Civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the County of Kings and the City of Brooklyn, N. Y., Part 61

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909.
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York : Munsell
Number of Pages: 1360

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Hle there become acquainted with most of the prominent down-town people, such as Domonie John- son, Bergen Stryker, and others. He was employed there some time as clerk, until his guardian thought it better that he should return to the farm. and there he remained until he moved from the old house; being the last Rappelyea who lived there, as it was shortly after- wards torn down on account of its age. During his residence in the old house. he married Ann Pilling. They then moved with their three children to the house he had built on the upper portion of his farm, where he led a qniet farmer's life. He was a member of the Brooklyn Horse Guards, until trouble arose in regard to foreigners in the ranks; when he took side with the foreigners, Hilliard, Dobson, McLeer, Pilling and others, and helped form the Washington Herse, of which company he was made First Lieutenant, the only public office he ever hohl. He died May 6th, 1868, m his fifty-fifth year.

Desemich

HISTORY OF THE MEDICAL PROFESSION

OF THE

CITY OF BROOKLYN,

1822-1884.

Frank 8. Green. md BY

N pages 414 to 418, we recorded the History of the Medical Profession in Kings County, from its earliest known beginnings to the formation, in 1822, of the Kings County Medical Society. Ve now proceed to trace the history of this So- iety, and the profession generally, down to the pres- nt time .*

Kings County Medical Society. - In 1837 the ociety ordered three hundred copies of their by-laws rinted. It may be stated, in passing, that evidence ex- sts indicating that in 1822, and again in 1829, the ociety had its constitution printed. At this last date here were thirty-six active members belonging to the ociety. In 1836 the Code of Ethics of the State Soci- ty was adopted, and in 1848 the code of Ethics of the American Medical Association. From its formation, in 822, till the repeal of that power by the Legislature n 1881, the Kings County Society conferred sixteen icenses to practice medicine.

Among thie many men who have belonged, and now elong, to the profession, there are but very few wlio lave violated their faith as physicians and their honor is meu. The vast majority have followed their calling n the full spirit of its nobility; have met and combat- ed disease and death without fear and without pre- umption; and many, far more than can be estimated, lave not only given their time and strength in work, in nedical charities, but have contributed as well the ard-carned fees obtained from wealthier patients for hie relief of pain and suffering in the homes of poverty and woe. Faithfully working in their chosen ields of labor till the hour came for their departure,

they have left but small record of their toil behind them as individuals. In a profession where disease and death are the enemies that must be met, many have contracted the contagion which they were seeking to overcome, and have died in harness. In a busi- ness that is not over lucrative, most of its followers have reached their end poor, and left their families without competence. While their individual records are not voluminous, their work in the abstract has small need of a historiographer. The limits of this work render it impossible to mention more than the few of those who, by their abilities cither in discovery or by their contributions to medieal literature, have become leaders in the profession; but leaders in any cause are useless, unless sustained by the rank and file ; while leaders direct, armies fight battles. Among the few names that may be mentioned is that of

DR. MATHEW WENDELL, first Vice-President and sixth President of the Society. He came to Brooklyn, from his birthplace, Albany: having been a student with Dr. Hyde, of Bethlehem, N. Y. He became a licentiate in 1804, and, entering into partnership with Dr. Charles Ball, in, or about 1806, he opened an office at the corner of Sands and Fulton streets. The Doctor was a practitioner in the days when Calo- mel, Jalap and blood-letting prevailed; and, when it is said that he was a conscientious man, a statement that he believed in the efficacy of that treatment is unnecessary. Dignified, courteous, and with great natural ability, to which he had added by study, he obtained and retained a large practice. For many years he was Health Officer of the city, and, in hours of pestilence, as well as quiet, displayed keen executive ability. The end of his life was somewhat sad. He exceeded the allotted age of man by some eleven years. Under the long-continued strain, his mind had weakened, and he be- came a devotee to the form of gambling known as "policy." His end came from cancer of the stomach, in July, 1860.

DR. ADRIAN VANDERVEER, born in Flatbush, December 21, 1796, was the great-grandson of Cornelis Vanderveer, who settled in the village in 1683. At an early age he was sent to Erasmus Hall Academy, where he was prepared for college; and, when 16, entered Columbia College, graduating with a very creditable record in 1816. He studied medicine at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, being also an

* MEDICAL, SOCIETY OF THE COUNTY OF KINGS .- Officers and com- nittres for 1883 · G. G. Hopkins, M D., 283 Lafayette avenue, President; 2. L. Colton, M.D., 136 Montague street, Vice-President ; R. M. Wyckoff, M.D., 52 Clinton avenue, Secretary: E. H. Squibb, M.D., SS Doughty treet, Assistant Secretary : J. R. Vanderveer, M.D., 301 Carlton avenue, treasurer ; T. R. French, M.D., 469 Clinton avenue, Librarian. Censors . 1. Hutchins, M.D .; C. Jewett, M.D., J. S. Wight, M.D .; G. R. Fowler, M.D .; B. F. Westbrook, M.D. Delegates to the Medical Society of the State of New York (1882 to 1885) ; Drs. J. C. Shaw, C. Jewett, T R. French, E. N. Chapman, G. G Hopkins, J. A. McCorkle, S. Sherwell, I. H. Hunt, J. Byrne, B. F. Westbrook, G. W, Baker, L. S, Pilcher.

888

HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

office student of the late eminent surgeon, Dr. Wright Post. In 1819, at the age of twenty-three, he graduated as M. D., and entered upon a practice which ere long extended over the whole of Kings county. At the organization of the Medical Society, he was elected secretary of that body, and became its seventh president, holding that office during the years 1837-38. It is not unworthy of note that he and Dr. T. W. Henry were the only members of the society, at its organization, who were graduates from a medical college, the other members being licen- tiates. In the epidemic of Asiatic cholera in 1832, Dr. Vanderveer was appointed Health Officer of Flatbush. In 1838, he abandoned general practice an l confined himself to a special branch of the profession, contemporaneonsly with Dr. Sabine, of New York. This, of course, aroused some op- position from his medical brethren ; but, persevering in his ideas, he eventually accomplished great success, patients vis- iting him from all over the country and from abroad. He also received a large number of letters from distinguished English and Continental surgeous and physicians, seeking ad- vice in his speciality, and informing him of the marked suc- cess of his method in the cases they had sent to him for treat- ment. Hissuccess was, indeed, remarkable; and it is to be re- gretted that no record of his cases was kept, and that he never published anything on the subject. With an office at Flat- bush aud another in Brooklyn, it was almost impossible for him to attend to all who applied to him. Long before office hours, a line of carriages was in waiting in front of his office; and from his Brooklyn office he was seldom able to return until long after midnight. Had he not been possessed of an iron constitution, as well as untiring energy and an in- domitable will, he could not have accomplished his work. But twelve years of this labor ended in an attack of paralysis in 1850; and, though he rallied from it, and associated with him his nephew and student, Dr. John R. Vanderveer, yet le was ultimately compelled to relinquish practice entirely. He died July 5, 1857, in his sixty-first year. In 1832, he was medical adviser to the village Board of Health; in 1825, with Rev. Dr. Strong, he organized the Reformed Church Sabbatlı School; was its superintendent for nearly thirty years, and an elder for many years. He was a thorough Bible student, well versed in theological lore; and especially interested in horticulture, his garden being filled with rare and beautiful plants from all climes. He was a man of remarkable de- cision, clear intellect and sound judgment .*

Contemporary with Dr. Vanderveer, for many years, was

DR. JOHN BARREA ZABRISKIE, son of Rev. John L. Zabriskie and Sarah Barrea de la Montagnie, born at Greenbush, N. Y., April 20, 1805: removed with his parents, at the age of six, to Millstone, N. J. He was prepared for college by a private tutor; and, when sixteen, entered, as junior, Union College, where his father had been a member of the first class which graduated in 1797. At college he became intimately ac- quainted with Hon. John A. Lott ; and, at the close of his college course, began the study of medicine in the office of Dr. Wmn. McKeesick, attending two courses of lectures at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York. He became a licentiate of the New Jersey Medical Society in 1827, but not bring satisfied with this license, he took a final course of lec- tures and gradnated from the University of Pennsylvania. April 6th, 1827. He began practice in New York city ; but, in 1830, when Dr. Isaac I. Rapelyea moved to Brooklyn, Za- briskie took his place in Now Lots, where his peculiar tal- ents, affable manvers and remarkable professional skill soon brought him into an extensive practice in the county, al- though the field was already occupied by eminent physicians.

In 1829, he became a member of the Kings County Medica Society. Ile held at different times the office of secretary censor (1832), delegate to the State Medical Society (1830 and president of the County Society in 1839. Deepl engaged as he was in professional duties, lie found tin to devote to the public weal. In 1847, he was superir tendent of the Flatbush School District, which at that time and till 1832, iuelnded the present New Lots; and it wa one of his acts that created School District No. 3. embrac ing the territory of Cypress IIills and East New York. H was a man of peculiarly diversified talent, and his hours ( relaxation were devoted to the scientific pursuits of music botany, horticulture, etc. He was interested in photography and took pictures by the camera long before it came int general nse; he experimented with electricity and galvacism and left many plaster casts of groups and medallions of lu own modelling. lle was a frequent contributor to the Ane ican Journal of Medical Sciences (vol. xii., 1346); carly discos ered the virtnes of Sanienla Marilandica in the treatment o chorea (St. Vitus' Dance); was appointed by the King County Medical Society to prepare a paper on the " Medica Topography of Kings County " (see Trans. N. Y. State Mer Soc., 1832); was physician in charge of the Kings Count. Alms-honse ; member of the Flatbush Board of Health, and trustee of the Erasmus Hall Academy ; an elder in the Re formed Church, and at one time surgeon of the 211st Regi ment, N. Y. State Militia. No man in the town was wide known, more generally respected and deeply lamented. H died in his forty-third year (1850), from contagious disease which he had contracted in his professional labors .*

We have already spoken of Dr. FRANCIS II. DUBOIS of New Utrecht. In 1832, his son, James E. Dubois graduated from the New York College of Physician and Surgeons and joined the father in practice. Afte his father's death in 1834, James' practice was to large for the attention of one physician, but he con tinued alone till 1848, when he took Dr. BrRR i. partnership. This arrangement lasted but two years when Dr. Berier's health broke down. In 1630, DI Joux LUDLOW CRANE took the place left vacant, and this last partnership was continued till September 1856, when it was dissolved by the death of both Di Dubois and Dr. Crane, within a few hours of cac other, from yellow fever contracted at the bedside o patients in the epidemic of that year. Then follower Dr. CARPENTER, who had removed from Fort Hamilto to New Utrecht. Dr. HUBBARD was the first residen physician of Gravesend, from about 1855 to 1565, whe he removed to Red Bank, N. J. Dr. R. L. Vas KIEEI settled at Gravesend in 1863, a recent graduate of th 1 .. I. College Hospital, and has seenred the entire conf dence of the community. In 1880, Dr. JAMES F. Mol GAN came from Jersey City and settled at Sheepshose Bay, and is doing well there. In 1877 or 75 a De GALler settled in Gravesend for about two years.

In the name of Dr. GEORGE GILini.AN, the wok residents of Brooklyn will recognize one who wa known to all by reputation, and endeared to nommy b. friendship.

. In those sketches we have been Indebted to Bes. R. G. - 100. Flatbush ; and to Dr P. L. SCHENCK's " Zabrishle Home lead.

889

THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.

GEORGE GILFILLAN, born in Ireland in 1797, early chose medi- cine as his field of labor, and began preparation for that study y acquiring a thorough classical education. Ere he could enter the Medical School at Glasgow, however, his father met with such severe business reverses as changed all the family lans. George, with an elder brother, came to America to egin the struggle for sustenance. Still following his predi- ection for the medical profession, George became a clerk in a Irng store, situated on the corner of Sands and Jay streets, de- ermining to remain there until he had accumulated sufficient means to permit study and graduation from the New York Col- ege of Physicians and Surgeons. During the cholera epidemic of 1832 the physicians of Brooklyn were too few in number to hopefully combat the disease. Dr. George Gilfillan left the Irug store, and though not yet a graduate, joined in the at- empt to stay the plague. For his voluntary risk of life in his labor for others he received the public thanks of Drs. Wendell and Ball. His conduct brought him into prominence, and when he graduated two years later he at once entered ipon a large practice. At first he located on the corner of Sands and Jay streets, later moving to the corner of Main nd York streets, where he continued in practice almost till he close of his life. Dr. Gilfillan was a member of the Kings County Medical Society, and a life member of the Long Island Historical Society. He never married. He died in 1879 at the ipe age of 83 years.

It may not be amiss to pause for a moment and view he field and conditions of medical practice in the Brooklyn of 1841. Remsen street was not open be- ond Henry, and but two houses stood near its ter- nination. From the junction of Henry and Remsen treets an unbroken view over cultivated fields could e had as far as Washington street. The settled see- ions of the city were about Fulton and Catherine erries. Within this small area the First Presbyterian Church, Dr. Cox's, on Orange street; Second Presby- erian, Dr. Spencer's, on Clinton street; the First Bap- ist Church, in Nassau street; the First Reformed Church, little west of the present location; the East Baptist, )r. E. E. L. Taylor's, then at the corner of Barbarin Lawrence) and Tillary, and a German church in Henry treet, furnished spiritual consolation to the inhabitants; while their physical ills were attended to by Drs. Wen- ell, George Gilfillan, Rowland Willsher, Van Sin- eren, Rapelye, Garrison, Fanning, Hyde, F. W. Ost- ander, W. G. Hunt, King, Marvine, Mason, Cooke, IcClellan and Benjamin. Not a single public build- og existed, and the total population reached but five nd twenty thousand.

CHARLES S. GOODRICH was born in Pittsfield, Mass., in 302; graduated from the Pittsfield Medical College in 1827, nd began practice in Troy, N. Y. Some years later he ro- hoved to Brooklyn. In 1847-'48-'49, and again in 1858-'59, te was connected with the Health Department, either as Health Officer or President. In 1852 he was appointed United tates Consul at Lyons, France, by President Fillmore. On is return to America he again resumed active practice in rooklyn, and remained engaged in his professional work till ie outbreak of the war. He then went to the front as sur- >01 of 102d Regiment, New York Volunteers, and remained Il the close of hostilities. After the war Dr. Goodrich never

resumed practice, but lived quietly in Brooklyn till his death in 1883. He was a member and at one time vice-president of the New York State Medical Society, but never joined the County Society.

CHARLES E. ISAACS, born in 1811, graduated from the Uni- versity of Maryland in 1832. Almost his first labor in profes- sional life was the medical oversight of the Cherokee tribe of Indians in their transfer across the Mississippi, a duty to which he was assigned by President Jackson. In 1841 he formed one of fifty candidates who sought admission into the United States Army Medical Staff. Of this number but six passed the examination, and Dr. Isaaes stood first among the six. He resigned from the service in 1845, and joined with Dr. Wm. H. Van Buren in establishing a private medical school in New York city. In 1847, he began private practice in Youngs- town, N. Y., with Dr. T. G. Catlin. Six months later he was ap- pointed Deputy Health Officer of Staten Island. but resigned the position within a month and returned to Dr. Catlin. In 1848 he was chosen Demonstrator of Anatomy to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York, a position which he filled to his own honor and the great benefit of the school. In 1857 Dr. Isaacs removed to Brooklyn and there remained till his death in 1860. Shortly thereafter he delivered. by request, a course of lectures on surgical anatomy, at the Brooklyn City Hospital, which was received with great favor. He con. tributed many articles to medical and a few to general litera ture; one on the "Structure and Function of the Kidneys " being translated and republished in France and Germany. He was an active member of the Kings County Medical So- ciety ; one of the founders and successively president and vice-president of the N. Y. Pathological Society : an active member of the N. Y. Academy of Medicine, and Consulting Surgeon to the Kings County Hospital. By the profession he was considered "the first living anatomist in the world." Malaria, the seeds of which were sown in his system during his army service, constantly crippled the energy and dimmed the brightness of what would otherwise have been a splendid professional life; but it did not diminish the sweetness of his most lovable disposition, nor the charmis of a cultivated and refined mind.

DE WITT CLINTON ENOS was born in Madison county, N. Y., in 1820. Obtaining his preliminary education at the De Ruyter Institute, he began the study of medicine with Dr. James Whitford, of De Ruyter, and graduated from the New York College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1845. For a time he practiced in New York City, but removed 10 Brooklyn in 1849. Dr. Enos was one of the Visiting Surgeons to the Brooklyn City Hospital and held the chair of Anatomy at the Long Island College Hospital. He was a member of the Kings County Medical Society, and was president of that body in 1863. He was also a member of the New York Academy of Medicine and of the N. Y. Pathological Society. He wrote a number of monographs, chiefly on surgical topics. His death occurred December 14, 1868, from obstruction of the coronary arter- ies.

RICHARD CRESSON STILES was born in Philadelphia, in 1830; took the degree of A. B. at Yale, in 1851, and three years later that of M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. In Eu- rope he continued his studies for three years longer. On his return to this country he was elected to the chair of Physi- ology in the University of Vermont, and shortly after to the sanie chair in the Berkshire Medical College at Pittsfield, Mass. In the term of 1861, '62, he was lecturer on Physiology

890

HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

at the N. Y. College of Physicians and Surgeons. In 1862 he entered the army as a surgical volunteer, and was assigned to the charge of the military general hospital at Pittsburg, Penn. The next year he joined Hancock's corps in the Army of the Potomac as Surgeon-in-Chief of Caldwell's Division. In 1864 he came to Brooklyn and was appointed Resident Physician to the Kings County Hospital, which position he held till 1866, when he was appointed at first Registrar of Vital Statistics, and, later, Sanitary Superintendent for the Brooklyn District of the Metropolitan Health Department. Hle remained in the Health Office till the Metropolitan Board was abolished by the Legislature of 1870. While there he called public attention particularly to the defective ventila- tion of Public buildings, such as schools, theaters, etc., and especially to the condition of tenement house hygiene, uniting with Rev. Dr. Bellows, Dr. Elisha Harris, and Dr. Stephen Smith, of New York, in the agitation of this sub- ject. Entering with his usual ability into the investigation of the Texas cattle disease. his discovery of the parasite which caused that malady gave him a widespread scientitic reputation; and Professor Hallier, of Jena, named the fungus Coniothecium Stilesianum, in honor of the discoverer. Like many others. Dr. Stiles overworked himself, and shortly after leaving the Health Department his constitution yielded to the undne strain which had been put upon it. Efforts to re- lieve his ills proved fruitless, and he died at Chester, in his native State, in 1873. at the untimely age of forty-three years.

N. GERHARD HUTCHISON, M. D., was born in Marshall, Saline county, Mo., June 3d, 1853. He was the son of Dr. Joseph C. Hutchison and Mrs. Susan B. Hutchison of Brook- lyn, N. Y. His grandfather, on his father's side, was Dr. Nathaniel Hutchison, of Booneville, Mo., and on his mother's side, the Rev. Amzi Benedict, whose wife was the daughter of Gen. Solomon Cowles, of Farmington, Conn. His preparatory studies were pursued in the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, and at Stuttgart, in Germany, where he was fitted for, and entered into, the Real Schule. After his return, in 1871, he was a private pupil of Prof. Plymp- ton, of the Polytechnic Institute, and in 1872 he began the study of medicine in his father's office.

In the spring of 1873, he attended the course of lectures given in the Long Island College, and in the autumn of that year entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York, where he graduated in 1875, and received his diploma of Doctor of Medicine. After graduation he was for a short period one of the Assistant Physicians in Kings County Hospital, at Flatbush, L. I. He, also, in 1874, made two voyages, as an assistant surgeon, on board of one of the steamers of the White Star Line, from New York to Liverpool.

In the summer of 1875, he opened an office in Brooklyn, and began the practice of medicine. He was soon ap- pointed Attending Surgeon to the Brooklyn Orthopedic I- firmary, Assistant Surgeon to St. Peter's Hospital, and also Assistant Surgeon to the Twenty-third Regiment.

Ilis success as a practitioner was speedily assured. He evinced great enthusiasm for the profession of his choice: gave himself to the study of his cases; published a very creditable essay upon one of them, and was distinguishing himself by energy and fidelity.

llis last patient was a child suffering from diphtheria, upon whom he performed the operation of tracheotomy. le bestowed upon the case constant attention, and was unremitting in his watchfulness night and day. Con- tracting the disease, however, himself, he experienced it in its u.ost aggravated form; and after four days of intense

suffering, he died on the 10th day of April, 1877. Just before the last, he called for tracheotomy, in the last words he ever spoke, and it was performed for him by Dr. Rush- more, in the hope of affording himt temporary relief.

The funeral services, held at his father's residence, on the 12th of April, were conducted by his pastor, the Rev. Win. Ives Budington, D. D .; and the interment took place in Greenwood on the same day.

Ilis grave is on Southwood avenue, at the intersection of Oakwood and Dell avenues. The headstone bears the in- scription, " Faithfulnnto death."

. CHARLES H. GIBERSON was born at Bath, New Brunswick. in 1838. He studied at the country school at his home; later at the Florence school at Woodstock, the Seminary at Fred- ericon, and the training school at St. Johns. At the age of sixteen years he was engaged in teaching, and continued that occupation at intervals during his studies. In 157, he began the study of dentistry, and received a diploma from a Boston dental college.

Having long been interested in medical science, he began the study of that subject with Dr. Hiram Dow, of Frederic- ton, and graduated from the University of Vermont in the spring of 1861. On coming to New York to continue his studies, he was appointed one of the staff of Charity Hospi- tal, and served in that institution till his appointment as Assistant Surgeon in the United States Navy in October, 1861. Dr. Giberson remained in the navy seven years, serving through the civil war, during three years of which he was with Farragut's squadron on the Mississippi.

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Civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the County of Kings and the City of Brooklyn, N. Y., Part 61

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909. Publication date: 1884 Publisher: New York : Munsell Number of Pages: 1360

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909.
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York : Munsell
Number of Pages: 1360