USA > New York > Suffolk County > Yaphank > Yaphank as it is, and was, and will be. Containing biographical sketches of all its prominent men, the characteristic proclivities of its "funny" people, its business and business "monarchs," its facilities for enterprise and improvement, > Part 4
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PUBLIC AND PRIVATE.
He was a hard-working man, driving and precise in busi- ness ; he was not a genius, but what he lacked mentally, he substituted physically. Mr. Smith was a remarkably punctual man at business, and as regular as old Sol peeped o'er the Eastern hills he was about his calling.
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HIS INSANITY.
Thursday, January 29th dawned bright and cheering on the quiet village. No outward movement denoted that it was destined to be a very eventful day to Yaphank. In the cemetery men were preparing a grave for all that was mortal of Captain George Hulse, one of Yaphank's most respected citizens. After a protracted illness of three years, suffering with a disease he was positive must result fatally, he calmly and unmurmuringly yielded to the implacable summons.
The day preceding the funeral of Captain Hulse. it was rumored that Samuel Smith was a religious maniac. He was insane on religion, as proved. Many doubted the re- port, and others credited all pertaining to the sensational rumor, as Mr. Smith had established symptoms of an alien- ation of the mind, and appeared suffering and despondent for a number of days. Thursday morning he desired to be carried to an asylum, as he feared his inability to with- stand the great mental conflict that was torturing him. The symptoms evinced a positive aberration of the mind, and he was no longer responsible for his acts. He was closely watched, and why the deed was not frustrated is a mystery. He at first attempted destruction by hanging, but a ladder in the barn was an obstacle. His wife appeared on the scene, and entreated him to "come into the house." She left him a moment to call his son, and the deed was done. With a maniac's instinctive cunning, he knew that a minute more, some one would interfere between him and his pur- pose. Determined to die, he grasped his pocket knife and plunged it twice into his neck. The blows severed a main artery and pierced his wind-pipe.
HIS HORRIBLE END.
Bleeding and dying, he was led into the house. Doc. J. I. Baker was immediately summoned, and declared his re- covery hopeless. For three hours the Doc. held his finger
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in the severed vessel ; hoping a congelation of the blood would allow a junction of the artery. All that medical skill could execute was performed in the almost hopeless en- deavor to save him from a suicide's grave.
He called a number of young converts around his bed, and though insanity was the originator of his blameless act, he rationally conversed with them on religious subjects, and implored them to shun the paths wherein he had erred. and to seek " the gold that is tried in the fire." " I hope you will speak well of me when I am gone." he said : "and regard my last acts as the work of the Fiend." He spoke commendably of Mr. Lockwood, the Presbyterian minister, and declared the last sermon he listened to a most impressive one. He spoke of friends he once knew and loved, and lamented that he had done the deed.
He lingered until the evening of the 30th, when his spirit abdicated its home of clay, and Samuel Smith was mm- bered among the gone.
No doubt he is singing the songs he loved to sing when on earth, and sounding praises with those that passed over be- fore him.
XV.
EDWARD HOMAN.
AS A NEIGHBOR AND FRIEND-PUBLIC AND PRIVATE.
This gentleman was born in Yaphank, Dec. 22, 1820. He married a Miss Mary Snowden in 1859, a lady then living in the family of Nathaniel Tuthill, of Y-
AS A NEIGHBOR AND FRIEND-PUBLIC AND PRIVATE.
Mr. Homan is a quiet, unloquacious man ; fond of re- tirement and his farm. He is regarded as a gentleman of unblemished principle and honor. What "Uncle Ed." says is never doubted. He is a man that always appears happy, and on good terms with himself and the , world ; but few are aware of the clouds that sometimes shut out the cheering rays.
He has a sister that for many long years has been a bed- ridden sufferer, and a burden to him. Hundreds of hard- earned dollars have poured into physicians' coffers for dear and apparently valueless advice and attention.
Mr. Homan is an " old school " gentleman-one of those paragons of solidity and uprightness. He received a clean record from his father, and will hand one down to his chil- dren.
His father, Thomas Homan, reared a numerous family, and Edward's brothers and sisters are scattered far and near over the land. He is the sixth or seventh child of a family of four sons and six daughters. Edward was the drone ; remained at home and "took care of the old folks." He inherited the " old farm," together with the consolations of
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health and an iron constitution, and an invalid sister to support. He never murmurs, but plods steadily along. surmounting intervening obstructions patiently.
Mr. Homan possesses a fertile farm, with considerable wood-land ; and is reputed to be in " comfortable circum- stances."
He has but two children-a son and daughter. The former, like Joseph, is a "son of old age."
Mr. Homan depicts the scenes of his childhood with un- feigned pleasure, delights to recall the names of those that have faded in the past. He smiles as he greets those long absent, who were young with himself : and silently mourns as the faces of those he knew and loved in boyhood. fade from view.
His vociferousness never will make him popular or ex- ceedingly ill-famous ; nor will his impetuosity make him a man to be feared. He appreciates oratory and eloquence equally as enthusiastically as E. L. Gerard, and would be abont as successful an orator or statesman.
Nevertheless, like Mr. Gerard, his talents are equal to his business and calling.
At home he is an example for all fathers and husbands. and guards precisely his walks and talks.
As a neighbor, he is cherished for his accommodating and honorable disposition. His virtues are not philanthrop ically or patriotically conspicuous, but appear in a more laudable direction than if remarkable for public spirit.
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XVI.
DOC. JAMES I. BAKER.
PERSONAL-IIIS EARLY LIFE-TRIALS AND TRIUMPHS- A NEIGHBOR, FRIEND AND FARMER.
In this connection I will introduce Doc. James Irvin Baker, a very popular gentleman and physician.
PERSONAL.
Doc. Baker was born in 1829. He is forty-five years old, and five feet ten inches in height, tall and gracefully pro- portioned.
He studied and graduated in 1851 at the Albany Medical College. It may be added that his medical career has proved an enviable success, and an honor to that institu- tion.
Few medical practitioners are more familiarly acquainted with the diverse changes and hardships that must harmon- ize, in the much-abused, and, sometimes, unappreciated art of successful medical practice, than Doc. James Baker ; and the number is still less who can gaze calmly back over twenty years of daily experience, and view a cloudless sky at the lapse of that period, a sky unclouded by the abuse that physicians, as a class, are compelled to eat with their porridge and blend with their pills.
When Doc. Baker settled in Yaphank, in 1860, he was unknown-save by family relations-on Long Island. As is common with nearly every young physician's practical beginning, there are many fears to allay and doubts to
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appease, before the public will place confidence and faith in newly-introduced talent.
Doc. Baker met with many obstacles; but he sur- mounted all, and soon gain dd a firm footing by his acknowl- edged skill and judgment. Professional prejudice naturally arose, and many schemes were hatched to crush the " young usurper." But he eluded the intrigues, stood firmly at the wheel, and eventually sailed into an " open sea."
He is every way qualified for his calling. He has talent, nerve and skill. Ho forms a prognosis quickly and accu- rately, and is seldom misguided by existing prognostics. A diagnosis, by James Baker, is generally satisfactorily received by the profession and the public.
111S EARLY LIFE -TRIALS AND TRIUMPHIS.
When sixteen years old he began teaching school and studying medicine. The latter he pursued, in connection with teaching, a portion of his time, living with his precep- tor and aiding him in his practice during the time.
In 1819 he was matriculated into the University of the New York Medical Department. where he remained until March. 1850, when he entered the Albany Medical College : an institution he considered preferable for rapid and thor- ough advancement.
He graduated when but twenty-two years old, and imme- diately began business. Owing to hard work, exposure, etc .. his health grew precarious, and he suffered repeated attacks of bleeding from the lungs. He grew more and more physically miserable, and, in 1860, determined to abandon his profession. In accordance with his resolve, he disposed of his home, drug store, etc., and visited Long Island.
His health rapidly improved, and he again entered into his arduons duties. His pulmonary affliction vanished. and he became a hale and hearty man : another verifica- tion that this is one of the healthiest sections in the wide, wide world.
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The incidents and events coherent with his professional life are similar to those which must universally happen to all physicians engaged in a country practice, where the oracles of the dead language are expected to be surgeons, oculists, dentists, etc., etc., and to be prepared with all medicines, instruments, and the many mysteries that doc- tors generally carry about with them. They are expected to comply with all calls by day or night, rain or shine, and to unmurmuringly undergo exposures, cares and anxieties.
To enumerate one-quarter of the many amusing, sad and remarkable events attached to his record as a medical prac- titioner, would fill a small volume.
The Doc. informed me that the only "Reminiscences of a Physician " he ever perused, and that ever gained much popularity, was published in London, and caused much trouble ; many persons believing that it alluded to them, notwithstanding fictitious names were used.
The medical art is the most profound, sublime and classi- cal science extant ; but one can count with the fingers the names of men who have gained the goal of medical ambi- tion, and who stand pre-eminent among the clique.
Quackery is startlingly prevalent, and the men are many who professionally mislead the unwary and innocent with delusive circulars, and ruin soul and body with patent poison. As long as people patronize these dabblers in life, and disregard the warnings and advice of family physicians, so long will a dubious cloud hover over this great science, and a deteriorating effect be seen.
A NEIGHBOR, FRIEND AND FARMER.
To please "everybody" is an art few have acquired ; and to please one's self and "everybody else," is accomplished by still less. Doc. James Baker is one of those rare paragons of pleasantry. He is determined to please, to be agreeable and mirthful.
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No one ever interviewed or whiled an evening with Doc. Baker, without becoming captivated with his pleasantry and humor.
He is always accostable and courteous, and be the sun in the East or down in the West, he always greets with a smile.
He is a member of the Yaphank Presbyterian Church, and has held many offices of trust and responsibility in the parish and town.
Doc. Baker is an interesting companion, a pleasant neighbor, and a staunch friend.
He is, certainly, a " self-made" man, and his practice and wealth were secured by personal exertions. His success is a guarantee that " where there's a will there's a way."
XVII.
MORDECAI HOMAN.
OFF FOR THE MINES-ADVENTURES IN CALIFORNIA-SUC- CESS AND FAILURE-ON THIE SEA AND LAND.
Mordecai Homan was born in Yaphank, December 17th, 1825.
Probably no man that ever lived in Yaphank, or lives here at the present day, possesses a wider practical know- ledge of the world, than the subject of this chapter.
He has circumnavigated the globe many times, and has experienced the frozen excitement furnished by the whale fisheries in the bleak Arctic. He has seen London in its glory, and Paris in its beauty ; is acquainted with the ups and downs of mining life, and familiar with the wild scenes in Australian mines and jungles.
He visited California during the gold excitement, when the country swarmed with desperate men and loose charac- ters of all sorts, nations and color : when murdering, 1ob- bing, fighting, and gambling was the universal pastime, and mining the occupation. He has met desperate men on the sea and on the land, and mingled with murderers, counter- feiters, forgers, and villainous people of all nations ; with some of the most depraved characters that ever sailed the seas or stalked the land. Not by taste or preference did he associate with villains and hardened men, but as a natural consequence of an adventurons life.
When whaling was a remunerative business he made a number of voyages to the frozen North ; but the fever soon subsided, and his roving disposition allured him into newer fields of adventure.
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When but seventeen years old he sailed for the icy seas ; but later in life we see him
OFF FOR THE MINES.
In 1849 he joined a stock company, which purchased the bark ship Galindo, and sailed for San Francisco. Arriving there, the company disposed of the ship and dispersed for the mines.
Mordecai labored in the mountains a number of years, when he was stricken down with the small-pox in a most malignant form.
He was alone in a half-barbarons country, prostrated by a deadly disease, and surrounded by cut-throats and bad men : but hope never forsook him, and an iron constitution bore him through his terrible ordeal.
He arose from his coneh of misery emaciated and feeble : but kind hands and kinder hearts came to his succor, and his wasted form grew robust and strong. After his illness, being unable to immediately enter the mines in consequence of physical prostration, he "kept" store for the miners, Ke., after which he sailed for Australia. There he worked in the vein a period, going all through the Australian mines, and remaining there about eleven months, when he sailed down the coast of Chili to Valparaiso. There he again shipped in the clipper ship Mischief, and set sail for China.
The ship touched at San Francisco, where Mordecai met an old friend and was induced to again enter the mines.
ADVENTURES IN CALIFORNIA-SUCCESS AND FAILURE.
Again he swung the pick and blasted for gold. He sui- fered many hardships and exposures; indeed, more than usually fell to his hardy companions.
By his efforts he had amassed a snug little fortune, and began packing his provisions and effects from the moun- tains toward Trinidad. He had packed and remained in an Indian encampment one night. The Indians appeared
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friendly, and gave him much salmon and other tokens of friendship. The encampment was composed of fifteen hundred warriors, who, a few days after, gathered in coun- cils of war.
Mordecai saw that an ominous cloud was gathering along the frontier, and, combined with the influences and opin- ions of prominent leaders, the company immediately started down the coast toward Trinidad.
On the march they came upon and determined to encamp near rich diggings, although opposed by those who were aware of the intended Indian revolution and declaration of war.
He left his three partners at the camp. They expected to bury their gold dust, provisions, &c., and then follow to the mines.
Mordecai was then prospecting with others, when a friendly Indian arrived and reported that the camp had been attacked, and " all hands killed and robbed." Their arrival at the camp verified the sad news. The Indians had surprised the camp and butchered and robbed all.
Mordecai not only was afflicted by the murdering of his partners, but lost seventy-five hundred dollars in gold dust, seven pack mules, and fifteen hundred pounds of provi- sions.
Two of his partners were killed outright, while the third -wounded and dying-had dragged his mutilated body into concealment.
He was rescued, but died soon after. The miners then consolidated and moved directly toward Trinidad. They met a body of soldiers on the march up the mountains, who were sent to their aid simultaneously with the first war- whoop.
Mordecai and many other miners entered the ranks, and returned to fight the dusky foe.
The incidents connected with his participation in the In- dian war are to numerous to record. He assisted in de- molishing Indian villages, destroying their crops, &c., and
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then returned with the band to Trinidad, and thence to San Francisco.
In 1856 he sailed for his Island home, having passed seven years in the wilds of California and Australia ; meeting success and failure, sickness and exposure ; and passing through adventures and escapes that would fill a volume of thrilling events.
PERSONAL.
Mr. Homan is about forty-nine years old-crippled and prematurely broken down. His memory is rich in reminis- cences of travel and adventure, which makes him an inter- esting conversationist. He is not egotistical, and is seldom the "hero" of hair-breadth escapes and bloody encoun- ters. He is a thorough sailor and a superior navigator. His heart and kingdom are upon the "deep blue," and his love for excitement grows more enthusiastic as he sails down the tide of life. He probably will leave his boots at sea.
Ile is decidedly abrupt and unceremonious in his speech : but "if he stumbles with his tongue, it is the head that's wrong, and not the heart that goes astray."
EDWARD HENRY S. HOLDEN, M. D.
XVIII.
EDWARD HENRY S. HOLDEN, L. M., M. MS., N. Y.
HIS MORAL AND SCIENTIFIC WORTH-HIS RECOMMENDA - TION-A REVIEW.
HIS MORAL AND SCIENTIFIC WORTH.
I lament that I cannot grant the space and time to this sketch of a truly learned and popular gentleman and phy- sician, that his worth and acquirements certainly deserve.
To say that Dr. Edward Holden is a true gentleman and scholar, would be to reiterate the oft-repeated declarations of his admirers and patrons. Not only a physician by title, but virtually a successful, gifted and thorough M. D. The great men of his profession in England and America, feel proud in ranking him a peer. In the halls of learning in the City of New York-everywhere where doctors of high standing are wont to assemble-Dr. Holden is gladly welcomed and appreciated for his profound learning. His most intimate relations with such eminent members of the - fraternity as James R. Wood, Lewis A. Sayre, Willard Parker, and William Detmold, and many others of the first rank, is an unquestionable passport.
But he relies not upon his high standing among the great men of his profession to advance his success and public favor, for, I can say with authority, that no physician on Long Island-outside of Brooklyn-is better qualified as a doctor of medicine than Edward H. S. Holden.
HIS RECOMMENDATION.
He came not to underrate, disparage, or depreciate others, to establish himself in the good graces of the pub-
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lic ; but with the bright laurels of his public examination still blooming, and the voices of his English admirers and classical collegiates bidding him God speed to the free shores of the New World, where honor and emolument awaited him.
How proud am I, that to me was accorded the honor of penning this miniature sketch of a truly talented, but not sufficiently appreciated scholar. Dr. Holden is the author of many beautiful sentiments in prose and verse, and the varied culture of his mind is illustrated by the diversified talents of the men he once loved to gather around him. His nature is true and sympathetic, but untinged by any sickliness of taste. He is a critical, dispassionate commen- tator on the great questions of the day, with a mind that cannot be shaken by political storms. How common place and dim the brilliancy of preceding chapters appear, when I consider the contents before me.
A REVIEW.
Edward Henry S. Holden was born in Birmingham, War- wick Co., England, on the 9th day of April, 1801. His parents were Richard and Ann S. Holden. He is five feet and two inches in height, slight in build, and almost feminine in his physical development.
Three score years and ten have sprinkled his hair with the silvery emblems of old age, and his stooping form predicts a sure decline of the physical man.
In imagination we will tread back through the hazy past of seventy years, in England, and dwell over the events of his boyhood.
His fourth to seventh years were passed at boarding 'school in his native county, in the acquisition of the arts of spelling, reading and English grammar.
On the completion of his seventh year, his uncle being one of the governors of Christ's Hospital, London, he en- tered the classical department, under the Rev. Drs. Arthur
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W. Trollope and F. W. Franklin, where he pursued the study of the Latin and Greek languages, with a view to the clerical profession, but, on the completion of his fifteenth year, he- ing dissuaded, he abandoned the intention of studying The- ology, and left the institution.
After some months' deliberation, he eagerly resolved to adopt the profession of medicine, for which purpose he went to Bath, and began his studies under the tuition of Surgeon Walker, a former pupil of Surgeon Baynton.
He there enjoyed the most cordial friendship of the highly accomplished scholar and judicious physician, Doc. Caleb Hillier Parry, to whose scientific attainments he is indebted for much information, both of a medical and liter- ary character.
Before the expiration of his second pupilage year, he had formed an attachment for a young lady, whose parents were desirous of breaking off the growing affection because of her extreme youth.
Young Holden deferred the study of medicine for a sea- son, and returned to London, where his father then resided. and engaged in the counting-house of an eminent commer- cial firm until the close of the year 1821. On the 25th day of February, 1822, banns having been previously published in due form, he was married by Rev. J. W. Bellamy, D. D., at St. Mary's Abb. Church, to Aun Margaret Gladstone, granddaughter of Sir John Gladstone, formerly of New- castle, England, and sailed from London at the end of May in the same year, in the ship Acasta, of the Griswold line, bound for New York, where they arrived on Saturday, July 13th.
The yellow fever appeared very soon after his arrival in the great metropolis of the New World, which, causing an interruption to business, made it imprudent to engage in any permanent occupation.
The following year he opened a drug store, which he steadily attended till the month of March, 1826, when he resumed his favorite study, by entering the office of Doc.
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YAPHANK AS IT IS.
Alexander H. Stevens, Professor of Surgery in the old Col- lege of Physicians and Surgeons, in Barclay street, at which college he matriculated, and attended the lectures of all the professors during 1828 and 1829.
In the Spring of 1830 he presented himself before the President and Censors of the Medical Society for examina- tion.
Those gentlemen, to testify their appreciation of the promptness and correctness of his replies to every question propounded to him, proposed to honor him by a public ex- amination in the hall of the college, to which he readily as- sented. Thus, on the 15th of February, 1830-date of his diploma-Doc. Holden verified, to the satisfaction of all, his profound and extensive learning. and the remark- able adaptability of his genius to the great science, of which he is an honorable and superior representative. He was then admitted as a member of the Medical Society of the City and County of New York, in 1832.
After practising in New York City (with the exception of two years-one in Washingtonville, Orange County, and one in Troy)-from 1830 to 1850, he moved to Holbrook. L. I., where he remained three years. He then moved to Middle Island. remaining there until May, 1858, when he moved to the Manor ; from which place he moved-Novem- ber of the same year-to East Moriches. There he lived until November, 1859, at which period he moved to Yap- hank. where he still resides.
His wife-now in her eighty-third year -was afflicted, be- tween two and three years ago, with a severe and danger- ous illness of six weeks' duration, which left her in so de- bilitated a condition that she has never regained her previ- ous degree of health.
Of a family composed of three sons and two daughters, only one survives, the Rev. Robert Holden, an Episcopal clergyman, and Rector of Trinity School, New York City.
Doctor Holden may well feel proud of such a noble son. The old gentleman has not long to gaze upon the bright
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things of this land, for weight of years is bearing him down, and the smiles of the genial old man must soon fade: but how sweet will be the consolation of his declining years, to know that when he is summoned to go, and the implacable sword of death shall sever the brittle band that holds to this vale of tears, his name will still be borne; aye, borne np- ward to honor and distinction in the estimation of his fellow- men.
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