USA > New York > Putnam County > History of Putnam County, New York : with biographical sketches of its prominent men > Part 24
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In the fall of 1884 Mr. Barnum was a canidate for the office of district attorney on the democratic ticket, but was defeated by Abram J. Miller. In September, 1885, he was a delegate to the Saratoga convention which nominated David B. Hill for governor.
CLAYTON RYDER, son of Ambrose and Mary M. (Hillyer) Ryder, was born in Carmel, February 8th, 1860. He graduated at Cornell University in 1879; attended the Columbia Law School during the year 1880-81; was admitted to the Bar in the following December, and began the practice of law at Carmel in January, 1882, which he still continues.
The following are at the present time living in Putnam county and practicing in New York city:
HON. HAMILTON FISH, JR. To detail within the limits assigned us in this volume all that is either important or praiseworthy in the life of any individual is impossible. Mere outlines of lives in the history of a county famous for its prominent men must content us. They of themselves will form a larger production than was originally designed. Especially do we feel the depri- vation of space in recording the life of Hamilton Fish, jr. His steady devotion to the party whose principles he espoused entitles him to credit. His remarkable activity in the service of Putnam county is worthy of praise.
Mr. Fish was born at the State capital, April 17th, 1849,
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while his father was governor. In 1857, he accompanied the family on an extended European tour which continued some years. This was of great advantage to the young man in his studies, as it enabled him to combine experience with research. In 1869 he graduated from Columbia College. His father had just entered the cabinet of President Grant as secretary of State. Mr. Fish became his private secretary and remained in his service till 1871, when he entered the Law School of Columbia College. He graduated two years later and has since practiced his profession in New York city.
His political services since the time of his graduation have been almost continuous. From 1873 to · 1874 he served as aide de camp on the staff of Gen. Dix, then governor of New York. During 1874-76-77-78 and 79 he represented Putnam county in the Legislature. Here he won the reputation and popularity as a political leader which he now enjoys. For the greater por- tion of his term at Albany he was chairman of the committee on cities. Many of the reform measures for the city of New York were intrusted to his care and the manner in which he treated them is highly creditable.
Mr. Fish has been for many years chairman of the Republi- can County Committee of Putnam county. His careful man- agement of its affairs led to his appointment in 1884 as a dele- gate to the national convention at Chicago. At the beginning of his political career he found Putnam a strongly democratic county. The change which has taken place is largely due to Mr. Fish's efforts. The county is now republican.
The inheritor of a time honored name, his education and as- sociations prompt him to guard it jealously. Depending on the advocacy of measures effecting permanent benefit, his polit- ical fame is built upon a lasting foundation. The advantages enjoyed by Mr. Fish in his educational facilities, the advice and instruction of a father whose name is familiar wherever American history is known, his constant association from early childhood with the greatest men of the times, and the rich store of experience gained in his various travels, have eminently fitted him for the positions he has already held, as well as for higher ones in the future.
Mr. Fish married, April 28th, 1880, Emily M., daughter of the late Hon. Francis N. Mann, of Troy, N. Y. They have two daughters.
L
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HON. ROBERT A. LIVINGSTON. One of the most promi- nent of Putnam county's citizens is Robert A. Living- ston. Though still a young man, his ample wealth, high social standing, and remarkable ability as a jurist have won for him a popularity and a position in the county, which are hardly equaled by any.
Mr. Livingston is the senior member of the firm of Livingston & Olcott, at No. 4 Warren street, New York city, which is well known in real estate circles, and in the civil courts. He was born in New York city, February 6th, 1854, and is from the family whose history. as manorial proprietors in the days of the Dutch governors, is familiar to the American people all over the world. Among the many members of the family whose names have been handed down to fame are: John Livingston (born in 1603), the common ancestor of the family, and a lineal descend- ant of the fifth Lord Livingston, ancestor of " the Earls of Lin- lithgo " and Callender, in Scotland, who was an energetic preacher of the Reformed Church in Scotland, and was ban- ished in 1663, for nonconformity to prelatical rule; Philip, who was a signer of the Declaration of Independence; William, who was governor of New Jersey; Brockholst, a prominent soldier and jurist; Robert R., a prominent statesman and member of the First Continental Congress, also Chancellor of the State of New York, and the man who administered the oath of office to George Washington, the first president of the United States; Edward, a brother of the preceding, mayor of New York city, United States district attorney for the State of New York, sec- retary of State for the United States, and who was the author of the Criminal Code; and John H. Livingston, D.D., the well known theologian.
Mr. Livingston was prepared for college at Grammar school No. 35, and by private tutors. After graduating from Colum- bia, in the class of 1876, he for two years pursued a course of study in the law school of that institution. On graduating from there he entered upon the practice of his profession, serv- ing for a time a clerkship in the office of Knox & Mason. Much of his knowledge of law was imparted to him by his uncle, the venerable and respected jurist, Charles O'Conor. Acting under his advice, he only appeared during the first years of his practice in assigned cases in the higher criminal courts.
Among the many famous criminal cases which Mr. Livingston
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has been called upon to manage, was that of George Melius, the rear brakeman on the train which was wrecked in the Spuy- ten Duyvil disaster, at which, it will be remembered, Senator Wagner lost his life. Melius was charged with inanslaughter, and though advised by many older lawyers that the case was a hopeless one, Mr. Livingston undertook its defense. At the trial he showed that the rear brakeman, though supposed by one set of rules to go back and signal a following train, if the train came to a stop, was, however, first compelled to make a report to his conductor. Mr. Livingston claimed that it was while obeying this rule that the accident occurred, and by so doing procured an acquittal. At another time he defended Alexander Armstrong, an old colored servant of the family of Cambridge Livingston. Armstrong was on trial for arson in the first degree. The prosecution proved that he had repeat- edly threatened to set on fire a tenement house in which he lived. It was also shown by a colored clergyman and his wife that Armstong on the night of the fire threw a lamp up to the ceiling, and thus set fire to his room. Mr. Livingston proved that the clergyman had served a term of years in Sing Sing for assault, and that on the night in question he and his wife attacked the accused and that in the scuffle the lamp was upset. As a consequence, Armstrong was acquitted.
These and many other cases, Mr. Livingston has managed with remarkable success and he now stands in the first rank among the lawyers of the day.
Mr. Livingston has also paid considerable attention to poli- tics. He is a republican and has been twice elected to the Assembly as the representative of Putnam county, he being a resident of Garrisons. He was at one time a prominent candi- date for the speakership and has an exceedingly clear record in the House. He is looked upon as an honest, fearless and able legislator.
Mr. Livingston has received the degrees of A.B., LL.B. and M. A., and is a member of the New York Bar Association. He is greatly respected throughout the county in which he lives, and by the profession of which he is such an able representa- tive.
Robert Armstrong Livingston
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CHAPTER XVII.
THE MEDICAL HISTORY OF PUTNAM COUNTY.
BY J. Q. ADAMS, M. D.
Dr. Robert Weeks .- Ebenezer Fletcher .- Daniel Reed .- William G. Hopkins .- Aaron Carman .- Noah Hill Crane .- Dr. Howland .- Frederick Fletcher .- Ebenezer F. Boyd .- Dr. Barnum .- Asher Gilbert .- Dr. Adams .- Dr. Board- man .- Edward Crosby .- J. Homer Smith .- Frederick D. Lente .- Ira H. Walker .- Edward B. Turner .- Joseph H. Bailey .- Daniel Bull .- John Ham- ilton .- Joseph C. Crane .- J. Q. Adams .- Addison Ely .- Nathan W. Wheeler. -Jonathan F. Seeley .- Austin La Monte .- George W. Murdock .- Jared G. Wood .- Lewis H. Miller .- Edson Card, jr .- James Hadden .- Ernest Hebr- smith .- Medical Societies.
IN order to form a just appreciation of the subject, it will be necessary to contrast the past with the present; the time when there were few medical colleges in this country, and now when they abound in the land; when medical books were scarce, the best medical library being worth less than $100, and now, when medical libraries count their thousands of volumes; when it took a week to go from New York to Boston; now the journey is performed in a few hours; when there were in this country but few roads, and those in wretched condition, upon which a carriage was scarcely seen, travelling being upon horse- back; now, riding at ease in fine carriages, with fine horses, through a country dotted with villages, and hamlets; then when there were but few hospitals or opportunities for clinical study; now, when such facilities create unbounded rivalries which degenerate into systems of trade; then when there were but few medical men in this country, and those riding into two or three towns, encountering great trials and hardships; now with a superfluity.
Then a physician received a preparation that would now be thought insufficient to admit one to practice, for his medical
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education was such as he could pick up while serving an ap- prenticeship to some noted practitioner, during which he com- bined the duties of a student with many of the menial offices of a servant.
No practice was to be seen but by the laborious mode of visit- ing the sick at their respective abodes, the infancy of our country not admitting of the establishment of hospitals, while the false delicacy of the people allowed no advantages from dis- section. Says McMasters: "He ground the powders, mixed the pills, rode with the doctor on his rounds, held the basin when the patient was bled, helped to adjust plasters, to sew wounds and run with vials of medicine from one end of town to the. other. His apprenticeship ended, the half educated lad returned to his native town to assume practice. Sunshine and rain, daylight and darkness were alike to him. He would ride ten miles on the darkest night over the worst of roads, in a pelting storm, to administer a dose of calomel to an old woman, or to attend a child in a fit."
For his services he seldom received money. He was glad to get corn, oats, potatoes, a few hoop poles, a jag of wood for his fireplace or the thanks of his patrons. He was present at every birth, he attended every burial, he sat with the minister at every death-bed, and put his name with the lawyer to every will.
The use of anæesthetics was then unknown. The inhalation of ether or chloroform for producing insensibility was not known till 1846. Physiology was in its infancy, and pathology, as a science, was unknown.
Not one of the many remedies which destroy disease, which hold in check the most loathsome maladies, and the most violent epidemics, was in use. -
The anticeptic method of treating open wounds, known as Listerism, was first practiced by Joseph Lister of Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1874.
Vaccination was then also unknown. It was not until about 1763 that Edward Jenners' attention was first called to the sub- ject of prevention of small pox, his experiments extending over a period of thirty-three years before his discovery was recog- nized and established, which was in 1796.
DR. ROBERT WEEKS was born in Tommyhawk Street, West- chester county, in 1772. He studied medicine with Dr. Elias
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Cornelius of Westchester county, and graduated at the Medical Department of Columbia College, New York city, in 1793. Soon after graduating he came to Carmel-probably in 1794- where he practiced twenty-two years, when he died in 1816 at the age of 44. Dr. Weeks practiced here several years before this was Putnam county, and was very largely instrumental in having the several towns of Dutchess set off as Putnam county. He was in the Legislature at the time the act was passed.
DR. EBENEZER FLETCHER was born in Pound Ridge, West- chester county, in the year 1774. He commenced the practice of medicine and surgery in Patterson in the early part of this" century. He was a short, well built, red faced man, active, energetic, and of great decision of character. His medical and surgical knowledge was above the average of his contemporaries. He performed many surgical operations successfully, was ever ready to go at the call of the sick, whether poor or rich, in win- ter or summer, cold or wet, and for nearly fifty years did an ex- tensive practice in the towns of Patterson, Kent and Southeast. He died in Patterson in 1852 at the age of 78.
DR. DANIEL REED located in Southeast sometime in the latter part of the eighteenth century, after the close of the Revolutionary War. He was a large, portly man with counte- nance beaming with benevolence, kindness and good will.
His early medical education might have been limited but his large experience in all forms of disease for fifty years and his frequent consultations with his medical brethren made him a wise and successful practitioner, while his self confidence, genial manner and decision won the confidence and love of his patients. He always rode on horseback with large saddle-bags well filled, and a pipe ever in his mouth.
In serious cases he was in no haste and frequently remained for hours and sometimes days, and his presence was so gracious and inspiring that it seemed to be a good medicine in itself. His ride was extensive and his pay small and often nothing. It was said that Putnam county owed him $10,000 for gratu- itous services.
DR. WILLIAM G. HOPKINS was born June 29th, 1788, on the farm on the hill about one mile south of the village of Carmel, then owned and occupied by his father, Thatcher Hopkins. He lived on the farm with his father until of age, when he began the study of medicine with Dr. Ebenezer White of the village of
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Somers, Westchester county, and continued studying with Dr. White until he attended lectures in the Medical Department of the University of New York in the year 1810. Among the pro- fessors were J. Augustin Smith, Valentine Mott and John Bard. He received his license to practice from the Medical Society of the County of Westchester in the year 1811, Dr. Munson Smith being president, and William H. Sackett secretary of the so- ciety. He practiced medicine with Dr. Robert Weeks of Car- mel village for some time.
He was married June 30th, 1813, to Elizabeth, daughter of 'Hon. Joel Frost of the town of Carmel. In 1814 he settled on a farm about four miles south of Carmel on the road leading to the village of Somers, where he continued in the practice of medicine for twenty-nine years.
He then sold his farm and moved to the village of Carmel, where he lived three years. Then he moved to the village of Peekskill in Westchester county, continuing his practice until near his death which occurred September 8th, 1870.
DR. AARON CARMAN was born February 25th. 1798, in Philipstown, then Dutchess county, now Putnam Valley, Put- nam county. His preliminary education was obtained in Put- nam Valley. He studied medicine from 1817 to 1819, with his cousin, Dr. Samuel Carman, at Pleasant Valley, east of Pough- keepsie, Dutchess county; also with Dr. James Fountain from 1819 to 1821 in Jefferson Valley, Westchester county. He at- tended lectures at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York city, in 1821 and 1822, where he graduated May 25th, 1822.
He commenced the practice of medicine in Lancaster, Pa., where he remained only nine months, when he moved to the Highlands, Putnam county, where he practiced two years. He then located at Lake Mahopac, where he practiced fifty-eight years.
He was made a member of the Westchester County Medical Society April 16th, 1822. He became a member of the old Medical Society of the County of Putnam February 6th, 1828.
He was married to Hannah Lane, daughter of Nathan Lane, of Putnam Valley, January 8th, 1823, and to his second wife, Mary H. Biggs, widow of Daniel Biggs, and daughter of Stephen D. Bailey, December 4th, 1861. He died at Lake Mahopac in 1882, at the age of 84. Relatives surviving him
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are his wife, Mary H. Carman, and his daughter, Mary S. Car- man.
DR. NOAH HILL CRANE was born in Carmel in 1787. He was the son of Joseph and Chloe Hill Crane. He studied medi- cine with Dr. Elias Cornelius in Tommyhawk street, West Somers, Westchester county; also with Dr. John Cornelius of New York city, and graduated at the College of Physi- cians and Surgeons in New York city. He practiced for a time there, and finally came to Carmel, where he practiced until about the time of his death.
Soon after coming to Carmel, he married Susan Warring. Dr. Crane was held in high esteem for his knowledge of medi- cine, his skill in detecting disease, and his success in the treat- ment of different cases.
He lived on the Warring homestead, now the Smalley House, until a short time before his death, when he went to the old homestead two miles south of Carmel village, where he died in 1836 at the age of 49 years.
DR. HOWLAND was born of Quaker parentage in Pawling, Dutchess county, in the year 1786. He practiced medicine in Patterson for several years, where he died at the age of 57 years.
DR. FREDERICK FLETCHER, son of Dr. Ebenezer Fletcher, practiced medicine in Patterson several years between 1838 and 1850, then went West and died at St. Paul, Minn.
DR. EBENEZER F. BOYD was born in Fishkill, Dutchess county, July 6th, 1812. He attended the school of the Rev. E. P. Benedict in Patterson, after which he read medicine with his father, William D. Boyd, M. D., at the homestead in Fishkill. He attended lectures at the University Medical College and graduated in 1834.
He commenced the practice of medicine in the village of Cold Spring immediately after graduating and there remained until his death which occurred December 21st, 1839, at the age of 27 years.
Soon after making his home in Cold Spring he married Caro- line Colwell of Fishkill, by whom he had one child, a son, who is now living in Oswego in this State. Dr. Boyd was doubtless a member of the old County Medical Society.
Dr. EDWARD CROSBY writes: "The physicians of Carmel in their order as I remember them:
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"Dr. BARNUM lived where Benjamin D. Crane's house now stands; his office was the brick part attached to that house.
"Dr. ASHER GILBERT, student of Dr. Nehemiah Perry, of Ridgefield, Conn., lived where the late Mr. Jas. D. Little's house now stands.
" He was a very creditable practitioner and could have com- manded a good practice in his profession, but, alas! he was a victim of intemperance.
" He died at his brother's, Dr. Wheeler Gilbert, in Beekman, Dutchess county, about 1838.
"Dr. ADAMS lived at the old Warring place now Smalley House. He was there only two or three years, and died there.
"Dr. BOARDMAN came to Carmel about 1835, lived, I think, in the Charles Minor house, was there some four or five years and I think went back to New Milford, Conn., where he came from."
Dr. EDWARD CROSBY writes : "Now when I come to write of my own career in Carmel I cannot think of very much to say. All my early life associations, social and religious, are centered about Carmel, of the old Gilead church and society more especially, the recollections are truly pleasant.
"Nor can I say any less of my professional relations with my brethren of the medical staff. If there ever has been any chaf- ing between brethren, they had the wisdom to not allow even the smoke to be seen in the air. I commenced my medical life by reading medicine with my uncle, the late Noah H. Crane, in 1835.
"After his death I read with Dr. Howland of Patterson, and also, while teaching, with Dr. Lewis H. White of Fishkill.
"In 1837 and 1838 I attended a partial course of lectures in New Haven: Anatomy, by Prof. Night, Chemistry by Prof. B. Silliman, Materia Medica and Therapeutics by Prof. Tully, and Practice of Medicine by Prof. Ives.
" I also attended two full courses at Jefferson Medical Col- lege, Philadelphia, and graduated March 6th, 1840. With gratitude and thanksgiving for my successes and with sorrow for my failures, I have attended on the calls for my professional services these 46 years."
DR. HOMER SMITH was born on the 9th of July, 1811, in Washington, Conn. He was a son of Amos Smith and a de- scendant of John Smith, who came from England in November, 1648. Dr. Smith, after obtaining an academical education at
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Litchfield Academy, Conn., and other institutions, commenced the study of medicine with Dr. Cooper of Poughkeepsie, and after pursuing the usual course of study was licensed to prac- tice medicine and surgery by the Dutchess County Medical Society.
He commenced the practice of medicine in Southeast in De- cember, 1840, and was assiduously devoted to the duties of his profession up to the time of his death from typho malarial fever, December 27th, 1884, at the age of 73 years. Dr. Smith was married to Miss H. O. Knapp in 1869, who with two chil- dren survives him.
FREDERICK D. LENTE, A. M., M. D.1 "So rapidly fly the hours that it is well to pause occasionally amid our haste and labors to note the changes that they bring.
"This very evening a paper was to have been presented before this Academy by our esteemed associate, Dr. Frederick D. Lente.
"It is my painful duty to announce that the appointment will not be kept. Again the remorseless scythe has been at work, and under the shadows of the Highlands, amid the scenes of busy and eventful years, our honored friend is sleeping the immortal sleep.
" In many respects Dr. Lente's professional career was anoma- lous, as his character was remarkable.
" What our specific duty is, in the equation of life, must, from the very nature of things, ever remain a varying quantity. Our estimate of our personal duty, however, depends largely, if not chiefly, upon our personal capabilities of estimating the specific work required of us. Working simply for the work's sake-to kill time-however laudable the work may be, is not our idea of the highest devotion to duty. Our highest idea of duty is the highest conception of duty of which one's mind is capable.
" He who has always lived in the valleys and has never trod the mountain tops can have but a meagre appreciation of un- folding panoramas of sleeping lakes and nestling villages, and the broadening far-off prospect beyond the hills. As he ascends, though, from one altitude to another, and his vision takes in a wider survey, his conceptions of ' the far off, unattained, and
1 A Memorial read before the New York Academy of Medicine, November 1st, 1883, by T. Herring Burchard, A. M., M. D.
17
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dim' become changed, and vague surmises now give place to actual knowledge. But, as we ascend the horizon recedes; 'Hills peep o'er hills, and Alps o'er Alps arise,' and so to those choice minds of highest attainment are given broader vistas and wider fields for the employment of noble and generous deeds. And ever, as these adventurous climbers ascend, their eyes are gladdened and their hearts are cheered with loftier aspirations. Humanity rolls like a mighty ocean, at their feet, and, though cold its waters and unfathomable its mysteries, they press higher and higher to fire the beacon lights.
" Dr. Lente, modest, unpretentious, gentle as he was, stood on the very mountain top, and from his exalted observation took in a broad conception of life, with all its incidental duties and obligations. Extreme conscientiousness might well be predi- cated of him as his predominant characteristic. Never have I met the man whose regard for truth was so immutable. The keenest justice, even in most trivial matters, governed in all his dealings. Honor was dearer to him than life. His professional obligations to his patients, his sense of professional responsi- bility he regarded as but second to his accountability to God. Sensitive of the rights of others as he was of his own integrity, neither intimidation nor reward could swerve him from his own high sense of right.
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