Memoirs of the Miami valley, Part 31

Author: Hover, John Calvin, 1866- ed; Barnes, Joseph Daniel, 1869- ed
Publication date: 1919
Publisher: Chicago, Robert O. Law company
Number of Pages: 684

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Executive : Chairman, Fred Spittle; secretary, Miss Mary Jenkinson ; Mrs. R. H. Butler, Mrs. F. C. Hamilton, Mrs. Louisa Barr, Harry Koogler, William T. Haviland, Judge Thompson and Father Welch. House: Mrs. Chester Miller, Mrs. L. E. Pettit, Mrs. Robert Morgan, Mrs. Johnson West, Mrs. Guy Swan and Miss Harriet O'Donnell. Stock: Mrs. Frank Grimes and Miss Mary Bissell. Supply : Miss Haviland, Miss Madge Lowe, Mrs. Frank S. Mitchell. Packing and Shipping: Mrs. Perry Powell, Mrs. Rob- ert Morgan, Mrs. Minnie Kirkpatrick, Mr. E. E. Olsen, Mr. James R. Fulton, Mr. Lavon Pittman. Civilian Relief: Chairman, J. D. Inskeep, Mrs. A. W. Elliott, Mrs. R. W. Chalfant, Mrs. R. P. Dick- inson, Dr. Carrie Richeson, Judge Thompson, Rev. W. T. Mabon, U. L. Kennedy and Anson B. Carter. Membership: Dr. J. P. Har- bert. Second War Fund Drive: Rev. Mabon, chairman. The Canteen committee, created early in the summer of 1918, is com- posed as follows: Mesdames W. T. Haviland (commandant), C. D. Campbell, E. P. Humphreys, Frank Grimes, D. R. Hennesey (secre-

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THE STORY OF LOGAN COUNTY

tary), Walker Prall (treasurer), Harry Morrow and Messrs. J. H. Underkircher, A. P. Humphreys, Max Leonard and H. K. Horn. This committee is highly organized, under three captains, each of whom conducts the work for one week in rotation, the officers being : Company "A", Mrs. Hattie Jones; Company "B", Mrs. Chester Miller ; Company "C", Mrs. Robert Morgan. A fund for the main- tenance of this work was started by the competitive parade and cele- bration of July Fourth, 1918, at which about two thousand dollars was raised, of which the canteen committee received $800. Thou- sands participated in the largest and in many respects the most unique festival ever given in Logan county. Detailed description is not possible, except for one or two features. Thirty Civil War veterans rode in the parade, and the children of the East School made a characteristic display, which won second prize. The truly original feature, which won the first prize, was a large body of Red Cross workers, formed by the joint inspiration of Miss Madge Lowe and Mrs. Harry W. Eaton, with Mrs. E. P. Humphreys and Miss Mary Allen, into "The Rainbow Division." The ladies were cos- tumed, with but two days for preparation, all in white, but wearing the Continental tri-cornered hat, with aigrette of color, a sash of the same color, and a white wound cane, tied with colored streamer. All colors of the rainbow (and intermediate shades) were used, and the whole color scheme was worked out in crepe paper, at a neg- ligible cost. The colors were arranged in long lines in the march, which was so timed as to display in counter-march at the railroad for the benefit of a passing troop train. In September, at the County Fair, the ladies repeated the attractive feature, with a slight change of costume, wearing a hat of solid color, and a military cape to match, over the white costume, while at the head of the column Mrs. V. W. Ballinger mounted on a white charger, with snow-white trappings, personated "America," robed in white and carrying a beautiful flag. All prize moneys were donated to the canteen fund by the winners. The canteen service will be maintained until the soldiers are all returned to their homes from camp and battlefield. The headquarters of the work are located in the Railroad Y. M. C. A. building on West Columbus street, and a conveniently located "hut" on the south side of the tracks gives the workers access to trains on any track, at the Big Four Station. Hot coffee and sand- wiches, apples and cigars are served to "the boys," who are also furnished with postcards if needed, and sick cases are cared for. The 1917 Christmas membership campaign brought in $8,113.43, of which $4,077 was remitted to the Lake Division, James R. Garfield, manager, the local chapter receiving a net amount of $3,382.84 after all expenses were paid.

Special committees, of temporary duration, are: Influenza, Messrs. F. W. Arnold, J. D. Inskeep, W. W. Coulter, Mrs. E. P. Humphreys and Dr. W. C. Pay. Christmas Cartons, Mesdames C. F. O'Donnell, H. K. Humphreys, Margaret Barton, H. N. Thomas and Johnson E. West. Collection of fruit pits and nut shells, Dorcas Circle of King's Daughters, Mrs. J. D. Inskeep, chairman. The strongest interest naturally centers in the Woman's Work Commit- tee, of which Mrs. Robert Morgan was the first chairman, and Mrs.

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J. S. Boyd, vice chairman; Mrs. Fred Armstrong, treasurer, and Miss Edith Black, secretary, the other members of the committee being special instructors in knitting and sewing, cutting and other activities. These were: Mrs. Ernest Bryant, Mrs. W. W. Riddle, Mrs. Jos. JoHantgen, Mrs. Samuel Tharp, Mrs. O. M. Newell, Mrs. George Brandon and Mrs. W. W. Coulter. The first shipment made from the chapter, of finished work, consisted entirely of surgical dressings and hospital linens, comprising respectively 3,578 and 3,970 pieces, a total of 7,548 articles of these two classes alone. Sub- sequently, Mrs. Morgan's committee accumulated, in addition to 739 really very useful knitted articles, of hospital linens, 867 pieces, and of surgical dressings 1,419 pieces, which were not shipped until November 22, 1917, and are, therefore, included in the total for the year ending October 31, 1918. Mrs. Morgan's success- sor, Mrs. Robert Butler, was appointed in November, but owing to her necessary absence from Bellefontaine, Mrs. Butler did not serve, and Mrs. O. M. Newell, chairman of Lake township branch, carried also the county work ahead, with Miss Myrtle Armstrong as lieu- tenant, for the next six months, when Miss Armstrong, with Mrs. Harry Morrow, was appointed to lead the Lake township branch work, and Mrs. Newell remained at the head of the county commit- tee. Her assistants were: Mrs. J. E. West and Mrs. J. M. Kerr. The report for the year just ended, October 31, 1918, seventeen ship- ments in all, is given below, under the various heads.

Total woolens or knitted articles, 3,263; hospital garments, 10,- 204; surgical gauze dressings, 32,756; surgical muslin dressings, 4,786; layettes (ten pieces to each), pieces, 1,260; refugee garments, 602. Two hundred comfort kits aggregating 3,200 articles ; linens for France, 4,375. Total articles shipped from November 1, 1917, to November 1, 1918, 60,446. Total articles, shipped since women's work began, 67,994. The order from the National Red Cross head- quarters is simply, "Carry on." Work along certain lines is, happily, no longer necessary, but civilian relief is at all times and seasons the field of the Red Cross, and the canteen service is not yet at its crest. The women's work will for the present be directed toward refugee and rehabilitation supplies, and the new committee appointed is Mrs. F. N. Johnson, chairman ; Mrs. Charles Kruse, vice chairman. The officers for the year ending October 31, 1919, are: Charles Harshfield, chairman; Fred C. Spittle, vice chairman; Mrs. Mary Jenkinson, secretary; Rev. W.C. Welch, treasurer. Mrs. George Esplin will serve as chairman of the house committee. On the board of directors those who will serve until November 1, 1920, are: Mesdames Ray Allinger, Frank P. Kerr, Robert H. Butler, John A. Harner, Fremont Hamilton, Harry S. Jones and Messrs. Ernest Thompson, Fred Spittle and W. T. Haviland. Those who serve until November 1, 1921, are: Mesdames George W. Windham, Har- ley Plum, W. H. Carey, Milt Kerr, Charles Kruse, Charles O'Don- nell and Messrs. Roy Aspinall, L. J. Shoots, O. B. Goodhart and Walker Prall. Members-at-large: The president of the Ministerial Association, the chairman of the City Union of King's Daughters, the president of the Logan County Medical Society and the chair- man of the Chamber of Commerce.

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THE STORY OF LOGAN COUNTY

Throughout the entire history of the Logan county chapter of the American Red Cross, a spirit of harmony and co-operation has prevailed, changes occurring among the committees only when un- avoidable circumstances compelled voluntary resignation of in- dividual workers, which were never accepted, except with regret, yet out of the fine timber of the membership such gaps have been filled perfectly, while the former occupants are "remembered by what they have done." In this connection it is proper to speak of the clerical work done by John Palmer Brandon, for the membership committee, in the first months of the chapter and during the mem- bership drives. It was the last service Mr. Brandon, for years an invalid, was ever able to render, a willing, glad service, still in evi- dence in the pages of the membership register and records, though the hands that wrote were folded, to write no more, in June, 1918. By a pathetic coincidence, Mrs. Herbert Miller, a young soldier's bride, who assisted Mr. Brandon in this work, was called to rest October, 1918. Mrs. Miller was a victim of "Spanish influenza," which she contracted while attending her husband in the hospital at Camp Taylor.

Numerous cases of individual work for the soldiers, unobtru- sively accomplished, and not coming under any specified head of "Woman's work," might be instanced, among them that of Miss Sara Lowe, who with some assistance from her sisters, in obtaining silk pieces for the work, made over 700 pinwheels and distributed them to the Logan county soldiers as they entrained, bound for the service of the nation.

Mrs. E. A. McKee, who had taken the prescribed course of instruction in surgical dressings at Connorsville, in the summer of 1917, was placed in charge of that department upon her return to Bellefontaine in September, and conducted the work from that time until the spring of 1918, with great success. The first large ship- ment of over 3,500 pieces was done under her chairmanship. A "first aid" class was also formed with a small membership, consisting of Mrs. Frank Griffin, chairman; Mrs. Robert Colton, Mrs. Will McKee, Mrs. E. A. McKee, Mrs. Elmer R. Gebby, Mrs. Ernest Bryant, Miss Mary Braden and Mrs. H. K. Humphreys. The in- structions were given the class by Dr. Robert Butler, and the examinations were conducted by Dr. W. W. Hamer, seven receiving certificates in the first.examination. The class then took special examination in advanced work in bandaging, and were awarded the coveted medal with the bar, one of the first three classes in the United States to be so decorated.

The Medical Profession

To no factor in the development of a pioneer community does history owe higher honor than to the physicians who ministered to its sick in the days when drugs were difficult to obtain and almost equally difficult to distribute, and when, in addition to the ordinary ills of human flesh, the pioneers were plagued with mysterious maladies that puzzled the medical profession (as in the case of "milk sickness") and when the land was heavy with miasma, and

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grievous epidemics visited the cabins and laid low the men and women who had undertaken the "Conquest of Canaan." Typhoid fever made its appearance as early as 1839. Smallpox raged in West Liberty in 1843, attacking one person in every three-though deaths were comparatively few. Dr. S. W. Fuller wrote of it that the diet of rice and molasses, and the medication of Epsom salts, to which the village was at the time chiefly confined, "could scarcely have been bettered." Handkerchiefs were worn as preventive masks. That was seventy-five years ago. Interesting to note, in this connection, is the fact that in the fall and winter following, an epidemic of influenza spread all over the country and carried off numerous vic- tims. In March, 1844, spinal meningitis, a disease not then thor- oughly understood, made its first fatal inroads, returning in 1851-2. Cholera first appeared in 1849, subsiding and then breaking out again in 1851-2 with renewed violence. But, so far as records show no scourge visiting the county since then has been so widespread as the dreaded Spanish influenza, which baffles the preventive and curative resources of modern science of medical men everywhere this season of 1918-9. Dr. Fuller smiled in 1843 at the handkerchief masks. Yet, in 1918, masks of gauze have been ordered by boards of health all over the United States.

The long roll of Logan county physicians who became known to all its borders and in many cases far beyond, presenting as bright a page of professional history as can be turned in Ohio, begins with the name of Mrs. Phoebe Sharp, whose intelligence and skill were freely at the service of the settlers of the Darby creek neighborhood for years before a regular physician ventured so far. Dr. John Elbert came to Middleburg vicinity in 1809, and was for several years the only physician of the county. He died after twenty years of arduous practice in the wilderness. Dr. Benjamin Stanton Brown was the next, coming to Logan county about the same time that his father settled in the Marmon valley, in 1818, and begining his local career in the capacity of a surveyor. He was a man of varied talents and broad mentality, the genial charm of his personality still remem- bered by those who knew him near the close of his life, when he had retired from the laborious life of pioneer physician, in which service he had been unexcelled. Dr. Brown married Rebecca Shaw (daughter of Henry Shaw), who outlived him, and gave to the city, in memory of his life and work, the lovely little park which bears his name. Dr. James Crew, who came to Zanesfield in 1821, was the next in order, practicing for forty-seven faithful years, his service ending only with his death in 1868. Dr. Abiel Hovey Lord, born in Windsor, Vermont, in 1802, came to Bellefontaine in 1823, the only practicing physicians nearer than Urbana, at the time, being Drs. Elbert and Crew. Dr. Lord's field of practice covered not only all of Logan county, but all of the counties touching it, including a great deal of work among the Indians, seven hundred and fifty of whom he vaccinated just before they were taken to the west in 1832. Dr. Lord married Letitia McCloud, daughter of Col. McCloud, in 1824. Their residence in Bellefontaine was a large house built of logs, and stood on the northwest corner of Main and Chillicothe streets. The building afterward became a place of mercantile business, and finally

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THE STORY OF LOGAN COUNTY

degenerated to the base purpose of a saloon and latterly a pool room, being finally removed in 1913, to make room for the erection of the beautiful Canby building, the pride of latter-day Bellefontaine. It was at that time the oldest known structure in the town, and remem- bering its former honorable estate, the logs were purchased, for preservation, by (Prof.) Thomas Hubbard, jr., who presented them to the city. They were, later, built into a log cabin in Rutan Park. northeast of the city, at the expense of the late Miss Mary Powell, granddaughter of William Powell, one of the founders of Belle- fontaine.

Mrs. Lord died in 1875, while Dr. Lord's active career ended in 1882, after nearly sixty years in practice. Dr. Joseph Canby, who came from Virginia in 1825, was a graduate of Rush Medical col- lege, Philadelphia. He settled in DeGraff-or near where DeGraff was afterward built-but his reputation was county-wide, not only as a physician, but as business man and influential citizen. Richard S. Canby, well-known lawyer and jurist, was his son. Dr. Canby died in 1847, having previously retired from practice to devote his energies to business pursuits. Drs. Good and Leedom, of Quincy, were his contemporaries, as were also Dr. Thomas of Logansville, Dr. Samuel A. Morton of Cherokee, and Dr. Robb of Zanesfield. Dr. S. W. Fuller, who came to West Liberty in 1838, and from there practiced the county over, removed his headquarters to Bellefontaine in or about 1852, retiring from practice there only a few years before his death in February, 1908, after nearly seventy years' professional life. With the exception of Dr. John Elbert, who died in 1836. Dr Fuller was the contemporary practitioner of all the physicians ever resident in Logan county, with the exception of the very youngest members of the present medical "round table." Dr. Thomas L. Wright, the son of Dr. Thomas Wright, who emigrated to America from Ireland in 1817, was himself a native of Portage county, Ohio. After completing his education at Miami university and Ohio Medi- cal college, he went to Kansas as government physician for the Wyandot Indians. He came to Bellefontaine in 1856, Miss Lucinda, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Lord, becoming his wife not long after Dr. Wright was deeply read, and of broad and liberal mind, a fine theoretician, a lecturer and writer of essays and pamphlets on path- ological subjects, his most noted work being a treatise on Inebriety, which caused him to be rated a high authority on that subject. He was at all times generous with advice and counsel to younger doc- tors, sharing with them the richness of his reading. He died, 1893.

Dr. David Watson, also a son of Irish parents, who emigrated to America early in the last century, was born in Adams county, in 1819, and came with his parents to Logan county in 1823, locating in the Cherokee and Huntsville district. In the spring of 1839, when aged 20, he lost a leg by amputation after an accident incurred in log- rolling. Thus unfitted for the business of farming, he took up the study of medicine under the tutelage of Dr. B. S. Brown. His first anatomy lesson was recited to Dr. Brown in the latter's cornfield (which happened to be the same plot of ground now known as "Brown Park") the doctor stopping the plow to listen. Dr. Watson maintained himself, while studying, by teaching school. After his

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marriage to Miss Eliza Richardson of Shelby county, Dr. Watson practiced in Upper Sandusky and in Wyandot county, where theit five elder children were born, and where they were buried after their brief lives. They came to Bellefontaine in 1857, and at first lived in the house on East Columbus avenue, where their only surviv- ing child, Mrs. Maggie Ginn, now makes her home. Dr. Watson achieved signal success in his profession in which he was noted for his keen and well-balanced judgment, while his faculties, both as diagnostician and prognostician were remarkable. He was also a clever and skilful surgeon of the old school. His death occurred March 31, 1894. Wells Watson Ginn, the gifted reader, is a grand- son. Dr. W. D. Scarff, born in Green county, Ohio, May, 1819, the son of Dr. John and Rachel (Curl) Scarff, received a collegiate educa- tion and graduated from Louisville Medical Institute in 1844, locat- ing in Bellefontaine soon after, making the journey hither from Green county on horseback. Dr. Scarff's coming gave the city of Bellefontaine three practicing physicians. He was associated with his brother, James Scarff, in the drug business, but entered at once upon his practice, following his profession with ability and distinc- tion for fifty-six years, during which time he held several positions of professional honor and trust. He was also an able contributor to "The Lancet" (a medical journal), and to the "Examiner," his last manuscript being sent in at the beginning of his final illness, which ended in paralysis and death, November, 1901. He married, 1851, Miss Lois Whitehead.

Dr. Edwin Pratt, who began his career at Bloom Centre, in 1850, located in Bellefontaine, in 1865, where he was already well-known because of long prominence in public office. Dr. Pratt's talent as a physician is attested by the fact that it has descended to the second and third generations of his family, son and grandsons all being successful physicians. Drs. Clayson, Aaron Hartley and James Cooper were of the period now under consideration, but exact data are not obtainable concerning them, although all were prominent in the community. Dr. Clayson died in the early seventies, in the prime of life. Dr. Hartley spent a long period of years in Bellefon- taine, and left for Colorado at the age of nearly eighty, still hale and hearty. Dr. Cooper was a specialist in drugs, rather than a path- ologist, but his vast and comprehensive knowledge of the materia medica made him a valuable member of the medical fraternity. Early in the summer of 1872, Dr. J. M. Wilson located in Bellefontaine, coming from the Cleveland Hospital School of Homeopathy. Though belonging to a school which had then but scant popularity, locally, Dr. Wilson has won the respect and high regard of all the "regu- lars" of his day, and, at past seventy, is still hale, active and very busy. He became the husband of Miss Ella Emery at an early stage of his career, and is now the senior physician of Bellefontaine, having been born in Carroll county in 1844. Closely following Dr. Wilson came Dr. Perry D. Covington, Dr. William H. Cretcher and Dr. Rutter-the latter a native of Rushsylvania. Dr. Rutter, after a few years' practice, took up institutional work, and left Belle- fontaine for Gallipolis, and Newberry, and latterly Columbus. Dr. Cretcher, who was born and reared in Springhill, Champaign county,

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was a brilliant student, and a gifted surgeon, making an immediate success. He was stricken with death in the very zenith of his pro- fessional powers, and died in 1890. Dr. Covington, a captain in the Civil War at a very early age, was a nephew of Dr. Watson, by whom his choice of a profession was somewhat influenced. He was a native son of Logan county, his parents being Samuel and Ruth Watson Covington, whose farm lay south of Bellefontaine a short distance. Born in 1842, he graduated from Ohio Medical college in 1868, and practiced about four years at Roundhead, during which period he was married to Miss Ellen McClain, and came to Bellefon- taine in 1872. Dr. Covington rose to the foremost position in the local practice and was regarded, after Dr. Fuller's retirement, as the dean of the profession here, until his death, which occurred in Sep- tember, 1915. Mrs. Covington is the author of an able pamphlet touching pathology. Dr. James Paulding Wallace, born Oxford, Ohio, a graduate of Monmouth college, Ohio Medical college and Bellevue hospital, located in Bellefontaine in 1877, and went into partnership with Dr. S. W. Fuller, who at that time believed himself about to retire from active practice. Dr. Wallace at once achieved a wide popularity, being of a genial and sunny nature, and full of kindly benevolence. Among the poor and lowly he was held in warmest affection, for his manifold benefactions. In 1886 he de- cided upon a change of climate, and went to California, where he remained a short time, returning to Kentucky, where he unfor- tunately contracted a pulmonary illness which undermined his health. A third removal, to Greeley, Colorado, resulted in recovery, but after a few years of great success, professionally, he died in 1894, of pneumonia. Mrs. Wallace was Miss Laura Garvey, of Piqua, and the Wallace home in Bellefontaine was the old Noah McColloch residence on East Columbus avenue. Upon his departure for Cali- fornia, Dr. Wallace sold the house to Dr. R. W. Chalfant, who after- ward remodeled it into the Chalfant Block. Mrs. Wallace returned to Bellefontaine with her family, two daughters, Miss Margaret Wallace and Mrs. Paul O. Batch, and herself still residing here, while the three sons, Will G., James Fuller and Hallett Denman Wallace follow their professions in Canada, Texas and Colorado, respectively. Dr. Wallace was the son of a United Presbyterian minister, but during his residence here was an elder in the First Presbyterian church.

Dr. John Saxton Deemy, born in Cumberland county, Pennsyl- vania, in 1866, passed his boyhood in Frenchtown, New Jersey, and was graduated from the Medico-Chirurgical College of Philadelphia in 1890, winning the appointment of chief interne in the hospital department of the same institution for one year. He then returned to Frenchtown, where he entered practice in company with his father, Dr. E. K. Deemy, remaining there until 1892-3, when he located in Bellefontaine, associating himself for several years with the late Dr. S. W. Fuller. In 1899 he was married to Miss Bessie Riddle, daugh- ter of Mrs. Margaret Riddle, a happy union to which four children . were born. After the tragic death of Dr. Deemy's mother, in a run- away accident, the elder Dr. Deemy made his home in Bellefontaine until his death-an additional shock to the son-followed in 1911.

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A third severe shock and bereavement came to Dr. and Mrs. Deemy one year later in the drowning of their little daughter, Margaret, April, 1912. Of great personal magnetism, Dr. Deemy attracted a large and devoted clientele, to which his cheery disposition and hu- man sympathy increasingly endeared him, while his proficiency as a physician and surgeon won him enviable distinction in the pro- fession. During the twenty or more years of his residence in Belle- fontaine he served the city as health officer for a long term, and at the time of his death he was the surgeon for the Big Four, Ohio Electric and the T. & O. C. railroads, succeeding Dr. J. H. Wilson, · who resigned. Dr. Deemy was a leader in the revival of the Logan County Medical Society, a member of the State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. In his own practice he had but one aim-the relief of human suffering. His death was caused by pneumonia-a short but violent illness of three days-on February 13, 1915.

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Memoirs of the Miami valley, Part 31

Author: Hover, John Calvin, 1866- ed; Barnes, Joseph Daniel, 1869- ed Publication date: 1919 Publisher: Chicago, Robert O. Law company Number of Pages: 684

Author: Hover, John Calvin, 1866- ed; Barnes, Joseph Daniel, 1869- ed
Publication date: 1919
Publisher: Chicago, Robert O. Law company
Number of Pages: 684