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 51
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Dr. Messinger was also a native of Massachusetts, and like Dr. Weeks he soon abandoned the practice of profession after coming to Milwaukee to engage in speculation. He was a bitter opponent of slavery, and on one occasion he rescued a negro who had been arrested under the fugitive slave law, took him in his carriage and drove to Waukesha, the officers of the law pursuing for some distance, but the doctor drove a fast horse and could not be overtaken. From Waukesha the runaway slave made his escape to Canada and freedom. Fearing arrest if he returned to Milwaukee, Dr. Messinger went to Racine, where his friends noticed that he was very much worried and de- pressed. He finally decided to return to Milwaukee and "face the music." He escaped punishment, but his death in 1854 was believed to have been lastened by reflections that preyed upon his mind on account of his violation of law, even though it was a law "more honored in the breach than in the observance."
Another carly Milwaukee physician of note was Dr. Erastus B. Wolcott, who came to the city in the spring of 1839. He was born at Benton, N. Y., Oct. 18, 1804, and was a member of the same family as Oliver Wolcott, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. In 1833 he graduated at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of west-
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ern New York, and 011 Jan. 1, 1836, was appointed a surgeon in the United States army. Three years later he resigned his commission in the army and established himself in private practice at Milwaukee, where he quickly attained the reputation of being one of the most eminent physicians in Wisconsin. He was appointed surgeon in the territorial militia in 1842 ; was surgeon-general of Wisconsin during the war of the Rebellion, with the rank of brigadier-general; served as manager of the state asylums for the insane, and of the national asylum for disabled volunteer soldiers ; was appointed to represent Wisconsin at the Universal Exposition at Paris in 1877, and filled other positions of trust and responsibility. Flower's History of Milwaukee says of him: "But it was as plain Dr. Wolcott that he was most known to his city and state, for it was in that profession that he made his most signal success. He would have been a distinguished surgeon anywhere. He would have ranked the first of London, Paris, or New York. But in Wisconsin he was properly regarded as extraordinary. He was extra- ordinary, and that not more with the surgeon's knife than with the physician's insight. To thousands he was surgeon, physician and nurse, and to the poor a 'Good Samaritan.' He was accounted more poor than rich, from his preference for doing rather than receiving favors, and from a certain inability, common in men of his sort, to squeeze money out of the sadness and suffering of life. Patients paid him, or left his services unpaid, as it pleased them, not him ; but none were neglected on account of their poverty. The professional honor and mission were always strictly maintained-the professional fee seldom collected." Dr. Wolcott died on Jan. 5, 1880, at the ripe age of seventy-six years, and E. B. Wolcott Post, Grand Army of the Republic, was named in his honor.
Dr. John K. Bartlett, a graduate of Yale College and the New Haven Medical School, became a resident of Milwaukee in 1841 and formed a partnership with Dr. Proudfit, which lasted until the latter's death. He was a great stickler for the "Code of Ethics," a close ob- server of professional etiquette, and a firm believer in the efficacy of medical associations, local, state and national. Consequently some of the Milwaukee medical societies owed their origin chiefly to his efforts ; he was president of the State Medical Society in 1877; was for some years a member of the judicial council of the National Medical Asso- ciation, and the Bartlett Clinical Club was named in his honor. He took an active part in all matters pertaining to public sanitation, the im- provement of the public school system, and the establishment of the public library. Failing health caused him to seek a different climate and he went to California, where he died in 1889.
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Dr. Francis Huebschmann, the first German physician in Milwau- kee, settled there in 1842. He was a native of the Grand Duchy of Weimar; was educated in the colleges of Erfurt and Weimar and grad- uated in medicine at the University of Jena in March, 1841. He was well qualified for the practice of his profession, but the fascinations of the political arena proved too tempting to be resisted and he drifted into public life, becoming better known as an active politician than as a physician. He served on the school board; was a delegate to the con- stitutional convention of 1846; a presidential elector in 1848; was a member of the common council for some time ; was several times elected to the legislature; was appointed superintendent of Indian affairs by President Pierce in 1853; was commissioned surgeon of the Twenty- sixth Wisconsin volunteer infantry in the Civil war, and after return- ing from the army he was connected with the military hospital at Mil- waukee for some time. At the battle of Gettysburg he was captured, but after being a prisoner of war for three days he managed to make his escape and rejoined his regiment, which was soon afterward ordered to Tennessee, and at the battle of Chattanooga he had charge of the corps hospital. Dr. Huebschmann was one of the founders of the Ger- man paper called the Banner and Volksfreund, and was always deeply interested in the welfare of the German immigrants who came to his adopted city. He died in 1879.
Drs. Walker L. Bean, E. S. Marsh and F. Kalckhoff were the physicians who settled in Milwaukee in 1843. The first named was a graduate of the medical department of the University of Pennsyl- vania and first practiced in Charleston, S. C., for several years before coming to Wisconsin. Upon arriving in Milwaukee he formed a partnership with Dr. J. K. Bartlett which continued until Dr. Bean's death in 1845. In the treatment of diseases of children he was especially successful and was the first Milwaukee physician to advo- cate a limited diet in almost all cases of illness. During the first small-pox epidemic he had charge of the isolation hospital con- jointly with his partner.
Dr. Marsh came from Rochester, N. Y., was a well educated . man and was active in promoting all matters pertaining to his pro- fession, being one of the organizers of the first medical society. He and Dr. Wolcott both loved hunting and fishing, and with the rod or gun often took long trips together during the hunting and fishing seasons. He went to California during the gold excitement there and acquired some wealth. He was killed by a steamboat ex- plosion at New Orleans in 1849, while on his way back to Milwaukee from California.
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But little is known of Dr. Kalckhoff beyond what can be gained from an unpublished manuscript of Dr. Bartlett, which states that he arrived in Milwaukee in November, 1843, practiced for several years, and then opened a drug store, "remaining an honored and respected member of the profession until his death."
Two prominent physicians-Dr. James Johnson and Dr. John B. Dousman-settled in Milwaukee in 1844. The former was a native of Ireland, where he began the study of medicine, but graduated as a physician at Pittsfield, Mass. After locating in Milwaukee he built up a good practice, due in a great measure to his genial disposition as well as to his exceptional professional ability. He was a great lover of free-speech, and although a devout Catholic was tolerant of the religious opinions of others, a fact demonstrated by his con- duct at the time of the Leahy riot, when he signed the protest remon- strating against the conduct of some of his fellow-churchmen in trying to prevent the ex-priest from delivering a public address. He was a member of the first city school board, was once elected as an inde- pendent candidate to the common council, and was largely influential in bringing about the downfall of Know-Nothingism in Milwaukee. When the legislature authorized the establishment of a board of health in 1867, Dr. Johnson was appointed president of the board and health commissioner, which position he held for ten years. In 1874 he made a trip to Europe for the purpose of studying sanitary questions, and upon his return he tried to secure the introduction of improved methods of sanitation, especially in the matter of the water supply and the extension of the sewer system. His exertions along these lines impaired his health and in 1880 he went to Denver, Colo., hoping to find relief, but in vain. He then spent some time at Mobile, Ala., and died in 1882.
Dr. Dousman was born at Mackinac in 1807, and before coming to Milwaukee had been engaged in the practice of his profession at Prairieville (now Waukesha). When a youth, attending an academy in New Hampshire, he had for a class-mate Franklin Pierce, after- ward president of the United States. As a physician he had a high standing, enjoyed the confidence and esteem of his patients, and in 1848 and 1849 was president of the Wisconsin State Medical Society. Dr. Dousman died in February, 1868.
The first medical student in Milwaukee was Dr. Jeremiah B. Selby, who came from Wayne county, N. Y., in 1842. During the next two years he read medicine in the office of Bartlett & Bean, pur- sued his studies in Willoughby College (Ohio), and finally graduated in the medical department of the University of New York. In 1843,
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while still a student, he was placed in charge of the isolation hospital during the first small-pox epidemic, working under the direction of Dr. Bean, who visited the institution about twice a week. In 1845 he began practice in Milwaukee and acquired the reputation of being a conscientious and skillful physician. He was a member of the first city school board, which was appointed in 1846, and which laid the foundation of the public school system. He was appointed pension agent for Milwaukee by President Lincoln soon after the commence- ment of the war, and held that position until July, 1866. He was actively engaged during the cholera epidemic of 1850, but some years after the war retired from practice, though he continued to live in Milwaukee, deeply interested in the city's prosperity and always mani- festing a willingness to aid in any movement for the betterment of her material welfare or for the preservation of the public health.
Drs. James P. Greves and F. M. Wilcox both became residents of Milwaukee in 1845, the former coming from Michigan and the latter from what was then known as the "lead regions." Dr. Greves soon abandoned the profession to engage in real estate speculation, though when the controversy arose between the allopathic and home- opathic schools of medicine he espoused the latter and employed that system in the treatment of his patients until he left the city in 1857. Dr. Wilcox was for a short time a partner of Dr. Johnson. He was an excellent physician and had no time for anything except his professional work. He was a resident of the city for about four years, during which time he took an active part in the work of the medical societies, his name appearing as one of the signers of the constitution of the Milwaukee City Medical Association, which was organized in the summer of 1845 ..
Eight new physicians were added to the population in 1864, viz : F. A. Leuning. R. Fletcher, James Dunovan, J. F. Spalding, H. M. Hard, James P. Whitney, Henry Smith and Azariah Blanchard. Dr. Spalding died in 1849; Dr. Hard transgressed the code of ethics by advertising and was expelled from the Milwaukee Medical Asso- ciation, after which he established the Sydenham Infirmary, which he conducted for a short time, leaving the city in 1849: Dr. Whitney built up a good practice, to which he devoted his attention nntil 1852, when he fell a victim to the "gold-seekers' fever" and left for Cali- fornia. Dr. Blanchard came from Courtland county, N. Y. He was a graduate of Geneva Medical College, strictly "orthodox" in his methods, and a deadly foe to homeopathy. At one time he held the position of surgeon in the United States marine hospital service at Milwaukee. He died in 1866. Of the other doctors who came in
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1846 but little is known, or at least but little record of them has been preserved.
The year 1847 witnessed the advent of Drs. Victor Auler, Thomas M. Clark, J. K. McCurdy, F. D. Beardsley, J. C. Dowe, Alfred Mercer, W. W. Lake, S. Robinson, D. H. Shumway, H. Van Dusen, F. G. Smalley, J. G. Wolcott and E. C. Wunduly. Dr. Van Dusen soon afterward went to Mineral Point, Dr. Shumway to Stevens Point, Dr. Mercer returned to New York, and of the others only four re- mained in the city in 1850. While a resident of the city Dr. Mercer prepared a memorial, which was read before and endorsed by the City Medical Association, asking Congress to pass a law prohibiting the importation of impure drugs into the United States.
By 1848 the population of Milwaukee was about 15,000, and in that year eleven physicians were added to the list already in the field. They were Charles Wilhelmi, J. E. Garner, George K. Walker, E. Lynch, L. Jurgens, A. B. Dunlop, W. J. B. Darwin, T. H. Brown, C. A. Barlow, Abram Babcock and William Atwater. Nine of these physicians left Milwaukee in a short time. Dr. Wilhelmi remained until 1858, and Dr. Garner continued to practice his profession until 1875, when he was called to his door one day by a crazy woman who shot and killed him because he "blew chloroform after her," even to Europe, where she went to escape the persecution, but in vain, so she concluded that the only way to rid herself of the fumes of the chloro- form was to "remove the cause."
Dr. H. H. Button, a graduate of Brown University and the medical department of the University of New York, located in Mil- waukee in 1849, but soon gave up the practice of medicine to engage in the drug business, the house founded by him subsequently becoming one of the best known in the West.
In the same year Drs. Chauncey C. Robinson and Thomas Spencer, both of whom attained to eminence in the profession, settled in Milwaukee. The former had but recently graduated in the medical department of what is now Hobart College, Geneva, N. Y., and he brought with him some ideas that were new to Milwaukee physicians, particularly the system of percussion and auscultation as a means of making diagnosis in pulmonary diseases-a system just then coming into use. It is related that soon after Dr. Robinson's arrival in the city he was called in consultation, "and acording to the custom among physicians, being the junior he was requested to make his examination and express an opinion first. He did so, and with the then new methods to aid him stated with some boldness that there were cavities in cach lung : that the man was far advanced in consumption and
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would soon die. This ex-cathedra statement startled the elderly medical gentlemen present, who stood by witnessing this novel and extraordinary performance, which they afterward spoke of as 'crazy nonsense'; they shook their heads at the young man's oracular pre- sumption, and were not at all impressed with the soundness of his views, taking occasion to so inform him. Then for the patient they prescribed 'foxglove to tone up his heart,' and sent him home, where he died a few days afterward of consumption."
Dr. Robinson was one of the most active physicians in combating the cholera during the epidemic of 1849, a few months after his arrival in Milwaukee, and the acquaintances formed during the progress of the scourge resulted in winning for him a lucrative practice. It ap- pears that he possessed more of the business instinct than many of the pioneer doctors, as he collected his fees and invested the proceeds in such a way that in later life he enjoyed the privilege of retiring from active practice and "looking after his property."
Dr. Spencer was a native of Massachusetts, but in early manhood located at Geneva, N. Y., where he became one of the founders of the medical department of Hobart College, in which he later held the chair of Principles and Practice of Medicine. In the war with Mexico he was a surgeon in the army and soon after receiving his discharge he settled in Milwaukee, where for a time he was in partnership with Dr. Robinson. Some time after coming to Milwaukee he was elected to a professorship in the Rush Medical College, of Chicago, but through jealousy a suit was instigated against him for malpractice by some one envious of his popularity, though the suit was actually brought by the father of a child that had lost part of its jaw-bone, the claim being that this had resulted from excessive doses of calomel administered under Dr. Spencer's direction. He was acquitted in the trial that ensued, and soon afterward went to Philadelphia, where he became a professor in one of the medical colleges and died in 1857. Dr. Spencer was the author of several medical works published be- tween 1845 and the time of his death.
Between 1850 and 1860 a large number of physicians established themselves in Milwaukee. Some of them left after a short stay, but others remained and several became prominent in medical circles. Dr. James Crugom, a native of France, came in the year 1850 and practiced his profession until the breaking out of the war in 1861, when he en- tered the army as assistant surgeon of the First Wisconsin infantry. He served with his regiment until the close of the war, when he re- sumed his professional labors in Milwaukee and there passed the rest of his life.
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Dr. Louis McKnight made visits to Milwaukee in 1848 and 1849, and in 1850 became a resident of the city. He was a graduate of Princeton, and received his degree of M. D. from the medical depart- ment of the University of Pennsylvania, after which he spent about a year in the hospitals of Paris, France, to complete his education. Shortly after locating in Milwaukee he formed a partnership with Dr. Whitney, which partnership was dissolved in 1852 by Dr. Whit- ney's going to California. In 1864 Dr. McKnight was elected exam- ining surgeon of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, which position he held for over thirty years.
Dr. Solon Marks was born in Stockbridge, Vt., July 14, 1827, and came to Wisconsin in 1848. In 1853 he graduated at Rush Medical College of Chicago, practiced his profession at Jefferson, Wis., until 1856 and then removed to Steven's Point where he remained until the outbreak of the Civil war. On Sept. 27, 1861, he was commis- sioned surgeon of the Tenth regiment, Wisconsin volunteer infantry, served throughout the war, was both wounded and captured, received merited promotion, and was discharged in November, 1864, being at the time chief surgeon of the First division, Fourteenth army corps. Upon his return from military service he located in Milwaukee, where he has since gained a wide reputation as a surgeon, many of his oper- ations having received national notice. In particular may be men- tioned an operation for the removal of a bullet from the region of the heart performed in 1870, the patient having carried the ball since 1864. In 1866 he was chief surgeon of St. Mary's Hospital, Milwaukee. In 1873 he went to Europe and visited the hospitals of England, Ireland, and France. He has been a member of the State Board of Health since its organization and has served as its presi- dent during the greater part of its existence. He has been Professor of Military Surgery, Fractures and Dislocations in the Wisconsin College of Physicians and Surgeons at Milwaukee and was the donor of the laboratory equipment of that institution, which are called the Marks laboratories. From 1870 to 1901 he was chief surgeon of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company and was a promi- nent member of the National Association of Railway Surgeons. He is also a member of various other professional associations and has contributed largely to medical literature. (A more extended sketch of Dr. Marks will be found in the biographical volume of this work ).
Dr. Henry E. Haase, a native of Saxony, first came to Milwau- kee in 1845 as a young man. Later he studied medicine at St. Louis, Mo., then went to Germany and completed the course in the Univer- sity of Wurzburg, returning to Milwaukee in 1861, just in time to
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receive an appointment as assistant surgeon in the Ninth Wisconsin volunteer infantry. A few months later he was made surgeon of the Twenty-fourth Wisconsin infantry, with which regiment he remained until it was mustered out. He then practiced in Milwaukee for several years, when he went to California.
Dr. Oliver P. Wolcott settled in Milwaukee in 1857 and was associated in practice with his brother, E. B. Wolcott, until the latter was appointed a surgeon in the army. He then practiced alone until 1864, when he formed a partnership with Dr. Solon Marks which continued for about ten years, when he retired from practice on account of failing health, though he lived for many years afterward.
Among the prominent physicians and surgeons who located in the city after the war were Drs. James H. Thompson, Orlando W. Wight, Nicholas Senn and Darius Mason. Dr. Thompson was a native of Maine and prepared himself for the practice of his profession by graduating in the medical department of Bowdoin College in 1859. Two years later he entered the army as assistant surgeon of the Twelfth Maine volunteer infantry, and in November, 1863, was com- missioned assistant surgeon of United States volunteers. On Dec. 5, 1863, he was promoted to surgeon; was breveted lieutenant- colonel "for faithful and meritorious services" on Sept. 15, 1865, and in 1867 was appointed surgeon to the National Soldiers' Home at Milwaukee. In 1870 he resigned this position and began private practice in the city of Milwaukee, which he continued to follow until his death.
Darius Mason was born in Massachusetts in 1830. He was edu- cated in the Friends' Academy at New Bedford, Mass., and received his degree of M. D. from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York city, where he graduated in 1853. His early practice was in the hospitals at Randall's Island, N. Y., and St. Louis, Mo., and in 1856 he located at Prairie du Chien, Wis. From 1862 to 1864 he served as surgeon of the Thirty-first Wisconsin volunteer infantry, then resumed his private practice at Prairie du Chien until 1877. when he removed to Milwaukee. The following year he was elected president of the State Medical Society. Dr. Mason was a surgeon of excellent ability and performed a number of intricate operations. He was a member of several medical associations in the work of which he took a deep interest.
Dr. Nicholas Senn, one of the most noted surgeons in the United States, was born in the Canton of St. Gall, Switzerland, in 1844. When nine years of age he came to America with his parents, who settled at Ashford, Wis., where he was educated and began the study
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of medicine. In 1868 he graduated at the Chicago Medical College and practiced at Ashford, Wis .. until 1874, when he removed to Mil- waukee, having been appointed attending surgeon to Milwaukee Hos- pital, which position he held for many years. In 1878 he visited the medical colleges and hospitals of Europe; in 1884 he was made professor of surgery in the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Chicago, which chair he held for three years; was also professor of surgery in the Chicago Polyclinic; was appointed surgeon-general of Wisconsin by Governor Peck in 1890; held the same position under Governor Altgeld, of Illinois; wrote a number of books on surgery and kindred subjects, one of the latest being the Medico-Surgical Aspects of the Spanish-American War. He died recently in Chicago.
Dr. Orlando W. Wight was born in Alleghany county, N. Y., In 1824. After obtaining such an education as the district and select schools of the county afforded he entered a collegiate institute at Rochester and graduated there in 1844. He then followed teaching for a time, was ordained a minister by Dr. E. H. Chapin, of New York, but declined to ally himself with any particular denomination, serving as pastor to a mixed congregation of Unitarians, Universalists and Swedenborgians at Newark, N. J. In 1853 he went to Europe and after visiting various countries was employed as a translator by a London publisher. While in Europe he studied medicine, and after practicing in several places located at Milwaukee in 1871. In 1874 he was appointed surgeon-general of Wisconsin and state geologist in 1874, and in 1878 was made health commissioner for the city of Milwaukee. His work in this capacity attracted the attention of the city authorities of Detroit, Mich., and in 1882 he resigned his position in Milwaukee to accept that of health commissioner in Detroit.
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