USA > Ohio > Wayne County > History of Wayne County, Ohio, Volume I > Part 32
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lished as a biweekly for one year, and since that time the Gazette has ap- peared regularly once a week. The Gazette was edited and published by the founder, Mr. Scott, for thirty-one years, up until the time of his death, on December 10, 1906. Since that time the Gasette has been published by his son, E. F. Scott, who assumed charge on the first of December,. 1906. At the present time the Gazette is being published as a six-column quarto.
In Creston, one of the villages of northern Wayne county, there is an- other independent paper under the management of F. M. Sulliger. Later than thirty years ago, we regret to say, we can secure no data of this inter- esting publication, as prior to that time all of the files were destroyed.
At the beginning of the period mentioned C. A. Mellen was the editor and manager, and at that time the Journal, as the publication is known. was a very small sheet. The paper remained in the capable management of Mr. Mellen for about five years, after which he disposed of it to C. A. Stebbins, now a banker of Creston. After a number of years Mr. Stebbins disposed of the plant, selling it to Mr. Sulliger, who, as stated, is now at its head. Mr. Sulliger has owned and managed the paper for the longest time of any of its owners and has done more to secure its prosperity. The printing de- partment is equipped with a power press, the only machine of its kind in the village. Mr. Mellen, the founder, was a most versatile and fluent writer and, though well advanced in years, continued contributing to the publication up until the time of his death in 1909.
The Doylestown Journal is another of Wayne county's weekly publi- cations. It is known that the paper was founded in the month of September, 1874, by George W. Everetts, but between that time and 1889 the files were destroyed and definite facts as to its growth in that period can not be ascertained. When Mr. Everetts purchased the plant the outfit was brought to Doylestown from Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, and placed in the base- ment of the Presbyterian church, and for several years was located and oper- ated in this building. J. V. McElhenie, now a resident of Canton, Ohio, was the second owner of the paper. For a time after his purchase Mr. McElhenie discontinued the paper, but later resumed it. During its exist- ence the paper has been owned by William Smith, George A. Corbus, A. R. DeFluent, Dr. B. F. Putt and W. S. Hochstettler. W. R. Gillespie, the present editor and proprietor, purchased the plant from Mr. Hochstettler in May, 1906.
The West Salem Reporter, founded in August, 1868, by John Weeks, is conceded one of the best papers in the county. Mr. Weeks was succeeded
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by J. W. Hutton, who, in turn, was succeeded by the Rev. F. C. McCauley, who changed the name of the publication to The Buckeye Farmer. The paper had a very precarious existence, and in 1876 the office was purchased by E. T. Atkinson and George W. Brenizer, who changed the name of the publi- cation to the West Salem Monitor. These gentlemen were at the helm for a number of years and on retiring disposed of the plant to Robert Watson. of Canal Dover. After Watson's death the widow continued as editress, but was not well supported and finally, in 1888. suspended the publication. After nearly .two years without a paper, Mrs. Watson and daughter, Miss Mary Watson, resuscitated the paper, and in August, 1891, disposed of the business to J. W. Kiplinger. Mr. Kiplinger remained in charge of the paper until February, 1893. Mrs. Watson had in the meantime changed the name to the West Salem Reporter. A. F. Dunlap, the present owner, bought the plant in February, 1893, and as its head has brought the paper to the point where, as we mentioned, it is conceded to be one of the best papers published in the county. Mr. Dunlap, who does his own writing, both editorially and locally, is a man of wide experience in the business, and well deserves the success that his efforts have attained.
In another portion of the county there is another newspaper that has established for itself a name as well as a large circulation,-we speak of the Shreve Newes. This paper was established by W. J. Ashenhurst in the eighties : in 1896 the plant was purchased by L. S. Miley and Gen. A. B. Critchfield. Mr. Miley purchased the General's interest in 1903. since which time he has been the editor and sole owner. In the period of ownership and management from 1896 to 1910 the circulation and management of the Newes have quadrupled. The paper is independent in politics, and is strictly a home newspaper, devoted especially to local and county news. One of the distinct principles of the News, and one for which it deserves hearty praise, is freedom from sensational "slush"-to publish only the clean, whole- some happenings of the vicinity.
Mr. Miley, the enterprising manager and editor, was born in Holmes county, a Democrat by birth and adoption ; he taught school for a time, after which he entered at Ada Normal University and later Mt. Union Col- lege, at which places he received his education.
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CHAPTER XVII.
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
With the settlement of every new country, the family doctor was among the first of the professions to follow on the trail of the pioneers. His serv- ices were in demand, even as now. The sick had to be cared for, though with less skill than at present. The very elements of a new country, the swamps and unditched lands, the decaying forests and a thousand and one causes, led to much sickness. The home treatment of mother and grandmother was, it is true, more relied upon than now, but there were numerous cases in which the good family doctor had to be called. The rides, usually on horse- back, made by the pioneer doctors, were long and ofttimes perilous. The streams were all unbridged and the roads were but blazed trails through the dense woodland. But by day and by night the faithful physician, with saddle- bags, would go where he might be called to attend the sick. He was indeed a hero and in his breast usually beat the largest of hearts. He never refused to make a sick call because the family might be poor. His bills were carried over from one year to another, without interest, and many were never fully paid. While it is true the science of medicine had not then attained the perfection that now marks its course, yet there were highly educated and successful doctors in the long ago twenties and thirties of the last century
As much as may, from time to time, be said against the practice of medi- cine by thoughtless well men and women, there comes a time to each and all when a sight of the good doctor is indeed welcome. When the fevered brow and quickened pulse torture the victim of some grave and painful malady. then it is that the suffering one appreciates the warm hand and sympathetic heart of the physician and takes his treatment without a murmur. The reme- dies in olden times, however, were not sugar-coated or put up in a form pleasing to a sick person, as today, but were of the crudest sort, and often extremely unpalatable. Verily this profession has made wonderful progress in the last fifty years.
Without risking any unsupported claim, or indulging in any fulsome encomium. it can be truthfully said that the history of the medical profession and its personnel will compare favorably with any other profession in Wayne county. Law has produced many distinguished jurists and practitioners on the bench and at the bar, but medicine has had as brilliant and eminent men
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in its ranks as can be claimed for the legal profession, although, perhaps, they have not had occasion to display their talents as have the followers of Black- stone. Wayne county furnished a number of surgeons during the Civil war who rendered services both on the battlefield and in the tented hospitals.
The present-day physicians have no real conception of what hardships, exposure and trials were the lot of the early physicians of Wayne county. They were not blessed with macadamized roads, automobiles, coupes, depot wagons, taxicabs and closed carriages; but rode through thick and thin, hot and cold, at all hours of the day and night, on horseback, with the old-time saddlebags strapped to their saddles. Some of the pioneer doctors would ride many miles over the country, in mid-winter, leaving at daylight and not returning till night, worn out from exposure, fatigue and nervous tension. It was characteristic of them to minister to the sick without reference to fee or reward, as the majority of the people were poor and, while honestly inclined, were unable to pay for medical attendance. One physician, now gone to his reward, who practiced his profession here for over a quarter of a century, estimated that he had done over thirty thousand dollars' worth of medical service, for possibly half of which he received no cash, and many times no thanks. While there is a spirit of grasping for lucre in all pro- fessions nowadays, yet the earlier practitioners seemed to take to the prac- tice largely from motives of philanthropy, believing, as was right, that it was one of the grandest human offices to relieve suffering, to cheer the de- pressed, to succor from the assaults of disease, and, failing in this, to smooth the way to the inevitable tomb. There is no loftier mission; none which more closely assimilates the human with the divine. While the earlier physi- cians had to depend on the science as a means of livelihood, still they rose above the purely mercenary motives in their practice. Many of the pioneer doctors not only ministered to the body, but to the soul as well. Several practiced medicine and "preached the gospel to the poor."
It is both amusing and interesting to look back fifty or seventy-five years and see the character of the service rendered and fees charged in those days. The doctors worked hard and were poorly paid for their ministrations. It was the period when "cupping," "leeching" and bleeding were regarded as indispensable. The practice was carried to extremes in many cases, as the practice of venesection was performed on persons who had no blood to spare, and as a consequence it ceased.
While the practice of medicine was regarded as most honorable, and is yet, it was then far from lucrative. In looking back, we find some of the fees charged for medicine and professional services, and it must be remembered
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that doctors then dispensed their own medicines. The charge for visits in the town was one dollar, and for visits in the country, one dollar for the first mile, and fifty cents for each succeeding mile; bleeding, fifty cents ; two doses jallap, fifty cents ; box of pills, fifty cents; extracting teeth, twenty-five cents ; one dose of calomel and one ounce of paregoric, sixty cents. In surgery, the fees were very moderate, and even those mentioned were not "in vogue" until later days, the earliest practitioners making their individual charges, which were often much less than those enumerated here. Diseases such as dysentery and fevers were attributed entirely to miasm and visitations of sporadic and Asiatic cholera were common. Calomel was generally taken to get rid of the malaria. Bilious fever sometimes developed, but generally yielded to the calomel and quinine treatment, which, if somewhat heroic, was generally suc- cessful, after the disease had run its course. Some years the ague was worse than others, and at times there were not enough well persons to take care of the sick. Often the entire family would be down at one time and no one to give them even a drop of water. In winter the most common disease was winter fever; now known under its proper name-pneumonia. But sickness was really rare, except chills and fever in the fall, or, as it was generally called, the ague, in which, in the first stage, a coldness, that no fire could warm, took hold of the victim, and he shook and shivered so severely that the bed would shake and even the dishes in the cupboard rattle. . "A chill which no coat, however stout, of homespun stuff, could quite shut out." After an hour or two of this paroxysm the patient began to get warm and was soon in the agony of a raging fever. In an hour or two more this would pass and the patient, apparently none the worse for his shake, went about his busi- ness until the second day, when the attack invariably returned. Quinine was the remedy always used in the treatment of this disease, which was considered the only helpful remedy, and is so regarded by many today. The old-fash- ioned ague, where the victim almost shook himself to pieces, was very com- mon in the spring and fall, and, besides the remedies mentioned, good big draughts of Peruvian bark and whiskey were also the sheet anchors. Whiskey was found in every house and every one drank more or less, although it was usually confined to the morning dram, except in sickness. It was made from corn and was much purer and more wholesome than the vile stuff now pur- chased in saloons and drug stores. Drunkenness was almost unknown in those days and it was the custom to show the hospitality of the home by pro- ducing the bottle. No thought of discourtesy entered the mind of either when the minister was offered the contents of "Black Bettie," after his journey
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through the wilderness or the exertion of a two-hour discourse. Whiskey was worth only about twenty cents a gallon, and as it was made from corn, that was still cheaper, it was within the reach of all; but that fact did not lead to drunkenness. But with the springing up of villages, with their "dogger- ies," a change of sentiment took place, and ere long the habit of whiskey drinking began to be looked upon with disfavor and, so far as home drinking is concerned. has about passed away in all states except some remote mountain regions. Although the pioneer physician did not find it necessary to carry a supply of whiskey along with his medicines, he usually recommended it to his patients, especially advising a free use of it when "winter-fever" was prev- alent, for this was the most fatal of all frontier diseases, probably because of a lack of proper treatment, owing to its true nature not being well under- stood.
Births in the early days were in the hands of the older women of the settlements and were rarely attended with unpleasant or dangerous conse- quences.
The following is a list, as complete as is possible to give after so many years have rolled into oblivion, of the physicians who have practiced the heal- ing art within Wayne county. Many are dead, many of them removed to other sections of the country and some are still living here :
Dr. Thomas Townsend, the pioneer physician of Wooster, was of Qua- ker parentage, and a native of Pennsylvania. He removed to Wooster in 1810-II, remained there about thirty years, when he went to Wheeling, West Virginia, where he died. He was a man of marked ability in his profession. and performed a considerable part in the organization of the town and county. He held different positions of official relations and responsibility, prominent among which was an associate judgeship in 1819.
Dr. Daniel McPhail was another early-day physician of Wooster, settling at least as early as 1818. He was born and educated in Scotland : was a man of unusual acquirements and a splendid chemist. He practiced medicine in Wooster about twelve years, but prejudice rose against him and he was sued for malpractice. Judge Charles Sherman, father of General Sherman. de- fended him, and Judge Edward Avery conducted the prosecution. In the trial Doctor McPhail vanquished his persecutors and was triumphantly vindi- cated. Desiring to avoid hostile combinations, he removed to Tennessee and thence to New Orleans. Later he went back to Tennessee, where he acquired a vast practice, and where he died, having achieved a great reputation for skill in his profession.
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Dr. Stephen F. Day was a formidable man in the profession of medicine and wore the baton of a field marshal in the empire of physics. The annals of medical practice may supply a more illustrious name, but it is doubted if as a practitioner in his chosen sphere and field he had many equals or superi- ors. He entered the list not for the purpose of eliciting applause, starving competitors or of being a subaltern. His was a higher aim-that of acquir- ing a transcendent skill; of mastering the abstrusities of the books; of pene- trating the mysterious origins of disease; of exploring the ingeniously con- trived, most complicated and most wonderfully constructed temple of life; of ennobling the ministry of pain, and exalting and glorifying his profession. His pronounced motto was :
"To guard is better than to heal, The shield is nobler than the spear."
He despised the vandal horde of mountebanks and quack professors that swoop down upon a community, devastate human habitations, augment the total of human misery, and who, in the solemn flight of death, allow not a sin- gle straggler to get home. He ever insisted that infinite mischief was oc- casioned by this piebald army of dog killers, insect hunters, weed pickers, spider catchers, cockle shell mongers, and brass-faced, unlettered charlatans that too often infest communities and, like the army in Caesar's time, slay in chariots and slay on foot.
Doctor Day-a truly remarkable man-was a native of Morris county, New Jersey, born September 4, 1798. When seven years old, he accompanied his father to Washington county, Pennsylvania, where he spent his time on a farm and where he remained until past sixteen years of age. He then, with an iron will, decided to press forth into life's activities for himself. Bidding farewell to home and kindred, he set out on horseback, attired in homespun garments and with twenty-five cents in his pocket. He labored hard at whatever his hands found honorable to perform. As a basis upon which to build his professional life, he commenced the elementary study of medicine with Doctor Leatherman, of Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, his course concluding with a diploma from the Medical College of Philadelphia. He immediately entered into the practice of medicine at Florence, Pennsylvania. He was equipped with pill-bag, nauseating jalap, the savage knife and the blades that shine, prepared to make a heal or a lasting scar. In the early spring of 1827 he came to Wooster, Ohio, the arena of a life of patient and exhaustive toil and the theatre of his subsequent professional career. Here he continued in practice until 1861, when approaching bodily infirmities ad-
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monished him to surrender the field and fortress he had so long and valiantly maintained.
Doctor Day was united happily in marriage, in 1833, to Eliza E. Straughan, of Salem, Ohio. In March, 1863, he was attacked by paralysis, from the effects of which he never fully recovered, but was confined to his bed until November 25, 1869, when a second attack suddenly caused his death. It is safe to assert that no physician and surgeon of this county en- joyed the monopoly of his profession as did this truly skillful man. His cir- cuit of visitation was not confined to Wayne county, but extended far out into the adjoining counties. By some, in his surgery he was called heartless, but he was not-he knew what had to be done and went straight at the work. Then he lived in an age before the science had made such strides as has been attained in the handling of the knife. He was a man of clear judgment and positive mind, and was extremely cautious of his conclusions at the bed of illness, but when his mind was made up no one could change his opinion. Per- sonally, he was a man of imposing appearance, stood over six feet in stature and erect as a column. He was a great worker at whatever he turned his at- tention to and this rewarded him with honors and wealth. Many young men of talent took their instructions under Doctor Day, two of the most prom- inent of these being Dr. Edward Thompson, the renowned Methodist bishop, who died in Wheeling, West Virginia, March 22, 1870, and Dr. Leander Firestone, the eminent surgeon of Wooster. The former was in the office of Doctor Day from 1833 to 1836 and the latter gentleman from 1839 to 1842. So long as the practice of medicine is known and talked of in Wooster and Wayne county, the name of Doctor Day will ever shine as among the bright stars in the science of medicine.
Dr. Samuel Norton Bissell, born January 22, 1809, in the village of Ver- non. Oneida county, New York, came of good old English ancestry. His father was a celebrated physician from near Hartford. Connecticut. Samuel N., of this notice, was named for his grandfather, with whom his earlier years were spent in Connecticut. Under the careful guidance of both his father and paternal grandfather, he succeeded in procuring more than an ordinary education. He was a student and thorough investigator from the very first decade of his existence. Having chosen medicine as his profession, he embarked at once on the sea of life with this in mind. He pushed west. came to Wooster finally, and here entered the office of his uncle, Dr. Heze- kiah Bissell, then a successful physician of the little village. He remained with him, studying until he had completed his elementary course and college
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course, when he entered upon the real duties of a well educated doctor. In September, 1832, he married Eliza, daughter of Hon. John Sloane. He fol- lowed his chosen profession in Wooster until his death, on June 13, 1848. The circumstances surrounding his death were indeed painful and affecting. His youngest sister, Eunice C., wife of Harvey Howard, then residing in Tiffin, Ohio was seriously ill. A courier was sent to Doctor Bissell, sum- moning him immediately to her bedside. With promptness, he obeyed the request. There being no railroad direct to that city, he had to cross the county, from which exposure he was prostrated with pneumonia, from the effects of which, absent from his own home and in the house of his suffering sister, he suddenly died. Verily, indeed he was a martyr for his friends and the behest of duty. His remains were conveyed to Wooster and deposited in the old Presbyterian burying ground, and later removed to the city cemetery. He left two sons, J. S. and H. H. Bissell. His wife survived him until 1871. His own death fell upon the people of Wayne county, and Wooster especial- ly, like a thunder clap from out a clear summer sky. He was short in stature, but a perfect specimen of manhood.
It should be recorded of Doctor Bissell that the mystery and origin of life were not comprised in his motives ; simply the perfection and healthy, symmetrical preservation of that life. It mattered not to Blind Tom who made the musical instrument on which he played ; his mission was to elicit its harmonies, correct its discords and make it perform a perfect work. With this interpretation of his duties, Doctor Bissell practiced medicine, and in the varied walks of his profession distinguished himself as one of the most popu- lar and scientific physicians and surgeons in northern Ohio. He was a man of strong attachments and of an amiable and benevolent disposition; of kind heart and strong brain. Politically, he was Whig, and had he taken to it he would have made an excellent political manager. He served in the capac- ity of associate judge of the common pleas court in 1845. While he was practical and businesslike, those who knew him best testify to his warmth of feeling and noble disposition. Such in brief is the history of the subject of this memoir; such his skill and learning.
Dr. W. C. Moore was born in Columbiana county, Ohio, June 1, 1822. His parents removed to Wayne county and settled in Chester township in 1832. He remained with his parents until he was twenty years of age, when, in 1842, he began the study of medicine with Dr. Leander Firestone, then practicing in Congress village, Congress township. There he continued a student of medicine for three years, engaging in school teaching in the winter
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seasons. After finishing his elementary readings and having graduated, he began practice with his preceptor in 1845, continuing there a year, then moved to Rowsburg, where he remained another year, when he returned to Congress village and remained with Doctor Firestone for ten years. Though not a full-fledged politician, he was popular in his party throughout the county, and in 1859 was elected to the Democratic Legislature of Ohio, by that party, serving from December 2, 1860, to January 6, 1862. In 1862 he removed to Wooster, where he practiced afterwards. It was written of him in 1878 that "His mind is bright, analytical, and he arrives at conclusions, not simply as a result of his logical premises, but by his actual comparative knowledge. His social developments are of a high order, and his heart and soul are not hidden under ice, but lie near a warm tropical surface, where they expand into sunshine and burst into flowers. He was somewhat of a poet and the following is the closing verse of a long poem he wrote many years since, the same being suggested by a visit to his mother's grave in a Wooster cemetery :
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