History of Royalton, Vermont, with family genealogies, 1769-1911, Part 60

Author: Lovejoy, Mary Evelyn Wood, 1847-
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Burlington, Vt., Free press printing company
Number of Pages: 1280

USA > Vermont > Windsor County > Royalton > History of Royalton, Vermont, with family genealogies, 1769-1911 > Part 60

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It is a tradition that this suit cost the town $10,000, and that it took all Mr. Culver received from the town to pay his lawyers. Both parties were probably sadder and wiser for the long and stubborn contest, at least, it has since been the policy of the town to look more carefully after its highways, and to settle questions of damage without a lawsuit, whenever it could be justly and honorably done.

Samuel Parkman Danforth, M. D.

Edgar John Fish, M. D.

Hours with parental Love Los. A. Denson

CHAPTER XXXVI.

THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.

Through the courtesy of Dr. Charles S. Caverly of Rutland, for several years President of the State Board of Health, some interesting information has been obtained regarding the early history of medicine and surgery in Vermont. A very able and exhaustive paper of his was published in "The Vermonter" in May, 1903. A quotation from this paper, credited to Dr. Bart- lett of Hanover, will show the usual charges of doctors in the latter part of the eighteenth century: "Medicine was usually one shilling for each potion; occasionally two shillings; bleeding was always one shilling; dressing a wound one shilling; lancing a sore one shilling; setting an arm or leg six shillings; 'attendance on your wife in travel' was twelve shillings." If we take into account the considerable per cent. of poor debts, and the fact that the doctor furnished the medicine, it is easy to see that physicians did not rapidly acquire wealth in those days.

Dr. Joseph A. Gallup of Woodstock, in his "Sketches of Epidemic Diseases in the State of Vermont," published in 1815, has left an account of the fatal epidemic of 1813. He calls the disease "epidemic peripneumony," and states that it had many characteristics of "spotted fever." Dr. Caverly is of the opin- ion that it was cerebro spinal meningitis. It started with the soldiers at Burlington in the winter of 1813, spreading through the larger part of the State. The method of treatment which proved most successful was "bleeding, puking and purging," the promoting of free expectoration, and avoidance of heating stimulating means. The disease is thus described by Dr. Little- field of Arlington: "From four to ten hours after the attack, the surface of the body would be covered with spots or blotches like blood blisters; some of the bigness of a pea, others the size of a man's hand. Total loss of sight, insensibility, and the signs of approaching dissolution are mentioned." Dr. Gallup esti- mates the number of deaths during five months at 6,400 in a cen- sus population of 217,913. While nothing is on record referring in any way to this epidemic as having invaded Royalton, it is not improbable that some of the deaths occurring between 1809 and 1816, when the disease prevailed in New England, may have been due to this cause.

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Licenses to practice were obtained in different ways, from medical colleges, medical schools not colleges, and from medical societies. The First Medical Society in Vermont was organized Aug. 19, 1784, and incorporated by the Assembly in October of that year. It originated with the physicians of Bennington and Rutland counties. The Windsor County Medical Society was legalized by legislative act Oct. 27, 1812. The Vermont Medical Society , was incorporated Nov. 10 of the next year. A bill for such a society had been before the Assembly in 1799, and on October 25th it was placed in the hands of a joint committee of the House and Council, but evidently was allowed to die.

The majority of physicians received their licenses from medi- ' cal societies, after studying and practicing with a preceptor. The Clinical School of Medicine in Woodstock, established by Dr. Joseph A. Gallup, was patronized by some of Royalton's sons who were studying for the medical profession. Dr. Gallup was a remarkable man, and no doubt influenced to a considerable de- gree the methods of cure employed in this and adjoining towns. He was progressive and independent in theory and practice, and was prominent in Windsor County and State Medical Societies. Our local doctors did not have a part in the inception of these societies, but later some of them were members of both.

The General Assembly passed a law in March, 1784, pro- viding for prevention of the spread of small pox, and again in 1787 it passed an act more rigid, requiring selectmen to look after such cases. The voters of Royalton at their March meeting in 1792 voted, "That if ye selectmen find it necessary they may allow of ye inoculation being set up in some convenient place in town next October," which shows that they were simply antici- pating the appearance of this dreaded disease. In 1802 there was opposition to vaccination, but it was overcome. In 1846 the whole town was vaccinated at public expense, the three physi- cians each being paid $10 for inoculating one-third of the in- habitants.

No serious epidemic of this sort is known to have seized the town, though there have been cases from time to time, and a pest house was erected of logs on the Calvin Skinner place in 1792 or thereabout, and another house on the hill in the rear of Irving Barrows', not far from the Broad Brook road was later utilized for patients so afflicted. From Miss Ruth Tracy of Beverly, Mass., it is ascertained that small pox broke out in Royalton in 1792. A woman tramp from Canada came along, and was given shelter in one of the village houses. She picked the scabs from her feet and threw them into the fire before it was known what was the matter with her. The school children had gone in "to see the funny old woman and hear her jargon." The people in the

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house took the disease, and all in the house had to be vaccinated. Zebulon Lyon and family had the disease, she says, by vaccina- tion, and Mrs. Lyon's daughter, Sally Skinner Washburn, went with a three-months-old baby, both vaccinated, to care for them. Mrs. Washburn told how the patients in the log pest house used to roast potatoes on the coals, after they were able to eat, and as their lips were sore, they laid the potatoes on the logs to cool. One man died and was buried on the intervale, whose "deep grave was avoided and kept in remembrance as long as Mrs. Washburn lived."

In these days, when doctors are summoned by telephone and brought to the beds of suffering ones in autos, one can scarcely realize what it meant to the early settlers to see their loved ones stricken with disease, in the agony of pain, and know that the nearest physician was, perhaps, twenty or more miles away, and even when reached by the swiftest rider, might not be able to come for a day or more. Fortunately, in almost every neighbor- hood there were some good wives who understood the art of soothing and healing by herbs and roots, and with these simple remedies at hand, a doctor was not considered so much a neces- sity as he is today. Though an offending tooth was not removed when the patient was blissfully unconscious, it was pretty sure to yield when grappled by the old-fashioned forceps in the hands of an iron-muscled back-woodsman. Such service was often gratuitous or reciprocal, and so had its compensations, and this exchange of neighborly courtesies furnished one more link in the bond of friendship.

When, however, an aspiring doctor, who had studied and ridden for a time with an older practitioner, came to a new set- tlement, he was warmly welcomed, and held a place in the hearts of the people next to that of the minister.

Silas Allen is supposed to be the first doctor in Royalton. He seems to have attended strictly to the healing art, and not to have caught the prevailing spirit of adventure. His towns- men entrusted him with important offices, and in 1797 sent him to the General Assembly. He married into the Cleveland fam- ily before coming to Royalton, and had two or more children when he settled here in the west part of the town, where an island in the river was called his. From the land records it would seem that he rented, rather than owned, a farm of his own. He prob- ably moved here about 1782. No evidence has been found that he was college educated. He left Royalton in 1800, and removed to Ohio, where a new town was started. He was sufficiently in- fluential to have the name of Royalton given to it, perhaps the second town in America to be thus named. He removed to Cleve- land, Ohio, for the practice of his profession in 1841, and died there. He is buried in Royalton, O.

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The second physician was Samuel Dunbar Searle. He was the son of Rev. John Searle, the first settled pastor in Royalton. His name does not appear on the records until about the time of his father's death, 1787. From that time until 1794, the last record we have of him, he appears as a physician, an energetic and competent business man, a leader, and a speculator in land. He came of scholarly stock. He was named for his grandfather, Rev. Samuel Dunbar, who graduated at Yale in 1723. His father graduated there in 1745, and he in turn entered those classic walls October 21, 1779, as junior, at the age of sixteen, a "re- markably precocious young man," the annals of Yale say. How fortunate that the town in its infancy had two men of such un- usual attainments and worth as Rev. John Searle and his son, Dr. Samuel Dunbar. Dr. Searle graduated from Yale in 1781 with the B. A. degree. When he acquired his medical education, or how he spent the intervening years between 1781 and 1787 is not known.

Dr. Searle was one of the managers of the "Bridge Lot- tery," and in 1792 he advertises that the drawing will take place at his house. Nothing certain is known of him after 1794. He probably pushed northward and westward. Tradition says he went to Ohio. Royal Corbin of Alburgh entered complaint to Gov. Chittenden in 1794, and asked for relief from British per- secution. He had the aid of an affidavit from Samuel D. Searle, perhaps our Dr. Searle, reciting that on a certain day he saw a batteau coming from Windmill Point to Corbin's; that when the boat, loaded with salt and rum for the merchant, was about to unload, it was taken away by a boat from a British ship, whose commander said he was acting under orders.

For the next three or four years there does not appear to have been any resident physician in town. Dr. Ben Adam Deni- son is first listed in 1798, but may have been here the year be- fore. He had a considerable practice here for a few years. He was born March 31, 1773, in Hartland, the son of George Denison and grandson of Ben Adam Denison of Hartland. He married first, April 11, 1802, Polly, the daughter of Nathaniel Morse of this town. Their home life does not seem to have been a happy one. A daughter, Polly, was born to them. He went to Tun- bridge about 1813, it would seem, and in 1817 Mrs. Denison secured a divorce. He went to Pennsylvania and settled in Montrose, where he married second, Dec. 10, 1817, Eunice Wil- liams. Polly Denison died in this town and is buried in Havens Cemetery.

Doctors from adjoining towns were having more or less prac- tice in Royalton, among them Dr. Jo Adam Denison of Bethel, Dr. Thomas Moxley of Tunbridge, and perhaps others. Dr. Silas

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Sabin was here about two years, 1807 and 1808. He was born July 3, 1777, in Connecticut. He graduated from Dartmouth in 1803. He died July 29, 1850, in Claremont, N. H.

In 1809 Dr. Ebenezer C. Paul was listed and practicing in town. He was here until 1813. His list increases in size for a time, but his good fortune did not continue. He died the latter part of 1812 or first part of 1813, as his estate was in probate court, January 6, 1813. He was probably the first practitioner to die in town.

Dr. Lyman Fay was here from 1812 to 1815. He and Dr. Henry Ingersoll were doubtless the two "Practitioners of Physic and Surgery assessed" in 1813 at $20 each.

Dr. Henry Ingersoll served as trustee of the Academy while here. He remained only about two years, then removed to Stock- bridge, Mass. He lived in Royalton village, a few rods east of the old academy. He graduated from Dartmouth in 1813. He died in 1872.

Thus far there had been frequent change in practitioners, but with the year 1815 a man moved to town who was destined to spend many successful years in the practice of medicine in Roy- alton and adjoining towns, and to take a prominent position in the civic and religious affairs of the town. This man was Jo Adam Denison, M. D., who had already secured a good practice among the inhabitants of Royalton while he was yet living in Bethel. For a more full account of the history of his life the reader is referred to the sketch of the Denison family.

Many amusing and interesting incidents of his experience as a practitioner are related. He had a neighbor, a lady who fancied she was a helpless invalid, in which opinon the Doc- tor did not concur. Some of his students knew of the situa- tion, and one day they brought the woman outdoors and depos- ited her on a stump of a tree in the yard, and left her to reflec- tion. Her calls for aid were unheeded, and she had to get back to the house as best she could. From that time she made rapid recovery.

Dr. Denison was the only practitioner in town for several years. When it was decided that the inhabitants must be inocu- lated in 1821, Dr. S. P. Woodward performed that service. In 1828 Dr. Denison took his son Joseph into partnership, which was not dissolved until the untimely death of the young Dr. Denison in 1848.

Another physician of note put out his sign in Royalton vil- lage in 1830, Richard Bloss, M. D., who, like Dr. Denison, had begun his practice in Bethel, but in Bethel, N. Y. He was a na- tive of the town, the first one to practice in Royalton. He was educated in the village school, and then began a preparatory

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course for college. For three years he taught winters as a means of self-support. He studied with Dr. Denison the next three years, attending lectures at Dartmouth, from the Medical De- partment of which he graduated in 1823. He returned to Roy- alton from E. Bethel, N. Y., in 1830.

He was an ardent Episcopalian, and the little church at Royalton village owes its existence largely to his efforts and gen- erosity. While in Royalton he belonged to the Orthodox school of medicine. After he went to Troy, N. Y., in 1840, he became a convert to Homeopathy, and worked assiduously to build up that school of medicine in Troy and in the State of New York. He was eminently successful, and while he lived to direct and inspire the followers of Homeopathy, it thrived. He held the highest masonic offices in Troy and New York state.

He died from the effects of a cancerous tumor on his under lip, induced by an injury received at a post-mortem examination. It was said of him, "He was loyal and patriotic. To the talented he gave his admiration ; to the wealthy, his courtesy; to the poor, his advice, his services and his substance; they never sought his aid in vain. His mission was to heal the sick, and he never in- quired of the prospect of remuneration. Love was the main- spring of his life."

Contemporaneous with Dr. Denison and Dr. Bloss was Abiel Jones, M. D., D. D. Dr. Jones graduated at Dartmouth in 1788, from both the classical and medical courses, though a medical school was not regularly established there until ten years later. Two years after graduation he became converted, and began to study theology with Rev. Dr. Backus. He was licensed to preach by the Hartford, Conn., Association.

The want of ministerial labor in the new settlements of Ver- mont appealed to him, and he was sent as a missionary to dif- ferent parts of the state and at Crown Point, N. Y., where he was ordained as an evangelist by the Addison Association. He was in Chelsea about 1797, went to Salisbury in 1805, then to Lavonia, N. Y. He was in Royalton in 1825. On account of his health he went to Farmington, Ohio, where he was both physician and minister. Finding he was a victim to consumption he re- turned to Royalton, and died here. Though not living out the full number of his days, he had accomplished great good among the pioneers of this and other states, and left an honorable rec- ord to his family.

Another son of Royalton who settled as a physician in his native town was Levi Rix, M. D. It has not been learned where he graduated. He was practicing in town in 1845, but was in Sharon some years later. He returned to Royalton and died here. He had a good practice, and had the reputation of being a conscientious physician.

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In 1850 Dr. H. L. Brown was located in Royalton village, and Dr. J. H. Patterson was in town. The following year Drs. N. D. Ross, John Morse, and D. P. Benson are recorded as local physicians. No doubt some or all of these were students riding with preceptors.

Chester L. Stewart, M. D., was in practice in Royalton in 1852, remaining less than two years, when he located at Reading for a time, removing in 1854 to Randolph, where he remained until his death, building up a large and lucrative practice. He was born in Grantham, N. H., April 2, 1829. He studied medi- cine with Dr. Bushrod R. Gibson of Sharon, with Prof. B. R. Palmer of Woodstock, and Prof. H. H. Childs of Pittsfield, Mass. He graduated from the Berkshire Medical College of Massachu- setts in 1851. He was for a time President of the Board of Pension Examining Surgeons, and Surgeon to the C. V. R. R. He was twice married, and had three daughters. His first mar- riage to Miss Jane P. Fales occurred June 17, 1852, while he was in Royalton.

Dr. David Ingraham first began the practice of medicine in W. Hartford. When he removed to this town in 1835, he had left behind the vigor of young manhood, having been born in 1779. He bought the place now owned by Irving Barrows. He at once identified himself with the Congregational church, as he had previously done in W. Hartford. He was one of the committee that called Dr. Drake. He remained only five years, when he returned to W. Hartford.

Dr. Samuel Parkman Danforth removed from Ludlow to Royalton in 1853. He located in the village, and built the resi- dence which has ever since been the home of the family. He studied medicine with his father, Dr. Isaac Danforth of Barnard, and graduated from the Medical Department of Dartmouth in 1832. He at once assumed the practice of his aged father in Barnard, and continued it until October, 1849, when he removed to Claremont, N. H., and a few months later to Ludlow, Vt. Dr. Gardner Cox of Holyoke, Mass., writes of Dr. Danforth:

"I knew well Dr. Samuel Danforth, as did seemingly every one else in the county. I knew him in Barnard, and after he moved to Royalton, when I attended the academy. He was one of the first of his contemporaries to discard the old school prac- tice of bleeding, which was shortly before he settled in Royalton, where he quickly became the leading physician in that vicinity. His ride covered all the adjoining towns, and no member of the fraternity between Woodstock and Rochester had a greater pro- fessional reputation.

His natural abilities were strong, and his acquired abilities were in keeping with his scholarly nature. He was trusted by

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his colleagues as a safe, well-balanced practitioner, of excellent judgment, extensively read, always conservative, and he gener- ally had his own way in a council. When I consider the labor of riding those hills, the miles between patients, the moderate fees, and numerous charity patients, the dark nights and long drives, I shrink from the attempt to follow him a single day in his wide practice, and I am amazed at the prodigious amount of labor he performed. He was continuously on the road, and drive where you would, you were sure to meet Dr. Parkman."

The physician who has the longest record of service in town, settled in South Royalton in 1854. This was Henry H. Whit- comb, M. D. South Royalton was then a growing, ambitious hamlet, and he wisely cast his lot with the little village. His practice, however, quickly extended beyond its limits, and beyond the boundaries of the town. Dr. Whitcomb had but one good eye, and always wore glasses to cover the defect, but it was often said of him that he could see more with one eye than many physicians could with two. He had the faculty of inspiring his patients with the utmost confidence in his skill, so that the battle was half won, merely by his presence and word of encouragement. His practice was too onerous to admit of devoting much attention to other public matters, but he was always public-spirited, and interested in anything pertaining to the welfare of the com- munity. For thirty years he drove over the hills of the town night and day in all kinds of weather, and became familiar with nearly every household. He was in much demand as counsel for younger physicians, and in difficult cases. He continued his practice almost to the time of his death. He died an honored and lamented physician and citizen.

David Comstock Moore, M. D., came to South Royalton in 1866. He graduated from Tufts College in 1858, and from Dart- mouth Medical and from the U. V. M. in 1860. On settling in South Royalton he entered into partnership with M. J. Sargent in the drug business. He had served as volunteer surgeon in the U. S. Army in 1864-65, and was honorably discharged in June, 1865. His army experience gave him an advantage as a surgeon, and he ranked among the best physicians. He had an excellent practice, but was induced to remove to Charlestown, N. H., where he continued in practice, until the cancerous disease of which he died had so far progressed as to sap his strength, when he returned to South Royalton, and died here. He was a scholarly, well-read physician, and held the respect and esteem of his colleagues. He made friends wherever he went. He was serious-minded, a man of the strictest integrity, whose life was governed by high principles.

Henry Harrison Whitcomb, M. D. Daniel Webster Lovejoy, M. D. David Comstock Moore, M. D. James E. Morse, M. D. Levi Rix, M. D.

Frank Gillis Mills, M. D.

Oliver Justin Ellis, M. D.

Arthur Brown Bisbee, M. D.

Daniel Lillie Burnett, M. D.

William H. Gerrish, M. D.

William Lincoln Paine, M. D. Clayton Philemon House, M. D.

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A short time before Dr. Moore settled in South Royalton the corps of doctors in town was increased by the advent of James Ephraim Morse, M. D., into Royalton village. Dr. Morse took his degree from Dartmouth Medical College in 1850. He practiced in W. Hartford until 1865, when he removed to Roy- alton, and bought the large two-story house, known as the George Lyman house, now occupied by Mr. Hanks. The death of Dr. Danforth made a good opening for a physician in that village, and Dr. Morse soon had a large practice, which he held and in- creased up to the time of his death. Gentlemanly in manner and of a genial disposition, he made many warm friends during his seventeen years of residence in town, and acquired an envi- able reputation as a successful practitioner. His son Fred be- came a physician, and practiced for a short time in Royalton vil- lage. He graduated from Baltimore, Md., Med. Coll. Practiced for a time in Evansville, Ind., and is now in Denver, Col.

The third native doctor was Daniel Webster Lovejoy, M. D., great-grandson of the first settler in town, Robert Havens. Dr. Lovejoy was educated in Royalton and South Woodstock acade- mies. He had taught a few terms when the Civil War broke out, and he enlisted as sergeant in the 16th Vt. Vols., and later went as a recruit in the 9th Regt. His health was so impaired by his service as to debar him from any hard labor, and after recovery from a long illness he entered Eastman's Business Col- lege, Poughkeepsie, N. Y., from which he graduated in 1867. Mercantile life did not appeal to him. On his mother's side there were many physicians, Dr. Jason Spalding of Sharon, Dr. James Spalding of Montpelier, Dr. Phineas Spalding of Haver- hill, N. H., and he felt drawn to that profession. He studied with his cousin, Dr. Horace Fales of Waterbury, and attended two courses of lectures in the U. V. M. He then entered Belle- vue Hospital College, Long Island, and was to have graduated from that institution in June, 1871. A few days before the ex- aminations, his mother suddenly died, and grief and overwork compelled him to give up all effort for months. In the spring of 1872 he took a course at Dartmouth Medical College, and was graduated from that institution the same year. He at once lo- cated at South Royalton, where he remained until his death.

Dr. Lovejoy had the true physician's instinct and sympathy, and was remarkably accurate in diagnosis. His cases were all carefully studied in his office. He trusted much to nature, and gave less medicine than the generality of physicians of the ortho- dox school. His disease which he had contracted in the army occasionally prostrated him, but in spite of this drawback his practice continually increased. The strain, however, was too great, and after only eight years he succumbed. His brother

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History of Royalton, Vermont, with family genealogies, 1769-1911, Part 60

Author: Lovejoy, Mary Evelyn Wood, 1847- Publication date: 1911 Publisher: Burlington, Vt., Free press printing company Number of Pages: 1280

Author: Lovejoy, Mary Evelyn Wood, 1847-
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Burlington, Vt., Free press printing company
Number of Pages: 1280