USA > New York > Ulster County > The history of Ulster County, New York > Part 44
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With much Respect, Gentlemen. Your Obedt. Servt.
In behalf of the Directors of the Village,
To the Gentlemen composing the Medical Society of the County of Ulster."
JOSEPH CHIPP, Presdt.
REPLY.
"To the Directors of the Village of Kingston :-
Gentlemen,-
The Medical Society of the County of Ulster have, agreeable to your request, deliberately taken into Consideration the Communication Which You were pleased to present to us this day, as far as Time and opportunity would permit. They are of opinion that the noxious Exhalations arising from the Mill Pond and adjacent Sources of Filth annexed to your Village, in a great measure contribute to the Prevalence and progress of that Species of Fever Which is so severely experienced therein.
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THE COUNTY OF ULSTER.
Time will not permit at present for us to give you that General Satisfaction on this Subject which its importance demands and which you are perhaps induced to desire.
By Order of the Society,
B. R. BEVIER, Sec'y."
At a meeting held on December 2d, 1806, the following resolution was passed :
"Resolved, That the Seal which is now suspended by the chain of the President's watch be the proper Seal of this Society until another one Shall be procured and admitted of."
Meetings of the Society were held, usually semi-annually, until 1833. Discussions on medical subjects took place at these meetings and the records show that an active part was taken by the members in the various matters affecting the public health. After 1837 no meetings were held until June Ist, 1858, when a call was issued for a meeting at the Court ยท House in Kingston. The physicians present were Drs. Peter Crispell, Jr., John Wales, Josiah Hasbrouck, Barnett McClelland, E. M. Secor, Jacob Vreeland, Thomas J. Nelson, James Oliver Van Hoevenberg, Levi Lounsbery, Abram Crispell, Charles D. DeWitt, Edgar Elting, William B. Davis, Edmund Brink, Philip D. B. Hoornbeck.
The following were elected officers :
Peter Crispell, Jr., President; Barnett McClelland, Vice-President ; Edgar Elting, Secretary; Levi Lounsbery, Corresponding Secretary ; Charles D. DeWitt, Treasurer; Thomas J. Nelson, John Wales, Levi Lounsbery, James O. Van Hoevenberg and Josiah Hasbrouck, Censors; Abram Crispell, James O. Van Hoevenberg and Thomas J. Nelson, Dele- gates to the State Society.
The meetings of the Society were continued regularly until 1861. The war of 1861-5 caused a suspension of the meetings until 1864, when they were resumed and have been held regularly since that date.
In 1901 the Ulster County Medical Association, in affiliation with the New York State Medical Association, organized and continued until 1906, when the two State organizations were consolidated under the name of the Medical Society of the State of New York. Quarterly meetings were held regularly and the scientific program was a feature of each.
The roll of membership in the medical profession of Ulster County contains the names of many who ranked high as physicians and surgeons; whose names are to be found in the public records not only of the County, but of the State, as giving freely their services to their country. It was not an unusual thing to find physicians in several generations of a family,
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notably the Kiersteds, Olivers, Crispells, DeWitts, Van Hoevenbergs, Hasbroucks and others, and many of them attained prominence in other branches of public activity.
It is in times of distress and danger, and when men are in mortal agony and suffering from wounds or disease, that the services of a physician are in greatest demand, and well did the physicians and surgeons of Ulster County live up to the high calling of their profession in the troublons times of the Civil War. Alike in the hospitals at home attending the wounded and invalid, in the sanitary departments of the great armies and at the front on the fighting line, incurring the risks of battle and relieving the agonies of those who had fallen beneath the shot and shell of the enemy, the physician could be found with his message of comfort and aid to the afflicted. Ulster County was well represented at the front, among others, by Dr. Joseph D. Keyser, who enlisted while a medical student as hospital steward in the 120th N. Y. Volunteers, was taken prisoner early in his service and after a long imprisonment was exchanged. At the close of the war he resumed his studies and was admitted to the practice of medicine. He died at the age of thirty-five, a victim to disabilities contracted in the service.
In the latter part of the nineteenth century several efforts were made to organize a hospital in Kingston, but they were not successful antil July, 1893, when the City of Kingston Hospital was incorporated. Funds for building were raised by subscription, and on November 27th, 1894, the hospital was opened for the reception of patients, since which time it has been in successful operation and proved a boon to the sick and injured, not only of the city of Kingston, but of the surrounding country, receiving patients from the adjoining counties in addition to those from Ulster.
At the time of its organization the Board of Managers was as follows : Dr. George C. Smith, President ; Rev. Dr. R. L. Burtsell, Vice-President ; William M. Hayes, Secretary ; Dr. Jacob Chambers, Treasurer; Messrs. John E. Kraft, P. J. Flynn, James A. Betts, John McEntee and Frederick J. R. Clarke. Previous to the formal opening these physicians of the city were selected by the Board of Managers to compose the medical staff : Surgeons, Drs. Henry Van Hoevenberg, Secretary of Staff ; Jacob Chambers, Charles W. Crispell, Charles A. Munn, Alexander A. Stern and James L. Preston. Physicians, Drs. Elbert H. Loughran, A. H.
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Mambert, Daniel Connolly, R. R. Thompson, E. E. Norwood, Eugene J. Gallagher, C. F. Keefe, A. P. Chalker, William M. Decker.
The following sketches of some of the more prominent physicians of the past are taken from the files of the Medical Society of Ulster County and various public records of the county, as well as private biographies.
Dr. Gysbert Van Imbroch .- The first physician and surgeon of whom there is any record in the Esopus was Dr. Gysbert Van Imbroch. Governor Stuyvesant, having recognized the necessity for a physician in the new settlement, had induced him to come from New Amsterdam and settle here. Dr. Van Imbroch was prominent in the civil affairs of Esopus and his name appears frequently in the records of his time. He served as Schepen, or Justice, from 1663 to 1665, and was one of the delegates from the Esopus to the first representative body in New Netherlands, which met in New Amsterdam in 1664. He married, before coming here, Rachel, daughter of Dr. Johannes de la Montagne, a prominent physician of New Amsterdam and also Vice-Director under Governor Stuyvesant. She was taken captive by the Indians in 1663 at the burning of Wiltwyck, but escaped sometime afterward and died in October, 1664, soon after the birth of her last child.
Dr. Van Imbroch died on the 29th of August, 1665, less than one year after the death of his wife, leaving three minor children, Lysbert, born 1659; Johannes, born 1661, and Gysbert, born August 24th, 1664, for whom guardians were appointed. An inventory of the estate filed in the Schouts Court shows that his medical library consisted of fourteen volumes, viz .: Folios-Medicine Book of Christopher Wirtungh; Medicine Book of Ambrocius Paree; Medicine Book of Johannes de Vega; a Vessaly and Valuerda Anatomy. Quartos-Bernard van Zut- phen, Practice; a German work on Medicine; three written medicine books; Medical Remarks by Nicholas Tulp; German Medical Manual by Q. Apollinare; Examination of Surgery by Mr. Cornelis Herbs, a written medicine and Sudent Book; a book on surgery without a title.
This list shows that, for his day, he was a man well read in the liter- ature of his profession.
Benjamin Helm was one of the earliest and most distinguished phy- sicians and surgeons who practiced in Ulster. Educated in Holland, a follower of Boerhaave, and a firm believer in the great law that Nature had provided in each locality a specific for the diseases peculiarly incident
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to the place, he devoted much attention to the curative properties of herbs, roots and barks. He was much interested in the knowledge of their medicinal qualities possessed by the North American Indians, and after submitting the vegetable remedies known to them to many tests, he came to the conclusion that the Indians had a far more accurate and compre- hensive knowledge of the effect of simple remedies upon the human system than did many civilized people. He embodied the results of his observations and experiments in a paper which he transmitted to the Guild of the Physicians of Holland, by whom it was printed and dis- tributed among the medical schools of that country. Dr. Helm was a surgeon in the Continental Army, and was the medical attendant and personal friend of Washington during the latter's residence in the City of New York. He married a daughter of Abraham Klaarwater, of Bon- tecoe, first meeting his wife at Tarrytown, where she was visiting a rela- tive who had married one of the VanTasells of Westchester. After the close of the Revolution he came to Kingston, frequently visiting Bonte- coe and the neighborhood thereabouts. He died in the City of New York, where he owned a large amount of valuable property.
James Oliver, First, resided in Marbletown, Ulster County. Born in 1745, died 1826. Married Margaret, daughter of Matthew Newkirk. Was surgeon of an Ulster County regiment in the War of the Revolution, and was at the battle of Saratoga. Appointed Judge of the County Court, 1800. He was the first President of the Medical Society of Ulster County from its organization in 1806 to 1809. He had an extensive practice over the county and was a well-known and able physician. His son, ,
James Oliver, Second, was born December 24th, 1806, died October 12th, 1893. Married Gitty, daughter of Cornelius C. Cole and lived in Marbletown. He combined the life of a farmer with the practice of medicine.
Dr. Hans Kiersted, born June 17th, 1677. Godfather, Peter Bayard; godmother, Blandina Kiersted. He married Arrantje Tappen on Novem- ber 19th, 1701, and died April 6th, 1737. He was famous for his knowl- edge of the Indian dialects. It is recorded of him that upon being addressed in Latin by a learned doctor in the course of a consultation, he replied in the Indian tongue. He practiced in Kingston, living either in Wall or Green street. His son, Dr. Christopher Kiersted. married Cath-
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THE COUNTY OF ULSTER.
erine DeMyer, and died in Rhinebeck in consequence of a fall from his horse while visiting his son, Dr. Hans Kiersted. This Dr. Hans Kiersted married Janetje Hoffman, daughter of Anthony Hoffman of Kingston. He had been educated in Kingston, but afterward settled in Dutchess County. Major Van Gaasbeek visited him in Rhinebeck and describes him as "a large, portly man, six feet high, broad shouldered and good looking, with light hair, blue eyes, and a benevolent countenance." He was born May 10th, 1743, died Sept. 29, 1811. Jane Hoffman, consort of Dr. Kiersted, was born in Kingston also, April 10, 1743, died, Jan. 18, 1808. They had but one child, Sally, born July 14th, 1773.
Dr. Henry Van Hoevenberg was born at Staatsburg, Dutchess County, N. Y., November 3d, 1790, and died in Kingston, July 29th, 1868, aged seventy-eight years. His youth was spent on his father's farm, having but a short time yearly to attend the common school. Slight as were his opportunities, they created a desire for a more liberal education and, after some months in the Academy at Ellsworth, Conn., he entered upon the study of medicine in 1810 with Dr. Joshua E. R. Birch in the City of New York. In 1811-12 he attended a course of medical lectures in the City of Philadelphia, obtained his diploma in 1812, and immediately entered the army of the United States as Assistant Surgeon of the Thir- teenth Regiment of U. S. Infantry, commanded by Col. Peter B. Schuy- ler, and was ordered to the Niagara Frontier, where, after the battle of Queenstown, he organized the first military hospital. He continued in charge until the general hospital was removed to Buffalo, and at this post acted as Assistant Hospital Surgeon. Here he was obliged to resign his commission in the spring of 1814 because of ill-health. During his term of service in the army, in 1813, he married Jane Catherine Heer- mance, eldest daughter of General Martin Heermance of Rhinebeck, Dutchess County. His health improving, he shipped as surgeon on board the privateer Whig, commanded by Captain Clark, and served until the close of the war, when he settled in Marbletown in the County of Ulster. He remained there until July, 1817, when he removed to Kingston, where he continued until 1827, when he moved to New York. During his resi- dence in the County of Ulster he was a member of, and held several offices in, the Ulster County Medical Society.
In 1835 he was appointed, by the Common Council of New York City, Resident Physician of Bellevue Hospital, Supervisor of the Alms House,
Abraham Crispell, M.D.
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THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
Penitentiary, Bridewell's, etc. In 1838 he was appointed Deputy Health Officer of the Port of New York, and in 1843 was appointed Health Officer of the Port, which office he held until 1848. This closed his pro- fessional career, and after eight years' residence on Staten Island, he returned to Kingston and lived a retired life until his death. During his whole life he maintained a high standard, both professionally and as a citizen. He attained high rank as a physician and surgeon, always giving thorough satisfaction in the discharge of his duties, both as a public official and private practitioner, in the latter capacity being much in demand in consultation. One daughter and three sons survived him, one of the sons, James Oliver Van Hoevenberg, being a prominent physician of Kingston at the time of his father's death.
Dr. James Oliver Van Hoevenberg, son of Dr. Henry Van Hoevenberg, was born in Kingston, July 16th, 1821. He received a common school education and at the age of nineteen decided to enter the profession of medicine. He thus followed in the footsteps, not only of his father, but of a long line of ancestors, being descended through his maternal grand- mother from Dr. Hans Kiersted, who came to New Amsterdam in 1638 as surgeon to the Dutch West India Company, and was the first physician to practice medicine in New Amsterdam, and whose descendants for the next four generations were also physicians and surgeons. After pre- liminary studies with a physician, as was the custom in those days, he received his degree of Doctor of Medicine from the New York University in 1844. After graduation he served on the staff of Bellevue and Black- well's Island Hospitals in the City of New York. He was then appointed Deputy Health Officer of the Port of New York and was stationed at the Quarantine on Staten Island. In 1846 he received his commission as Assistant Surgeon of New York Volunteers under Col. J. D. Stevenson. After leaving the Quarantine he practiced his profession on Staten Island until 1856, when he came to Kingston, where he remained until 1877. In 1857 he was commissioned Surgeon of the 20th N. Y. State Militia, and in 1862 went to the Civil War as Surgeon of the 120th N. Y. Volunteers (one of the three hundred fighting regiments), with the rank of Major. Being compelled to resign his commission on account of disabilities con- tracted in the service, he returned to Kingston and practiced there until 1877, when he was appointed Physician at Sing Sing State Prison. Upon leaving this office he returned to Staten Island and practiced his profession
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THE COUNTY OF ULSTER.
until his death, December 7th, 1897. He married, June 14th, 1849, his cousin Esther Maria, daughter of Colonel James Dumond Van Hoeven- berg and Alma Rogers. They had three daughters and two sons, one of the latter, Henry, becoming a physician, and the other, James Dumond, a lawyer.
Dr. Van Hoevenberg became one of the most prominent physicians and surgeons of this part of the State, his practice extending throughout Ulster and the adjoining counties, and his services and advice were sought by both professional brethren and laymen. He was a man of wide reading and general education, having a splendid mind with the poetical temperament, and was a great lover of nature. He held no political office, though always active in any movement for bettering the affairs of the community in which he lived. He was an active member of the State and County Societies, and was frequently called upon to serve them in official capacities.
Dr. Peter Crispell, Jr., was born in August, 1794, at Hurley, Ulster County. His great-grandfather, Anthony Crispell, a Huguenot, came from Artois, France, 1660, and was one of the original patentees of New Paltz. His great-grandmother, Maria Blanshan, was sister-in-law of Louis Be- vier, the leader of the New Paltz immigrants, and also a patentee. Peter Crispell was in succession student, tutor and trustee of the Kingston Aca- demy. He attended medical lectures in New York City and was licensed by the Medical Society of Ulster County. He practiced a short time in Esopus, then went to Marbletown until 1837, when he moved to his farm on the Hurley Flats and continued to practice until his death in December, 1878. He enjoyed a large practice, which extended over a great portion of the county. He was also a successful farmer, at one time being awarded a prize for having the best conducted farm in the State.
In 1849 he was a Member of Assembly and was afterward nominated for Congress, but defeated. He was Presidential Elector in 1828, and was a delegate to the National Convention in Chicago which nominated Abraham Lincoln for the Presidency. He married Catherine, daughter of Cornelius Eltinge of Hurley, by whom he had one daughter and five sons, two of whom were professional men, Abraham Crispell, M. D., of Kingston, and Cornelius Elting Crispell, D. D., who became a Professor in Rutgers Col- lege, N. J., and afterwards in Hope College, Michigan.
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Dr. Abraham Crispell, son of Dr. Peter Crispell, Jr., was born in Mar- bletown June 22d, 1823, and died in Kingston November 4th, 1881. He was educated in Kingston Academy and Peekskill (N. Y.) Academy, now Peekskill Military Academy. He then began the study of medicine, attending first the Berkshire Medical College at Pittsfield, Mass., and graduated from the University of the City of New York in 1849. He came at once to Kingston, where he attained high rank among the phy- sicians of his time. He enjoyed a large practice throughout the county and was frequently called upon in consultation. At the beginning of the Civil War he was appointed Surgeon of the 20th N. Y. State Militia, and was with them through the three months' service. He was appointed Brigade-Surgeon of Volunteers on April 4th, 1862, by President Lincoln and was stationed at various points in the South. He acted as Health Officer at Hilton Head, S. C., for some time, and was afterward in charge of a large hospital at Buffalo, N. Y.
At the close of the war he resumed practice in Kingston, where he died while still active in his profession. He was an active member of both the State and County Societies and several times served as Health Officer of the city. Although he took a prominent part in the politics of the county, he never held public office outside the profession. His first wife was Adeline Barber of Roxbury, Delaware County, N. Y., who left two children, one of them, Kate A., having married Dr. George C. Smith of Kingston. His second wife was Jane Ann Catlin, by whom he had three children, two of whom, Harry S. and Dr. Charles W. Crispell, are still living.
Richard Elting, M. D., was a descendant of Rollif Elting, who came from Holland and settled at Wiltwyck early in the seventeenth century. He was the son of Josiah Elting and Hester Brodhead, born at New Paltz, May 8th, 1795. He received a common school education and when a young man came to Kingston and commenced the study of medi- cine with Dr. Henry Van Hoevenberg, an eminent physician of that place. He later attended medical lectures in New York City, and began practice in the town of Esopus, residing near Port Ewen until 1859. From there he removed to Rondout, where he practiced until shortly before his death on October 28th, 1878. His practice extended over a large section of country and he became familiarly known to all as "Dr. Dick Elting." His professional skill gave him an extended reputation
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and his aid was sought by his professional brethren as well as laymen. He was a man of decided characteristics, being very positive in his likes and dislikes. In March, 1818, he married Elizabeth, daughter of Hon. Abraham Hasbrouck, of Kingston, by whom he had four daughters.
Dr. George Clark Smith was born at Salem, Rockingham County, New Hampshire, August 2d, 1833; died in Kingston, April 14th, 1893. He graduated from Oliver High School, Lawrence, Mass., 1852, and then prepared to enter Amherst College. He abandoned this intention, how- ever, and began the study of medicine at the University of the City of New York, and in 1862 came to Kingston to practice. In August, 1862, he was appointed Assistant Surgeon of the 156th New York Volunteer Infantry, and in January, 1864, was promoted to Surgeon. He served until the close of the war in 1865 and then resumed the practice of medi- cine in Kingston. He became one of the best known and respected physi- cians and surgeons of his day, being noted for his rugged honesty and great kindness of heart. His fellow-practitioners were always pleased to meet him in consultation, knowing that they would be treated courteously and would receive the best advice his large experience and knowledge could give. He was the first President of the Board of Managers of the City of Kingston Hospital, but did not live to see the consummation of his hopes and labors in the completion of the hospital, dying only a few days before the laying of the cornerstone. He took an active interest in the public affairs of the city and served in the Board of Supervisors. He was an active member of both the State and County Medical Societies.
In 1873 he married Kate A., daughter of Dr. Abraham Crispell of Kingston, and left three children.
Dr. Robert Loughran was born in Hancock, Delaware County, New York, August 30th, 1834, of Scotch parentage and received a common school education. He studied medicine with Drs. A. B. and W. C. DeWitt of Saugerties, N. Y., and graduated from the Albany Medical College in 1857. He was elected to the Assembly in 1860 and at the opening of the Civil War was appointed Assistant Surgeon of the 20th N. Y. State Militia (one of the three hundred fighting regiments), commanded by Col. George W. Pratt. After the expiration of their three months' ser- vice, the regiment was reorganized for three years' service, Dr. Loughran being appointed Surgeon. He served until the close of the war, part of the time being in charge of the Military General Hospital at City Point,
F. W. Ingalls, M.D.
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Va. At the end of the war, after being breveted Lieutenant-Colonel for meritorius service, he returned to Kingston and resumed the practice of his profession, becoming one of the most prominent physicians and sur- geons of his time. He died in Kingston April 11th, 1899, at the age of sixty-four years, having faithfully served his city and county as Member of Assembly, Supervisor, Health Officer and Alderman, and noted for his honesty and fearlessness in upholding what he considered the best inter- ests of his constituents. He was a member of the First Class of the Legion of Honor of the Grand Army of the Republic, Surgeon of the Fifth Division, N. G. S. N. Y., and member of the Medical Societies of the State and County.
His first wife was Mary, daughter of Edwin W. Budington, who died one year later, leaving no children. His second wife was Helen, daughter of Christopher L. Kiersted, by whom he had five children, one daughter and four sons, two of the latter becoming professional men, Robert L. studying medicine and Christopher K. law.
Dr. Jacob Chambers, born in Marbletown, February 6th, 1852, was a son of Dr. George Chambers, who for many years was a prominent physician of that part of the county. He graduated from Monticello (N. Y.) Academy in 1869, and afterwards attended Phillips Academy at Andover, Mass., and Fort Edward (N. Y.) Institute. He studied medi- cine and graduated from the University of Buffalo, 1875, practiced in Marbletown until 1882, when he removed to Kingston, where he resided until his death, September 16th, 1904. He served the city as Health Officer and was also a member of the first Board of Police Commissioners. He took an active part in organizing the City of Kingston Hospital, was a member of the Board of Managers and of the Medical Staff. He was affiliated with the Medical Society of the County of Ulster, and had served it in various official positions. Dr. Chambers was one of the best known physicians of the county and was frequently called in consultation.
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