History of Milwaukee from its first settlement to the year 1895, Part 42

Author: Conard, Howard Louis, ed. cn
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Chicago and New York, American Biographical Publishing Co
Number of Pages: 840

USA > Wisconsin > Milwaukee County > Milwaukee > History of Milwaukee from its first settlement to the year 1895 > Part 42

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Nelson C. Gridley, after practicing law in Mil- waukee several years, being for a time associated with Matt. H. Carpenter, removed to Chicago, where he has since been engaged in successful practice as a patent lawyer.

Halbert E. Paine was admitted to the bar of Milwaukee on the 3rd of August, 1857, having practiced in Ohio from 1848. For a year or two he was associated with Carl Shurz. Mr. Shurz was soon drawn into political life, in which he became prominent. He served as general in the army of the Potomac, and later held high station in civil life as Senator of the United States, Foreign Minister and Secretary of the Interior. Mr. Paine was commissioned by the governor of Wisconsin, in 1861, colonel of the Third Regiment of Wisconsin, Infantry, served brilliantly in the army of the Potomac, became brigadier-general in January, 1863, and before the close of the war was honored with the rank of major-general by brevet in recognition of distinguished service. From December, 1865, to March, 1871, he repre- sented the Milwaukee district in Congress. Since then he has resided in Washington in the practice of his profession, having served for several years as commissioner of patents.

Edwin L. Buttrick practiced law in Milwaukee from 1855 to 1862, and was a member of the firm of Butler, Buttrick & Cottrill. He entered the army in the fall of 1862 as lieutenant-colonel of the Twenty-fourth Regiment of Wisconsin Volun- teers, and was later colonel of the Thirty-ninth Regiment. After the war he took up his residence

in West Virginia, where he has been prominent as a lawyer and a citizen.

William G. Whipple, a native of Connecticut and a graduate of the Wesleyan University and of the Albany Law School, came to Milwaukee in 1859 and remained until about 1865 in legal prac- tice, part of the time with Walter S. Carter in the firm of Carter & Whipple. From Milwaukee he removed to Arkansas, where he has since been an active and leading Republican, has served as United States District Attorney and as mayor of the city of Little Rock, and has been Republican candidate for governor of the state.

E. P. Smith read law with Finch & Lynde in Milwaukee, and was admitted to the bar in 1849. With David S. Ordway he practiced for several years in Beaver Dam, Dodge county. Both re- moved to Milwaukee and were for a time associ- ated with Ephraim Mariner, in the firm of Mariner, Smith & Ordway. Mr. Smith, after years of assiduous professional labor here. removed to Omaha, where he has ever since been engaged as one of the attorneys of the Union Pacific Railroad Company. Mr. Ordway remains with us to this day.

John B. D. Cogswell was a member of the Mil- waukee bar from December, 1857, for several years. His ability as a lawyer and as a public speaker gave him, during the few years of his residence, a prominent position at the bar and in business and political circles. During the years 1862 to 1867 he held the office of United States District Attorney. Not long after, he returned to Massachusetts, the state where he had formerly resided, and has since served in the legislature of that commonwealth.

Walter S. Carter came from Connecticut in 1858, entered upon law practice in Milwaukee in May of that year, and was afterward associated with Frederick W. Pitkin and DeWitt Davis. During the war he engaged actively in the work of the Christian Commission, and later removed to the city of New York, where he has since been engaged in practice, giving special attention to the department of commercial law. His partner, Frederick W. Pitkin, practiced in Milwaukee from October, 1859, until 1874, when he removed to the state of Colorado in search of a climate more favorable to his health. His superior quali- ties as man and lawyer, in Colorado as in Mil- waukee, won him deserved popularity and led to

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THE BAR AS IT WAS AND IS.

his election to the office of governor of that state, and made him afterward the favorite candidate of the people for the position of United States Senator.

Cushman K. Davis, now serving his second term in the United States Senate, representing the state of Minnesota, read law with the firm of Butler & Winkler in the city of Milwaukee, and was there ad- mitted to the bar and began practice, removing from this city to St. Paul about the year 1865. Joshua La Due was at the bar in Milwaukee for a number of years, beginning his practice here in 1863. Dur- ing part of that time he was a member of the firm of Downer, La Due & Jenkins, and served several years as city attorney.

James MacAllister, born and educated in Glas- gow, Scotland, studied law at the Albany Law School, and after spending several years as princi- pal of one of the public schools of Milwaukee, en- tered the legal profession in February, 1865, and continued in practice for nearly ten years. A de- cided preference for literary pursuits led him, in 1874, to accept the position of superintendent of schools, which he held until 1883, with the excep- tion of an interval of two years. In 1883 he was selected by the Board of Education of Philadel- phia to superintend the public schools of that city, and after several years' service in that position he was honored by appointment to the position of president of the Drexel Institute of that city, which position he now holds.

Henry H. Markham became a member of the Milwaukee bar in February, 1867, and practiced law here with his brother, George C. Markam, until 1878, giving special attention to causes in admiralty with marked success. For necessary change of climate he then removed to Pasadena, California, and has since been honored with a term as governor of that state, and also a term as rep- resentative of his district in Congress.

Luther S. Dixon, for many years chief justice of the Supreme Court of the state, upon his retire- ment from the bench in 1874, located in Milwau- kee and engaged in active practice of the legal pro- fession, being for a time senior member of the firm of Dixon, Hooker, Wegg & Noyes. His career as a lawyer sustained the high reputation he had gained as a jurist. As special counsel for the state in the "Granger Cases," in 1874 and 1875, and for the United States in the prose- cution of the distillers and revenue officers of

the Milwaukee district, in 1875 and 1876, for criminal violation of the laws relating to internal revenue, he exhibited marked ability. After a successful practice of six years at this bar, he was forced by considerations of health to seek a friend- lier climate, and removed to Denver, Colorado, where he continued in practice until his death, in 1893.

David S. Wegg, one of the early partners of Judge Dixon in Milwaukee, became for a time assistant to Mr. John W. Cary, the general solici- tor of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company, and was later appointed general solicitor of the Wisconsin Central Railway Company. When the general offices of the latter company were removed to Chicago, Mr. Wegg took up his residence in that city, where he has ever since been closely identified with the interests of the company and with various enterprises of those in its control.

Mr. John W. Cary, the general solicitor of the "St. Paul Railway Company" from its organiza- tion in 1863, also removed to Chicago when the headquarters of the company were transferred to that city, and continued its honored and trusted legal adviser until his death in 1895. Burton Han- son and H. H. Field, who began their professional careers in Milwaukee and had for several years given able and faithful service to the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company, under Mr. Cary, went with him to Chicago, where they now are, holding high positions at the bar, and in the confidence of their client.

Of the present Milwaukee bar it is but just to say that it well maintains the high reputation of earlier years. Few of its active members have been engaged in the practice here more than twenty-five years. Of the prominent earlier lawyers, some have virtually withdrawn from professional life and are enjoying their well-earned rest. Of these, not already mentioned, are Eph- raim Mariner, Frank B. Van Valkenberg, J. V. V. Platto, Frederick W. Cotzhausen and De Witt Davis. A much larger number have fallen by the way. Among them are Henry M. Finch, Erastus Foote, George W. Lakin, Mitchell Steever, Jedd P. C. Cottrill, George A. Starkweather, David G. Hooker, James Hickcox, C. K. Martin, Nathan Per- eles, Theodore B. Eliott and George B. Goodwin.

A few of them are still in the midst of the con- flict, with zeal unabated. These include Joshna

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HISTORY OF MILWAUKEE.

Stark, Francis Bloodgood, David S. Ordway, B. Institute." Kurz Miller, Frederick C. Winkler, Daniel G. Rogers, S. W. Granger, E. E. Chapin, Alfred L. Cary, Jared Thompson, Jr., Samuel Howard, Frederick Rietbrock, George C. Markham, James G. Flanders, George Sylvester and Gerry W. Hazelton.

There are now more than two hundred lawyers in the city whose attention is wholly or mainly devoted to the practice of the legal profession, and the number is rapidly increasing. Their rec- ord may appropriately be written by those who come after them.

Prior to 1858 there was no organized associa- tion of the bar. There had been occasional gatherings at bar suppers, and the members of the profession had met from time to time to pay their tribute of respect to deceased associates. Early in 1858 a plan of definite and permanent organiza- tion was proposed, and several meetings were held during that year to perfect it. In the preamble of the constitution adopted, it was declared that the purpose of the organization was to establish and maintain a higher standard of professional acquirements and deportment, and to promote a proper degree of harmony among the members of the bar.

The association contemplated organizing a law library and law school, and with that view pro- cured the passage of an act in May, 1858, author- izing the formation of corporations for such pur- poses. Steps were taken to organize under this act, and Messrs. Edward G. Ryan, Nelson Cross, Henry L. Palmer, John B. D. Cogswell, James S. Brown, Otis H. Waldo, Ammi R. R. Butler, Jonathan E. Arnold and Norman J. Emmons were appointed by the Bar Association to sign and record the written testimonial required by the act, as the incorporators of the "Milwaukee Law

This they did in October, 1858, and books of subscription to the capital stock of the institute were thereupon opened. The amount deemed necessary to the success of the undertaking was not subscribed, and the project fell through. The Bar Association was, however, maintained mainly as a social organization. Its first perma- nent officers were chosen June 11. 1858, and were Jonathan E. Arnold, president ; Hon. Levi Hub- bell, vice-president ; Otis H. Waldo, treasurer ; John B. D. Cogswell, secretary and Wm. P. Lynde and Henry L. Palmer, Executive Commit- tee. The occasion was celebrated by a dinner at the Newhall House, then recently opened, at which the greater number of the members of the bar were present; and much enthusiasm was man- ifested. Mr. Arnold was continued in the office of president until his death, in June, 1869. Mr. Cogswell also continued to be the secretary until he left the city in 1868. Mr. William P. Lynde succeeded Mr. Arnold as president for a brief period, when Mr. A. R. R. Butler was elected to the office and held it until June, 1883. He then declined a re-election, as, owing to ill-health, he was about to leave the city for a somewhat indefi- nite period, and Mr. Joshua Stark was thereupon chosen president and has held the position ever since. The activity of the association has hitherto been confined mainly to an occasional banquet, and placing on record the testimony of its mem- bers to the personal and professional worth of those who have from time to time been taken from their ranks by death, or, after years of residence in Mil- waukee, have removed to other fields of labor.

A Law Library Association formed by mem- bers of the bar has, in the course of years, gathered a large and valuable library, now containing most of the English and American Reports, both fed- eral and state.

S. Marks

CHAPTER XXXIII.

EARLY MEDICAL HISTORY AND PIONEER PRACTITIONERS. 1 BY WALTER KEMPSTER, M. D., AND SOLON MARKS, M. D.

H ISTORY is a record of the lives and acts of individuals. In a new country their ef- forts are directed mainly to building homes. As there is no statecraft in such work, and as it does not involve battles-except the daily warfare against poverty and the elements- the annals are rare of people engaged in such sim- ple occupation ; yet it is the individual character- istics, the part played by each in building the whole, that often determines the growth and prog- ress of communities, states, and nations. The less conspicuous the individuality, the less likeli- hood is there of finding documentary testimony of it, and the greater difficulty in securing evidence after a generation or two has passed away. The history of pioneer physicians is difficult to com- pile, and from the nature of frontier life resolyes itself largely into biographical sketches; it is an effort to rescue from complete oblivion their un- written acts and sayings and to separate the true from the legendary before their few remaining contemporaries disappear. The physician, unlike the judge, the lawyer, the banker, or those en- gaged in commercial enterprises, leaves little record of his transactions. His work is with the infirm, who are removed for a time from their various pursuits. The history he creates is made at the bedside of the sick and suffering; the more closely he devotes himself to his career, the less probability is there of his making written history ; he has no opportunity for the display of forensic ability or statesmanship; his acts are inscribed upon no more enduring tablet than the memory of those who have been relieved by his ministrations.

The pioneers of New England, indeed of the whole Atlantic coast, brought with them to the new world the customs and manners of the land they left, and systematic entries were made con- cerning the men and their work. Professional men could not enter upon the discharge of their respective duties until after they had been officially registered. As numbers increased, and the pioneer

spirit grew, colonists pushed toward the West, but they often neglected to carry with them the painstaking methods of their forefathers ; hence, it is much easier to obtain accurate information of professional people who lived and worked in New England two hundred years ago, than it is concerning those who came to Milwaukee sixty years ago.

Frontiersmen are generally unstable people, leaving no permanent annals of their fluctuating movements, and the pioneers of Milwaukee left little else than the brief chronicles of private cor- respondence, or the "old settler's " fading recollec- tions, often tinged by the roseate hues of life's sunset.

Long before the place took form, even as an embryo city, it had reputation as a harbor of refuge. In the year 1679 La Salle and his party came down the western shore of Lake Michigan, and after many days of storm, which nearly destroyed them, they made their way into the " Melleoki " (Milwaukee) river, where the little band rested and recuperated; he says that on landing they found the "carcass of a deer from which they drove the crows " and used it for food, having been without for several days. Here they remained some time ; a party of Mohican Indians who accompanied them procured game and found wild grapes in abundance, upon which they regaled themselves. The much-needed repose, however, was disturbed by the depredations of the Indian bands about them, who surrounded the little camp and made extreme vigilance necessary to prevent assault and night attacks .*

Prior to the time of La Salle's visit, Father Mar- quette had landed here in 1674, and Father Allouez two years later, and it is doubtless from these sources that the latter explorers learned that " Melleoki " or " Melwaric " was a good place to stop for rest and refreshment, a haven of refuge from the buffeting storms which assailed them

* "Cartier to Frontenac," by Justin Winsor.

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LLISTORY OF MILWAUKEE.

during their explorations. Whether the news of this harbor had reached others is not postively known; but we are told upon the same excel- lent authority* that in the latter part of the year .1698, one Montigny, and John Buisson de St. Comes, also cruising along the western shore of the lake, stopped at "Melwarik," and then they proceeded on their way to the Chicago portage. After their visit, St. Comes wrote to the bishop of Quebec about " Melwarik," and stated in his let- ter, still extant, that " Melwarik" is a river where there is a village which has been considerable," and that he and his party had remained here " to refresh our people," and that they found duck and teal plenty.

In the first days, when Milwaukee was a trading post where peltries were exchanged for such com- modities as Indians required, and where Alexander La Framboise, Jean Beaubien. Jacques Vieau, Jean Baptiste Mirandeau, and Solomon Juneau, established themselves for the purpose of carrying on this business, each one doubtless had good words to say about the healthfulness of the situa- tion and its advantageous site for a trading post ; their statements naturally invited inspection, and ultimately led to the permanent settlement of the place.

The very name appears to have a flavor of the doctor about it. Sieur Charles de Langlade, in his volume of " Recollections," states that be was told by an Indian that the name Milwaukee was derived from the circumstance that a valuable aromatic root much thought of by the Indians was to be found here and nowhere else near by. This root they said was "Man-wau," that it was col- lected by them at a certain time of the year, and was valuable to put into various medicaments used by them for the sake of its aroma, and because it was valuable as a remedy for internal use when combined with other ingredients. To procure this root the Indians assembled here annually ; and the site became a place not alone to gather the aromatic Man-wau, but also for holding coun- cils.

The western settlers who pioneered the way, did not stop to consider the necessity of taking doctors with them when they went forward to spy out the land ; although in the case of the Pilgrim Fathers that precaution was taken, for they had among their number one Dr. Samuel Fuller, who

combined with his medical knowledge a liking for theology and was a deacon in the church, a com- bination not unusual in early days ; indeed it was found in one of Milwaukee's early physicians.

Not infrequently the only knowledge of reme- dial agents to be found in a new settlement, springing up suddenly in a remote region, is pos- sessed by some good housewife, whose store of simples becomes a veritable Armamentarium Medicorum in time of need, often used with cred- itable skill and excellent results. Good old mother nature has placed ready at hand many things use- ful to check diseases-both indigenous-and the aborigines were not unfamiliar with their benefits. And what a list of indigenous agents there are- St. John's root, hellebore, bryony root, elder, fox glove, snake root, blackberry root, celandine, elecampane, golden seal, dandelion, willow leaves, and oak bark; while parsley, hops, mus- tard, sage, saffron, rhubarb and flax found place in the primitive garden; and there is excellent authority for the statement that "Hazel is the sovereignest thing on earth for bruises or sprains." The fat of animals, skunk and rattle-snake oils, are all made to do duty as remedies, and we shall see that skins warm from the bodies of animals are vaunted as valuable for the treatment of disease, and when used in conjunction with a potato or horse chestnut carried in the pocket, have been much praised as a cure for rheumatism. All these and more have had, and still have, their ad- vocates; some are known to be useful, faith per- haps helped out the rest. The sturdy constitu- tions and indomitable determination were won- drous aids to the good wife's knowledge of how to use the simples. Times there were when the severity of disease baffled homely skill and help must be secured. Such was the case in Milwau- kee when in January, 1834, Mrs. Solomon Juneau became seriously ill. There were no physicians nearer than Chicago, but the need was great, and Albert Fowler, a young man then in the employ of Solomon Juneau, started on a toilsome journey of ninety miles in mid-winter to procure relief. Even the Indians tried to dissuade him, and predicted that he would perish on the journey. Undaunted, he mounted his Indian pony, made his way through the wilderness, and in due time returned with the required help and relieved the sick woman.

Upon one occasion a very severe and fatal form of dysentery, which resisted all the household

"Cartier to Frontenac," by Justin Winsor.

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EARLY MEDICAL HISTORY AND PIONEER PRACTITIONERS.

remedies, carried off a number of the settlers. Something must be done; there was no physician within a hundred miles. One of their number had suffered from the same difficulty while at his home in the East, and had been relieved at once by enemata; but how to administer them-there were no syringes to be had. Driven by necessity, he fitted a tight piston to the sau- sage stuffer, made up a mixture of starch from flour, into which he put some laudanum, used the remedy, stopped the disease and the deaths. In relating this incident its author said: "The pio- neers were healthy and strong. You could cut 'em open and they'd grow up again; they enjoyed good health in those days."

It is said that in an early day a man named Thompson settled here and appeared to possess a number of accomplishments, provided his own valuation of them was taken as the standard. He was originally a blacksmith, then kept a "tavern," and having leisure for other and more exalted attainments, he became a dispenser of medicines and soon responded to the title of "Doc." It is related that on one occasion a pioneer disciple of Esculapius, while occupying a "bed"-which was chalked out on the upper floor of the "tavern" -- heard the "Doc" order a teaspoonful of calomel for a man already in the throes of death from typhoid fever. He arose to protest against such murderous violence about to be committed in the name of treatment, made himself known, and if he did not save the sick man at least made his last moments a little easier, while at the same time it broke up the reputation of the self-consti- tuted doctor, who soon after departed for a more congenial home.

To whom the honor belongs of being the first physician to locate in Milwaukee with a view of making it a home is not definitely settled; but it is known that in the year 1834 one Dr. A. Bigelow came to Milwaukee with Paul Burdick and Quartus Carley. He was a Thompsonian or Botanic physician. There was a "Thompsonian College " located near Syracuse, New York, which gave "diplomas " to those who attended the institution, but it is not known that Dr. Bigelow was a graduate from that school. A favorite remedy used by the Thompsonians in the treatment of fevers was called "hot drops," and Dr. Bigelow was a believer in this agent for such purposes, and talked with the early settlers about

the efficacy of this remedy. It appears that it had been much used in parts of Michigan, and the doctor often spoke in high praise of it, especially for the treatment of fever and ague .* It is said that the doctor expected to find the same diseases here that he had found in other parts of Michigan, but at that time Milwaukee was healthful, and it was not until after the ground had been turned over extensively that fevers be- came common ; they were called by the settlers "muck fever," and were doubtless of malarial origin. Practice being scarce, Dr. Bigelow turned his attention in other channels, and built a small saw-mill near where Humboldt now stands ; it was the first of its kind erected here, and was kept busy supplying the settlers with such sawed lumber as they needed, and it continued to run long after the doctor moved away to Eagle, now Eagle Lake, where he built another saw-mill. Daniel and Hiram Bigelow were residents here in 1834 and 1835, and Daniel was interested in the saw-mill ; but it is not known whether they were brothers of Dr. Bigelow, nor from what state they came.

In 1834 Dr. Hubbel Loomis, actuated by a de- sire to better himself and possessing the pioneer spirit, heard of the opportunities in the new set- tlement on the " west shore." With a crew of three men beside himself, the party left St. Joseph, Michigan, in a small sail boat, first visiting Chi- cago, of which place they had heard many good things. An examination of the site, however, did not appear to tempt the doctor to cast in his lot with them there, and turning the prow of their small ship toward Milwaukee they arrived here after a somewhat tedious voyage, made exciting by stormy experiences and "hair-breadth 'scapes." The new town was not altogether to his liking ; after making careful investigations and stop- ping long enough to recuperate, they returned to St. Joseph. Some pleasant recollections about Milwaukee must have lingered in the doctor's memory, for when in 1836 a party of colonists started for the new settlement he was found among them, and in June of that year returned and located on the south side of the river, on what was then called Walker's Point. After a time Dr. Loomis concluded to thoroughly identify himself with the rapidly-growing place, and purchased a homestead upon the plat of ground now bounded by Florida, Oregon, Hanover

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History of Milwaukee from its first settlement to the year 1895, Part 42

Author: Conard, Howard Louis, ed. cn Publication date: 1895 Publisher: Chicago and New York, American Biographical Publishing Co Number of Pages: 840

Author: Conard, Howard Louis, ed. cn
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Chicago and New York, American Biographical Publishing Co
Number of Pages: 840