Centennial history of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, Part 25

Author: Stocker, Rhamanthus Menville, 1848-
Publication date: 1887
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : R. T. Peck
Number of Pages: 1318

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The positions of duty and trust to which, in all the walks of life, the members of the pro- fession have been called, they have dignified and honored. In the church, in the causes of education and temperance, in the affairs of the township or the county and in legislative halls the medical profession has been represented in a creditable manner. When the rude alarm of war was heard in the land, the doctors, with the inspiration of sincere patriotism, responded to the call of the country, and were ready for any service,-as surgeons or in the rank and file of the army.

A century of years is covered by this brief history, and many of the actors in it have passed to their reward in the life to come. May their illustrions examples be the emulation of their successors in the present time and in the years to come ! better yet, may all be imitators and disciples of the Great Physician, who, when here on earth, " went about doing good !"

The carliest effort in the line of medical or- ganization in Susquehanna County appears to have been in 1820, and for this the credit is doubtless due to Dr. L. W. Bingham, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this work. It is not known to what extent this effort was successful, as no records are to be found of any meetings held.

The second effort to organize a society was upon the suggestion of Dr. John L. Kite, and the following extract from the newspaper of the day clearly illustrates the purpose aimed at and the unselfish spirit of its prime movers :

" MEDICAL MEETING .- At a meeting of a number of the physicians of Susquehanna County, held in the borough of Montrose on the 19th day of November, 1838, Dr. Asa Park was appointed chairman, and J. Blackman secretary.

"The following preamble and resolutions were adopted :

" WHEREAS, Of all the various classes of society there is none that is capable of exerting a greater or more direct influence upon the comfort and happiness of mankind than the medical profession ; and,

" WHEREAS, The greatest amount of benefit to our patients cannot be achieved without a unity of feel- ing, a reciprocal interchange of views and a unani- mous determination to lend our aid towards elucidat- ing, establishing and promulgating those principles and practices of the profession which science has pointed out, or shall yet point out, for experience to confirm, it is, therefore, the opinion of the meeting that it is the duty, as well as the interest, of the med- ical practitioners of this county to unite themselves into a society for the purpose of promoting the cause of medical science. It is, therefore, .

" Resolved, That we liereby form ourselves into an association under the name and denomination of the Susquehanna County Medical Society, the objects of which are, and ever shall be, the improvement of the various branches of medical science and the develop- ment of honorable and friendly feeling and conduct among ourselves.

" Resolved, That Drs. Bingham, Kite and E. S. Park be a committee to prepare a constitution and by-laws

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to be laid before the Society at their next meeting for their consideration.

" Resolved, That Drs. Blackman, Lyman and Bissell be a committee to prepare a code of medical ethics for the consideration of the next meeting.

" Resolved, That the officers of this Society be cho- sen at the next meeting.

" Resolved, That this Society will meet on Monday of court week, February term, 1839, at ten o'clock A.M. of said day, at the office of Dr. Park, in Mont- rose, at which time and place all the regular medical practitioners of the county are cordially invited to attend.

" ASA PARK, Chairman.

"J. BLACKMAN, Secretary."

In pursuance of the foregoing, February 4, 1839, a meeting was held, at which a constitu- tion was adopted, and Dr. B. Richardson was elected president, and Dr. J. Blackman secre- tary.

The original members of the society were Drs. Asa and Ezra S. Park and Josiah Black- man, of Montrose ; L. W. Bingham, New Milford ; B. Richardson, Brooklyn ; W. W. Pride, Springville ; Calvin Leet, Friendsville ; Eleazar Lyman, Great Bend; and John L. Kite, Silver Lake.

A certificate of membership, with recommenda- tion to the favorable notice of the medical pro- fession and of the public, was issued by the so- ciety, which was signed by the president and secretary, and attested by a seal, having for its circumscribed motto "Pulmam qui meruit ferat," with a mortar and pestle, surrounded by a wreath in the centre.

Thus rank in the profession was to depend upon merit alone, and the common implements of the office of the doctors are suggestive of the times when they prepared almost all their reme- dies from the crude materials, instead of pro- curing them from the druggist and apothecary in the elegant style of preparation of the present day.

For about sixteen years the annual and semi- annual meetings were held with considerable regularity. All the records of the society having been destroyed in the great fire which took place in Montrose in November, 1854, it is impossible to give a list of the officers and members during this interval.

At the next annual meeting held at Montrose

January 3, 1855, we have these additional names : Drs. Ezra Patrick and Gordon Z. Dim- ock, Montrose; Latham A. Smith, New Mil- ford ; C. C. Edwards and A. M. Tiffany, Har- ford. Braton Richardson was chosen president for that year ; L. W. Bingham, vice-president ; G. Z. Dimock, secretary; and L. A. Smith, treasurer. Delegates were appointed to the State Medical Society and to the American Medi- cal Association. The Committees on Sanitary Condition of the County and Fee Bill reported, and the secretary was requested to rewrite the constitution. Adjourned meetings were held at New Milford in May, and at Lodersville (now Great Bend Boro') in June following, at which time the constitution rewritten by the secretary was adopted. A fee bill was also adopted at that time.

While the society has existed nearly fifty years, its annual and semi-annual meetings have been held without scarcely any interruption, and in several instances there have been extra meet- ings. Unless some other place is designated, the meetings are held at Montrose, and it has been customary, at least half the time, to meet at such localities in the county as would best accommodate the members of the society.

Delegates are elected every year to the State Society and to the American Medical Associa- tion, and attendance at the meetings of those bodies constitutes permanent membership in them. A large number of the society have availed themselves of this honor, and their re- ports at subsequent meetings have added interest to the exercises. The annual address of the president rarely fails, and often, by request, finds publication in the leading newspapers. At the semi-annual meetings essays are in order, and this exercise frequently tests the mettle of the younger members. For many years numerously- attended clinics have been held by the society, at which patients have received advice without charge, and a meeting rarely occurs at which some do not appear, whether the clinic is adver- tised or not.

At a meeting held at Montrose January 5, 1859, at which G. Z. Dimock, M.D., delivered the annual address, he said :

" In complying with the appointment with which I

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am honored, Mr. President, I shall endeavor to bring to your recollection something of the early history of the society over which you are called this day to pre- side. It is needless to remind you that its records were burned four years ago in the office of the secre- tary, and that the date of its formation, the names of its originators and the minutes of its proccedings were thus lost. To remedy this as far as possible, I resorted to a file of the county newspaper, and, turning it over leaf by leaf, fouud a notice of the first medical meeting held in the county. With data thus obtained I refreshed the memories of the older members, and from their recollections have gathered facts enough to save the early history of the Society from entire for- getfulness.

"On the 19th day of November, in the year 1838, six physicians, residents of Susquehanna County, niet at the office of Dr. Asa Park, in Montrose, and formed themselves into an association under 'the name and denomination of the Susquehanna County Medical Society.'

"In reading this notice we are surprised at the age of this society-more than twenty years old! Twenty years ago there was no National Medical Association, sending its able discussions and erudite monographs into every part of the country, stimulating the physi- cians to reading and study, and infusing new energy into the entire profession. Twenty years ago Penn- sylvania had no State Medical Society to which the local organizations could send an annual delegate to report the health statistics of the county, and to bring back the history and treatment of any epidemic or new disease occurring in other parts of the State. Had it been to-day this society was formed, it would have been simply to carry out the suggestions of the National Association, or merely to comply with the urgent requests of the State Society, or only to follow the example of physicians in every county around us. But it was formed years before the idea of a National Medical Association was conceived-years before the State Society was proposed; and when there were no outside influences of any kind to aid and encourage the undertaking. Whatever credit there is in the foundation of this society is due entirely to the six physicians who gave it existence. The place of its formation is noticeable. Montrose was then a small, obscure village. There were no telegraphs, as now, to put it in communication with the rest of the world. It was off in the 'Beech Woods,' by itself, far from the business marts of the country. Susquehanna County was yet half-wilderness. Its hill-sides were every- where dotted with new choppings. Comfortable and commodious framed houses were just beginning to displace the log huts of the first pioneers. Such was the condition of the county when her physi- cians, isolated physically and professionally from the great seats of enterprise and learning, united themselves together for the noble purposes set forth in

the first resolution which organized them into an asso- ciation. The two objects set forth in that resolution are indeed noble, from whatever point we view them ; but the philanthropic and unselfish motives which incited the movement are best seen in the preamble preceding. Nothing of self or sordid interest is mani- fested. It exhibits an ardent desire for an increase of professional knowledge and usefulness, in order that they might be able to achieve the greatest amount of benefit to the patient. The organization of this society for such objects and from such motives evinces on the part of its originators an honorable determina- tion to make themselves of the greatest possible bene- fit to the community, not only by perfecting their knowledge and skill in the divine art of healing, but also by promulgating, establishing and elucidating earnest medical and hygienic principles and practices among the people. It manifests a devotion to that profession from high and philanthropic motives.

"The early formation of this society is a credit to the physicians of the county, and the names of those who took part iu its organization should not be forgotten. They should be again placed upon the records of the society and saved to those who come after us.

" Who are the six physicians who proved themselves so much in advance of the profession in larger towns and more populous districts ? As a class (and it is a pleasure to speak of them as a class), they were ' Reg- ular Practitioners of Medicine.' They belonged to that ancient and honorable school which was founded more than two thousand years ago by Hippocrates, the venerated Father of Medical Science, and which has come down to us through the lapse of ages, with its fundamental principles unchanged and unchange- able. In cvery age of its long existence it has wit- nessed the rise as well as the fall of new and rival systems, while itself progressed and improved in cvery changing period.

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"The qualification which admits the candidate to membership in this ancient school is a thorough med- ical education. Not that he shall be versed in theo- ries and doctrines, but that he shall be thoroughly learned in medical truths. His mind must be stored with the fruits of close, unremitted study. Year after year must he pore over the pages of medical books, and month after month must he sit in close attention to medical lectures, before he may present himself for admission in that learned body. Medical education is the qualification, and this is the disqualifi- cation .-- ' Any physician who procures a patent for a remedy, or instrument of surgery, is disqualified for membership in this body.'

" To a school so ancient and learned and honorable belonged the six physicians who formed the Susque- hanna County Medical Socicty. It is a high honor to them that their long professional lives have never been sullied by any species of quackery.

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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. .

" Years ago the physicians of Susquehanna County stood each with his elbows out ready to thrust the side of his professional neighbor. When they met, to disagree was the rule ; to quarrel was not an exception. If called in counsel, the life and health of the patient was quite forgotten in the anxiety to injure the repu- tation of the physician in attendance. If they met, as two once did in this village, on a plank over a mud- hole, they fought for the right of way. When they mnet on their professional rounds they often stopped to quarrel, and, on one occasion at least, did not part until they knocked off hats and bestowed other ' amia- ble attentions ' upon each other. To this there were honorable exceptions. There were physicians in the county who would not violate their honor to injure a rival. But among them was a feeling of jealousy and distrust which was a shame to them and an injury to the profession. Now, through the kindly influence of this society, the physicians of the county meet each other as brothers. They counsel and advise with each other without an effort or a desire to take undue advan- tage. The patient can get the honest opinions of con- sulting physicians and have the benefit of their uni- ted judgment and skill. By adopting a code of Med- ical Ethics, and a uniform Fee Bill, the society has re- moved the two most frequent causes of jealousy and ill-feeling. It has accomplished its primary object, and ' developed an honorable and friendly conduct and feeling among its members.'

" As I am about to close, do I hear any one ask what good it does to teach the principles and practices by which health is preserved and life prolonged ? To all such let me say, we do not profess to cure every disease ; but let me assure you, the list of incurable diseases is growing less every day. We do not profess to save from death. The fiat has gone forth 'thou shalt surely die.' From that decree we make no ap- peal. All that we can do is to put off the day of death, and that we have done, ten and twenty years. By statistics, carefully prepared, it is demonstrated be- yond a doubt that the average duration of human life has more than doubled in the last two hundred years, in which the regular practice has triumphed over every species of empiricism.

" During the past few years deaths and removals have greatly depleted our ranks and several are now well advanced in years. At all the meetings an esprit du corps is manifest which is very gratifying, and it is as true in 1887 as in 1859 that the efforts of the orig- inal members have been successful and have bene- fited the community and the profession.

" In 1869 a new certificate of membership was adopted and a new seal, having the words 'The Sus- quehanna County Medical Society ' on the outer mar- gin, with a winged caduceus of Mercury on a shield in the centre, and outside the shield the motto 'quæ prosunt omnibus,' a fitting expression of the unselfish and philanthropic character of the society. The so-

ciety possess a small collection of medical works in- tended to be the nucleus of a library."

Of those who practiced in the county before 1820, of whom no sketches are given, are the following :

1787. A Dr. Caperton, it is said, accom- panied the Nicholson settlers to Hopbottom (now Brooklyn), but may not have remained more than a year. 1788. Rev. Daniel Buck, of Great Bend, practiced as a physician. 1791. Dr. Forbes at Great Bend. He left before 1807. 1794. Comfort Capron in Nine Part- ners' Settlement, Harford, until his death in 1800. 1801. Noah Kincaid, who died in 1804, and Asa Cromwell, " phesitions " on tax- list for "Willingborough." 1804. Robert Chandler,1 at Gibson, a "root and cancer doc- tor " of considerable practice. 1807, or earlier. Reuben Baker, near the forks of the Wyalusing, but just below the present line of Susquehanna County, practiced extensively in its western townships. 1807, or earlier. Jonathan Gray at Great Bend. 1808. Dr. Luce at Harford a few years; then removed to Great Bend. 1810. Horace Griswold at Harford a year or two. 1811. James Cook in Bridgewater. 1812. Dr. Stanford in Liberty. 1816. Wm. Bacon at Hopbottom. 1818. Charles B. Johnson, Silver Lake. 1820. Dr. Emerson, Silver Lake.

Of the physicians whose names are not men- tioned in the sketches of this chapter are the following :

Drs. Charles W. Bankson and - Plant, of Silver Lake; R. H. Eastman and A. H. Bolles, of Montrose; - Munger (1822), E. B. Slade, E. Mack, P. M. Way and Meacham, Brooklyn ; - Ruttan, Rush ; Joseph Falk- ner, Dundaff; Rufus Fish, Liberty ; Vailes, Friendsville ; - Field, an English- man, in Bridgewater ; - Daniels, Great Bend ; J. P. Lambert, Springville and Auburn (dead).

Dr. James Cook, the first regularly educated physician in Bridgewater, located about 1810, across the Wyalusing Creek, opposite Stephen Wilson. He practiced there several years and

1 He may have been in Gibson as early as 1800.

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then removed to Spencer, N. Y. Jonathan H. Merrill, son of Amos Merrill, who came to Hopbottom in 1818, became a physician and died in New Hampshire. Dr. Rufus Fish was an early settler of Great Bend, but subsequently (about 1819) lived in Liberty, on the " Ranney Clearing." He moved back to Great Bend, then again to Liberty, on the farm where Philo C. Luce since, and from there to the Salt Spring, in Franklin, where he died. Dr. Wm. S. Gritman came to Clifford in 1830 and left in 1836. Dr. Thomas Halsey was also one of the temporary residents. Dr. Merrick died in the same place. Thomas Jackson, M.D., was president of a stock company which built a bridge across the Susquehanna River at Sus- quehanna Depot in 1855.

WM. W. TYLER, M.D., came to Gibson in 1824 and made a short stay. DR. CHESTER TYLER (not related to the former) established himself on Kennedy Hill, where he remained in practice until his death, in 1846. He was an elder in the Presbyterian Church. He had six children. His only son, James C., resides in Montrose.

DR. JOHN L. KITE, of Silver Lake, enjoys the credit of making the suggestion which led to the organization of the County Medical Society in November, 1838. He was a mem- ber of the Society of Friends and a gentleman of culture and refinement. After a few years' residence in the county he removed to Phil- adelphia.

DR. WILLIAM TERBELL came to Dun- daff in 1825 or 1826, and built just be- low Gould Phinney on the hill near the Pres- byterian Church. March, 1836, he purchased the stand of B. A. Denison, M.D., at Montrose. It was said of the latter, " He can't show off so much as Dr. - , but he understands the theater of medicine better." Dr. Terbell re- moved to Corning in 1837.

DR. MINER KELLY was appointed justice of the peace for Springville in 1828. Either in that year or the one following Dr. Jethro Hatch, from Connecticut, settled in the place. Previous to their coming, Dr. Jackson, father of Thomas Jackson, M.D., of Tunkhannock, was the physician for all this region.

DR. JOSEPH B. STREETER (1787-1883 ), whose name was widely known for his skill as a physician, was a native of Chesterfield, Conn. His parents, Barzillai and Nancy Brown Streeter, subsequently removed to Richmond, N. H., where they were farmers, and died in Swansea, the same State. Soon after reaching his majority he began the study of medicine in Cheshire, N. H., where he practiced his pro- fession for about one year after completing his studies. In 1812 he set out for the then far West, intending to locate in the Lake country in the western part of New York State; but learn- ing from a traveler that the British were about to invade that part of the State, he turned his course south from Central New York, and resolved to visit his friend, Noah Aldrich, of the "Nine Partners'" settlement. His ride was made on horse-back, with his saddle-bags and portmanteau strapped on behind. He possessed some three hundred Spanish dollars, some of which he retained afterward and gave as souve- nirs to his children and friends.

Upon reaching Harford he met Dr. Luce and Dr. Griswold, who induced him to locate there. About this time he was called to attend a case of fever in the vicinity of Glenwood, which he so successfully treated that he soon became known, and acquired a wide range of practice, which extended in after-years through- out Brooklyn, Lenox, Clifford, Herrick, Gibson, Jackson, Ararat, Thomson, Harmony, New Milford and Great Bend; besides, he was fre- quently called as counsel with other physicians in different parts of the county. For nearly fifty-five years Dr. Streeter continued the prac- tice of medicine and surgery, and was successful in the treatment of cancers. For most of the time he made his rides on horse-back, which he preferred to the use of either carriage or sleigli, especially in summer-time. He was well-known for his correct diagnosis of disease, his honest and skillful treatment of his patients, and particularly in cases of fevers, and for his good judgment in the management of the sick-room. To him the practice of medicine seemed natural. He had kind words always ready for the down- cast, a pleasant story for the diversion of the impatient, and a fund of conversation at hand

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in every emergency. He served the poor with the same care as the rich, and in every way within the range of his professional work sought to heal the sick and administer comfort- ing words to those past medical aid. During the last eight years of his life he was an invalid and sat in a wheel-chair much of the time. He bore his suffering cheerfully, and always had kind words for those near him, and a hearty welcome and cheer for his many friends. He was possessed of strong perceptive faculties,

was ever the welcome stopping-place for the- itinerant ministers of that church in the early days. Both himself and wife were members of the Gibson Church, of which they were among its founders. One brother, Sebastian Streeter, was a Universalist clergyman, and succeeded Hosea Ballou, the founder of Universalism in Boston ; another brother, Russell Streeter, was also a Universalist clergyman in New England, and both lived to be over eighty; and a third, Barzillai, was for some time a lawyer at Mont-

Joseph OB Streting

marked individuality and both as a physician and a citizen, was highly respected by the profession and the community. Aside from his profession, he was closely identified with the political movements of the vicinity, although seeking no place for himself, always interested in temper- ance reform, and an advocate of its principles, closely allied with all matters of education at home, and gave his children the best opportuni- ties for an education then afforded. In relig- ious belief he was a Universalist, and his home

rose. One sister, Prutia, married John Aldrich, in Massachusetts, and after his death resided with her son, Nathaniel, in Jackson township.

Dr. Streeter married, in 1814, at Harford, Chloe Aldrich (1795-1849), a woman devoted to her family and to the church, and who proved her Christian character by her life-work and left its impress on the lives of her children. Her father, David Aldrich (1770-1830), a native of Worcester, Mass., was one of the early settlers in Harford. Her mother, Polly

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Capron (1770-1845), a native of Bristol, Mass., was the daughter of Dr. Comfort Capron (1744- 1800), the first physician in Harford.

Their children are Diantha (1818-85), wife of Dr. J. F. Smith, died in Wellsburg, N. Y. Hon. Farris B. Streeter (1819-1877), whose sketch is in the judicial chapter of this volume. Nancy (1824), succeeded to her father's homestead, in Harford, and cared for him in his declining years. (House built in 1825). Alpha M. (1827-48), married Hon. George H. Wells, of Gibson. Joseph Everett (1829- 63), read law in Joliet, Ill., and was appointed, by President Lincoln, in 1861, a judge of the United States Court in Nebraska, which posi- tion he filled until his death, two years after. One of his colleagues on the bench was Hon. Wm. Pitt Kellogg, of Louisiana. Rienzi (1838), educated at Harford Academy, at Clinton and Homer, N. Y., read law with his brother, Judge Farris B. Streeter, at Montrose, and was admit- ted to the bar in 1860. He was clerk of the United States District Court of Nebraska from 1862 until 1867, when it was admitted as a State; he removed to Colorado, where he was a member of the Legislature, 1879-80, and Speaker of the House for those years. In 1881 he was elected to the State Senate for four years, and in 1883 chosen president of the Senate for two years.

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Centennial history of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, Part 25

Author: Stocker, Rhamanthus Menville, 1848- Publication date: 1887 Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : R. T. Peck Number of Pages: 1318

Author: Stocker, Rhamanthus Menville, 1848-
Publication date: 1887
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : R. T. Peck
Number of Pages: 1318