USA > Pennsylvania > Clearfield County > History of Clearfield County, Pennsylvania : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 27
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Smith Van Valzah Wilson was born in Clearfield, November 21, 1853. He attended the Clearfield school and afterwards took a two years' preparatory course at Lawrenceville High School. From there he returned home and read law with Hon. William A. Wallace nearly a year, when he concluded to attend college. In the fall of 1871 he entered Lehigh University for the regular class- ical course, and graduated in 1874. Mr. Wilson then resumed his law studies with Senator Wallace, and was admitted to the bar in March, 1877. Smith V. Wilson was elected district attorney in November, 1885.
Joseph Francis McKenrick was born in Franklin township, Adams county, Pa., May 9, 1845. He received a common school education and entered East- man's Business College, at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., in 1869, where he finished the college course. In 1865 he came to Clearfield and worked at the carpenter's trade during the summer and taught school in the winter. Mr. McKenrick was a teacher in the Leonard Graded School at Clearfield from 1874 to 1877. In the latter year he commenced the study of law with Hon. William A. Wal- lace, and was admitted to the bar June 24, 1878. In 1879 he was elected district attorney of the county and re-elected in 1882.
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BENCH AND BAR.
Frank Graham Harris was born in Karthaus township, this county, Novem- ber 6, 1845. In the month of September, 1876, he commenced the study of law in the office of Murray & Gordon, esqs., and continued until 1879, when on June 14th of that year he was admitted to the Clearfield bar. In connec- tion with his law practice Mr. Harris does a fire and life insurance business.
William Carlisle Arnold was born in Luthersburg, Clearfield county, July 15, 1851. He read law in the office of J. B. McEnally, esq., and was admitted to the bar in June, 1875. Mr. Arnold resides and has an office at Curwens- ville.
William H. Patterson was born near Warrior's Mark, Huntingdon county, Pa., November 14, 1851, read law with H. M. Aldridge, esq., of Holidaysburg, Blair county, and was admitted to the bar in April, 1878. Mr. Patterson came to Houtzdale, Clearfield county, in May, 1878, and has since practiced law at that place.
Roland D. Swoope, son of H. Bucher Swoope, was born in Clearfield, Pa., in the year 1856. He was educated at the Hill School, Pottstown, Pa., Phil- lips Academy, at Andover, Mass., and at the Western University, Pittsburgh, Pa., read law in the office of Murray & Gordon, esqs., at Clearfield, and was admitted to the bar in 1878. Since admission Mr. Swoope has practiced at Curwensville.
William A. Chase, born in Knox township, Clearfield county, July 24, 1847; was educated at the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, and grad- uated with the class of 1877, and admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of Michigan in March, 1877. Mr. Chase was admitted to the bar of Clearfield county in 1879, and commenced practice at Houtzdale, where he remained till 1886. He then moved to Jeffries, this county, but has not practiced since April, 1886.
John Franklin Snyder was born in Clearfield borough, June 23, 1855. He was educated at the common schools and at the Leonard Graded School of Clearfield, but when not at school worked with his father, Henry E. Snyder, in a blacksmith shop. In 1876 he graduated from school and then resumed his place in the shop. He entered the law office of Hon. Augustus Landis, at Holidaysburg, Blair county, and studied law until 1878, when he was admitted to the bar. Mr. Snyder practiced alone until January 1, 1884, when he asso- ciated with Hon. John H. Orvis, and established an office at Clearfield under the firm name and style of Orvis & Snyder. In the celebrated Curtin-Yocum contest, Mr. Snyder acted as associate counsel with D. L. Krebs, esq.
William Alexander Hagerty was born in Glen Hope, this county, January 22, 1857. He attended the Free School at Lumber City, the academy and Leonard Graded School at Clearfield, and the Pennsylvania College at Gettys- burg, Pa. He read law in the office of McEnally & McCurdy, and, after a course of study for three years was admitted to the bar in 1879. 33
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HISTORY OF CLEARFIELD COUNTY.
George D. Hamer was born in Freeport, Armstrong county, June 21, 1855. He graduated from Mount Union College in 1873; read law with Coulter & Martin, esqs., of Parker City, Pa., until 1875, when he moved to Butler and completed his studies with L. Z. Mitchell, esq., and was admitted to the bar June 6, 1876. Mr. Hamer practiced law in Butler county until 1880, when he came to Du Bois and was admitted to the bar of Clearfield county in March of that year. In addition to his law practice, Mr. Hamer has engaged extensively in lumbering and building.
Truman Ames was born in the town of Antioch, Lake county, Ill., June 25, 1851. In 1872 he attended the State Normal School at Mansfield, Tioga county, Pa., and continued there about eighteen weeks. He again, in 1873, entered the school and graduated therefrom in June, 1874. In the fall of 1876 he commenced the study of law with Hall & Ames, St. Mary's, Elk county, but was obliged to leave in the following spring on account of poor health. In 1878 Mr. Ames resumed study in the office of H. T. Ames, esq., Williams- port, and was admitted to the Lycoming bar in May, 1880. Truman Ames came to Du Bois in February, 1881.
William Irvin Shaw, born at Clearfield March 20, 1860, attended lectures at Yale Law School, and read law with Murray & Gordon, esqs., and was admitted to the bar in June, 1882. Mr. Shaw is now practicing at Houtzdale, Clearfield county, Pa.
Arthur Le Roy Cole, born in Potter county, Pa., December 24, 1857, read law with Olmsted & Larraber, esqs., at Coudersport, Potter county, and was admitted to the bar in June, 1881. Mr. Cole located at Du Bois in October, 1881.
Allison O. Smith, born October 23, 1857, in Montour county, Pa .; at- tended University of Pennsylvania two years, read law with Redding, Jones & Carson, esqs., and also with Oscar Foust, of Northumberland county, and was admitted to the bar at Philadelphia in June, 1882, and came to Clearfield in September, 1882.
W. Clarence Pentz, born in Brady township, Clearfield county, May 9, 1858; read law with Frank Fielding, esq., of Clearfield, and was admitted to the bar in September, 1882. Mr. Pentz began practice at Du Bois, August 15, 1883.
Martin Luther McQuown was born in Indiana county, January 18, 1852 ; read law in the office of Murray & Gordon, esqs., of Clearfield, and was ad- mitted to the bar in June, 1883. Mr. McQuown was elected county superin- tendent in 1878, and re-elected in 1881. He was chosen chairman of the Republican County Committee in 1886, and reappointed for the year 1887.
George Washington Easton, born in Clinton county May 16, 1860; read law with Wallace & Krebs, and was admitted to the Clearfield bar in June, 1883.
BENCH AND BAR.
James Horton Kelley was born in Bell township, Clearfield county, October 4, 1852. He attended the Dayton Union Academy in Armstrong county, and the Tuscarora Academy in Juniata county ; read law in the office of Wal- lace & Fielding, and afterward with Frank Fielding, esq., and was admitted to the bar in January, 1884.
Alonzo Potter Macleod, born in Clearfield May 29, 1861 ; attended Lehigh University at Bethlehem, Pa., and Columbia Law School at New York city. He read law under the instruction of Colonel Walter Barrett, and was admitted to the bar in May, 1884. Mr. Macleod commenced practice at Coalport, Clearfield county, in February, 1885.
Singleton Bell, a grandson of the first white male child born in the county, was born in Ferguson township, February 12, 1862 ; read law in the office of Wallace & Krebs, and was admitted to the bar in January, 1884.
Americus Hodge Woodward, born in Luzerne county, Pa., May 1, 1859; graduated from the State Normal School at Millersburg in July, 1878; entered the University of Michigan in 1881, and graduated in 1882; read law in 1882 in the office of McEnally & McCurdy, and was admitted to the bar in June, 1883.
George W. Zeigler, born at Marklesburg, Huntingdon county, Pa., August 23, 1861; read law with George B. Orlady, esq., and B. G. Zeigler, esq., and was admitted to the bar of Huntingdon county April, 1883. In 1884 he was admitted to the Clearfield bar. After three months at Clearfield he removed to Houtzdale, where he has since practiced.
George M. Bilger was born at Curwensville, Clearfield county, September 15, 1861 ; was entered as a law student with William C. Arnold, esq., of Cur- wensville, in 1883, while attending the Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa., and was admitted to the bar of the county March 22, 1886. Since October, 1886, Mr. Bilger has been located at Coalport.
William I. Swoope was born in Clearfield in 1862; educated at Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass., and at Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. He read law in the office of Roland D. Swoope, at Curwensville, and was admitted to the bar at Clearfield in December, 1886.
Alexander Patterson was born in Airdire, Scotland, December 19, 1857; came to this country in 1874; entered the office of McEnally & McCurdy in 1884, and was admitted to practice in 1887.
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HISTORY OF CLEARFIELD COUNTY.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
BY PRESTON WILSON, M. D.
W HO was the doctor that came first to Clearfield county ? This question naturally arises before all others, and the answer is found in what infor- mation can now be gained concerning Dr. Samuel Colman. For his history- which is interesting-the writer is mostly indebted to the Raftsman's Journal of May 25, 1859. It says : "Dr. Samuel Colman was a man of ability. Though eccentric in his habits, which, as he was taciturn and indisposed to take any one into his confidence, were known to but few, he had a warm heart. Of his early history nothing is known. He was supposed to have been the son of an English nobleman, who, for some reason, did not acknowledge his paternity, but who provided the means to insure him a superior education and maintenance. Colman was never known to speak of his birth place or parent- age. He would sometimes remark, "at the place where I was raised, was done," and " the woman who raised me, did " so and so. He practiced medi- cine for some years at Williamsport, where he acquired considerable reputation. As he was known by some of the early settlers, to whom he had formed an attachment, he would occasionally, when his services were needed, come up to administer to their wants. Not liking the practice of medicine, he removed here, and settled near the residence of his friend Joseph Boone, where he cleared out the farm now in possession of Thomas Dougherty in Penn town- ship. He called his farm Grampian Hills, because of the resemblance which his neighborhood bore to those celebrated hills of Scotland ; and this has since given rise to the name of one of the most thriving and productive agricultural settlements in the county. Here he labored with his hands, gaining his bread " in the sweat of his face," and only visiting the sick bed when his services were deemed indispensable. In the earlier part of his career, he was never known to use profane language and invariably reproved the use of it by others. He led a single life, and died at the early age of forty years, on his farm, where it was his request to be buried "in the middle of a large field,-habited in his best suit of clothes, including hat, boots, and spurs,-without a stone to mark his resting place, and where the plow might ever after move over his remains." He came to Clearfield county in 1808, and died in 1819.
Dr. J. P. Hoyt, a native of Troy, N. Y., came to Curwensville in 1819. He died March 1, 1885. He took a prominent part as a physician in the great epidemic of 1824, of which mention is made below.
Dr. Alexander McLeod, while living in Phillipsburg, began to practice medicine in Clearfield in 1824, during the epidemic of dysentery then at this
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THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
place, which destroyed entire families. A certain writer has this to say con- cerning it: " 1824 was a memorable year in Clearfield county. Mounds covering the remains of the young, the middle-aged and the old in every place of sepulture in the county are sad monuments of that period. Along the val- ley of the West Branch, and on the highlands, an epidemic dysentery raged like the pestilence. Whole families were prostrated, and scarce a family es- caped without losing one or more of its members. Anxiety and alarm sat on every countenance. He alone who was without friends and kindred mourned not broken ties. Dr. John P. Hoyt and Dr. McLeod, who came out and made his headquarters at Job Packer's tavern, were untiring in their exertions in al- laying the consternation which had spread through the community, and ministering to the relief of the afflicted. During the prevalence of the epidemic, these physicians were on the go day and night in the saddle. For four weeks, Dr. McLeod could not return home. Often worn out by fatigue, he slept in his saddle, and at times tying his horse out of sight, he caught a short repose in a barn or by the roadside. For a whole month he was a Nazarite by com- pulsion as he could not find time to shave." Dr. McLeod resigned the pro- fession of medicine in 1843 and entered the ministry of the Protestant Episcopal church. He died in 1877 at Meadville, Pa.
In 1826, Dr. A. T. Schryver came to Clearfield, but did not begin the practice of medicine till 1830. In 1854, he was elected superintendent of com- mon schools for this county at the first election held for that position. In the early part of his professional career, he practiced for a while at Glen Hope.
Dr. Henry Lorain located as a physician in Phillipsburg in 1825, but he practiced a great deal in this county, driving over frequently. He removed to Clearfield in 1835, where he died March 3, 1859. A tribute to his memory thus speaks of him: " Professional eminence crowned the life and labors of Dr. Lorain. Enjoying at the outset as a student of medicine distinguished ad- vantages, he laid the foundation of what proved afterwards to be a long, useful and honorable career. Thirty-five years of professional toil and devotion se- cured him a name and a place high up in the roll of medical men. As the brother-in-law and pupil of the late Prof. Dewees, of the University of Penn- sylvania, he sat at the feet of a great medical Gamaliel. Most men in most vocations have individuality. Dr. Lorain was distinguished by marked traits, admirable in his profession. To be sent for, to be called in, was for him to go at once. Nothing delayed or prevented him. Dispatch was not only the . word, but the act. Quick to decide, and generally prompt to execute, he would go, prescribe, and possibly be half way back before many a tardy prac- titioner would be well on the way. He accomplished a great deal in a short time. Delay or inattention were never laid to his charge. The summons to the bedside of the poor was obeyed with as much alacrity as that to the more favored of fortune-and their grateful tears bedew his memory. Though his
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HISTORY OF CLEARFIELD COUNTY.
field of labor was wide and rough, he never hesitated. His habit was energy, and so it continued to be until his bodily infirmities began to bear upon him."
Dr. Lewis Iddings located at Curwensville in 1827, where he remained sev- eral years, and then moved away. He was always regarded as a successful physician.
Dr. Perdue came to Clearfield in 1834; he moved away after a few years.
Dr. Henry Houtz, a brother of Dr. Daniel Houtz, who was the founder of Houtzdale, practiced a short time in Curwensville and Clearfield some where in the decade between 1837 and 1847.
Dr. Matthew Woods, a native of Penn's Valley, Center county, located at Curwensville in 1844. In 1856 he removed to Clearfield where he remained in active practice for ten years. Then he went to Mercer, Pa., where he resided until his death on December 16, 1868.
Dr. William P. Hills, a native of Prattsburg, N. Y., located in Clearfield in the spring of 1846, and practiced about six years, then went West where he died June, 1885.
Dr. John C. Richards practiced medicine in Curwensville from the fall of 1846 to the spring of 1851. Then he moved to Bloomington where he prac- ticed two years. He practiced after this near Glen Hope until 1859, and now resides in Philipsburg, Centre county, Pa.
Dr. James Irwin, a native of Centre county, now residing in Wyoming Territory, practiced medicine during the years 1847 and 1848 at Curwensville.
Dr. R. V. Wilson, a native of Centre county located in Curwensville in 1850. He soon after moved to Clearfield where he passed the rest of his life. He was widely and favorably known, and enjoyed a very large practice. A distinguished gentleman, who was a warm friend of his, gave this tribute : " Dr. Wilson ranked with the first men in this section of the State as a man of talent, intelligence, and polite accomplishments. In his profession he had attained to marked eminence, and was held in the highest esteem by the medical pro- fession, not only in this locality, but in many parts of the State, and especially by such eminent men as Drs. Gross and Pancoast, of Philadelphia. This high appreciation was manifested mainly by the frequent calls that were made upon him for his opinion and advice in cases of rare difficulty in the line of his pro- fession." He died February 13, 1878.
Dr. Thomas R. Blandy, a native of Delaware, began the practice of medi- cine about the year 1851, at Osceola, and practiced in that region and at Houtzdale till 1881, when he removed to Huntingdon, Pa., where he died April 21, 1885. He was a good physician, and held in the highest esteem.
Dr. Hardman Thompson, a native of Clearfield, came to Curwensville to practice medicine in 1851. He studied medicine under Dr. Loraine, and bore the reputation of being a remarbably diligent student, which he sustained all his life. He had an abundant practice, and was highly esteemed both as a physician and as a citizen and a friend. He died September 19, 1866.
A.LITTLE.
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THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
Dr. G. W. Caldwell, a native of Union county, Pa., established himself as a physician in 1851 at Beccaria Mills, from which place he shortly afterwards moved to Glen Hope, where he lived till his death, October 5, 1885. He was regarded as a man possessing a high order of intellect. His practice was large and lucrative, extending over an area sixty miles in diameter. Many of the older residents of Cambria and Clearfield counties will recall his timely visits made by day and night during the years gone by.
Dr. Thomas J. Boyer, a native of Bernville, Berks county, Pa., located at Luthersburg in 1853, where he practiced medicine until 1868, when he re- moved to Clearfield. He was well known throughout the county in political and professional circles. He represented this district both in the House of Representatives, and in the State Senate. He died October 23, 1882.
Dr. D. O. Crouch, a native of Washington county, Pa., first practiced medicine at Luthersburg in 1855. The following year he moved to Cur- wensville, where he resided until his death, December 26, 1880. The writer of his obituary has these words to say concerning him: "By the country people I am told he labored without respect to persons, and the poor were never neglected because they were poor, and when we add that in his case the safety of his own health was neglected, and even the burial of his brother, not far away was denied himself, lest he should desert his post in the midst of this unconquerable disease (diphtheria) which has swept so many joys from so many of our homes. We owe a peculiar debt of gratitude to one who has fallen among us in the forefront of the battle, and in a nobler cause than which a soul never gave out its life so nobly. He did not die of diphtheria, but diphtheria killed him. His own sympathetic heart was bound up in his little ones, and death on every hand giving him no rest, death at last gave him eternal rest."
Dr. D. A. Fetzer, a native of Clarion county, Pa., began the practice of medicine in Lumber City in December, 1855, where he still resides.
The Clearfield County Medical Society was organized in 1864, in connec- tion with the State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. According to its constitution, "The objects of this society shall be the advance- ment of medical knowledge, the elevation of professional character, the protec- tion of the professional interests of its members, the extension of the bounds of medical science, and the promotion of all measures adapted to the relief of suffering, the improvement of the health, and the protection of the lives of the community. This society recognizes as binding upon its members the code of medical ethics as established by the American Medical Association."
Below is given, in alphabetical order a list with data of those physicians who have came into the county since 1855. It has been obtained with but few exceptions from the list of registered physicians which is contained in the "Medical Register. This book is kept in the prothonotary's office in the
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HISTORY OF CLEARFIELD COUNTY.
court-house, and, according to the law passed in 1881, physicians are now required to register therein their name, the place of their nativity, places of practice, place of residence, time of continuous practice, and if a graduate when and where they graduated. There are now practicing in this county about ninety-four registered physicians who are resident.
Ackley, B. F., a native of Juniata county, Pa. ; places of practice, Lancas- ter City and Du Bois; place of residence, Du Bois ; attended lectures at Penn- sylvania College 1859-60, and Jefferson Medical College, 1862-63.
Balliet, L. D., a native of Milton, Pa. ; place of residence, Du Bois; degree of M. D. conferred by Hahneman Medical College, March 10, 1880.
Baird, J. A., a native of Houtzdale, Pa .; places of practice, Saxton, Bed- ford county, Pa., and Houtzdale ; place of residence, Houtzdale, Pa .; degree of M. D. conferred by College of Physicians and Surgeons, Baltimore, Md., March 6, 1878.
Bailey, S. D., a native of Clearfield county, Pa. ; place of residence, Clear- field, Pa ; degree of M. D. conferred by Jefferson Medical College of Philadel- phia, March 27, 1884.
Barnfield, J. H., a native of Jersey Shore, Pa. ; place of residence, Irvona ; degree of M. D. conferred by Jefferson Medical College, April 2, 1886.
Bennett, Ash. D., a native of Linden, Lycoming county, Pa. ; place of res- idence, New Washington ; degree of M. D. conferred by Pennsylvania Medical College of Philadelphia, March 20, 1860.
Belcher, E. C., a native of Newark Valley, N. Y .; places of practice, New- ark Valley, N. Y., English Center, Pa., Kylertown, Peale, and Morrisdale Mines ; place of residence, Morrisdale Mines; degree of M. D. conferred by the Cincinnati College of Medicine, February 26, 1877.
Bell, J. Finley, a native of Aaronsburg, Centre county, Pa. ; places of prac- tice, Glen Hope and Osceola ; place of residence, Osceola ; degree of M. D. conferred by the Medical Department of the University of the City of New York, March 13, 1873.
Bollinger, William E., a native of Huntingdon county, Pa. ; places of prac- tice, Cawker, Kansas, Mount Union, Pa., and Coalport; place of residence, Coalport ; degree of M. D. conferred by Bellevue Hospital Medical College, March, 1878.
Boyer, T. J., jr., a native of Brady township, Clearfield county, Pa. ; place of residence, Madera ; degree of M. D. conferred by the Baltimore Medical College, March 8, 1886.
Boyles, Robert M., a native of Clarion county, Pa .; places of practice, Reynoldsville and Du Bois; place of residence, Du Bois ; degree of M. D. con- ferred by Cleveland Medical College, February 4, 1869, and Western Reserve College, March 15, 1882.
Bullock, J. O., a native of Columbia, Bradford county, Pa. ; places of prac-
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THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
tice, Canton, McIntyre, and Peale ; place of residence, Peale; degree of M. D. conferred by University of City of New York, March, 1872.
Burchfield, James P., a native of Pennsylvania Furnace, Huntingdon county, Pa .; places of practice, Philipsburg, U. S. Army, and Clearfield, Pa. ; place of residence, Clearfield, Pa. ; degree of M. D. conferred by University of Mich- igan, March 26, 1862.
Burchfield, Samuel E., a native of Allegheny county, Pa .; places of prac- tice, Latrobe, Pa. and Houtzdale; degree of M. D. conferred by Homœopathic Medical Department of University of Michigan, June 30, 1881.
Bunn, J. McGirk, a native of Shippensburg, Cumberland county, Pa; place of residence, New Washington ; attended lectures at Jefferson Medical College, session of 1846-7.
Burkhart, S. P., a native of Blair county, Pa. ; places of practice, Altoona, Philipsburg, and Du Bois ; place of residence, Du Bois ; degree of M. D. con- ferred by Eclectic Medical College of Philadelphia in 1859, and the University of Pennsylvania, 1872.
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