History of Sandusky County Ohio with Illustrations 1882, Part 68

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Coal dealers-E. P. Underhill & Co. Cooper shop-John A. Grant.

Dentists-A. F. Price, F. T. Creager. Druggist-G. W. Petty.

Dry goods-Hermon & Wilson, Jenkins & McElroy, John Ryan, J. Joseph.

Elevator-E. H. Underhill & Co.

Fancy goods-D. H. Altaffer, S. P. Hansom & Co., E. Sympkins, W. H. Hart

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Flour and feed-Chan. Norton.

Grain dealers-George Engler, Gusdorf Bros., D. Wagner.

Grocers-Baker & Stine, G. F. Buchman, P. Dillane, H. F. Dwelle, Ernst Bros., T. F. Heffner, Frank Bauman, D. Hock, J. Horn, Kelly & Hauck, Lynch, A. Miller, J. C. Street, Robert Hidber, S. P. Wottring, Lawrence Dick.

Gun manufacturers-George Thompson, Harry Thompson.

Hotels-Ball House, John Ford, proprietor; Peach House, Richard Peach, proprietor; American House, J. Paulus, proprietor; Tell House, William Hocke, proprietor; Germania House, J. B. Weber, proprietor.

Ice dealer-A. Hodes.

Insurance agents-L. B. Ward; J. K. Elderkin, William B. Kridler, jr., D. F. Thomson, Z. Ross.

Jewelers-E. L. Cross & Bro., William Gasser, A. V. Hamilton.

Justices of the peace-Samuel Brinkerhoff, M. E. Tyler, F. R. Fronizer.

Lime manufacturers-Gottron Bros., A. D. & F. L. Noble, Quilter Bros.

Marble works-Gurst & Son, Purdy & Williams.

Meat markets-Henry Adler, J. Bauman & Co., S. Cohn.

Merchant tailors-N. Barendt, S. Ballau, F. Brady.

Organs and pianos-Heberling & Darst. Photographers-Charles Pascoe, H. Post, R. Groben.

Pump manufacturers-C. Baker, Barney Meyers. Saddle and harness manufacturer- William Schroder.

Sign painter-George Dole.

Stoves and tinware-Winter Bros.

Tile works-Fremont Brick and Tile Co., William Parker.

Undertakers-E. Swartz, C. W. Tschumy.

CHAPTER XXVII. FREMONT-MEDICAL

*Sanitary History and the Medical Profession.

T HOSE who have travelled over San- dusky county within the past ten or twenty years can form but an imperfect idea of this region, then known as the Black Swamp, between twenty-five and forty years ago. There can not probably

*Note .- We are under obligations to all the physicians who have furnished information for this chapter, but especially to Dr. John B. Rice and Dr. Thomas Stillwell, for interesting contributions, and to Dr. James W. Wilson for the special interest he has taken in having the subject fully presented.

be found elsewhere a richer or more durable soil. The farms are now mostly well improved, and their owners occupy commodious dwellings, constructed not merely with reference to furnishing com- fortable homes for their occupants, but with due regard to appearances. The barns and other out-buildings are large and pleasing to the eye, and afford ample room for storing and sheltering the immense crops and improved stock that now reward

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the farmer's toil and intelligent enterprise. The land is adequately drained, for the numerous creeks that help to swell the San- dusky, the Portage, and the Maumee, afford every desirable facility toward this end. Thorough ditching, and in many instances tile under-drainage, and the removal of dead timber from the small streams, have accomplished the rest.

The roads are generally well improved, many of them macadamized, and the bridges safe and of good construction.

How remarkable is the change! Formerly, where now are large farms, there were only small clearings of a few acres each, fairly covered with stumps and "girdled" or deadened trees. The small log cabin, with its chimney of sticks and clay, puncheon floors and clapboard roof, and the little log stable, were the means of protection from wind and weather erected by the hardy pioneers, generally with their own hands, assisted by willing neighbors on the day of "raising." The small pro-duce of the soil and the stock were generally kept without shelter. The un- threshed grain, hay, and fodder were systematically stacked to favor shedding the rain. Potatoes and other vegetables were covered in "pits," in the absence of cellars. The pigs ran at large, and fattened well on hickory nuts and acorns. A little corn was fed for a brief period before butchering, to "harden the fat." The grain saved from the ravages of blackbirds and raccoons was required for bread, and for the work-horses and oxen that richly earned their share for the hard work performed among the logs and stumps. The driver was often noisy, and by no means choice in his expressions.

In those days there were few roads worthy of the name, and the best of these were mostly thickly set with stumps and dead trees, and scarcely passable for teams during the spring and fall. In the worst

places, where they were otherwise impass- able, causeways were made of logs, often of unequal size, placed side by side. This constituted the now obsolete "corduroy road," which, serving a useful purpose in its time, one can not now contemplate without a shudder, remembering the horrible jolting of the springless vehicles that passed over them, and the almost unfathomable mud-hole with which they commenced and ended. There were few bridges, and these of very primitive construction, and often unsafe. The prudent horseman often went round them, or dismounted in crossing.

The swales and small creeks were so obstructed by fallen trees, that had ac- cumulated as driftwood, that the flow of water was greatly hindered, and when there was much rain it overflowed the adjacent land. A large part of the rainfall disappeared by evaporation, and slow percolation through the soil. The well water, especially where the land was particularly wet, was colored and flavored by decaying vegetation.

The prevailing diseases during this period, in Sandusky county, were the same as were encountered during a similar era in all Northwestern Ohio, and in Indiana and Michigan, as well as elsewhere. They were of miasmatic origin, and most prevalent in the autumnal months. Some sea-sons hardly an inhabitant escaped. Occasionally the fevers were especially malignant. The remittent form of fever was generally, however, amenable to treatment, but still always regarded as a serious malady. When not of the pernicious or congestive type, the cases of intermittent fever were usually promptly relieved by remedies. This was, however, by no means so with the chronic intermittent, or ague, which was also most prevalent in the fall, and yet had a fashion of staying around during the rest of the year. Whether the

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attack occurred daily, or every second or third day, its coming on was seldom a sur- prise. Its pale and sallow victims were often discouraged by the recurrence of the disease upon the slightest exposure. They wearied of the doctors' monotonously bitter doses, and themselves scoured the woods plucking and digging after indigenous "sure cures." It was an open question among the people whether it were better to try any cure at all, or to bravely "wear it out."

As prevalent as miasmatic fevers were in those days, the improvement of the county gradually effected a decided change for the better, until now Sandusky county is as free from this class of disease as any part of Northwestern Ohio. It is doubtful, indeed, whether any part of Ohio is now more salubrious. Within recent years this region has enjoyed a fair degree of exemption from epidemic diseases. The year 1834 was probably the most dreadful in the history of this locality, made so by a terrible cholera scourge. In August of that year a boat load of emigrants came from Buffalo, among whom was a travelling man. The traveler, upon the arrival of the boat at our landing, came up to the Western House, then the leading hotel of Northwestern Ohio. A man named Marsh was the landlord. The emigrants encamped on the bottom near the landing. During the night after his arrival the stranger in the hotel was taken sick. He requested the presence of a Free Mason, if there were any in the village, and Harvey J. Harman was sent for. Mr. Harman attended the stranger during the night and until he died in the morning. Drs. Brainard and Rawson pronounced cholera the cause of death. The village was panic-stricken. Harman, in a couple of days, died, and then Marsh, the land-lord of the Western House, and his wife. All who could get away left town, and with

few exceptions, those who could not get away closed their houses and admitted no one. The Olmsteds went into the country, leaving their store and the post office in charge of Mr. Everett. Dr. Anderson - would see no one, and Dr. Brainard was himself attacked but recovered. At the beginning of the scourge death followed attack quickly. An old bachelor-Billy Stripe-who lived east of the town, came in one day and was seized on the street. He found refuge on a pile of shavings in a new building being erected on the corner of Croghan and Front streets, and in a few hours was dead. The emigrants' camp down by the landing was a place of indescribable suffering. Many of them died without attendance, and the living could scarce bury the dead. Joel Everett was one day passing this encampment on his way home from Lower Sandusky. He had not gone far before the dread disease compelled him to stop. The neighbors dared not take him into their houses, but built a tent over him by the roadside and provided a bed, on which he died on the following day. He was buried near his lonely death-bed.

The scourge lasted about three weeks, and the percentage of mortality was large. During the whole time Mr. Brown, Mr. Birchard, Judge Hulburd, and Dr. Rawson made themselves eminently useful in caring for the sick and burying the dead. Homer Everett acted as general commissary, having the keys of nearly all the stores, with instructions to take out whatever was needed. Most of the merchants cleared the town. About one month elapsed before the disease was wholly eradicated.

In 1849, when cholera visited Sandusky city with such frightful mortality, there were one or two deaths among those who had taken refuge here, but it did not spread. Almost every family forsook the town.

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There were also one or two deaths in 1854, and two cases, both fatal, in 1866. An epidemic of cerebro spinal meningitis, not affecting large numbers, but character- istically fatal, occurred in 1847-48 in Fremont and vicinity. This disease has reappeared two or three times since, and was the cause of several deaths during the present year.

During the latter part of the winter of 1848-49 an exceedingly malignant type of erysipelas prevailed throughout the town and county. It attacked many and was very fatal. Among those who fell victims were two physicians, Drs. A. H. Brown and B. F. Williams. In 1856 dysentery prevailed and caused many deaths. Fremont has enjoyed a remarkable exemption from diphtheria, for although since about 1857-58 this dreadful malady has carried off a small number during several and even the present year, the disease never at any time prevailed extensively in the town. It has, however, been in some seasons very destructive in various neighborhoods in different parts of the county. As miasmatic fevers grew less and less prevalent, typhoid fever seemed in some sense to take their place, and appears now to be firmly implanted. This fever is fully as prevalent, if not indeed more so, in the country than in the town, and appears, in both instances, to be clearly traceable to local causes within the reach of practicable means of prevention, when intelligence respecting the causes of its development and diffusion becomes more general. The first appearance of scarlet fever is believed to have been about the year 1852, when it occurred in a malignant form, and since that year, although it has occurred on several occasions, the disease has been confined to a few families, and has not been remarkably fatal. Cases of smallpox have now and then been witnessed,

but the disease has never spread among our people.

The pioneers of Sandusky county who endured, with almost matchless fortitude, great privations, were, by the force of circumstances, unable to avoid those diseases which inevitably result where, in such a climate as this, the virgin soil with its rank vegetation is first exposed to the rays of the sun by work done with the axe and the plow. No human foresight or skill is able to prevent the development of the peculiar miasma or germ thus brought into activity, and which, though unperceived by the senses, is still the undoubted source of miasmatic fevers. Prolonged cultivation, however, diminishes, if it does not finally entirely remove the conditions favorable to the causation of diseases of this class. The case is far different with many of the diseases with which we are now called upon to contend, and which are produced by decaying matter supplied by living beings. In our cities, villages, and country places little attention is paid to the prevention of con- tamination of wells and springs supplying water used for drinking by filthy accumu- lations. In many situations, if not in most, the water thus used is manifestly rendered noxious by such sources of contamination, and not until the importance of this condition of affairs is fully realized in its relation to the production of disease, and intelligent and effective measures, in accordance with modern sanitary science, are faithfully carried out, can we hope to wipe out those diseases, which are now looked upon by the medical faculty as practically preventable.

DR. GOODIN was probably the first physician to locate in the village of Lower Sandusky. He came soon after the garrison was removed. His very meager income was increased somewhat by teaching school. He was somewhat eccentric, and

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was particularly noticeable on account of his frontier dress, which he continued to wear for several years. He always wore a coat and pantaloons of deerskin, which looked very well in fair weather, but in rainy times his clothes stretched and drew to disagreeable shapes. He left here after about ten years.

DR. HASTINGS came to Lower Sandusky about 1816. He was a man of refined manners and general scholarship. In his profession he was successful, and had con- siderable practice, but it was of a laborious and unprofitable character, not differing in this respect from the practice of all the pioneer physicians. He left here in 1828.

DR. HOLLOWAY was another of the pioneer doctors, but we are unable to learn anything about him. He remained but a short time.

DR. DANIEL BRAINARD, a native of

New York, began the practice of medicine in Lower Sandusky in 1819, and continued for a period of about forty years. He ranked among the first practitioners in Northwestern Ohio, and for many years his practice embraced the settlements included by a line running east of Bellevue, south as far as Fort Seneca, west to Portage River and north to the lake. Perhaps no man ever lived in the county who had a more varied experience of pioneer life. He was here when the county east and west was a roadless expanse of dark, damp forest, cut into two parts by a tortuous stream over whose rapid current in its upper course skirting trees joined their outstretching branches, and bordering the still waters in its lower course were grassy prairies. Lower Sandusky was an expansion of this forest path, which Indian romance and military history had already celebrated. When Dr. Brainard came here, a village was already showing signs of life and growth, but all around was dark wilderness, the gloom of which was broken only

by an occasional habitation. The practice of medicine was especially arduous, be-cause it required almost constant travel. Dr. Brainard was not only sound in the science of physic, but was a descriptive writer of force and interest. He was himself the hero of an ad- venture worthy of being preserved. The world has little enough romance without any being lost. Prosy detail is the bane of history. Romantic episodes are necessary to destroy the drudgery of life, and make history interesting. The scene of Dr. Brainard's experience is laid between twenty and thirty miles southwest of his office at Lower Sandusky, in a dense forest. On a March morning, while a blustering snow storm was closing every path; and a cold northwester was whistling among the trees, this faithful servant of a suffering pioneer community started to see a patient thirty miles distant. The last twelve miles of the journey was through a forest which fallen snow had made path-less. The Doctor, of course, did not reach this forest till late in the day. Snow-laden saplings bent across what seemed the woodland road, and made it necessary to seek openings around. This circumstance not only retarded his progress, but bewildered him in his course. He finally lost the road altogether, and was compelled to rely upon his judgment to direct the horse the remaining miles of the journey. The weary horse and anxious rider both became impatient with their uncertain, zig-zag progress. Slowly, and with a consciousness of his rider's bewilderment, the horse stumbled through snow-heaps, seemingly multiplying every hour. At last a plain road was reached, but where it was and whither it led was more than the Doctor or the horse knew. In the hope of soon reaching a house, the horse, whose load was made doubly burdensome by discouragement, (for an animal is not

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slow to detect the thoughts of his master,) was urged on. Night drove light from the inhospitable wilderness. The fatigued horse lagged slowly through the deep snow, while hope kept up the rider's confidence, but hunger and cold sadly afflicted both. Dr. Brainard notes that melancholy began to send strange fancies across his troubled brain. Cold, hungry, lost, with a horse shaking with fatigue, what if some wild animal should. attack him while in such a situation? While revolving these uncomfortable anticipations, the cold, snow- burdened breeze brought the well-know howl of a distant wolf. The lash clashed oftener and louder upon the poor horse, but. the faithful animal, exhausted by long travelling without food, reeled under the smarting cuts of his frightened rider. The terrible howl grew in volume, and fast came closer. No cabin light was within sight. The horse staggered in his exertions to hurry. Cold, hunger, exhaustion-fear had displaced them all when the red-tongued pack dashed into the road but a few rods behind. Now others crossed the road in front, and, circling near and nearer, their hideous howl became more terrible. The poor horse was too weak to frighten at the situation, which increased the danger. If he should fall from exhaustion, the issue was not doubtful. While Dr. Brainard was debating his ability to escape by climbing a tree, the thought occurred to him that a loud voice would frighten them. He lifted his chest to "his lungs' fullest capacity, and sent a strong shout at his unwelcome companions, but his voice was like a musket amidst the roar of artillery. The howling of the circling wolves became more threatening. Desperately they snapped their jaws in the horse's face, and dreadfully their red eyes gleamed from the snow- covered surface. The Doctor seriously contemplated sacrificing his

horse to the appetites of his pursuers, and indeed hints that he would have done so had not such an undertaking been too hazardous. He therefore, as the safer alternative, resolved to stick "to his wearied horse as long as it could walk, and trust to Providence for the event." The pack gathered SO

near that their horrid grin was discernable. They seemed to be gathering resolution to make an attack. Fearing that his fatigued horse might give way, the doctor prepared to climb. He took off his overcoat, released his feet from the stirrups, and chose his tree at every point of the slowly- traversed road. In this way a distance of at least four miles was passed over. At length a bright spot appeared in the not far distant darkness. It was the star which hope had seen during more than four hours of peril. The sight of that cabin window brought joy inexpressible. Even the way-worn horse recovered his spirits and quickened his step. Maddened animals, fierce winds, and beating snow were all forgotten at the glimpse of a log hearth, caught through a paper window. The horse, a moment before on the point of falling, pricked up his ears and neighed aloud. The hospitable inhabitants of that lonely forest home had heard the coming of the weary traveler and his unwelcome train. They were at the door, ready to receive their guest and serve his wants. The emboldened beasts pressed near, but the heavy sound of a musket, the bark of a faithful dog, and the light of several torches sent them howling to the wilderness. It was now 2 o'clock in the morning. The Doctor's wants were abundantly provided for, and the horse given the best of corn. Upon inquiry, he found that he was ten miles south of the point of his destination.

Dr. Brainard had the respect and confi- dence of the people, whom he served for forty years. He was one of the first

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Free Masons in Lower Sandusky, and a member of Fort Stephenson lodge after the revival of Masonry. Brainard lodge was named in his honor. His funeral was conducted with Masonic honors. Dr. Brainard died in 1859, just forty years after beginning his useful career in this county.

DR. LAQUINIO RAWSON .- A biography of Dr. Rawson is part of the legitimate history of Sandusky county. He came here in an early year of its settlement, and has since devoted his strong energies and very respectable talent to the service of his fellow-citizens, both as a physician and in business enterprises of a public and useful character.

Dr. Rawson's descent is traced from the age of English chivalry, the coat of arms descending from family to family, until finally inherited by Edward Rawson, who came. to America in 1636, or 1637, and was chosen to the secretaryship of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay. He several times represented his town of Newbury in the General Court of the colony, and was a man of mote and influence in the early history of New England. Of the fifth generation from Secretary Edward Rawson, was Lemuel Rawson, father of the subject of this biography. He was born in 1767. He was occupied as a tanner at

Warwick, Massachusetts, until about 1812. He then turned his attention to agriculture, residing in each of the following named places: Orange, New Salem, and Irving Grant, all in Massachusetts, until 1836, when he came to

Ohio, and located at Bath, Summit county, where he remained until September 20, 1844, when his wife died, after which he lived with his children in Northern Ohio. He died December 2, 1851, at Dr. Rawson's residence in Fremont. His wife was Sarah Barrus, whom he married at Warwick, Massachusetts, in

1791. The family consisted of six sons and three daughters. Five of the sons came to Ohio; four of them were successful practitioners of medicine, and the other attained a high place in the legal profession of Northern Ohio. Secretary Rawson, oldest of the five brothers, practiced. medicine in Richfield, Summit county, Ohio, forty-two years. Success followed him through his professional life.

Abel Rawson, second of the five Ohio brothers, was well-known in this county. He was one, of the pioneer lawyers at Tiffin, Ohio, and his presence was familiar in every courtroom in this part of the State. He studied law in Massachusetts, and when admitted to the Bar was over four hundred dollars in debt. He came to Ohio in 1824; and taught school at Norwalk. In 1826, he opened a law office at Tiffin, and at once took high rank in his profession,

Dr. Bass Rawson first learned the trade of a hatter but in a few years began the study of medicine in New Hampshire. In 1829 he located, in Findlay, Hancock county, Ohio, where he earned a reputation as a skillful physician, and was very successful.

Dr. Alonzo Rawson, youngest of the brothers who came to Ohio, first learned the trade of printing. He established, in Tiffin, in 1834, the Independent Chronicle. After two years experience he discontinued editorial work to engage in mercantile enterprises, but finally studied medicine, and was a successful practitioner.

Few families have honored the memory of a worthy ancestor by successful and useful lives as have the members of this branch of the Rawson family. Depending wholly upon their own exertions, each has left the impress of his life and character upon the history of the com-

L. Q. Rawson

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munity in which he lived and labored. We have spoken of these members of the Rawson family partly to show the character of the family, and partly because they are remembered by a large number of people living within the proper scope of this history. We now turn to the subject of this biography.

LaQuino Rawson was born at Irving, Franklin county, Massachusetts, September 14, 1804. His earlier boyhood was spent on his father's farm, and in the common schools of his neighborhood. At the age of sixteen, being ambitious to acquire an education, and being wholly dependent upon himself for the means of pursuing his cherished purpose, he left home and entered the academy at New Salem, where he attended instruction for some time, except during the intervals spent at common labor and teaching school, by which means he earned money to pay his ex- penses at the academy. In 1824, being then nineteen years old, he came to Ohio and entered upon the study of medicine, and at the same time taught school to meet his expenses. In 1826 he was granted license to practice by the Ohio Medical Society, and entered upon the duties of his profession at Tyamochtee, Crawford county. At that time the Wyandot Indians occupied a large reservation in the county, and he had frequent calls to attend their sick. The Indians received the intelligent services of their white physician very gratefully, and paid their bills much more promptly than the white people. The Indians generally en- tertained an idea that they could not enter the happy hunting ground without every obligation having been discharged, and consequently cheerfully handed over to their doctor the shining half dollars received as annuity from the Government. The Indian doctors and their herb remedies were in most cases abandoned as

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History of Sandusky County Ohio with Illustrations 1882, Part 68

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