USA > Vermont > The Lake Champlain and Lake George valleys, Vol. III > Part 66
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Dr. Meyer was born in Minden, Westphalia, Germany, on July 24, 1858, son of Abraham and Bertha (Simon) Meyer. He was educated at the Gym- nasium at Minden, from which he was graduated in 1876, and although tal- ented in music, chose to adopt the profession of medicine. Accordingly, in 1876, he entered the University of Bonn, studied there until 1878, spent the following year at the University of Erlangen and then returned to Bonn, to take the degree of Doctor of Medicine on August 7, 1880. From April to October, 1881, he completed his required term of military service, already begun in Erlangen, and in October, 1881, joined the medical faculty of the University of Bonn as assistant in the surgical clinic. After two years in this position he became first assistant in the clinic and remained until October, 1884, when he emigrated to America. In his last year at Bonn he was assist- ant to such celebrated surgeons as Professor Wilhelm Busch, former surgeon- general of the German Army, Professor Madelung and Friederich Trendelen- burg, who became his lifelong friend. Great advances were made in surgery during these years as the epoch-making techniques of Lister, father of anti- septic surgery, were developed and improved. Koch's discoveries in bacteri- ology followed and the pioneer work of Jenner, Pasteur and others, ushered in the era of modern medicine. The young surgical assistant shared in the excitement of the age, and its revolutionary changes profoundly influenced his own career. He himself was always an innovator and a pioneer, seeking to broaden the horizons of medical science.
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When he arrived in the United States, Dr. Meyer was well trained in gen- eral surgery and soon limited himself to this field, which held his greatest interest. Appointed an assistant in the surgical department of the German Dispensary, his gifts soon won him recognition and he rose rapidly to fame. From 1886 to 1893 he was Professor of Surgery at the Woman's Medical College. In 1886 he was appointed Attending Surgeon at the New York Skin and Cancer Hospital, now the Stuyvesant Square Hospital, and was active on its staff until 1902. In 1887 he also became Attending Surgeon to the New York Post-Graduate Medical School and Hospital, where he later became Professor of Surgery. During these years he continued his service at the German Hospital, now Lenox Hill Hospital and was closely associated with its work until he reached the retirement age in 1923. As a teacher he intro- duced the rigorous methods of German scholarship, tempered by his own friendliness and enthusiasm. As a surgeon his achievements were manifold.
Early in his career [ to quote from an account of his life published in the "American Journal of Surgery" in August, 1932] he performed extensive operations. Possessing a profound knowledge and understanding of the pathol- ogy of cancer, he performed the most radical operations for all malignant conditions. In 1894 he published the principles underlying the technique he advised for the radical operation for cancer of the breast. . . . Even at present this operation cannot be improved upon in principle. It was this subject that brought him just fame early in his career in America as a surgeon. . . .
Whatever new developed in this country or whatever new came from abroad, he immediately adopted it, and if from abroad he introduced it to America. He was a true pioneer in surgery. He was one of the first to intro- duce cystoscopy to America. With the electric cystoscope in 1896, he was the first surgeon in America to successfully perform the catheterization of the male ureters. He wrote many papers on the subject of genito-urinary surgery.
In 1897 he was the first in America to perform Bottini's operation for hypertrophied prostate, on the basis of which the present modern improved method of trans-urethral resection of the prostate is performed for similar conditions.
He was also one of the first surgeons to introduce in America the modern methods of gastrostomy and gastroenterostomy (1894 to 1896). In 1908 he published a book on Bier's hyperemic treatment in which he was a great believer.
In 1895 (when his eldest daughter died from peritonitis following acute appendicitis) he began an intensive study of the subject and wrote many papers. He stamped appendicitis a surgical disease, and urgently advised immediate operation during or immediately after the first attack. .
Early in the present century, Dr. Meyer became greatly interested in thoracic surgery, which was largely a forbidden domain to surgeons of the period. "The entire development of thoracic surgery in this country," as Dr. Carl Eggers wrote of him in the journal "Surgery, Gynecology and Obstetrics,"
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"is intimately connected with his name. His was pioneer work in the true sense of the word, for in addition to the surgical problems involved, physical difficulties connected with pneumothorax had to be overcome. It took years of experimental work at the Rockefeller Institute, followed by its practical application in the thoracic pavilion of the German Hospital which helped to lay the foundation for thoracic surgery in America."
In all this Dr. Meyer was the leader. He was the founder of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery, organized in 1917, and also of the New York Society for Thoracic Surgery. His active encouragement helped to make possible the "American Journal for Thoracic Surgery," launched in 1932.
During the World War, which rapidly advanced the development of thoracic surgery, Dr. Meyer was commissioned major in the Medical Reserve Corps of the United States Army, but was not called to active service because of his age. Toward the close of the war, while continuing his own practice and innumerable professional interests in other fields, he returned again to the special study of cancer, which he had never in fact abandoned :
In 1918 Willy Meyer, together with his older brother, Julius Meyer, as a literary assistant, began an intensive study of cancer literature. He followed all leads of all theories published, and after ten years of the profoundest kind of study and work, he came to the conclusion that cancer was a systemic disease. As age advanced, his active surgical work naturally diminished. But his burning desire to continue until the last, his lifelong devotion of service to mankind, and his active, marvelous young mind, not influenced in the least by advancing years, permitted him, in the solitude of his study, to think, to ponder, to philosophize. He canvassed, in his life's work, his active surgical and clinical experiences, and studied the literature of others, and with the memory of that memorable case of his youth in Bonn, when, under Busch, erysipelas cured the cancer, he formulated the theory as stated in his book published in 1931, "Cancer : Its Origin and Development : The Theory of Inoperable Cancer in the Light of a Systemic Conception of Malignancy."
A list of Dr. Meyer's professional papers would include scores of titles, ranging from his early work on anesthesia and sterilization to his last notes on cancer and thoracic surgery. His articles on thoracic surgery alone, prob- ably his greatest professional interest, provide ample material for an exhaus- tive treatise on the surgery of the chest in its most advanced phases. "It is possible, had he lived," wrote a colleague, Dr. Rudolph Matas, "he would have published such a treatise, for which no one was better fitted or invested with greater authority."
Dr. Meyer never refused a call for aid. Only a week before his death, although well past his seventieth year, he performed a drastic, taxing and successful operation in a "hopeless" cancer case, relieving the condition of a patient already sent home to die by one of the large hospitals for malignant
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disease. His willingness to serve in any capacity within his power was an essential characteristic, not only of his professional career but of other aspects of his life. For forty years, as a summer resident at Lake George, he gave generously of his time and effort to promote the health and welfare of the people of the district, serving as chairman of the Sanitation Committee of the Lake George Association and in other capacities. Through his labors and those of his committee, Lake George became the cleanest and purest body of inland water in the country for its size and shore population.
At the time of his death, Dr. Meyer was Emeritus Professor of Surgery in the New York Post-Graduate School, Consulting Surgeon to nine hospitals, eight of which were in the New York metropolitan area; a Senior Fellow of the American Surgical Association; a Fellow of the American Medical Asso- ciation, the American College of Surgeons, the American Association for Thoracic Surgery, the New York Surgical Society, the New York Academy of Medicine, the New York Association for Thoracic Surgery, of which he was president in 1920-21; the American Gastroenterological and American Urological associations, the American Association for Cancer Research, of which he was president in 1922-23 ; the New York State and County Medical societies, the New York Pathological Society and numerous other medical soci- eties, including the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Chirurgie and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Urologie. In addition to his professional connections, he was a thirty-second degree Mason, a member of the Knights Templar and the Shrine and a member of the New York Yacht Club and the Lake George Country Club. Dr. Meyer was a Republican in politics and a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church.
He married in New York City, on April 29, 1885, Lilly Ottilie Maass, daughter of Selig and Ottilie Maass, who died on December 8, 1928. They became the parents of four children, two of whom survive: Marjorie Fanny, born October 12, 1894, married Franz G. Flemming; and Herbert Willy Meyer, M. D. (q. v.), born April 26, 1896.
Dr. Meyer died just past midnight on February 25, 1932, at the close of a meeting of the New York Surgical Society, in which he had taken an active part. Although he had coveted a few more years for the sake of the heavy research program upon which he was engaged, it had always been his wish to die in harness, and the circumstances of his death underlined the extraordinary fidelity which he gave to his life work.
Dr. Meyer [it was written of him] was a great surgeon, whose greatness did not lie in the performance of routine modern and popular operations, but in doing pioneer work in surgery. From early in his career until the very time of his death he was actively engaged in conquering one surgical condition after another. The qualities required for this he possessed to an unusual
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degree; he had an inquisitive mind, clear vision, indomitable energy, great ability and excellent judgment. . . . There probably is no branch of surgery which did not engage his attention and about which he did not make some contribution to the literature. His mind was ever active and alert, and every- thing new which promised relief to suffering humanity was tried by him. . . . His great activity has been of value not alone to the public, but to the younger men in the profession. He reached many through his writings and through his lectures, and, because of his honesty and clearness in presenting a subject, and his note of optimism, he favorably influenced the career of many. For- tunate was the young surgeon who could serve under him, for he had the constant example of qualities which make for success, early rising, hard work, devotion to duty, careful observation, courage, ability and consideration for the patient.
Willy Meyer was respected by all and loved by many. His passing was a great loss to the profession, but his contributions to the development of sur- gery will live and they reveal that he truly left his "Footprints on the Sands of Time."
DR. HERBERT WILLY MEYER-In adopting the profession of medicine, Dr. Herbert Willy Meyer continues the distinguished tradition estab- lished by his father, one of the most eminent figures of the medical world. He has been a surgeon in New York for some twenty years and is active in many institutional connections.
Dr. Meyer was born in New York City on April 26, 1896, son of Dr. Willy Meyer (q. v.) and Lilly Ottilie (Maass) Meyer. He was educated at Columbia University, from which he was graduated in 1916 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts and carried on his medical studies in the College of Phy- sicians and Surgeons at the same institution. In 1919 he took the degree of Doctor of Medicine and after serving his interneship, entered practice in New York City. In 1927 he was appointed Associate Attending Surgeon at Lenox Hill Hospital, with which his father was so long associated, and in 1935, became Associate Professor of Surgery at New York Post-Graduate Medical School and Hospital. In the same year he was appointed Associate Profes- sor of Clinical Surgery at Columbia University. He has since served in these connections while continuing the private practice of general surgery.
Dr. Meyer has devoted special attention to thoracic surgery, cancer research and the development of operative techniques for difficult cases of malignancy. He is the author of some thirty papers on these and other professional subjects, including the surgical treatment of severe gunshot wounds. He is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons; a member of the American Medical Association, the American Association for Thoracic Surgery, the American Association for Cancer Research, the New York Sur- gical Society, the New York Society for Thoracic Surgery, the New York Pathological Society, the New York Academy of Medicine, the New York
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State Medical Society and the New York County Medical Society. He is a diplomate of the American Board of Surgeons.
Dr. Meyer is also a member of the Phi Delta Theta Fraternity, the national medical fraternity, Nu Sigma Nu, the honorary medical fraternity, Alpha Omega Alpha, the Columbia University Club of New York City and the Lake George Country Club at Lake George, summer home of the family for many years. During the World War, he was a member of the Medical Enlisted Reserve Corps of the United States Army. He is a Republican in politics and a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church.
On April 29, 1926, in New York City, Dr. Meyer married Emmy Dorothy Kaesche, daughter of Max Baldwin and Emma Dorothy Kaesche. They are the parents of two daughters: Dorothy Elsie, born on January 24, 1927, and Audrey Emmy, born on November 4, 1928.
LEROY CARTER RUSSELL-For over thirty-five years Leroy Carter Russell, clerk of Addison County and judge of Addison Municipal Court, has occupied a place in the social, civic and business life of the com- munity, where he has been engaged in the general practice of the law. He has also conducted an insurance business since 1918.
Mr. Russell was born at New Haven, Vermont, May 23, 1874, the son of George S. and Ovanda C. Russell, both of his native State, where his father was a farmer and dairyman, held various town offices and served in the State Legislature of 1894. He completed a high school education at Bee- man Academy, at New Haven, Vermont, and afterward attended Middlebury College where he was a graduate of the class of 1897. After teaching several years in the high schools of the State of New York he studied the law, and soon after admission to the Vermont bar began its practice at Middlebury. He served as prosecuting attorney of Addison County from 1904 to 1908, as representative to the General Assembly from 1923 to 1925 and as referee in bankruptcy for a few years prior to 1923. He has been county clerk and municipal judge since 1926.
Mr. Russell is a member of the Middlebury Rotary Club, the Middlebury Country Club and fraternizes with the local lodge of the Masonic Order, of which he is a Past Master. He is also a Past Commander of the local Com- mandery of Knights Templar and a member of Cairo Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. In politics he is a Republican and in his religious convictions, an Episcopalian.
On August 2, 1898, Mr. Russell married at Ashtabula, Ohio, May Han- nah Rockwell, daughter of Lucius T. and Alma Rockwell. They are the par- ents of one son : Lieutenant-Commander George L. Russell of the United States Navy, born September 3, 1900.
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STEPHEN HYATT PELHAM PELL-As director of the Fort Ticonderoga Museum, Stephen Hyatt Pelham Pell heads an institution which helps to perpetuate the fine traditions of the Lake Champlain Valley and its rôle in the history of the Nation.
Mr. Pell was born in Flushing, Long Island, on February 4, 1874, son of John Howland and Caroline (Hyatt) Pell and member of an old American family. His father was a veteran of the Civil War, in which he served as captain of the 4th New York Regiment.
Stephen Hyatt Pelham Pell was educated at Flushing Institute and began his active career with the real estate firm of S. Osgood Pell and Company. Later he was in Wall Street with S. H. P. Pell and Company, but terminated this connection to become director of the Fort Ticonderoga Museum at Ticon- deroga, representing an interest which has long occupied him. Since assum- ing the post of director he has served without interruption.
Mr. Pell is affiliated with the Free and Accepted Masons and the Benevo- lent and Protective Order of Elks and is a member of the Union Club of New York City. He has an extensive military record, beginning during the Spanish-American War, when he enlisted as a seaman in the navy, and con- tinuing through the World War. Before the United States was drawn into the latter conflict, he volunteered with the French forces and served as a private in the French Army during 1916 and part of 1917. When his own country entered the war, he transferred to the American Expeditionary Forces and was a sergeant in the United States Army Ambulance Service until after the Armistice. During these years he participated in many battles and was wounded in action, but returned to civil life only at the close of the war.
Mr. Pell is a Republican in politics and a member of the Protestant Epis- copal Church.
He married, on April 17, 1901, in New York City, Sarah Gibbs Thompson, daughter of Robert M. and Sarah (Gibbs) Thompson. Mr. and Mrs. Pell have two sons: Robert Thompson, born on March 9, 1902, and John How- land Gibbs, born on August 9, 1904.
HON. FREDERICK WILLIAM KAVANAUGH-Few men have exerted a greater or more beneficial influence over the political life of Sara- toga County than Frederick William Kavanaugh, former county sheriff, for- mer State Senator and former chairman of the Saratoga Republican Com- mittee which he headed for twenty years and in which he still occupies a dominant position. Throughout his long and distinguished career, which spans nearly fifty-five years, he also has achieved prominence in business and finance. For forty-five years he was engaged in the manufacturing busi- ness and for forty-six years has been identified with the Manufacturers' Bank
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of Cohoes, in which he is now a director and vice-president, and the Bolton National Bank, of Bolton Landing, in which he is a director. He is also direc- tor in the Bank of Waterford, which he organized in 1918.
Senator Kavanaugh was born at Waterford, Saratoga County, September 10, 1871, the son of Luke and Mary Kavanaugh, both of his birthplace where his father was an inventor and manufacturer of knitting machinery. He received a general education in the public schools of his native community and later completed his studies at the Troy Business College from which he was graduated. In 1885 he began his career as a manufacturer of men's underwear and conducted this business until 1920, when he retired.
Mr. Kavanaugh's name has been identified with the Republican party of this section for more than four and a half decades. He was active in its affairs before he had reached his majority and has never lost his enthusiasm for its principles and welfare. His official life dates back to 1895 when he was elected justice of the peace in Waterford, then a Democratic stronghold. His youth, his popularity and his ability had a telling effect on the fortunes of the party he chose to represent which is borne out by the fact that in 1901 he became the first Republican to be elected to represent the town of Water- ford in the county board of supervisors for fourteen years. Furthermore, at the end of his term in 1903, he was endorsed by both the Republican and Democratic factions and returned to the board but never served out his term, having been elected county sheriff in 1903. Throughout the years that fol- lowed he dominated the affairs of the Republican organization in the county and achieved lasting distinction as a dispenser of local, State and Federal patronage. He coped with the problem in a masterly fashion which should remain a model of inspiration to his successors. It was through his efforts that Hiram Todd was appointed District Attorney of Northern New York during the Harding administration and it was also due to his efforts that Wil- liam N. Cromie was named United States Marshal for this district. In the meantime Mr. Kavanaugh was elected in 1921 and served through 1924, repre- senting the Saratoga-Schenectady district. He had long been known as a cham- pion of good roads throughout his county and the State at large and pioneered this field in public affairs. Back as far as 1903 Governor Benjamin B. Odell had named him one of New York State's two delegates to the first Interna- tional Conference on Good Roads which was held in Detroit, Michigan, the other representative being Edwin Bond, State engineer at the time. Thus we get a glimpse of Senator Kavanaugh as a public official. In party affairs his achievements, are equally, if not more impressive. In 1908 he attended the Republican National Convention which nominated William Howard Taft for the Presidency. He was a Presidential Elector for President Hoover and a delegate to the National Republican Convention at Cleveland which nominated Alfred M. Landon to the Presidency in 1936.
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Upon his retirement from the chairmanship of the Saratoga County Republican Committee, a newspaper in that section made the following obser- vation : "The retirement of Senator Kavanaugh as chairman marks the pass- ing from public life of one of the most widely known political figures in the State. Few county leaders have been able to equal his record for obtaining both State and Federal patronage, for Senator Kavanaugh was continually attempting to secure public jobs for the 'boys and girls back home' in Sara- toga County. . .. Few men in public life have so enjoyed the confidence of voters over such a long period of time."
As a resident of Saratoga County, Senator Kavanaugh has been a mem- ber of a number of social organizations. He fraternizes with the Masonic Order, in which he holds the thirty-second degree and is a member of the Shrine, and also belongs to the local lodges of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His clubs include the Fort Orange of Albany, the Lake George of Lake George, the Mt. Mc- Gregor Golf Links of Saratoga Spa and the National Republican. In his religious convictions he worships at the Episcopal Church.
On December 9, 1891, at Cohoes, Senator Kavanaugh married Lillian Mae LeRoy, daughter of Alfred and Amelia LeRoy.
HOWARD FISHER WOODFIN-Becoming associated with the Lincoln Iron Works at the conclusion of his college career, Howard Fisher Woodfin served as assistant treasurer of this great industrial plant until 1920, at which time, upon his father's death he succeeded to the presidency, and has remained in this post till the present day.
Mr. Woodfin was born here August 23, 1883, the son of the late John N. and Caroline (Draper) Woodfin. John N. Woodfin was born at Pulaski, Tennessee, January 5, 1849, and after completing his education in the com- mon schools of Pawlet, Vermont, he came to Rutland, and entered the employ of the Bank of Rutland, where he continued for several years. Then, in association with Charles Clement he entered the marble business, organizing the firm of Clement, Gilson and Woodfin, which continued until 1889, when the business was sold to the Vermont Marble Company. Mr. Woodfin then became president of the Lincoln Iron Works, and served in this capacity until his death, February 23, 1920. In addition to these duties, he also served as a director of the American Type Founders of Jersey City, New Jersey, and the National Paper and Type Company of New York City, and as president of the Marble Savings Bank at Rutland. He was an active member of the Episcopal Church, where he served as senior warden, and in political faith was a supporter of the Republican party. Caroline (Draper) Woodfin was born in Yonkers, New York, August 4, 1855.
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