Centennial history of Cincinnati and representative citizens, Vol. I, Pt. 2, Part 46

Author: Greve, Charles Theodore, b. 1863. cn
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1048

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Of the three churches of the New Jerusalem which were in existence in 1841, but one sur- vived to 1859,-the Temple on the north side of Longworth between Race and Elm. The Second Society of Rev. Adam Hurdus, which inet at Talbott's school house on College street and the Third Society of Rev. N. C. Burnham seem to have dropped out of existence.

The Unitarian Church, called originally the First Congregational Society, continued to be one of the strongest factors in the intellectual life of the city. Rev. W. H. Channing resigned in January, 1844, after a pastorate so brilliant as to make his church one of the best known in the country. He was succeeded by his cousin, James Handasyd Perkins, also a man of distinction. Mr. Perkins was born in Boston in 1810 and was educated at Exeter. He was for a time a clerk in the counting room of his uncle, the well known philanthropist Thomas H. Perkins. After a tour of England and the West Indies, he settled in Cincinnati in 1832. Ilere he studied law but soon drifted into literature. He conducted the Western Monthly Magasine and the Evening Chronicle for a time. In 1839 he became a lay reader or minister at large. During his pastor- ate lie succeeded in maintaining the high standard set by his distinguished predecessor. He was much interested in the cause of prison reform and in all educational matters. Ile is perhaps

best known for his historical work, being the first president of the Cincinnati Historical So- ciety and the compiler of the well known "An- nals of the West." In a fit of depression he drowned himself in the Ohio River on December 14, 1849. His "Memoirs" in two volumes were written by his predecessor. For a short time in 1846 the poet, Cornelius George Fenner, occu- pied his pulpit. He died in this city on January 4, 1847, when Mr. Perkins resumed his place at the head of the society. Mr. Perkins was succeeded by Rev. Abiel Abbott Livermore, a graduate of Harvard in 1833 and of the divinity school three years later. He was called to Cin- cinnati in May, 1850, from Keene, New Hamp- shire, where he had been pastor for 14 years. He remained here for seven years, when he re- moved to New York. He died in 1892. Mr. Livermore was succeeded by a pastor probably the best known to Cincinnatians of the present day and a most conspicnous figure in the literary world.

Rev. Moncure Daniel Conway was born in Virginia in 1832. He was educated in his native State and finally at Dickinson College, where he graduated in 1849 and where he united with the Methodist Church. He first began the study of the law but soon abandoned this for the Method- ist ministry. He contributed for a time to vari- ous Southern newspapers and magazines. By reason of the influence of a settlement of Quakers in which he lived for a time, he suffered a change of political and religious convictions, as a result of which he left the Methodist ministry and entered the divinity school at Harvard, where he graduated in 1854. Ile then returned to Vir- ginia filled with humanitarianism and transcen- dental and rationalistic idcals. Ile had become particularly pronounced in opposition to slavery, as a result of which he was obliged to leave his native State because of the assistance he had rendered to the fugitive slave, Anthony Burns. He subsequently became pastor of the Unitarian Church in Washington, but was dismissed by reason of an anti-slavery address delivered after the brutal assault of Preston Brooks on Charles Summer. He came to Cincinnati to preside over the Unitarian Church in 1857. Here in the old church on the southwest corner of Fourth and Race he preached against slavery and wrote many books and pamphlets on this and other subjects. Just prior to the Civil War he deliv- ered a number of addresses on the subject of slavery in New England and throughout the country. During the war his father's slaves es-

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caped from Virginia and were settled by him in Yellow Springs, Ohio. In 1863 Rev. Mr. Con- way went to England, where he preached and wrote anti-slavery doctrines. There he became the minister of the South Place Religious So- ciety in London and remained there until 1897, at which time he returned to the United States; he has lived in New York since that time. Rev. Mr. Conway was for many years the London correspondent of the Cincinnati Commercial and throughout his life has been a regular contrib- utor to the daily press and magazines of all classes in both England and America. He is said to be one of the most prolific of living writers. In addition to his many contributions to periodical literature, he has published a num- ber of works of great literary merit. A bib- liography of his writings would demand too much space for reproduction here.

During Conway's pastorate a part of the con- gregation withdrew and formed the Second Uni- tarian Society at the southwest corner of Sixth and Mound. Here a number of famous divines preached, including Dr. Henry W. Bellows, Dr. A. P. Peabody, President Thomas Hill, Dr. W. G. Elliott and Horace Mann. Shortly after Rev. Mr. Conway's resignation in 1862, the old cliurch was sold to the. brothers Simon, who crected upon the site the building which stands there at present.

In 1859 is also mentioned the First Christian Church on the north side of Longworth be- tween Western row and John and the First Uni- versalist Society. The Second Universalist So- ciety was the seceding congregation of Mr. Con- way's church. Twenty years before, the Uni- versalist Church was that of Rev. John A. Gur- ley on the west side of Walnut between Third and Fourth streets.

In 1839 the only Lutheran Church mentioned was the German one of Rev. P. Schmucker. Two years later William Seib was its pastor and the church was on the west side of Walnut be- tween Eiglith and Ninth streets. In 1859 Rev. Carl Tuerck was the pastor of this. church.

In 1841 Rev. Abraham Reck passed through the city at the time of the negro riots. The intense feeling against churches friendly to thic abolition of slavery convinced him that here was a place for an English Lutheran Church. As a result, on December 8, 1841, Mr. Reck preached his first sermon here in the upper room of the engine house on the corner of Vine and Canal. There were at first but eight Lutheran members ready to enter an organization, but by December,

24, including Michael Straeffer, Henry Kessler, Thomas Heckewekdler, Isaac Greenwald, Adam Epply, Andrew Erkenbrecher, Frederick Ram- melsberg, Henry Stuckenborg and Samuel Startzman formed a society and rented the old hall of the Cincinnati College. Several years later a church was purchased on the south side of Ninth street two doors cast of Walnut. The next pastor was Rev. W. H. Harrison, who served for more than twenty years, dying of the cholera in 1865. . In 1859 there were mentioned eight Evangelical and Lutheran churches, of which but one, that of Dr. Harrison, held its services in the English language.

The other churches of the city at the time of the opening of the war included three German Reformed churches as well as the two congrega- tions of Friends, one Orthodox and one Hicksite, which worshiped side by side.

In Mr. Cist's volume published in 1859 there are 108 churches and religious societies inen- tioned, in addition to those of the Jewish per- suasion, of which there were eight organizations. The city is said to have contained 106 Sabbatlı- schools ( without including those of the Roman Catholics and the Jews), in which 13,890 chil- dren received religious instruction from 1,918 teachers.

There were eight Jewish congregations in 1859 with a resident population of 7,913. The subject of the Jewish churches is treated in the special chapter written by Mr. May.

THE MEDICAL PROFESSION AND ITS COLLEGES.

In 1841 the faculty of the Medical College of Ohio is given as consisting of Drs. John T. Shot- well. John Locke, R. D. Mussey, Daniel Oliver, ' M. B. Wright and Jared P. Kirtland. Ten years later Drs. H. W. Baxley, L. M. Lawson, T. O. Edwards, Landon C. Rives, John Bell and John Davis were the new names. Of the old faculty the only survivors were Drs. John Locke and R. D. Mussey. In 1859 Dr. Lawson, who had been the dean, was still in that position and the only one of the faculty still connected with the college. Other members were Drs. Jesse P. Judkins, George C. Blackman, George Menden- liall, C. G. Comegys, James Graham, H. E. Foote, Thomas Wood, John Alexander Murphy, B. F. Richardson and William Clendenin.

The Eclectic Medical Institute had been or- ganized in 1845 as a result of the removal to the city of Worthington Medical College. In 1851 its faculty included Drs. Z. Freeman, Jo- seph R. Buchanan, Lorenzo E. Jones, R. S.

OLD HUGHES .- 1853.

OLD WOODWARD .- 1841.

THE (FIRST PRESBYTERIAN) CHURCH OF THE PIONEERS.

DISTRICT SCHOOL HOUSE .- 1841.

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Newton, Benjamin L. Hill, I. Gibson Jones and J. Milton Sanders. Eight years later Drs. Jones, Newton and Freeman were still members of the faculty. The new members were Drs. H. D. Garrison, W. Byrd Powell, G. W. L. Bickley, J. Cam Massic, J. M. Scudder, A. H. Baldridge and Edwin Freeman. The Institute was located at the northwest corner of Court and Plum streets in the building still occupied by it and by the wholesale drug store of Lloyd Brothers. Connected with this institution was Newton's Clinical Institute at the southeast corner of Sixth and John in the building still standing on that corner and occupied for almost forty years by the drug store of Dr. Theodore L. A. Greve. In 1856 there split off from the Eclectic Medical Institute the Eclectic College of Medi- cine and Surgery, located on Walnut between Fourth and Fifth, whose faculty in 1859 included Drs. J. F. Judge, T. E. St. John, A. Jackson Howe, C. H. Cleaveland, William Sherwood, John King and J. R. Buchanan. Shortly after this time the two Eclectic schools reunited.

The Cincinnati College of Medicine and Sur- gery was organized in 1851 and held its sessions for many years at Longworth street and Central avenue. In 1859 its faculty included Drs. A. H. Baker, B. S. Lawson, P. M. Crume, R. Spencer, T. W. Gordon, Thaddeus A. Reamy, J. C. Beck, J. W. Baker, William Spencer and William H. Swanderer.

Under the head of medical colleges there was also given in 1851 the so-called Physio-Medico College of Ohio at the corner of Fifth and West- ern row. Its faculty included Drs. E. H. Stock- well, J. A. Powers, E. Morgan Parritt, Joseph Brown, R. C. Carter and H. F. Johnson. This had been commenced at Columbus in 1836 and afterwards moved to Cincinnati. In 1859 its faculty included Drs. D. B. Wiggins, D. Mc- Carthy, Z. Hussey, W. H. Cook, S. E. Cary and T. W. Sparrow. This institution taught what it called reformatory medicine. Its rooms in 1859 were in the Cincinnati College Building.

The Miami Medical College began its first course of lectures in 1852 in a building at the northwest corner of Fifth street and Central avenue with a faculty consisting of Drs. R. D. Mussey, Jesse P. Judkins, C. L. Avery, John Davis, John F. White, George Mendenhall, John Alexander Murphy, C. G. Comegys and John Locke, Jr. In 1857 the College was consolidated with the Medical College of Ohio, which consoli- dation continned until the spring of 1860.

The Ohio College of Dental Surgery was or-

ganized in 1845 with B. P. Aydelott as president. Its faculty included Jesse W. Cook, Melancthon Rogers, James Taylor and Jesse P. Judkins. At a later time Dr. Elijah Slack was added to the faculty. In 1847 J. F. Potter and William M. Hunter became members of the staff. A year later Drs. George Mendenhall, John P. Shotwell, A. M. Leslie and Charles H. Raymond took the place of some of the older members, who re- signed. In 1851 the faculty consisted of Drs. James Taylor, George Mendenhall, Thomas . Wood, John Allen and G. L. Van Emon. In 1859 the faculty consisted of Drs. C. B. Chap- man, J. B. Smith, James Taylor, Jonathan Taft, Joseph Richardson, George Watt and Henry A. Smith. Previous to 1851 the College had leased quarters in Talbott's school but during that year the members of the dental profession generally were induced to become interested in the institu- tion and as a result the building was purchased and the session of the fall of that year opened in a building owned and especially dedicated to the dental profession. The new organization re- sulted in the election of James Taylor to the presidency. In 1854 a new building was erected on the same site on College street between Sixth and Seventh.

Among the physicians of prominence during the period just prior to the war has been men- tioned Dr. Marmaduke B. Wright, who came here from Columbus in 1838. He was a pro- fessor in the Medical College of Ohio for about ten years and a general practitioner for many years more. In 1860 he again became a mem- ber of the faculty of the College and retained his chair until 1868, when he resigned by reason of old age. He died in October, 1879.

Dr. Thomas Wood came to the city in 1845. He became a member of the faculty of both the Medical College of Ohio and the Ohio College of Dental Surgery, and was for a time connected with the Lancet and Observer. He rendered useful service during the war and at Shiloh con- tracted blood poisoning, which resulted in the loss of his thumb. Strangely enough many years afterwards, in 1880, while attending a number of persons who had been injured by an accident on the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railway. he again contracted blood poisoning, from which he died.

Dr. John Bell was for a number of years a professor in the Medical College of Ohio and an active practitioner.

Samuel G. Armour, who had been a distin- gnished lecturer in Chicago, in the Ohio Univer-

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sity and in the Cleveland University, came here in 1853 to accept a chair in the Medical Col- lege of Ohio. He remained but a short time, however, moving first to Dayton and afterwards to St. Louis, to the University of Michigan and eventually to Brooklyn, New York.

Dr. Reuben Dimond Mussey, one of the most prominent surgeons and medical practitioners that has ever lived in Cincinnati, was born in New Hampshire in 1780. He graduated at Dart- mouth in 1803 and received his degree in medi- cine two years later. He subsequently gradu -. ated at the medical school of the University of Pennsylvania in 1809. During his studies at this institution he occupied much time in experi- mental research and as a result succeeded in add- ing considerable information to the knowledge of his subject. He practiced medicine for a time in Salem, where he was in partnership with Dr. Daniel Oliver, who subsequently was associated with him in the Medical College of Ohio. A few years later he assumed a chair in the medical department at Dartmouth College and later at Middlebury College, Vermont. Dur- ing the next few years he traveled abroad and also lectured at various colleges throughout New England and in New York. In 1838 he was invited to come to Cincinnati as a member of the staff of the Medical College of Ohio, where he became professor of surgery, which position he retained for 14 years. He was the president of the American Medical Association in 1850. Two years later he aided in the founding of the Miami Medical College and continued as its pro- fessor of surgery until it united itself with the parent institution. After this time he practiced for a few years in Cincinnati and then retired at the age of 80 from active practice, returning to the East for the purpose of continuing his studies in the hospitals. He died in Boston in 1886, having completed within two days his 86th year. Dr. Mussey has been generally recognized as one of the leading surgeons and ablest physicians not only of the West but of the country. He was a man of very determined and somewhat erratic temperament. He was a strong believer in total abstinence and eventually became a vegetarian. Ile had decided convictions with regard to hy- giene, fashions in dress, and the habits of life and never hesitated to express them both in lec- tures and in conversation.

Dr. John Locke has been frequently mentioned in connection with the numerous enterprises to which he was a party. He was born in New England in 1792. From his carliest days he

displayed great mechanical taste and ingenuity and a love of science. Ile devoted special at- tention to the study of medicine, chemistry and botany. In 1818 he began delivering lectures in Maine, after which he resumed his medical studies and received his degree at New Haven. Hle subsequently attempted to practice medicine but did not succeed and thereupon became a teacher in a female academy in Windsor, Ver- mont. He subsequently came west in 1822 and established himself in Cincinnati. Here he was befriended by Ethan Stone and soon became well known. His school for young women acquired a high reputation. He took an active part in the founding of the Ohio Mechanics' Institute and in 1835 became professor of chemistry in the Medical College of Ohio. He subsequently made several trips to Europe in the interest of scientific investigations. ITis work on magnetism won for liim the gift of a full set of magnetical instruments from the English government. The dissensions in the College in 1849-50 which grew out of politics lost him his professorship and although at a later time he was again connected with the institution he was never able to resume the active method of his life. His health broke and he died in 1856.

Dr. Leonidas M. Lawson was a Kentuckian, born in 1812. He was educated at Augusta Col- lege and afterwards at Transylvania University. He came to Cincinnati in 1841 and a year later founded the Western Lancet, which he edited for 13 years. In 1847 he entered the faculty of the Medical College of Ohio, where he con- tinued with a short interruption of two years until his death in 1864. His work on phthisis pulmonalis was a standard work for many years.

Dr. James Graham was an Ohio man born probably in 1818. Ile became a member of the faculty of the Medical College of Ohio in 1854 and lectured here for twenty years. He died in 1879 after a long illness.

Dr. Jesse Parker Judkins graduated from the Medical College of Ohio in 1838 and the year later was appointed to a position in the insti- tution. In 1845 he became a member of the faculty of the Starling Medical College at Co- lumbus and returned to Cincinnati in 1852 to take a chair in the Medical College of Ohio, Ile was a very successful practitioner. In 18446 the loss of a brother affected him so seriously that his health broke down and he died three years later at the age of 53.

Dr. William Judkins, an older half-brother of Dr. Jesse Parker Judkins, was born in North

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Carolina in 1788. He came to Cincinnati in 1832 and almost from his earliest residence occu- pied a leading position as a physician and sur- gcon. His is among the-great names of the pro- fession. He died in 1861.

Another great name is that of Dr. George C. Blackman, who came to Cincinnati in 1854. Hc had graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York, had served as a sur- geon on an Atlantic packet ship and studied in Great Britain and France. In his early life he suffered from pulmonary troubles, which it was thought would speedily result in death. In order to combat this tendency he crossed the Atlantic 36 times, besides visiting South America. He was very successful as a member of the faculty of the Medical College of Ohio and particularly so as an operator in the hospital, where his en- thusiasm for his profession communicated itself to all about him. He served as a surgeon and medical director during the war. He died in 1871.

Still another distinguished name is that of Dr. George Mendenhall who was born in i814 of Pennsylvania Quaker ancestry. He graduated at the University of Pennsylvania and removed to Cleveland in 1835. An attack of pulmonary disease.in 1843 caused him to abandon the lake region for what was regarded as the more genial climate of Cincinnati. He soon gathered about him some of the ablest of the younger men of his profession and organized a summer school and subsequently, in 1852, the Miami Medical College. Afterwards he became a member of the faculty of the Medical College of Ohio. Per- haps his greatest service for the public was that of president of the Cincinnati Branch of the Sanitary Commission during the Civil War. A sketch of Dr. Mendenhall's life appears in the second volume of this work.

A name much beloved by the citizens is that of Dr. Cornelius George Comegys for many years so prominent in every depart- ment of civic life. He was born in Dela- ware in 1816. He came West, first settling in Indiana where he married a daughter of Gov- ergor Tiffin, the first Governor of Ohio. His life up to this time had been devoted to mercantile pursuits and it was not until after his marriage and the birth of two children that he returned to Philadelphia for the purpose of studying med- icine. He received his degree in March, 1848, at the University of Pennsylvania and the fol- lowing year moved to Cincinnati during the visitation of the Asiatic cholera. In the treatment

of this disease he made for himself quite a repu- tation which resulted in a large practice. Two years later he spent a year in the hospitals and schools of London and Paris, one of his in- structors being the celebrated Charcot. He joined in the organization of the Miami Medical College and afterwards became a member of the faculty of the Medical College of Ohio, which position he retained until 1869. He served on the staff of the hospital until the close of his life, during the last seven or eight years being its president. He was a member of almost every public organization of the city. He took par- ticular interest in the educational development of the city, being for many years a member of the School Board and of the Public Library Committee. He was also a member of the Coun- cil and the Board of Aldermen where he strong- ly supported the measures taken for the estab- lishment of the University of Cincinnati. Hc became a member of the board of directors of that institution in 1873 and continued so until the time of his death in 1896, being its president for the last six years of his life. As such he laid the corner-stone of McMicken Hall. He died February 10, 1896.

Dr. John Alexander Murphy was another well known physician, a graduate in 1846 of the Med- ical College of Ohio. He was one of the found- ers of the Miami Medical College. He was after- wards connected with the Medical College of Ohio and upon the reorganization of the Miami Medical College in 1865 he returned to that in- stitution. He assisted in the editing of the Lan- cet and Observer at various times during his life. He was employed in various medical posi- tions during the war and was on the staff of the Cincinnati Hospital during almost the en- tire period of his professional life. His sketch may be found in Volume II of this work, begin- ning on page 31.

Another leader of the medical profession was Dr. William Carson who graduated from the medical department of the University of Penn- sylvania in 1850 and began his practice in Cin- cinnati the same year. He located on East Third street near Broadway, in which locality his of- fice continued for 43 years until the time of his death in 1893. He was a physician of the Cincin- nati Hospital for almost a quarter of a century before his death and also belonged to the staffs of the Episcopal Hospital for Children, the Good Samaritan Hospital and St. John's Hospital. lle was also at one time president of the Academy of Medicine. hr 1892 his ahna mater, Miami

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University, conferred upon him the honorary de- gree of Doctor of Laws. Dr. Carson was al- ways successful from the professional standpoint and for a number of years before his death he stood practically at the head of his profession. A sketch of Dr. Carson's life and associations appears in the second volume of this work.

Dr. William Clendenin graduated at the Med- ical College of Ohio in 1851. In 1853 he asso- ciated himself with Dr. R. D Mussey and after the latter's death with his son, Dr. William H. Mussey. He was a member of the faculties at different times of the Ohio and Miami medical colleges. In 1859-60 he studied in Europe. Upon his return to Cincinnati he entered the army and was appointed surgeon serving throughout the war. He was at Bull Run and at Chicka- manga. He held positions as medical director of the 14th Army Corps, assistant medical director of the Department of the Cumberland and ined- ical inspector of hospitals. Refusing a foreign appointment in 1865, he returned to Cincinnati to accept a position in the Medical College of Ohio, and was appointed health officer, the first in the history of the city. He organized the de- partment and procured the passage of the sani- tary laws which are the basis of the present system.

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Centennial history of Cincinnati and representative citizens, Vol. I, Pt. 2, Part 46

Author: Greve, Charles Theodore, b. 1863. cn Publication date: 1904 Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1048

Author: Greve, Charles Theodore, b. 1863. cn
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1048