USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > Cleveland, past and present; its representative men > Part 35
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Mr. Rouse was a member of the Baptist denomination, and was largely instrumental in the organization of a Baptist society in Cleve- land. When, in 1835, it was decided to ereet a church building on the corner of Seneca and Champlain streets, the experience of Mr. Rouse, then a deacon of the church, was called into requisition. In due time the church was built and a steeple placed on it, which became the wonder and admiration of the country round about, and the especial pride of Deacon Rouse.
On his return from Richfield, Mr. Rouse engaged in the coal busi- ness in connection with Mr. Freeman Butts. About the year 1862. he retired from active business and thenceforth devoted his time to the cause of patriotism, religion, and charity. From the breaking out of the war Mr. and Mrs. Rouse entered vigorously on the work of aiding the nation's cause by caring for the nation's defenders. Their zeal and activity were irrepressible, visiting the camps and hospitals, ascertaining the needs of the soldiers, and then with unresting assiduity collecting money and materials to supply those needs. Mrs. Rouse became president of the Soldiers' Aid Society of northern Ohio, and was directly instrumental in the formation of hundreds of auxiliary societies that made every city, village, and nearly every home in northern Ohio busy in the work of preparing and sending
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forward comforts and luxuries for the soldiers of the Union. Mrs. Rouse visited camps and hospitals in the South, and her visits and reports were productive of great good. Her name was known and respected by thousands of soldiers, was repeated with grateful praise in a multitude of homes from which brave boys had gone forth to the war, and has passed into history. In all her labors she was cordially seconded and efficiently aided by her husband.
Three sons and one daughter have been born to this worthy couple.
Medical. .
N. the early records of Cleveland, as in those of most western towns, the story of sickness and death fills a large part. Fever and ague, brought on by exposure, privations, and by the miasma from swamp, river and uncleared lands, disabled a large number of the early settlers, and hurried some to untimely graves. There were no physicians, and save a few drugs and the simples gathered from the river banks and forest, there were no remedies.
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In course of time appeared the pioneer doctor with his saddle-bags, and he was soon followed by a number of his brethren to practice their skill upon the settlers. When the first Cleveland Directory was issued, in 1837, there were already established a round two dozen of physicians and surgeons, and three "surgeon-dentists." It may be interesting to quote the names of these brethren of the lancet and saddlebags who purged and bled the good people of thirty- two years ago. They were, J. L. Ackley, F. I. Bradley, C. D. Brayton, W. A. Clark, Horace Congar, E. Cushing, Jonathan Foote, S. B. Gay, Robert Hicks, M. L. Hewitt, Smith Inglehart, Robert Johnston, Burr Kellogg, David Long, P. Mathivet, George Mendenhall, Joshua Mills, T. M. Moore, W. F. Otis, A. D. Smitlı, J. Swain, Charles Terry, Samuel Underhill, Joseph Walrath. The surgeon- dentists were B. Strickland, and Coredon & Sargeant.
This list has now swollen to proportions that make the two dozen and three exceedingly insignificent by comparison, and every school of medicine is repre- sented. There are two Allopathic medical colleges-the Cleveland and Charity Hospital colleges-and two Homeopathic-the Western Homeopathic college and the Homeopathic College for Women. There are also three hospitals, the Charity Hospital (Allopathic), the Homeopathic Hospital on University Heights, and the Woman's Hospital on Wilson street.
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DAVID LONG.
Dr. Long was born at Hebron, Washington county, New York, September 29, 1787. In early life he qualified himself for the practice of medicine and surgery, studying in Massachusetts and graduating in New York city. In June, 1810, he arrived at Cleveland and commenced his professional career. At this early day there was no physician nearer than Painesville on the east, Hudson on the south- east, Wooster on the south, River Raisin (now Monroe ) on the west. The arrival of a physician was, therefore, a matter of no small gratifi- cation to the settlers here and the neighboring settlements.
In this wild region, without roads, streams without bridges, cabins in many places eight to ten miles apart, did the young and ardent Long hopefully commence the practice of medicine. Nor were the hopes of the early settlers disappointed. In rain and snow, in Win- ter's cold and Summer's heat, by darkest midnight or mid-day sun the doctor ever cheerfully responded to all the calls for his services with alacrity and zeal, forgetful of self, desirous only to administer timely relief to the suffering and afflicted. In this he was eminently successful, as many of those who knew him for more than a third of a century can testify.
In proof of the untiring perseverance of Dr. Long in the early part of his professional life, it has been stated that on one occasion, in the Fall of the year, about midnight, he rode nine miles in fifty-one minutes. In another instance of extreme urgency, he rode, in the day time, fourteen miles in fifty minutes by changing horses twice on the route. He was a surgeon in the army during the war of 1812, and brought the news of Hull's surrender at Detroit to this city, from the mouth of Black River, a distance of twenty-eight miles, in two hours and fourteen minutes. Such was his character for promptitude to all the calls that were made upon him, and they were far from being few.
For kindness to his patients and friends he had no superior. In his zeal in their behalf, in a few years, he sacrificed in a measure one of the finest constitutions.
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After following his profession thirty years or more, Dr. Long retired from general medical practice, and engaged in other pursuits more favorable to his health and congenial to his tastes.
In all public measures for the benefit of our city, in the way of improvements, schools, churches, every effort in behalf of humanity, religion or science, Dr. Long was ready to place his shoulder to the work with all the ardor and enthusiasm of youth.
Dr. Long never had any aspirations for political distinctions, but such was his popularity and so great the confidence of the people in . his judgment and integrity that he could have obtained it had he so desired. At one time, however, he was elected to fill a vacancy which had occurred by the death of one of the three County Commis- sioners. Unimportant as this may seem now, it then occasioned intense excitement. The location of a new county court house, presumptively fixing the county seat for all time, devolved upon these Commissioners. Newburg and Cleveland were the contestants, both being villages of about an equal number of inhabitants-the claims of each supported by a single Commissioner, yet Newburg having the more central location. Though hotly contested, Dr. Long was elected, and the result was the erection of the Court house in the south-west corner of the square, which was demolished about ten years since.
In the year 1834, Dr. Long united with the Presbyterian church in this city, and by his daily walk and conduct in the community, by his deeds of love and charity to the poor, his kindness to the sick and afflicted gave the most striking evidence of a heart renewed by grace and made meet for the kingdom of heaven. During his last painful illness his calmness and resignation showed that he had placed his trust firmly upon the sure foundation.
He filled all the relations of life in a most exemplary manner and thus embalmed his memory in the hearts of all who knew and sur vive him. He died on the first day of September, 1851, at the age of sixty-four years, lacking a single month.
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JOHN DELAMATER.
Just before the massacre of St. Bartholomew, the ancestors of Dr. Delamater fled from France to Holland. The family name was then De La Maitre. Being whole-souled protestants, they migrated with other Dutch families to the Province of New York, and settled on the banks of the Hudson, near Kingston. Their names are still visible on the ancient grave stones of that neighborhood. Like the Hugue- nots, of South Carolina, they were Calvinist, or puritans of the French school. They became allied by marriage to the Bogardus family of New York, and others partook of the blood of Anneke Jans, whose name has become famous in the New York courts. The investigation of this connexion and heirship, occupied the last years of Prof. Dela- mater's life. It was closed only about a month before his death. His coadjutor in this work, was the late Chancellor Walworth, of Saratoga, whose ancestors were also in the line of Anneke Jans.
Dr. Delamater was born in Columbia county, New York, near Chatham, on the State line of Massachusetts, April 1Sth, 1787. He died at East Cleveland, in March, 1867, having almost reached the extreme age of four score years.
The Huguenots like English Puritans, and the Scotch Irish, have made their mark in North America. John Delamater, while a boy. was destined to be a farmer, on the soil where he was born. He was transferred to the medical profession on account of an accident. which injured his ability for manual labor. His father removed to Schenectady, New York, where his son was put under the tuition of one of the self-denying clergymen of those times, whose salary did not meet the expenses of living. At the age of nineteen his medical education was finished and he commenced practice in his native town. From thence he moved to Florence, Montgomery county, N. Y. Then stopped a short time in Albany, N. Y., and in 1816, established himself at Sheffield, Massachusetts. There was a settlement of negroes in this ancient borough. Dr. Delamater was then, as ever since, an active philanthropist. He attended the negroes as physician. Sunday teacher, and preacher. They also drew money from his purse, which was never very well filled, and paid back very little, either of his fees or of their debts. After some years of assiduous labor on his
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colored charge, his views of the race underwent a radical change. Among the last utterances of his life he expressed the opinion, ba-ed upon his experience at Sheffield, that the negro is by nature untit for citizenship. In the days of the Jeffersonian Republicans and Adam- Federalists, Dr. Delamater was in full accord with the new and rising Democratic party. He left it during the administration of General Jackson, and since then was a thorough Whig and Republican. No one hated slavery more. He saw the remnants of it in his early practice over the line in Connecticut, but never recovered faith in the capacity of the colored man for self-government.
Returning to his medical career, in which for sixty years he led in the profession, it is briefly as follows : While practising in the valley of the Housatonic, he rode almost constantly on a racking horse. about sixteen hands high, and almost with the speed of the wind. and occasionally in a two wheeled vehicle, common in those days, called a chaise, or more often a "one horse shay." At such times one of his medical students rode beside him, and drove the horse.
Between calls along the road the Doctor read his works, especially those relating to cases in hand. This custom of keeping up with the new works and periodicals of the profession he never relaxed, even after old age and the most distressing physical infirmities prevented his practice. Neither was the old shay ever abandoned ; our citizens remember it well. moving carefully along these streets, with its huge calash top and faithful horse. No storm of rain or snow prevented him from keeping an appointment while he was able to get in and out of his vehicle.
In 1823, Dr. Delamater was made Professor in the Medical Institute of Pittsfield, Berkshire county, Mass. ; in 1827, at the Fairfield Medi- cal School, Herkimer county, New York. He was at the same time giving lessons at Bowdoin College, Mass. While at Fairfield, he was invited to lecture in the Medical College of Ohio, where Kirtland, Drake and Mussey have occupied chairs This resulted in an appoint- ment as Professor in the Willoughby University, Lake county, Ohio, at that time a flourishing institution. In 1842, he became one of the Faculty of the Western Reserve Medical College, at Cleveland.
Almost every man has some prominent talent, though with many it is never developed. With Professor Delamater it was the ability to give prolonged, profound and perspicuous lectures. This was his special gift and as usual in such cases he was not a facile writer. It is said he delivered seventy courses of medical lectures. His memory was perfect and his reading embraced everything relating to his pro-
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fession. A good lecturer requires not only a clear perception of his subject, but a lucid and fluent presentation of it. Dr. Delamater never wrote lectures. His memoranda were of the most meagre kind. They were frequently nothing more than a few hieroglyphics made on the margin of a newspaper drawn from his vest pocket as he mounted the desk. Every case he had ever treated and all its details appeared to be thoroughly fixed in his recollection. He sometimes wrote medical essays for publication, but with evident reluctance. In cases of mal- practice Dr. Delamater was the especial dread of the attorney whose side he did not favor. His full, clear and logieal statements made a deep and generally an irresistible impression upon the court and jury.
After he became unable to visit patients he was consulted with never ceasing confidence by physicians and by patients, especially those afflicted with chronic complaints.
His moral and religious qualities were as conspicuous as his mental ones. He carried the faculty of conscientiousness to a length which the most conscientious would regard as extreme. Against the poor his charges for professional service were merely nominal and were never pressed, and with the rich he was so moderate and easy that with a large practice he was barely able to maintain his family, which, like himself, were afflicted with prolonged constitutional diseases. His rare Christian virtues are described with fidelity and beauty in the farewell discourse of Rev. W. H. Goodrich, of the First Presby- terian Church, which, being in print, may be read and preserved by the numerous friends of the good old man.
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JARED POTTER KIRTLAND.
Prof. Kirtland belongs to the class of self-made naturalists who attain to greater eminence than others of equal talents and better advantages. Success in this branch of science requires not only a native genius, but enthusiasm and never tiring perseverance ; to the rich and the educated these last qualifications are frequently wanting. or, if they are not, instead of growing with the progress of life, they become more and more weak instead of more and more strong. In-
et 3 yiertland.
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dustry and ambition are more than a match for education in minds of the same order.
Dr. Kirtland originated at Wallingford, Connecticut. His father, Turhand Kirtland, in 1799, was appointed general agent of the Connee- ticut Land Company, on the Reserve. He removed to Poland, in Mahoning county, the next year, where he became a prominent citizen of the new county then known as New Connecticut. So long as the Company existed he was continued in the agency, and survived until 1833 to witness the developments of the region.
Jared appears to have been left in Connecticut, probably to secure the advantages of those common schools which were wanting in this western wilderness. The young man made his appearance in Ohio on horseback, July 4th, 1810, at the age of fifteen years. He was destined to be a physician, and in 1817 he was sent to the celebrated medical school of Dr. Rush, in Philadelphia. After leaving that institution he set forth on the way of life with horse and saddle bags, dispensing advice and prescriptions, according to the custom of the times, to the people of the townships around Poland. Every old settler knows what a time the pioneer doctors had. Their patients were scattered far and wide in log cabins which stood in small clearings in the forest surrounded by gigantic trees. A messenger rushed in at any hour of the day or night from a distressed, perhaps a distant family, requiring immediate attention. It was the duty of the frontier physician to saddle his horse at the moment and return with the messenger. The route more often lay along a narrow trail through the woods, over roots and logs, with mud and water on all sides. In dark nights, or in storms of rain and sleet, the overhanging boughs of the trees dripping with water, these visits were not of the most cheerful character. In those early days bridges were behind roads in regard to condition and repairs, and it was frequently necessary, in order to reach a suffering patient, to do as Cassius did -- plunge in and trust to a faithful horse-in order to cross swollen creeks and rivers.
While engaged in this rude professional practice, acquiring a good reputation as a physician, he was closely observing the fishes, reptiles, shells and animals of a region teeming with animal and vegetable life. Scientific works were scarce in that new region, but living subjects were abundant. This exuberance of life was of more value to a scrutinizing mind than a surplus of books and a deficiency of specimens. An unusually rich field for the naturalist lay open to his daily observation for twenty years.
During his residence at Poland, Dr. Kirtland was twice elected to
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the House of Representatives for Ohio. In that body he directed his efforts especially to a change in the Penitentiary system. It was mainly through his zeal and activity that the old style of treating State prisoners was abandoned, and they have been made a source of revenue and not of expense. Convict labor has thus proven by experience to be valuable to the public and to the convict a relaxa- tion of the rigor of his situation.
It was while studying the habits of the fresh water shells of the Mahoning and its branches that Dr. Kirtland made a discovery which attracted attention throughout the scientific world. The classification of species had been made upon mere difference of form. Dr. Kirt- land perceived that in the same species a difference of form was due to sex in testacea the same as in all other animals, and that too many species had been adopted. This bold announcement, coming from the back woods of Ohio, created quite a commotion among natural- ists. It was, however, found, on investigation, to be true, though it rendered obsolete a large number of terrible Latin phrases.
In the publication of his views, and afterwards for his descriptions of the fishes of Ohio, he found a liberal patron in the Boston Society of Natural History. When the State of Ohio organized a geological survey, in 1838, the department of Natural History was of course given to him. There was barely time to make a catalogue of the fauna and flora of the State before the survey was suspended, but many of his figures and descriptions of the fishes have since been published in the transactions of the Boston Society. This appoint- ment broke up his large medical practice in Trumbull and adjacent counties. He now accepted the appointment of Professor in the Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati. About 183S, Prof. Kirtland removed from Poland to Cleveland, to perform the same duties in the Cleveland Medical College. With a restless energy he went beyond natural history and medicine in his investigations, into the field of horticulture, floriculture and agriculture.
Purchasing a rugged farm on the ridge road five miles out of Cleve- land, he entered with zeal into the business of scientific farming. Here he demonstrated that a stiff clay soil derived from the underlying Devonian Shales may be made highly productive in fruit. His success stimulated others along the ridge road, until the old pastures and meadows on that side of the city have been changed into the most profitable orchards and gardens in the vicinity. This required twenty years more of time and industry, during much of which he came daily to the college and delivered one or more lectures. In the
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lecture his style is entirely conversational, but rapid, fluent. and always intelligible. Here all the varieties of his studies come into play, as it were, spontaneously. Ile is equally at home among the birds, the insects and the reptiles, the fishes or the mammalia. Their habits are as familiar as those of his children and grand children. Hle writes but seldom, and thus the teachings of so many years on >0 many subjects are confided principally to the memory of the many hundreds of students to whom they have been delivered.
For several years Dr. Kirtland has declined to lecture on any sub- ject. lie is verging upon four score, a period which, with most men, is necessarily one of rest if not of weariness, but he has never known what it is to rest. No farmer in Rockport is up earlier or attend's more closely to his grounds. All the valuable varieties of peaches, pears, cherries and grapes, have been tested by their actual product, or are in the process of being tested. He is enthusiastically fond of the culture of bees and of every variety of flowers which will thrive in this climate. A number of new varieties of cherries have been originated on the Kirtland farm, and after trial those which are valu- able have been scattered over the country. There are very few men who are enabled to make so many applications of science to practical subjects, and still fewer who are permitted to live long enough to witness the fruits of their labors.
THEODATUS GARLICK.
We are almost at a loss in, what class to place Dr. Garlick. By natural taste and genius he belongs to the artists. His devotion to the healing art arose principally from the necessities of our race for something to eat and wear. He had the fortune, probably good fortune, to be born in Vermont, at Middlebury, March 30th, 1805, in view of the Green Mountains, among rocks and mountains. This region is principally famous for marble, slate, iron ore, and hardy young men, generally known as Green Mountain boys.
An older brother, Abel B. Garlick, having been apprenticed to a marble cutter, came out West, sometime after the war of 1812, and located at Cleveland. In 1816, Theodatus, at the age of eleven years,
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had drifted as far as Erie, Pennsylvania ; in 1819, to Cleveland. The Winter of 1S19-20, he spent at Black River, which was then the lead- ing ship yard of the lakes.
Abel B. had artist's ability also. In this region no marble was to be found, but a tolerable substitute existed in the fine grained blue sandstone at Newburg. A mill was erected at the quarry on Mill creek, below the falls, where these stones were sawed, as they are now, into handsome slabs.
Like other New Englanders, the Vermont boys are early impressed with the idea of self-support. Although Theodatus much preferred fun and frolic to hard labor, he entered cheerfully upon the business of a stone cutter at the age of sixteen. Their marble yard (without marble) was on Bank street, where Morgan & Root's block now stands. Abel marked the outlines of the letters upon incipient grave stones in pencil, and Theodatus carved them with his chisel. Most of the renowned sculptors of Ohio, such as Powell, Clevenger and Jones, took their first lessons in the same way. All of them have left samples of their untutored skill in various angels and cherubs, now mouldering in old churchyards. The blue sandstone monuments, on which Dr. Garlick cut inscriptions fifty years since, are still to be seen in the early cemeteries of the Western Reserve; some are touching enough, but not a few are more ridiculous than mournful. When Nathan Perry became so prosperous that he proposed to remove the old wooden store on the corner of Water and Superior streets and replace it with a brick one, he concluded to expend something upon ornament. He ordered two oval stone signs to be made and to be built into the walls over the two doors, one on each street. These were among the earliest efforts of Dr. Garlick. Both of these stones were in existence until the ground was cleared for the present Bank building, when they were broken up and put into the cellar wall. In those days it was one of the duties of an apprentice to sharpen the tools at a blacksmith's forge. The young man concluded to carve flying cherubims with their stone trumpets to ring in the ears of coming generations no longer.
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