History of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio; their past and present, Part 114

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

USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > History of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio; their past and present > Part 114

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

* J. D. Buck, M. D., is the author of the biography of J. H. Pulte, and the history of the college which bears his name and is connected with his sketch; he also prepared the sketches of Drs. Benjamin F. Ehrman, Ise- dorich Ehrman, H. P. Gatchell, Davis, James G. Hunt, A. Shepherd, Adolph Bauer, Gerhard Saal and Edwin C. Witherell.

720

HISTORY OF CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON COUNTY.

publication of the magazine of Homeopathy and Hydropathy, in which he continued about two years. In the same year he accepted an invitation to take the chair of Clinical Medicine and Obstetrics in the Western College of Homeopathy at Cleve- land, Ohio, which he filled most acceptably two years. In 1853-54, seeing the necessity for a place of amusement in Cleveland, he built the Academy of Music, which remained in bis possession for nearly seven years.

In 1853 he published the " Woman's Medical Guide," which became a very popu- lar work, and sold very largely in this country and England. It was also translated into Spanish, and had an extensive circulation in Cuba and South American coun- tries. In 1855 he published a monogram upon diphtheria and its treatment. In the same year he delivered the annual address before the American Institute of Homeopathy at Buffalo, N. Y. In 1872 he assisted in organizing a Homeopathic Medical College in Cincinnati, which, in honor of his long and valuable labors in the profession, bears his name. He accepted the chair of Clinical Medicine in the col- lege, which he occupied two years. Owing to advancing age and accumulating infirmities, he relinquished the duties of this office in 1874. Dr. Pulte acquired large wealth as the result of his labors and frugality, and lived to enjoy it until March, 1884, when he passed on to the reward that awaits a faithful and conscien- tious stewardship.

In the year 1868 Homeopathic physicians of Cincinnati, aided by their patrons, organized a fair for the purpose of raising funds with which to start a free dis- pensary for the poor of the city. This net result of the fair, which lasted three days, was about fourteen thousand dollars. A building was leased at the intersec- tion of Smith and Seventh streets at a rental of $1,500 a year, and one Dr. Cloud employed at a salary of $1,500 per annum to conduct the dispensary. At the end of two years but $4,609 of the original fund remained, and the dispensary had to be abandoned by Dr. Cloud, leaving the lease on the trustees' hands. Dr. J. D. Buck having removed to the city, undertook to relieve the dispensary, and the fol- lowing year found it in successful operation. The surplus of $4,600 remaining went into the fund for the purchase of the college property on the corner of Sev- enth and Mound streets, the Faculty of the college agreeing to maintain the dis- pensary at their own expense for a period of ten years, which maintenance they have continued to the present time.

Pulte Medical College was organized under the common law in May, 1872, with a capital stock of $5,000 submitted to legal appraisers. Its first circular was issued in May and its first annual announcement in June of the same year. The first circular contained the following statement: "A Homeopathic college with the above name (Pulte Medical College) has been organized in Cincinnati in just recog- nition of its founder, the pioneer of Homeopathy west of the Alleghanies, by whose munificence the finances of the college are placed beyond an experimental basis. Dr. Pulte furnished $5,000, with which the college organized under the common law, and gave later to Hon. Bellamy Storer, first president of the board of trustees, a written pledge signed by himself and wife, promising to endow the college with $50,000 at his death. At the opening lecture of the first course Dr. Pulte further stated that his entire estate should eventually fall to the college that bore his name. The following gentlemen constituted the first board of trustees of the college: Hon. Bellamy Storer, Hon. M. B. Hagans, Hon. Job E. Stevenson, Gazzam Gano, John E. Bell, Hugh McBirney, J. S. Keck, R. M. Bishop, J. P. Epply, C. F. Brad- ley, J. H. Pulte, J. N. Banning, J. W. Baker, S. C. Foster, S. R. Beckwith, George Eustis, A. H. Hinkle, W. L. Evans, Amos Shinkle, F. G. Huntington, Hon. P. W. Strader, J. Stacy Hill, A. B. Bullock, John Cinnamon, J. N. Kinneo, J. W. Ban- ning. M. H. Slosson. Officers of the board-Hon. Bellamy Storer, president; R. M. Bishop, vice-president; W. L. Evans, secretary; George Eustis, treasurer. The following named physicians comprised the first Faculty of the college: J. H.

a. g. rilton

721

HISTORY OF CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON COUNTY.

Pulte, M. D., Clinician Medicine; Charles Cropper, M. D., Materia Medica; M. H. Slosson, M. D., Obstetrics; T. C. Bradford, M. D., Gynecology; D. H. Beckwith, M. D., Pædology; C. C. Bronson, M. D., Surgical Pathology; S. R. Beckwith, M. D., Operative Surgery; D. W. Hartshorn, M. D., Surgery.

The first college session included five months, and next to a graded course of instruction by the Faculty the requirements for graduation were the following con- ditions:

"Must be twenty-one years of age and must have attended two full terms of med- ical lectures, the last of which shall be in this college. They must have studied medicine not less than three years, including class sessions under the immediate instruction of a competent practitioner. They must have a good English education and sustain a thorough examination in medicine and surgery." Thirty eight stu- dents matriculated from the first session, of which number ten took the full three- years' course. There were ten graduates at the close of the first term of students who had begun their college course elsewhere. Dr. Pulte gave but one course of lectures in the college, his health failing soon after the opening of the second term. About this time the college became embarrassed financially, as the fees from stu- dents were inadequate for expenses. The building at the corner of Seventh and Walnut streets, known as the Maxwell Female Seminary, had been purchased by joint contract of the Faculty, Dr. Pulte agreeing to eventually provide the money for the purchase. When the college became embarrassed for funds a fair was held by the lady patrons, netting about thirty-five hundred dollars. A year later pay- ments for the purchase of the property becoming due, the property was sold under foreclosure, and eventually reclaimed through funds furnished by the Faculty and their friends. Dr. Wm. Owens had the matter especially in charge, and by aid of the Faculty and his own personal guarantee brought the matter to a successful issue. The title was invested in trustees for the college and dispensary on a lease with privilege of purchase at $25,000, hereafter the receipts from students' fees. sufficed to pay expenses and ground rent and to conduct the free dispensary for the benefit of the poor of the city until the death of Dr. Pulte, when, he having made . no further provision for the college, it became necessary to establish its claim to. endowment after Mrs. Pulte's death. This was accordingly undertaken in court, resulting in a compromise and the payment of $25,000, this amount and the pre- vious $5,000 for organization being all that was realized by the college out of Dr. Pulte's estate. This result was due largely to Dr. Pulte's failing health and its. mental impairment thereto, which decreased his interest and rendered him unmind- ful of his former enthusiasm and promises to the college. All who know Dr. Pulte and witnessed his enthusiasm and heard his pledges at the opening of the college knew that he fully intended to make the college his heir and the crowning work of a most worthy career and a successful life. In his failing health suspicions were easily aroused and taken advantage of by persons interested in their own personal profit. Hence the plans of his prime were defeated and the college deprived of the endowment he fully intended.

BENJAMIN F. EHRMANN. The next Homeopathic physician in point of time, whom we find among the pioneers of southern Ohio, is Dr. Benjamin F. Ehrmann. Her was born in Jack-Haussen, Germany, and emigrated to the United States in 1834. He acquired his medical education at the Allentown Academy and took his degree. from the Hahnemann Homeopathic Medical College of Philadelphia. He afterward settled for a time in Harrisburgh, Penn. In 1843 we find him in Chillicothe, Ohio, practicing his profession. In 1849 he removed to Cincinnati and formed a partner- ship with Dr. Pulte. At the expiration of the partnership he purchased property adjoining his former office and continued to practice until a few months previous to his death, which occurred in March, 1886.

722

HISTORY OF CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON COUNTY.

ISEDORICH EHRMANN, M. D., a brother of Dr. Benjamin F. Ehrmann, was born in Jack- Haussen, Germany, and received his medical education at the University of Quebingein. Soon after receiving his degree in medicine he emigrated to the United States, and arrived at New York in the spring of 1833, his first place of residence being Carlisle, Penn. Not content, however, with his professional pros- pects here, he soon afterward removed to Baltimore, Md. In 1857 we find him in full and active practice in the city of Buffalo, N. Y. Upon the encouragement from his brother in Cincinnati he was induced to remove to that city, where he rapidly

acquired a large and profitable practice. He was known as one of the oldest homeopathic physicians in the State. He is now deceased.

H. P. GATCHELL, M. D., was born in Hollowell, Maine, and graduated at Bow- doin College, Maine. He came west and graduated in medicine at the Louisville Medical College. Not being satisfied with the prevailing system of therapeutics of the day, he, in. 1842, obtained some French works on Homeopathy. He investi- gated the system, experimented with it, and soon satisfied himself that it was the most important contribution to medical science that had ever been made, and ever after was one of its leading exponents. In 1843, Dr. Gatchell married Miss Anna Crane, of Cincinnati, who with five sons survives him. In 1848 he accepted the professorship of anatomy in the Eclectic Medical Institute, Cincinnati, meantime practicing homeopathy, and through his influence Dr. Storm Rosa was invited to lecture in the institute the following year. In 1850 Dr. Gatchell removed to Cleve- land, and accepted a professorship in the Western College of Homeopathy. For some years he was connected with a sanitarium in Asheville, N. C., a popular health resort. He died about 1887, and his sons continue the work.

DR. DAVIS. In July, 1849, Dr. Davis, a very skillful and intelligent physician, opened a pharmacy and a free dispensary in Cincinnati, and during the cholera epi- demic which then prevailed, rendered very efficient pioneer work in behalf of Home- opathy. Many of the citizens had become quite thoroughly demoralized on account of the alarming mortality of the epidemic under allopathic practice, and patronized the pharmacy with the utmost liberality for preventive medicines, which were now quite well known to both profession and laity. After a few years Dr. Davis disposed of his pharmacy and left the city, and we have been unable to trace his further history.

JAMES G. HUNT, M. D., was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, June 12, 1821. He received a good literary education at Woodward College, of that city, and graduated in medicine from the Eclectic Medical Institute of Cincinnati, in March, 1848. He entered into partnership in practice with Prof. B. L. Hill. In 1852 they issued jointly a work upon homeopathic surgery. In 1853 he retired from the profession for a short time, but such were its attractions to him that he soon returned again, and continues in it to the present time. He enjoys good health, and a fair practice mostly limited to chronic diseases.

A. SHEPHERD, M. D., graduated at the Eclectic Medical Institute in Cincinnati, March, 1849, and immediately moved to Springdale, Hamilton Co., Ohio, and com- menced the practice of homeopathy. So far as known, Dr. Shepherd was the only homeopathic physician at that time between Cincinnati and Dayton. In a few years Dr. Shepherd moved to Glendale, Hamilton Co., Ohio, and bought and improved a handsome property in which he resided. He accumulated considerable wealth, as the result of a long and industrious professional life. He is now deceased, and two sons honor their father by adopting his profession.

ADOLPH BAUER, M. D., was born and educated in Germany. He became a citi- zen of Cincinnati about 1848. He soon acquired a large practice among the best citizens, which clung to him under the most severe trials. No one could retain a firmer hold upon his patrons than Dr. Bauer. He died in 1867, lamented by a large number of his fellow citizens. Dr. Bauer was always regarded as a friend to the afflicted poor.

723

HISTORY OF CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON COUNTY.

GERHARD SAAL, M.D., arrived in this country from Germany about the year 1846. In 1847 we find him practicing homeopathy in Springfield, Ohio, whence, in, 1852, he came to Cincinnati, and formed a partnership with E. C. Witherell, M. D. He was a highly educated German, and immediately occupied the front rank in the pro- fession in Cincinnati. He assisted in the organization of the Pulte Medical College, and accepted the chair of Clinical Medicine and Hygiene in the college. He died in Cincinnati in the summer of 1873, much lamented by all who had the honor of his personal acquaintance.

EDWIN C. WITHERELL, M. D., late a professor of anatomy in the Western Col- lege of Homeopathy in Cleveland, Ohio, removed from Cleveland to Cincinnati in the spring of 1852. He had spent two years in Europe, preparing himself for the higher duties of his profession. He was an agreeable, courteous gentleman, and won the respect and confidence of all who knew him. He had a select and emi- nently respectable practice among the most prominent citizens. Dr. Witherell died of cholera in 1866.

DR. JAMES HOPPLE, who died at his residence on Spring Grove avenue, Cincin- nati, September 5, 1891, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, July 6, 1816, and was a son of Casper and Anna Marie Hopple. His mother's great-grandmother was a sister of Admiral van Tromp, of Holland. His father came from Philadelphia to Cincin- nati in 1787, and established the first tobacco and snuff manufactory west of the Alleghany Mountains, on the site now occupied by the electric plant and water works of the Farmers and Drovers Stock Yards.

Dr. Hopple read medicine under the tutorship of Dr. W. W. Dawson, was grad- uated from the Ohio Medical College, and for several years enjoyed a very lucra- tive practice. In 1866, he, in company with his son James C., purchased the busi- ness of Parker (R. B.), Hopple & Company, wholesale grocers, and in 1880 the firm assumed the title of James C. Hopple & Company, admitting Casper van Tromp Hopple. Eight years later the firm became Hopple, Flach & Company, a few months previous to the death of James C. Hopple. Casper van Tromp Hopple is the only survivor. The last named gentleman was educated in the public schools of Cincinnati, Chickering Institute, and Eminence College, leaving the latter at the end of his junior year. He soon after entered the mercantile business in which he is still engaged. On October 9, 1890, the Farmers and Drovers Stock Yard Company, of which he was made president, was organized, and on May 15, of the following year, thie yards were ready. for operation. The property, adjoining the Union Stock Yards, covers two acres, and is three stories high, thus making six acres of pens, and there are four acres additional now in course of construction. Mr. Hopple was married January 8, 1880, to Miss Saralı, daughter of Capt. William Hanna, of Cincinnati, and they have one child, William H. He and his wife are members of the Christian Church, and he is a member of the Order of Elks; in his political views he favors the Democratic party. The family reside in the old Hopple homestead on Spring Grove avenue.

JONATHAN TAFT, physician and surgeon, and Doctor of Dental Surgery, No. 122 West Seventh street, Cincinnati, was born in Russelville, Brown Co., Ohio, Septem- ber 17, 1820, a son of Lyman and Hannah (Waite) Taft, natives of Massachusetts and Ohio, respectively, both born of American ancestry. Lyman Taft, who was the second son of Cheney and Chloe (White) Taft, was born in Goshen, Mass., Novem- ber 17, 1795, and received his education in the public schools of Williamstown, the seat of Williams College. His father was a joiner by trade, born May 3, 1771, and his mother was a descendant of Peregrine White, of the "Mayflower" band. At the age of seventeen he enlisted in the army of the war of 1812, but on the way to Boston was taken sick, and left by his company at Springfield. Upon liis recov- ery he was sent home, where he remained until about the age of nineteen, when he and his brother Newell left home and started for the "Far West." They traveled

724

HISTORY OF CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON COUNTY.

to central New York, where his brother remained, but Lyman proceeded into Penn- sylvania. where he passed the winter of 1818, teaching school, after which he wended his way into Ohio, and taught school there. After stopping a short time at Man- chester, Adams Co., Ohio, where he learned that a teacher was wanted in the inte- rior of the State, he made his way to a flourishing settlement on Brush creek, a branch of the Scioto river, where he taught school for about a year. During part of the time he was thus engaged he lived in the family of Mr. Jonathan Waite, whose eldest daughter, Hannah, became his wife in the winter of 1819. Soon after his marriage he removed to Russelville, Brown county, where he remained about two years, and then returned to the neighborhood of his father-in-law, where he bought a farm, which he cultivated according to the knowledge of agriculture in those early days. He was also a carpenter by trade, and had quite an extensive business among the early settlers. After ten years he reinoved to the vicinity of Decatur, Ohio, where he lived about eight years, and then removed to Ripley, and later to Xenia, and still later to Rome, Adams county, where he lived for about seven years, serving as postmaster the most of this time. In 1870 he came to Cin- cinnati where he remained until his death, which occurred at the residence of his son, Dr. C. R. Taft, at Wyoming, in the eighty-sixth year of his age.

About 1660 Robert Taft and his wife, Sarah, emigrated from England and set- tled in Mendon, Mass. Their fourth son, Joseph, born in 1680, married Miss Eliza- beth Emerson, granddaughter of Joseph Emerson, the first minister of that town, and died July 18, 1747. Peter Taft, son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Emerson) Taft, was born in 1715, and married Elizabeth Cheney in 1735, after which they resided in Uxbridge. Mass. Their son, Gershom Taft, the father of Cheney Taft, was born October 29, 1739, and in 1764 married Abigail Read; he died in 1813, and his wife in 1816, the latter at the age of eighty years.

The subject of this sketch enjoyed only the advantages of a common-school edu- cation until the age of fourteen, after which he attended an academy two years, where he gained some knowledge of Greek, Latin and Mathematics. At the end of the two succeeding years, during which time he was engaged in farm work, he en- gaged as teacher in a common school, in which capacity he continued about four years. In 1841 he began the study of dentistry with Dr. George D. Tetor, of Ripley, Ohio, and was graduated from the Ohio College of Dental Surgery in 1850; located at Ripley, Ohio, and soon after began the practice of his profession, which is justly proud of him, making a specialty of dental surgery. He has been a mem- ber of the Ohio Dental College Association since its organization in 1852. During the last thirty years he has devoted his attention and most ardent efforts toward the organization and support of dental associations, regarding them as incalculable ben- efits for the development and progress of the profession. He also became a mem- ber of the American Society of Dental Surgeons in 1852, of the American Dental Convention, also of the Mississippi Dental Society, and was chosen president of the former in 1863. He was one of the twenty-four gentlemen who organized the American Dental Association in 1859, and was its secretary from the date of its inception until 1868, when he was chosen as its presiding officer. Dr. Taft is also a member of the Cincinnati Society of Natural History, and of the American Medi- cal Association. His labors have been conspicuous in over seventy different profes- sional associations, and during the past twenty-four years he has attended from fifteen to thirty societies annually. The Ohio State Dental Society, the Northern Ohio Dental Association, and a large number of others are pleased and benefited for his being a member of their organizations. In 1893 he represented the State of Ohio as a member of the executive committee of the World's Columbian Dental Congress at Chicago. He is at present dean and professor of oral pathology and surgery of the College of Dental Surgery of the University of Michigan. In 1856 he became one of the editors and publishers of the " Dental Register of the West," and after

725

HISTORY OF CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON COUNTY.

a few years assumed sole proprietorship, which has since existed with the exception of a short period. For the past twenty- five years he has had entire editorial man- agement and control, having in all devoted more than thirty-seven years of unceas- ing effort to the interest of this publication. It was issued quarterly until July, 1860, when it became a monthly, and in 1886 its title was changed to the "Dental Register." He has written numerous articles in the interest of his profession that belong to the highest order of literary and scientific efforts of this country. In 1858-59,he wrote a treatise on " Operative Dentistry," which has been adopted as a text-book in colleges, and has been relied upon as an authority wherever the science is known. It has been translated into German and other languages, an appreciation rarely shown English works of science, and until recently unknown. The second edition was issued in 1868, the third in 1877; a fourth was called for and published in 1883, and a fifth edition is now in course of preparation. Dr. Taft was married, in 1842, to Miss Hannah Collins, daughter of Nathaniel and Nancy Collins of Ripley, Ohio, natives of Ohio and Maryland. This happy union was blessed with six chil- dren, three of whom are living: William, a dentist, Cincinnati; Alphonso, a dentist, Manistee, Mich., and Antoinette (Mrs. Edwards), of Wyoming. Mrs. Taft died in April, 1888, and in September, 1889, the Doctor married Miss Mary E. Sabin. Dr. Taft is a member of the Orthodox Congregational Church; a Republican in his polit- ical views. He resides in Avondale.

JAMES LESLIE. This well-known and widely-respected citizen of Cincinnati has been identified with the city's growth, and material and intellectual progress, for considerably more than half a century. Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in August, 1819, he inherited those well-known characteristics which have made the Scotchman an example of thrift and intelligence wherever he has cast his lot. His parents were John and Margaret (Scott) Leslie.

After acquiring a primary education in the grammar schools of his native city, our subject came with his parents to America in 1834, locating in New York City. There as occasion afforded he followed his studies, and soon after his arrival was apprenticed to learn the trade of gold-beater to a house engaged in the manufacture of gold leaf, and dentists' gold foil. He finished his apprenticeship in 1838, four years later, and came to Cincinnati. His brother Andrew M. had learned the gold- beater's trade a little earlier, and the two introduced that branch of manufacture in Cincinnati, in a small plant on the site of the present Baldwin piano store on Fourth street. The style of the firm was A. & J. Leslie, and the brothers continued busi- ness harmoniously and profitably until 1842, when James withdrew and entered Bethany College in Virginia (now West Virginia), of which the distinguished Alex- ander Campbell was at that time president. After his return to Cincinnati, he suc- ceeded his brother in the business he had established, the latter at that time entering the Ohio College of Dental Surgery, and subsequently becoming and long continuing to be one of the leading lights of the dental profession of Cincinnati and the West. Dr. Leslie continued the old business until 1863, when he disposed of his interest to Messrs. Lockwood & Maguire, his two oldest apprentices, under whose ownership it was well known for many years, and both of whom are now dead. Meantime by association with his brother, whom he aided greatly in many practical ways, Dr. Leslie had acquired a thorough knowledge of dentistry and the requirements of the dental profession, and upon relinquishing liis old business, he opened a depot of dental supplies on Race street, at the corner of Fourth. This enterprise he carried on with much success from 1863 to 1873, when he disposed of it and retired finally from active life. Since that time he has given much attention to the improvement of dental materials along scientific lines, devoting himself to practical work in his laboratory to such good effect that he has become known as one of the most original and beneficent workers for the advancement of this branch of surgical science. He was the first to discover the adaptability to the purposes of dentistry of the cohesion

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio; their past and present, Part 114

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