USA > Wisconsin > Milwaukee County > Memoirs of Milwaukee County : from the earliest historical times down to the present, including a genealogical and biographical record of representative families in Milwaukee County, Volume I > Part 50
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A number of miscellaneous works of a historical nature have been produced in Milwaukee. In 1875 Herbert C. Damon wrote the history of the Milwaukee Light Guard. Annals of Milwaukee College by W. W. Wight appeared in 1891. George Meyer was the author of an interesting and instructive little brochure entitled Die Deutsch-Ameri- kaner, which was published in 1890. The Columbian History of Edu- cation in Wisconsin was printed by the Evening Wisconsin Company under the authority and by direction of the state committee on educa- tional exhibit in 1893. In this work the chapter on the Milwaukee public schools was written by Principal Patrick Donnelly. The Mil- waukee Press club published a history of that organization in 1895. It was in the nature of a symposium, the writers being Henry E. Legler, Charles K. Lush, John G. Gregory. Julius Bleyer, H. G. Underwood, whose contribution was a poem entitled Easter at the Club, Mather D. Kimball, Frank Markle and Capt. Charles King. Peter Van Vechten, Jr., wrote a history of the Milwaukee volunteer fire department, which included a large number of biographical sketches of the pioneer fire-fighters. John W. Cary was the author of a somewhat elaborate history of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railway. Rev. W. G. Miller in 1873 published a historical sketch of Milwaukee Methodism, which was followed two years later by Thirty Years in the Itineracy. Henry E. Legler, one of the organizers of the Milwaukee Press Club and for fifteen years secretary of the city school board, wrote The Man with the Iron Hand, an account of the travels and explorations of Henri de Tonty in the Mississippi valley. Mr. Legler also wrote A Wisconsin Group of German Poets, including Mathilde Anneke, Konrad Krez, Edmund Maerklein, Wilhelm Dilg, Rudolp Pachner, and a number of others.
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In 1848 Egbert H. Smith's volume of verse was published under the title of Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiak or Black Hawk, an Epic Poem. The rhymes were so halting and irregular and the style was altogether so ridiculous that the newspapers treated the book, as well as the author, as a joke. But the book sold, and "Limpy" Smith, as he was known, derived more substantial results from his literary venture than some of those who came after him with works of a far more merito- rious character. Rev. James C. Richmond, an Episcopal clergyman, published in 1859 a volume of poetry entitled A Midsummer's Day- dream Libelous, or the Vision of Shawmut. A year later a volume of verses by George Chapman made its appearance. Wilhelm Dilg, who wrote under the pseudonym of Heinricus von See, published a book of poems in the German language in 1866. Bernard I. Dur- ward's poems were published in 1872, and A. M. Thompson, editor of the Sentinel, wrote a number of poems that were published in a little volume entitled Poems of a Day. OtherMilwaukeeans who courted the poetic muse were Misses Mary H. C. Booth, Fannie Driscoll, Lillian Mallory, Minnie Armstrong and Laura G. Smith; John G. Gregory, Frank Siller, Mrs. M. H. Chamberlain (Carrie Carlton), Mrs. Emily H. Moore, Carlotta Perry, Mrs. Mary S. Pomeroy, Genesee Richardson, Mrs. Stella C. Johnson, Mrs. Amanda L. Aikens, Mrs. Bianca Mitchell, Mrs. Marion V. Dudley, and others, many of whom also wrote prose, their productions being written and published in the English language. Of the German poets the most distinguished were Konrad Krez, Otto Soubron, Mathilde Anneke, William Mueller, Heinrich Von Ende, Edmund Maerklein, George M. Hotschick, Ernst A. Zuendt, Augustus Steinlein, Rudolph Pachner and Anton Thormaeh- len, though there have been other German poets in Milwaukee who wrote verses of more than ordinary merit. Otto Soubron was also the author of several plays, one of which, Asa Groot, was translated into the Danish language. His Oyeka is an Indian legend told in poetry. Konrad Krez's Landau and the Alsatian Girl, probably the best thing he ever wrote, is a poem of unusual excellence. Ella Wheeler Wilcox's first two books-Shells and Maurine-were published in Mil- waukee, the former in 1873 and other two years later.
Music and art have claimed the attention of Milwaukee writers. John C. Fillmore, one of the pioneer journalists, wrote a history of pianoforte music, including biographical sketches of the great com- posers, and also published other books on the subject of music. Julius Klauser in 1890 wrote a book with the rather burdensome title of A New View of the Fundamental Relation of Tones, and a Simplifica- tion of the Theory and Practice of Music, which attracted considerable
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attention in musical circles. Prof. Charles S. Farrar published a history of sculpture and painting in 1879, and Art Topics five years later, both being intended as text-books for the ladies' art and science class in Milwaukee College.
Valuable translations of foreign literature have been made by Milwaukee scholars-John L. Garner published several prose transla- tions from the Persian-Strophes of Omar Khayyam. Orlando W. Wight translated from the French Cousin's works and the Henriade of Voltaire. Garrett Droppers and C. A. P. Dachsel translated Select Essays by Arthur Schopenhauer, which was published in 1882 accom- panied by a biographical sketch of the author. Four years before this George B. . Goodwin translated from the Greek the Medea of Euri- pides, and Henry D. Goodwin, while a student in the University of Wisconsin, published as an essay for special honors in Greek Euripides' Tragedy of Rhesus. Prof. G. H. Balg published a reproduction of the first translation of the Bible into the Gothic language, and also a Gothic grammar and dictionary.
Besides the scientific articles of Increase A. Lapham, above referred to, other fields of investigation have been cultivated by Mil- waukee scientists. Dr. Henry Goadby's Animal and Vegetable Physi- ology-a work giving the results of his original microscopic research- was published by D. Appleton & Co. in 1858. Ludwig A. Kumlein who accompanied the Howgate Arctic expedition in 1877 as naturalist, wrote a work on Polar Ethnology, Mammals and Birds .. Henry Nehirling, after months of careful labor, produced a somewhat exhaus- tive and well illustrated work on Our Native Birds. Mr. and Mrs. George W. Peckham wrote on the temperature of Wisconsin lakes and the natural history of spiders, a monograph on the latter subject having been printed in 1889 for the Wisconsin Natural History Society. The Allis laboratory, conducted by Edward P. Allis, Jr., for the prosecution of biological research, has been the source of several contributions to the American Journal of Morphology. Dr. Nicholas Senn was the author of a number of articles on subjects per- taining to medicine and surgery, particularly the latter. One of his productions, describing his original experiments in abdominal section, received many flattering comments from members of the profession, and quite a number of the city's eminent physicians have been and are contributors to the literature of the various departments of medical science. D. J. Whittemore, H. J. Hilbert, Edwin Reynolds and others have written on topics connected with engineering.
On educational subjects as early as 1848 George Van Waters pub- lished a political geography in Milwaukee. Dr. J. L. Kaine, an edito-
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rial writer on the Sentinel, prepared a text-book on astronomy for use in the schools. A. L. Graebner was the author of a First Course in Grammar and Composition. W. N. Hailman's Primary Helps and kindergarten manuals have had a wide circulation, and these, as well as his lectures on education (two volumes) are still regarded as authority by teachers in all parts of the country. W. H. Hearding published Practical Notes on Hydrographic and Mining Surveys. Father Joseph Rainer, of St. Francis Seminary, wrote several religious works and prepared a text-book of Greek and English exercises. K. A. Linderfelt published a text-book on Volapuk in 1888, while the universal language craze was at its height, and C. F. Zimmerman was the author of an essay on the education of the hand. In addition to the educational works here enumerated the teachers in the public schools have at divers times published manuals and handbooks on different branches of education for local use.
Several Milwaukeeans have added their contributions to the political and economic literature of the country. The published addresses of John Johnston, a director of the Milwaukee chamber of commerce, on banking, currency, etc., have been accorded a generous reception by financiers and students of the nation's financial policy. Mr. Johnston also wrote on Our Mother Tongue and Science and Religion. John P. McGregor wrote on the history of finance and insurance. Karl Ludloff was the author of an essay on The Causes of the Prosperity and Pauperization of Nations. Carl H. Poppe wrote in German on political and educational subjects. John W. Hinton pub- lished a number of pamphlets and lectures in defense of the protective tariff idea. The published addresses of Senator Matthew H. Carpenter and the legal decisions of Chief Justice E. G. Ryan contain many economic gems. John J. Lalor, while a teacher in the Milwaukee high school edited Roscher's Political Economy and Von Holtz's Consti- tutional History of the United States, and after going to Chicago he translated many magazine articles on political economy and wrote a primer on that subject for class use.
Sports and games have come in for a share of Milwaukee's literary attention. Frederick Eugene Pond, who wrote under the nom de plume of Will Wildwood, wrote a Handbook for Young Sportsmen. Robert B. Johnson published Rowing in America. K. A. Linderfelt wrote on Swedish Whist, and Kate I. Wheelock presented the Fundamental Principles and Rules of American Whist. In addi- tion to these there have been written by Milwaukee authors booklets on hunting, fishing, yachting, etc.
In the field of fiction the name of Col. Charles King is no doubt en-
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titled to the first place on the list. He is the author of over thirty novels, mostly of a military or frontier tone, and he also wrote Famous and Decisive Battles. His works have had a popular sale, and he ranks as one of the leading American novelists. William H. Bishop, a native of Connecticut, was for several years a resident of Milwaukee, and is entitled to recognition as one of her literary characters. He wrote a number of books, the principal ones being The Golden Justice, Det- mold, The Brown Stone Boy and Other Queer People, and the Yellow Snake. The scene of the Golden Justice was laid in Milwaukee, which in the story bears the name of Keewaydin. Andrew C. Wheeler, like Mr. Bishop, was at one time a resident of Milwaukee, though his later literary career has been as a literary and dramatic critic in New York under the pseudonym of Nym Crinkle. He wrote the Chronicles of Milwaukee, The Primrose Path of Dalliance, Easter in a Hospital Bed, The Twins (a comedy), and a number of short stories. Robertson and Wilkie James, brothers of Henry James, Jr., were both residents of Milwaukee for a number of years and won a high place in the literary world as brilliant essayists and feuilletonists. Other Milwaukee novel- ists were Mrs. T. W. Buell, who wrote The Sixth Sense; Mrs. Bula Brinton, author of Man is Love and its sequel, Behold the Woman; and Mrs. Thomas R. Mercein was the author of several short stories, vivacious essays and a successful drama.
Among the miscellaneous literary productions may be mentioned Miss Jessie A. Schley's Life of Fannie Davenport ; Frederick C. More- house's Some American Churchmen, which contains biographies of noted bishops of the Protestant Episcopal church; Tides and Tenden- cies, the sermons and addresses of Bishop Edward R. Welles, edited by his son, Rev. E. S. Welles; E. D. Holton's Travels with Jottings from Midland to the Pacific; William A. Armstrong's Miracle Hill, a Legendary Tale of Wisconsin; and Charles S. Clark's Keeley Cure.
It is intended as no disparagement to other Milwaukee writers to say that none of the literary productions of the "Cream City" has been more cordially welcomed nor more widely read than the humorous writings of George W. Peck. Many a dark life has been illumined by a ray from Peck's Sunshine ; many a trouble has been forgotten while reading Peck's Fun, How Private George W. Peck Put Down the Re- bellion, or the Adventures of One Terrence McGrant, a Brevet Cousin of General Grant. And the antics of Peck's Bad Boy, the tricks he played on the grocer, or the ludicrous situations into which he in- veigled his "Pa", have been read and enjoyed from coast to coast.
Col. Jerome A. Watrons wrote "Richard Epps and Other Stories," the other stories being selections of war and army sketches he had con-
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tributed to the Chicago Times-Herald, St. Louis Globe-Democrat, Los Angeles Times, Milwaukee Sentinel and other publications. The sketches are used by many Wisconsin teachers in their history work. Ella Wheeler Wilcox wrote several of her books while a resident of Milwaukee. Zona Gale, who has made a great reputation as a novel- ist, began her literary career in this city. Mrs. R. C. Reinertsen-"Gale Forest"-has written many beautiful and uplifting sketches and a book that is soon to make its appearance.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
EARLY "PRACTITIONERS"-DRS. HUBBELL LOOMIS, ENOCH CHASE, WIL- LIAM P. PROUDFIT, AND OTHER PIONEER PHYSICIANS-ERASTUS B. WOLCOTT-FRANCIS HUEBSCHMANN-JEREMIAH B. SELBY, THE FIRST MEDICAL STUDENT IN MILWAUKEE-SOLON MARKS-HENRY E. HAASE. DARIUS MASON-NICHOLAS SENN-ORLANDO W. WIGHT-WALTER KEMPSTER-WOMEN PHYSICIANS-MEDICAL SOCIETIES-MEDICAL COL- LEGES-HOMEOPATHY-EPIDEMICS.
Just who was the first physician in Milwaukee is not certain. Among the early settlers was a Vermonter named Thompson, who pre- tended to have some knowledge of medicine. He was really a black- smith, but upon coming west he brought a medicine chest with him, thinking no doubt that practicing the healing art was an easier way of making a living than hammering iron, and he added to his income as proprietor of "The Triangle Tavern." In the absence of better quali- fied medical men, he was frequently called in, though it is believed that his treatment sometimes did more harm than good. According to ac- counts his departure from Milwaukee was due to the following circum- stance : A real physician, occupying a bed on the floor in the second story of a tavern, heard Thompson prescribe a teaspoonful of calomel for a sick man, and knowing that such a dose meant certain death, he arose and entered his protest. The doctor saved the life of the patient and Thompson soon afterward left the community.
In the early days of the settlement simple diseases were treated with teas and decoctions, prepared by some woman whose training and experience had rendered her skillful in such matters. But at last there came a time when the homely remedies failed and professional skill had to be sought. It is related that in January, 1834, Mrs. Solomon Ju- neau was taken seriously ill, and that Albert Fowler, a young man in
Solon Marks MD
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the employ of Mr. Juneau, went to Chicago, a distance of ninety miles, and returned with a physician. From this incident it would appear that no disciple of Aesculapius had at that time become a denizen of Milwaukee. Later in the year a Dr. A. Bigelow, a Thompsonian or bo- tanic physician, came to the village in company with Paul Burdick and Quartus Carley. Bigelow's sovereign remedy for fevers was a preparation called "hot drops", the praises of which he sang on all occasions, tell- ing of almost miraculous cures of fever and ague in Michigan, in effect- ing which "hot drops" had been the principal agent. But the few pio- neers of Milwaukee enjoyed good health and Dr. Bigelow turned his attention to the manufacture of lumber by putting up a saw-mill-the first in Milwaukee-from which he derived the greater portion of his income.
Dr. Hubbell Loomis, of St. Joseph Mich., visited Chicago and Mil- waukee in 1834, but not finding a satisfactory environment on the "west shore" returned to St. Joseph. In 1836 he again came to Milwaukee, with a party of immigrants, and located on Walker's Point, but after- ward bought a homestead on what is now the square bounded by Reed, Hanover, Florida and Oregon streets. Dr. Loomis was born in New London, Conn., in 1798; was an "old school" physician ; first received a license to practice from the medical association of Fairfield county, Conn .; later received a license from the New York State Medical Association ; and in 1827 settled in Michigan. In Milwaukee he built up a large practice, which he continued to enjoy until his death in 1849.
In an election poll-book of 1835 the name of Dr. Heath appears as one of the voters of that year, but aside from this nothing can be learned of himself or his professional career. Four physicians came to Milwaukee in 1835, viz .: Enoch Chase, Jesse S. Hewitt, Alfred L. Castleman and Lucius I. Barber. Dr. Enoch Chase was a native of Ver- mont, a graduate of Dartmouth College, and after completing his edu- cation settled in Michigan, where he practiced until he came to Milwau- kee "so full of fever and ague that he could not hold any more." It was not his intention to practice his profession in Milwaukee, but as soon as it became known that he was a doctor his services were called into re- quisition, and in a short time he had all the patients he cared to at- tend. He did not practice much after 1839, devoting his attention to other lines of business and recommending his patrons to call in some other physicians whenever they came to him for advice or treatment. His favorite remedy for fevers was calomel, administered in heroic doses. At that time quinine was just beginning to come into use, and it is related that on one occasion he gave what he supposed to be twenty- five grains of calomel to a woman, but soon afterward discovered that
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he had given quinine by mistake. With considerable anxiety he awaited the consequences and was agreeably surprised when the fever disap- peared and the patient rapidly recovered. From that time on he used less calomel and more quinine. He was a popular "medicine man" with the Indians, who would frequently consult him with regard to their ail- ments, but they generally preferred their simple herbs to the remedies he prescribed.
But little is known of Dr. Hewitt's early history, though it is be- lieved he came from New York. He has been described as a man of genial disposition, affable manner, and a "somewhat erratic member of the profession." However, he built up a lucrative practice, a fact due no doubt to his personal popularity as much as to his professional ability. He was a member of the Episcopal church and was one of the first wardens of St. Paul's, but some years later he became a Roman Catholic. His ideas regarding the practice of medicine also underwent a change. For a number of years after coming to Milwaukee he was a stanch ad- vocate of the "regular" school, and was honored with the presidency of the Milwaukee Medical Association. Not long after this be began to use the methods of the homeopathist in his practice and was finally dismissed from the association of which he had been president. He died in 1848.
Dr. Castleman was a native of Kentucky and had attended lectures at Louisville before coming to Milwaukee. Although positive in his likes and dislikes, and quick to resent a slight or an insult, he won friends by his good nature and frankness, becoming in a little while one of the popular physicians of the new territory. He took a keen in- terest in every question of local interest, and played a con- siderable part in the development of Milwaukee along lines en- tirely foreign to his chosen profession. After a few years he went to Washington, D. C., with the intention of making his home there, but he soon returned and in 1847 was elected a delegate from Milwaukee county to the constitutional convention. He was president of the State Medical Society in 1850, 1851 and 1855, and was for sev- eral years a regent of the University of Wisconsin. When the great Civil war broke out he exerted all his influence in raising troops, etc .. and was commissioned surgeon of the Fifth Wisconsin infantry. with which he served under Gen. W. S. Hancock in the Army of the Potomac until the close of the year 1863, when he resigned to take a much needed rest. While in the army he kept a diary, which he after- ward published under the title of "The Army of the Potomac Behind the Scenes." In 1873 he went to California in an effort to restore his
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health, which had been much impaired by exposure in the army, but he never regained his former superb physical strength, and died in Cali- fornia in 1877.
Dr. Barber arrived in Milwaukee on July, 1, 1835, and found lodg- ing for a time with Daniel Wells, Jr. He was a native of Connecticut and well educated in his profession. Soon after opening his office he saw opportunities to make money by dealing in real estate and later became prominent in politics, which practically ended his career as a physician. He was a member of the first legislature, served one term as speaker of the assembly, and by his investments in real estate and commercial enterprises acquired considerable wealth. He finally re- moved to Jefferson, Wis., where he passed the remaining years of his life.
Early in 1836 Dr. William P. Proudfit located in Milwaukee, hav- ing come from Rome, N. Y., and soon achieved the reputation of being a careful and conscientious physician, which naturally secured for him a large practice. He was employed by the authorities to look after the health of the homeless children and orphans, and while thus engaged he observed that the children were not properly cared for by those in charge. He went to Daniel Wells, Jr., then superintendent of the poor, and remonstrated so earnestly against the system then in vogue that it was abandoned and a better one instituted in its place. Dr. Proudfit was a member of the Presbyterian church and has been described as "a liberal-minded, conscientious, large-hearted man, who exerted a con- tinuous influence for the betterment of mankind." He died of pneu- monia on March II, 1843, aged thirty-seven years.
Other physicians who came during the year 1836 were William M. Gorham, Thomas J. Noyes, Lemuel W. Weeks and John A. Messinger. The first named came to Milwaukee with the intention of engaging in the mercantile business, but the stock of goods he brought with him was not suited to the demands of a frontier town and he took up the practice of medicine, for which he had prepared himself by graduating at the Castleton Medical College, Castleton, Vt., in 1833. His methods
were of the "old school"type and he had little use for "innovations." Whatever skill and ability he may have possessed seems to have been more than offset by his sedate and melancholy manner, which generally had a depressing effect upon his patients, though during the early years of his practice in Milwaukee he was several times called to the "Rock River Settlement" as Janesville was then called, making his way over a trail which lay for miles through dense woods. His last years were passed in retirement on a farm, comparatively poor and broken in health. He died in 1884.
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Dr. Noyes was directly the reverse of Dr. Gorham in disposition, as he "bubbled over with mirth", loved a good joke, even at his own ex- pense, and never was known to carry a lugubrious air into the sick room. He came to Milwaukee from Franklin, N. H., and soon acquired a large practice. But his good-fellowship led him into politics, the fascination of which caused him to give up everything elso for the sake of holding office. In 1843, during the first small-pox epidemic, he was appointed chairman of a board of health, though he had ceased to practice his profession. He was justice of the peace for several years; was pro- prietor of the hotel known as the Milwaukee House for awhile: and in 1855 started for California, but died before reaching his destination.
Dr. Weeks was a native of Massachusetts. He received an aca- demic education in his native state and graduated at Castleton Medical College in 1828, after which he practiced at Hardwick, Vt., until he came to Milwaukee. He did not practice long after locating in Mil- waukee, giving up his profession to engage in other lines of business. He was successively real estate speculator, builder, grain dealer, mer- chant, farmer, and was for awhile president of an insurance company. About 1838 he was appointed deputy United States marshal and in 1840 was the census enumerator for Milwaukee. Subsequqently he served in the common council for several years and was once president of that body. He died in May, 1884, at Summit, Wis.
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