USA > Pennsylvania > Jefferson County > History of Jefferson county, Pennsylvania, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 43
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In 1845 he came to Kittanning and accepted a position as a clerk in a dry goods store owned by his brother. In 1846 he entered the office of Dr. George Goodhart, of Rural Valley, as a student, and during the following winter attended a course of lectures at the medical department of the Western Reserve University Cleveland, O., and on returning to Kittanning became a student of Dr. Josiah E. Stevenson, with whom he remained until April, 1848, when he returned to Cleveland, and taking a summer and winter course, grad- uated from that college on February 21, 1849. On his return to Kittanning he was offered, and accepted a partnership with his preceptor, Dr. Stevenson.
On the 13th day of June, 1850, he married Rachel Yocome, but her pre- disposition to pulmonary disease caused the doctor to leave Kittanning in 1852, and locate in Ringgold, Jefferson county, he being of the opinion that a pine region might prove beneficial to her. He remained in Ringgold until late in 1854, when he removed to Brookville and entered into partnership with Dr. Hugh Dowling. Having taken a very active part in the enlistment of volunteers to fill the call of the president for 75,000 men for three months service, and also for men for Captain A. A. McKnight's regiment, which he was recruiting after the expiration of his three months service, in October, 1861, he appeared at Harrisburg for examination to enter the medical staff of the army, and was one of thirty out of two hundred and fifty who passed. He was immediately appointed surgeon with the rank of major, and assigned to the One Hundred and Fifth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, of which Cap- tain McKnight had become colonel. He served in that regiment during the winter of 1861 and'62, and participated in the Peninsular Campaign under Mc- Clellan, and when his army reached Harrison's Landing Dr. Heichhold was the only surgeon in the brigade, some having deserted, while others were sick. For his conduct in this campaign honorable mention was made of him by Col- onel McKnight and Colonel Alexander Hays in their reports. At Fair Oaks he helped to organize about fifteen hundred stragglers, and led one wing of them into the fight. He was also in the Bull Run campaign under Pope. In September, 1862, in consequence of a misunderstanding with General Robin- son, who commanded the brigade, concerning the location of the regimental
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hospital he resigned. After remaining at home for three months he again entered the army as assistant surgeon of the United States army and was stationed at Presbyterian Church hospital, Georgetown, D. C., and at Lincoln hospital, Washington, D. C., for several months, and then was ordered to Camp Convalescent, where, at the request of the entire delegation in Congress from Pennsylvania, he was assigned to the Pennsylvania Division. He remained here nine months, receiving the highest praise from the commandant of the camp and the surgeon-in-chief.
The doctor was an ultra Republican, and an early advocate for the enlist- ment of colored troops. It is not singular, therefore, that a commission was sent him by Secretary Stanton, at Camp Convalescent, as surgeon of the Eighth Regiment, United States Colored Troops, with orders to report at Camp William Penn, near Philadelphia. In January, 1864, he accompanied this regiment to Hilton Head, S. C., and thence to Florida, where he remained till August, when he came with his regiment to Bermuda Hundred, Va., and was assigned to the Third Division of the Tenth Army Corps, being made the chief medical officer of the brigade, and when the Twenty-fifth Army Corps was organized he became the surgeon-in-chief on the staff of General William Birney, who commanded the Second Division of that corps. He held this position until mustered out at Brownsville, Tex., November 10, 1865.
Dr. Heichhold served through all the operations of the army against Rich- mond, and was present at the surrender of Lee. After the surrender he ac- companied his division-then commanded by General C. R. H. Jackson, who had superseded General Birney-to the Rio Grande, where the entire Twenty- fifth Corps had been ordered to enforce the Monroe doctrine against Maximil- lian, in Mexico.
After the close of his military service, he resumed the practice of medicine in Brookville, in which he continued until July, 1869, when he was appointed by Secretary Boutwell, a special agent of the U. S. Treasury Department, and remained connected with that department until the close of President Arthur's administration, a period of nearly sixteen years, after which he again resumed the practice of medicine, and located at Reynoldsville. He was also ap- pointed postmaster at Brookville, by President Lincoln, in the spring of 1861.
Dr. Samuel G. Miller removed from Armstrong or Indiana county, to Ringgold, in the autumn of 1854. He read medicine with Dr. Ferguson, at Dayton, Armstrong county. He remained two or three years, and then located somewhere in Cambria county. The last information had of him was, that he had entered the ministry of the M. E. Church, and was preaching the Gospel.
In the spring of 1855, Dr. David Elliott located in Brookville. He was a son of David Elliott, D. D., President of the Western Pennsylvania Theological Seminary. Dr. Elliott remained until 1858, when he received an appointment
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in the Department of the Interior, Washington, D. C. How long he retained this is not known, but probably during the remainder of Mr. Buchanan's ad- ministration. He was connected with the army in some capacity, not known, during the Rebellion, and returned to Brookville in the fall of 1865 or 1866, where he resumed the practice of his profession. He died of pneumonia, at Brookville, in 1868.
In the spring of 1855, also, came Dr. James A. McFadden, to Brookville, who entered the office of Dr. George Watt as a partner. This partnership ex- isted about one year, when he was employed by K. L. Blood to take charge of his drug store in Brookville. Dr. McFadden married Eliza C. Marlin, in June, 1854. He left Brookville in 1858, and practiced for some time at the mouth of Mahoning, and at Elderton, Armstrong county, after which he located at Buena Vista, Allegheny county, where he was at the breaking out of the War of the Rebellion. He was appointed assistant-surgeon of the Sixty- third Regiment P. V., August 1, 1861, and resigned June 17, 1862. Was ap- pointed assistant-surgeon of the Sixty-first Regiment P. V., April 1, 1863, and mustered out at expiration of term, September 7, 1864. He died about 1870.
In March or April, 1856, Dr. J. G. Simons, from Hartstown, Crawford county, located in Brookville, entering into partnership with his father-in-law, Dr. James Dowling. He had married Mary Dowling, February 26, 1856, and remained until 1859 or 1860, when he returned to Hartstown, and died of hemorrhage from the division of the sublingual artery caused by his teeth in a fall. Dr. Simons was considered a man of fair skill.
In 1856 a Dr. Kelley (irregular) located in Corsica, and practiced a year or more and then left, and returned again in 1859, and practiced for a short time. But little is known of him.
About the year 1856 Dr. James N. Beck located at Rockdale Mills, and remained a few years. Nothing is known of him further.
Dr. William James McKnight (electic), was the son of Alexander and Mary McKnight née Thompson. He was born May 6, 1836; studied medicine with. Dr. A. M. Clark, of Brockwayville ; attended a course of lectures at the Electic Medical Institute at Cincinnati, during the winter of 1856 and 1857. Com- menced the practice of medicine in Brookville in the spring of 1857, and con- tinued to practice there until 1859, when he removed to Brockwayville, having prior to his removal married Penelope, a daughter of Dr. A. M. Clark. At Brockwayville he entered into partnership with Dr. William C. Niver, and re- mained four; years, when he returned to Brookville some time during the au- tumn of 1863, wherethe has remained since.
In January, 1864, he opened a drug store. He was appointed by Gover- nor Curtin examining surgeon for the county in 1862, and was also examining surgeon for pensions for several years. In 1869 he graduated from the Uni- versity of Medicine and Surgery at Philadelphia. He was elected to represent
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Indiana and Jefferson counties in the Pennsylvania Senate in 1880, and renom- inated in 1884, but defeated by George W. Hood, of Indiana, an independent candidate. In March, 1884, he graduated from Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia.
Dr. John Calvin Dowling was a son of Dr. James Dowling, and was born in Jamestown, Mercer county, June 7, 1835, and came to Jefferson county in early childhood, when his father removed from Jamestown to New Prospect (now Baxter), Jefferson county, in 1841. Having received a common school edu- cation, he was a student for one year or more at the Brookville Academy, and. also at Annapolis, Md., one year, where he had been appointed a cadet at the U. S. Naval Academy. He did not remain at the latter school longer, as he had resolved to follow his father's profession in consequence of which, he entered his father's office in 1854, and in 1857 entered into partnership with Dr. James Stew art, Greenville, Clarion county, where he continued to practice until April, 1861, when he returned to Brookville, and rendered very material serv- ice to Captains McKnight and Wise, in recruiting volunteers for three months military service to fill the first call of President Lincoln for volunteers to crush the Rebellion that had been inaugurated by the attack on Fort Sumter. On the organization of Company B, Eighth Regiment, he was chosen first lieuten- ant, and afterwards, when Captain Wise was appointed to the Regular Army, Lieutenant Dowling had charge of the company until the expiration of its term of service.
On his return from the three months service, he entered with increased energy into the enlistment of volunteers for the regiment being recruited by Captain A. A. McKnight, for three years service. On the organization of the regiment-the famous One Hundred and Fifth Pennsylvania Volunteers-he was chosen captain of Company B. The military history of Dr. John Dowling has already been given in the history of his regiment in the preceding chapter of this volume.
When the sad intelligence reached his home of the death of this gallant offi- cer and those who fell with him on that fatal field, and who were Brookville's first offerings to the cause of freedom, the flags were draped in mourning, and suspended at half mast, and gloom and sorrow pervaded the entire community. Dr. John C. Dowling was a young man of very agreeable manner, of very fair education, and fine social qualities. He was loved and respected by those who knew him, but his professional life was too short to acquire a reputation as a physician.
Dr. Charles M. Matson was the son of James C. and Harriet Matson néc Potter ; born July 22, 1833 ; read medicine with Drs. Dowling and Heich- hold ; married Alice Johnson, only child of David S. and Naamah Johnson, September 3, 1857 ; attended lectures at Cleveland Medical College; located in Corsica April 1, 1858, as a partner of Dr. Mark Rodgers, and remained 45
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until April 1, 1859, when he engaged in other business till December, 1862, when he entered the office of Dr. John Mechling, of Brookville, as his assistant. In February, 1863, he entered into an equal partnership with Dr. Mechling, and in March, same year, bought the doctor out but continued the partnership until Dr. M. could find a location suiting him better. They con- tinued together nntil May 1, 1863, when Dr. Mechling left to report to Colonel H. S. Campbell, at his headquarters, Waterford, Erie county, he having been appointed surgeon of the board of enrollment for the Nineteenth Con- gressional District, Pennsylvania, April 21, 1863. Dr. Matson continued the practice established by Dr. Mechling's energy and skill till May 1, 1864, when he was ordered to report for duty, having been appointed surgeon to succeed Dr. Mechling, who resigned, to take effect April 21, 1864. This position he held until June 15, 1865, when he was honorably discharged by Edwin M. Stanton, secretary of war. During this period of the war the duties of medical examiner were very arduous, and the number of physical examinations made by Dr. Matson-volunteers, substitutes, drafted men, and of those seeking to be stricken from the enrollment list on account of physical disability to bear arms, was nearly fifteen thousand; probably about three thousand of these were re-examinations.
On October 27, 1864, he married Amanda Truby, his wife having died May 2, 1863. After his discharge Dr. Matson resumed the practice of medi- cine in Brookville, in which he has been engaged since.
He was instrumental in the organization of the Jefferson County Medical Society in 1877, and was elected its first president ; was one of the first three delegates to the State Medical Society, and the first delegate to the American Medical Association in 1878.
Dr. John Mechling was born near New Washington, Butler county, Pa., in 1832 ; received a liberal education, and for some time before reading medi- cine was principal of an academy in the State of Indiana ; read medicine with Dr. McJunkin, of Butler, and graduated from Jefferson Medical College in March, 1859, locating in Brookville in April of same year. During the first year of his residence in Brookville he acquired a very extensive practice, which he continued to maintain until May 1, 1863, when he left the place to assume the duties of examining surgeon at the provost marshal's headquarters, Water- ford, he having been appointed to that position on the 21st day of the pre- vious month. He continued in this office until April 21, 1864, when he re- signed. After his resignation he went to Denver, Col., and remained until the next fall, when the threatening attitude of the Indians caused many of the inhabitants of Denver to leave for other places of greater safety. He arrived at Salt Lake City and opened an office there, where he remained until the next spring, when he returned via San Francisco and Panama to Brookville. He then entered the office of Andrews & Conrad, attorneys at law, as a student ;
Cho M. Matsom
A.LITTLE. PHIL A
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attended the Law Department of the University of Albany, graduating in the spring of 1868. He then returned to Denver to engage in the practice of law, but in time returned to the practice of medicine. He married Mary H. Jenks, daughter of the late D. B. Jenks, esq., in November, 1864, and died in Gunni- son, Col., about 1880.
Taking in consideration the short time Dr. Mechling remained in Brook- ville, he had acquired a wonderfully extensive practice. He was prompt, energetic, agreeable, and skillful ; six feet two inches in height, slender, with dark hair, and beard covering his breast; gray eyes, well dressed, gentle, kind, yet somewhat brusque. He was very popular with the masses, and held in high esteem by the professional fraternity.
Dr. William H. Reynolds (eclectic) was born in Franklin county, New York ; read medicine with Dr. A. M. Clark, at Brockwayville; located in Reynoldsville in 1859, where, in connection with other business, he has been engaged in the practice of medicine ever since.
Dr. John McConnell Jones, son of Isaac and Jane Jones, née Wilson, was born near Strattanville, Clarion county, May 22, 1833. Isaac Jones was one of the first settlers of Jefferson county, having come with his parents from Centre county, in 1802. John McC. attended Elder's Ridge Academy for two years, and was a student for some time at Washington College ; read medicine under Dr. James Ross, of Clarion ; attended medical lectures at Jefferson College, Philadelphia ; commenced the practice of medicine in Perrys- ville, where he remained about one year, and in the year 1859 removed to Corsica ; married a daughter of Samuel Frampton, late of Clarion county, and continued to practice until November, 1863, when he was attacked by typhoid fever, and died on the 24th of that month in Corsica.
During the decade ending with the year 1859 several other doctors were engaged in the practice of medicine in the county, of whom no reliable data can be procured. Dr. Joseph Shields, it is thought, located in Perrysville about 1852, where he practiced many years, and then removed to Punxsutaw ney, where he yet resides engaged in the practice of medicine, in connection with the sale of drugs and general merchandise. Dr. J. J. J. Bishop, a son of Dr. Gara Bishop, with whom he read, also located in the county, and prac- ticed for a few years at Punxsutawney.
Dr. Joseph Woods Sharp was born December 28, 1836, at Shelocta, Indi- ana county ; read medicine with Dr. Joseph Shields, of Perrysville, Jeffer- son county ; entered into partnership with his preceptor in 1861, whose interest he afterward purchased ; continued the practice until 1869, when he removed to Dayton, Armstrong county, where he now resides. He mar- ried Mary Ann Walker, December 28, 1859.
Rev. Dr. Robert Smith Hunt (homeopathist), son of George and Mary Hunt, née Cooper, was born June 10, 1828, at New Alexandria, Westmoreland
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county ; received a liberal education, commencing with that afforded by the common school, supplementing it by a course at Elder's Academy, near Pleasant Unity, Westmoreland county, and nearly three years in Allegheny College, Meadville.
He entered the ministry of the Baptist denomination and had charge of a congregation for some time in Armstrong county. He read medicine with Dr. Simkins, of Slate Lick, same county, and attended a course of lectures at the Western Homeopathic College, Cleveland, O., in the winter of 1856-7; com- menced to practice at Richardsville, Jefferson county, in 1860, where he prac- ticed medicine and preached to the Baptist congregation there until the spring of 1863, when he removed to Brookville. In 1859 he married Louisiana M. Blood, who died in 1881. He graduated from the Philadelphia University of Medicine and Surgery (eclectic) February 15, 1868 ; also received certificates from the electropathic institution at Philadelphia, and Dr. Horatio R. Storer, of Boston. He was for several years a member of the Board of Pension Exam- iners for Jefferson county. A few years ago Dr. Hunt married Mrs. Rachel Steck, née McCreight.
Dr. John M. Cummins, the son of Rev. C. P. Cummins, M. D., and Mar- garet Cummins, was born at Dickinson, Cumberland county, Pa .; read medi- cine with his father, and graduated from the Cincinnati Medical College in the spring of 1862; entered into a partnership with Dr. John Mechling same spring, which was mutually dissolved the following autumn to permit Dr. Cummins to go to assist his father in his practice in Beaver. He remained in Beaver bnt a short time, as he was appointed surgeon to a volunteer regi- ment in the field, and continued as such till 1864, when he returned and located in Allegheny City, where he continues in the practice of medicine.
Dr. Samuel C. Allison was born December 30, 1830, near Greenville, Clarion county ; read medicine with Dr. John Mechling, at Brookville; attended a course of lectures during the winter of 1860-61 ; located in Clarion, in December, 1861; removed to Punxsutawney in February, 1863; about the same time married Jane Craig, a daughter of Samuel Craig, of Brookville ; removed to Marchand, Indiana county, October, 1865 ; attended a second course of lectures at Jefferson College, Philadelphia, during the winter of 1866-7; graduated 1867 ; removed to Brookville in the fall of 1869, and re- turned to Punxsutawney in the fall of 1870, where he has been continuously engaged in the practice of medicine ever since.
Dr. John Thompson, the son of Jonathan and Catharine Thompson, née King, was born at Tyrone Forge, now [Tyrone, Huntingdon county, Jan- uary 1, 1835. His father removed to Clarion county when the subject of this sketch was ten years of age, settling near Strattanville. Here he attended school until his sixteenth year, when he worked for about a year for his father and brother Jesse, who were millwrights. When eighteen years old he was
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employed as clerk for Isaac Jones & Sons, Greenville, Clarion county, and afterwards by Reynolds & Evans, with whom he continued for three years, applying himself assiduously, during his leisure hours, to the acquisition of knowledge through every channel presenting itself. At the end of the time specified he gave up his position with Reynolds & Evans and went to St. Louis, Mo., where he had a brother residing, for the purpose of reading med- icine under Professor E. H. Gregory, visiting physician to Charity Hospital and demonstrator of anatomy in the St. Louis Medical College. During the period of his student life he was Dr. Gregory's daily attendant in his hospital visits, and graduated from this college in the spring of 1860, after which he was appointed assistant physician to the City Hospital by the Board of Health of St. Louis, where he remained six months, the last of which he had entire control of the hospital on account of the absence of Dr. Corning, who was brigade surgeon, and left with the brigade during the border troubles between Kansas and Missouri. At the end of a month Dr. Corning, with a part of the State troops, returned, and Dr. Thompson was appointed surgeon to those re- maining as guards of the border. He held this position till the outbreak of the Rebellion, when the govenor of Missouri ordered the return of the State troops to Camp Jackson, St. Louis, where Dr. Thompson, with the rebel troops to the number of about five thousand, were captured by General Lyon and paroled at the St. Louis Arsenal. After his parole the doctor returned home to Green- ville, Clarion county, where he entered into partnership in the practice of medicine with Dr. James Stewart, of that place, which continued for two and a half years. He married Mary A. Rifenberic, of Greenville, July 30, 1861, and located in Corsica, Jefferson county, January 5, 1864, where he has continued in the practice of his profession ever since.
Dr. Barnabas Sweeny was the son of Barnabas and Margaret Sweeny, born January 8, 1826, near Tarentum, Allegheny county ; read medicine first year with Dr. James L. Taylor, and the two succeeding years with Dr. James Stewart, both of Indiana; married Lena Ann Armstrong, daughter of Col- onel Thomas Armstrong, of Elderton, Armstrong county, October 1, 1850, who lived but six months. Some time after the death of his first wife he mar- ried Elizabeth W. Robinson. He located first by taking charge of Dr. Thomas Allison's practice, in Middletown, now Elderton, from September 9, 1849, to May 20, 1850. He then located in Smicksburgh, Indiana county, in partner- ship with Dr. Sims, which partnership lasted about one year, after which he continued to practice there until October, 1864, when he removed to Brook- ville, where he continued to practice until April 1, 1883, when he removed to Du Bois, Clearfield county, where he has been engaged in the practice of medicine since.
Some time during the year 1864 Dr. William Meredeth Bruce Gibson lo- cated in Reynoldsville. He was born in Clarion county, and read medi-
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cine with Dr. R. B. Brown, of Summerville. After practicing a few years in Reynoldsville he removed to Rockdale Mills, where he remained a few years, returning to Reynoldsville in 1871 or 1872, where he has continued to practice medicine since. Dr. Gibson has been one of the surgeons of the L. G. Divi- sion A. V. R. R. for many years, and is also a member of the Jefferson County and Pennsylvania Medical Societies.
In 1865 or 1866 Dr. George W. Barnett located in Ringgold. He was born in Young township, Jefferson county, and is said to have read med- icine with Dr. Joseph Shields. He remained in Ringgold about eleven years, when he removed to Mt. Tabor, Armstrong county, where he practiced for about three years, and then went to Nebraska, since which nothing is known of him.
Dr. Perry McElvain was born in Butler county, near North Washington ; read medicine with Dr. C. M. Matson, Brookville ; attended a course of lec- tures at Ann Arbor during the winter of 1864-65 ; located at McLeansboro, Ill., in the autumn of 1866, but afterwards removed to Alto Pass, in the south- ern part of Illinois, where he now is practicing medicine.
Dr. John Calvin King was the son of Jacob and Sarah A. King, née Cor- bett; born in Clarion county in 1841 ; read medicine with Dr. R. B. Brown, Summerville ; attended lectures at the University of New York, and located for the practice of medicine at Rockdale Mills, Jefferson county, in the spring of 1867, remaining there until the fall of 1868, when he removed to Reynolds- ville, where he has remained in the continuous practice since. He married Miss E. A. Coleman, September 23, 1869.
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