History of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio; their past and present, Part 103

Author: Nelson, S.B., Cincinnati
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Cincinnati : S. B. Nelson
Number of Pages: 1592

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JOHN R. KING, M. D., residence No. 548 E. Third street, Cincinnati, was born in Westmoreland county, Penn., November 7, 1844, a son of John and Nancy J. (Snodgrass) King, both also natives of Pennsylvania, the former of whom was a farmer by occupation. They were the parents of two children, John R., and Mary A. Rip- ley, of Poland, Ohio. Our subject received his education in the public schools of Poland, Ohio, also the Poland Seminary, and graduated from the Bellevue Hospital College, New York, in the class of 1867. He was married January 20, 1870, to Carrie A., daughter of V. B. Crocker, and they have had six children born to them: Laura B., Frank C., John Herbert, Elsie May, Ralph, and Harry Fry. Dr. King is a member of the Cincinnati Academy of Medicine; politically he is a Republican. He and his family attend the Presbyterian Church.

DR. CLINTON LYCURGUS ARMSTRONG, the senior member of the board of medical examiners of the police force, comes of most excellent old American stock. His great-grandfather, Capt. John Armstrong, was killed bravely fighting on the bloody field of Monmouth, N. J., June 28, 1778. By his side fought and fell his eldest son. On the maternal side the great-grandfather was John La Boiteaux, one of the earliest of Ohio pioneers. He settled in Hamilton county when its hills and valleys were still unbroken woodland, and owned and cleared all the land upon which Mt. Healthy was afterward built. A man with an ancestry like this may well be proud of it.

Brookville, Indiana, was Dr. Armstrong's native place, the day of his birth being March 3, 1844. When he was eighteen he joined the army, enlisting into Company D, Eighty-third Regiment, Ind. V. I., which served in the Fifteenth Army Corps, under Sherman. He was a mere boy, yet he was an admirable soldier, cool and ready at all times, and brave to the point of recklessness. He fought in all of the ten assaults upon Vicksburg, and was in the thick of some of the hardest fight-

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ing of the war. There is no private who can boast of a more glorious army record than was that of Dr. Armstrong, for he was an actor in one of the most gallant yet disastrous enterprises of that long struggle. There has been no poet laureate to sing of it, as the "Charge of the Six Hundred " was sung, but on the rolls of fame it deserves to be celebrated with as lofty praise. Around Vicksburg was a chain of forts. They were 800 yards apart, and connected by an embankment ten feet high, in front of which was a deep ditch. Sherman intended to attack part of this chain, break through it, and then drive the enemy from their guns by a charge in their rear. It was necessary that some one lead the way, and Sherman called for 150 volunteers. They were to rush through the open space in front of the rampart (the road leading to it was called by the soldiers " Grave-yard road"), half of them carry- ing planks twelve feet long, with which to bridge the ditch, and the others bearing ladders, to scale the deep bank. Every one knew the frightful danger of the attempt, yet the volunteers came forward, and Dr. Armstrong was the first to report at Sher- man's headquarters for this duty. It was the 22nd of May, 1863, and the hour set for the charge was 10 A. M. As the volunteers stood ready with their planks and ladders, Sherman, in order to encourage them, though they needed no encourage- ment, said, "Soldiers, remember that the enemy always overshoots, and the larger body behind you is sure to draw the heaviest fire." Then the word of command was given, and they started on a run for the Confederate works. There was nc firing until they were within two hundred feet of the bank, and then it seemed as if the thunders of the universe were let loose at once. By some means the enemy had heard of the contemplated charge, and were ready for it. The two nearest forts delivered a galling cross fire upon the gallant band, and a solid regiment in front rose on the embankment and emptied its muskets at them. That volley meant anni- hilation to the volunteers. One hundred and thirty-eight of them fell dead, eleven were wounded, and but one man escaped unscathed. A more frightfully fatal fire was not delivered during the entire course of the war. Dr. Armstrong received three bullets, two in his right leg and one in his abdomen. All day he lay upon the field, and at night he dragged himself to the Union lines. For months he lay between life and death, and all through life he will bear the marks of his wounds. The only other living survivor of this " forlorn hope" is William Orr, of Eaton, Ohio.

After the war Dr. Armstrong came to Cincinnati and studied medicine. He graduated with honor, and is now one of the best known and most successful phy- sicians in the city. Mayor Jacobs appointed him police surgeon about ten years ago. At that time the surgeon was ranked simply as a patrolman, and received the same salary. Dr. Armstrong really created the position which he has filled with such signal ability. Among other things he is the inventor of the medicine chest which is carried on all patrol wagons, and which is a wonderful exemplification of "multum in parvo." As one of the board of medical examiners of the non-partisan police force, he has been instrumental in introducing the present high physical standard. He is also one of the trustees of the Cincinnati Hospital, has been sur- geon for the Cincinnati, Washington & Baltimore Railroad, and has been president of the Lincoln Club, the oldest Republican organization in Cincinnati. In 1878 Dr. Armstrong married Miss Mary Cotton, of Winchester, Indiana, and he has found in her the completeness that his life lacked as a physician. Among the police there is no man more popular than Dr. Armstrong. He knows them all, and is ever ready with a word of advice or the ringing words of cheer that often mean more to the sick man than medicine, and is indefatigable in his duty. No night is too dark, and no distance too far, if there is suffering to be relieved. A hater of sham, he is a model of frankness and sincerity, and his success has been thoroughly deserved.

THOMAS GROVER HERRON, physician and surgeon, graduated from the Ohio Med- ical College, Cincinnati, March 1, 1867. He served one year as interne in St. John's

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Hospital, and from this institution received an honored diploma. He was born in Cincinnati, August 20, 1840, son of the late Prof. Joseph Herron, of Herron's Sem- inary, an early Cincinnati college of the highest order. His mother's maiden name was Cordelia Ann Weeks; she was daughter of John Weeks, who was a builder of steamboats and barges. She was born in 1815, and was married in 1859.

Dr. Herron finished his education in his father's seminary in 1857. Soon after leaving school he commenced to learn the trade of steamboat carpenter with his uncle Samuel Startzman, of the firm of Johnson, Morton & Company. He served his three years of apprenticeship and a short time as full carpenter, assisting in build- ing some of the finest vessels upon our western and southern waters. In the fall of 1859 he entered the office of Dr. Tom Wood and began the study of medicine. He was a member of the Gymnasium Light Guards, and served in the Cincinnati Zou- aves. He enlisted in Fremont's Body Guard, Capt. J. S. Foley's company, Com- pany C (called the Kentucky Company), and two days later was shipped to St. Louis, where he went into camp. Having had experience in the school of the soldier, he was appointed drill-master and soon after promoted to corporal. A week later he started for southwestern Missouri to assist in the capture of Gen. Price and the scattering of his men; was in many skirmishes and guerrilla fights, in scouting and foraging, finishing his western campaign with Fremont, in the great and terrible hand-to-hand fight at Springfield, Mo., against great odds. "Ride to death." The guard, 152 strong, fought and put to flight 2,200 of the enemy, killing over two hundred on the field, not to speak of the wounded. The army afterward returned to St. Louis, and soon after the " Body Guard" was mustered out of the service. Not long after his return home our subject joined the Sanitary Commission of Cin- cinnati, and assisted in the care of the sick and wounded at Pittsburg Landing and Shiloh. In the spring of 1862 a call was made for sailors, for the new gunboats built for the Western waters. He immediately enlisted, and was shipped to Cairo, where he served as captain, clerk, ship's steward, and paymaster's clerk; was pro- moted to acting master's mate, and later to acting ensign. He served through the Mississippi squadron, Tennessee and Cumberland river fleets. At the fitting out of the Red river expedition, he was detailed as one of the officers to serve in that per- ilous expedition, and assisted in building the Red river dam, which was constructed for the purpose of getting the United States gunboats over the shoals. Just before the completion of the dam, his boat, the U. S. steamer "Covington," was ordered with the U. S. steamer "Signal," to take the transport " Warner" to the mouth of the Red river. The fleet had reached a point about fifteen miles above Fort Dern- sey, and had anchored for the night. Early the next morning Gen. Dick Taylor attacked them with batteries and about six thousand men, with such destructive effect that the " Warner" was forced to surrender. Then concentrating their fire upon the gunboats, the "Signal" was soon disabled, and her flag lowered. The "Covington" was doing very effective work with her fifty-pound Dahlgren, thirty- pound Parrott, and twenty-four-pound howitzers, until the the fire of the sixteen and eighteen guns of the enemy (besides small arms from nearly every point of the compass) disabled the "Covington," killing many on board, perforating the boiler, and cutting away her rudder, besides destroying her upper works with thousands of bullets. Just enough steam was left in the boilers to work her into the shore and make her fast. Even after this the fight was continued, until several guns were disabled. The gunner's mate was killed in the magazine doorway, and master's mate Grosse (in charge of the magazine) was cut in two by a shell. Ensign Herron then gave up the fight, though he would not haul down the flag, but ordered the men to arm themselves to the teeth, carry the wounded men ashore and then escape to the woods. The men ran the terrible blockade of all the firing, a distance of two hundred squares, before reaching cover or woods. Many never reached safety. Ensign Herron then spiked all the guns, carried seven shovels of hot coals from the

Henry Andere Jules

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fire under the boilers to the magazine, ran forward and jumped ashore under cover of the smoke, just as the boat blew up. He reached the woods in safety, where he found about forty of his men. Many of these were torn to pieces by dogs, and two were treed and shot down on their journey to Fort Demsey. After a chase of nine miles by dogs our subject was captured by the Confederates, and an attempt on their part was made to hang him (which was abandoned, however, as no suitable tree could be found), but he was subsequently delivered through the kindness of an Amazonian rebel woman, who secreted him for several days in her hut, and hid him amongst a lot of clothes; he was afterward piloted to a place of safety by her husband. He walked nine miles to Red river, and when thirty-five miles from Alexandria, the nearest Union port, was picked up by a transport. He came out of the expedition on the U. S. steamer " St. Clair," and was honorably discharged from the United States mail service September 20, 1865.

After returning to Cincinnati our subject prosecuted his medical studies under Prof. Robert Bartholow, and graduated at the Ohio Medical College March 1, 1867. In that year he married Elizabeth, daughter of Rev. William H. Sutherland, a dis- tinguished minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mrs. Herron was a grad- uate of the Wesleyan Female College, Cincinnati, is very active in Church work, missionary and Woman's Relief Corps work, and in 1888 was department president of the Ohio Woman's Relief Corps. Six children were born to Dr. and Mrs. Her- ron: Joseph, Verna, Wright, William, Earl, and Thomas. Of these Joseph is a cadet at the United States Military Academy, West Point, N. Y .; William is con- nected with the advertising department of the Cincinnati Post; three children died in infancy; Thomas, the youngest, is now attending school in Wyoming. The fam- ily are members of the Methodist Church; politically the Doctor is a Republican. He has written many articles on medical subjects, the most important being his discovery and successful treatment of sunstroke with application of hot water instead of ice. This is now the accepted governmental treatment in the West Indies and New South Wales.

JAMES H. HAZARD, physician and surgeon, office No. 51 Lawrence street, Cincin- nati, residence Terrace Park, Ohio, was born March 12, 1846, at Logansport, Indiana, a son of William S. and Marion Isabelle (Snelling) Hazard, the former born in 1812 at New London, Conn., the latter born at Fort Snelling, Minn., in 1827. The father, who was a merchant, died September 6, 1889; the mother died October 20, 1881; they were the parents of ten children, five of whom are still liv -- ing: James H .; George S., a commercial traveler; Earnie W., a clerk; Fannie H.,. wife of L. W. Hall; and Abbie S., all residing in Avondale. Our subject was edu- cated in Cincinnati, Ohio, and graduated from the Medical College of Ohio in 1867 .. He enlisted as private in Company B, One Hundred and Thirty-seventh O. V. I.,. during the war of the Rebellion. He was professor of physiology in the Cincinnati College of Medicine and Surgery from 1882 to 1886. On October 25, 1882, the Doctor was married to Mary Tharp Rice, a daughter of Sidney and Julia Renfield (Hall) Rice, the former a native of Troy, N. Y., born August 4, 1810, the latter a native of Greenfield, Mass., born September 18, 1818. Dr. Hazard is a member of the G. A. R., and is in sympathy with the Republican party. Dr. and Mrs. Hazard. are members of the Presbyterian and Episcopal Churches, respectively.

ALEXANDER GREER DRURY, physician and surgeon, office and residence No. 57 Gest street, Cincinnati, was born in Covington, Ky., February 3, 1844. His father,. Rev. Asa Drury, was born in Athol, Mass., July 26, 1802, graduated at Yale in 1829, and taught in the grammar schools at New Haven, also in a classical school at Providence, R. I., from 1830 to 1832. In the latter year he married Miss Mary E. Willard, of Providence, R. I., and in the same year was ordained a minister of the Baptist Church. In 1833 he was appointed professor of Greek in Granville. College (now Denison University), Ohio, where he remained until 1835, when he

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was appointed professor of Greek language and literature in the Cincinnati College. In 1838 his wife died, and in that year he left Cincinnati, having been appointed professor of Greek in Waterville College (now Colby University), Maine. On May 22, 1841, Mr. Drury married, for his second wife, Elizabeth Williams Getchell, daughter of Capt. Nehemiah Getchell, of Waterville. In 1842 he again came west, and was appointed professor of Greek in the Western Baptist Theological Institute, Covington, Ky., which position he held until the institution was closed. He was pastor of the First Baptist Church of Covington from 1842 to 1845; was for many years principal of the Covington high school, and superintendent of the public schools of that city. On February 8, 1862, he was commissioned chaplain of the Eighteenth Kentucky Volunteer Infantry. At the battle of Richmond, Ky., he was taken prisoner, but was soon after paroled by the Confederate general, Henry Heth. In 1863 failing health compelled him to resign. He died in Minne- apolis, Minn., March 18, 1870; his widow passed away in Bellevue, Ky., August 10, 1874. Rev. Asa Drury was a son of Joel Drury, a farmer by occupation, living in Athol, Massachusetts.

Our subject graduated at Centre College, Danville, Ky., receiving the degree A.B., in 1865, and A. M., in 1881. He studied medicine with Dr. W. W. Hender- son, of Covington, Ky. ; attended the Medical College of Ohio two years; received the degree M.D. from the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania, in 1868, and M. D. (ad eundem) from the Medical College of Ohio, in 1878. In 1869 he began practice in Cincinnati. The Doctor is a member of the Cincinnati Academy of Medicine, and was president in 1880; member of the Historical and Philosophi- cal Society of Ohio; member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon Fraternity; and professor of dermatology in the Presbyterian Hospital and Medical College for Women. On September 7, 1871, the Doctor was married to Miss Angie E. Kinkead, of Pontiac, Ill., daughter of Joseph D. Kinkead, of Kentucky, who for many years was a mer- chant in Cincinnati, dying in that city in October, 1882. Mrs. Drury's mother is Edna A. Kinkead (née Manser), of Virginia. Dr. and Mrs. Drury have one son, Alexander Getchell Drury, born in Cincinnati June 27, 1885.

GEORGE B. ORR, physician and surgeon, corner Fourth and Ludlow streets, Cin- cinnati, was born in that city, September 1, 1841, a son of Thomas Jefferson and Mary E. (Grandin) Orr, and a grandson of John and Margaret (Graham) Orr. The father was born in Culpeper county, Va., and settled in Cincinnati in 1832. Mar- garet Graham was the granddaughter of Lord Graham of Scotland. Our subject is also a grandson of Philip and Hannah (Piatt) Grandin, who settled at Cincinnati about 1810, and were intimate friends of Nicholas Longworth, who located here about the same time. The Piatts of the first settlement in Boone county, Ky., opposite the mouth of the Big Miami, were his ancestors. Here they built Federal Hall, an historic country residence, which is still occupied by members of the family. Thomas Jefferson Orr was a physician and surgeon; he had nine children, seven of whom are living.

The subject of this sketch was educated at the Cincinnati public schools, and at the Urbana University, Urbana, Ohio. He made the money himself (between ses- sions) with which to pay for his medical education. In 1869 he graduated from the Medical College of Ohio, having practiced for a time on the Cumberland river, below Nashville, before completing his professional studies. Immediately after his graduation he located in Cincinnati, and has since given his attention to general practice, although in recent years surgery has received the larger share of his attention. He has been professor of surgery in the Cincinnati College of Medicine and Surgery since October, 1882, and professor of surgery and dean of the Faculty of the Woman's Medical College since 1889. On March 4, 1864, he married Anna O., daughter of Hon. Henry E. and Henrietta (Halstead) Spencer, and granddaughter of Rev. O. M. Spencer, who settled at Columbia in 1790. Two children have blessed

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this union, Mary Louise and Anna Henrietta. Dr. Orr is a vestryman in Christ's Protestant Episcopal Church; he is a member of the Miami Valley Medical Society; of the Cincinnati Academy of Medicine, and of the Ohio State Medical Society. He is also a member of the Ohio Society of the Sons of the American Revolution.

ASA BRAINERD ISHAM, physician, whose office is at the corner of McMillan street and Gilbert avenue, Walnut Hills, was born at Jackson Court House, Ohio, July 12, 1844, a son of Chapman and Mary A. (Faulkner) Isham. The father, who was a merchant, banker, and dealer in iron, was born at Wilbraham, Mass., February 15, 1814, a son of Asa and Sarah (Chapman) Isham. The mother was born at Jackson Court House in 1821. The Isham family emigrated from England, landing at Cape Cod in 1660. One of its descendants became the mother of Thomas Jeffer- son. Dr. Isham received a public-school education in his native town, and gradu- ated from Marietta Academy. His first employment was with the Lake Superior Journal during 1860-61-62, a newspaper published at Marquette, Mich., and in the spring of 1862 he became city editor of the Detroit Tribune. In the autumn of the same year he enlisted in the Seventh Michigan Cavalry as a private, subsequently rising to the rank of first lieutenant. He served with credit until April 14, 1865, when he was discharged on account of wounds received in action. He was severely wounded in an engagement near Warrenton Junction, Va., May 14, 1863. Was again wounded in action at Tellow Tavern, Va., May 11, 1864, and captured. Was held a prisoner in the various officers' prisons in the South, and subjected to the fire of the Federal battery on Morris Island for several weeks while confined in Charleston, S. C .; was paroled for exchange December 11, 1864. He then went to Texas with the Fourth Army Corps, but returned to Ohio the same year, and bought an interest in a general store at Salina. In 1866 he began the study of medicine at the Medical College of Ohio, Cincinnati, completing his course in 1869, after which he at once began practice at Walnut Hills. His professional course has been conspicuously successful. He was pension examiner under President Harrison's administration, and lias been a member of the medical board of police examiners since April 8, 1886. In 1879 he was president of the Walnut Hills Medical Society. He has been a frequent contributor to the "American Journal of the Medical Sci- ences," the " Medical News" and other professional journals, and his articles have been widely copied in the medical periodicals of Europe. He edited the papers of the late 'Dr. A. T. Keyt, arranging them into a volume entitled "Sphygmography and Cardiography," which was issued from the press of G. P. Putnam's Sons in octavo form of 230 pages, and has attracted the attention of the scientific physicians the world over. Dr. Isham is one of the authors of "Prisoner of War and Military Prisons," a large octavo volume copiously illustrated, which treats exhaustively of life in Confederate prisons during the war of the Rebellion. A history of the Seventh Michigan Cavalry is also the product of his pen. He is also a contributor to the volumes of war papers published by the Ohio Commandery of the Loyal Legion and Fred C. Jones Post, G. A. R. From 1877 to 1880 he was professor of physiology in the Cincinnati College of Medicine and Surgery, and in 1880-81 pro- fessor of materia medica and therapeutics. The honorary degree of Master of Arts was conferred upon the Doctor by Marietta College in 1889. On October 10, 1870, he was married to Mary H., daughter of Alonza T. Keyt, M. D., and Susannah (Hamlin) Keyt, of Walnut Hills. Seven children are the result of this union. Mary K., Asa Chapman, Susan H., Alonza K., Frances C., Helen and Eleanor Louise.

JAMES T. WHITTAKER, M. D., office and residence No. 100 Garfield place, Cin- cinnati, was born in that city March 3, 1843, a son of James and Olivia (Lyons) Whittaker, the former of whom, by occupation a steamboat merchant, was born in Baltimore, in November, 1800, and died in 1861. The mother was born at Freder- ick City, Md., in March, 1820, and died August 15, 1893. Dr. Whittaker attended the public schools of Covington, Ky., during his boyhood days, obtained his literary

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education at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, and the University of Pennsylvania, graduating from the last named institution in 1866. He graduated also from the Medical College of Ohio in 1867, and has since practiced his profession at Cincin- nati, where his reputation is deservedly high. He is a member of the Cincinnati Academy of Medicine; the Ohio State Medical Society; the American Medical Asso- ciation; the American Academy of Medicine; the College of Physicians and Sur- geons of Philadelphia; and the Association of American Physicians. He holds the chair of practice in the Faculty of the Medical College of Ohio, and lectures on chemical medicine at the Good Samaritan Hospital. Dr. Whittaker's contributions to the literature of the profession have been important. He is the author of a text- book on "Practice " and "Lectures on Physiology;" was editor of the Cincinnati Clinic seven years, and a contributor to Wood's "Hand Book," Pepper's "System of Medicine," and Hare's "Therapeutics." During the war of the Rebellion the- Doctor was assistant-surgeon in the United States navy. Dr. Whittaker was mar- ried August 19, 1890, to Miss Virginia L. Joy, of St. Louis.

NATHANIEL PENDLETON DANDRIDGE, physician and surgeon, office and residence No. 148 Broadway, Cincinnati, was born in that city, April 16, 1846, a son of Alex- ander Spotswood and Martha Eliza (Hunt) Dandridge. His father was born in Jef- ferson county, Va., November 2, 1819, and moved to Cincinnati in 1843; he was a physician by profession, and died April 27, 1888; his wife was born in Cincinnati in 1823, and died in 1881. Dr. Dandridge received his early education in Brook's School, at Cincinnati, and Kenyon College. He attended the Medical College of Ohio one year; afterward pursued his medical studies in Paris and Vienna, and on his return to this country graduated at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, in 1870. Dr. Dandridge has since practiced his profession in Cincinnati,. making a specialty of surgery. He has been for some time professor of surgery at the Miami Medical College, and surgeon to the Cincinnati Hospital, and the Epis- copal Hospital for Children. He is a member of the American Surgical Associa- tion, American Medical Association, and the Ohio State Medical Society, and is one of the most successful and reputable physicians and surgeons in southern Ohio, enjoying the confidence of his fellow-practitioners as well as the wide community in which his practice extends.

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History of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio; their past and present, Part 103

Author: Nelson, S.B., Cincinnati Publication date: 1894 Publisher: Cincinnati : S. B. Nelson Number of Pages: 1592

Author: Nelson, S.B., Cincinnati
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Cincinnati : S. B. Nelson
Number of Pages: 1592