USA > New York > Chautauqua County > Ellicott > The early history of the town of Ellicott, Chautauqua County, N.Y. > Part 19
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* Who was meant by "Uncle Liphe," James E. and Aaron we have no means of ascertaining. Uncle Liphe probably was Eliphalet Steward, father of Sardius Steward of Ashville. James E. may have been James Edmunds. But who was intended by Aaron we have found no one able to guess. We think there was an Aaron Martin of Busti. The cow and calf although then old were living in the writer's remembrance.
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journey Dr. Hazeltine came down severely ill with ague. It was only during the eighth week of their pilgrimage that they arrived at the rapids, May 27 or 28.
At the time they passed through Buffalo the In- dians were very troublesome at that locality and it was almost impossible for a settler to get through without having many of his goods stolen by them. The Doctor had daily shakes of the ague, and when they arrived there was very sick and the teamsters tired out. Mrs. Hazeltine was a small woman, never weighing 100 pounds, but as resolute and brave as she was small. She had driven one of the teams with her own hands from Syracuse to Buffalo. Wm. Bemus, of Bemus Point, was owner and driver of one of the teams. We cannot now say, (a memorandum being lost) whether one of his teams was used the whole dis- tance from Saratoga to the rapids, but believe it was, as Bemus was originally from that section. One of the teams, was sent on from his farm on Chautauqua lake and met them at Batavia, at which place the contract for one of the teams from Saratoga ceased. At Buffalo Bemus said to Mrs. Hazeltine, "Content, the doctor must not be disturbed to-night; if we wish to get him through to the Rapids; this is the worst place on the whole route, the Indians steal all they can lay hands on here. I am going to have you mount guard to- night. Here is a musket with a good bagonet (bayo- net) on it but it is not loaded. If you see any of the Indians around, take it up and carry it, and if they come too near don't be afraid to prod them with the sharp end of it." After a moment's reflection she re- plied: "I wish you to put a small load into the mus- ket, Uncle William, and I will stand guard as you di-
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rect. They would take it away from me before I could use the bayonet, but I believe I could shoot one of the scamps rather than have the wagons pillaged." Bemus said he would have one of the men load the musket, remarking he was afraid that with a loaded musket she might harm herself. "Now," says he, "I shall pretend to sleep, but shall keep awake. I have thought it all over and believe you will be the best person we can put on watch to-night. Don't be afraid ; remem- ber, I shall be wide awake." The evening was not far advanced before three or four marauders put in an ap- pearance. Mrs. H. bade them begone, and that if they came near she would fire at them. The Indians drew off, one of them good naturedly muttering ; "Very little squaw but much gun.
Indian go away ; just like little squaw to shoot some ; might get hurt a good deal." Bemus remarked next day, "It worked as I expected ; that the varmints would be more afraid of a woman with a gun than a man, or if not would at least show her more respect; but I took good care that Lehigh put powder into the pan but none in the gun."
After leaving the Cross Roads it was in the after- noon of the third day before they reached the rapids. The wagon drew up in front of the Blowers house; no preparation had been made for their reception, the reasons why need not appear in this narrative. The
north room of the house, the one they expected to oc- cupy that night, was filled with benches for a school and Blowers had not removed from the remainder of the house, although Judge Prendergast had made other provisions for him four days previously. Mr. Prendergast had been three days absent from home, had just returned and found Blowers dead drunk and Mrs. Blowers away from home. Mr. Prendergast,
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Jacob Fenton and others carried out the school fix- tures, and Mrs. Prendergast and Mrs. Fenton mopped out the room. Part of the goods were deposited there- in and a bed made on the floor for the night. The re- mainder of the goods were placed in the blacksmith shop which had been converted into a barn as per agreement. The plan which had been devised to keep Dr. Hazeltine out of his house did not work.
Dr. E. T. Foote, who had come to the rapids a few weeks previous to the arrival of Dr. Hazeltine and family, came in the next day and said pleasantly, "Dr. Hazeltine, I believe it is customary for the old physician in a place to call upon a new professional comer. I have been here nearly four weeks and you see I have obeyed medical etiquette in calling. This daily ague which you have is a bad thing in a new country. I have brought with me a bottle of good whiskey and a couple of ounces of the best Peruvian bark (the correct things in those days,) and as now is just the nick of time for you to take a dose, with your- permission I will prepare you one." The sick doctor thanked the well one, remarking that his prescription was altogether orthodox and according to the best authorities, but knowing that medicines would be scarce and difficult to procure in this wilderness coun- try he had employed all his leisure time during the past year in reading Thatcher and other authors on the indigenous Materia Medica of the country, and had during his stay in the previous fall gathered and prepared a quantity of the bark of the Cornus Florida (boxwood.) and it was now a good time to test its vir- tues and Thatcher's laudations of it. His wife had boiled up a quantity of it until nearly as thick as syr- up and he had already drank half a tumblerful of it
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and declared he believed he should miss a shake that day. He also said to Dr. Foote that he had always been opposed to rum and never drank it but once in his life and then it was poured down his throat by some young friends at a dance through a tin funnel. This was before the days of quinine which is the ac- tive principle of the Peruvian bark. Foote, instead of administering, begged a quantity of the bark to try on two ague patients then on his hands. We do not believe that either of the doctors used a pound of Per- uvian bark in their practice after that date. In fact Foote gathered that season a large quantity of the bark which he prepared with much care with his own hands and sent it to friends among the physicians in the east for distribution and trial.
Dr. Hazeltine gave his entire attention to the study and practice of medicine up to the last week of his life. He died May 4, 1852. His active life was spent in the heavy cares of the sick room and in pre- paration for the duties involved.
We make the following extract from an obituary notice published at the time of his death, and which we are informed was from the pen of the late Silas Tiffany:
"Dr. Laban Hazeltine, one of the oldest and most respected citizens of this village, died at the residence of his son on the 4th inst. Though not wholly unex- pected the intelligence of his death fell upon our citi- zens with a painful shock. For nearly forty years he had been a resident and practicing physician in our midst, and identified with the growth of the village from infancy. He had been unusually successful as a physician-uniting with a thorough education, the clearness and accuracy of judgment, which were
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marked characteristics of his life, and he therefore pos- sessed the confidence of the community to an unusual degree. In the relation of a citizen no man stood higher than he. He was possessed of a large fund of general intelligence, elevated purposes, and his habits and influence, were distinguished by a high moral tone. The vacancy occasioned by his death, cannot soon be filled. The medical profession have in him lost a wise counsellor and society a most valuable member.
"Dr. Hazeltine with his family became a resident of Jamestown in June, 1815, when the village numbered twelve families, his own making the thirteenth. These families occupied some half dozen small, unfinished houses, all of which stood on Main and Cherry streets, below Second. Only two of them were above Second street. He was then young, active and vigorous and en- tered upon the practice of his profession in this, then, almost unbroken wilderness with his characteristic en- ergy and zeal. The country soon filled with inhabi- tants, but good roads and bridges did not accompany the settlers from their homes. Many professional vis- its were made by him, when the only means he had of finding his patients, was to follow the track of the Holland Land company's surveyors indicated by the trees they had blazed.
" Dr. Hazeltine died in his 63d year of chronic her- editary disease of the kidneys. He was a native of Wardsboro, Vt., and his medical studies were pursued under the famed Paul Wheeler, and he attended the Medical Lectures of Dartmouth College. He was de scended from the earliest settlers of Massachusetts. His ancestors were among the earliest pilgrims who landed at Salem harbor with Gov. Winthrop. He
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was always careful to state that he belonged not to the Puritan but the Pilgrim stock of New England. His ancestors were among the earliest settlers on the banks of the Charles. He was no less thoroughly American in his habits, his feelings and his principles, than he was in descent."
Dr. Hazeltine was a devoted student of Nature in the best sense of that term. He was at all times ac- customed not only to reverentially study Nature but to look thro' Nature up to Nature's God. The lovely flowers with which he had strewn the pathway of his being were bright and fragrant to the last, they smiled up to him as children to the face of a father. The
perception of physical beauty. the intelligent love of nature, the philanthropic and benevolent spirit, the literary taste, which were the day stars of his youth continued their ministry in riper age; with the holier presence of domestic sympathies, of well-founded friendships, and of blessed remembrances was blend- ed the consciousness of a life passed in the perform- ance of the sacred duties of his profession. One of his last remarks was that he looked back on his past pro- fessional life with satisfaction, for he had labored to prepare himself for its duties, and had performed them honestly to the best of the ability given him; and that he looked to the future, if with misgivings, not with fear. That he had at times harbored feelings which he now regretted; that it had been his study to do right, but self righteousness was a poor guide for man to rely upon.
A clergyman now dead who was well acquainted with Dr. Hazeltine and who for many years was a most intimate friend writes of him as follows: "It is with pleasure that I send you what I wrote concern-
·
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ing your father at the time of his death. When I con- sider him as the hard-working, self-denying physician to the sparse inhabitants of a wilderness; when I pass before my memory his unblemished moral char- acter, when I remember his devotion to his profession, his great literary and scientific attainments; when I remember him as I knew him, I must believe that the most remarkable man I ever knew has passed from the stage of earthly life. During the earlier years of his career, he imbibed Socinian opinions and was led to reject the doctrines touching the divinity of Christ, but under the teachings and influence of the Rev. Mr, Murry, he relinquished these sentiments, and in pro- cess of time adopted the doctrines of the Episcopal church.
"All who knew Dr. Hazeltine, your father and my most intimate friend, will vouch that he was not only a Christian but a scholar of no ordinary attainments; the extent of his talents and crudition was known only to the few. He possessed so quick and retentive a memory, that what he read or heard with interest, be- came his own, and hence his mind was a store house, in which were deposited the riches which others as well as himself had collected from the vast sources of the natural, moral and scientific world. His percep- tion of things was remarkably clear, discriminating, and consequently wonderfully correct. He almost in- tuitively saw the nature and bearing of things as soon as presented to the sifting qualities of his discrimi- nating mind. His mind was so large and comprehen- sive, so trained in analysis, that he generally could take in the whole of a subject as well as distinguish its minute parts; and hence he possessed in a more than ordinary degree the rare talent of correctly clas-
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sifying and placing facts in a luminous order. The versatility of his talents and the extent of his erudi- · tion was truly extraordinary. He seemed to be capa- ble of fixing his mind with intensity on the most op- posite subjects, and there is scarcely a department of literature or philosophy of science or of medical knowledge, with which he was not familiar. His let- ters to his friends were not only noted for their cor- rectness and purity of style, but for the scientific knowledge they displayed, adorned with the imag- ery of a vivid imagination, which rendered them the choicest of possessions with those who were fortunate enough to receive them. His manliness was only equalled by his highly cultivated mind, his highly cultivated mind only by his desire and ability to be useful." Although eminently social he was wonder- fully retiring and modest in his habits, and I most conscientiously believe he was the only man I ever knew, who never harbored a prurient thought. He loved nature, and was one of nature's truest noblemen.
In the life and character of Dr. Laban Hazeltine we see nurtured, with a beautiful and holy care,
" -- those first affections, Those shadowy recollections, Which, be they what they may, Are yet the fountain light of all our day, Are yet a master light of all our seeing; Uphold us-cherish, -and have power to make
Our noisy years seem moments in the being Of the eternal silence; truths that make To perish never;
Which neither listlessness nor mad endeavor, Nor man, nor boy, Nor all that is at enmity with joy Can utterly abolish or destroy."
-Wordsworth.
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After a short time Dr. Foote abandoned the pro- fession for politics, and the duties of various offices which he from time to time filled. Both men for a few years were extremely enthusiastic in studying the remedial powers of the indigenous medicines of the country. Learned physicians in New York, Philadel- phia and elsewhere wrote to Dr. Hazeltine long letters of inquiry. He was considered authority on the sub- ject and he contributed to the early medical jour- nals liberally on this and other subjects.
To Laban and Content (Flagler) Hazeltine were born ten children, all of whom died in infancy or child- hood excepting four, viz: Gilbert, Martha, Charlotte and Richard. All of them were born in Jamestown ex- cepting John, who was born in Dutchess county and there died in infancy.
Gilbert W., (the writer,) the third of this family, has now passed his 70th year. He was educated in the common schools-the Prendergast Academy and The Academy of Jamestown and in Allegheny Col- lege into the Junior year, when he was obliged to leave in consequence of discase of the eyes. The college course however he completed at home. His medical education was gained by nearly six years' study in his father's office. He then attended one course of lec- tures at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, where he was Assistant Demonstrator of Anatomy to Dr. Grant who was ill and soon after died, the entire labor devolving upon the writer. He went with Pro- fessor Pattison from Jefferson to the University of the City of New York and was one of the Demonstrators of that school. In 1842 because of his father's sick- ness he resigned and came to Jamestown where he has resided ever since. In 1843 he married Eliza Car-
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oline Boss, of Forestville, by whom he had four chil- dren and of whom two only are now living.
Mrs. Hazeltine was one of the most noble of wo- men. Her love of children and a desire to make them happy was one of her most prominent characteristics. She stood very high in the estimation of all who knew her, and few die more universally and sincerely la- mented.
We should feel that we had not fulfilled our whole duty to our native town were we to omit placing here a memorial written at the time of her death, by one of her sincerest admirers, Abner Hazeltine.
DIED.
"In this village, on Monday, Aug. 20th, 1860, Mrs. Eliza Caroline, wife of Dr. Gilbert W. Hazeltine of this village, aged 35 years.
"The death of this estimable lady is an event too sad to be merely announced by the usual passing no- tice stating her age, residence and departure. Real worth, whenever or however manifested, should ever receive that tribute to which it is entitled. It is not only just to the memory of the departed, but is bene- ficial to the living, enabling them to see that a useful and virtuous life has a hold upon our hearts, which no distinction based upon rank and wealth can confer. Death levels all artificial distinctions; but it does not subvert the nobility which is the fruit of a well spent life. The subject of this notice sought not fame. Her object was to be useful in the sphere in which Providence had placed her; and that object she attained, by properly discharging the daily duties which devolved upon her as a wife and mother. In these characters she was a model woman. If true. honor consists in acting well the part which the great.
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Arbiter of events has assigned us, then did our de- parted friend achieve an elevated station among the truly worthy. The character of the true woman, drawn by inspiration, was exemplified in her life and illustrated by her virtues .- 'Her works praise her.'"
He afterwards married Susan S. Fish by whom he had one child. When we add that he was tolerably successful as a physician, but that otherwise serious misfortunes have marked his whole pathway and that for ten years he has been an invalid, is all that need be said.
Martha was the fourth child. She became the wife of Hon. S. P. Johnson, of Warren, l'a. She had four children, three now living. She died in June, 1858. She was one of the most noble of women, best of wives, and affectionate of mothers,
Charlotte, the fifth child, married Gilbert Dolloff Smith in 1844. He was the eldest son of Jesse Smith and the eldest daughter of Capt. Horatio Dix already mentioned. For many years Gilbert and Charlotte lived an unusually happy life and had one child.
The major was taken prisoner in Tennessee dur- ing the late war, stripped of his clothing even to his hat and boots, and marched naked to a southern prison pen and there died. The unpleasantness was long ago settled and all is now peace and harmony- nevertheless it makes our blood boil when we remem- ber how our brothers were tortured and murdered by those southern fiends. The loss of the husband opened up a new life to the devoted wife. But she struggled through and educated her daughter, who married a man by the name of Galbraith, by whom she had three children. The mother was devoted to the daughter and the grandchildren, but the life was
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a sad one. I will sum it all up in one word-whiskey. The daughter died suddenly and the little family scattered. Charlotte took her youngest grand child, an infant, to care for. The broken-hearted woman was faithful, but the load was too great and the silver cord snapped. Before life ceased she was literally worn out. We were with her two hours before her death. She was elated with the prospect before her. She wanted to die; she had lived long enough. " Oh do
not talk to me about living, talk of death, of father and mother, of Gilbert and of Lottie; they are at rest; let me go to them and enjoy the bliss of rest." Nothing is more certain in this world, than that the rain falls on the just and the unjust. Calamities fall not alone on those who, as it were, brought them upon themselves and who deserve them, but upon the noble and the good, those who seemingly deserved a better fate. Surely the ways of the Almighty are past find- ing out.
Richard Flagler Hazeltine married Jane, the youngest daughter of Nicholas Sherman, an early set- tler of Busti. He is now a resident of Jamestown. The present Dr. Laban Hazeltine of our city is his sec- ond son.
If we said anything about the family of Laban Hazeltine we could not say less, neither is more re- quired.
Content, his wife, survived him many years, and died literally of old age, aged 93.
Before the coming of Dr. Hazeltine to Jamestown Judge Prendergast, assisted by one of the best of wo- men, his wife, Aunt Nancy, as every one loved to call her, was the successful and faithful physician of the people. With considerable knowledge of disease and
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of remedies, his sterling good judgment made him a skillful and successful physician. From the first set- tlement up to November 9, 1815, there was not a single death at the Rapids. The reguar physician came be- fore the skeleton with a scythe. But we will defer this part of the subject until we come to speak of Burial Grounds and Cemeteries.
Dr. Foote at first used to declare that he intended to go to the Western Reserve, but soon made the ac- quaintance of Miss Annie Cheney, daughter of Ebenezer Cheney, Esq., whom he married. She was the mother of his children although he was three times married. Dr. Foote removed to New Haven, Connecticut, about 1842, and continued there to reside until his death.
Not long after the settlement of Hazeltine and Foote in Jamestown, a poor, ragged, dirty old man named Smith came to Busti. He always traveled on foot; in warm weather barefooted or with his feet en- cased in a rude kind of moccasin, and with a dirty two- bushel canvas grain bag thrown over his shoulder. containing the roots and herbs used by him in the sick room.
One of the Owens's who lived at what now is known as Fentonville, was taken violently ill with some deep- seated difficulty of the throat. Dr. Foote was called, and after making a second visit found him in so dangerous a condition that he asked to have Dr. Hazeltine see the patient with him the next day. Both of the learned doctors gave it as their opinion that there would be one Owens less in the Conewango valley within two or three days ; that they could do nothing for him. A messenger was immediately dispatched to Busti for Smith. He was found considerably under the influ- ence of corn juice, but with some assistance was seated
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on the horse which was led all the way to Owens's-13 miles as the roads then were. Arriving there Smith was quite sober, but the bag of medicines had been left behind. Smith examined his patient and then started for the woods near by for his remedies. He soon re- turned with a basketful of stuff, but as he passed the pig pen he picked up something which he carried in and very privately mixed up in water and worried it down the patient's throat. The dose made Owens alarmingly sick and he was momentarily expected to die. Owens's brother, who went with Smith to the woods and had witnessed the whole transaction, swore dire vengeance on Smith, who became so alarmed that he decamped unnoticed. Presently Owens vomited most fearfully, and in doing so ruptured the walls of a large abcess near the base of the neck which pressed on the wind pipe and æsophagus. Immediately he could breathe easily, could swallow without difficulty and talk. Foote and Hazeltine were most roundly berated for their d-nd ignorance and stupidity and Smith lauded as one of the greatest of doctors, but poor Smith was not there to hear. Half frightened to death, he hid himself away in the woods, and it was only after acci- dentally hearing what a great man he had become that he ventured home. Owens was soon well. After learn- ing the truth of the matter he was accustomed to say he was glad he sent for Smith for he believed it even- tuated in the saving of his life ; but that lightning seldom struck twice in the same place; that he wanted nothing more of the filthy old fellow and his still more filthy medicine,
Hazeltine and Foote were for many years the only physicians in Jamestown. Occasionally a physician would come in and remain a few weeks or months and
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then would pass along. They were the only regular physicians here to remain long. Previous to 1849, oc- casionally one came in and soon sought better loca- tions.
DR. SAMUEL FOOTE studied medieine in the office of his brother E. T. Foote, in Jamestown, and at an early day practiced as an assistant to his brother. He left the profession for several years and engaged in lumbering and other mill operations at Waterboro, a couple of miles beyond Kennedy. He afterwards re- turned to Jamestown and bought of James Harrison his unfinished house, where the residence of the late Mrs. A. F. Allen now stands, which he partially fin- ished and in which he resided for several years, prac- tieing medicine. He afterwards removed to Louisiana where his only son resided, and remained several years. He again returned to Jamestown a widower and alone and resided for two or three years in a small house on the southwest corner of Pine and Third streets, now occupied by Bradshaw's feed store. On the morning of 7th May, 1856, there was a meeting of the medical society of Southwestern New York at the Allen house. One of the members proposed that some one should go up and see why Dr. Foote was not down. Dr. Gibbs of Frewsburg went and found Dr. Foote dead, sitting in his chair, The writer had called less than half an hour previous and found him cheerful and expressing himself as feeling so well that he believed he should attend the medical meeting. His death had been so instantaneous that his spectacles had not fallen from his eyes or the book he was reading from his hand. Cause of death, rupture of the heart.
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