USA > New York > Albany County > Albany > The annals of Albany, Vol IX > Part 7
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28
the tree. Neither felt any extraordinary effect from the passage of the ball, and the circumstance the doctor used as a practical demonstration against the prevailing opinion that the passage of a cannon ball would by con- cussion cause the death of any person near to whom it might pass. At the siege of Fort Stanwix, Captain Gregg and several others ventured beyond the lines of safety, and were surprised by Indians. Some of the party were scalped and left for dead. A faithful dog who had accompanied them, licked the blood from his master's face and then went to the fort and created an alarm which led to the discovery. Dr. Woodruff was one of the number who went from the fort in search of the party. Standing at length beside a body which he supposed dead, and whose visage was obscured by masses of blood, he was startled by a low, sepulchral voice, exclaiming, " Doctor, don't you know me?" The scalped and wounded man proved no other than his friend, Captain Gregg,* the owner of the dog. Dr. Wood- ruff took him to the fort, where with much care, he recovered, and survived many years. After the conclu- sion of the war, Dr. Woodruff settled at Albany, where he acquired quite an extensive practice. In the last years of his life, he was greatly afflicted with scrofula, which gradually increased and finally caused his death, on the 4th July, 1811, at the age of fifty-nine. He was a man of philosophic mind, characterized by charity and hospitality, valuing money only as it contributed to the comforts of his family and friends. By the public he was highly esteemed. An excellent likeness of him, painted by an Albany artist, Mr. Ames, is in possession of his family.
* Since the above was written, a friend of mine (who is this day eighty-four years old, Sept. 14, 1857), informs me that she was well acquainted with Capt. James Gregg, and that she has frequently seen the two scalps which the Indians had cut from his head, but which in their hurry to escape the party from the fort they left behind them. Capt. G. died at Governor Taylor's, in Albany, in the house now oc- cupied by Gen. John Taylor Cooper. S. D. W.
93
Physicians of Albany County.
WILLIAM MCCLELLAND
Was born in the shire of Galloway in Scotland, in the year 1769. He received his medical education at Edinburgh, and immediately afterwards came to Ame- rica, and began his professional career in Albany. His talents and his medical attainments secured for him a large practice, and his position in his profession was de- servedly eminent. His early advantages had been of a superior order, and I believe he ranked at that time as the best educated physician in the city. His social habits led him into an extreme of living, quite common in those times, and undoubtedly had an influence in shortening his days. Upon the organization of the Medical society of the state of New York, Dr. McClelland was elected its first President. In 1811, (Jan. 8,) he formed a partnership with Dr. William Bay, who had a few months previous taken up his residence here. This was terminated by the death of Dr. McClelland, which occurred on the 29th Jan- uary, 1812, at the age of 43.
WILLIAM ANDERSON AND JOSEPH W. HEGEMAN
Were both born and educated at Princeton, New Jersey where they both received their license to practice. They removed to Schenectady and were associated as partners in business. Both were men of gentlemanly and courteous manners, and were alike esteemed good practitioners. In 1811 Dr. Anderson made a journey to New Orleans, but on his return passage to New York he was seized with yellow fever and died. Dr. Hegeman removed to Cincin- nati a few years subsequently to this event ; and in 1827 to Vicksburgh, Mississippi, where he continued several years in practice, with a brother of Dr. Anderson. In 1832 he lost his three daughters who died of cholera, within twelve hours of each other. He deceased in 1837.
CORNELIUS VROOMAN
Was the second son of Simon Vrooman, a citizen of Sche- nectady, where he was born. His classical education was obtained at Union college, though his name does not ap- [ Annals, ix.] 9
94
Physicians of Albany County.
pear on the catalogue as a graduate of that institution. He attended medical lectures at the University of Penn- sylvania, and began the practice of his profession in his native city. He rapidly won the reputation of being a skillful physician-a reputation which still attaches to his memory. Like all the Vrooman race, he was over six feet in height. His manners were easy and agreeable, and he possessed a fluency in conversation, with a fine, lively ex- pression of countenance, admirably calculated to gain pop- ularity. An incident is related which indicates that he was kind-hearted and generous to the poor. Having occa- sion to leave home, he took with him a plentiful supply of shirts, and finding a man greatly in need of some, he gave him several. It was a kind of charity which his good sis- ter did not commend, for it was by her needle that they were wrought. To her admonition against such alms· giv- ing, he only replied that " he didn't like to see a poor man suffer." Dr. Vrooman was passionate, (how unlike physi- cians of the present day!) but it is said the paroxysms were exceedingly brief. He relinquished practice at an early period, on account of being appointed agent for Mrs. Campbell, then one of the most wealthy persons in Sche- nectady-a sufficient proof of his integrity and business capacity. He died of consumption, in December, 1811, at the early age of 30 years.
CHARLES D. TOWNSEND
Was born in Goshen, Orange co., in this state, on the 15th April, 1778. He was one of twelve children, who with a single exception, lived to an advanced age. He commenced the study of medicine in Albany, under the supervision of Drs. Mancius and Woodruff, and attend- ed the medical lectures at Columbia college in 1802. During the time of his residence in New York, he was also a pupil of the celebrated surgeon Dr. Wright Post. He commenced practice in Rhinebeck, but removed to Albany in 1803. He was the first secretary of the county medical society and was successively elected to its various offices. In 1807 he read before it a paper on puerperal
95
Physicians of Albany County.
fever. He was elected permanent member of the State medical society, and received from it the honorary degree of Doctor of medicine in 1830.
For many years, until near the period of his death, which occurred on the 19th December, 1847, he was ex- tensively engaged in practice, rendering alike service to the poor and the rich. As a practitioner of medicine and surgery, he was esteemed prudent and skillful, and acquir- ed the unlimited confidence of the public. Dr. Town- send was firm in his religious convictions, and his life was in accordance with the Christian principles he professed from his early years.
JOHN G. KNAUFF
Was born in Germany. He was a physician and an apoth- ecary, confining himself, however, more exclusively to the duties of the latter. I am informed that he was a man of sound education, but being retiring and unsocial in his habits, he made few friends. He was the first trea- surer of the society. In 1807, he read before it a paper on the revulsive effects of blood-letting; and in 1808, one on the use of hyoscismus niger. In 1809 he resigned his seat as member of the society. His death occurred not long afterwards.
CALEB GAUFF
Resided in the extreme south of the town of Bethlehem, where for many years he was a respectable practitioner. He is remembered by some of the old citizens of Beth- lehem; but little definite information can be given con- cerning him. He was probably past the meridian of life when he met with this society, and his career terminated at a period not distant from the time of its organization.
ELIAS WILLARD
Was conspicuous among the medical men of Albany, at the time of which we are speaking. He was a descendant of Major Simon Willard, the common ancestor of the fami- ly in America of that name. He was born in Harvard,
96
Physicians of Albany County.
Massachusetts, on the 7th January, 1756. His father was unable to afford him a collegiate education, but placed him under private instruction, where at an early age he made a considerable progress in acquiring the Latin and Greek languages. At the age of eighteen years he commenced the study of medicine. One year afterwards the war broke out which separated the colonies from Great Britain, when he with his father and elder brother promptly responded to the country's call-and witnessed its first bloody struggle for liberty in the battle of Lexington. After a brief ser- vice as a common soldier, he obtained an appointment as assistant in the military hospital, temporarily established at Roxbury, under the charge of Dr. Haywood. Subse- quently, when a new hospital was established at Boston, Dr. Willard was appointed assistant under Dr. John War- ren, brother of the lamented patriot General and Dr. Jo- seph Warren, who fell at Bunker's hill. In 1777, at the age of twenty-one years, he received the appointment of surgeon to a regiment from the province of Maine, com- manded by Colonel Frost, which was brought into active service by its removal to White Plains, in this state. He was successively removed with the army to German Flats and Ticonderoga, continuing with it through the whole of the contest, and sharing in the sufferings it had to encoun- ter. After leaving the military hospital in 1785, he pur- chased Bemis's Heights, the battle ground near Saratoga, where he commenced private practice, and resided, with the exception of a year spent in Canada, until 1801, when he removed to this city. Here he acquired warm friends and an excellent practice. His manners were agreeable and courteous, and his deportment always consistent and dignified. In 1811, the County medical society demand- ed of Dr. Willard, in no kind spirit, the components of a certain remedy he used in cancer. For some reason(and it is probable that he was not as yet himself fully satisfied as to its positive virtues), he did not promptly comply with the demand, and the society passed a resolution by which he was expelled. This act however did not lessen him in public estimation, and the Medical society of Massachu-
97.
Physicians of Albany County.
setts elected him to honorary membership in 1814, an evi- dence of the esteem and undiminished confidence in which he was held by the medical profession of his native state. He died in this city on the 20th March, 1827, in the sev- enty-first year of his age having been more than fifty-one years in professional life. Dr. Willard possessed enthu- siastic love for his country. But the " distinguishing traits of his character were his devotion to the duties of his pro- fession, and his ardent piety. He became at an early age impressed with the truths of religion and his long life was that of a consistent and exemplary Christian."
AUGUSTUS HARRIS
Was born in the county of Rensselaer, on the 17th July, 1776. He was the son of Dr. Nicholas Harris, with whom he pursued the study of medicine. He was licensed by the. Hon. John Lansing, chief justice of the supreme court in this city, on the 4th August, 1800. He commenced prac- tice in Bethlehem, in this county, in 1803, and remained there fourteen years. He then removed to the town of Van Buren, in Onondaga county, where he continued to practice until 1821, when he turned his attention to the pursuit of agriculture. Dr. Harris is now in the 81st year of his age, and here is a letter in his own hand writing signifying his desire to be with us to-day, but declaring that "age and the infirmities attending, prevent his ven- turing so far from home." His heart is with us, and we inexpressibly regret his absence.
ALEXANDER G. FONDA
Was born in Schenectady, on the 17th Aug., 1785. He graduated at Union College in 1804; and obtained his medical education under the direction of Dr. Archibald H. Adams of that city, then an extensive practitioner, and re- ceived his license to practice in May, 1806. For many years he pursued, in his native city, the profession of his choice. Several years since, he retired from its active du- ties to the enjoyment and quietude of domestic life, in the tranquility of which he is spending a green and vigorous old age.
98
Physicians of Albany County.
PETER WENDELL
Was a descendant of one of the ancient Dutch families of Albany, where he was born on the 3d of June, 1786. He obtained his early and classical education here, and here he pursued the study of his profession, under the in- struction of Dr. Wm. McClelland. He attended two courses of lectures at the University of Pennsylvania, where he listened with enthusiasm to the teachings of that distinguished professor and patriot, Dr. Benjamin Rush, which, says the biographer of Dr. Wendell, " consti- tuted the guide of his practice in after years." Upon his return from Philadelphia, in the spring of 1807, he opened an office in this city. The auspices under which he com- menced his professional career were most favorable. He was surrounded by a large circle of influential friends, and it was at a time when there were " not more than five practitioners of eminence in Albany, and all of them ad- vanced beyond the meridian of life." Prompt and at- tentive to his patients he rapidly won reputation, so that his practice was, it is believed, more extensive and lu- crative than that of any physician in the city. Dr. Wen- dell was at an early period elected a delegate to the State medical society, where he was in a few years elected per- manent member, and for a long while filled the office of censor in that society for this district. In 1813 he read a dissertation before the County medical society on the stimulant effects of cold. In 1823 he was elected re- gent of the university by the legislature of the state. He was faithful and attentive in the great variety of business which came before that board, and made himself inti- mately acquainted with all its details. He at length be- came, with a single exception, senior member of the board, and was elected its chancellor in 1842. This honorable position he continued to occupy until the close of his life. To the State library and the State cabinet of natural his- tory he gave while a regent, great care and attention. Dr. Wendell felt the importance and the responsibility which the medical profession sustain towards the public, and it was always his great object to promote its interests,
99
Physicians of Albany County.
and to uphold its dignity. After a practice of forty-two years, Dr. Wendell died suddenly of disease of the heart, at his residence on Elk street, October 31st, 1849.
JAMES LOW
"Was born at Albany, December 9th, 1781. His early education was completed at Schenectady. He commenced the study of medicine with Dr. McClelland, and after three years spent with him, he went to Edinburgh where he spent four years, attending the lectures of the univer- sity. During a part of the time he was a private pupil of Dr. John Murray, an eminent lecturer on chemistry. Dr. Low's standing among his fellow students may be estimated from the fact that he was elected one of the presidents of the Royal physical society of Edinburgh. Dr. Low traveled in England and Scotland and returned to his native city in 1808, and commenced practice with Dr. McClelland. His reputation as a learned and skillful physician, an able and expert surgeon, became widely diffused. He was a man of science." His health during the last three years of his life became greatly impaired, and after much suffering he died in Albany, February 3d, 1822, having just completed the fortieth year of his age. He published several medical works and frequently read papers before the medical society. "His loss to society was great. He bid fair at one time to become one of the first physicians in the state. He lectured during several years on chemistry, with great acceptance, showing fa- miliarity with that subject. He was well versed in the languages, enthusiastic in poetry, and a man of extensive and varied learning."
JONATHAN EIGHTS
Was born in this city on the 26 November, 1773, and ob- tained his classical education here under the instruction of the late George Merchant. In the year 1790 he com- menced the study of medicine in the office of Drs. Man- cius and Woodruff, with whom he remained until April 1795. He was then examined by two physicians, and re- ceived their certificate of his competency to practice.
100
Physicians of Albany County.
This certificate was filed in the office of the clerk of the, county. The first few months of his professional life he spent in one of the small towns adjoining the city. A severe bilious remittent and intermittent fever, which was raging there with great violence, determined him upon this course. After the disease subsided, he removed to Canajoharie, in Montgomery county, where he remained until 1797, when he went to Philadelphia, and spent nearly a year, with a view to improving himself in surgery. He returned to Montgomery county, and became engaged in extensive and laborious practice. On the 1st May, 1810, he removed to Albany, and soon acquired a varied and extensive practice, and devoted his whole energy exclu- sively to it. In 1822 and '23, he was one of the asso- ciate contributors to the Medical and Physical Journal, published in New York. In 1830 and '31, he was presi- dent of the State medical society, having several years before represented this society as delegate. The subject of his first annual address before that body was, vaccin- ation; and of the second, puerperal fever. At the conclusion of the former, he paid a just and eloquent tribute to the memory of his friend, the late Dr. Alexan- der Coventry of - Utica, then recently deceased, and who was an ex-president of the society. Dr. Eights was well versed in medical literature, and accumulated a large and well selected library. His published cases were narrated with great clearness and brevity, but his almost constant professional engagements and his love of reading gave him at first but little time for writing, and this was at length succeeded by a habitual disinclination to record his valua- ble observations. Dr. Eights was a man of quiet, digni- fied manners, of purity of life, a skillful physician, at once an example and an ornament to the profession. At the time of his death, which occurred on the 10th August 1848, he had spent fifty-three years in professional life, and was the oldest practitioner in Albany.
JOHN STEARNS
· Was state senator from the district of Saratoga, and at the close of his senatorial office he removed to Albany and
101
Physicians of Albany County.
formed a partnership with Dr. Bay, Oct. 14, 1810. A favorable reputation had already preceded him here. He had acquired considerable celebrity in the profession by being the first to draw its attention to the wonderful efficacy of ergot in promoting the contractile power of the uterus and thus facilitating lingering labor. In a somewhat extensive and successful practice, Dr. Stearns became unfortunate in losing a series of cases of puerperal fever. It was not then, as now, understood that this disease is contagious and may be communicated from one lying-in patient to another by the hand or clothing of the accoucheur. The mystery of its appearance in his prac- tice only, and the fatality of its termination, keenly oppressed his truly sensitive mind, and led him at length to abandon his practice in this city. He removed to . New York in 1818 where he resumed his business with greater success, and in which he continued until 1849, when he died of erysipelas, at the advanced age of 75 years.
PLATT WILLIAMS
Was graduated at Williams college in the class of 1804, and received his diploma in medicine at Columbia college in New York. He became a member of this society in . 1816, and was always devoted to its welfare, and prompt in his attendance at its meetings. As a physician, Dr. Williams occupied a prominent position here, and was strenuous in his efforts to secure to his patients the benefits accruing from a proper system of diet during their illness ; a subject that had attracted less attention in the profession thirty years ago than now. After thirty years of toil in the discharge of professional duties, in 1845 he removed to the county of Oneida, where he now resides.
JOEL A. WING
Was born in Berkshire county, Massachusetts, on the 13th August, 1788, where his early days were spent. Having determined upon entering the medical profession, he became a pupil of Dr. John De La Mater (since a dis- tinguished professor in the Medical school, at Cleveland, Ohio). During the period of his pupilage he directed his
102
Physicians of Albany County.
attention especially to the science of anatomy, and prose- cuted private dissections with great zeal. He devoted himself to surgery also, but in early life he abandoned it as a speciality, on account of imperfect vision. He be- came a licentiate of the Medical society of Montgomery county, in 1811, and the ensuing winter attended the medi- cal lectures at the College of physicians and surgeons in New York. He returned to Columbia county in this state and commenced practice. A few months after, on the recommendation of Prof. John Watts, he was appointed surgeon in the army, an appointment he knew nothing of until he received his commission. This compliment to his early attainments he seldom mentioned. He remarked, however, to an intimate friend, " I carried the commis- sion in my pocket for two days, and then sent it with my resignation, to the department at Washington." In 1814 having been appointed surgeon to a garrison of the army stationed near Albany, he removed to this city and assumed the charge of it. In 1825 Williams college conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of medicine. He was for several years, until the period of his illness, one of the managers of the New York state lunatic asylum, and was active in securing to it the services of its late distinguished superintendent, Dr. Brigham. Dr. Wing spent thirty- eight of the forty-one years of his professional life in Albany, and in private practice few physicians became more extensively engaged. So exact was his system, that at the close of his practice he could refer to any pre- scription of importance that he had made within twenty- five years. In 1832, while engaged nearly every hour in the twenty-four, scarcely allowing himself any rest or relaxation during the prevalence of the cholera, he was violently attacked with that fearful malady. His recovery was considered by his professional brethren, who were prompt and unwearied in their devotions to him, one of the most remarkable that occurred during the season. But he never afterwards enjoyed uniform good health, and in 1843 was obliged to relinquish his business under no flattering prospect of recovery, and repair to the mild and less variable climate of the West Indies. Here after
103
Physicians of Albany County.
several months, he so far recovered as to return, and once more plunge into the toils of his profession. With few brief interruptions, he continued actively engaged until the summer of 1851, when he became mentally and phy- sically prostrated, and at lenght after a weary illness of nearly a year, he died at Hartford, Connecticut, on the 6th of September, 1852, in the 65th year of his age. Dr. Wing was a man acute in his perceptions, ready and keen in his observations. In every respect he was admirably adapted for the profession of his choice. . With great skill he united untiring energy of body and mind. His manners were modest, unassuming, unembarrassed. His habits were social, and in conversation he was winning. He at once enlisted the confidence of the patient and inspired him with hope. In the sick room he was kind and affec- tionate; there he was a model physician, and among his patients he had most devoted friends. He read much and possessed an accurate and retentive memory, so that he was able to repeat pages, almost verbatim, that he had not seen in years. In health, his spirits were buoyant and gay; his laugh was contagious, his fund of anecdote inexhaustible, and used with great aptness. With an ex- tensive acquaintance his society was much sought, and in the profession throughout the state he had a multitude of friends. For political distinction, he had no possible desire, and was, in his disposition, averse to the turmoils of such a life. Yet for many years he was intimate with the leading politicians of the state, and possessed an unseen influence with them. Dr. Wing had some con- stitutional peculiarities, but none more annoying to his professional brethren than his habit of delaying his visits and appointments for counsel, beyond the time specified. Indeed so proverbial was this, that years before he died he was known as " the late Dr. Wing," a title he en- joyed, whenever he heard it applied. His counsels were frequently sought, and in critical cases almost uniformly adopted. The most desperate cases he was unwilling to abandon as hopeless. To the junior members of the profession he was uniformly courteous, and exercised
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.