USA > Wisconsin > Racine County > Racine > Racine, belle city of the lakes, and Racine County, Wisconsin : a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Vol. I > Part 28
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When the first doctors began to practice their profession in Racine County, they did not visit their patients in automo- biles. Even if the automobile had been invented, the roads - where there were any - were in such a condition most of the time that the vehicle would have been practically useless. Con- sequently the doctor put his trust in his faithful horse to carry him upon his round of visits. His practice extended over a large district, some of his patrons living thirty or forty miles away, with no road to follow but the "blazed trail." When he made calls in the night, he often carried a lantern with him, so he could find the road in case he lost his way. If he did not remain with the family until morning, on his way back home he would drop the reins upon the horse's neck and trust to the animal's instinct to keep the trail.
There were no drug stores then to fill prescriptions, so the doctor carried his medicines with him in a pair of "pill bags" - a contrivance consisting of two leathern boxes divided into com- partments for different sized vials and connected by a broad strap that could be thrown across the saddle. Capsules were unknown and the "heroic" doses of bitter, nauseating medicines were given in various kinds of mixtures to disguise the taste. There seemed to be a tacit understanding between the doctor and the patient that "the nastier the medicine, the quicker the cure." Besides the lancet, the pioneer doctor's principal surgical instru- ment was the "turnkey." for extracting teeth, for he was dentist as well as physician. A story is told of a enstomer once com- plaining to a negro barber that the razor pulled, to which the darky replied: "Yes, sah. I know dat, boss: but if the razor handle doesn't break de beard am bound to come off." So it was with the old-time doctor as a dentist. Onee he got that turnkey firmly fastened on a tooth, if the instrument did not break, the tooth was bound to come out.
And yet these early doctors, crude as many of their methods may now appear, were the forerunners of and paved the way for the eminent specialists of the Twentieth Century. They were unselfish to a fault, and if one of them discovered a new remedy.
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of a new way of administering an old one, he was always ready to impart a knowledge of his discovery to his professional breth- ren. In doing so there was little ostentation or appearance of pedantry, his chief aim being to relieve the afflicted and advance the interests of his chosen profession. If one of these physicians of the early days could come back to the scene of his earthly labors and walk into the office of one of the leading specialists of the present generation, he would doubtless stand aghast at the array of scientific instruments, such as microscopes, stethoscopes, X-ray apparatus, etc., and might not realize the fact that he had played his humble part in bringing about this march of progress: yet it is even so.
EARLY PHYSICIANS OF RACINE COUNTY
In December, 1835, Dr. Bushnell B. Cary located at the little village of Racine and was the first man to practice medicine in what is now Racine County. He was born in Addison County. Vermont, December 21, 1801, and received a fair common school education in his native town of Shoreham. He then read medi- eine with a Doctor Woodard and at the age of twenty-one years was graduated at the Castleton Medical College. Soon after receiving his degree of M. D., he married Miss Arminda Crocker. a native of Connectient, and a little later removed to St. Law- rence County, New York, where he began practice. After a short residence there, he went to Hannibal, in Oswego County, where he practiced until 1875, when the Western Emigration Company began the work of organizing a colony to go to what is now Southeastern Wisconsin.
Doctor Cary joined the colony and left Oswego in a schooner and on August 13, 1835, landed at the month of Pike River, near the present City of Kenosha. There he lived until the following December, when he located in Raeine, as above stated. He made a claim on the southeast side of the Root River, on which the stand-pipe of the Racine Waterworks was afterward erected, though he lived in the woods near the present Fourth Street bridge. While living there a man named Harris undertook to "jump his claim." The doctor and a few of his neighbors went to order off the intruder. As the party approached, Harris fired upon them and the ball passed through Doctor Cary's right arm and lodged under the shoulder blade, inflicting a serious wound.
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The nearest surgeon was at Milwaukee, and the only road was the old Indian trail, but a messenger was despatched "post haste" to bring a doctor, and eventually returned with a young and inex- perienced surgeon. He went to work with a will, however, and with his patient's suggestions, checked the flow of blood and saved Doctor Cary's life, though the ball was never extracted and he carried it with him to the grave, some twenty-five years later. Harris made his escape and was never seen again in Racine.
Doctor Cary was an enthusiastic Democrat in his political affiliations. In May, 1836, he was appointed postmaster at Racine and held the office until in April, 1841. He was again appointed postmaster in July, 1845, and served for four years. In February, 1854, he was appointed for a third time and served until his death. He was one of the incorporators of the Racine & Missis- sippi Railroad Company and also of the Racine Seminary. In April, 1842, he was elected as the second president of the Village Board, after Racine was incorporated. He also served as county supervisor, alderman and county treasurer, and took an active part in public affairs, though he never forgot that he was a phy- sician and that his patients had the first claim upon his time and skill. He was a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity and was the first worshipful master of Raeine Lodge, No. 18, when it was organized in November, 1847. His death occurred on Feb- ruary 15, 1859.
The second physician to locate in Racine County was Dr. Elias Smith, who came to the settlement at the mouth of the Root River in December, 1835. Nothing can be learned of him prior to his coming to Wisconsin, but after establishing himself at Racine he built up a hierative practice and became an active, public spirited citizen. He was the first president of the Village Board when Racine was incorporated in 1841; served as postmas- ter from April, 1841, to July, 1845; was the first president of the Racine & Rock River Plank Road Company; was chairman of the County Board of Supervisors in 1851, and was one of the ineor- porators of the Racine & Mississippi Railroad Company. The "Racine Register, Business Directory and Advertiser," published by Mark Miller in 1850 - the first city directory of Racine ever compiled - gives Doctor Smith's residence as 171 Main Street. Dr. E. G. Dyer first came to the county in 1836 and selected
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a location at Burlington. He walked most of the way from Chi- cago, following Indian trails. Toward sunset each day he would begin keeping a lookout for the cabin of some settler, where he could pass the night, a hospitality that was never denied, until finally, late one afternoon he arrived at Foxville. That night he slept with seven others in a shanty 10 by 12 feet, with no bed save the puncheon floor. In 1839 he brought his family and took up his residence in a little log cabin that had been built by Origen Perkins three years before. Doctor Dyer was the first to prac- tice his profession in the Town of Burlington. His son, Charles E. Dyer, was afterward judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.
In 1837 Dr. John E. Scofield came with several other mem- bers of his family to the Town of Raymond and was the first phy -- sician in that part of the county. About the same time Dr. Solo- mon Blood located in what is now the Town of Rochester. Little can be learned of either of these men, further than Doctor Blood did not remain long in the county and Doctor Scofield continued in practice for several years.
Dr. Francis Paddock came to Racine County in 1839 with his parents and settled in what is now the Town of Salem, in Kenosha County. He was born in the State of New York on September 15, 1814, and studied medicine with Doctor Hamilton at Auburn, New York, before coming west. It was his intention, as soon as the family were comfortably settled, to return to Michigan and engage in practice, but the illness of his father compelled him to remain in Wisconsin to look after affairs. After Kenosha County was ent off from Racine in 1850 he continued to practice in the latter county, where he had a number of families who employed him as their physician. In 1855 he was elected to the State Senate and for several years he was a justice of the peace. His death occurred on March 29, 1889.
The first physician to locate in what is now the Town of Waterford was a Doctor Blanchard. He remained but a short time and afterward practiced in Racine for a while, when he left the county. What became of him no one knows.
Dr. George F. Newell came to Waterford in 1842. He was a native of Vermont and a graduate of Castleton Medical College of that state. After practicing at Waterford for a few years he went to Racine, but soon returned to his old location, where he
SCENE ALONG THE SHORE PATH OF RIVERSIDE PARK
VIEW IN RIVERSIDE PARK
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continued in practice until only a short time before his death, with the exception of the Civil War period, when he served as assistant surgeon of the Fifteenth Wisconsin Infantry. He had a high reputation as a physician and surgeon, and after the war refused to accept any fees for treating the widows and orphans of soldiers. Under the old town system he was superintendent of schools, and in 1847 was elected a member of the lower branch of the Territorial Legislature. He died at Rochester, Racine County, March 5, 1898, aged eighty-two years. His father, Oliver Newell. was a physician; his sons, George E. Newell and Henry B. Newell, both took up that professsion; and a grandson, Frank F. Newell, is also a physician, making four generations of the family to follow that calling.
Dr. Philo R. Hoy, who is well remembered by the old settlers of Racine County, was born in Richland County, Ohio, November 3. 1816. His father, Capt. William Hoy, was a native of New York. In the War of 1812 he commanded a company of infantry and took part in the battle of Plattsburg, New York. In 1840 Dr. Philo R. Hoy received his degree of M. D. from the Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati, though he had been engaged in practice for about a year previous to that time. After receiving his degree he located at New Haven, Ohio, where he married Miss Mary Austin, and in September, 1846, came to Racine, then a town of 2,200 people. He built a residence on Main Street, near Second, considered at the time to be the best house in the town, and was soon engaged in active practice.
Doctor Hoy took a keen interest in the advancement of sei- ence, especially the study of geology and archeology. He was at one time president of the Wisconsin Academy of the Arts and Sciences; served as a member of the Geological Survey; was an honorary member of the Philadelphia Academy of Science; an active member of the Chicago Academy of Science: a member of the Wisconsin Board of Health, and wrote several works on the Mound Builders in Wisconsin, etc. Although interested in public questions, he never took an active part in politics, though he held the office of fish commissioner by appointment for several years.
His son, Dr. A. H. Hoy, entered the army as a medical cadet and during the Civil War held the rank of acting assistant sur- geon, having charge of the hospitals at Cincinnati, Ohio, Coving-
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ton and Louisville, Kentucky. After the war he went to Europe and studied in the hospitals, after which he returned to Racine and engaged in practice. He held degrees from the Ohio Medical College and the Rush Medical College of Chicago.
Another physician who came to Sontheastern Wisconsin in 1846 was Dr. A. P. Adams, who came from New York and located in what is now the Town of Paris, Kenosha County. He had a large practice about Union Grove and followed his profession until just before his death on June 8, 1869, aged seventy-three years.
His son, Henry D. Adams, read medicine in his father's office and in February, 1852, was graduated at the Rush Medical Col- lege of Chicago, though he had assisted his father for some time before going to college. On March 29, 1847, he married Miss Priscilla, daughter of Rev. E. S. Gradwell. Both father and son wore successful and respected physicians, and although not resi- dents of Racine County as it is at present, they had quite a mumber of patrons in the Towns of Dover, Yorkville and Mount Pleasant.
The first city directory of Racine, published in 1850, shows the following physicians then living in the town: William Banm- bach, Bushnell B. Cary, E. Everett, Sammel H. Graves, Philo R. Hoy, Egbert Jameison, John L. Page, James S. Shepherd, Elias Smith, C. Spiegle, S. S. Stevens, Joseph B. Talcott, Mathias R. Teegarden, John Thompson and Warren Wadsworth. Most of these men passed away without leaving a sufficient record of themselves from which to compile any accurate account of their professional career, though one of them - Dr. John L. Page -- is known to have been a physician of more than usual prominence.
Dr. John L. Page was born at the Town of Deerfield, New Hampshire, March 16, 1815. While still in his boyhood, his par- ents removed to Newburyport, Massachusetts, where he received a good education in the academy, and upon leaving school began the study of medicine. For some reason he changed his mind and took up the law and in 1838 came west with a view of prac- tiring that profession. He soon discovered that he was "not ent ont for a lawyer" and resumed the study of medicine. In 1845 he received the degree of M. D. from the medical department of the St. Louis University, after which he spent some time in the hospitals of New York. In 1848 he located at Racine. In 1854,
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when the cholera epidemic broke out in Chicago, he went to that city and won a national reputation by his methods of treatment. He was then called to the chair of materia medica and therapeu- ties in the lowa Medical College, but upon the breaking out of the Civil War returned to Racine and was made surgeon of the Fourth Wisconsin Infantry. After the war he was for a time surgeon of the National Soldiers' Home at Milwaukee. He was a prominent member of the Masonie fraternity; belonged to St. Luke's Episcopal Church: served as county physician and as president of the Racine Board of Health, and was for years a member of the Milwaukee Board of United States Examining Surgeons for Pensions.
His brother. Dr. Edwin A. C. Page, also practiced for some time in Racine and had the reputation of being a skilled physi- cian. During the excitement that followed the discovery of gold in California he started for the Pacific Coast, but returned to Racine after a short absence and resumed his practice. He was also a member of the Masonic fraternity. He died suddenly in February, 1860.
In 1853 Dr. Joel H. Cooper located at Burlington. He was born in Windsor County, Vermont, April 20, 1821, and was edu- rated in the Wesleyan University at Middletown, Connecticut, after which he studied medicine. In 1844 he came west, first locating in Hlinois. The next year he removed to Spring Prairie, Walworth County, where he practiced medicine and kept a drug store, and was elected to the Legislature in 1852. He then came to Burlington, where he engaged in the practice of his profession and took an active part in public affairs. In 1861 he was ap- pointed postmaster at Burlington and held the office umtil 1874. His son. Hemy A. Cooper, was elected to represent the First Wisconsin Distriet in Congress in 1892 and has been elected at each succeeding election to 1914. Like his father, he is a Repub- lican in his political affiliations.
Dr. John G. Meacham, who came to the City of Racine in the fall of 1862, was born in Somersetshire, England, May 27, 1823. and came with his parents to the United States in 1831. Ten years later he took his first course of lectures in the Geneva Medical College and in 1843 was graduated at the Castleton Med- ical College. Castleton, Vermont. After practicing at Warsaw, New York. for several years he took a course at Bellevue Hospital
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College, in New York City, and then came to Racine. During the Civil War he was enrollment surgeon for the Wyoming District, and was for one year the surgeon in charge of Camp Utley at Racine. Doctor Meacham was a member of the American Med- ical Association; president of the Wisconsin Medical Association in 1881; served as president and secretary of the Racine County Medical Society; was a member of the Brainerd Medical Society and the Wisconsin Academy of Arts and Sciences, and wrote a number of articles for the leading medical journals. He was mayor of Racine for three terms and was one of the founders of St. Luke's Hospital. His death occurred on February 1, 1896.
His son, John G. Meacham, Jr., graduated at the Rush Med- ical College at the age of nineteen years and is now a practicing physician of Racine; and a brother, William G. Meacham, grad- uated in the medical department of the University of New York in 1855. He practiced at Warsaw, New York, until the breaking out of the Civil War, when he entered the army as assistant sur- geon of a New York regiment and was with General Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley. In 1869 he came to Racine County, but never practiced after his arrival. He is now living in the Town of Mount Pleasant at the ripe old age of eighty-six years.
Among the pioneer physicians of Racine County may be men- tioned Doctor Darling, of Burlington; Dr. Clark Nettleton, who owned a farm in the Town of Raymond and practiced there and in Racine; Dr. D. P. Wooster, a son of Daniel Wooster, who came to the county in 1836; Doctor Schneider, a German physician; Dr. J. M. Tillipaugh, whose widow still lives in Racine, and Dr. C. S. Duncombe, who was probably the first homeopathie physi- cian in the county. Dr. Homer Campbell, son of Owen Campbell, one of the early settlers of Yorkville, was also one of the old-time doctors of Racine County.
Others who came at a later date and practiced here forty or more years ago were: Samuel JJ. Martin, a homeopath, who came in 1869; Doetor Ozan, another homeopathie physician, who settled in the northern part of Kenosha County at a comparatively early date; Dr. A. A. Kitchingman, who located in Raymond in 1870, and whose son, Ray S. Kitchingman, afterward became a physician; Dr. F. R. Garlock, who came in 1874; Dr. Charles Egan, in 1875; Dr. F. J. Pope and John G. Achenbach, in 1876. Some of these doctors are still practicing in the county.
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MEDICAL SOCIETIES
About the time the State of Wisconsin was admitted into the Union in 1848, a State Medical Society was organized, a few of the Racine County physicians becoming members. During the war of 1861-65, this society went down, but it was reorganized in 1867, some of the doctors in Racine County taking part in the reorganization.
A Racine County Medical Society was organized many years ago, but it was allowed to perish and its records have been lost. About the beginning of the present century the American Med- ical Association adopted a rule that, in order to be a member of that association, a physician must belong to a recognized county medical society. Following this ruling of the national associa- tion, the present Racine County Medical Society was organized on May 1, 1903, at which time the following officers were chosen: Dr. Walter S. Haven, president; Dr. Thomas N. Schnetz, first vice-president; Dr. John Meacham, second vice-president; Dr. C. F. Browne, secretary; Dr. Soren Sorenson, treasurer, Drs. F. J. Pope, S. C. Buchan and F. R. Garlock, censors.
Meetings are held quarterly, in March, June. September and December, and the officers are elected annually at the De- cember meeting. Since the organization of the society the con- stitution and by-laws have been amended to dispense with one of the vice-presidents and the offices of secretary and treasurer have been consolidated. The officers elected in December, 1915, were: Dr. Samuel C. Buchan, president; Dr. W. A. Fulton, vice-presi- dent; Dr. Susan Jones, secretary and treasurer; Drs. Walter S. Haven, George W. Nott and F. A. Malone, censors; Dr. J. S. Keech, delegate to the state convention; Dr. F. F. Newell, alter- nate. At the close of the year 1915 the society munbered forty members. The meetings are usually held at the rooms of the Commercial Club or at the Hotel Racine, and are conducted along the lines suggested by the American Medical Association. A paper pertaining to some phase of medical practice is read by one of the members, and is discussed by those present, after which the meeting becomes informal or more of a social character. Through these meetings the doctors of the county have become better acquainted and a more fraternal feeling developed.
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MEDICAL LEGISLATION
Through the influence of the State Medical Society and the various county medical societies of Wisconsin, the Legislature of 1897 passed an act providing for the establishment of a State Board of Medical Examiners, to be appointed as follows:
"The Governor shall appoint a Board of Medical Examiners, to be known as the ' Wisconsin State Board of Medical Examin- ers,' consisting of eight members. Such appointments shall be made from separate lists presented to him every year; one list of ten names presented by the Wisconsin State Medical Society, one list of ten names presented by the Homeopathic Medical So- ciety of the State of Wisconsin, one list of ten names presented by the Wisconsin Eclectic Medical Society, and one list of five names presented by the Wisconsin State Osteopathie Association. In case any of said societies or associations fail to present such list of names, the Governor may fill vacancies in the board by appointment from the last list filed by such association or society previous to the occurrence of such vacancy .* *
* Three mem- bers of said board shall be allopathic, two shall be homeopathic, two eclectic. and one osteopathie, and shall all be licentiates of said board."
All persons beginning or desiring to begin the practice of medicine in the state, according to any of the schools recognized by the law, must apply to the state board for a license and pre- sent a diploma from some accredited school of medicine. The applicant is then examined by the member or members of the board representing that system of practice in materia medica. therapeuties and practice, and if found qualified a license is issued, which must be recorded with the county clerk in the county where such applicant intends to practice.
The law further provides that no license shall be issued to any one "guilty of immoral, dishonorable or unprofessional con- duet." such as advertising along certain lines, accepting fees for and guaranteeing the cure of known inenrable diseases, or divulg- ing a secret obtained while serving in a professional capacity, nor shall any license be issued to persons addicted to the use of nareotic drugs. The tendency of this law has been to place the medical profession upon a higher plane and protect the physician from the competition of irresponsible practitioners.
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PRESENT-DAY PHYSICIANS
Following is a list of the doctors of Racine County at the beginning of the year 1916. This list has been compiled from various sources and is believed to contain the name of every licensed physician in the county, though it is possible that the name of some one has been omitted, or that the list contains the name of one who has since left the county.
City of Racine-JJens Andersen, George Brazeau, H. E. Breckenridge, Hemy J. Brehm, Theodore G. Brehm, C. F. Browne, Samuel C. Buchan, Frederick Christensen, William P. Collins, John T. Coor, Frank L. Fancher, Lewis E. Fazen, James Fitzgibbon, Argo M. Foster, Maynard A. Froney, Conrad K. Hahn, Jorgen W. Hansen, William C. Hanson, John H. Hogan, Walter S. Haven. William G. Hyde, Susan JJones, J. S. Keech, Robert A. Kitto, Thomas J. MeCrory, Gilbert M. McNitt, John Meacham, John G. Meacham, Albert L. Nelson, George W. Nott, Francis J. Pope, F. W. Pope, Ralph A. Rugh, William P. Sal- breiter. Luther N. Schnetz, John Schulze, Soren Sorenson, Ed - ward A. Taylor, Robert C. Thackeray, Emil L. Tompach, E. Von Buddenbrock, William G. Wheeler, Alexander J. Williams.
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