The history of Camden county, New Jersey, Part 41

Author: Prowell, George Reeser, 1849-1928
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : Richards
Number of Pages: 1220

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Subsequently a minority of the members of the Bounty Fund Association became dissat- isfied with the disposition that had been made of the funds, and they held a meeting on May 24, 1865, and passed a resolution, ad- dressed to Messrs. Mckean and Garrison, to distribute the money among the " contributors and drafted men." This action caused some litigation, which was decided by the court in favor of the Dispensary. At a meeting of the society held in December of the same year the committee on Dispensary reported that negotiations were in progress for the purchase of the Perseverance Hose-House, and that a gentlemau had purchased twelve cots, which he designed presenting to the institution. At the next meeting, in March, 1866, it was reported that the hose-house on Third Street, below Market, had been purchased, and that a room was being fitted up for the meetings of the society, and that A. Browning, Esq., had offered his services gratuitously for pro- curing a charter for a corporate body. The committee were instructed to organize the Dispensary in conjunction with such citizens as may be appointed to act with them, and the plan of organization drawn up by the society in 1859 was reported and accepted. Subscription books were ordered to be pre- pared for each member, for druggists and other citizens. On March 17th the keys of the Dispensary were handed to the society, with the request that it should carry on the insti- tution until a charter could be obtained from the next Legislature authorizing a board of managers. On March 21st the following visiting physicians were appointed : North

Ward, Dr. H. Genet Taylor ; Middle Ward, Dr. John R. Stevenson ; and South Ward, Dr. A. Marcy. O. G. Taylor was elected druggist and superintendent. The consulting physi- cians, who were appointed at the next stated meeting in June, were Drs. R. M. Cooper, L. F. Fisler and Thomas F. Cullen.

The Dispensary was opened immediately and managed by the medical committee until the procurement of the charter, approved February 5, 1867, in which Drs. Isaac S. Mulford, O. H. Taylor, Richard M. Cooper, Lorenzo F. Fisler, Thomas F. Cullen, John V. Schenck, William S. Bishop, Bowman Hendry, James M. Ridge, H. Genet Taylor and John R. Stevenson were named as cor- porators. Under this charter an organization was effected March 7, 1867, by the election of Dr. Isaac S. Mulford, president ; Dr. L. F. Fisler, vice-president ; Dr. J. R. Stevenson, secretary ; and Dr. R. M. Cooper, treasurer. On the 12th of December of the same year the Perseverance Hose-House was conveyed to the corporation, the consideration being two thousand dollars. The first annual meet- ing of the corporators and contributors, as pro- vided by the constitution and by-laws which had been adopted the 18th of April of the year previous, was held January 14, 1868, at which it was reported that the net amount received from the draft fund had been $3776.94, of which $2128.03 had been expended, leaving a balance on hand of $1648.91. Since the opening of the institution the cash contri- butions were one thousand one hundred and twenty-seven dollars, besides donations of various articles to the value of sixty dol- lars. Of this there was a balance of $3.33 on hand. The total number of patients pre- scribed for had been six hundred and eighty- two, and the total number of prescriptions compounded, two thousand and twenty-three. On the 21st of January the reorganization of the Dispensary under the new charter took place, at which Drs. Thomas F. Cullen was elected president ; John V. Schenck, vice-

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president ; R. M. Cooper, secretary and treas- urer. Dr. Cullen served as president until 1870, when Thomas A. Wilson was elected. He was succeeded in 1874 by John Morgan, who continued in office until his death, in 1881. The next president was Thomas Mc- Keen, who died in 1884, when Dr. Alexan- der Marcy, the present incumbent, was elected to fill the vacancy. Dr. John V. Schenck continued to be vice-president until his death, in 1883, when Dr. Alexander Marcy became vice-president, who, upon his election to be president in 1884, was succeeded by the pres- ent official, Manrice Browning. Upon the resignation and removal from the city of the secretary, Dr. John R. Stevenson, in 1867, Dr. R. M. Cooper was appointed to the va- cancy, holding the combined office of secre- tary and treasurer until his death, in 1874, when Dr. H. Genet Taylor was elected secre- tary, a position he still holds, and Joseph B. Cooper became treasurer, but resigned in 1882. The present treasurer, R. H. Reeve, succeeded him. O. G. Taylor, the druggist and superintendent, elected March 21, 1865, served continuously for nearly twenty years, during which time he never made a mistake. His health failing, so that he was unable to perform his duties, he resigned January 10, 1886, and died shortly afterwards in the same year. Dr. H. F. Palm now fills the post.

In the year 1868 City Council appropri- ated three hundred dollars a year to the Dis- pensary, in consideration of the services it rendered to the poor of the city. This ap- propriation continued until the year 1879, when an ordinance was passed authorizing its sanitary committee to divide the city into three districts and make a contract with the board of managers of the Dispensary to fur- nish medical attendance and medicines to the poor of the city for the sum of sixteen hun- dred dollars per annum. This agreement was ratified on June 1st of that year, and the following physicians were elected by the board of managers, viz .: For the First District,

Dr. O. B. Gross; Second District, Dr. C. M. Schellinger ; Third District, Dr. M. West- with a salary of two hundred dollars a year for each. Prior to this time all the physi- cians who had attended to the Dispensary had given their services gratuitously. The younger members of the society had each, in their turn, filled these positions, serving until a new member-usually a young graduate in medicine-would relieve them from this duty. These physicians had been elected by the City Medical Society and were accountable to it, but when the officers became salaried, then their selection was transferred to the board of managers of the Dispensary. This contract with the city was renewed annually at the same price, until 1885, when the latter opened it to the lowest bidder. The board offered to renew it at sixteen hundred dollars, which was not accepted ; consequently the election of the district physicians was abandoned, and the Medical Society again resumed its free attendance.

When the Dispensary building was fitted up, the first floor was divided into two rooms, the front one being used as a pharmacy and the rear one as an office in which to examine patients. Meetings were also held here. During the winter of 1866 and 1867 a conrse of gratuitous medical lectures was de- livered here to the students of Rev. T. M. Reilly's Theological School. Dr. John R. Stevenson lectured on materia medica and practice of medicine, and Dr. H. Genet Tay- lor on anatomy and surgery to these young men, who were preparing themselves for mis- sionary work in the Territories. In the year 1884 an additional room was built in the rear, to be used for holding consultations. At first the second floor was filled with hos- pital cots for the reception. of persons who might receive accidental injuries ; but as suffi- cient means could not be raised to provide nurses and open a culinary department, the project was abandoned, and the beds were sold in 1869. In 1868 this room was rented

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HISTORY OF CAMDEN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

to Dr. Reynell Coates for five dollars a month, who lived in it until 1877. The Microscopical Society occupied it after 1878.

The " Board of Pension Examining Sur- geons " rented it in 1885. When unoccupied it is used for holding special meetings of both the City and County Medical Societies. Miss Elizabeth Cooper, who died in 1884, left a bequest to the Dispensary of one thou- sand dollars.

of establishing a hospital in West Jersey had been for some time contemplated by the brothers William D. and Dr. Richard M. Cooper, descendants of William Cooper, the first settler at Coopers Point, but dur- ing their lifetime they had taken no active steps in that direction. William D. Cooper, shortly before his death, which occurred in 1875, expressed a wish that fifty thousand dollars should be set apart from his estate

COO

COOPER HOSPITAL.

During the year 1885 the attending physi- cian had treated one thousand one hundred and forty-seven medical and surgical cases, and four thousand two hundred and ninety- five prescriptions had been compounded. The cost of this was $1335.34, which left a balance of $242.80 out of receipts amounting to $1578.14.

THE COOPER HOSPITAL .- The project

and used for hospital purposes. The devisees of his estate, who were his sisters Sarah W. and Elizabeth B. Cooper, in accordance with their brother's wish, took the matter into consideration, and deeming fifty thousand dollars insufficient for the erection and main- tenance of such an institution, generously decided to contribute two hundred thousand dollars for that purpose. In addition to this,

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they also, with their brother, Alexander Coo- per, conveyed the plot of ground on which the hospital now stands. The ground extends north and south from Mickle to Benson Streets and east and west from Sixth to Seventh Streets, and is valued at about fifty thousand dollars, making the total amount two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. In accordance with the desire of the donors a charter was obtained and the act of in- corporation provided that the corporators should constitute the board of managers, and that they should have exclusive control of the funds as set forth in the act, and in ac- cordance therewith, the two hundred thousand dollars was placed in their hands.

The act provided for the construction of suitable buildings for hospital purposes on the grounds above mentioned, and also con- tains the following : " The object of said cor- poration shall be to afford gratuitous medical and surgical aid, advice, remedies and care to such invalid or needy persons as under the rules and by-laws of said corporation shall be entitled to the same." The board of mana- gers commenced work on the erection of the hospital building in the latter part of 1875, but during the progress of the work many improvements not at first contemplated were made, so that when the structure was com- pleted, in 1877, the entire cost including laying out of the grounds had amounted to ninety-five thousand dollars, a much larger sum than was at first estimated would be required. This left a balance of one hun- dred and five thousand dollars for the pur- pose of an endowment fund, which was invested in New Jersey mortgages bearing seven per cent. interest. In 1878 the legal rate of interest was reduced to six per cent., which materially lessened the income to be used in defraying the operating expenses of the hospital, and the board of mana- gers, after taking into consideration the in- come thus unexpectedly reduced, concluded that the amount was not sufficient to main-

tain the hospital as at first projected, and deemed it advisable to add the yearly income to the endowment fund until a sufficient sum was invested to guarantee the income neces- sary to support the institution. The man- agers believed that the delay in the opening thus caused would result to the benefit of the public in the larger accommodations which the increased fund would permanently secure. The sum now invested (1886) the board of managers consider sufficient to warrant the opening of the institution.

The building is constructed of Leiperville gray stone, with hollow walls lined with brick, three stories high. The entire depth is two hundred and twenty-four feet by an average width of forty-six feet. The front, or administration building, is fifty-six feet by forty-six feet, and contains rooms for offices, managers, physicians, matrons, apoth- ecary and operating rooms, stores, etc., and is connected with the hospital by a corridor twenty feet by fourteen, on each side of which , are linen rooms for the use of the hospital.

There is a male and female ward, each thirty-one by seventy-seven feet, connecting with sitting-rooms thirty by thirty-one feet. Adjoining and connected with these wards, are four small wards, each twelve by twenty- two feet ; there are also four wards in the administration building, each sixteen by eighteen feet ; the cubic air space is about two thousand four hundred feet, and the floor space about one hundred and seventy feet to each patient. The basement of the hospital building contains the dining-rooms and apartments for servants. Particular at- tention has been paid to the sanitary arrange- ments of the hospital. It is heated through- out with steam, besides having open fire- places in most of the wards and rooms; the ventilation is effected by means of steam coils placed in two large aspirating shafts, connected with which are flues opening into the wards ; fresh air is supplied from aper-

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tures in the ceilings leading outside. The boiler and laundry rooms are located in a separate building connected with the main building by an under-ground passage. The hospital will be opened at first with about fifteen beds. Under the rules contemplated the medical staff will consist of consulting, visiting and resident physicians and surgeons. The board of managers are,-President, Alex- ander Cooper; Secretary and Treasurer, John W. Wright; Peter L. Voorhees, Rodolphus Bingham, Joseph B. Cooper, Augustus Reeve, William B. Cooper and Richard H. Reeve.1

BIOGRAPHIES OF PHYSICIANS

Who practiced Medicine in Camden County since the or- ganization of the Camden County Medical Society in 1846, who are deceased or have removed :

ISAAC SKILLMAN MULFORD was the son of Heury and Sarah Mulford, and was born at Alloway's Creek, Salem County, N. J., on December 31, 1799. Selecting the profes- sion of medicine, he entered the office of Dr. Joseph Parrish, of Philadelphia, as a student in 1819, and in the same year he attended medical lectures at the University of Penn- sylvania, from which institution he grad- uated in 1822. He served for one year as resident physician in the Pennsylvania Hos- pital and in 1823 began the practice of med- icine in Camden, then a mere village, popu- larly known as the "Ferry," in which, at that date, Dr. Samnel Harris was the only physician. His practice grew as Camden in- creased in population until he became a lead- ing physician, a position he retained for the whole of his career of fifty years of profes- sional labor. He was noted for his skill in the diagnosis of disease, a faculty that seemed to be intuitive with him.

Dr. Mulford was a pioneer in the organi- zation of Camden County and City Medical Societies and City Dispensary, and he served as president of all of them. His keen insight into the needs of the people and his accurate

judgment and precision in all technical de- tails were valuable aids in laying the firm foundations upon which those superstructures were erected. He attained an enviable pre- eminence in the community for the honesty, the firmness and the correctness of his convic- tions, both in professional and secular affairs. Although never an office-seeker, such was the confidence of his fellow-citizens in his patriotism and public spirit that, when meet- ings were held upon any important civic oc- casions, such as the firing upon Fort Sumter at the commencement of the Rebellion, he would be called upon to preside over and to address them. His speeches were delivered with a logical force that was convincing, and with a rhetoric that rose at times into eloquence. He was greatly interested in the establishment of the pub- lic-school system in New Jersey and liis ser- vices in its behalf were rewarded by the Ex- ecutive of the State by an appointment after its adoption as a member of the State School Board of Education. He was frequently elected a member of the School Board in Camden. He was also one of the visitors of the State Insane Asylum. He was an occa- sional lecturer upon medical and scientific subjects and was also the author of a number of papers upon them published in the medi- cal journals. In the year 1848 he issued from the press the "Civil and Political His- tory of New Jersey," a work which has be- come a standard book of reference.

Dr. Mulford married, in 1830, Rachel, daughter of Isaac and Sarah Mickle, of Gloucester (now Camden) County. Shortly afterwards he joined the Society of Friends and became a prominent member of the New- town Meeting, of which he was an elder un- til his decease. His residence was upon the south side of Federal Street, between Second and Third, in the building now occupied by the Camden Safe Deposit and Trust Com- pany. He died February 10, 1873, and is buried in Newtown Cemetery. He left three

1 Transactions New Jersey State Medical Society, 1885.

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A HISTORY OF MEDICINE AND MEDICAL MEN.

daughters still surviving-Emma, who mar- ried Henry Palmer; Mary, the wife of Colonel James M. Scovel; and Anna, wife of Dr. Richard C. Dean, United States Navy.

BENJAMIN WHITALL BLACKWOOD was a descendant of John Blackwood, the founder of the town of Blackwood, in this county. His father, John Blackwood, who at one time was associate judge of the Gloucester Coun- ty Court, married Ann Mickle. Dr. Black- wood was born January 16, 1800, on a farm on the north side of Newtown Creek, about a mile from its mouth. He studied medicine under Dr. Samuel Howell, of Woodbury, af- terwards of Princeton, N. J., and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania March 27, 1828. He began the practice of medi- cine in Haddonfield in that year, but did not procure his license from the New Jersey State Medical Society until June 12, 1830. He left Haddonfield, and for a short time practiced in Philadelphia, but soon returned to his former residence. He joined the Cam- den County Medical Society in 1847, but re- signed June 18, 1853, in consequence of his affiliation with homeopathy, which was con- trary to the code of ethics of the society. He married Mary Ann Hopkins, of Had- donfield, November 24, 1824, and died Jan- uary 19, 1866. His widow survived him six years. He had six children, three of whom are living ; two daughters still live in his residence, which he built about 1846. Dr. Blackwood was a member of the Society of Friends and a man of exemplary life.

JACOB P. THORNTON was a native of Bucks County, in Pennsylvania, and his early life was spent on the farm of his parents. In 1828 he graduated in the Medical Depart- ment of the University of Pennsylvania and located in Haddonfield, N. J., in the same year. He obtained considerable practice and remained there until 1849. He was one of the corporators of the Medical Society of Camden County in 1846 and acted as the first treasurer for two years.

At the meeting of the society January 16, 1849, he resigned his membership “ on ac- count of the expense attending the meetings."

He soon after removed to the State of Ohio, where he is still living. His practice here covered a large extent of territory and in many instances with indifferent pay. His attendance on his patients was faithful and conscientious, always discharging that duty to the best of his ability.

He was cotemporary with Dr. Charles D. Hendry and their professional intercourse was always pleasant, his senior extending to him the assistance and advice arising therefrom.

CHARLES D. HENDRY1 was the descend- ant of physicians on both the maternal and paternal line, and if particular characteristics be transmitted from father to son, then he had the advantage of two generations on either side to strengthen and qualify him for the healing art.

He was the son of Dr. Bowman Hendry, of Haddonfield, who was a son of Dr. Thomas Hendry, of Woodbury, both prac- ticing and successful physicians. His mother was Elizabeth Duffield, a daughter of Dr. Charles Duffield, who was a son of Dr. Duffield, both of Philadelphia, whose lives were spent in the practice of medicine.

He was born in Haddonfield May 8, 1809, where his parents then resided and where his father was in active practice. From his earliest recollection he was familiar with his father's laboratory and, no doubt, often kept his father busy answering questions relating to the use and application of medicines. The skeletons there standing had no terror for him as a boy, but he then saw the anatomy of the human system, of so much use to him in after-years. The diagnosis of difficult cases he often heard discussed when studying his lessons for school, and in his youth there was instilled into his mind things that he found advantageous in his profession.

1 By Hon. John Clement.

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HISTORY OF CAMDEN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

To show that his father intended he should follow him, at the age of sixteen he was placed in a drug store in Philadelphia, and graduated in pharmacy in 1830. He then took his place in the classes of the Univer- sity of Pennsylvania and won his diploma in 1832.

He had scarcely attained his majority be- fore his father required him to ride and see his patients, and kept him under his personal supervision for several years. As the prac- tice of medicine was at that time undergoing many changes, the father differed widely from the notions of the son in adopting the new ideas. Many amusing anecdotes were related by Dr. Charles of the the persistency of Dr. Bowman for the old practice.

On several occasions when Charles was sent to see patients, and had packed his rem- edies in his pocket, his father would put his man on a horse with the traditional medicine- chest to follow him, supposing he had for- gotten the ever needful attendants of a prac- titioner of the " old school." The old gentle- man would often insist on certain rules being followed as only conducive to success, and assure his son that he would lose his cases and position if he departed from them. With all due respect for his experience, old theories gradually passed away, and at his death (April 23, 1838) Charles had succeeded to the practice with advanced and popular ideas.

Following the religions views of his fam- ily, he did much toward the building of an Episcopal Church in Haddonfield, and was elected one of the vestrymen April 20, 1843, and so remained until his death.

Believing that much advantage would be derived from more frequent intercourse among physicians in the county, and after consider- able effort on his part, the Camden County Medical Society was organized August 14, 1846. This was mutually beneficial, and soon became very popular in the profession. In 1849 he was selected to represent the society in the American Medical Association,

which sat at Boston, Mass., showing that his standing as a practitioner was appreciated among his constituents. He acted as presi- dent of the county society in 1852 and 1853, but in 1865 he removed to Philadelphia, and in that year (June 20th) resigned his membership. He practiced medicine in his native town and neighborhood for about thirty-three years, associated with others who settled there as the increase of population warranted it. In the early part of his ser- vice the work was exposing and laborious, presenting to him diseases in every phase and under every condition. Being of an affable and pleasant address, and generally reaching a correct diagnosis of the case before him, he soon became popular, and secured the confidence of the community. His care of and attention to his patients was proverbial, and he seldom allowed stormy weather, bad roads or dark nights to break in upon this rule. His operations in surgery were limited, and in difficult cases he always obtained the assistance of experts.

He gave considerable attention to climatic changes and miasmatic influences as control- ling the health of the neighborhood, and drawing the attention of his associates to these important, but then little understood, subjects.

Being the victim of hereditary gout, aggra- vated by his frequent exposure to storms and cold, his health gradually declined, and in 1865 he abandoned his practice and removed to Philadelphia. He afterwards returned to Camden, and was often consulted by those who regarded his experience and skill as superior to all others. He died April 25, 1869, and lies buried in the cemetery at Colestown, beside the remains of his ances- tors.

JOHN ROWAN SICKLER .- There were sev- eral physicians who practiced within the territory of Camden County who never were members of its medical society. One of the most prominent of these was Dr.

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John R. Sickler. He was a native of the county, having been born at Chews Land- ing September 20, 1800. He was the son of Christopher and Sarah Sickler. At the age of eighteen he entered the office of Ben- jamin B. Cooper to learn surveying and con- veyancing, an occupation he followed for several years. Having a natural fondness for the profession of medicine, he, when twenty-six years of age, entered the office of Dr. McClellan, father of General Geo. B. McClellan, as a student, and graduated at the Jefferson Medical College March 18, 1829. The next day, at his home in Chews Landing, he paid his first professional visit to James D. Dotterer. He continued in practice here for four years, a place where, according to the doctor's books, the people were remarkable for being good pay. On the 25th of March, 1832, heremoved to Camden and opened a drug-store on Federal Street, near the ferry, in which he sold a general assortment of drugs, in- cluding paints and oils. It was the only store of the kind then in that city. Dr. Sickler still retained part of his county prac- tice. After living in Camden a little over two years, and his health failing, he relin- quished his drug business, and on April 14, 1834, returned to Chews Landing. On No- vember 13th of the same year he moved to Woodbury. Here he remained until March 25, 1836, when he located at Car- penters Landing (now Mantua) where he spent the remainder of his days. He took an active part in public affairs. In 1825 he was a justice of the peace for Gloucester township, and between 1828 and 1865 he was associate judge of the Courts of Common Pleas of Glou- cester County, which, up to 1844, included in it Camden County. In the latter year he was a member of the Constitutional Conven- tion of the State. He was a member of the Board of Chosen Freeholders of Gloucester from 1859 to 1871. Several times he was a school trustee. He was one of the building committee that erected the Gloucester County

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The history of Camden county, New Jersey, Part 41

Author: Prowell, George Reeser, 1849-1928 Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Philadelphia : Richards Number of Pages: 1220

Author: Prowell, George Reeser, 1849-1928
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : Richards
Number of Pages: 1220