History of Addison county Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 20

Author: Smith, H. P. (Henry Perry), 1839-1925. 1n
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., D. Mason & co.
Number of Pages: 988

USA > Vermont > Addison County > History of Addison county Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 20

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Champlain Valley Homeopathic Medical Society .- This society was or- ganized at Middlebury May 5, 1874. Beginning with seven members, it has increased until in 1885 it has a membership of twenty-three. The society admits physicians who are regular graduates of either school in good standing, and practicing their profession in the valley of Champlain. The annual meet- ings are held in Middlebury on the first Tuesday in May; quarterly meetings at different towns as voted at each annual meeting. Following are the names of the officers of the society for 1885 : President, G. E. E. Sparhawk, M.D., of Burlington ; secretary and treasurer, M. D. Smith, M.D., Middlebury ; censors, Drs. A. A. Arthur, Vergennes; Charles Gale and F. W. Hamilton, Rutland.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

Dr. Zacheus Bass. The name of Bass is coeval with New England. As early as 1630 we find in the records of Roxbury, Mass., the name of Samuel Bass. In 1640 this Samuel Bass removed from Roxbury to Braintree (now Quincy), Mass., where he became the first deacon of the church. He and his wife were born in the same year, 1600. His wife died in 1693, and he died in 1694, aged ninety-four years and leaving one hundred and sixty-two descend- ants, the youngest having been born only eleven days before his death. Dea- con Samuel Bass was said to have a vigorous mind and to have been a leading man in the community. Among his descendants was the Rt. Rev. Edward Bass, D.D., the first Episcopal bishop of Massachusetts.

Dr. Zacheus Bass, the sixth generation from Deacon Samuel Bass, was born in Windham, Conn., on the 14th of February, 1791. His father, Captain Eleazer Bass, was a soldier in the War of the Revolution, a farmer in Wind- ham, and had twelve children, of whom Zacheus was the youngest. In 1806, when only eighteen years old, young Bass came to Vermont to be with an

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older brother, Dr. William Bass, who had some years before settled in Middle- bury, where he had quite an extensive practice. Here he attended the Mid- dlebury Academy, where he fitted for college. He entered Middlebury Col- lege, but left before graduating. He studied medicine with his brother, and attended two courses of lectures in the medical department of Yale College when Professors Ives, Knight, and the elder Silliman were in their prime. Just before the close of the second course of lectures his father was taken very sick and he was obliged to leave for Windham. Afterwards he came to Middle- bury, and on the 7th of June, 1815, he was examined and licensed to practice by the Addison County Medical Society, of which he then became a member. When Vermont was called upon to draft soldiers for the Plattsburgh campaign he volunteered to accompany the troops, and went to Burlington. He went on board Commodore MacDonough's ship, and assisted in taking care of the wounded on the island after the battle.

On the 27th of May, 1817, he married Miss Susan Dorrance. They had one son and one daughter. The son, a bright, active lad of five years, was in a neighboring yard, watching the trimming of shade trees, when a falling limb struck him on the head and killed him. In after years, even when the father had become an old man, if any allusion was made to the son, it would instantly bring tears into his eyes.

Middlebury College granted him the degree of M.D. in 1829, during the time when the Vermont Academy of Medicine of Castleton was connected with the college. In 1871 Rush Medical College, of Chicago, conferred upon him the honorary degree of M.D., which is very rarely conferred upon any except the most distinguished practitioners in this country and Europe. At each re- organization of the Addison County Medical Society he became a member, and at times was its president. He was a member of the Vermont Medical Society, and was also a member of the American Medical Association, and at- tended several of its annual meetings.

Dr. Bass never sought office, but such was the respect which his fellow townsmen had for him that he was very frequently moderator of the town meetings, and continuously for some years he was moderator of the village meetings. Very often he was one of the selectmen of the town. For many years he was overseer of the poor, and was almost always the town doctor.

Dr. Bass was a man of quick and strong impulses, a firm and trusting friend, a cordial hater. He hated shams and deceit; he hated pompous display, even of knowledge; he hated quackery of all descriptions. He loved and honored his profession, and was always glad to help the younger members when he found them worthy. He was fond of hearing and especially fond of telling a good story. He particularly enjoyed a good quiet game of " old sledge," and was delighted when he could catch his opponent's jack. He rarely opened a medical book, and never took any medical journal, but being blest with a good

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memory, quick perception and sound practical sense, he kept well abreast with the best practitioners by always having counsel in any new kind of a case, re- membering well all the essential points, and the new remedies proposed. He adhered firmly to remedies which he had tried, but was always ready to use new ones upon sufficient grounds. He quickly apprehended the essential feat- ures of a case and knew, almost intuitively, the nature of the disease and what would be the result. He never treated disease by name, in a routine manner, well knowing the difference between the essential and the differential diagnosis, -the essential diagnosis indicating the real condition of the patient and the ther- apeutic agent to be employed; the differential diagnosis only indicating the name of the disease. Patients with pneumonia, typhoid fever, or a broken leg even, might all need the same remedy, while different cases of the same disease might require opposite remedies. When called to the first case of diphtheria which occurred in Middlebury, he frankly said he had never before seen any- thing of the kind, but at once seeing the essential diagnosis, gave an accurate prognosis and prescribed correctly. He was in no sense of the term a specialist ; his forte, however, was in obstetrics. In this he had a very large practice, and possessed the entire confidence of the community. He had patience to wait, but knew when to interfere. We often hear about " good luck " in such cases, but really good luck consists entirely in skill, sound judgment and experience, in knowing when and how long to wait, and when and how to interfere. He was at all times assiduous, but never intrusive in his attentions to his patients. He never allowed personal pleasure or comfort to interfere with his regular visits, which rarely varied many minutes from the time appointed. He was always pleasant and cheerful, often jovial socially, and even children always remembered the peculiarly merry twinkle of his eye when he met them with some genial remark or agreeable joke. Very few students of Middlebury Col- lege, who were there during the sixty years of the doctor's active practice, ever forgot his genial countenance or funny sayings. Kind and sympathetic in the sick-room, he always had an encouraging word for the desponding patient, and he never seemed more happy than when he could, by some queer allusion or funny remark, bring a smile upon the face of the patient who had been very sick. But he had a tell-tale countenance which would betray him whenever he gave up hope in any case. His years passed quietly by without much ex- citement, only varied by an occasional visit to his old home in Windham, Conn., or by attendance upon the meetings of the American Medical Association. He was never wealthy, but acquired a competence, the main part of which, how- ever, he lost in the Lake Dunmore Glass Company, and in the Middlebury Manufacturing Company ..

On the 27th of May, 1867, on their golden wedding, Dr. and Mrs. Bass were "at home," and received calls. It was delightful to see that hale and hearty couple, on the fiftieth anniversary of their wedding day, apparently en-

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joying as much as when first united in marriage. Very many friends, from out of town as well as from in town, called to pay their respects. Mrs. Bass died April 2, 1876, after an illness of about two years. Her sickness had an influence upon his health and spirits, so that during the year preceding her death, he pretty much gave up his practice, and afterwards only rarely visited patients among his old friends.

Dr. Bass was for many years a member of the Episcopal Church. Formerly he was an old-time Whig, of the Clay and Webster stamp, but in later years he became a Democrat. After he gave up practice he could be seen almost every day wending his way down-town for his daily New York paper, which he always read with interest as long as he lived.

On the 15th of February, 1881, Dr. Z. Bass calmly and quietly breathed his last, having been confined to the house only a few weeks and to his bed less than one week. His intellect was bright and clear to the last. Almost his last expressed wish was that he might live until his ninetieth birthday, which came on the day he was buried.

Dr. Benjamin Bullard. The family of Bullard trace their history to John Bullard, one of three brothers, who came from England and settled at Water- town, Mass., in 1635. John Bullard was proprietor of and lived in the town of Dedham. About 1650 he became proprietor and removed to the town of Medfield. Dr. Benjamin Bullard, the fourth generation from John Bullard, married Miss Margaret Ward, in Athol, Mass., on the 26th of February, 1799. He settled first in New Salem, Mass., then he went to Herkimer, N. Y. In 1803 he came to Weybridge, Vt. In 1807, in addition to the practice of medi- cine, he went into the mercantile business in connection with Dr. Shaw, the firm being Bullard & Shaw. In 1810 we find him living at Massena, N. Y. He was a surgeon in the army during the war of 1812-15. After the war he returned to Vermont and settled in New Haven, within one-fourth of a mile of his former residence in Weybridge. He became a member of the Addison County Medical Society in December, 1815, and continued a member as long as the original society had an existence. He had seven children, four sons and three daughters. He died December 31, 1827, aged fifty-five years.

Cullen Bullard, M. D., was born in Weybridge, Vt., on the 4th of Decem- ber, 1806. He was the third child but oldest son of the preceding Dr. Benja- min Bullard. He seems not to have inherited his father's restless, roving dis- position, for with the exception of a few years that his father resided in Mas- sena, N. Y., he always lived within eighty rods of his birth-place. While a small boy Cullen had a narrow escape from drowning, in Massena Springs, be- ing taken out of the water by his oldest sister in an insensible condition. At Massena he began his education by attending school in a barn, the teacher giv- ing the scholars recess while a load of hay was being put in. After his father's return to Vermont, Cullen attended the Middlebury Academy. Afterwards he

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taught school several terms. He studied medicine with his father, and also attended the summer school of medicine of Prof. J. A. Allen, at Middlebury, during the session of 1826 and 1827. He attended one course of lectures at Castleton, in the Vermont Academy of Medicine, and two courses in the med- ical department of the University of Vermont, at Burlington, where in 1820 he received the degree of M. D. Immediately after graduating he located on the homestead, his father having died only the winter before. This was a farm at the western extremity of New Haven, a considerable distance from New Haven village, but not very far from the village in Weybridge. This farm was the continuous residence of the Drs. Bullard, father and son, for seventy-one years, and is still owned by one of his descendants. He married Miss Wealthy Au- brey, daughter of Captain John F. Aubrey, of Burlington, Vt., on the 2d of September, 1829. She yet survives and resides on the old homestead. They had five children, one son, a very promising young man, who died of disease of the brain at the age of nineteen, and four daughters. Two of the daughters. died of consumption at his house, in 1850. One other died of the same disease in 1864, leaving one living, the wife of Mr. M. E. Sprague, of Weybridge. In 1831 the doctor's sister, who had been married to Mr. Israel Barber, was taken down with small-pox, from which she and two of her children died. There were sixteen cases in the Doctor's and the two nearest houses, and only the three cases mentioned proved fatal. There was very great excitement in all the towns around. Dr. Allen, of Middlebury, was called in council. The citi- zens of Middlebury made a great ado, and threatened to send Dr. Allen to a pest-house should he return, in consequence of which he took up his abode with Dr. Bullard until the excitement was passed. Dr. Bullard was a man of sound judgment and good practical sense. He was devoted to his profession, excel- lent in diagnosis,and eminently successful in treatment. He was attentive to his patients, always taking deep interest in them. He possessed in a marked degree that personal magnetism which drew his patients to him and made them feel that in him they had found a friend as well as a physician. He practiced principally in the towns of New Haven, Waltham, Weybridge, and Addison, although his ride extended throughout Addison county and beyond. Living in the country, he was, of course, obliged to take the charge of every case that occurred, both in medicine and surgery ; yet it was in obstetrics that he excelled. It is said that he attended about twelve hundred women in confine- ment without having lost a mother. In 1875 it was suggested that some of the children at whose birth he had officiated should call upon him in a body. The suggestion flew like wild-fire and finally culminated in "the Doctor's pic- nic," held on the 16th of June of that year. It was estimated that eight hun- dred people were present on that occasion, from many States of the Union and from Canada, including the Doctor's "babies" of all ages up to forty-six years, their mothers, their fathers and their friends. The Vergennes cornet band dis-

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coursed fine music, addresses were made, toasts were given and responded to, and bountiful supplies, furnished by friends and neighbors, were feasted upon. It was decided by those present that this first gathering of the kind on record was also one of the happiest ever enjoyed. Full accounts of the picnic were pub- lished in the newspapers at the time. At the reorganization of the Addison County Medical Society Dr. Bullard became a member. For many years he was an active member. One paper, in particular, which he read in 1845, was received with attention and met with cordial approbation. It was on the fevers prevalent in this region, and characterized by sound sense and careful, practical observation. His remarks were always listened to with deference by the society. He was also a member of the Vermont Medical Society. For many years he was a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He never sought or would accept any public office. He was a stanch, old-time Democrat all his days, and voted for every Democratic candidate for president, of his time, except one ; when Horace Greeley was nominated, it was too much; he did not vote. His last vote was cast for Hancock. During the last two years of his life he was not well, suffering from an organic disease of the heart. He, however, continued to practice his profession to the last. He dropped dead, while walking about the house, on the 2d of January, 1883.

Dr. Edward Tudor was born in East Windsor, Conn., January 16, 1771. His father was an eminent surgeon who had studied his profession in England. Edward was the eldest son and studied his profession with his father and after- ward in Philadelphia under the immediate direction of Dr. Rush. He there attended two courses of lectures and received his degree. He practiced some years with his father in East Windsor and afterward established himself at Or- ford, N. H., where he was married. In 1804 he removed to Middlebury and continued a successful practice until age forced him to retire. He was a dili- gent student and through life sustained the reputation of a learned physician. He was an active member of Addison County Medical Society. At the age of eighty-seven years, on the 3d of March, 1858, he slipped on a piece of ice, fell and broke his leg ; from this injury he never recovered, and died on the 8th of May following.

Dr. William Bass, from Windham, Conn., pursued the study of medicine at Westfield, Mass., when there was no medical school in the country, but the honorary degree of Doctor of Medicine was conferred upon him by the corpo- ration of Middlebury College in 1825. He settled in Middlebury as a physi- cian in 1797, when a young man, where he remained until his death. Imme- diately on his settlement here, he entered into an extensive and increasing practice, which was enlarged by the removal of Drs. Willard and Matthews to other spheres. He was not only a skillful and faithful physician, but by his social disposition and manners became popular and a favorite in many families in this and the neighboring towns. His practice was laborious and profitable,

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until near the close of his life the infirmities of age and disease forced him to retire from it. He possessed sound judgment and practical common sense, and was popular as a man as well as a physician, and had an extensive influ- ence in town, and was often appointed to places of trust. He was distinguished for his benevolence in all his relations, and for his liberality to all our literary, religious and benevolent institutions. He was also a prominent and influential member and deacon of the Congregational Church. His death occurred in March, 1851, at the age of seventy-five.

Dr. Oliver Barber Norton was born in Easton, Washington county, N. Y., December 19, 1799. His mother having died when he was three months old, he was adopted as a child by Rev. Edward Barber, of Greenwich, N. Y., father of Edward D. Barber, with whose family he lived as a son until he left it to engage in business for himself. To those most intimate he exhibited from his earliest boyhood proofs of no ordinary talents and force of character, and man- ifested a great thirst for learning, and extended his researches into many branches beyond the routine of a common English education. At the age of twenty-three he selected for his profession the practice of medicine, and con- tinued his professional studies for two years under Dr. Cornelius Holmes. In the fall of 1822 he attended a course of lectures at the medical institution at Cas- tleton, Vt. The summer following he became a member of Dr. J. A. Allen's summer school in Middlebury. He attended a second course of lectures the next fall, and, during the winter, he attended the anatomical lectures of Dr. Alden Marsh, in Albany. The following summer he again became a member of Dr. Allen's school, and "was chosen by the principal and students to give a course of lectures on botany." The fall of 1824 he attended his third course of lectures at Castleton, and was admitted to the degree of Doctor of Medicine, which was conferred upon him at the next commencement of Middlebury Col- lege. He left the institution with a high reputation as a scholar in the various branches of his profession. The two following years he assisted Dr. Allen in his practice, and in his school as a lecturer on botany, anatomy and physiol- ogy ; and the year following was a partner of Dr. Allen, and afterwards, until his death, he continued his practice separately in Middlebury. In the fall of 1829 he was threatened with pulmonary consumption, but by the aid of a short journey to the South, he recovered his health so that he resumed his practice in the spring. During the fall of 1830 he was attacked with a disease which terminated in ulceration of the cartilage of his left knee joint, and ended his life on the 25th of April, 1831, at the early age of thirty-one.

Dr. Jonathan Adams Allen died at his residence in Middlebury on the 2d of February, 1848, at the age of sixty. At a meeting of the Addison County Medical Society in the same month his death was announced, appropriate and highly commendatory resolutions were adopted, and Dr. S. Pearl Lathrop, of Middlebury, was appointed to prepare a biographical sketch of him, which

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was afterwards ordered to be published in the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal. This sketch we have before us. Our limits will allow us to use only a part of its materials, with such others as we possess. The subject of this sketch " was of poor but respectable parentage." His father was Amos Allen, son of Seth Allen, who was an immigrant to this country from Wales. His mother was daughter of Abel Smith, and granddaughter of Jonathan Adams, of Medway, from whom he received his name. The mother of Jonathan Adams was killed by the Indians, and he, after his head was dashed against a stone, was left as dead, but afterwards found alive, and became distinguished in various departments of public life. Through him Dr. Allen's genealogy is traced to the origin of the family of John Adams and his son John Quincy Adams. Dr. Allen was born at Holliston, Mass., on the 17th day of Novem- ber, 1787. His father at an early day removed with his family to Newfane, Vt. Here he labored with his father on the farm. During this period he had only the advantages of a common school education. But having a thirst for learning, he purchased books for himself by trapping and selling furs. By this means he was able to store his mind with much useful knowledge. On the 17th of November, 1808, his twenty-first birthday, he started with a bundle contain- ing his wardrobe, to " seek his fortune." He engaged in the duties of a school teacher in the West Village of Townshend, in this State, and immediately made arrangements with the minister of the parish to be instructed in Latin. In this position he remained for several years, and afterwards gave his atten- tion more directly to studies preparatory to the practice of medicine under the tuition of Dr. Paul Wheeler, of Wardsborough. He also attended the lectures at Dartmouth College, under Dr. Nathan Smith, and there he received his de- gree of Doctor of Medicine August 24, 1814. After a practice of two years at Wardsborough, in partnership with Dr. Wheeler, his instructor, he removed to Brattleboro in August, 1816. In October, 1820, he was appointed to de- liver lectures on chemistry in Middlebury College, which he continued until 1826. He removed his family to Middlebury in the spring of 1822, and com- menced practice here; and at the same time he was appointed professor of materia medica and pharmacy in the Vermont Academy of Medicine, then in connection with Middlebury College. In this office he continued until 1829. He continued the practice of his profession in Middlebury until his death. His practice as a surgeon and physician was always extensive and increasing from year to year, and was not confined to the town or county in which he resided ; as in cases of surgery and difficult cases of disease, he was often called be- yond the limits of the State. Notwithstanding his great labors in his practice, he was always persevering in his studies, and employed all his leisure hours in diligent pursuit of knowledge. He not only became a learned physician, but directed his studies to other sciences, and especially to those branches of nat- ural history more immediately connected with his profession. Among other

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specimens of natural history, he made a handsome collection of minerals, which were purchased by Middlebury College, and constitute an important part of their cabinet. Several scientific articles which he wrote were published in Silliman's Journal of Science. He also published a still greater number of articles on various branches of medical science and the laws of nature, as ap- plicable to the practice of medicine, in the medical journals. He was a prom- inent member of the State Medical Society, and an active and much respected member and officer of Addison County Medical Society, up to the time of his death. Dr. Allen had many traits of character, besides his learning, which en- deared him to his friends, professional associates, and especially to his patients. He was always amiable, unassuming and conscientious; always prompt in his attentions to .his patients, who were never neglected, whatever sacrifice it cost him. He wore himself out in their service. Even after he was enfeebled by disease he continued his labors, until they induced or aggravated diseases which prematurely terminated his life. His usefulness was not confined to his professional duties, but as a citizen he was prompt by his aid and influence in promoting every good object. Dr. Lathrop, in the sketch to which we have referred, says: "The crowning trait of character of Dr. Allen, and one which harmonized and rendered most valuable all his other qualities, was decided and stable Christian principle. He was a firm believer and supporter of the Chris- tian religion, and for many years a member of the Congregational Church. He first became connected with the church in Brattleboro in 1818, then under the pastoral charge of Rev. Caleb Burge. Religion with him was not a matter of profession alone, but of principle. It exerted its benign influences on the affec- tions of his heart, and exhibited itself, in its power and excellency, in the mould- ing of his thoughts, and generating of his actions."

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History of Addison county Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 20

Author: Smith, H. P. (Henry Perry), 1839-1925. 1n Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., D. Mason & co. Number of Pages: 988

Author: Smith, H. P. (Henry Perry), 1839-1925. 1n
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., D. Mason & co.
Number of Pages: 988