USA > Wisconsin > Milwaukee County > Milwaukee > History of Milwaukee from its first settlement to the year 1895 > Part 43
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* Personal Recollections of Daniel Wells, Jr.
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and Reed streets. Being fond of agriculture and horticulture, he soon had a garden famous for its products, especially for its fine fruits. The doctor was a man of pronounced characteristics, which was to be expected, coming as he did from Puritan stock. He was born in New London, Connecticut, in 1798, afterward removing to New York state. From his earliest years he manifested a desire to ob- tain an education, and passed through many vicis- situdes to secure it ; success attended his efforts, and he received a license to practice, first from Fairfield County (Connecticut) Medical Association, and later from the New York State Medical Society. In 1827 he removed to the territory of Michigan, and practiced there for about seven years ; but the malarial conditions seriously affected his health, and he decided to try another locality. He was a physician of the " old school," was much attached to his profession, and acquired a large practice on the South side. He was a man of few words, and it is said by those who knew him well that they never heard him utter a profane or vulgar word. Although radical and outspoken in his own views, he was tolerant of the opinions of others, and his character was irreproachable. His dress was typical of the man ; he wore a black cloth suit, a ruffled shirt and silk hat, all of which became his courteous deportment, although in sharp contrast with the costumes then worn here. He took an active part in local politics, being a Democrat, but was not tempted to accept office. In religious belief he was a Unitarian, and assisted in building the first church of that denomination in Mil- waukee. In the matter of education, in social order, and in all interests which pertained to the upbuilding and prosperity of the new city he was an active participant, lending the full force of his Puritan temperament to the establishment of law and order. He died in 1849 at the age of fifty-one.
Between the time of Dr. Loomis's first visit to Milwaukee in 1834 and his final removal here in 1836 more than one physician found his way to the now thriving village .* Dr. Jesse S. Hewitt
arrived here in the year 1835. He is believed to have been a licentiate of some county medical society in New York, and was a somewhat erratic member of the profession. He attained considera- ble prominence as a physician, and had a fair practice, his affable manner and genteel methods having no little to do in aiding him to win his way. Shortly after his arrival in Milwaukee the rapid rise in real estate and the phenomenal growth of the place induced the doctor to pur- chase. He bought a piece of land and built three houses, on the site of what is now about 411-419 Broadway, which he afterwards disposed of ad- vantageously, also adding to his income by other real estate operations.
The doctor was a member of the Episcopal Church, and was elected a warden of St. Paul's, at the time of its organization, and continued his membership in that denomination for some years. Later, however, there was great local interest and activity in the Roman Catholic Church, and a number of Protestants united with it, Bishop Henni, it is said, taking an active part in demon- strating the merits of Roman Catholicism. Among those who then changed their religious views were Dr. Hewitt and his wife. Being taken to task in a good-natured way by one of his friends, who asked why he had been proselyted, he said: "Well, if you were going to insure your property, which company would you go to-an old-established concern which had stood up against a good many trials, or a new one that had not been so well tested ?" The old company was indicated as an answer to this query, when the doctor' replied, "That is what has actuated me in going into the Roman Church." Not only did the doctor's relig- ious opinions undergo a radical change, but he also left the straight and narrow path trodden by the regular profession of medicine. During the earlier days of his career he was a warm partisan of the regular school, and was active in the organ- ization of local medical societies, being in 1845 president of the Milwaukee Medical Association. Shortly after this the doctor began to coquette with homœopathy, a subject then attracting much attention in the new settlement, and to the dis- cussion of which the local medical society de- voted much time. Upon one occasion the doctor was cited to appear before that body and ex- plain the interest he manifested in this forbidden field, which he did by saying that he had been
* In a poll-book of 1835, containing the names of those who voted at the first election held in Milwaukee in November of that year, there appears the name "Dr. Heath."
Daniel Wells, Jr., whose recollections of that period are extremely clear, says that Dr. Heath could have been here for a short time only; he was not here when Mr. Wells left Mil- waukee in the early autumn of 1835, and he had gone away when Mr. Wells returned in the spring of 1836. No other in- formation can be found concerning Dr. Heath, except the entry referred to.
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conversing with the local exponent of the doctrines of similia similibus curantur merely to ascertain what this belief was, and the society accepted the statement and exonerated him from the taint of suspicion. A little later, however, he was again summoned before the association, and this time had rather more difficulty in making satisfactory ex- planations to the members .* The discussions waxed warm, decided opinions were expressed, and finally, in 1848, Dr. Hewitt voluntarily turned his back upon the regular profession, was dis- missed from the Milwaukee Medical Associa- tion, t and thereafter walked with the disciples of Hahnemann. He died in 1848.
In April, 1835, another medical pioneer came; a man of strong convictions, destined to play no unimportant part in the upbuilding of the new town. Dr. Enoch Chase, who was of Vermont parentage, embodying in his mental make- up the rugged characteristics of the Green Mountain boys, was given an impetus toward the study of medicine by an accident which incapacitated him from following the plow. After graduating from Dartmouth college, Dr. Chase settled first in Tecumseh, and afterward in Coldwater, Michigan. In 1834 he said he was so full of fever and agne that he could not hold any more, and to escape shaking himself to death he gave up his practice and went to Chicago. That place did not suit him, and concluding to try a different atmosphere he left Chicago in a wagon bound for Milwaukee, where he arrived in April, 1835. Wagon roads were not then very good, and his experiences while en route might have dis- mayed a less determined spirit. It is related that during the trip it was necessary to take the wagon to pieces many times to get it out of deep mud and across streams then without bridges. Such incidents, however, were but trifles to the sturdy men and women who laid the foun- dations of Milwaukee.
The south side of the river was regarded as the locality where the business portion of the city would be built, and thither the doctor went. His object in coming here was to get rid of profes- sional work, as he did not feel physically able to endure the strain which he had previously under- gone in Cold water, where he not infrequently rode
one hundred miles in twenty-four hours. His de- termination was to engage in real estate opera- tions, as the rapid rise in that sort of property seemed to open the way for making money more easily than by his profession. But he was not long in his new home before his services as a phy- sician were demanded. The doctor's success as an obstetrician had been flattering, and he once re- marked to a friend that if his departure from Coldwater had been determined by a vote of the married women of that town he could not have left there. This remark was reported, and soon thereafter led to his being present at the birth of a child in October, 1835, who was named "Milwan- kee" by her parents, the first girl born in the new town. He was also called to attend Dr. B. B. Carey of Racine, who was brutally shot without provo- cation by one James Harris, the ball wounding both lungs, but from which Dr. Carey recovered.
While in Coldwater, Dr. Chase practiced the method then customary of treating fevers by administering large doses of calomel, and he used the same system here. On one occasion his nervous temperament was profoundly dis- turbed by a mistake which he said caused him many hours of mental distress. He gave what he supposed to be twenty-five grains of calomel to a woman, but shortly afterward dis- covered that he had given quinine instead; this remedy was not then very much used and its action but little understood ; he watched the case with dread, and his astonishment was great when he found that contrary to the results following an initial dose of calomel, and very greatly to his relief, the fever disappeared, and the woman rapidly recovered. This incident led him to in- vestigate the subject carefully, and resulted in a change of practice from calomel to quinine in the treatment of fevers. He subsequently became interested in the cinchona treatment for curing alcoholism. During his early residence he became popular with the Indians as a "medicine man." They liked to talk with him about their illnesses, and went so far as to permit him to pull out aching teeth ; but after getting what comfort they could concerning their maladies by conversing with the doctor, they preferred their own herbs to other remedies, although sometimes they would allow him to bleed one of their number. At the time when the all-absorbing discussion concerning the merits and demerits of homoeopathy took place,
* Unpublished Records of the Milwaukee Medical Associa- tion.
+ Ibidem.
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the doctor's faith wavered, and under the prosely- ting influence of an active disciple of Hahnemann, then residing here, he for a time espoused that faith as he said, " For the treatment of women and children," and he introduced it into his own family. Later in life, however, and during his last illness, he returned to the fold of his first choice.
He resisted practicing his profession as much as possible, and when other physicians came he in- sisted that people should go to them, as he desired to turn his attention to commercial and financial affairs, in which he was successful ; but he always manifested keen interest in professional topics, and predicted a bright future for the profession when it should become "freer from empirical methods and guess work, and placed upon a true scientific basis." He did not practice much after 1839 becoming thoroughly identified with other interests.
Dr. Chase was a conscientious man with sturdy views of things. He was industrious, simple in tastes and manner and of kindly disposition ; he threw the whole force of his character into the upbuilding of the city, which he always believed would be a large and prosperous place. He was a firm friend of law and order, and the first regu- lar religious services held by Methodists took place in his house in May, 1835. As he approached his end he sent for a medical friend and said, "Doctor, I am going to die, that is sure, and I have a request to make of you. Just let me down easily, that's all I ask." And so he died, full of years and honors.
Another pioneer physician to arrive in 1835, was Dr. Alfred L. Castleman, who came from Kentucky. He had read medicine in his native state, and attended lectures in Louisville. He was a tall, fine looking man, compactly built, of nervous temperament, who entertained positive opinions and was quick to resent a slight; but although an athlete he never sought a quarrel, his jolly good nature making him many friends. In the city he had an active practice, winning his way by genial manners, and he became very popular in the re- gion round about. Entering heartily into all questions of local interest, he at once became a man of affairs, and although he was somewhat visionary in business matters, his aims were high, honorable, and governed by scrupulous sincerity. In whatever he undertook he became
active, and being by nature somewhat restless, his energy pushed him well to the front. He left Milwaukee for a time to make his home in Wash- ington, D. C., but soon returned, and in 1847 was elected a member of the Constitutional Conven- tion, serving on the Banking and Corporations' Committee. He was for several years a regent of the State University, in which he took an especial pride, and was president of the Wisconsin State Medical Society in 1850-51 and 1855. Originally a Democrat, the move made to extend the num- ber of slave-holding states, and the outrageous and intolerant demands of the advocates of slavery disgusted him, and he became a member of the Republican party during its infancy. On the breaking out of the rebellion he did not hesitate as to where he would cast his lot; he was from the first an outspoken defender of the flag of the Union, became interested in raising troops, was commissioned surgeon of the Fifth Regiment, Wisconsin Infantry, and went at once into active service, the regiment being assigned to General Hancock's brigade. During his connection with the regiment he kept a diary of events, which, after his resignation in December, 1863, he pub- lished under the title "The Army of the Potomac Behind the Scenes." It includes the period from July, 1861, until December, 1863, giving his per- sonal experiences and interpretations of the sev- eral movements in which the regiment took part. It is full of sharp criticisms of the leaders and measures of the times; but one thing is apparent, his paramount devotion to the care of the men; at times he seemed to feel that they had been out- raged by being called upon to perform actual military necessities, which, while they imposed hardship and sore trial, were unavoidable. One entry illustrates his feeling ; it is under date of December 22, 1863: "I am worn out by the labor of the last year and a half, and I feel the necessity of withdrawing from the army, *
* * that I may be permitted to retire and rest for a time; I shall Icave the regiment with regret, for I have grown to love it both individually and in mass. But it is necessary."
His active and energetic nature chafed all the time at what appeared to him to be unnecessary procrastination and "misstatements of the general officers," and his pioneer experiences made him restive under discipline. He returned to Milwau- kee after his resignation to find that others had
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supplanted him during his absence. Practice did not return rapidly, which added to his restless- ness and he found it difficult to adjust himself to existing conditions. For a time he carried on a farm in Delafield; afterward a "hydropathic sani- tarium" in Madison, but failing health, brought on by exposure in the army finally induced him to go to California in 1873, where he remained until his death in 1877.
The year 1835 added still another name.to the galaxy of pioneer physicians who ventured to come to the new and untried West. Dr. Lucius I. Barber, a native of Connecticut and a regularly educated physician, reached the new town July 1, 1835, and for some time was a fellow lodger with Daniel Wells, Jr. The doctor did not find the opportunity to practice he had expected and began to deal in real estate.
The short road to wealth is always alluring, and it is not to be wondered at if sometimes the fickle goddess Fortune, tempts physicians to leave the hard and toilsome pathway of professional labor to enter the precarious road supposed to lead to sudden wealth. Excuses are not difficult to find if needed, and in new rapidly growing places where the Midas' touch seems to prevail, the temp- tation is doubly strong. So Dr. Barber found it; although he continued to practice for a time, spec- ulation and commercial engagements gradually turned him from his chosen profession, and active political life ended his career as a physician. He was a member of the first legislature, and was once Speaker of the Assembly. He acquired a competency, left Milwaukee for Jefferson, and from there returned to his native state where he died some years ago. The pioneer instinct dom- inated other members of the family. In 1835 Daniel Wells, Jr., visited Florida; while there he found a settler who was in need of supplies, and having an extra quantity he sold some to that adventurous spirit. On making out the bill he asked the Floridian's name; the reply was "Lucius I. Barber," and he proved to be an uncle of Dr. Barber of Milwaukee.
The opening of the year 1836 was marked by the arrival of a man whose whole energy of body and mind was thrown into his profession ; whose lofty aims and devotion to his patients soon made him conspicuous. Dr. William P. Proudfit came to the rapidly-growing town from Rome, New York, and immediately entered upon the practice of his
profession, a work from which nothing swerved him. He was a broad reader, and had laid thor- oughly the foundations for his professional acquire- ments. He was very fond of botany, a science lie turned to good account by using many indigenous plants which he cultivated in his garden .* IIe spent what time he could spare from professional work in determining the kinds of plants and shrubs best adapted to this soil and climate. His untiring devotion to the welfare of his patients soon secured him a large practice, and although the temptations to engage in speculation and in pub- lic affairs were very great, he resisted them all. In those early days it was the custom to let out to the lowest bidder the care of homeless children and orphans, and Dr. Proudfit had been employed by the authorities to attend the sick among them. While doing so he saw that the children did not receive proper care or attention ; he went to Dan- iel Wells, Jr., then acting as superintendent of the poor, and remonstrated against the methods em- ployed in such an energetic manner, that the practice was immediately discontinued and better plans adopted. The community soon learned to look upon him as a liberal-minded, conscientious, large-hearted man, who exerted a continuous in- fluence for the betterment of mankind. His great popularity was no doubt the result of his care, in- dustry and untiring devotion to the welfare of those who required his services, whether rich or poor.
Tall, slender, with dark hair, dark brown eyes and thoughtful bearing, he was a striking figure in the new settlement, his kindly manner making him a general favorite.
A writert says that a medical society was or- ganized here in 1837, and that Dr. William P. Proudfit was its treasurer, but there are no known records of the association.
He was an active member of the Presbyterian church. During the inclement winter of 1842-3, pneumonia was unusually severe, and after great exposure required to reach a patient sick of this disease, Dr. Proudfit himself succumbed to it March 11, 1843, at the early age of thirty-seven years.
Shortly after the arrival of Dr. Proudfit
* Unpublished manuscript of Dr. J. K. Bartlett, and recol- lections of Dr. J. B. Selby, Jr.
+ Buck's History of Milwaukee.
# Unpublished manuscript of Dr. J. K. Bartlett.
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another member of the profession followed the " course of empire" and Dr. William Meeker Gorham joined the band of "thirty-sixers," arriv- ing here May 13th of that year. The doctor was born July 4, 1810; he studied medicine with the celebrated Dr. Isaac Garrison of Newburg, New York, with whom he remained seven years, graduating from Castleton Medical College, Ver- mont, in 1833.
In the case of Dr. Gorham we have another illustration of the fact that-
" The best laid schemes o' mice an' men Gang aft agley."
The news about the thrifty young town had reached his far away home, and desirous of turn- ing an honest penny he invested his savings in a stock of merchandise and came to Milwaukee with the avowed intention of following mercan- tile pursuits. Arriving here he found his wares wholly unsuited to the market, and practically worthless. Although Fortune failed him in this venture she did not desert him, for he secured im- mediate employment in his capacity as a phy- sician, through the kindly intervention of Dr. Proudfit, and at once began the practice of his profession, which he continued for some years. It was no uncommon thing for him to be called to attend upon the sick as far away as " Rock River Settlement," now Janesville, whither he went at least six times between 1836 and 1838, following a trail which for many miles lay through the woods. At this time financial panic prevailed ; money was almost unknown, and in 1837 the stringency was unusually severe. It was almost impossible for people to meet money obligations, doctors' bills as usual being considered of the least importance. They, however, continued their work, taking much of their emolument "in kind." It is related that during this panic, Dr. Gorham was called upon to attend a settler residing at Spring Prairie, on whom a tree had fallen, crushing the man's skull. The distance was great, the time winter ; but away went the doctor, through trackless forest, to find his patient uncon- scious, with a fractured skull and depressed bone, all of which was relieved by the use of the trephine. There was no money, nor anything else with which to pay the fee, but the man recovered. The fol- lowing spring he came into Milwaukee with men, teams, plows and seed ; plowed and sowed a thirty-acre lot for the doctor, fenced one side of it,
and the laughing harvest brought more than two hundred bushels of golden wheat for the worthy doctor's recompense. In 1838 Dr. Gorham con- cluded to try new fields, and removed to Troy, Wisconsin, but returned again in 1846, no better financially for the change. He was here during the cholera epidemic of 1849, and his favorite prescription for that disease is said to have been a mixture of charcoal and sulphur. His practice was thoroughly " old school," and he had little sympathy with newer methods. In manner he was sedate, and instead of carrying a breeze of freshness into the sick-room, his visits were often depressing to the patient, as, with clasped hands and an air of melancholy, he would ask at his daily visit, "Is our patient much worse this morning?" It is related of him that upon one occasion he was requested to attend a somewhat nervous lady during the temporary absence of her regular phy- sician, a man of much jollity of manner. Return- ing in a day or two, the regular attendant visited his nervous patient, to find the house darkened, the inmates on tip-toe, with faces as long as though they expected an immediate visit from the dark- winged angel ; all this was at once dispelled by the cheery-mannered doctor. Dr. Gorham's habit of looking upon the dark side of everything, and his very somber demeanor grew upon him with ad- vancing years, and although of kindliest disposi- tion, the mannerisms were depressing to his pa- tients. He was not blessed with fortune, his declining year being made unhappy by burdens laid upon him through the thoughtlessness of others; sickness added to his misfortune, and he spent the last years of his life in retirement upon a farm, where he died in 1884.
The year 1836 added another doctor to the number already in the field, Thomas J. Noyes coming here from Franklin, New Hampshire. His brimming good nature and love of innocent fun soon won many friends, and he built up a large practice for those days; it is said by Buck that he was president of the first medical society ever organized here. His lively disposition brought him into contact with other genial spirits, among whom he was a leader, and very naturally he came within the vortex of the political maelstrom, which swallows so many good men ; the excite- ment attending political life was attractive, and all other interests became subservient. He was in full sympathy with the then dominant Demo-
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cratic party, lost interest in his profession, and was either elected or appointed to office a number of times, being justice of the peace for several years. In 1843, during the first small-pox epidemic, the Common Council made him chairman of a Board 'of Health, although he had abandoned professional work. At one time be was proprietor of the "Mil- waukee House," but the gold excitement in Cali- fornia enticed him to start toward the golden gate, and he died while on his way there, in 1855.
Dr. Lemuel W. Weeks, a native of Massachusetts, but a resident of Hardwick, Vermont, arrived in Milwaukee in 1836. He had received an academic education, and was graduated from Castleton Med- ical College in 1828. This city was rife with specu- lation when he came, and his business foresight led him into commercial enterprises of all kinds. He soon abandoned the practice of medicine, becoming actively engaged in real estate business, and at one time platted what was once known as Week's ad- dition, now part of the Eighth and Eleventh wards. He was also a builder, wheat operator, merchant, farmer, and once president of a local mutual insurance company, and also interested in railroad building. His various enterprises did not prevent him from holding political offices. In 1838 or 1839 he was appointed Deputy United States Marshal, and in 1840 enumerator for the United States census, completing his work in July of that year ; the returns showing that there was then a population of nineteen hundred and eight. Later he was a member of the Common Council for several years, and once president of that body. He was an earnest advocate of muni- cipal improvements, and earned the enmity of a certain class of citizens-not all deceased-for the stand he took in bringing about the enforcement of an ordinance to prevent cattle and swine from roving about the streets ; he finally succeeded, but was bitterly denounced for thus "interfering with the rights of the poor," who considered it the proper thing to pasture their cattle upon their neighbor's preserves. He was a man of strong likes and dislikes; for a friend he could not do enough; to an enemy he gave no quarter.
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