A history of Scioto County, Ohio, together with a pioneer record, Part 73

Author: Evans, Nelson W. (Nelson Wiley), 1842-1913
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: Portsmouth, O. N. W. Evans
Number of Pages: 1612

USA > Ohio > Scioto County > A history of Scioto County, Ohio, together with a pioneer record > Part 73

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HOSPITALS. Park Hospital.

The establishment of Park Hospital grew out of a desire on the part of a number of the Physicians in this community, for better facilities for caring for the sick and injured than were provided for at the building used by the city for such purposes. It is a private institution owned and managed by Doctors S. S. Halderman and J. S. Rardin. Dr. H. G. Halderman is connected with the in- stitution as House Physician. It is conveniently located at number 44 East

PARK HOSPITAL.

Ninth street, facing Tracy Park on the south. The building is large and com- modious and equipped with modern furnishings throughout and has capacity for twenty patients. The first patient was admitted on May 12, 1902, since which it has received the patronage of quite a number of very sick and injured people.

The Hospital is general in character and admits for treatment patients of both medical and surgical diseases and supplies a want long felt in the coin- munity.

The City Hospital.

On February 4, 1870, the city of Portsmouth purchased of Thomas Dugan about 3 1-2 acres of ground just north of the Captain Samuel J. Huston property on the west of the Chillicothe Pike. The land was lots 1 and 5 of a subdivision of 65 acres in Fractional Sections 7 and 8 in Township 1 Range 21. The divis- ion of the 65 acres was made April 1, 1837. The purchase price was $5,000.00. There was on the property a two story brick house built by Anthony Miller, a

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CEMETERIES.

butcher, in 1835. For a long time before the city bought it, it had the reputa- tion of being haunted and no one would live in it. The city never improved the property any except to build a small frame house on the west side which has been used as a pest house for small pox patients. The purchase was recom- mended on July 21, 1870, by a committee of the City Council. The Council or- dered the Board of Health to take charge of it. On February 4, 1870 the City Council appointed the First Board of City Hospital Commissioners. They were Wells A. Hutchins, Benj. F. Coates, Wm. K. Thompson and Thomas Du- gan. On February 18, 1870, Wells A. Hutchins declined the appointment and Colonel O. F. Moore was appointed in his place. On June 19, 1874, the City Hospital was tendered for the use of the Children's Home and accepted. The ladies used it until November 8, 1875, when they moved to the Home provided by the County. On November 8, 1875, Ph. Zoellner and John N. Royse were appointed Hospital Commissioners. April 20, 1877, Frank F. Varner and James Evans were appointed on the Board. April 19, 1878, Dr. Lewis Schwab was ap- pointed. The following are some of those appointed since: May 17, 1878, Dr. C. M. Finch; April 19, 1879, Samuel J. Huston, Junior; May 14, 1881, William Stokely; March 3, 1886, Noah J. Dever. On May 5, 1886, Council passed an or- dinance to abolish the Board. On June 6, 1889, George Fisher was appointed a member of the Board. May 20, 1891, Thomas T. Yeager was appointed. On March 2, 1892, Dr. C. P. Dennis was appointed to take the place of J. C. McGin- ley, deceased. On May 1, 1897, George Fisher, F. B. Kehoe, and Dr. W. D. Tremper were appointed on the board. December 20, 1899, George E. Kricker and George M. Osborne were appointed on the Board. The following is not a complete list of all who have held the office, but the names above are given so that the public may enquire of those living why a new, fine and modern City Hospital has not been erected. In respect to this feature of City public re- lief, Portsmouth has stood still.

CEMETERIES.

The first Cemetery in Portsmouth was where the Burgess mill formerly stood. There the first inhabitants of the village of Portsmouth were buried. This plat of ground was deeded by Henry Massie to the President of the Com- mon Council of Portsmouth, October 1, 1819, for a consideration of $100.00 and is found recorded in Volume E page 207 of the Record of Deeds of Scioto Coun- ty, Ohio. There seemed to be some question as to whether the deed was made in trust for the purpose of burying in the town of Portsmouth The quantity of ground conveyed was 2 194-1000 acres. In 1829, there was some question as to the title and Mr. Massie made the town a second deed recorded in Volume F, page 457, June 3, 1829, which was to discharge the ground of the trust. This burial spot was enclosed in 1829. The word "Cemetery" was not used until April 11, 1853. Before that time the burial spot was designated as the graveyard. From 1821 to 1824, this old burial ground filled up rapidly. These were the sickly years in Portsmouth, On February 9, 1820, there was ap- pointed a committee of the Common Council to contract with some one to en- before. close the burial ground. The inference would be that it had not been enclosed John R. Turner, William Lodwick and Jacob P. Noel were appointed. On May 29, 1822, fifty dollars was appropriated by the Common Council to fence the graveyard, and a committee was appointed to attend to it. On January 15, 1830, the Town Council ordered the old graveyard closed. Most of the bod- ies were removed to the new graveyard, though when the Burgess Steel and Iron Works dug pits for its machinery, it often dug out pieces of coffins and disinterred human bones. Sometimes pieces of coffins and human bones were washed out by the Scioto River, in flood seasons, when it caved the high bank just north of the Rolling Mill.

On May 12, 1826, agitation for a new cemetery began. John Noel and Ebenezer Corwine were appointed a committee to buy three to five acres for a new burying ground. This committee did nothing and on Feb- ruary 6, 1829, William Oldfield and Kennedy Lodwick were appointed a com- mittee to buy a new burial ground and they were to report at the next meet- ing. On March 9, 1829, the town bought five acres of Nathaniel Whitmore for a graveyard. The price paid was $250. One-third in four months, one-third in eight months and one-third in one year. This was the beginning of Green- lawn, On January 15, 1830, John Noel was ordered to clear the five acres of

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THE CITY OF PORTSMOUTH.

timber and he and Dr. Hempstead were appointed to lay it out in lots. The original five-acre tract is described as follows: Lying and being in the county of Scioto and State of Ohio and situate in Sections Fifteen and Sixteen of Township 1 and Range 21 of Langhorn's (Langham's) Survey, and on the west of the road leading from Portsmouth to Martin Funk's and bounded as fol- lows, to-wit: Beginning at a stake at the north-west corner of the lot from which a sugar tree bears south 80 degrees east 31 links, running thence east with the section line 43 poles to a stake at the road; thence by said road south 37 degrees 28 1-2 poles to a stake from which a black oak bears south 80 de- grees east 15 links; thence west 26 poles to a stake in the west line; thence north with the west line 23 1-2 poles to the place of beginning, containing five acres more or less. It was signed March 4, 1829, acknowledged March 24, 1829 and recorded March 31, 1829, in the Record of Deeds Volume F. 1, pages 381 and 382.

The first burial in this Whitmore tract was Captain Josiah Shaekford who died July 6, 1829, in his ninety-third year. His grave is marked and has never been changed. William Peebles, the eldest brother of the late John G. Peebles, was the second burial in the new Cemetery. He died at the house of Dr. G. S. B. Hempstead, his brother-in-law on Friday, July 24, 1829, aged thirty-two years, eight months and forty-eight days. His body was taken to the Peebles Hotel and his funeral occurred July 29, 1829. It was conducted by Rev. E. Brainerd, pastor of the Presbyterian Church. He was buried in lot number one of the new graveyard. He had assisted in laying out the lots and had select- ed and purchased this one. His was the second interment in the grave yard. Afterwards, when Mr. Peebles purchased the lot in Evergreen Cemetery, south- west of the Whitmore Purchase, the body of William Peebles was removed to the present Peebles lot. James Marcus Huston is said to have been the third. The next burials of which any record has been preserved were Mrs. Elizabeth Cross, October 20, 1829, and Elijah Glover, Senior, October 27, 1829. On the 20th of April, 1835 the Methodist Episcopal church bought 1 175-1000 acres of Nathaniel Whitmore and wife for a Cemetery. It is described as follows: Be- ginning at the southeast corner of Corporation Burying Ground running west twenty-six poles to a stake, thence eight poles south to a stake, thence twenty- one poles east to a stake, thence running meandering with the Chillicothe road to the place of beginning.

The trustees to whom the deed was made were: John R. Turner, John McDowell, Moses Gregory, Jacob P. Noel, Cornelius C. Hyatt, Joseph S. Tim- mons, John Barber, Jacob Offnere, and Nathaniel W. Andrews. The consider- ation was $300.00. The deed is recorded in Volume H, page 361 of the Record of Deeds of Scioto County, Ohio. The following are some of the subscriptions to the purchase money: John McDowell, $10.00; Jacob P. Noel, $5.00; John R. Turner, $5.00; Nathaniel W. Andrews, $6.00; Lewis C. Barker, $3.00; John Barber, $1.00; George Carraway, $5.00; Jacob Clingman, $5.00; George W. Clingman, $2.00; Thomas McConnell, $3.00; John Jennings, $3.00; Azel Glover, $2.00; George Reeves, $5.00; Jacob Offnere, $5.00; William V. Peck, $1.00; Martin Crain, $2.00; John M. White, $2.00; J. V. Robinson, $4.00; J. B. Cling- man, $2.00; Southey Copes, $6.50. This Methodist Cemetery lies directly south of the purchase by the town of Nathaniel Whitmore, in 1829 and east of the Avenue opening into Lincoln street. Of the twenty subscribers above named, eleven are buried in that plat of ground J. V. Robinson owned the property south of that, and on December 22, 1853, he made a plat of a part of it. It embraced eighteen lots together with the eight lots for the Robinson family. It lay immediately south of the purchase made by the Methodist Cemetery. The lots were numbered up to eighteen and lot R belonged to the Robinson family. It was fifty-three feet one inch by forty-three feet ten inches. After- wards on December 1, 1856, Mr. Robinson made a second purchase which is found in Volume 1, page 61. It embraced lots numbered from nineteen to thirty-nine laid off in regular squares. It lay immediately south of what he had previously dedicated for cemetery purposes. Afterwards on July 15, 1857, the unsold lots of Robinson Cemetery were deeded by Mr. Robinson to Thomas G. Lloyd, consideration, $300.00. The deed is found in Volume 1, page 545. It included all the unsold lots in the two Robinson plats. The tract east of the Robinson Cemeteries, now the Methodist Cemetery on Offnere street, was pur-

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MEMORIAL DAYS.

chased by a Company known as the Evergreen Cemetery Company. Its deed cannot be found. Its purchase amounted to about 6 acres. John G. Peebles, Thomas G. Lloyd, B. B. Gaylord and others were in the organization. On October 4, 1872, the company sold out its holdings to the City of Portsmouth and the plat was incorporated into "Greenlawn." Mr. John G. Peebles donated $1,200.00 of holdings in Evergreen Cemetery to the City for the purposes of a fountain. On January 13, 1873, the City Council by resolution changed the name of Evergreen Cemetery to "Greenlawn." On December 18, 1868, the City of Portsmouth purchased of P. Kelley 8 acres of land north of the "Evergreen Cemetery" and east of the Whitmore tract for $5,000. It was originally a part of the Aaron Kinney place. On December 5, 1857, the first lodge was built in the cemetery.

The Cemetery of the Holy Redeemer Church is east of Offnere street and north of the Kelley purchase. It was deeded by Edward Mulligan and wife to the Right Rev. John Watterson, Bishop of Columbus, Ohio, on the 28th of August, 1886, and the record of the deed is found in Vol. 46 page 535 in Rec- ord of Deeds of Scioto County. The purchase was four and five-tenths acres. It was originally a part of the Colonel Peter Kinney place. The St. Mary's Church Cemetery lies north of "Greenlawn." It purchased two tracts, The first tract was purchased of Peter Brodbeck, found recorded in Vol. 43, page 416, January 25, 1889, for consideration of $920.00, and embraced two acres, The second tract was purchased of the heirs of Stephen Brodbeck for a considera- tion of $1,380.00 January 11, 1889, and found recorded in Vol. 46, page 132, and embraced three acres. All of these cemeteries are now under the control of the city of Portsmouth and governed by a Board of three cemetery trustees, one of which is elected every municipal election. On September 20, 1882, the German Catholic Cemetery was opened. The Portsmouth Tribune of Septem- ber 5, 1860, gives the following statistics as to the City Cemetery. There were 670 tombstones on which the age was given, of which the males were 355 and females 315. The average of the males was 20 1-2 and of the females 20. The infants were: males 28, females 27. Under five years of age, 150 fe- males and 144 males. Ages between 20 and 40 years, males 67 and females 51.

MEMORIAL DAYS.

The first observance of this custom in the city of Portsmouth, Ohio, was on the 29th day of May, 1869, when there was a public observance. General Peter Kinney, Captain A. C. Thompson and Colonel Henry E. Jones were the Marshals of the day. The first decoration of the soldiers' graves was done by the Ladies' Relief Circle May 30, 1869. In June, 1869, Colonel O. F. Moore was appointed to procure wooden markers for the graves of the soldiers in Green- lawn.

May 30, 1870, was observed. At nine o'clock in the morning the proces- sion started from the Court House to the Cemetery. At Tracy Park, a Tem- porary Monument was erected to the Deceased Soldiers, and at 2 o'clock P. M. at the Court House General J. Warren Keifer, of Springfield, addressed the people, and a banquet was held at the Taylor House in the evening.

May 30, 1875, the procession started at 4 P. M. at Market street, with the Portsmouth Cadets, the German Light Infantry and the Kinney Guards. Col. Peter Kinney was in command in his Colonel uniform. The following girls were in two carriages appointed to do the decorating, Rhoda Nichols, Mary Lodwick, Mame Reed, Martha Dinsmore, Kate Hull, Mary Gibbs, Lizzie Moore, Anna Tracy, Lillie Yoakley, Nannie Musser, Mary Tewksbury, Jeanette Rob- inson, Ella Stewart and Louie Towell, The parade marched to the Cemetery, and after the girls had decorated the graves of the soldiers, and a few remarks by Colonel Kinney, they were dismissed.

On May 30, 1876, Col, H. E. Jones was Marshal of the Day. His staff was Captain William Wallace Reilly, R. P. Rifenberick, A. C. Thompson, H. W. Farnham followed by a Company of the National Guards. The Marshal of the First Division was Col. S. E. Varner. His assistants were James Skelton, C. S. Cadot and E. E. Ewing. In the first division were the soldiers of the late war, in their old uniforms, then the ladies and decorating committees and city officers. The Marshal of the Second Division was Col. Wm. M. Bolles and his assistants were A. B. Cole, J. B. Warwick and J. W. Overturf. The Centennial

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THE CITY OF PORTSMOUTH.

Brass Band was with the First Division, and it was followed by the Fire De- partment, Harmonic Society and German Societies. The Third Division was commanded by Major C. F. Reiniger. His assistants were J. W. Ricker and N. W. Evans. The Third Division was mounted. The procession was the largest seen in the city and the best handled. They marched from Second to Chillico- the, thence to Ninth, thence to the Cemetery, and the line of march had been sprinkled the night before. Rev. I. M. Stanger delivered the address.

May 30, 1879, the soldier's monument in Tracy Park was dedicated. Col. John A. Turley was the General Marshal. Currier's Cornet Band from Cincinnati was present. There were seven divisions. The first was command- ed by General Wells Jones. His assistants were John W. Overturf, William B. Williams, F. C. Gibbs, A. B. Alger, James Skelton, William H. Bonsall. Ex- Governor Cumback of Indiana delivered the address.

May 30, 1883, Gen. Wells S. Jones was the Grand Marshal. Col. W. J. Worthington delivered the address. Captain William Reilly conducted the exercises of the day. Miss Ollie Applegate recited.

May 30, 1884, there was a procession at 1:30 P. M. Col. John A. Turley was Grand Marshal, with John W. Overturf, C. S. Cadot and Creed Milstead as aides. The soldiers' circle was formally dedicated. In decorating the graves the members of the Relief Circle continued until 1885, when they turned it over to the members of the Grand Army of the Republic. Thereafter the Relief Circle decorated only the graves of their own members.

May 30, 1890, the matter of the observance of the day was put into the hands of the Sons of Veterans.

To the patriotic ladies of Portsmouth is due the credit that the sol- diers' graves in Greenlawn Cemetery have been marked with Government stones. Mrs. Laura E. Watkins, at the instance of the City, took up the mat- ter. The first allowance in Greenlawn Cemetery was for thirty stones. After they had been furnished, one of the government officers connected with the furnishing of the stones called upon Mrs. Watkins and said that she was the only woman in the United States who had done this work.

The first recognition of "Memorial Day" by the State of Ohio, was April 8, 1884, when a law was passed, Section 3177, Revised Statutes, making May 30, a Bank Holiday for the payment of Commercial Paper. No other or further state recognition has been made.

Congress did not act until August 1, 1888, when by a law of that date, the thirtieth of May, "Decoration Day," was made a public holiday in the District of Columbia. 25 U. S. Statutes, 600.

One of the saddest sights on Memorial Day is to see the procession of old soldiers marching, in their feebleness, in processions, to the strains of mar- tial music, which stirred their youthful hearts more than forty years ago. Much more than half of them have answered their last bugle call and their spirits are camping in the "Elysian Fields." It is pitiful to see the survivors' attempts at marching, but when called on to honor the memory of their com- rades who fell in battle, or died in service, they forget their years, the spirit of youth returns to them, and fires their souls.

But the saddest of all to an old soldier, in connection with the day, is to observe the generations born since the war, turn the day into one of sports and games. It is as much as to say to the old soldiers "We despise the mem- ory of your war and shall turn your day into sport." Pagan Rome might have games on funeral occasions, but Christian and civilized America cannot afford to follow that example. The people of this country are too great and too pow- erful to refuse to give one day to the memory of the dead. No son, or daugh- ter, or descendant of a soldier of the Civil War should ever, on that day, en- gage in any sports or games or be found elsewhere than with those celebrating the day, engage in any sports or games or be found elsewhere than with those celebrating the day. If the day cannot be observed as was intended, then the laws for its observance should be repealed.

CHAPTER IV.

Diseases in the Early History of Portsmouth by Dr. G. S. B. Hempstead-The Physicians-The Practice of Dentistry.

EARLY DISEASES.

"The Practice of Medicine and the Physicians from the First Settlement to 1867" was the title of a lecture by Dr. G. S. B. Hempstead, delivered in the First Presbyterian church, Portsmouth, O., August 31, 1876. The lecture was published by the Scioto County Medical Society, and these extracts are from it. Dr. Hempstead was introduced by Dr. A. B. Jones. The diseases of sixty years ago (1816), were almost all of a miasmatic character and were all reached by periodicity. All the forms of intermittent diseases, all the varieties of the Pontine Marshes as defined and laid down by Alibier were prevalent in the first settlement of our town and county. The diseases were principally in the vallevs. On the hills or tablelands was typhoid fever, but it was reached by periodicity. Pneumonia and pleurisy occasionally appeared, and if the depletion were not practised, were manageable and not so fatal, as at this time. Acute rheumatism was common and lasted as long as now. Croup was rare and apt in families where there was a constitutional predisposition. Contagious and infec- tous diseases rarely became epidemic. I think malaria prevented their spread. By contagious diseases I mean smallpox, chickenpox, whooping cough, mumps and scarlet tever. The year 1821 was remarkable for the general prevalence of autumnal disease. The form of the disease was remittent, ushered in by a slight chill, at times hardly perceptible, followed by a continuous fever, occur- ring in paroxysms, exerbating and remitting until it ceased spontaneously, or by medication on the third, fifth, seventh, ninth, or fourteenth days, attended by profuse perspiration at the close of the critical paroxysm. These critical days followed the rules laid down by Hypocrates and Galen except on the eighth, on which day most of the diseases terminated in health. If they passed this day without a crisis they became alarming and if the patient had sufficient tenacity of life to resist the disease and doctor, he might go into the seven- teenth, never longer. They had ague, and fever and ague, with the former they would go about their business, between chills, with the two they were in bed, from the first attack to the close. This form of autumnal fever continued till 1858, when I retired from practise, and it is not rare at the present time. In 1821, the disease was in the valley out of the town. There were eight hundred cases inside of twelve weeks. The epidemics of 1822 and 1823 commenced in July and lasted to October, falling upon nearly the whole population outside the town. This was the jubilee time of the lancet and it was used indiscrim- inately. At that time my view was against blood letting, and it has been con- firmed by the subsequent experience of the profession. In 1824, the epidemic began in July and seemed confined to the town. The town physicians did not have twenty cases of fever outside of the town, during the whole season. Out of the whole population but twelve adults escaped the fever. It affected all ages. In one day I saw fifteen cases of convulsions, caused in children, by this disease. The mortality, however, from 1821 to 1824, was not over 2 per cent. The treatment was to relieve the stomach and bowels of offensive matters, to promote perspiration. and save the strength of the patient as much as possible; to fulfill the first, emetics and mild cathartics were used; and to fulfill the last, tonics. From 1824 to July. 1832, no epidemics occurred. In July, 1832, there were three cases of Asiatic cholera successfully cured. There was an- other in October also cured. From the thirteenth to the twenty-fifth, there were three cases on boats brought from Cincinnati. There was one case in July, 1833, and in August and September, a number of cases of diarrhoea and

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THE CITY OF PORTSMOUTH.

dysentery. In May, 1834, there was cholera which continued to July 20, when it ceased and the usual fever appeared. There were not over ten cases at one time, but the mortality was greater than ever before or since. There were a few cases of smallpox in 1837. In January, 1843, typhoid pneumonia was prev- alent, almost an epidemic, and continued until March. It was almost epidemic from January to May, 1845. From May 10 to November, 1845, the usual mias- matic diseases prevailed. In 1846 and 1847, the people were quite healthy, ex- cept smallpox. From December, 1847, till in 1848, scarlet fever prevailed. In May, 1849, cholera and cholera morbus appeared. Cbolera began May 15, and continued until August 31. and then diminished, and the ordinary fevers pre- vailed. In June, 1830. cholera and cholera morbus became epidemic, and con- tinued to the last of July. From this time till the spring of 1858, no universal visitation of any disease appeared. I have known epidemies to cease in a day, in an hour, while the poison was in full force and abundant material to work upon, to give place to other diseases and then to return again. Infectious and contagious diseases are less prevalent in malarial districts. The practice of the physicians in the early times was heroic. In 1821 and 1822, there was a disease called gangrenopis or cancrumous. There was an ulceration and slough- ing of the gums and lips. The teeth came out. It resembled mercurial saliva- tion, but was more violent and deep-seated It was attributed to the use of cal- omel. Many recovered with disfigurements and some died. In the latter class the gangrene extended from the face down into the neck, implicating the large blood vessels. The first symptom was the picking out of a tooth with the fingers. It occurred among children almost exclusively Only one adult had it. The lancet began to be disused in 1821 and 1822. Jalop was a favorite medicine in the same year. Calomel also began to be disused in this time. In 1811, the legislature passed a law to regulate the practice of Physic and Surgery. Scioto county was in the Fifth district. There were three examiners in each district, whose duty it was to examine all applicants. No physician could practice with- ont a license from the board of his district. The penalty for violating was in- ability to collect his debts. The law was renealed and another enacted. No censors were appointed for Scioto county under either law. In 1877, the law was amended and Dr. Jacob Offnere appointed censor. This was the first appointment made in Scioto county. In 1830, all laws on the subject were re- pealed.

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A history of Scioto County, Ohio, together with a pioneer record, Part 73

Author: Evans, Nelson W. (Nelson Wiley), 1842-1913 Publication date: 1903 Publisher: Portsmouth, O. N. W. Evans Number of Pages: 1612

Author: Evans, Nelson W. (Nelson Wiley), 1842-1913
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: Portsmouth, O. N. W. Evans
Number of Pages: 1612