History of Tioga County, Pennsylvania, Part 24

Author:
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: Harrisburg : R. C. Brown
Number of Pages: 1454

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HISTORY OF TIOGA COUNTY.

THE TIOGA COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION.

During the early part of the January term, 1882, a movement was inaugurated among the members of the bar having for its outcome the organization and incor- poration of an association to embrace within its membership the practicing attorneys of the county. A committee, consisting of Hon. Henry Sherwood, Frederick E. Smith, and Robert C. Simpson, was appointed to consider and report upon the mat- ter. The report, which in due time was submitted, is, except the formal intro- duction, as follows:

It would bring the members of the court and bar into closer and more intimate per- sonal relations, and thereby soften down the asperities of practice and create a kinder and more courteous bearing and consideration of each toward the others. Greater at- tainments in legal knowledge and a higher standard of professional ethics should be the primary object, but incidentally there might be the promotion of social enjoyment. We assume that the lawyer who is faithful to his clients, attentive to his practice, and diligent in season and out of season, has the right to a day for himself occasionally, when he may throw off the harness, kick off his clients, and let himself loose, if he chooses. The members of the bar, if they work together in the court room, have the right to play together, if they desire to.

The association was organized, and on February 6, 1882, duly incorporated, with the following officers and members: Henry Sherwood, president; Mortimer F. Elliott, vice-president; Frederick E. Smith, secretary; Horace B. Packer, treasurer, and Henry Allen, R. C. Simpson and A. S. Brewster, directors. The meetings of the association are held in the library room at the court house. The annual dues are $3.00, the fund thus derived being used to defray expenses and purchase books. The library is well supplied with standard legal works and court reports, and is being added to constantly.

JOHN F. DONALDSON, PROTHONOTARY AND POLITICIAN.

The history of the bench and bar of Tioga county would be incomplete without appropriate mention of John F. Donaldson, so long connected with the courts in an official capacity. He was born in Danville, Pennsylvania, in 1805; learned the printer's trade there; came to Wellsboro in 1827, and worked in the office of the Phoenix and other papers for several years. He was sent to Wellsboro by Tunison Coryell, of Williamsport (who was then publishing the Lycoming Gazette), in re- sponse to a request of Judge Morris, Benjamin B. Smith, and others, who, having purchased a press and materials, were about to start a paper in the place of the Pioneer, and wanted a competent man to take charge of it. He proved a faithful and valuable man.

Joseph Ritner was elected governor in 1835, and in January, 1836, he ap- pointed Mr. Donaldson prothonotary and clerk of the several courts. When Gov- ernor Porter came into office he removed Donaldson and appointed A. S. Brewster to succeed him. But under the Constitution of 1838 the office had been made elective, and at the October election of 1839 Mr. Donaldson was elected, and on the first of December he entered upon his duties, and continued to hold the office by re-election every three years till the general election in 1872, when he was beaten by Gen. Robert C. Cox.

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Mr. Donaldson, it will be seen, held the office one term by appointment, and was elected eleven times, making thirty-six years of service, thirty-three of which were in one unbroken chain. He held office, therefore, longer than any other man in the county since its organization. Counting his services as a subordinate clerk, he was for more than fifty years identified with the legal history of the county, and on account of his obliging and genial disposition, his memory is still fondly cher- ished by those who were brought into contact with him.

Josiah Emery, who knew him throughout his entire official career, informs us that almost every other man holding so good an office so long would have become rich. But he succeeded in making a living, and that was all. It is no discredit to his memory to say that he went out of office poor. He ought to have become rich. Let us see if we can tell why he did not.

He never refused to enter a judgment or issue a process, except in some few extreme cases, because the fees were not paid. Ilis office was an office of general credit. Any man could have credit for fees if he asked for it. It was the same with regard to state taxes on writs, or entry of judgments-taxes that became a charge against him personally as soon as the entry was made. These fifty-cent taxes and these bills for fees were individually small, and individuals who were accommodated by the credit did not deem them of much account, and many of them forgot to pay -forgot, may be, that they owed tax or fee. "They are not much, if I do not pay. I have done him a good many favors, have electioneered for him, have helped to elect him, and I don't think he expects me to pay," they would reason with themselves. He had thousands of such friends; and it is true they did electioncer for him, helped elect him, and it may be that it was by an interchange of these little favors he was kept so long in office.

But it was not wholly by these small individual sums that he lost. There were instances where fees and taxes accumulated until they became large in amount, with the tacit if not express agreement that they were to balance certain claims against him, which understanding was repudiated when too late to collect on his part. Mr. Donaldson was always ready to accommodate by the loan of small sums of money which he could never reasonably expect to be paid. It is believed that no man ever asked him to go his bail or to endorse for him that was refused. The fact is, he was always everybody's friend, and had almost everybody's friendship in the county, and the result was he was just the man in those last thirty-three years no other man in the county could beat, either by a nominating convention or at an election.

If any man will examine the docket for the many years he was prothonotary and take an account of unpaid fees and taxes, he will find still enough unpaid to have made the veteran comparatively rich in his old age had they been paid up. A lawyer once had occasion to look them up and was surprised at the amount. The auditor general had stated his account and found a considerable sum due from him to the State. Mr. Donaldson claimed that it was wrong and asked for a re-state- ment. This the auditor general refused, though Mr. Donaldson produced a receipt for some $700 that had not been credited; but as this amount had been paid to the attorney general of the State, and not paid over by him to the treasurer, the auditor general refused to allow it, though admitting that it was rightfully chargeable to the State, alleging that to credit it would be charging it to the treasurer, who

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had never received it. A full statement of his account, including unpaid fees and this receipt of the attorney general, was made out and shown to the auditor general. It was laid before the legislature, and a law was passed ordering a re-settlement of his account; and when it was so settled and all errors corrected and proper allow- ances made, the amount found due was promptly paid.

From the foregoing statement it is very clear that Mr. Donaldson was not a very good business man, as the world generally understands that term, however good an officer he may have been; and it is pretty evident, too, that the course he pursued, showing his lack of business qualifications, helped very much to keep him for so long period in office.

Mr. Donaldson had at times been a very zealous temperance man. He was one of the originators of the "Sheep Skin," an association that caused, for a time, a very large falling off in the receipts of the liquor dealers. At that time the temperance question was an important element in politics. He was an anti-Mason in Ritner's time, always at heart an anti-slavery man, and at one time a strong anti-Wilmot man, but when the wave was at its height, and he and Judge White in danger of being washed out to sea, they both, like prudent men, deserted their own craft, went aboard the Wilmot schooner and saved their political lives.

In those days it was generally conceded that Mr. Donaldson was the shrewdest political manager in Tioga county. He seemed to know, by a kind of mental mathematical calculation, just how each step would affect the final result. He knew, too, exactly how the nomination of Mr. B or Mr. C or Mr. D-one or all- would accord with his political obligations, having in view all the while the main chance. This is not said of him disparagingly. His occupancy of a position on the bench of Tioga county afterwards was a fit recognition of his services as the recording officer of the court for so long a time. He continued to serve as associate judge until his death, which occurred very unexpectedly, February 12, 1880, when he had reached the advanced age of seventy-five years. Distinguished throughout his long public career for his urbanity and generosity, his death was sincerely mourned by hundreds of old friends not only in the county of Tioga, but throughout northern Pennsylvania.

CHAPTER XIII.

THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.

INTRODUCTORY-PIONEER PHYSICIANS-THEIR COURAGEOUS DEVOTION TO DUTY- BRIEF SKETCHES OF PROMINENT PHYSICIANS-THE FIRST DRUG STORE-SKETCH OF DR. ROBERT ROY, ITS PROPRIETOR-"BRICK" POMEROY'S REMINISCENCES- THIE TIOGA COUNTY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION.

"HE family physician, in the exercise of his duties as such, comes into closer intimacy with his fellowmen than does the member of any other profession. There is no condition of life in which his services are not required. He is present at the natal couch and at the bed of death. Ilis mission is to cure disease, ease pain and alleviate suffering. Confiding no less in his honor than in his professional skill, we freely admit him to the innermost sanctuaries of our homes, and make him the cus- todian of secrets and the repository of confidences such as we commit to the keeping of no one else outside the sacred precincts of the church. These he must henceforth keep locked within his own breast. The man worthy to receive such confidenees may fall short of being the most skillful of physicians, but he must not, even in the slightest degree, fall short of meeting every requirement of professional honor. Whether admitted to the bedside of the young or the old, the poor or the rich, to the hovel or the mansion, he must be a gentleman, first, last and all the time. To the honor of the medical profession everywhere, be it said that the family physician, with rare exceptions, is a gentleman with a high standard of personal and professional honor.

The pioneer physician, though less educated and, perhaps, less highly polished than his brethren of to-day, was, nevertheless, unselfish, self-sacrificing and fearless in his devotion to his professional duties. He rode at all hours of the day and night, through summer's heat and winter's cold, over roads that were little more than path- ways through the wilderness, willingly facing dangers and enduring personal discomforts, sooner than fail in the discharge of duty or forfeit the confidence reposed in him. In many instances, because of limited knowledge and a still more limited supply of simple remedies, he was compelled, in waging an unequal war against disease, to bring his common sense to the front, and make it do service in constantly recurring emergencies. This self-reliance resulted in building up an individuality. always marked, often peculiar, and occasionally eccentric. He learned to know the people, their ailments and their idiosyncrasies, and this knowledge had not a little to do with his success as a practitioner. As a rule, when he died he left behind him an honorable name and a limited estate as the principal heritage of his descendants.

The physician of to-day begins practice with an equipment of medical and

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HISTORY OF TIOGA COUNTY.

surgical knowledge such as it was impossible to obtain three-quarters of a century ago, or for that matter less than a decade ago. The wonderful discoveries of recent years, as to the cause and cure of disease, are the world-wide property of the pro- fession, and the latest graduate from a reputable medical college enters the field of practical effort confident in his ability, so far as knowledge goes, to battle success- fully with the most insidious and complicated ailments and diseases.

Formerly the physician contented himself with dealing with diseases, whether individual, epidemic or contagious, after they had manifested themselves. In the meantime his field has widened, and his influence grown more potent. He has become the conservator of public health; keeping cholera and yellow fever from our seaports; preventing the spread of epidemic and contagious diseases and confining them to the locality of their origin. To his efforts we owe our boards of health, sanitary laws and ordinances, and those hygenic rules, that, by their observance, tend to prevent disease, and thus dispense with his services. He has, in his medical societies and organizations, by rules of ethics, adopted for his own guidance, and by the passage of laws enacted at his solicitation, raised the standard of his pro- fession, and shut out, from an opportunity to impose upon and deceive the public, the unprofessional charlatan and quack.

In all civilizations the physician holds a leading place. Even among barbaric and savage peoples he is a most important personage. The secrets of physical man are his and the ills of the community his care. His warning voice is constantly raised against excesses and his mind directed toward the alleviation of suffering in every form. His profession is, indeed, a saving one, and his life generally one of good works.

So far as known, Dr. William Kent Lathy is believed to have been the first regular physician to visit the territory of Tioga county. He was a young English- man, a graduate of the College of Surgeons, London, and came to Muncy valley about the time of the formation of Lycoming county, through the recommendation of the celebrated Dr. Rush, of Philadelphia. Colonel Williamson, after founding Bath, made an effort to secure him as a resident physician, and invited him to visit the place. Dr. Lathy made the journey, traveling over the Williamson road. There were a few settlers at what are now the boroughs of Tioga and Lawrenceville. He did not remain long at Bath, but returned and settled at Williamsport in 1798, and became the first resident physician in that place. Dr. Lathy was acquainted with the Morris and Ellis families, and afterwards married a daughter of Samuel Wallis, a near neighbor of the latter.

When the English colony settled on the First fork of Pine creek, in Lycoming county, about 1805, their nearest physician was Dr. James Davidson, who lived at the mouth of Pine creek. He was a distinguished surgeon in the Revolutionary army, and was mustered out in 1783. He soon afterwards located at the mouth of the creek. His field of practice extended for many miles up and down the river, and far into the southern regions of what became Tioga county, until the settling of Dr. William Willard at Tioga in 1798. It is also likely that Dr. Samuel Coleman, who succeeded Dr. Lathy at Williamsport, about 1802, and remained there until 1808, made professional visits to the infant settlements in Delmar and at Wellsboro. His route would be by the State road from Newberry. In those days physicians made

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THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.

long journeys on horseback, with saddle-bags in which their medicines were carried, the roads not being in a condition for wheeled vehicles.

The first physician to locate in the county was Dr. William Willard. He was born in Lenox, Massachusetts, February 5, 1762; married Mary Rathbone, at Troy, New York, October 13, 1791; moved thence to Middleton, Rutland county, Ver- mont, in the winter of 1793, and finally to Tioga, in February, 1798. Here he built a square log house, which he opened as a tavern. He also opened a store, erected saw-mills and became the principal citizen and business man of the village which grew up about him, and which, until after his death, October 28, 1836, bore the name of "Willardsburg." During the later years of his life he gave his attention principally to his business affairs. He was the first postmaster at Tioga, serving from July 1, 1809, to April 1, 1815.

Ralph Kilburn, a brother of Judge Ira Kilburn, and a bachelor, settled at Lawrenceville in 1802, and practiced medicine there until 1840. He then went to live with his sister near Rochester, New York, and made his home with her until his death.

Eddy Howland, who settled in Deerfield township in 1803, though not an educated physician, practiced medicine among the early settlers for a number of years with rare skill and success.

Dr. Simeon Power came into the county in 1805, and made a short stay at Lawrenceville. He then went to Knoxville, where he resided until 1808, when he removed to Tioga, then the principal village in the county. In 1815 he was elected sheriff of Tioga county and served three years. He was also elected an associate judge in 1851, and served on the bench five years. About 1821 he returned to Lawrenceville, where he continued to reside and practice his profession until his deatlı, December 19, 1863. His practice extended over a wide area and he was one of the best known of the early physicians.

Dr. Pliny Power, a brother of Dr. Simeon Power, came into the county soon after the latter, with whom he lived for a time. About 182? he located at Canoe Camp, and a few years later at Tioga, remaining as a resident physician of the latter place until 1835, when he removed to Detroit, Michigan, where he passed the re- mainder of his life.

The wife of Renben Cook, the pioneer of Cowanesque valley, and an carly settler at Osceola, was for many years the accoucheuse of that section of the county, and as late as 1825 had a larger obstetrical practice than any physician in the valley. She was knewn far and wide as "Granny Cook," and her fee was invariably one pound of tea.

Jonathan Bonney, a one-legged man, was in Deerfield township about 1811. He came from Horseheads, New York, and was a practicing physician. Although he made several removals he never get beyond the reach of hia Deerfield patrons. The name of Jonathan "Barney" appears in a printed copy of the census liat of Tioga county for 1800. If, as it is reasonable to suppose, "Barney" should be "Bonney." this pioneer physician was in the county before 1800. He is desig- nated as a "farmer" on the census list of that year.

Dr. Adolphus Allen, who came in 1813, was the first regular physician to locate at Osceola. He remained until 1816. About this time or, perhaps, earlier, a Dr.

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HISTORY OF TIOGA COUNTY.

Beard located in Tioga, but remained only a short time. Dr. Stillman Cannon located in Mansfield in 1813 and practiced there two years. The name of "Hyram Cannon, physician," appears on the assessment list of Covington township for 1816, but is not found afterward. In 1816, also, Peter Faulkner's name appears on the assessment list of Delmar township. He practiced a year or two in Wellsboro, and then removed to one of the western states.

The first physician to locate permanently in Wellsboro was Dr. Jeremiah Brown. He was born in Vermont, March 10, 1750, studied medicine with an older brother, and for several years practiced his profession in his native State. His first wife having died, he married Miss Sarah Ann Porter. About 1816 he came to Wellsboro, then a mere hamlet. The surrounding country was sparsely settled and physicians frequently had to make long journeys. He traveled up and down Pine creek, oftentimes answering calls as far away as Jersey Shore. Fevers were then the prevailing diseases and he had the reputation of treating them very successfully. Dr. Brown was a leading man in those days. He was elected a member of the first board of trustees of the academy in April, 1818, and re-elected in 1819 and 1820. He was also the first secretary of the board, serving one year. He built a good house in Wellsboro, but being overtaken by adversity he failed and his property was sold on judgments placed in the hands of Ellis Lewis, then a rising young lawyer of the place. He was a very careful physician, was much esteemed, and gave very general satisfaction to those who employed him. Mr. Emery, in his reminiscenses of early times in Wellsboro, says: "I knew him, and can, with all others who were acquainted with him, bear testimony to his worth."

After his misfortune he retired to Pine Creek, now Ansonia, much broken down in health, where he died of consumption March 13, 1831, aged eighty-one years. He left one son, Dehaller, born in Wellsboro in 1817, and now residing in Kansas; also three daughters, viz: Priscilla, born in Wellsboro in 1819, who married Matthew . Carpenter, and resides at Horseheads, New York; Henrietta, born in 1821, who married Col. Lewis G. Huling*, and lives in Williamsport, and Sarah Ann, born in 1823, who married Philo Catlin, of Cameron county, Pennsylvania.

Dr. Curtis Parkhurst, who was born in Marlborough in 1794, located in Law- renceville in 1818 and built up a large and lucrative practice. He was elected to the legislature in 1827, and re-elected in 1828. In 1840 he was elected sheriff of Tioga county, and appointed an associate judge in 1847.

Dr. John B. Murphey, another early physician of Wellsboro, was born May 1, 1791. Upon attaining manhood he studied medicine with an elder brother, then residing in one of the West India islands. He soon afterward came to the United States. On December 9, 1819, he married Cynthia Taylor, of Troy, and came to Wellsboro about 1823. Dr. Murphey evidently was an active and progressive man. He opened a store and sold drugs, and the court records show that on May 19, 1828. he was granted a license to keep a public house. It stood on the site of the present Coles House. While conducting these different branches of business he did not neglect his profession, but was always busy attending to the wants of the sick. He

* The dates and facts relating to Dr. Brown were obtained from his daughter, Mrs. Huling, of Williamsport. She is quite confident her father was the first resident physician in Wellsboro.

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THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.

died about 1833 or 1834. Some of his descendants, of whom Mrs. Williston is one, reside in Wellsboro.

Dr. Oliver Treat Bundy was born January 31, 1801, in Fairfield, Connecticut, the eldest of ten children. About 1807 the family removed to Oxford, Chenango county, New York, and settled. At the age of twenty-one he commenced studying medi- cine, and on January 30, 1826, he was licensed to practice, and settled in Wellsboro, where he followed his profession four years. During his residence here he married Lydia Smith. About 1830 Dr. Bundy removed to Windsor, Broome county, New York, where he attained prominence in his profession. He became the chief founder of Windsor Academy, and died at Deposit, Broome county, January 9, 1874, having almost reached the mature age of seventy-three years.

Dr. Ezra Wood was the pioneer physician of Rutland township, where he settled about 1823 and practiced his profession until his death in 1829. His practice ex- tended also into Jackson and Sullivan townships. Dr. Dexter Parkhurst, a brother of the late Joel Parkhurst, of Elkland, located in Mansfield in 1821. remaining until 1830, when he removed to Mainesburg, where he continued to practice until his death in 1866.

Dr. Allen Frazer, Jr., the son of a pioneer of Chatham township, was born in Westernville, New York, in 1798. He graduated at Utica, New York, January 13, 1823, from the College of Physicians and Surgeons, of the University of New York. In 1825 he began the practice of medieine in Derfield township, continuing until his death in 1872 .. ]le was the first one to suggest, and the chief promoter of, the movement resulting in the establishment of Union Academy, at Academy Corners. In 1834 he was commissioned surgeon of the One Hundred and Twenty-ninth Regi- ment Pennsylvania Militia. Ile was also one of the early justices of the peace of Deerfield township.

Dr. Hibbard Bonney settled in Brookfield township in 1825 and practiced several years. Dr. Ethan B. Bacon was another early physician of this township. Dr. John Stinehofer practiced in Liberty from 1825 to 1828. Dr. D. H. Roberts was engaged in practice in Tioga in 1826. He appears to have remained but a short time. Dr. Richard B. Hughes practiced in Liberty from 1828 to 1842.

Dr. Lewis Darling, Sr., a native of Vermont, a graduate of Woodstock Acad- emy and of the classical and medical department of Dartmouth University, came from his native State to Wellsboro in 1829 and practiced there until 1831, when he removed to Lawrenceville. Here he continued in practice until his death, July 15, 1882. Dr. Harvey Lyman located in Mainesburg about 1830, making a brief stay. About 1829 or 1830 Dr. Iliram B. Roberts settled at Daggett's Mills and practiced medicine, in connection with other business, for a number of years. Ephraim Fuller located in Knoxville in 1830 and practiced one year. It was about 1830 that Seth John Porter. a physician and a Congregationalist minister, located in Elkland, where he organized a church. IIe remained until 1833 and combined the practice of medicine with preaching. About 1830, also, Dr. Burton Strecter began the practice of medicine at Westfield, continuing for a number of years.

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History of Tioga County, Pennsylvania, Part 24

Author: Publication date: 1897 Publisher: Harrisburg : R. C. Brown Number of Pages: 1454

Author:
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: Harrisburg : R. C. Brown
Number of Pages: 1454