.
The gradual influx of physicians from time to time has been pretty nearly in proportion to the increase of inhabitants during the same periods. From 1800 to 1820 there was no very great increase of people, the number of inhabitants in 1800 being 862 and in 1820 only 1142. In 1830 the number jumped to 2417 and again in 1840 to 5960. The cause of this sudden increase no doubt can be attributed mainly to the starting up of the various mills. The demand for physicians was materially increased, and hence we find that while during the period covered by 1800 to 1830 there was but three or four doctors in the place, immediately after 1830 and up to 1840 the number was nearly doubled. Since 1840 the number of inhabitants increased slowly up to 1850, as did the physicians. Another marked increase in the number of physicians occurred during the decade of 1850 to 1860, and it is observed that during that time some five or six thousand more people made Nashua their home. This
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increase has been more gradual since then even up to the present writing. It is worth remembering also, in connection with these statements, that the arrival of the French residents of our town brought with it the demand for physicians of their own nationality and, as has been already stated, Dr. P. E. Dansereau was the first to make Nashua his permanent abiding place. The number of French people were so few prior to the year 1858 as to make no material showing in the enumeration of inhabitants ; but in the period covered by 1858 to 1872 there arrived here nearly 1200 French people. Many of these made Nashua their permanent home. The demand for this class of laborers has increased steadily year by year, the whole number of French now within our town limits being nearly one-third the whole number of inhabitants; and that, too, estimating the city's population to be at the present time, 25,000. The number of French physicians has increased in about the same ratio, there being now nine to thirty odd doctors located here. Among the Irish people the change has been less marked, and while there are now four thousand Irish inhabitants the city has only two Irish physicians.
The various innovations and improvements made in regard to our sanitary condition have been slow but sure and permanent. Years ago, early in the twenties and even up to the fifties, when there were practically no sewers and the people drank from the old fashioned wells, there were, at each autumn time and even throughout the summer abundant cases of typhoid fever, dysentery, and other kindred diseases. On the adoption of the system of sewerage and the supply of pure water the whole trouble pretty much ceased. I remember that one of the older physicians said, that during his early practice, in the autumn months he would have anywhere from twenty to thirty cases of typhoid fever to treat; but that since the city had put in the sewers and given us Pennichuck water he rarely had more than eight or ten. This goes to prove the efficacy of good drains and pure water in eliminating disease. The well water was all right until the increase of people, settling so close together, had polluted the soil, then it became a veritable poison to the system. We have at the present time a very complete sewerage system, the refuse of all sewers being eventually carried away by the Merrimack river. Of our water supply we can proudly claim one of the best in all the New England cities. Nearly all the city is so elevated from the level of the Merrimack as to make it an easy matter to effect good drainage of it, and, unless the supply of the Nashua is cut off beyond the city, we should be free from any great danger of epidemic from this source. The supply of the Pennichuck for drinking purposes is sufficient for a considerably long period granting our steady increase; and no anxiety will be felt on account of scanty water supply for many years.
Dr. Josiah Kittredge was Nashua's first city physician, holding this office in 1855. The city reports from 1854 to 1865 are so meagre in detail as to give no very clear idea as to the amount of work the city physicians were called upon to perform. And even since that time there have been quite a number of years in which no regular report has been passed in by the city physician. The work, however, has gradually increased so that, as is seen by the city physician's report of the year 1894, there were 2,686 cases for which his services were demanded. Dr. C. B. Hammond holds the office of city physician at the present time.
In regard to the board of health we find that the first board was formed in 1857, and consisted of Thos. G. Banks, John Atwood and Thos. Pearson, Jr., neither of the three being physicians nor was there, until lately, a board of health made up entirely of physicians. The present board of health consists of Dr. C. B. Hammond, chairman; Dr. M. T. Lajoie, clerk ; and Dr. Jas. T. Greeley.
A few of the physicians of Nashua recognized the need of some organization among the medical profession for mutual benefit, protection and good fellowship. The subject of a society was agitated, and, pursuant to a call from Drs. Geo. A. Underhill and W. I. Blanchard, sixteen of them met at the office of the latter, Monday evening, January 19, 1891, to consider the advisability of forming a local medical society.
After some discussion it was voted to organize and call the society the Nashua Medical association. An election of the following physicians as officers for the ensuing year took place: president, E. F. McQuesten; first vice-president, W. I. Blanchard; second vice-president, I. F. Graves; secretary, K. E. Prichard ; treasurer, F. E. Kittredge; executive committee, C. B. Hammond, B. Allen and A. W. Petit. A committee was appointed to draw up resolutions and by-laws. It was voted that the society should meet one evening in each month for literary purposes, a paper to be read by some member, to be followed by discussion.
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HISTORY OF NASHUA, N. H.
At the second meeting the by-laws were adopted, and upon the resignation of Doctor Prichard as secretary, Doctor Shea was elected to fill that office. Doctor Graves resigned as second vice-president and also withdrew his name from the society. It was voted that all physicians and dentists holding a diploma from a recognized medical or dental college should be eligible to membership.
An initiation fee of five dollars was charged and a monthly tax.
The following physicians and dentists were elected to membership :
Ella Blaylock, Alonzo S. Wallace, A. W. Petit, Geo. A. Underhill, C. B. Hammond, Frank E. Kittredge, A. W. Shea, H. H. Jewell, W. H. Dinsmore, W. I. Blanchard, S. G. Dearborn, Bradford Allen, C. S. Rounsevel, I. F. Graves, Geo. W. Currier, M. H. Tierney, G. H. Greeley, Katherine E. Prichard, Eugene F. McQuesten, Geo. F. Wilber, P. E. Dansereau, B. G. Moran, James T. Greeley, N. E. Guillet, C. A. Neal, M. T. Lajoie, Chas. E. Faxon, T. A. McCarthy, Dr. Hazzard of Hollis.
For a time the regular monthly meetings were held in the office of Dr. W. I. Blanchard. Later, room 11, Masonic Temple, was secured and comfortably furnished for the use of the association. This was held for about a year when the society deemed it unnecessary to rent a room for their exclusive use, gave it up, and the meetings since that time up to the present date have been held in the office of Drs. Wallace and Kittredge.
Soon after its organization the society formulated a price list for professional services which was signed by nearly every physician in the city. This was to be, and, I believe, has been adhered to excepting in cases where charity demanded otherwise.
Dr. Bradford Allen served as president for 1892. During this year the subject of a hospital was discussed, and a committee appointed to take the necessary steps for the organization of the Nashua Hospital association, thus creating a movement which, though allowed to slumber for some time, about a year later resulted in giving to the city a much needed institution.
For some reason unknown to the writer, during the latter part of 1892, the interest among the physicians seemed to grow lax and no meetings were held in 1893. In January, 1894, a renewed enthusiasm was aroused, the association called together and a large number responded.
Dr. A. W. Shea was elected president, and the meetings once more assumed their former tone of energy.
In January of this present year, 1895, Dr. A. S. Wallace was elected president.
With the exception of the time noted in 1892 and 1893, the meetings of this association have been regularly held and usually well attended.
Papers of much interest and practical value have been read by its members. Well known physicians from other cities have delivered lectures to the society. Not only has the association been a benefit from a literary standpoint, but its influence has been conducive to a general good fellowship among the physicians of the city, bringing them together in social and professional intercourse and creating a feeling of harmony such as the profession in very few small cities enjoy.
It was not until 1893 that a general interest was awakened in Nashua for hospital accommo- dations ; prior to that time the sick, poor and the injured had been cared for in unsuitable apartments at the almshouse, the City Hall and police court buildings. The increasing number of accidents yearly, from the manufacturing and railway corporations, led the physicians of the city to make an appeal to the city government and to charitably disposed persons for the means to treat urgent and necessitous cases in accordance with approved modern scientific methods. This appeal was satis- factorily responded to by the city councils in appropriating two thousand dollars; and by the churches, various other societies and the benevolent individuals in donating money and house furnishings.
In 1889 several meetings were held to encourage hospital relief. The first meeting was held February II, and there were present E. M. Shaw, W. D. Cadwell, F. W. Estabrook, Dr. Chas. B. Hammond, Dr. W. I. Blanchard, Rev. Geo. W. Grover, Chas. H. Burke and Geo. B. French. Capt. E. M. Shaw was chairman and Dr. Chas. B. Hammond, secretary of the meeting. The meeting adjourned to the thirteenth of February, when by-laws and articles of association were presented and adopted. On March I the association met and elected Captain Shaw its president and Geo. B. French, secretary for the ensuing year. Mr. W. D. Cadwell was elected treasurer. On the third day of April a meeting of the association was held for the election of members and the appointing of
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HISTORY OF NASHUA, N. H.
committees. Nothing further was done until May 19, 1892, when articles of agreement were drawn up constituting a voluntary corporation to be known as the Nashua Emergency Hospital association, and the first meeting of the association was held May 23. This meeting was held in Masonic Temple and was largely attended. Dr. Bradford Allen was chairman and E. H. Wason, clerk. Articles of agreement constituting the Nashua Emergency Hospital association were drawn up and signed by forty leading citizens, and this number was augmented at subsequent meetings. These articles were duly recorded by the city clerk under the seal of the city, and by the secretary of state, under the seal of the state, in accordance with the provisions of the public statutes. The first annual meeting of the association was held June 27, 1892. Wm. D. Cadwell was elected president ; E. H. Wason, secretary; Charles H. Burke, treasurer, and a governing board of fifteen. The second annual meeting was held at the City Hall building June 20, 1893. Williams Hall was elected president; E. H. Wason, secretary, and Dr. F. E. Kittredge, treasurer. A board of fifteen trustees, for 1893-4, was elected as follows :-
For one year-Edward Spalding, M. D., Lester F. Thurber, Bradford Allen, M. D., W. I. Blanchard, M. D., E. H. Wason. For two years-C. B. Hammond, M. D., James H. Tolles, Thomas W. Keeley, Frank L. Kimball, Frank Barr. For three years-Wm. D. Cadwell, E. F. McQuesten, M. D., Chas. S. Bussell, A. W. Petit, M. D., A. S. Wallace, M. D.
The following members from the board of trustees were elected as the executive committee :- E. F. McQuesten, M. D., chairman, W. I. Blanchard, M. D., secretary, A. S. Wallace, M. D., A. W. Petit, M. D., J. H. Tolles. And the finance committee was made up as follows: Frank L. Kimball, C. S. Bussell and L. F. Thurber.
The second annual meeting was productive of early results, and on July 31, upon recommendation of the executive committee, the association leased for a term of three years a building on Spring street owned by Dr. C. S. Collins. Measures were at once taken to put the building in proper condition for the reception of patients, and the dedicatory exercises were held October 9, 1893. The hospital staff for the first year included the following physicians :--
E. F. McQuesten, F. E. Kittredge, C. B. Hammond, M. H. Tierney, H. H. Jewell, G. F. Wilber, A. W. Petit, R. B. Prescott, A. S. Wallace, J. N. Woodward, Bradford Allen, W. I. Blanchard, C. S. Rounsevel, A. W. Shea, I. G. Anthoine.
The first patient was received into the hospital October 17, and the whole number ef emergency cases admitted during the first year was one hundred and one.
The third annual meeting of the hospital association was held June 19, 1894, and elected as president, Henry B. Atherton, clerk, E. H. Wason, treasurer, Dr. Bradford Allen. Lester F. Thurber, Dr. Bradford Allen, E. H. Wason, and Dr. J. N. Woodward were elected trustees for the term of three years. The executive committee for 1894-5 was made up of the following physicians : Drs. J. N. Woodward, A. S. Wallace, C. B. Hammond, A. W. Petit and A. W. Shea.
The Emergency hospital has from the start fulfilled its object in the treatment of emergency cases and no institution in the city is more appreciated. In order to meet the requirements of this community a much larger building than the one now in use should be erected, that would accommodate both medical and surgical cases. A city of twenty thousand inhabitants needs a general hospital, first class in all its appointments, one that will furnish patients with the best care and insure to the public isolation of all communicable diseases.
I am indebted to Dr. F. E. Kittredge and Dr. E. F. McQuesten for the matter relative to the above subjects.
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HISTORY OF NASIIUA, N. H.
DAVID CROSBY.
Prof. David Crosby was born at Hebron in 1808, died at Nashua, Feb. 26, 1881. His father was a well-to-do farm- er who believed that a common school education would answer all the needs of his children. When, therefore, the subject of this sketch had graduated at the academy in his native place, and expressed a desire to pursue his studies elsewhere, he was informed by his stern parent that he could not hope for pecuniary aid from him. To most young men similarly situated the lukewarmness of a parent and the with-holding of means necessary to accomplishing so laudable an under- taking would have proven an insup- erable obstacle to success. Not so with David Cros- by. Opposition and discourage- ment but nerved him to accomplish his resolve. He therefore started out with a fixed purpose to make the most of every opportunity that promised to lead to the end his am- bition sought. In fact, he labored diligently at what- ever his hands found to do; col- lected money for a denominational fund ; canvassed as a book agent; taught district and private schools, and in these and other employment earned the money necessary to pay his expenses while pursuing his stud- ies at Kimball Union academy.
charge of a school in Nashua, changed his plans, and, in 1834, came here and engaged in teaching a private school,* and at the same time, restoring discipline among young people who had become notoriously unruly. He remained here about six months and then accepted a place in the faculty of the New Hampton institution. He had, how- ever, become greatly attached to Nashua and her people. Moreover he had a feeling that southern New Hampshire offered a legitimate field of labor, and therefore he returned here and, in 1836, became principal of a high school. In 1840 Professor Crosby founded, and caused to be in- corporated, the Nashua Literary institution, a sem- inary of learning, located on Park street, which flourished nearly forty years and of which he was the honored head and principal until, by reason of failing health and the infirmities of age, he was, in 1880, compelled to dis- continue i H e could not, how- ever, content him- self in idleness aft- er more than fifty vears of active life, and so, although unable to see, he instructed classes at his home on Church street, making from memory the most minute and care- ful explanations with clear and log- ical analysis and summing up. He followed this work till five or six weeks before his death, or till too feeble to longer continue. It may thus be said that he died in harness, inthe work of a pro- fession he had honored.
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