History of Orange County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 42

Author: Ruttenber, Edward Manning, 1825-1907, comp; Clark, L. H. (Lewis H.)
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1336

USA > New York > Orange County > History of Orange County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 42

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After his graduation he returned to Chester, where, by indomitable perseverance and integrity, his skill as a physician and surgeon soon gained the confidence of a respectable part of the community, and where he has very successfully continued the practice of his profession since,-a period of thirty years.

Dr. Smith is widely known as a devoted, judicious, and skillful physician, and a man of marked ability as a skillful surgeon in difficult cases. In the treat- ment of diseases he has the confidence of a large community in the surrounding towns, and his counsel is often sought by his medical brethren outside of his regular ride.

As a citizen, Dr. Smith is eminently interested in all that pertains to the welfare of the people and to the prosperity of the place where he resides. In matters of religion and education Dr. Smith takes an active interest, contributing liberally of time and means thereto. He was elected a member of the board of education upon the organization of the union graded school at Chester, has been a member continuously since, and for several years past president of the board.

His first wife was Caroline, daughter of Thomas C. Jennings, of Edenville, N. Y., whom he married

For his second wife he married Susan, daughter of Jacob Feagles, of Amity, Orange Co., who died June 15, 1857, leaving no issue. Ilis present wife is Susan, daughter of John B. Randolph, of Brooklyn, N. Y., whom he married Nov. 2, 1859. She was born March 13, 1838. Their children living are Mary L., Henry B., Charles P., Anna N., Joseph H., and William H.

SOLOMON VAN ETTEN, M.D .- The great-grand- father of Dr. Van Etten was Anthony Van Etten, of Rochester, Ulster Co., N. Y., who settled in the val- ley of the Neversink about the year 1743, having built a shop and followed the trade of a blacksmith. His occupation proved so Inerative as to have enabled him soon to purchase valuable lands in the neighbor- hood, which are nearly all still in possession of the family. On the maternal side, Dr. Van Etten's grand- father was Benjamin Carpenter, and his grandmother Miss Margaret Decker, daughter of Maj. Johannes Decker, of historie memory, and one of the pupils at school on the occasion of the raid made by Brant, the Indian chief, when the life of the teacher and others were sacrificed by his warriors. The house of Maj. Decker was burned by this marauding band, and the owner badly wounded previous to the battle of Mini- sink.

Among the children of Anthony Van Etten was Levi, whose son Levi married Elinor Carpenter. Their son Solomon was born July 30, 1829, in Deer- park, Orange Co., N. Y., and spent the first sixteen years of his life at home and in attendance upon the neighboring public school. He then repaired to the Unionville Academy, and devoted two years to study under the direction of Willian Rankin. After fur- ther time spent at school, under the instruction of David L. Towle, Esq., at the Farmers' Hall Academy, Goshen, N. Y., he adopted the profession of medicine, having entered the office of Dr. B. W. Thompson, of Goshen, N. Y. He graduated from the Albany Medi- cal College in June, 1855.

Immediately after he chose Port Jervis as a desirable field for the exercise of his skill, and has since resided at that point. Dr. Van Etten has developed not only a taste for, but much proficiency in the art of surgery, a large field for which is presented by the numerous accidents occurring upon the line of the Erie Rail- road.

He entered the service of the government during the late Rebellion as surgeon of the Fifty-sixth Regi- ment of New York State Volunteers, which was re- cruited in 1861. His career was brilliant, and his advancement rapid. He was speedily appointed brigade surgeon, and in 1862 was assigned to the charge of Gen. Terry's division, where he did valua- ble service both in the surgical and medical depart- ment of the army, and retired with the rank of lieu- tenant-colonel. Hle was also largely instrumental in

Solomon Van Etten

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the raising of recruits from his own State. Dr. Van Etten has been since the formation of the party a Republican, and was elected in the fall of 1861 super- visor of his township. Ile was also nominated in early life as a candidate for member of the Legislature, and received a flattering vote in a district largely Democratic.

Dr. Van Etten was first married, Feb. 21, 1856, to Miss Harriet, daughter of Col. Levi Westbrook, of Waverley, N. Y., who died in 1857; and a second time, in September, 1865, to Mrs. Maria B. Sawyer, daughter of Hon. Nathan Bristol, of Waverley, N. Y. They have two children,-a son, Nathan B., and a daughter, Nellie B. Van Etten.

JAMES D. JOHNSTON, M.D., was born in Angel Street, Saint Martin's Le Grand, London, England, May 14, 1815, the son of John B. Johnston, a promi- nent manufacturing chemist of that city, and grandson of James Johnston, a wealthy and influential land proprietor of the midland counties of England.

Ilis mother was Jane Richmond, and his brothers are John, William, and Samuel. John and William succeeded their father in the manufacturing business, which had been carried on by the family for several generations.

Dr. James D. Johnston's boyhood was spent at home, where he early received impressions of what he has so successfully followed for a life profession,-the practice of medicine,-and also where he became ac- quainted with the mannfacture and use of chemicals.

At the age of sixteen he began his medical studies at St. Thomas' Hospital, London, England, where he remained a faithful student for four years, and became eminently versed in the nature, cause, and eure of complicated diseases.

In 1841, Dr. Johnston, with his brother Samuel, emigrated to America, landing at New York, where he stopped only a short time, and then came to New- ark, N. J., where he remained until 1842, when he decided to permanently locate, and chose the then small village of Middletown, Orange Co., N. Y. His brother settled in Newark, where he died.

Here Dr. Johnston sednonsły applied his time to the i at Greenville, Orange Co. Here he only remained acquisition of means necessary to enable him to open an office and drug-store in which he could resume the practice of his profession. These efforts proved suc- cessful, and he ultimately located in North Street, where he continued to reside for fifteen years. At first When young, and possessed of a good constitution and an intellect of more than ordinary comprehension, and being incited to the prosecution of his work by a love for it, he did an amount of professional labor which to most men would seem impossible. he met considerable opposition from local physicians here, to which he paid little attention, believing his knowledge of physics and their proper dispensation would eventually give him a place among medical men.

In this he was not disappointed; his practice gradu- ally increased, and his skill in treating special cases of disease rapidly gained influence in the community around, until after a few years his name became widely known throughont Orange County, which has since been connected with the successful treatment of compli- cated cases of disease in this and other States of the of the diseases he encountered.

Union, and his patients are found from Maine to California, and from Minnesota to Texas.

Dr. Johnston has continued a successful practice at Middletown for nearly forty years, and by close atten- tion to the duties of his profession has secured a fair competency.

He has always been a student of his profession, bringing to bear upon every case under his supervision his knowledge gained by long experience and the practical ideas of a naturally analytical mind.

Although a general practitioner of medicine and surgery, he gives special attention to uterine surgery, in which his operations, although often difficult, and in eases abandoned by other physicians, have been successful.

Dr. Johnston was one of the founders of Grace Church, Middletown, one of its first vestrymen, as- sisted in the construction of the present church edi- fice, and his eldest daughter, Selina Montrose, was the first infant baptized at its font. .

Dr. Johnston continued his drug-store on North Street until 1860, when he purchased a lot containing a brick structure near Franklin Square, on West Maiu Street, and established his business there. He erected his present elegant and substantial brick store and residence on the site of the former, of three stories in height, in 1876, which for beauty and architectural design vies with the most costly in Middletown.

Dr. Johnston married, Nov. 5, 1845, Deborah, danghter of William Meeks and Sabrina Jaycox, of Peekskill, N. Y. Her paternal great-grandfather was of English birth, and settled near Peekskill, where he was a well-to-do farmer. She was born Dec. 4, 1825.

Their surviving children are Selina Montrose (widow of the late Alderman Wm. I. Underhill, of Newburgh), James Doremus, Charles Albert, and Annie Richmond.

CHARLES HARDENBERGH, M.D., studied medicine with Dr. Charles Winfield, of Crawford, was gradu- ated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York City, and began the practice of medicine in the twenty-second year of his age, in the year 1824, one year, and then settled at Port Jervis, N. Y., where he continned the practice of his chosen profession through a long life of professional service of fifty-seven years.

He was acute in observation, original in thought, and possessed wonderful aptness for bringing to prac- tical usefulness the very many discoveries he made in his professional experience. He possessed a scientific mind, although his life was purely practical, and his success in his profession was in his correct diagnosis

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ITe was a valuable counselor to his junior brethren on account of his retentive memory and his desire to impart facts that came under his observation during his long experience. A pioneer of the valleys of the Delaware and Neversink, his history was interwoven with the history of that country, and when he located at Port Jervis the woods abounded with the animals of the forest, there being no canal, telegraph, or rail- road. The ery of the panther and the howl of the wolf were the common accompaniments to the lonely doctor as he on horseback followed the narrow path- ways, through the then forest country, on his errands of mercy.

Dr. Hardenbergh was fond of humorous stories, and many a funny story has been accredited to him which he had never heard. He possessed all the elements of a skillful surgeon, was a skillful operator, had a deli- cate touch, and a correct, mechanical eye, and had he lived in a district where an opportunity presented for surgical operations he would have gained distinction in that branch of his profession. He died at the age of seventy-two years.

GEORGE HUNTER, M.D .- The father of Dr. Hun- ter was a farmer in the township of Montgomery, where his son's birth occurred on the 12th of July, during the year 1800. The lad George devoted his After devoting himself to teaching for a brief time, he commenced in 1849 the study of medicine. His attendance of medical lectures was at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York, from which institution he received his diploma in 1852. His first year of practice was at the Seamen's Retreat, at Staten Island. In the spring of 1853 he returned to Goshen, where he had pursued his professional studies, and began on his own account the practice of his profession. During all the subsequent years of pri- vate practice he has continued its pursuit at Goshen. As aiding him greatly in the outset, his was the good fortune to secure the appointment of physician to the Orange County poor-house for six or seven years. early years to study at the neighboring public school, and subsequently enrolled his name as a student at the Montgomery Academy, from which institution he graduated. He then entered the drug-store of Dr. Eager, of Montgomery, and at the same time began the study of his chosen profession-that of medicine. At a later date he repaired to the city of New York and continued his studies, having received his di- ploma as a physician and surgeon March 22, 1822. During July of the same year he became a resident of Searsville, Orange Co., and at once engaged in the practice of his profession, where he continued until his death, which occurred July 13, 1870. He was, Nov. 13, 1827, united in marriage to Miss Sarah, Upon the organization of the One Hundred and Twenty-fourth Regiment New York Volunteers, at daughter of Archibald and Mary Bartley Crawford, to whom were born four children,-Mary E., wife of his home in 1862, he was commissioned as surgeon of

-Daniel Thompson ; Emily A., who died in infancy ; Samuel, deceased ; and Sarah, wife of Theodore Mer- ritt, also deceased.

Samuel Hunter entered the service during the late war, was a lieutenant in Company K, New York Cav- alry, and distinguished for bravery and fidelity to duty. His death occurred in camp on the 26th of February, 1865, in his thirty-second year, from disease superinduced by exposure and privations.

Mrs. Hunter survived her husband, the doctor, and died Jan. 20, 1879, in her seventy-fourth year. Dr. Ilunter became a member of the Orange County Medical Society July 6, 1830, was frequently an offi- cer, and active in promoting its interests. His prac- tice was extended, and marked by skill and success. In his political sentiments he was an early Whig and afterwards a Republican. He was instrumental in

the establishment of a post-office at Searsville in 1850. and held the commission of postmaster until his death. Dr. Hunter was an active worker in the cause of temperance in the township of his residence, and a zealous promoter of educational and church interests.

The following extract from a county paper, on the occasion of hi's funeral, conveys to the reader a ju-t idea of his relations to his patients : " A large num- ber of those present felt the loss to be a personal one. To them there was no physician like Dr. Hunter. Could he have been spared to minister to them they would have sought no other. With sad hearts they assembled to bury him, feeling that with his family they shared the burden of bereavement his death had |brought."

JOHN HUDSON THOMPSON, M.D., residing in Go- shen, N. Y., was born near Circleville, in the town of Wallkill, Orange Co., March 8, 1827. His father's name was Benjamin, and his mother's maiden name was Maria Antoinette Owen. His early education was de- rived at the common school near his birthplace, and later at the Sullivan County Academy, located at Bloomingburgh. During the years 1847 and 1848 he at- tended the State Normal School at Albany, graduating therefrom in the spring of the last-mentioned year.

that regiment, and accompanied it to the field. He continued with it in the official capacity specified till the autumn of 1864. During his service in the army he was charged with varied duties from time to time. He was on several occasions detailed for im- portant hospital service, and always in active canı- paigning as a member of an operating staff. He was surgeon-in-chief of brigade and division respectively. Coincident with his experience in military relations, since the resumption of occupation of his home- field of practice, surgery has constituted his specialty of professional pursuit. At one period, and for a considerable time, he was an official surgeon of the Erie Railway Company.

Medical, literary, and scientific pursuits are prose- cuted by the doctor with great avidity. He has first and last contributed largely to the press on various

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The Seely family, who are of English extraction, early settled in Connecticut, from whenee a colony removed to Long Island. At a later period twenty- four of their number settled in Orange County. From one of the representatives of this band of emi- grants Dr. Henry C. Seely traces his descent. His grandfather was Bezaleel Seely, who, with his com- panions above mentioned, located at Greyeourt. Among his six children was a son, Isaac, whose birth occurred at or near Middletown, Orange Co., where his earlier years were spent previous to his removal to Minisink. He was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Mandeville, of Cornwall-on-the- Iludson, and had six children,-ITeetor, Francis T., David W., Henry C., Lewis T., and Isaac B. Mr. Seely's life was eut short in the progress of a useful carcer at the age of forty-two years.

Henry C., whose life is here briefly reviewed, was born at the family residence, near Middletown, N. Y., March 1, 1815, and passed his early life at school and in farming industries in the township of Wallkill. Hlaviog desired a wider sphere of usefulness in a pro- fessional career, he, in 1832, began the study of medi- eine in the office of Dr. T. S. Edmonston, of Chester,

with whom he continued for three years. He sub- sequently attended medical lectures at the popular seminary at Fairfield, Herkimer Co., N. Y., and re- ceived his diploma from the Board of Regents of the University of the State upon the recommendation of the State Medical Society. He chose Amity as a desirable field for his energies, and has since resided there. The doctor's untiring devotion to his pro- fession, together with the skill manifested by him in the treatment of critical stages of disease, soon gained for him an extended family practice, which he still enjoys. Dr. Seely was married in 1844 to Miss Almeda, daughter of Rev. William Timlow, of Amity. They have four children,-Whitfield T., a practicing physician, William H., Elizabeth F., and Ruth T. Dr. Seely has no taste for official life, though he has served as supervisor of his township, and also as school inspector. He is a member of the Orange County Medical Society, and one of its active repre- sentatives. The doctor is in politics a Democrat, and uncompromising in his adherence to the principles of the party. He is a Presbyterian in his religious affiliations, and an elder in the Presbyterian Church of Amity.

Walsh

DR. THOMAS WALSH, who enjoys an ex- tended reputation as a physician of ability and influence in Orange County, was born Oct. 11, 1817, in the city of Newburgh, N. Y., his par- ents having been Henry and Mehetabel (Bull) Walsh. His early years were devoted to ac- quiring the rudiments of an education. The common schools of the vicinity were first at- tended, after which the Newburgh Academy, an institution of some reputation in its day, num- hered him among its pupils. From the latter he graduated about the year 1835, having during the progress of his studies also engaged in home employments with his father. Having decided to embark in business pursuits, he en- tered the old Bank of Newburgh as discount clerk, which position was filled by him for two years. He subsequently removed to the South, and became associated with his brother in mer- cantile ventures, which were continued for a

period of ten years. In the fall of 1847, Dr. Walsh returned to his native place, and enrolled his name as a student of medicine in the office of Dr. Alpheus Goodman, having already given some time to the study of this profession at the South. At the expiration of a year he con- tinued his studies with Dr. Olmstead, of Brook- lyn, and graduated at the Medical Department of the University of the City of New York.

Fallsburgh, Sullivan Co., N. Y., was the scene of his earliest professional labors, where he re- mained until 1852, when Port JJervis became his residence. In his new field of labor his diligence, accompanied by a thorough knowl- edge of the profession he had espoused, soon won for him an extended practice, to which he still devotes himself. The Orange County Medical Association, a society embracing talent. of a high order, numbers him among its repre- sentative members.

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H. H. Robinson

HEMAN II. ROBINSON, M. D., is grandson of Rev. Jonathan Robinson, a Presbyterian clergymno of Long Island, who spent his life in the ministry nod died there. A relative of his was the late Solen Robinson, for many years agricultural editor of the New York Tribune, and after his removal to Florida a eor- respondent of that paper there until his death.

Rev. Phineas, son of Rev. Jonathan Robinson and father of our subject, was born near Franklinville, 1 .. 1., Dec. 24, 1798; died near the same place in April, 1871, and was buried in Ilillside Cemetery, at Middletown. He was graduated at llamilton College, and on June 5, 1825, married Eliza, daugh- ter of Jonathan and Susan Day, at Clinton, N. Y., who was born at Thempsoo, Windham Co., Conn., May 31, 1803, and died at the residence of her daughter, Mrs. E. M. Madden, of Middletown, Dec. 9, 1868. Rev. Phineas Robinson was the first principal of the Wallkill Academy, at Middletown, and was instrumental of much that advanced the cause ef Icarn- ing, in which he was enlisted with his whole heart and soul. He was a good citizen and a Christian man. Before coming to Middletown he had been in charge of the academy at Sher- burne, N. Y., and had been principal of an educational insti- tution in South Carolina; afterwards he preached and taught at Washingtonville and Chester, in this county. An erudite scholar, learned in the sciences, familiar with ancient and modern languages, added to his kindness of heart, wen him the respect of all who knew him. He was remarkable for his lin- guistic accomplishments, and was a poet ef considerable merit, being the author of a poem entitled "Immortality," which attracted considerable attention, besides ether fugitive pro- ductions.

His children were Endocia, deceased, was the wife of Senator E. M. Madden, of Middletown ; Ellen, deceased, was the wife of Jeho Hanford, of Middletown : Sidney B., graduated at the New York Medical College, was appointed ene of the house physicians on Ward's Island, afterwards was appointed first assistant physician in the Seaman's Retreat Hospital, Staten Island, where he died of typhus fever, Nov. 10, 1855, nt the

age of twenty-six ; Lennder Van Ess, was a printer's boy at Newburgh, proof-reader in a law hook concern in Nassau Street, New York, admitted to the bar of the State at Albany, practiced his profession at Haverstraw with Judge Suffern, went South for his health, and died nt. Green Cove Springs, Florida, in January, 1869; Edward Payson, died in 1849, aged sixteen ; Susan Frances, widow of Dr. Jeremiah Havens, of Scheharie County, N. Y .; Mary Hedges, wife of Phineas R. Coleman, of Goshen : Henry M., a merchant in Brooklyn, N. V. ; Dr. Heman 11 : Thomas Spencer, a clothier of New York ; Charles Lincoln, died at the age of fourteen ; and Caroline, died in infancy.

Dr. Ileman 11. Robinson was born nt Belleport, 1. 1., Aug. 20, 1838. Ile received his preparatory education at the Ches- ter Academy, under the instruction of his father, and at the age of seventeen beenme a medieal student of Dr. T. Clarkson Moffatt, physician-in-chief in the Seaman's Retrent Hospital, on Staten Island, where he remained two years. Ho attended the University Medical College, New York City, for two years following, and was graduated from that institution in the spring of 1860.

The same year of his graduation Dr. Robinson settled in the practice of his profession at Jeffersonville, Sullivan Co., N. Y., where he remained until 1870, when he came to Goshen, where he has continued his professional duties since. As a physician Dr. Robinsen ranks among the most skillful in Orange County, and by his indefatigable efforts to administer medical assist- ance, his devotion to and care of his patients, by his social and generous ways with all with whom he comes in contact, he has wen the confidence of a large circle of friends in his new field of labor, which extends to remote parts of this and other counties.

lle married, in April, 1861, Maria V., daughter of Lemuel L. and Mary (Ver Plank ) Pendell, of Schoharic County, N. Y. She was born Aug. 10, 1838. Their surviving children are Josephine Lamont, Sidney Moffatt, Kitty, Mary, Robert Thomas, lleman Henry, Frank Leon, and Arthur.

6. Very

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subjects. He is a member of the American Medical married, his second wife being an only daughter of Association, the Orange County Medical Society, Garret Thew, of Goshen, who survives him, and with her children resides in Goshen. the Tri-States Medical Association, Society of the Veterans of the One Hundred and Twenty-fourth Regiment, the Goshen Scientific Association, and various other organizations. He is a Presbyterian in religious faith, and a member of the church of that denomination in Goshen.

The doctor is married. ITis wife is the daughter of Capt. Ellis A. Post, of Goshen. He has one child, Wilmot P., who is the senior member of a business firm in Goshen.

DR. I. S. HUNT was born Nov. 1, 1819, in the town- ship of Newton, Sussex Co., N. J. ; was educated un- der the private instruction of Rev. Tisdal, a Baptist clergyman, of Newton, now professor of rhetoric in a Tennessee university at Knoxville, working night and morning for his board.

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History of Orange County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 42

Author: Ruttenber, Edward Manning, 1825-1907, comp; Clark, L. H. (Lewis H.) Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck Number of Pages: 1336

Author: Ruttenber, Edward Manning, 1825-1907, comp; Clark, L. H. (Lewis H.)
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1336