History of the Ohio falls cities and their counties : with illustrations and bibliographical sketches, Vol. I, Part 86

Author: Williams, L.A., & Co., Cleveland
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Cleveland, Ohio : L. A. Williams & Co.
Number of Pages: 814

USA > Ohio > History of the Ohio falls cities and their counties : with illustrations and bibliographical sketches, Vol. I > Part 86

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writings have also been voluminous, belonging to almost every field of literature; and his col- lected works would fill many volumes. He has been in politics somewhat, first as a Whig (his "Backwoodsman," in 1830, was a Clay campaign paper), and then as a Republican. In 1850 he held a confidential post in the United States Treasury under Secretary Corwin; in 1860 he was a delegate to the National Republican Con- vention in Chicago; took his old place in the Treasury Department under Secretary Chase; was appointed Collector of Customs at New Orleans in 1862, Surveyor of Customs at Louis- ville the next year, then Special Agent for the Treasury Department, then Pension Agent at Louisville, and Special Agent again. During more than thirty years, when not in public life, he has resided upon his fine little farm at Pewee Valley, sixteen miles from Louisville, on the Short Line railroad, where he is peacefully pass- ing a good old age.

The Hon. Benjamin J. Webb, formerly editor of the Catholic Advocate and of the Guardian, was born in Bardstown, February 25, 1814, son of a pioneer of 1790. He was educated at St. Joseph's College, in that place, learned the printer's trade in the Journal office, Louisville, became editor of the Catholic Advocate at Bardstown in 1836, removed it to Louisville in 1841, and published it till 1847, when he en- gaged in the music business, with which he has ever since been connected. He has continued, however, to write much, particularly on Catholic and religious topics. He wrote an important series of letters to the Journal against the " Know-Nothings," in 1855, which were printed in book form. He has written much otherwise for the local papers ; was chief editor of the Guardian, a religious paper founded here in 1858, and joint editor of the Catholic Advocate, when that paper was revived in 1869. By ap- pointment of the State Legislature, he wrote the biographies of Governors Powell and Helm in 1868, which were issued at public expense; and is understood to be engaged upon a forthcoming History of Catholicism in Kentucky. In 1867, and again in 1871, he was elected to represent Louisville in the State Senate.

The Revs. Francis B. and Thomas E. Con- verse, editors of the Christian Observer, are sons of the Rev. Amasa Converse, D. D., who was

born in Lyme, New Hampshire, August 21, 1795. The ancient stock is Norman, transferred to England with William the Conqueror, and the descendants coming to America with the Massachusetts Bay Colony about 1630. Three of his maternal uncles became soldiers of the Revolution. He developed rare scholarship and ability in the schools; became himself a teacher, then a Congregational minister and evangelist ; then, in 1826, editor of the Family Visitor and the Literary Evangelical Magazine, at Richmond, merged in 1828 as the Visitor and Weekly Tele- graph; removed his paper to Philadelphia in 1839, and merged it with another as the Christian Observer, a Presbyterian organ, and by lineal de- scent the oldest religious ' paper in America. His office was burned accidentally in 1854; and in August, 1861, it was closed by order of the Government, for its utterances in regard to the war issues. It was removed to Richmond, how- ever, and the publication continued. In August, 1869, it was merged with the Free Christian Commonwealth, of Louisville, and the office transferred to that city, where the remainder of his busy life was spent. He died here of pneu- monia, December 9, 1872, leaving the Observer to his sons. Its senior editor, Francis B. Con- verse, was born in Richmond June 23, 1836; graduated at the University of Philadelphia in 1856, and Princeton Theological Seminary in 1860; developed a strong bent for journalism, and soon became associate of his father on the Observer, with which he has since been contin- uously connected. While at Richmond he preached for about two years to the Olivet church, east of that city. Upon the death of his father he succeeded to his place at the head of the Observer. His brother and associate editor, Rev. Thomas E. Converse, was born in Phila- delphia in 1841; was educated at Princeton, but in theology at Union Theological Seminary, in Prince Edward county, Virginia. In 1870 he went as a missionary to China, but returned the next year and preached until 1875, when he went to Bardstown, in this State, and took the Presby- terian pastorate there.

Rev. Alexander C. Caperton, I). D., editor of . the Western Recorder, was born in Jackson county, Alabama, February 4, 1831, scion of a famous old Virginia family, of French stock. He obtained a tolerable primary education after

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HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

a hard struggle, became a school-teacher and ob- tained means enough to graduate at Mississippi College in 1856, at the Rochester (New York) Theological Seminary in 1858; was professor in his former alma mater, at the same time a Bap- tist pastor; and after the war was called to a Memphis church, and then to Mayfield, Ken- tucky, and Evansville, Indiana. He came to Louisville in 1871, and took charge of the Re- corder, which his ability, assiduity, and zeal soon made a leading denominational organ. He also travels widely, preaching hundreds of sermons gratuitously to the churches. In 1860 he re- ceived the degree of Master of Arts from Missis- sippi College, and in 1871 that of Doctor of Di- vinity from the University of Waco, Texas.

James A. Dawson, founder of the Louisville Daily Ledger, was born in Hart county April 2, 1834. He attended the common schools, be- came Deputy County Clerk and then Clerk, was admitted to the bar in 1859, and began practice; took an active part as a Douglas Democrat in the Presidential campaign of 1860; became a Federal soldier and adjutant of the Thirty-third Kentucky infantry, but in 1873 resigned to ac- cept the post of Register of the State Land Office, to which he was re-elected, and then appointed Adjutant-General of the State. He became very active and efficient as a political canvasser, and in 1871 established the Ledger, which he per- sonally conducted for several years with marked ability. In 1875 he permanently retired from editorship, and resumed law practice in his native county.

Michael W. Clusky, first editor of the Louis- ville Ledger, was born in Savannah, Georgia, in 1830, of Irish parentage, and of a family pos- sessing great natural talent. He began public life early, at the age of twenty-one becoming Postmaster of the Federal House of Representa- tives, where he served till 1859, when he re- moved to Memphis, Tennessee, and became editor of the famous Avalanche, which he man- aged with much ability. He entered the Con- federate army, was seriously wounded at Shiloh, and afterwards served in the Confederate Con- gress. He took the Avalanche again after the war, but removed to Louisville for his health, about the time the Daily Ledger was started, of which he was induced to become editor. He also took considerable part in building up the Public (now

the Polytechnic) Library. He had himself pub- lished at Washington a valuable manual entitled " McClusky's Political Text-book," and was re- markably well informed in public affairs, as well as a writer of uncommon ability and influence. He died in Louisville in 1873.

William P. D. Bush, Esq., formerly owner and editor of the Louisville Evening Ledger, was born in Hardin county, March 14, 1823, of Hol- land stock. His father was a soldier of the Revolution, and migrated from Virginia to Ken- tucky at its close. William was trained in the common schools and at the seminary in Eliza- bethtown ; became Deputy Clerk of Hancock county and of the Circuit Court, where he picked up much knowledge of law, was admitted to the bar, and began practicing. In 1847 he enlisted as a private soldier in the Mexican War, but be- came a Lieutenant ; resumed law practice, and was made County Attorney for Hancock ; repre- sented it in the Legislature as a Whig two years, and six as a Democrat. In 1868 he was ap- pointed Reporter to the Court of Appeals, and removed to Frankfort, where he has since chiefly resided. He also became part owner of the Louisville Evening Ledger, and was its sole owner in 1852-56, assisting in its editorial con- duct with much ability.

Gilderoy W. Griffin, Esq., formerly associate editor of the Louisville Commercial and Indus- trial Gazette, and an author of much versatility and repute, was born in this city March 6, 1840; was educated in private schools here; took a law course in the University of Louisville, grad- uating in 1862 ; practiced successfully for several years, and then turned his attention chiefly to literature. He contributed much to the Journal, edited an edition of Mr. Prentice's Wit and Humor in Paragraphs, and wrote his life after his death. In 1868 he became connected with the Commercial and Gazette, in association with Colonel Charles S. Todd ; and in their hands it became a strong and influential paper. He re- tired from it soon after the Colonel. Two edi- tions of his Studies in Literature have since been published, with various lectures, books of travel, etc. In 1870 he was appointed United States Consul to Copenhagen, and in 1876 Minister to the Sandwich Islands. He was for a time writer of the dramatic criticisms in the Courier-Journal, which attracted wide attention.

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Prof. John Duncan, editor of the Farmers' Magazine of Live Stock, in Louisville, is a native of Scotland, born November 24, 1846. He was educated in part at Glasgow and at the Agricul- tural College in York, England ; and then went to the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, where he carried off the first prize at the end of a year, and a double prize at the close of the second year. He was then placed in charge of the botanical collection; took a four years' course in the London School of Mines, and a scientific cruise to India, under commission of the British Government; came to America and was appoint- ed Professor of Agriculture and Botany in the Agricultural and Mechanical College at Lexington ; began to contribute to the Farmers' Home Jour- nal, of that place, became associate editor, and sole editor before its removal to Louisville. He is conducting his publication with marked energy and ability.

Will S. Hays, the ballad-writer and musical composer, is at present river-editor of the Courier-Journal, and he was formerly an editorial writer for the Louisville Democrat. He was born July 19, 1837, in this city; was liberally though somewhat irregularly educated; wrote his first published ballad, "Little Ones at Home," while a youth of nineteen, at college in Hanover, Indiana; and his productions in sheet music have since been very numerous, and have become widely renowned. He has also some reputation as a prose-writer. In early life he was for some time amanuensis to the late George D. Prentice, to whose paper he contributed many articles and poems of his own.

CHAPTER XX. THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.

Introductory-Biographical Sketches of Drs. T. S. Bell, Charles W. Short, James M. Bodine, W. L. Breyfogle, M. F. Coomes, W. Cheatham, Joseph McD. Mathews, R. C. Hewett, David Cummins, and W. II. Bolling. Personal Notices of Drs. Coleman, Lewis, and Coleman Rogers, Joseph R. and Joseph Buchanan, Richard W. Ferguson, John Thurston, John Bull, M. S. Lewis, John H. Owen, William H. Goddard, Henry M. Miller, John Esten Cooke, George W. Bayless, Daniel Drake, Richard C. Cowling, Alexander Ireland, B. M. Wible, George H. Walling, James A. Graves, D. D. Thomson, John A. Krack, Robert Peter, John B. Smith, Samuel Brandeis, J. McD. Keller, William

A. Hundley, A. B. Cook, Charles Caldwell, J. E. Crowe, C. F. Carpenter, T. P. Satterwhite, William H. Leachman, E. A. Grant, William J. Redman, E. O. Brown, J. A. Octerlony, John A. Brady, H. F. Kalfus, J. I. O'Reilly, R. H. Singleton, J. W. Fowler, T. S. McDermott, G. W. Griffiths, E. S. Gaillard, G. S. Seymour, W. P. White, E. S. Crosier, J. M. Krim, C. W. Kelly, M. K. Allen, L. P. Blackburn, R. N. Barbour, L. W. Taylor, and L. T. McMurtry-Statistics of the Profession in Louisville- Homoeopathy-The Medical Schools- Medical Jour- nalism.

Many notices of the earlier physicians of Louisville have already been comprised in the annals of the city. So far as possible, we have endeavored not to duplicate these, but simply to add such other personal notes of the profession as have come to our hands, and arrange them, for the most part, in chronological order, accord- ing to date of beginning practice in this city. No attempt has been made, of course, to include 'all the physicians, living and dead, past and present, in the long line of medical men. Such an undertaking would be altogether beyond the limits of this volume.

T. S. BELL, M. D.

Among the most distinguished of native Ken- tuckians, and most useful in their day and gener- ation, in the fields of science and philanthropy, is the subject of this sketch, Dr. Theodore S. Bell, the Nestor of his profession in Louisville. He was born in Lexington, in a humble sphere of life; and his earlier years had no advantages except such as may accompany poverty and utter obscurity. At school he was accounted a dunce until a chance look at an historical text-book awakened his dormant faculties and started him upon the road to high scientific, professional, and general culture. His parents were able, however, to give him none of the more expensive education of the schools. He had soon, indeed, to leave school and become self-supporting. For a time he was a newspaper-carrier, and then a tailor's apprentice, in a situation which required of him daily twelve to fourteen hours of hard toil. His mind was now fully aroused, however ; and he had the superior advantage at this time of a mother ambitious of his intellectual advance- ment, since some foreshadowing of his powers had been given to his teachers. He con- tinued to read and study industriously, and is is said that during the whole of his apprenticeship

Dr. J. S Bells

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HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

he slept but four hours a night. He early began to compose, and soon produced essays and newspaper articles which won him much praise, stimulating him to yet more strenuous efforts. Unable himself to buy books, he was admitted presently to the privileges of the town library, through the kind offices of a lady who had ob- served his promise.

Professor Mann Butler, then of Transylvania University, and afterwards of the Louisville public schools, also became interested in the youth, opened his large collection to his reading, and gave him invaluable guidance in his studies. By and by young Bell, by the closest economy, amassed the sum of $10, which he invested in a ticket to the public library. Thus amply pro- vided for literary culture, he availed himself of his opportunities to the very best of his time and now large abilities. At the end of his apprentice- ship, however, he had yet no means of pursuing his studies except by continuing at his trade. His father died about this time, and he had his mother also to support. Nevertheless, by harder work than ever, he acquired means to attend the medical school attached to the Louisville Uni- versity. During his course here, a leading physi- cian of the city gave him the freedom of his pro- fessional library, besides much useful courtesy. Several of the most important and elaborate works were read by him at the tailor's bench, while industriously laboring with hand as well as head. He was not allowed to remain at his trade, however, as the medical faculty, by this time thoroughly aroused to his worth and prom- ise, procured for him the post of Librarian to the University, with a small salary, but with su- perior opportunities for continued culture. At length, in 1832, with the honors of the class, Mr. Bell received his degree, and became Dr. Bell. He removed to Louisville and entered into part- nership for practice with Dr. W. N. Merriwether, whose business fell to the former upon his retire- ment.

Dr. Bell's literary faculty already attracted notice, and he was presently asked to write a series of articles on the Pursuit of Knowledge for the periodical issued by the well-known au- thor, Mr. Tannehill. When the Daily Journal was started by Mr. Prentice, the young editor promptly secured Dr. Bell's services as a contri- butor ; and from his facile pen proceeded a num-

ber of essays on "The Value of Railroads to Louisville," which attracted marked attention, and served not only to build up the reputation of both the writer and newspaper, but to pro- mote the incoming of the age of railways for the rising city. Then, as now, he took a lively interest in popular education, and wrote for the Journal several articles on "The Public Schools," which were widely copied. He also wrote many editorial " leaders," as the custom of that day was with the daily press-indeed, he became to Mr. Prentice a favorite and indispensable aid and adviser, and was often called to the sole man- agement of the paper during the absence of the editor. Dr. Bell was impartial in his publie ser- vices of this kind, occasionally contributing to the opposition paper, the Advertiser ; and a hu- morous article of his in this sheet, written in 1836 and entitled " A Report of the Permanent Board of Improvement of the City of Louis- ville," set the whole town on the broad grin and secured the Doctor, among other advantages, the lifelong friendship of the Hon. James Guthrie.

The next year (1837) Dr. Bell was mainly instrumental in securing the removal of the Medical School of the University of Transyl- vania from Lexington to Louisville, to obtain the benefit of larger clinical facilities, and for other obvious reasons. In 1838 he was co-editor with Drs. Henry Miller and L. P. Yandell, Sr., of the Louisville Medical Journal, later the Western Journal. Upon the retirement of these two gen- tlemen, Dr. Bell long conducted the magazine alone. To certain articles of his on practical hygiene, in this and the daily papers of the city, the excellent sanitation of Louisville is largely attributed. In 1852 his masterly discussion of Asiatic cholera was crowned with the approval of the British National Medical Association. It is said that but one other case of such praise from English to American physicians is known in the history of medicine. In a very different field of controversy Dr. Bell soon afterwards won a notable victory. He was pitted in this disenssion, with but little assistance, against five of the ablest clergymen in the city, in a debate over the merits of the then new "Union" revis- ion of the King James translation of the Bible, which his opponents undertook to prove was a purely sectarian work. It is related in a bio-

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graphical sketch of Dr. Bell in Louisville Past and Present, that "the unfortunate clergymen, wearied of the task in attempting to drive him from the field, abandoned the controversy, leav- ing him master of the situation, which he had so ably maintained from the beginning to the 'close."

Upon the outbreak of the late war and the forination of the Kentucky branch of the United States Sanitary Commission, Dr. Bell was very fitly made its president, assisted by the Rev. J. H. Heywood, then pastor of the Church of the Messiah, and a board of managers composed of some of the foremost citizens of Louisville. Very efficient service was rendered by Dr. Bell, especially after the battles of Shiloh and Perry- ville, and always by his attendance in the hos- pitals, of one of the largest of which he had per- sonal charge. Rev. Mr. Heywood, in his little History of the Commission, says:

From beginning to end he labored unweariedly, bringing to the great work not only fervent patriotism and broad hu- manity, but a mind alike capacious and active, extensive medical experience, a thorough mastery of sanitary law, and an intense, unrelaxing energy that was as vitalizing as it was inherently vital. Never in any country or any age has there been more untiring consecration of rare powers and extraordinary attainments to noblest ends than was made by our honored fellow-citizen during these eventful years of des- tiny.

About this time the following beautiful poem was dictated to Dr. Bell by Mr. Prentice, with the simple remark, "It is for you and your wife" :

We've shared each other's smiles and tears Through years of wedded life; And love has blessed those fleeting years- My own, my cherished wifc.

And if at times the storm's dark shrond Has rested in the air, Love's heaming sun has kissed the cloud, And left the rainbow there.

In all our hopes, in all our dreams, Love is forever nigh ; A blossom in our path it seems, A sunbeam in our sky.

For all our joys of brighter hue Grow brighter in love's smile; And there's no grief our hearts e'er knew That love could not beguile.

The valuable public services of Dr. Bell in many departments of human action must now be rapidly summed in a single paragraph. He was chiefly influential in securing the first telegraphic outlet from Louisville to the outer world, and

was a trustee of the property until it was trans- ferred to the Western Union Company. He was for a time President of the Mozart Society, one of the best musical organizations ever formed in the city. He wrote a delightful book on the Cave Hill Cemetery, in which he has always taken a hearty interest. Long an assiduous stu- dent of botany, he wrote and lectured much upon the subject, and stimulated greatly the practical interest in horticulture and floriculture which has so beautified the city and vicinity. His various lectures upon scientific, literary, and professional topics have invariably been heard with interest, and have won cordial encomiums. Since 1857 he has filled with great acceptance the chair of the Science and Art of Medicine and Public Hygiene in the University Medical School. For even a longer period, since 1842, the year of its founding, he has been an active member of the Board of Trustees of the State Institution for the Blind, and for the last eightcen years has been President of the Board. He has been a trustee of the American Printing House for the Blind since its organization in 1858.

These and other many and gratuitous services to his fellow-citizens and the State, that it would take pages to enumerate, have been rendered with the fidelity and zeal that have marked all his ac- tions. It is asserted that from not a single meet- ing of all the numerous boards of which he is a member, has Dr. Bell ever been absent. His many sided mind has reflected light in every direction, and his vast store of information upon almost every subject of human interest has furnished thousands with needed knowledge, and has never turned an earnest inquirer after truth empty away.

Daily and hourly subject to the demands of the most exacting of all professions, he has per- formed an amount of literary labor which in it- self would be the life-work of an ordinary man. Of this immense literary work there are but few tangible remains-a lecture or address in pamph- let form, three or four in number, marked by his profound scholarship and original thought, care- fully preserved by a few, but otherwise forgotten by the busy world in which the author lives and for which he works. He is no closet student, so wrapt up in his studies that a triumphant foe could find him at his books all ignorant of the sack of his native city : on the contrary, he is a

...

Dr. W. F. Balling.

R. C. Servetto

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vigilant sentinel, who time and again has warned his fellow-citizens of coming danger, has led them victoriously against the ambushed pesti- lence, and has rallied them manfully against sensational alarms and the panic that is worse than the pestilence. For such deeds as these he will be remembered, and their influence for good, though silent, cannot be measured. His tame does not rest upon storied volumes; but the city is cleaner, the streams of commerce flow deeper and swifter, and men, and women, and children lead happier lives because of his deeds.

The noblest of his contemporaries in this country have held him in warmest friendship. The great Alexander Campbell, by whose side he stood in many a fierce controversy, was glad to call him brother and friend. On the wall of his cabinet is a Government musket, the per- sonal gift of Abraham Lincoln, in memory of services to his country no less great than those of his generals ; while near by is the tribute in gentle needlework of the humble nuns whose hospital floors have been worn by his feet. On every side in his rooms is some memento of those whom the country has delighted to honor, and who reckoned him as one of the noblest. Personally generous and neglectful of selt, the rooms in which he lives fittingly represent his character. The stairs that lead to them are worn deep by the feet of those who come daily to seek his aid, and never have failed to get it. Never a tale of sorrow that was poured into his ear but found sympathy and aid; never a strug- gling soul but found his hand outstretched to help.

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History of the Ohio falls cities and their counties : with illustrations and bibliographical sketches, Vol. I, Part 86

Author: Williams, L.A., & Co., Cleveland Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Cleveland, Ohio : L. A. Williams & Co. Number of Pages: 814

Author: Williams, L.A., & Co., Cleveland
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Cleveland, Ohio : L. A. Williams & Co.
Number of Pages: 814