USA > Pennsylvania > Blair County > Altoona > Twentieth century history of Altoona and Blair County, Pennsylvania, and representative citizens > Part 28
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The teaching staff at present comprises sixteen Sisters of Charity who have charge of both boys and girls. One of the sisters is principal and the rector, Rev. Morgan M. Sheedy, L. L. D., gives much of his time and attention to the work as director of the schools. The schools opened for the term of 1909-10 with an enrollment of 755 pupils. Many outside the limits of the parish, were refused admission because of lack of room.
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The course of study is practically the same as that followed in the public schools of the city. Hand in hand with the secular education there is religious training. The pupils are carried to the end of the grammar grade when they are ready to enter the high school, college or academy. There is a school committee which meets regularly once a month. The members at the present time of this board are : Messrs. G. Casanave, Charles Wolf, Frederick Ball, Joseph Har- ney and the rector, who is chairman. The school term covers ten months.
St. Mary's parish school-St. Mary's German Catholic school began with the formation of the parish, being estab- lished in 1862 by Rev. M. Bierl, with one lay teacher and about forty pupils. The basement of the church was used as a school- room. In 1870 a frame structure contain- ing four rooms was built by Rev. John Schell. Three sisters from Fon du Lac, known as Sisters of St. Agnes, were secured as teachers, the school numbering at this time about 200. The growth of the school corresponded with the growth of the par- ish and in 1890 a new school building be- came necessary, and a fine brick structure was erected at a cost of $40,000. A new building was added to this in 1909. The school at present has twelve grades, in- cluding a commercial course in which sten- ography, typewriting and bookkeeping are taught. The school has 550 pupils in charge of ten teachers, the Sisters of St. Agnes, the
rector, Rev. D. Zwickert and his assistant, Rev. John J. Ergler, generally directing the work. In 1899 a branch school was built on Bell avenue and Second street, called St. Joseph's school, to accommodate pupils of the eastern section of the city. It is at- tended by about eighty-five pupils. All the instruction, except the religious, is given in the English language in the schools of St. Mary's parish.
The parochial schools connected with the Sacred Heart parish are under the charge of the rector, the Rev. Thomas P. Smith and his assistant, the Rev. Matthew S. Smith, with the Sisters of St. Joseph in charge. The attendance is good, somewhat in excess of 500 pupils, and the schools have been brought to a high state of excellence and are a recognized educational institution in the city. The pastors and sisters are unre- mitting in their care of the schools and the progress of the pupils is deserving of great praise. The school was established when the parish was created in 1891.
St. Mark's parochial school is under the supervision of the rector, the Rev. N. J. O'Reilly. It was founded with the creation of the parish in 1890 and the present com- modious three-story stone building was erected shortly afterwards. The school is noted for its efficiency and is ably conducted by the pastor and the Sisters of Mercy. Flourish- ing schools are also maintained by the St. Mary's and St. Michael's parishes in Hol- lidaysburg.
CHAPTER XII.
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
Early Conditions-The Pioneer Doctor-Some Noted Physicians-Resident Physicians of Al- toona, Hollidaysburg, and Other Towns Throughout Blair County-Altoona Hospital- The Nason Hospital-Mercy Hospital.
EARLY CONDITIONS.
In the literature of a century ago three figures stood out prominently from the gen- eral background in all efforts to depict American life. While this was especially true of the smaller towns and country villages, yet it also held good for the cities in a mod- ified degree. These figures were the min- ister, the judge and doctor. They were the types in the minds of the people of all that was respectable, cultured, refined and worthy of honor. By education and by pro- fessional attainment and association they belonged to a class by themselves, so dis- tinct indeed that in New England the great medical humorist, Oliver Wendell Holmes, designated it the "Brahmin Caste." Of these three worthies the minister com- manded, to the highest degree probably, the reverential respect of the community ; the judge was held in the greatest awe and his opinion was more constantly sought in political and civic matters; but the physi- cian held the affections of the people and on the whole was probably more of a con- trolling factor in shaping public opinion and in the dissemination of knowledge on familiar subjects than either of the others.
Speaking as one having authority on med- ical matters, it is easy to understand how he became an authority on all subjects of a scientific nature and so was looked upon as a sort of walking encyclopaedia to be
trusted as the ultimate reference on all sub- . jects save those of religion and the law, which had their own special exponents. The intimate friend and confidant of his pa- tients, he became familiar with family his- tories and troubles and was constantly ap- pealed to for advice in the solution of do- mestic difficulties. His presence during circumstances of stress, anxiety and afflic- tion brought him very near to their hearts so that even the minister was scarcely bound to them by closer ties. Under his watchful supervision families grew up, came to maturity and in their turn estab- lished families of their own, so that he be- came a traditional element in the family life to share in every rejoicing and to be appealed to in every emergency, medical or otherwise. The power for good which he thus wielded in his neighborhood cannot be overestimated, and the use which he made of it, as a general rule, contributed largely to making his profession honored and respected.
The first disciples of Esculapius and Hip- pocrates to practice within the present lim- its of Blair county did not have the advan- tages enjoyed by their brethren of the pres- ent day. The practice of medicine 100 years ago was crude and unsatisfactory. It was the day of the lancet, calomel and jalap. These, with the murderous "turnkey," formed the stock-in-trade of the old doctor.
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Without them he would have been as help- less as a rudderless ship in a typhoon. Peo- ple then were afflicted with many diseases arising largely from the climate and expo- sure. Doctors were few and far between. Sometimes they were half a day's ride from the isolated cabin and not infrequently a swollen river intervened. Drug stores were unknown and the patent medicine shelf with its cure-alls and exploited nostrums had not come into existence to make poor humanity believe that it was afflicted with all the ills that belong to the human race.
Every family was largely its own doctor. Each household had various remedies com- pounded from herbs and roots which were supposed and fondly believed to be effica- cious. Tansy was a favorite remedy, and poccoon, snakeroot and poke had their ad- vocates. Among the stimulents were prickly ash, Indian turnip, sassafras, gin- seng, and the flower of the wild hop. The list of tonics included the bark and flowers of the dogwood, the rose willow, yellow poplar, the cucumber tree and Spanish oak, while the maple, wild cherry and crowfoot were regarded as astringents and so used. The early settler had a long list of nature's remedies to choose from and he became his own diagnostician and prescribed accord- ingly.
It mattered little how weak a patient might be, he had to be bled. The very thing he needed most, blood, was taken from him. This bleeding process obtained in this country till long after the birth of the nineteenth century. Diphtheria was known as croup in the early dawn of the county's career and for this disease old doc- tors gave tartar emetic and bled. Bleed- ing was also considered efficacious in pneumonia.
THE PIONEER DOCTOR.
The pioneer doctor with his saddle-bags and well-known horse was a character in those days. He was filled with the milk of human kindness, refused no calls and often rode miles through unbroken forest to the
bedside of his patient. Dr. John Buchanan, who resided in Alexandria, rode out through the villages of Blair, then Huntingdon county, as far as fifty miles through wintry forests and over snowy bar- rens to the bedsides of the afflicted. The materia medica of the old doctor was small. His surgical outfit was limited and crude, but with it he often performed marvels. There were broken limbs then as now, gun- shot wounds, fractures of every kind, and some of the adjustments were as well done as those of the present day. The trees of the forest furnished him with excellent splints and his amputations nearly always redounded to his credit. It was long before the day of anesthetics and the patient either suffered in silence or roared out his pain till exhausted. When the torturing turnkey fastened itself on a refractory tooth the stubborn molar was sure to come if the pio- neer doctor had the proper strength, and he was generally a man of muscle. He has been known to spend a week at a house watching with the tenderest solicitude over the bed of a sick child and to weep with the sorrowing family, and often charged noth- ing for his services. The old doctors of Blair were faithful to their trust and did their duty under the most difficult circum- stances without a murmur.
The prevailing diseases were many. The winters were very cold and the weather changes produced rheumatism and pneumonia. Croup was the terror of the little household which at times was depopulated of its children by this cruel malady. Typhoid fever, typhus fever, dysentery, jaundice, measles, whooping- cough and diphtheria were common, the latter frequently becoming epidemic and carrying away families of children by wholesale. Epi- demics of smallpox frequently swept over the country, continuing with more or less fre- quency until as late as 1880 and carrying off hundreds of people. Many of the early resi- dents of the county died of cancer, and scrof- ula, rickets, scurvy, dropsy and apoplexy were common.
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Of the early medical practitioners within the present limits of Blair county, frequent mention is made in the separate township and borough histories found in this work, and to these narrations the reader is referred for pertinent matters not found, perhaps, in this chapter; for it would prove an impracticable, never-ending task to attempt the work of pre- paring a complete medical history of this re- gion from the early days.
SOME NOTED PHYSICIANS.
Dr. John McCloskey, who began when a. young man, in Frankstown township, in 1787, was one of the earliest practictioners in the county. A Dr. Bond also located in this township at about the same time. Dr. John Buchanan, already mentioned, practiced exten- sively throughout Blair and Huntingdon counties. His immediate successor was Dr. Alexander Johnston. . Dr. Johnston was the son of a Presbyterian minister of Huntingdon. He continued at Frankstown until about the year 1856, when he moved to Armagh, Indi- ana county, and died there about 1878 at the age of ninety years.
Dr. James Coffey, Dr. John Metzger and Dr. Thomas Stark were also early physicians of Frankstown township, their names being mentioned in the records as early as 1830. In Williamsburg, Dr. George Kneophler was es- tablished as a practicing physician at the be- ginning of the nineteenth century. Dr. Daniel Houtz, Dr. Alfred Keisey, Dr. Jesse Wolf, Dr. James Trimble, Dr. Robert Hamill and Dr. John D. Ross were also early physicians in that village or its vicinity. Dr. Thomas Johnston was at Davidsburg, at least he owned property there, in 1830, and in Mar- tinsburg Dr. John Getty and Dr. Schmidt were established as early as 1840. Among the early physicians of Hollidaysburg were Dr. Joseph A. Landis, who located there in 1837, and Dr. Crawford Irwin, who practiced there from January, 1854, for a period of al- most half a century.
The medical profession in Altoona has had a high standing from the earliest days. Many
of its representatives have obtained deserved recognition in their calling. One of the pio- neer physicians of the city was Dr. John T. Christy. He was born in Cambria county, Dec. 13, 1828, and graduated at the Univer- sity of Pennsylvania, in March, 1851. There- upon he returned to Hollidaysburg and be- came an associate in practice with his precep- tor, Dr. Aristide Rodrique. In 1852 he joined Dr. J. C. McKee, later a surgeon in the United States army, in establishing the first drug store in Altoona. He retained his resi- dence in Hollidaysburg until November, 1854, when he moved to Altoona, remaining there in active practice until his death almost half a century later.
William R. Findley, born in Lewistown, October 12, 18II, became a resident of Al- toona in 1858 and was actively engaged in the practice of his profession for more than forty years. Prior to becoming a resident of Al- toona Dr. Findley was located at Williams- burg and Frankstown. Two of his sons em- braced the medical profession, Thomas F., who graduated in 1874, and practiced until his death in 1879, and William M., who grad- uated in 1866 and practiced until his death in 1907. The latter was for many years one of the city's leading physicians and surgeons. At his death he was succeeded by his son, Joseph D. Findley, who also succeeded him as the representative of the state department of health in Altoona.
Dr. John Fay was for many years recog- nized as the leader of the medical profession in Blair county. He was born in Williams- burg and received his degree of doctor of med- icine from the Jefferson Medical college, of Philadelphia, March 10, 1855. After practic- ing for some years in his native town and after a service in the army during the Civil war, he became a resident of Altoona. He was the chief of staff of the Altoona hospital from the time of its organization until his death in 1907. He was also chief surgeon of the Pennsylvania Railroad company for many years. Dr. Fay was endowed to a pre-eminent degree with a gift that enabled him unerringly
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to read the nature and seat of the disease C. E. Robison, Orr H. Shaffer and George F. brought under his inspection at a glance, and Tate. at the same time he was conspicuous in sur- gery. A monument to his memory has been erected on the grounds of the Altoona hospital.
Other Altoona physicians who attained prominence in Altoona and have since passed away are Drs. Samuel D. Ross, William D. Hall, George F. Arney, Edwin S. Miller, E. M. Ike, Harvey K. Hoy, J. Tietze, John H. Weaver, David J. Appleby, J. W. Rowe, J. H. Hogue, H. C. McCarthy.
Following is a complete list of the resident physicians of the county :
Altoona .- C. W. Burket, D. Kaufman, Gibbs Bisco, L. C. Mundy, H. H. Walker, H. T. Simmonds, D. F. Haagan, Louis E. McKee, George D. Noeling, Louis E. Walton, J. Roy McKnight, Charles A. Duff, H. A. Mowery, Gerald D. Bliss, Charles W. Noss, Joseph M. Taylor, Henry B. Replogle, J. C. Reed, Jesse P. Seedenberg, W. P. Harlos, D. M. Roudabush, Peter Giacchelli, Edwin B. Miller, Charles W. Delaney, John D. Hogue, S. Lloyd McCarthy, Frank Keagy, Roswel T. Eldon, Arthur S. Brumbaugh, Homer C. Mil- ler, Frederic Otterbein, Eugene C. Fetter, Daniel Bohn, Joseph D. Findley, Fred H. Bloomhardt, Proctor T. Miller, David E. Al- len, Charles W. McConnell, Simon J. Snyder, Thomas A. C. Kephart, Elmer E. Neff, Albert L. Baker, Charles F. McBurney, Olin K. Mc- Garrah, Albert S. Oburn, Amos O. Taylor, Ralph C. Klepser, W. J. Sharbaugh, L. F. Worthley, Andrew S. Stayer, J. E. Powley, George A. Ickes, W. K. Maglaughlin, C. C. Miller, Benjamin F. Books, E. H. Morrow, H. L. Hartzell, Horace R. Smith, William S. Ross, David W. Crosthwaite, E. O. M. Haberacker, E. E. Goodman, James E. Smith, Mary E. Nowell, Mary I. Thompson Shaffer, George Price, A. L. Feltwell, Emil T. Cherry, Emil Reith, Albert L. Spanogle. John Felt- well, John M. Sheedy, Francis M. Christy, Samuel L. McCarthy, C. H. Clossen, Joseph U. Blose, George C. Way, W. Frank Beck, Samuel P. Glover, Davis A. Hogue, W. H. Howell, Charles Long, Thomas M. Morrow,
Hollidaysburg .- James R. Humes, Robert W. Christy, Robert C. Irwin, Edwin M. Duff, Jonas W. Stitzel, Wayland R. Palmer, Ernest R. Myers, Webster Calvin, Henry H. Broth- erlin, Frank R. Shoemaker, Samuel C. Smith, J. A. Gold and H. J. Somers.
Juniata .- H. B. Cunningham, J. G. Wat- son, J. L. Brubaker, R. J. Hillis and W. H. Memminger.
Williamsburg .- J. F. Arnold, J. L. Isen- berg, J. E. Earnest, Thomas C. Twitmire.
Martinsburg .- S. M. Royer, John Bone- brake.
Roaring Spring .-. W. Albert Nason, Wil- liam McKee Eldon, Charles W. Fox, W. H. Robinson.
Claysburg .- John W. Johnston, Charles O. Johnston, J. E. Ellinger.
Tyrone .- Irvin D. Metzger, R. L. Piper, F. K. Fickes, G. W. Burket, L. F. Crawford, James C. Crawford, E. C. Farrand, W. L. Lowrie, John B. Nason and Thomas Tobin.
East Freedom .- W. S. Madden.
Newry .- J. L. Gallagher.
Duncansville .- Emory Miller, D. C. Con- fer.
Mines .- C. H. Books.
South Altoona .- Charles A. Duff.
Bellwood-W. H. Morrow, E. B. Leven- good.
BLAIR COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY.
In pursuance of a call which appeared in the Hollidaysburg newspapers under date of July 1, 1848, and signed by Drs. James Coffey, J. A. Landis, A. Rodrique, Robert W. Christy and Harry T. Coffey, a meeting of physicians was held in Hollidaysburg, July 25, 1848, at which were present besides those signing the call, Dr. William R. Findley, of Frankstown, and Dr. John Getty, of Martinsburg. At this meeting Dr. Getty served as the p residing officer, and Dr. Harry T. Coffey as secretary. Before adjournment Drs. Landis, Findley and H. T. Coffey were appointed a committee to draft a constitution and by-laws.
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On the 15th of November, 1848, an ad- journed meeting was held at the Exchange hotel in Hollidaysburg. A constitution and by-laws were adopted and signed by those present, viz: Drs. James Coffey, Landis, Rod- rique, Christy and H. T. Coffey, and the fol- lowing officers elected: Dr. James Coffey, president; A. Rodrique, vice president ; Rob- ert W. Christy, secretary, and J. A. Landis, treasurer.
The constitution adopted describes the ob- ject of the society to be the advancement of medical knowledge, and to sustain and elevate the medical profession, to protect the interests of the members, to extend the bounds of med- ical science, and to promote all measures cal- culated to relieve suffering, to improve the health and to protect the lives of the commu- nity. Formerly no physician could become a member of the society unless he had been a practitioner at medicine for at least fifteen years, but this has been changed and now anyone who is a graduate of a recognized medical institution, and who is in good stand- ing in the profession, may become a member. The society is governed also by the code of ethics of the American Medical association. The society holds meetings at stated intervals, once a year a banquet is held and each sum- mer an outing is held.
The present officers of the society are as fol- lows: President, Dr. Andrew S. Stayer, Al- toona; first vice president, Dr. E. B. Leven- good, Bellwood; second vice president, Dr. Charles W. Delaney, Altoona; secretary, Dr. Charles F. McBurney, Altoona; treasurer, Dr. W. S. Ross; censors, Drs. James E. Smith, Albert S. Oburn and Charles Long.
BLAIR COUNTY HOMEOPATHIC MEDICAL SOCIETY.
Since 1901 the physicians of the homeo- pathic school have maintained their own or- ganization in the county. Prior to that date they were identified with the Central Pennsyl- vania Homeopathic Medical society, which embraced Blair and half a dozen nearby coun- ties. In 1901 the Raue Medical club was or-
ganized by Blair and Cambria county physi- cians with Dr. J. W. Stitzel, of Hollidaysburg, as president, and Dr. M. A. Wesner, of Johns- town, as secretary. It continued under this name until 1908, when the name was changed to the Blair County Homeopathic Medical society. The present officers of the society are as follows: President, Dr. Daniel Bohn, of Altoona; vice president, Dr. W. F. Shar- baugh, of Altoona; secretary, Dr. Henry B. Replogle, of Altoona; treasurer, Dr. E. H. Morrow, of Altoona; censors, Drs. M. A. Wesner, of Johnstown, I. D. Metzger, of Ty- rone, and J. R. Humes, of Hollidaysburg. Meetings are held once a month, the members taking turns at entertaining the society at their homes. At these meetings subjects of interest to the profession are discussed.
ALTOONA HOSPITALS.
Blair county has four hospitals,-the Al- toona hospital, located in Altoona, the Na- son hospital, located at Roaring Spring, the County hospital, near Hollidaysburg, and the Mercy hospital in Altoona. In this chap- ter a history of the Altoona, Nason and Mercy hospitals will be given, the County hospital, which is an institution exclusively for the insane, being treated in the chapter devoted to the county institutions.
The Altoona hospital, one of the largest and best equipped institutions of the kind in the state, was established in 1883. For a number of years prior to that time the ne- cessity for an institution of this character had been apparent to a great number of citizens, and as time progressed and as the population and number of accidents multi- plied, the public interest also increased. Colonel Theodore Burchfield, afterwards mayor of Altoona, was the representative from Blair county in the state house of rep- resentatives at the session of 1883-84. He was in sympathy with the people in regard to this need, and after consultation with some of the most prominent citizens, deter- mined to introduce a bill making an appro- priation to aid in establishing a general hos-
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pital in Altoona. Acting on this determina- tion, Colonel Burchfield prepared, and on February 23, 1883, read in his place in the house of representatives, a bill entitled, "An act making an appropriation towards the erection and furnishing of a hospital at the city of Altoona."
While Colonel Burchfield was thus inter- esting himself in the legislature in behalf of the project, the citizens of Altoona were not idle. A public meeting was called, to be held in the common council chamber on February 26, 1883, at which time resolu- tions were adopted to make a vigorous and systematic effort to raise the sum to $15,000 and also to secure a plot of ground on which hospital buildings could be erected. At this meeting a committee, consisting of Mil- ton Alexander, Thomas H. Greevy and Henry H. Herr, was appointed to appear before the committee on appropriations of the house of representatives and urge that body to make an affirmative report on the bill offered by Colonel Burchfield, to the house. These gentlemen fulfilled their mission and on March 2, the committee made an affirmative report on the bill, which passed the house on May 24, the senate on June I, and on the fifth of July 1883 became a law by the signature of Governor Robert E. Pattison.
Before any of the $15,000 appropriated was to be paid, the president of the board of trustees chosen for the hospital, Mr. John P. Levan, was to certify on oath to the state treasurer that the further sum of $15,000 had been subscribed, and that suit- able grounds had been secured. By No- vember, 1884, there had ben paid in cash the sum of $15,177 and on No- vember 26, the Pennsylvania railroad com - pany conveyed in fee, to "The Altoona hos- pital" a lot of over four acres, situated on Howard avenue and Seventh street. Thus the two conditions named in the bill were fulfilled, in a little over a year. The thir- teen trustees having been chosen, the char- ter having been obtained, and duly recorded
at Hollidaysburg, in the office for recording deeds, all attention now could be turned to the question of the erection of the hospital buildings.
"A committee on real estate and construc- tion of buildings" was provided for in the by-laws, which committee was "to have charge of the real estate and the erection and construction of the hospital building, and all other structures." Bids were in- vited for the excavation and construction of the main building; seven were received for the first and eight for the second. On March 23, the contract for the excavation was awarded to Thomas F. Martin; the contract for the construction work to Frank McClain. Late in October, 1885, the work was completed. The building, constructed of brick and wood, contained two wards, each with a capacity of twelve beds, a dis- pensary, operating room, office and various other rooms. A superintendent and matron were elected and a medical staff, consist- ing of Drs. John Fay, William M. Findley, John T. Christy, Samuel M. Ross and Al- bert S. Smith, was appointed by the board of trustees. The hospital continued in this manner, with minor changes and improve- ments until the year 1887. In this year a separate ward for female patients was ar- ranged for; this ward was completed and ready for occupancy early in the next year, 1888. During April, 1890, the entire hos- pital was thoroughly renovated under the direction of the committee on real estate and construction of buildings, but no new wards or additions built. The next year it was seen, that, to promote the usefulness of the institution, at least one new ward should be added. The subject was referred to the committee on real estate, together with questions of various repairs and im- provements to be made on the present buildings. The year 1892 was occupied with having these repairs, all important, made, and in 1893, a new ward, now needed more than ever, was constructed. The year 1893 is an important one in the history of the hos-
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