USA > Wisconsin > Milwaukee County > Milwaukee > History of Milwaukee from its first settlement to the year 1895 > Part 85
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After reaching Milwaukee he rapidly acquired a large practice and his patrons were found in all the walks of life, but his staunch and decided opinions took him frequently among those who were foremost in the financial and commercial in- terests of the city. He gave up surgery, devoting himself almost entirely to the practice of medicine, and this he continued until his death.
Dr. Gray was tall and slight of stature, with an old-time suavity of manner which gave a charm- ing dignity to age. His movements were prompt, without haste. In the sick room he was affable and kindly, always winning his point with a patient by his genial address and cheery manner, carrying with him into the sick room a breeze of hopefulness which made his patient feel better, even by his presence.
It is related of Dr. Gray by an old patient that on one occasion a bill came in from him, while another friend was present, who remarked : " Why do you employ a Homeopath?" The reply was : " Well, I don't know ; I employ Dr. Gray, and whether it is his pills or his prayers which cure me I can't say, but I always feel better after he visits me." The doctor was of lively disposition, chatty and full of anecdotes, but they were related only in the presence of chosen spirits. He was not active in politics, but much interested in public
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affairs, his party affiliations being with the Whigs. He took part in the affairs of the " underground railway," becoming a Republican at the birth of that party, and an enthusiastic sup- porter of the Union when rebellion menaced the peace of the land. Dr. Gray from his youth was a staunch and firm believer in Presbyterianism, and at the time of his death was an elder in Im- manuel Church. He adhered to the "good old doctrine " as interpreted by Calvin, and tolerated no infringement upon the creed and regulations of the Presbyterian Church, his faith in the doctrine being as firmly rooted in his Puritan characteristics, as was his belief in the pre- cepts of the Master; and he considered it next to heresy to change one jot or tittle either in the faith or practice of the church.
He was an active member of the Masonic Fra- ternity and for many years was " High Priest " of the chapter in Jamestown, New York. He often spoke of this organization as being from a moral point of view, next only in importance to the church. He spent his long life in useful activity, in doing good, carrying comfort and rest where there had been distress and pain-thus in his own way doing the work of the Master upon whom he relied for guidance and sup- port.
Dr. Gray's wife died in 1853, about three years before he moved to Milwaukee. She had been to him, in every sense, a helpmeet, and her death produced a change in him from which he never fully recovered. After a short illness the doctor passed from death into life on January 8, 1873, leaving three daughters and one son, Dr. N. A. Gray, now of Milwaukee.
SOLON MARKS, M. D., was born in Stock- bridge, Vermont, July 14, 1827. Availing him- self of such opportunities for acquiring a knowl- edge of the elementary branches of education as were afforded in the schools of his native town, till he was sixteen years of age, he then entered the Royalton Academy for a full course of study, graduating with honor on its completion.
In 1848 he turned his face Westward, finding a home in Wisconsin. Having decided upon the medical profession as that best suited to his tastes, he at once applied his energies to the task of se- curing the wherewithal for its accomplishment ; and by his own unaided efforts-backed by a persistent will-he earned a sufficiency to defray
the expenses of a full course in the Rush Medical College, of Chicago, Illinois, where he graduated in 1853.
Immediately thereafter he entered upon the . practice of medicine at Jefferson, Wisconsin, re- moving thence to Stevens Point in 1856, where he had established himself in a large and success- ful practice when the great War of the Rebellion sent its rallying cry through the country. Swept out of himself by his patriotism he tendered his services to the government, and was commissioned surgeon of the Tenth Regiment of Wisconsin Volunteers, September 27, 1861.
This regiment left the state November 9, 1861, and he had been with it but one month when he was detailed upon the staff of Gen. Sill as bri- gade surgeon, which position he filled till the capture of Huntsville, Alabama, April 11, 1862, when he was placed in charge of the military hos- pitals established at that point. Remaining here till near the time that Buell's army commenced falling back toward the Ohio river, he was then ordered into the field; and on October 8, 1862, assigned to duty as medical director of Gen. Rosecran's division, which position he retained till the organ- ization of the Army of the Cumberland, when he was assigned surgeon-in-chief of the First Di- vision of the Fourteenth Army Corps, with which command he remained till the expiration of his term of service. Being with the army in nearly every engagement he gained thereby extensive practice and large experience in the department to which by natural inclination he was specially adapted-that of surgery-and which in after years he brought to such perfection as gave him a high place in the profession.
On the closing of the war Dr. Marks returned to Wisconsin, making his home in Milwaukee. He was united in marriage to Miss Theodora Smith at Waterville, Maine, December 11, 1867. This marriage was a twin-soulship of the most exalted type, and their life together was the high- est ideal of a true union. Mrs. Marks died June 12, 1893, leaving sorrow and heart-break in the home and among a large circle of friends. She was a member of the Plymouth Congregational Church, and illustrated in her daily life the true Christly character in a pre-eminent degree. Her pastor, the Rev. Judson Tittsworth, said of her, as he led the funeral service, "She was a minister." This tells the story of her life comprehensively.
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She lived for others, and her chief joy was fol- lowing the Master, who "went about doing good." The sweet and tender grace of her per- sonality was-
" Like a glint of softest sunshine, Falling on life's thorny way, Like a waft of sweetest music, Breathing through a tuneful lay."
" Like a soothing invocation, As the fading day departs, Like a heavenly benediction, Bringing peace to troubled hearts."
Thus passed to her reward one whom the world needed, loved, and could not afford to miss from the ranks of its earnest workers. But God calls His own, and a whiter soul never answered his bidding.
Dr. Marks is not a communicant of any church, nor does he subscribe to any creed ; but if the highest form of self-giving be Christly, then is he a Christian. To minister to those in distress, to care for the poor and the fatherless, to direct the steps of the young, to make places for strug- gling aspirants, to "deal justly, love mercy and walk humbly "-this is the rule of his life. The world can never know the full measure of this helpfulness, in multiform directions, that has blessed the world through Dr. Solon Marks for his motto of life is "let not thy right hand know what thy left hand doeth." Many young men whom he has planted in lucrative professions can testify to his unfailing help in time of need and his genuine sympathy. None who come to him- if they be worthy-are turned away empty. The list of his beneficiaries may never be heralded to the world, but they are recorded in the gratitude of many hearts, and will in the final accounting stand to his credit. " Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these, ye have done it unto me."
In 1873 Dr. Marks made a trip to Europe with the three-fold object of rest, relaxation and the pursuit of his favorite study in the hospitals of London, Paris, and the great German centres. Returning after a prolonged absence-which his wife shared with him-he resumed his practice in Milwaukee, and during the intervening years he has kept himself constantly on duty. As a prac- titioner, the doctor enjoys the largest success and the unbounded confidence of the community and general public.
LEWIS SHERMAN, M. D., was born No- vember 25, 1843, at West Rupert, Vermont, and is the son of William and Hannah Sherman. IIis early education was obtained in one of the com- mon schools of Vermont and under the instruc- tion of his father, who had a special fondness for mathematics, and instructed him carefully in that science. After leaving the common school he took an academic course of five years, and then matriculated at Union College of Schenectady, New York. He was graduated from that institu- tion in the class of 1865, with the degree of Bach- elor of Arts, and in 1868 received from the same institution the honorary degree of Master of Arts.
After leaving college he went to New York city and entered the Union Theological Seminary, where he devoted two years to a study of theol- ogy. He then entered the medical department of the University of New York, in which he took a full course of study, being graduated from that institution with the class of 1870. In May of the year last mentioned, he came to Milwaukee and began the practice of his profession in accordance with the tenets of the allopathic school. Very soon afterward, however, he reached the conclu- sion that homœopathy was the better system of practice, and in 1872, after qualifying himself to practice medicine according to that system, he formed a partnership with Dr. James S. Douglas, who was one of the pioneer homoeopathic practi- tioners of Milwaukee.
This co-partnership was one which was mutually beneficial, and continued for several years. To- gether Doctors Douglas and Sherman built up a large practice, which Dr. Sherman, as successor of the firm, still retains. They also established the Homoeopathic Pharmacy, of which Dr. Sher- man is now the proprietor, one of the most noted establishments of its kind in the Northwest.
A cultivated and scholarly gentlemen, and a student by nature, Dr. Sherman has made exten- sive medical researches, and his profession has been materially benefited by his investigations, inventions and discoveries. He has written and published two medical text-books, and numerous monographs; has contributed largely to medical periodicals, and is now the publisher of the Bul- letin of New Remedies, which is issued at regular intervals.
NATHANIEL A. GRAY, M. D., was born in Portland, Chatauqua county, New York, on
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March 8, 1842, son of Alfred W. and Valeria Elizabeth (Dodd) Gray.
Dr. Gray descends from New England stock, the American branch settling in Massachusetts about 1622; his great grandfather John was a Revolutionary soldier in the War for Independence and his grandfather, also John, was a pioneer from the "Bay state," to New York in 1793. . His early education was obtained in the academy at Jamestown, New York, until his father came to Milwaukee in 1856, when he entered the high school and was graduated therefrom in 1861. Immediately thereafter he commenced the study of medicine in the office of his father Dr. Alfred W. Gray, and after a full course of preparatory reading extending over the period of four years, he attended lectures at the New York Homœo- pathic Medical College and Bellevue Medical College, New York, receiving the degree of M. D., in 1867, and also a license to practice medicine granted by the regents of the University of New York. Shortly after graduation Dr. Gray entered into partnership with his father and at once engaged in his professional work. This partner- ship continued until the father's death. . During this period Dr. Gray familiarized himself with the eminently successful methods which had given snch popularity to the father.
He inherited his father's industry and tastes, especially in relying upon personal experiences based on scientific data concerning the action of remedies.
Endowed by nature with a sanguine tempera- ment and jovial disposition, he carries with him into the sick room the elements that makes the successful practitioner ; his cheery manner and humorous remarks enlivening the sick, for the time driving into forgetfulness the weary thoughts of suffering humanity.
He early obtained a large practice, and took rank among the eminent physicians in the city, especially in the department of obstetrics.
Dr. Gray possesses in a marked degree the essentials of personal popularity, but although an intent observer of political and social events, and earnest in his opinions, he has never been enticed away from professional duties by the blandish- ment of political office.
Ile being especially interested in the proper care and treatment of the insane wards of the state, Governor IIarrison Ludington appointed him a
trustee of the Northern Hospital for the Insane, at Oshkosh, Wisconsin, in 1875. He was at once elected secretary of the board, and took a very active part in extending the facilities of the insti- tution to make it a hospital where insanity could be treated as a distinct form of curative disease, instead of relegating this unfortunate class of sufferers to places of detention for safe keeping. This idea he held in common with those whose practical familiarity and extended researches in the study of insanity made them authority upon this subject.
As long as he was connected with this insti- tution he, with the other trustees, constantly en- deavored to maintain the progressive standard of medical treatment, combatting a policy which had been advocated by some specious theorists who advanced the idea that hospitals were un- necessary for the insane. This latter policy, however, prevailed for a time, lowering the standard of medical care and increasing the number of chronic insane.
Dr. Gray was a trustee for the period of six years, and until a change of management of all state institutions was provided for by new legis- lative enactment.
Immediately after the new "State Board of Control" superceded the Board of Trustees at the State Elcemosynary institutions, Dr. Gray was appointed by the governor a trustee of the Milwaukee Hospital for the Insane, a new insti- tution provided for by act of the legislature, and here he took the same advanced stand concerning hospital accommodations. He was connected with this board for years.
In February, 1866, Dr. Gray married Miss Letitia Dunn, daughter of Andrew and Sarah Dunn, both territorial pioneers of this state, Mr. Dunn having been prominently identified with the early history of the territory ; their daughter (Mrs. Gray) was born in Wisconsin. To them have been born four children, three of whom are living: Sarah Elizabeth, born April 23, 1867; Alfred William, born September 26, 1873; and Walter K., born November 28, 1878.
Dr. Gray is a member of Immanuel Presby- terian Church and also of the several Masonic organizations, having had conferred upon him the thirty-second degree.
U. O. B. WINGATE, M. D. traces his ancestry on both his father's and mother's side back
Tillingat_, Mh.J.
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through seven generations to England. He is a native of New Hampshire and was born in the township of Rochester in Stafford county, Sep- tember 4, 1848, to David and Lydia T. (Went- worth) Wingate. His father, who was a sturdy New England farmer, was a direct descendant, in the seventh generation, of John Wingate, who came from England and settled in Hilton's Point, New Hampshire, prior to 1658, and who was in active service in King Philip's War. His descendants served in the French and Indian War and in the War of the Revolution, and our subject's grand- father, also named David, was one of the famous Dartmoor prisoners of the War of 1812. His mother's ancestry runs back through six genera- tions to Elder William Wentworth, who immigrat- ed from England and settled in Exeter, New Hampshire, prior to 1639. One of his descendants, John Wentworth, was a member of the Continental Congress and a signer of the Articles of Confed- eration; and numerous members of the Wentworth family served in the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican War and the War of the Rebellion. Of this family also were Benjamin Wentworth, the colonial governor of New Hamp- shire, who gave five hundred acres of land to Dartmouth College; Tappan Wentworth, who, in 1875, gave three hundred thousand dollars to the same institution; John Wentworth, who was a congressman from Chicago and mayor of that city, and Mrs. Sigourney, the poetess and authoress.
Uranus Owen Brackett Wingate-as he was christened by his parents-passed his boyhood on his father's farm; and after his father's decease, which occurred on March 26, 1858, he attended the district school and helped in the farm work. Later he studied at the academy at West Leba- non, Maine. He began his professional studies with Dr. J. P.Whittemore of Haverhill, Massachu- setts, then studied at Harvard Medical School, and in 1874 was graduated at Dartmouth Medical College. During eleven years, from 1875 to 1886, Dr. Wingate practiced his profession in Wellesley, Massachusetts ; for five years he was medical officer of the Massachusetts State Mili- tia, and the last two years of his residence there he was a member of the Wellesley Board of Health. Since establishing himself in Milwaukee, in 1886, Dr. Wingate has made himself a far- reaching reputation as a skillful and successful physician and surgeon, and placed himself
at the fore-front of his profession in Wiscon- sin. In 1890, at the request of his professional brethren in Milwaukee, Mayor Peck appointed him Health Commissioner of the city, for a term of four years, at the expiration of which time he declined a. re-appointment. He was appointed a member of the State Board of Health by Gov. Peck in 1892, for a term of seven years, and in July, 1894, he became secretary of the board and its executive officer. At the opening of the Wisconsin College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1893, Dr. Wingate was made professor of diseases of the nervous system and hygiene and vice-presi- dent of the faculty. He served as president of the Milwaukee Medical Society in 1892, and was one of the vice-presidents of the American Medi- cal Association in 1893. At the present time- 1895-he is visiting physician to St. Mary's Hos- pital, consulting physician to the Presbyterian IIospital and consulting surgeon to the Emer- gency Hospital of Milwaukee. He is a member of the Massachusetts State Medical Society, and has been one of its councilors; is a corresponding member of the Boston Gynæcological Society, a member of the American Public Health Associa- tion ; New York Medico-Legal Society ; Wiscon- sin State Medical Society, and the Sons of the American Revolution. Dr. Wingate is wedded to his profession and in his extensive and con- stantly growing practice, he finds ample scope for the gratification of his highest ambition.
He is a man of pleasing personality of social nature, warm-hearted, sympathetic and generous, and withal, modest and unassuming. He is a careful student, watches closely the trend of events and keeps himself in sympathy and touch with it. Takes a high and broad view of life, and by his honorable methods, his high-mindedness, and his manly demeanor, he wins the confidence and esteem of all who come within the range of his influence.
LAURA J. ROSS WOLCOTT .- The truth of the humorous aphorism, that to educate an indi- vidual it is necessary to begin by educating his great-grandparents, is made obvious by every-day experience. In estimating the lives of men and women the genitive causes which determine char- acter and sequentially mold and color the activi- ties of a whole life, are of primary importance, and seldom more marked and notable than in the subject of this biographical sketch.
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The Ross family emigrated to the American Colonies from Ross-shire, Scotland, in 1630, the New England branch settling at Dorchester, Mas- . sachusetts. A son of Thomas Ross, the original settler, named Hugh, afterwards moved to York, Maine, the state being then called the District of Massachusetts.
Jonathan Ross, the son of Hugh, and James, the son of Jonathan, were born at York, as was also the subject of this sketch, who was a daugh- ter of James. IIer grandfather, Jonathan Ross participated in the first battles of the Revolution- ary War, and served the entire seven years of its duration. She is the grand-daughter on her moth- er's side of Major Darling Huntress, another Rev- olutionary soldier, who commanded the colonial forces during the war at the important post of Kittery-foreside, now Fort McCleary, opposite Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and who at its close married her grandmother, nee Mary Warren, daughter of John Warren, also a Revolutionary soldier, and cousin of the famous Gen. Warren of Bunker Hill.
To a branch of the Ross family which settled in the middle colonies belonged Rev. George Ross, rector of the first Episcopal Church of Newcastle, Delaware, who was the father of Judge George Ross, one of the signers of the Declaration of In- dependence. Three sisters of Judge Ross were married to signers of the Declaration, to-wit : George Read, George Clymer and James Wilson, and a brother's wife was the famous Betsy Ross, who designed the first American flag.
Laura J. Ross (Wolcott), daughter of James Ross and Lovey Huntress, his wife, was born July 16, 1834, at York, Maine.
Her early education was received in Boston at the school of George Emerson, a distinguished educa- tor of that day. Upon the completion of her studies at this school she asked to enter the col- legiate course at Harvard, but the time was not ripe for such an innovation; though to this initia- tive may not be a little due the enjoyment of that privilege now open to women. Iler studies were afterward privately pursued, chiefly under tuition of professors at Harvard College. About this time Horace Mann, secretary of the Board of Education of Massachusetts, having studied in Europe the Normal system, inaugurated the first Normal school in this country, and Miss Ross was one of the earliest graduates.
This was an epoch of great controversial agita- tion, and, as is the case when great principles are in question, great men and women arose to meet the need of their discussion. Wendell Philips, William Loyd Garrison, Starr King, Edward Everett, Theodore Parker, Lydia Maria Child and Margaret Fuller were among the conspicuous figures of that day, and from the atmosphere of such influences and that of her own home, Miss Ross imbibed an impulse that has been sustained throughout a life of usefulness and noble example to women. A true daughter of the American Revolution, lineal and collateral ancestors having taken conspicuous part, nurtured in the liberal and humane spirit of its best traditions, with an intellectual education above the average of women in her day, and a moral teaching which inculcated Spartan frugality and self-denial, that she might effectually practice generosity to others; she gave herself in dedication to objects which would extend the education, and broaden the outlook for the activities of women. In every educational and humane reform she took active part. The questions of anti-slavery, temperance, woman suf- frage and the opening of the professions to women were all unpopular in their day ; but in the bitter controversies they provoked she maintained an unshaken loyalty and patience, believing in their ultimate triumph.
Miss Ross took a four years' course in the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania. This was the first medical school for women established upon a secure foundation, and is recognized by the American Medical Association as one of the best medical colleges in this country. This insti- tution, of which American women may be justly proud, was established through the beneficence of two Friends, Bartholomew and Rebecca Fussell. It has been enriched by donations and large en- downments from Isaac Barton, the Jeanes family and others. Miss Ross was one of the earliest graduates of this college, being one also of the trio of women first admitted in this country on a footing with men to clinical studies at the Phila- delphia Hospital. Against this innovation of sci- entific co-education there was, as may be imagined, no lack of opposition. A quarter of a century was required to overcome this prejudice.
Taking her diploma in 1856, the following year she came to Milwaukee and commenced practice. From this time begins the active life which has
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made her honorably conspicuous in the city of her residence, and wherever there is approving com- mendation of a life spent in active charity, en- lightened usefulness and the constant endeavor to exalt the character and dignity of woman, and strengthen her claims to a larger effectual partici- pation in social and political affairs.
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