The civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the county of Kings and the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1683 to 1884, Volume II, Part 67

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co
Number of Pages: 1345

USA > New York > Kings County > Brooklyn > The civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the county of Kings and the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1683 to 1884, Volume II > Part 67

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HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

lingford, Conn., soon after, and subsequently to Stoughton, where he died in 1790. Ichabod Ebenezer Fiske graduated from Yale College in 1770, was married in 1773, and became an eminent preacher and scholar, and was the author of a system of Grammar which in its time attracted much atten- tion. For some two years prior to his death in 1810, he was Rector of the Episcopal Church of St. Mary's parish, Georgia.

The father of Dr. William M. L. Fiske was Almond D. Fiske, who was employed, and well versed, in the trade in stoves at the age of nineteen, and became a manufacturer and inventor of note; making many improvements in stoves and projecting the now ubiquitous and universally used base- burner, which, however, was not perfected until after his death. He was the first to introduce the steam engine for use in foundries, setting one up in his own foundry, at New- town, L. I., about 1845, which was, for a time, an object of considerable curiosity to numerous visitors. Mr. Fiske also invented the now celebrated Fiske Metallic Burial Case, of which he was the manufacturer until his death, in 1851. On his mother's side, Dr. Fiske is descended from an old and highly respectable family, of Albany, N. Y. Harvey Ray- mond, his grandfather, removed from Albany to New York about 1830, and became an intimate of Daniel Webster's, and other distinguished men of the day. His daughter, Phebe Ann Raymond, married Almond D. Fiske. Their son, William M. L. Fiske, was born in New York, May 10, 1841. His parents subsequently removed to Newtown, Long Island, where his father owned a farm, which included most of the present village of Winfield. There Dr. Fiske received the rudiments of his education at a private school. After his father's death, the family removed to Chazy, Clinton county, N. Y., and later, he attended the Bakersfield (Vt.) Academy, and the Champlain Academy, in Clinton county, N. Y., where he prepared for college and began the study of medicine. Cir- cumstances, over which he had no control, seemed to necessi- tate at least a temporary abandonment of his plan of obtain- ing a collegiate education and pursuing his medical studies; and he went to New York, and, during an interval, was em- ployed in commercial pursuits. After a time, an opportunity presented itself for his resumption of the study of medicine; and, in 1859, he became a student at the New York Medical College. At the opening of the new Bellevue Hospital Medi- cal College, Dr. Fiske was one of the first to enter as a stu- dent there, following Prof. R. Ogden Doremus, formerly Pro- fessor of Chemistry in the New York Medical College, who transferred his influence and services from the New York Medical College to the new Bellevue Hospital Medical Col- lege. Not long afterward, Dr. Fiske, after passing a competi- tive examination, was appointed one of the medical physi- cians of Blackwell's Island Hospital, there being a vacancy on the Bellevue staff, and served as such for eight months. In 1862, in the interim between the second and third courses of lectures, he made application for appointment upon the medical staff of the 47th Regiment, N. Y. Volunteers; but, there being no vacancy, he enlisted in Company A of that regiment, as a private soldier. After a month's service in the ranke, he was appointed, by General Morris, to act as steward at the convalescent hospital, at Fort MeHemy; and, a few week's later, became acting assistant post surgeon in charge of the post hospital, and served in such capacity until the expiration of his regiment's three months' term of enlist- ment, when, with his comrades, he was mustered out of service. Returning to New York, he again entered the new Bellevue Hospital Medical College, and graduated in ite second graduating class-that of 1863. Immediately after his graduation, he entered his name as a student with Dr. Albert Wright, of Brooklyn, and began the study of Home-

opathy, and, in 1864, graduated from the New York Homo- opathic College. He was a few months in private practice; then, after passing an examination before the Board of Ex- aminers, stationed in New York, he was appointed acting assistant surgeon in the United States Army, and served as such until the close of the war.

After the war, Dr. Fiske practiced his profession two years at Aurora, Illinois, whence he removed to Rochester, N. Y. After a five years' residence there, at the earnest solicitation of his old preceptor, Dr. Albert Wright, he abandoned an in- creasing practice, and returned to Brooklyn to become Dr. Wright's partner; a relation which continued till the death of Dr. Wright, in 1874, the added opportunities for a surgical practice in no small degree influencing him to make the change. Since the death of Dr. Wright, he has continued practice in Brooklyn, E. D., his residence and office being at No. 12 Bedford avenue.

Dr. Fiske associated himself with the chair of surgery in the Brooklyn Homoeopathic Dispensary, which was formerly maintained on Atlantic avenue. Upon the institution of the Brooklyn Homoeopathic Hospital he became, and still con- tinues, one of the surgeons on its staff; and, upon the death of Dr. Sumner, in 1882, was unanimously elected his suc- cessor, as President of the Staff and Medical Director of the hospital. He was one of the founders and organizers of the Brooklyn, E. D., Homoeopathic Dispensary, and is a trustee of that institution. He was one of the organizers and lecturers of the Training School for Nurses of the Brooklyn Maternity and of the Homoeopathic Hospital, and continued his services until compelled, reluctantly, to relinquish them on account of his large and constantly-increasing practice. He is a member and an ex-President of the Brooklyn Homo- opathic Society, a member and an ex-Vice-President of the New York State Homoeopathic Society, and a member of the American Institute of Homoeopathy.

The career of Dr. Fiske has been a remarkably successful one, but its success has not been easily won. It is the legiti- mate reward of that patient, hopeful industry and self-denial which are the foundation stones of all advancement in any walk of life, in any business or profession; and he has brought to bear upon his fortunes the influences of an integrity and a steadfastness of purpose which, had his mind inclined to theology, the law or commercial pursuits, would have made him as eminent as a clergyman, an attorney or a merchant as he has become in his chosen profession. A lover of his fellow men and a believer in human liberty and human pro- grese, he has been a life-long adherent to the principles of true Republicanism, but he has never been an active politi- cian. A Presbyterian, he has been for thirteen years an active member and trustee of the Ross street Presbyterian Church. He was married October 11th, 1865, to Miss Julia P. Sage, of Rochester, N. Y., who has borne him four sons.

Dr. Fiske was for a number of years, and until compelled to go to Florida on account of ill health, the meteorological reporter at Rochester, N. Y., for the Smithsonian Institute at Washington, D. C .; and, after his removal to Florida, he established the meteorological station at San Mateo, in that State.

The Brooklyn Homoeopathic Dispensary was incorporated December 5, 1852, mainly through the benevolent enterprise and energy of Mr. Edward W. Dunham ; the trustees for the first year be- ing E. W. Dunham, J. G. Arnold, John N. Taylor, John A. Davenport, S. P. Church, Ed. Corning, Theo- dore Victor, A. G. Allen, A. S. Barnes ; from whom

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THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.

were chosen E. W. Dunham, President; John N. Tay- lor, Vice-President; Alfred S. Barnes, Treasurer; to these were added J. T. P. Smith, of the Pharmacy, as Secretary. Rooms were procured at No. 50 Court street, and opened to the public January 2, 1853. Dr. B. C. Macy became resident physician, and ten of the Homeopathic physicians of Brooklyn (increased after the first six months to twenty) volunteered their services; a very handsome representation of the practitioners of that school of medicine, of whom there were only twenty-five at that time in the Western District of the city. About the year 1857 larger quarters became ne- cessary ; and the institution was moved from No. 50 to 83 Court street, Dr. Frank Bond becoming resident physician. In 1859, aid was first received from the City and State; and, in 1865, the trustees were enabled, by the generosity of the citizens of Brooklyn, to purchase the three-story and basement brick building, No. 186 Atlantic street, which was thoroughly and admirably fitted up for the purposes of a dispensary.

After a time, however, the career of the insti- tution, at first so flourishing and so gratifying to those interested, seemed to receive a check. Wherever the fault lay, the trustees, under the presi- dency of Charles A. Townsend, Esq., were dissatisfied ; and accepting the resignation of the then resident physician, entrusted the management to Doctor ALBERT E. SUMNER, who had but recently (1863) re- moved to Brooklyn, and (while interne of St. Peter's Hospital) given indications of fitness for the extraordi- nary career he subsequently filled. Under his admin- istration a new and more central location, at 178 Atlantic street, was occupied, and an entire reorgani- zation of the institution effected. The patients were assigned to separate departments, as the eye and ear, the throat and chest, etc., etc., and special physicians appointed over each. The departments, at first four, but afterwards seven, were furnished with all the in- struments and appliances required ; the apothecary's department fully supplied with medicines; and a pro- fessional library, belonging to the institution, presented every requisite for study and for reference, needed by the attending physicians. The success was all that the limits of the building would allow. In 1864 the num- ber of patients was 1,824; in 1869, it was 10,260. The state official, whose business it was to examine all in- stitutions receiving aid from the State, reported the Brooklyn Homeopathic Dispensary the second most perfect in the State in equipment, in management, and in service. February 9, 1871, the name was changed to the Brooklyn Homoeopathic Dispensary and Hospi- tal, thus allowing them to care for indoor as well as outside patients. (See History of Brooklyn Homco- pathic Hospital.)

A Homoeopathic Hospital .- With the success of the Dispensary the friends of Homeopathy felt that the time for a hospital had come. The trustees, under

CHARLES A. TOWNSEND, Esq., President, conferred with their friends and with the physicians of the Dis- pensary; and, later, with the physicians of the city gen- erally. From these they received assurances of sym- pathy and hearty service, and taking Dr. Sumner into their counsel, they laid their plans energetically and wisely. It was incorporated in 1871, under the present name, with powers to conduct a hospital. A Charity Ball, February, 1871, at the Academy of Music, gave the would-be hospital its first substantial "lift;" fol- lowed, as it was, by the equally attractive Charity Balls of succeeding years, by which its funds have been steadily augmented. In 1872 the premises previously occupied by the Protestant Orphan Asylum, in Cum- berland street, near Washington Park, were purchased at a cost of $37,500, and after such alterations as were essential, they were formally opened as the

Brooklyn Homeopathic Hospital, on March 15, 1873, with only ten beds ; and the first patient was rc- ceived on the 3d of March following. Its officers were: CHAS. A. TOWNSEND, Pres .; DAVID M. STONE, Vice-Pres .; JOHN P. ATKINSON, Treas .; JAMES R. COWING, Sec'y; and W. W. GOODRICH, Counsel, with some twenty others of Brooklyn's first citizens as Trustees. Its medical staff consisted of ten physicians and three surgeons under the presidency of Doctor SUMNER. From the first the internal administration of the hospital was entrusted to Sister Mildred, whose high administrative powers and untiring zeal more than justified the anticipations of every friend of the enter- prise. In 1875, the annual Charity Balls were replaced by annual Fairs, held at the Academy of Music, and which socially, as well as financially, have proved uni- formly successful. Its success was complete from the first, and its prosperity so great that the enlarge- ment of the premises became a duty. In 1874-'75 an addition, 23 x 50 feet, four stories high, including base- ment, was made at one end, in which a children's ward of sixteen beds, was located; and, in five years more, (1880-'81), a wing, 102 x 25 feet, also four stories high, including basement, at the other. The Atlantic street Dispensary was transferred in 1875 to the first-named portion, where it is still carried on; presenting, as be- fore, seven departments, each with its corps (1, 2, or 3, according to the size of the clinique) of attending physicians or surgeons.

Adopting the more advanced ideas of the day, a Training School for Nurses was formed in 1879. It has achieved an enviable reputation, some of its gradu- ates being among the foremost of that growing class of most useful women. Its number of students so far is twenty-two, of whom eight have graduated.

The esprit-du-corps of the medical staff provided and furnished an ambulance service complete; the services of which were accepted by the Board of Health. The wagon (most perfect in all its equipments, of the three employed in the city) was, together with horse, harness,

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HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

stable and fittings, quietly procured (in 1880) by the physicians and friends of the hospital, at a cost of $2,000, and a further outlay of about $800 a year for maintenance. It is in telephonic communication with Police Headquarters, and is provided with a surgeon and assistant, appointed by the Board of Health, which has also assigned to it the Central District, a most import- ant and extensive field of service.

Associated with the hospital, for furthering its inter- 'ests, is a Ladies' Aid Society, consisting of sixty-eight of Brooklyn's best representatives, largely wives of the trustees. Its province is to conduct entertain- ments, fairs, etc., the proceeds of which are added to the voluntary contributions by which mainly the hos- pital is sustained.

To the first of January, 1883 (nine years and ten months), there have been admitted to the wards of the hospital 2,353 patients.

Dr. ALBERT E. SUMNER was the originator of this hospital, and its medical director until his death in 1882 ; C. A. TOWNSEND was its President ; the SISTER MILDRED its Lady Superintendent, and S. E. STILES, M. D., its Resident Physician from January, 1871, to 1884.

The government of the hospital is vested in forty- six trustees, the officers being still those named at its opening. (See above).

The hospital medical and surgical staff, under the presidency of Dr. W. M. L. FISKE, consists of thirteen physicians and seven surgeons.

The dispensary medical and surgical staff, under the superintendency of Dr. C. L. BONNELL, consists of ten physicians and six surgeons.

ALBERT E. SUMNER, A. M., M. D., was born in Hartford, Conn., Nov. 28, 1840, his father being Hiram F. Sumner, a well-known and highly esteemed publisher of that city. Young Sumner entered Trinity College, Hartford, and com- pleted his studies at the New York University Medical Department. After graduation he became Physician to the Home for Incurables, New York city; served during the Civil War for eighteen months, as Surgeon in the United States Navy, and then associated himself with the late Dr. A. Cooke Hull, and rapidly gained success in his practice. He was, for a time, interne at St. Peter's Hospital; then became Medical Director of the Brooklyn Dispensary, out of which grew the Homoeopathic Hospital, with which Dr. Sumner's name is imperishably connected as that of its originator. He was also identified with the Maternity; was a member of the American Institute of Homoeopathy; of the New York State and the Kings County Homoeopathic Medical Socie- ties; and a trustee of the Homoeopathic State Insane Asylum at Middletown, N. Y.

"As a physician he stood very high; as a diagnostician, he was clear and accurate; in prognosis, prompt and reliable; in treatment, self-reliant and very successful. But the real clue to his brilliant professional success was his buoyant, genial nature, which characterized each feature and move- ment, and inspired confidence and hope in every sick room which he entered.

"In his daily intercourse with patients and friends, or even with strangers, brain and heart both seemed alert with sym- pathy, and instinct with courage. He possessed tact with- out dissimulation, and energy without rashness. Had he not been an admirable physician he would have been an ad- mirable politician of the better sort. Indeed, few physicians have so clear an idea as he had of the real dignity of their professional standing, and its power for promoting the best interests of society. Dr. Sumner was, in the best sense, a "society doctor," because he recognized not only the oppor- tunity, but the duty, which his profession imposed upon him to promote and mould all those various social influences which tend to the conservation and the welfare of the com- munity.

"It was this feeling, together with the natural genial im- pulse of his disposition, which made him foremost in every public improvement, and which linked his earnest labors as well as his name, with the fortunes of so many medical, literary and social institutions in Brooklyn. To all these movements, his "push," his indomitable pluck, his experience, and wide social acquaintance and influence, rendered him invaluable. When we look at the results much of which could not have been accomplished without him-we can scarcely believe that they were compassed within a period of barely twenty years. That corner building, on Clinton and Joralemon streets, where he succeeded the lamented Hull-is, indeed, between the two, identified with nearly all the in- stitutions and enterprises which have beautified and adorned the city, within the past quarter of a century. Hull's man- tle, in this respect, fell worthily upon Sumner's shoulders. The traditions of the house were handed from one to the other. During both lives, it was the very cradle of Brook- lyn's later intellectual and social growth."

New Homeopathic Organizations .- The opening of its third decade demonstrated the hold Homeo- pathy had upon the public mind, by the hearty interest of its advocates. In the year 1871, three of its noblest and most successful charities were initiated, viz .: the Brooklyn Maternity, the Homoeopathic Hospital, and the Brooklyn Nursery. Of the second we have just spoken; the first and third must needs have briefer, but not less interesting mention. They are each, the work of ladies, and each is maintained and managed by ladies exclusively. Their names announce their re- spective purposes.

The Brooklyn Maternity (first called "The Brook- Homeopathic Lying-in Asylum") was projected in 1870 to repress infanticide, by providing an asylum during confinement, and Homeopathic care for the unfortunate and for the respectable poor as well. The unfortunate were to be restored, if possible, aud to be helped to recover their sense of self-respect. The success of the institution was beyond expectation. The enlarging numbers of patients demanded large accommodations, large means, and more co-workers. Such were the wisdom and assiduity of the ladies, and such is the munificent charity of Brooklyn, that their needs were supplied and their work sustained, aided by Dr. A. E. Sumner, who was their Medical Director, in addition to his great labors at the hospital. This first Board of officers consisted of Mrs. R. C. Moffat, Mrs. A. Burtis,

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THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.

Mrs. C. E. Arbuckle, Mrs. W. T. Coole, Mrs. Tobias New, Miss M. A. Downs. In the second year they left their three-story wooden premises, on the cor- ner of Lawrence and Willoughby streets, and bought the large double mansion, 46 and 48 Concord street, where their inestimable labors have been wrought. In addition to the Lying-in, a Nursery (i. e. a baby board- ing) department became necessary; then, of necessity, a Childs' Hospital, that the sick might be properly iso- lated; and the ladies felt that the circle of their work was complete. But no! It was soon seen and felt that the opportunity to establish a Training School for monthly Nurses was too good to be overlooked, and great was the work, filled as were their hands already; yet their hearts were too large to forego the opportu- ity. So the

New York State Training School for Nurses, the first in America, was incorporated and insti- tuted, a short time before Bellevue, in 1873. The statistics of the Maternity are marvelous; no public institution, and few private practitioners, have sur- passed them. Patients have been brought into its wards from the slums of the city, from the streets, in the very throes of labor, with diseases variously complicating the condition that warranted their admis- sion; yet, out of 787 confinements (the whole number as shown by the twelfth annual report, 1883), there have been but ten deaths, and not one during labor- Of its great successes in restoring the unfortunate, this is not the place to speak. From the Training School sixty capable and accomplished nurses have been graduated, and their reputation is such that the school has no superior.

The administration of the Maternity has been by a board of forty lady managers. The office of First Directress has been filled by Mrs. R. C. MOFFAT (five years, Mrs. H. W. SAGE (three years), Mrs. GEORGE STANNARD (three years) ; Secretary, Mrs. TOBIAS NEW (seven years), Mrs. G. STANNARD (one year), Mrs. G. W. GILBERT (three years), and of Treasurer, Mrs. W. T. COOLE (two years), Mrs. ROBERT SHAW (nine years). The Medical Staff consisted of eight physi- ciana, including a resident, all appointed annually. The present officers are Mrs. GEORGE STANNARD, First Di- rectress; Mrs. J. HOWARD, Second Directress; Mrs. N. Y. BEERS, Third Directress; Mrs. GEORGE W. GIL- BERT, Secretary; Mrs. ROBERT SHAW, Treasurer.

The Brooklyn Nursery, the third product of the same year (1871), sprang into existence by the de- termination of some earnest ladies who hoped, under the greatly lessened infant mortality of pure Homœo- pathic treatment, to found an asylum for "poor, desti- tute and friendless children not over three years of age." It provided a permanent home for these, and "a temporary home, where children can be placed by the day, week, or month," while their parents pursued their regular vocations. The exceeding charity of this

work speaks for itself. It enlisted at once a hearty body of workers, whose efforts have been sustained by liberal contributions pecuniarily, and by professional services from corps of sympathizing Homeopathic physicians. Its eleventh annual report presents the names of forty managing ladies, with Mrs. E. B. ROL- LINS, First Directress ; Mrs. D. HUSTACE, Treasurer ; and Mrs. H. F. ATEN, Secretary, and the names of ten physicians, who form the medical staff. No statistics are submitted in the annual report.

The Homeopathic Pharmacies .- The "mis- sionary" aid rendered by these in the extension of the new school is so great as to vie with that of the physi- cians themselves, and they cannot, on that account, be overlooked. They were established in the following order. It should be borne in mind that they are de- voted almost exclusively to the manufacture and sale of homeopathic medicines, etc., excluding the fancy arti- cles that form so large a portion of stock in the apothecaries' shops of the old school.

1. Mr. J. T. P. SMITH, in 1850, in Court street, near the City Hall. Although in other hands, it is still in existence.

2. Mr. L. H. SMITH, in 1868, opened the second at 106 Court street, and is now at 73, in the same street.

3. Mr. J. O. Noxon, like his predecessors, clinging close to the City Hall, opened the third pharmacy in 1869, under very favorable auspices, at 323 Washing- ton street. In May, 1873, he moved to 444 Fulton street, where he still conducts the largest homeopathic pharmacy in the county.

4-5. Two transient and unsuccessful efforts were made in 1875 by Mr. ST. CHARLES and by Mr. TILTON.

6. In the same year, 1875, Mr. SOMERS made a suc- cessful effort in the Eastern District, locating in Fourth street. He died in 1880, and the establishment was closed.

7. In 1876, Mr. C. T. HURLBURT, a Homeopathic pharmaceutist of New York, established a branch, also in Fourth street. This is still successfully maintained in the hands of Mr. P. J. HOYT.

The E. D. Homeopathic Dispensary Associa- tion provides for the Homeopathic poor of the Eastern District in a building constructed especially for its use at Nos. 194 and 196 South Third street. The existence of this charity is mainly due to the efforts of the late Dr. WILLIAM WRIGHT, one of the first practitioners in this part of the city. He was ambitious for the extension of the school, and he felt that the poor of the Eastern District ought to have all the advantages that could be provided. The co-operation of his fellow practitioners and of some of Brooklyn's best citizens was secured, and together in 1872, they succeeded in obtaining an organization March 6th, and an incorporation March 14th, 1872, with the following incorporators : William Wright, M. D., Samuel Godwin, Edward A. Jones, James Hall, S. C. Hanford, M. D., Silvester Tuttel,

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The civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the county of Kings and the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1683 to 1884, Volume II, Part 67

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed Publication date: 1884 Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co Number of Pages: 1345

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co
Number of Pages: 1345