History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 35

Author: Mathews, Alfred, 1852-1904. 4n
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : R.T. Peck & Co.
Number of Pages: 1438

USA > Pennsylvania > Monroe County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 35
USA > Pennsylvania > Pike County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 35
USA > Pennsylvania > Wayne County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 35

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

THOMAS F. HAM and HENRY H. HAM are sons of John C. Ham, of Dyberry, Wayne County. The former read law with Wallers

& Bentley, and the latter with S. E. Dim- mick. Both were admitted to the bar Decem- ber 9, 1869, and soon afterward removed to Wauseon, Ohio, where they are still engaged in practice. The former married a daughter of Isaiah Scudder of Bethany.

WILLIAM W. JOHNSON is a son of N. B. Johnson, a resident of the State of New York, opposite Lackawaxen. He read law with Wal- lers & Bentley, and was admitted to the bar September 5, 1871. He soon afterward re- moved to the West.

QUINCY A. GATES, a son of Alpheus W. Gates, was born in Scott, Wayne County, December 19, 1847. He was educated at the academy in Deposit, Delaware County, N. Y. He read law with Wallers & Bentley, and was admitted to the bar December 2, 1873. He at first opened an office in Carbondale, but in the spring of 1874 removed to Wilkes- Barre, where he has since continued to practice.

JOHN F. WOOD is a native of Pike County. He read law in the office of William H. Dim- mick, and was admitted to the bar December 13, 1878. He soon afterward removed to the West.

CHAPTER III.

Medical History -- Sketches of Prominent Physicians-Early Practice-Dentistry.1

THE first physician who settled in Wayne County with the intention of making it his per- manent residence was probably Doctor Lewis Collins, of Cherry Ridge. He was the oldest son of Charles and Anna Huntington Collins, and grandson of Rev. Timothy and Elizabeth Hyde Collins, of Litchfield, South Farms, Con- necticut. He was born at Litchfield October 29, 1753, and married, for his first wife, June 14, 1779, Ruth, daughter of Benjamin Root, and for his second wife, November 26, 1791, Louisa, daughter of Oliver and Anna Lynde Huntington, of Lebanon, Conn. That Doctor Collins pursued his medical studies with Doctor Seth Bird, of Litchfield, and that he was some-

! This chapter was chiefly prepared by Dwight Reed, M.D., of Honesdale.

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what learned in languages, may be inferred from the following certificate, which was given him by Dr. Bird at the time of his commencing the practice of medicine, and which is yet extant :

" To whom it may Concern : These may certify that the subscriber, having been personally acquainted with Dr. Lewis Collins, of Litchfield, and knowing to his having closely applied himself to the study of Languages and Medicine for several years past with judgment and good proficiency and that he hath been acquainted with the most difficult cases in Practice, wherein he hath prescribed and administered judi- ciously. Appearing to be well qualified to enter on the Practice of Physic & Surgery, and as such I cor- dially recommend him to any People where he may incline to settle.

"Certified per SETH BIRD, Physician. '" Litchfield, 18th May, 1776."

Dr. Collins practiced for a time at Saybrook, Conn., and during the War of the Revolution was a surgeon in the Revolutionary army. From Saybrook he removed to Old Guilford, where he remained in the practice of his profes- sion until the year 1800, when he, with his family, emigrated to Wayne County, Pa., and purchased and settled on what was then known as the Jacob Stanton place, at Little Meadows, in Salem township, where he remained until 1803, when, wishing to locate nearer the centre of his field of practice, he bonght and moved on to the Enos Woodward farm, since known as the Collins farm, in Cherry Ridge. Here he re- sided up to the time of his death, in 1818. The doctor, as was the custom in those days, com- pounded the medicine he used and carried it about with him in his saddle-bags. His field of practice was large and the journeys to visit his patients were performed on horseback through an almost wilderness country extending to Paupack settlement, in Pike County, Ster- ling, Salem, Canaan, Bethany, Mount Pleasant and Damasens, in Wayne, and on one occasion he was called and traveled as far away as Owego, N. Y., and several times to Milford to visit the sick. Jabez Bidwell, of Salem, while chopping fallow, was struck on the head by a fall- ing limb of a tree, which fractured his skull, compressing the brain. Doctor Collins was called and saw at once the necessity of perform- ing the operation of trepanning. Not being

provided with a trephine, the doctor applied to Robert Bortree, a gunsmith of Sterling and a skillful worker of steel, who, under the doc- tor's instructions, worked out and made an in- strument with which the doctor successfully performed the operation on Mr. Bidwell, who lived many years after. Dr. Collins was one of the three physicians-Doctors Mahony and Seely being the other two-who made the post- mortem examination of the remains of one Roswell, who was poisoned at Bethany by Jones, and for which Jones was hanged, it having been found that Roswell was poisoned with arsenic. But little is now known of the char- acteristics or personal appearance of Doctor Col- lins. He was of tall, athletic build, sandy complexion and something of the Roman cast of features, He died at the house of Simeon Ansley, in Paupack settlement, having been taken with a violent fever during a visit to one of his patients at that place.

DR. THOMAS J. SEELY, son of Col. Sylvanus Seely, was born at Chatham, N. J., August 27, 1786, and when his father settled in Wayne County was a boy of fonrteen. He commenced the study of medicine in 1804 with his brother, Dr. John W. Seely, who was then practicing in Greene County, Pa. He attended lectures in Philadelphia in 1807, and located at a place called Yarrington, not far from his brother. He subsequently settled at Greensburgh. In 1810 he married Hannah, widow of Dr. John Bell. He had some army experience, having served both as a surgeon and as a captain of infantry in the War of 1812, and having been present at the battle of the Thames, where the famous Tecumseh lost his life.

In 1815 he returned with his family to Seely's Mills and moved into the house built for him, now and for many years known as the Christian Eck house. Here he continued to reside, with some short intervals of absence, until after his father's death, combining with the practice of medicine, not a very secure reliance for income in the then sparsely-settled country, such other business in connection with his father as came to his hand. In February, 1817, he appeared as a witness in the inquest upon the body of Isaac Rozel, who was poisoned by Cornelius

d f

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Jones. Jones was convicted of murder and executed November 15th, that year. Dr. Seely appears to have allowed his eagerness for ana- tomical rescarch to outrun his judgment, since he was arrested and bound over for disinterring the body. What came of it all does not appear. After his father's death he returned to Greens- burgh and resumed practice there.

Some years later Dr. Scely suffered a severe injury in the head by a fall from his horse. He is said to have remarked that if a patient of his had such an injury, he should expect him to lose his reason. This result actually ensucd. When his wife observed the first symptoms of mental disorder she sent for a council of phy- sicians, one of whom afterwards told her that they consulted Dr. Seely himself, describing the case as that of some other person. His daugh- ter relates that it was not an uncommon occur- rence for him to be consulted during the entire period of his derangement, his mind having always been clear on topics of medicine and surgery.

This derangement continued to nearly the end of his life. He spent many years at the home of his sister, Mrs. Bruen, in Chatham, and afterwards lived with his daughter at Evans- ville, Indiana, where he died September 4, 1865. Shortly before his death his long-beclouded reason appeared fully restored, and he passed the last few weeks in the full possession of his faculties and in the enjoyment of a firm Chris- tian faith.

His eldest daughter, Cynthia Dutton, was married to Dr. William M. Chartres, a distin- guished physician of Savannah, Georgia, and died in 1860. The other daughter, Jane Wil- liamson, now lives in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Dr. Seely was a man of fine presence, great dignity of manner, and even during his de- rangement conspicuously gentle and courteous. Stories told of him by members of his family indicate remarkable skill and boldness in sur- gery. His wife, a little woman of steady nerves, was often called upon to assist in important operations, and elicited high praise for her cool- ness and resolution.

FLORENCE MAHONY, M.D., was cotempo- rary with Drs. Collins and Seely at Bethany in

1815, and was born at Providence, Rhode Island, in 1794, of parents who came from Ireland. He had the advantages which the schools of New England at that day could give, and graduated at one of the Massachusetts med- ical colleges. He located at Bethany in 1814 for the practice of his profession.

In 1816 he married Christina, daughter of Ephraim Kimble (and sister of the late Asa Kimble, near Bethany), at " the Narrows," now Kimble's Station, Pike County, and there were born to them Asa and Melcena, in 1817 and 1818, respectively. The boy lived with his uncle, Asa Kimble, until he arrived at the age of twenty-one years, sharing precisely the same advantages as his cousins in that highly-respected family. At this time he removed to Wiscon- sin, where he prospered for a time, but died in 1858, leaving a son, Florence C. Mahony. The daughter, Melcena, had an excellent home with Mr. and Mrs. John Welden, and married Amos Townsend, of Montague, Sussex County, New Jersey, they having eight children, among whom is Florence Mahony Townsend, to whom we are indebted for this brief sketch.

After the death of his wife at Bethany, in 1821, Dr. Mahony removed to the county town of Pike, practicing far and near, frequently crossing the Delaware River into Sussex Coun- ty, New Jersey, and was very successful in his profession. It is said of him that he was a Free-Mason, and there is a biographical frag- ment of him related by J. R. Keen, Esq., a gentleman now residing in Honesdale, aged eighty-five years, who says : " When my father had a ball enter his hip by the accidental dis- charge of a gun, one of his medical colleagues was called, who dressed the wound ; but after a week or two, finding it very offensive and in a sloughing condition, the patient was carried to Bethany and was examined by Dr. Mahony, who removed from the wound the wadding of the gun, and with his finger reached the lodging- place of the ball, and by the aid of a razor in enlarging the opening secured the bullet with his finger, after which recovery was rapid." Dr. Mahony died at Milford, in 1828, universally regretted.

ISAAC ROOSA .- This Nestor of the profession

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was born in Orange County, N. Y., February 4, 1801 ; received his diploma to practice medi- cine and surgery in 1820; married Miss Mary, daughter of Eliphalet Kellogg, Esq., of Beth- any, June 7, 1821, and died July 31, 1837. Their son-an only child-John P. Roosa is a retired merchant and successful fiuancier residing at Monticello, N. Y., aged sixty-one years, having been born in Bethany in 1824. The arrival of Dr. Roosa in the county seat of Wayne must have been a welcome one to the people there. Previously there had been no regularly educated and scientifically trained phy- sician and surgeon there, and advanced methods of treating the sick, improved surgical instruments and apparatus were now instituted to supply the place of the razor, carpenter's saw aud black- smith's trephine. Fresh from a respectable med- ical institution, Dr. Roosa opened a large aud beautiful office, with his name and title upon a gilded sign, the shelving filled with neatly- labeled bottles and packages of medicine, the counter decorated with the inevitable mortar and pestle, scales, weights, etc. A spacious re- ception room was attached, where the patient could consult bis physician in seclusion, au ana- tomical room where were specimens of the art of the anatomist and the surgeon, where tlie medical student might pursue his dissections uumolested, and from which the curiosity seeker was usually excluded, and if occasionally ad- mitted, it was considered by him a distinguished favor. His medical library was ample and furuished with the then standard works of the profession, such as "Good's Study of Medi- cine," "Thomas' Practice," "Cooper'sSurgery," " Bell's Anatomy," works of "Bichat " aud " Richieraud " upon physiology, each book labeled with the printed name of the owner, containing thereou the Latin maxim " Legere et non Intelligere est Negligere."

Dr. Roosa was of the sanguine-nervous tem- perament, au accomplished practitioner of medi- cine, a skillful surgeon, ardeutly attached to his profession, quick to think and act, gifted with a brilliant miud, affable and courteous to all and generous to a fault.

In prognosis, when asked for an opinion in a given case, it was his characteristic to answer

positively and promptly, according to his actual conviction : as "Madam, I think your child will die !" or "You need have no fears as to the re- sult; he will get well !"

With the masses of the people he was very popular, particularly with the farmers ; for as a veterinariau he was quite as ready to act for them as in his usual professional capacity, and wherever there was an injury or case of sick- ness, the exclamation was, "Seud for ' Rose ! '"> the familiar name by which he was known. Around the domestic fireside many have been the almost marvelous talcs related of him, and no greater evidence of the estimation in which he was held by his cotemporaries cau be men- tioned than the fact that there are now residing in this county men from sixty to sixty-five years of age who bear the name of Isaac Roosa.

DR. EDWIN GRAVES was born in Oneonta, Otsego County, N. Y., August 10, 1804, of humble but respectable parents, who soon after removed to Delaware County, N. Y. In that region of country, eighty years since, the benefits of education were not so widely diffused as at present, and the subject of this sketch was indebted chiefly to his own exertion aud ener- getic perseverance for so much practical educa- tion as fitted him for future usefulness, and laid the foundation for a career as honorable to him- self as beneficial to the community. Having prepared himself, he entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Western New York, at Fairfield, in Herkimer County, then under the superintendence of Drs. McNaughton, De Le Mater, Beck and others of similar repu- tation in the profession. Here his studious habits and untiring assiduity soou attracted the notice of the professors, by whom every facility was afforded the young man for a thorough school training in the healing art. It is recol- lected that at one time early in his attendance at that institution, when every dollar he pos- sessed was stolen, such was the interest felt by the faculty iu his progress that he was not permitted to retire from his studies, but his expenses were generously defrayed by the professors ; nor was it till after he had entered upon the duties of his profession and accumulated queans that a reimbursement was accepted.

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The date of his diploma is January 22, 1830. In possession of all the academic honors of that institution, he commenced practice in Wehawken (now Hancock), Delaware County, N. Y., in the same year, where, stimulated by an honorable ambition, he soon won for himself a high stand- ing, and there, as here, in after-years, none were too humble to command his services.

In 1833 he formed a matrimonial alliance with Miss Mary, daughter of Hon. John H. Gregory, of Colchester, Delaware County, N. Y. Although they had other children, only two are now living (1885),-Elizabeth, who married Charles Torrey, of Bethany, and Mary, wife of George Searle, of Honesdale.

.After ten years of the most unremitting dil- igence in a laborious practice he left a commu- nity in which all regretted his removal and located in Bethany, in the hope of partially re- lieving himself from the perils and hardships of travel in a rough and broken country trav- ersed by rudely constructed thoroughfares and often impassable streams. After the decease of Dr. Isaac Roosa, in 1837, he purchased his stock, fixtures and anatomical preparations and entered the vacant office of that gentleman, being assisted by his brother-in-law, Dr. Har- rison Gregory, now of Deposit, N. Y. They found the field an ample one, and the people ready and anxious to receive them-the time was op- portune. He now engaged in an extensive and lucrative practice, in robust health, living liter- ally in his saddle day and night. It was characteristic of him to assist the poor with the same cheerful and prompt readiness as the more fortunate and wealthy, exhibiting in this re- spect the higher and more liberal traits of the professional character, which, bestowing the practical blessings of skill and science upon the human family, forgets the limited views of self-aggrandizement. It was yet the fashion for the physician to furnish medicines himself for his patient, and it was proverbial among the masses that his professional charges to all were absurdly light, while he gave gratuitously of his medicines without hope or expectation of reward. In fact, it seems as if his overwhelm- ing business prevented him from registering his charges. His qualifications as a surgeon and

also as a physician were unquestioned, and devoting himself entirely to the duties of a profession at all times laborious, perhaps no one labored with an energy more untiring, and with a success which could not be otherwise than gratifying to an honorable ambition. In 1841, when the county-seat was removed from Beth- any to Honesdale, Dr. Graves purchased lots on Main Street, in the latter place, built an clegant residence and office, and removed thither, Dr. Gregory remaining in the former place. Dur- ing his short life in Honesdale Dr. Graves main- tained the same elevated position he had taken in his profession, and endeared himself to the people, proving to be a worthy successor of Dr. Roosa.

His manner and personal appearance were calculated to inspire the sick or injured with confidence in his reliability. In stature he stood nearly six feet, and was very erect. His habits were active, temper agreeable and equable, although rather warm when aroused. He pos- sessed a serious cast of countenance, expressive of activity and wakefulness, but was animated and cheerful when engaged in conversation. His complexion was fair, eyes dark blue, hair dark brown, high cheek-bones, forehead high, wide and full of intellectual promise.

"' Death, that loves a shining mark,'" found him in the discharge of the duties he loved. Con- tracting a violent cold in the inclement winter weather, and continuing his exposure and exer- tion for others too long, to the neglect of him- self, pneumonia supervened, which was found to be remediless ; and after a brief and dis- tressing illness of seven days, he left the scene of all his labors and anxieties on the morning of the 6th day of January, 1849, universally regretted," the community losing a councilor and the poor a friend. His wife survived him until June 16, 1873, and died, aged sixty-four years.

Up to the year 1848, the period of the com- pletion of the Erie Railroad to Narrowsburg, a student in medicine in this county was com- pelled, in the face of stringent laws and the insuperable prejudice against dissections of the human body, to obtain his material by stealth

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with a coroner's jury theoretically by his side, and the verdict " guilty " staring him in the face.

A medical student's life was not as luxurious then as now. He then performed more menial duties. The care of the office, the compound- ing of the medicine, collecting of bills and running of errands were some of them, but the greatest difficulty of all in his pursuit after knowledge was that disagreeable and loathsome of all necessities, the dissection of human sub- jects ; the knowledge of anatomy being the first step in his medical education, the foundation of all his future usefulness must be had at all hazards, and in no other way can it be obtained.

In obtaining a subject for dissection strategy was required, and many were the risks taken in accomplishing this end, for it was against law and popular opinion to obtain a body, and after its being secured few can imagine the danger in- curred in keeping it sufficiently long to examine it, such was the watchfulness of these prejudiced and diligent observers of the "Imps of Satan," as the medical students were termed.

There are now living those who remember the daring of some of them in their endeavors to dig up a body in the distant burying-grounds ; and engaged in these enterprises are remembered the names of Lillibridge, Snyder, Stearns, Whit- ing, Fish, Mumford, Hayden, Olmstead, Reed and others, who have scaled walls and jumped fences in their pursuit of knowledge under difficulties.

In 1818, when Jones was executed, an attempt was made to " resurrect" the body for dissec- tion, but the self-constituted police were on the " qui vive," and the scheme circumvented, but at the execution of Marthers, in 1829, a more successful result was obtained. Isaac Brink was detailed for guard duty at the grave, but being enticed elsewhere by a bottle of " Old Rye," the body was made to subserve the pur- poses of science.

In the year 1836 a great excitement was created at Prompton, which extended to Hones- dale, Bethany, Canaan and the whole surround- ing country, and threatened mob violence for a time. At the former place the body of the esteemed wife of Levi Bronson, Esq., was dis-

interred and removed to Dr. Snyder's office, in Honesdale. Some arrests were made; the doctor and his associates abandoned the partially dis- sected woman, and the mutilated remains being restored, the parties were not further prosecuted, but by reason of the popular feeling, a residence here was no longer agreeable, and a change of climate considered desirable by all concerned, of which they gladly availed themselves.

When Bell was executed, in 1847, his body was surrendered to the students of Dr. Graves, and no objection was made by the people.

Gratifying, indeed, it is to know at the pres- ent time that our deceased friends, when safely deposited in the tomb, are free from the danger of molestation by medical students, as, for a few dollars, they go to the metropolitan dissecting- rooms, and procure in a legitimate way the re- mains of poor mortality which they need.

No man in the county was better known than Ebenezer T. Losey, M.D., and none knew but to respect him. His name was a household word, for he was truthful, honest, would do un- to others what he would have others do unto him, and his name has been and will be cher- ished in scores of grateful hearts, -- those to whom he was endeared as the faithful friend and beloved physician. About 1830 he came to this county from Morristown, N. J., where he studied medicine after having graduated and received his diploma in New York City. Sep- tember 21, 1831, he married the cstimable daughter of a prominent citizen of Honesdale, viz., Miss Lucy, daughter of Joseph B. Walton, Esq. Their children were Emeline W., Joseph W., Abbie T., Cornelius, Sarah W., Ebenezer T., Daniel W., Henry B. and Lucy M.

In the early years of his professional life he was cotemporary with Drs. Roosa and Strong, and later with Strong, Graves, Gregory, Sanger, King, the Reeds and others. His kindness and warm sympathy, extending through so many years of active practice, are interwoven like a thread of gold in the joys and sorrows of some of our families, for, as a physician, he was trusted, and his patients always felt that in him they had a careful, courteous and considerate friend.

He was not eminent in, nor did he profess taste

od a ne th

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or desire for, surgery ; but was efficient as a phy- sician, and unexcelled as an obstetrician. In the latter branch he was often thrown npon his own resources in important cases, and was always found equal to the emergency.

In appearance he was of full size, symmetrical build, and of clerical look, as he was dressed with scrupulous neatness, and wore a white neck-cloth. He possessed a pleasing counte- nance, a bearing dignified and commanding, yet easy and natural ; was cordial in his greeting, always genial, kind-hearted and obliging, espe- cially when approached by men younger than himself in the profession.

The writer of this was his patient during a terrible and protracted fever, was his professional colleague in practice for several years, and his medical attendant in his last illness ; and feels that there are no words in Dr. Losey's enlogy too strongly expressive of his manly virtues in reference to his life and character ; and can also testify to a compliment paid him by the late Dr. Sanger, upon taking leave of him, when he had been making a visit to his hospital at Blackwell's Island, in 1856 : " Remember me to Losey," he said ; " among all your honorable men he heads the list."

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History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 35

Author: Mathews, Alfred, 1852-1904. 4n Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Philadelphia : R.T. Peck & Co. Number of Pages: 1438

Author: Mathews, Alfred, 1852-1904. 4n
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : R.T. Peck & Co.
Number of Pages: 1438