CHAPTER XI

_The Physicians of the County_

BY FREDERICK G. MURRAY

Among the first doctors who located in and around Marion should be mentioned S. H. Tryon, F. W. Tailor, and James Cummings. These men came before 1840. They were followed by T. S. Bardwell and L. W. Phelps. Dr. Tryon at least came as early as 1838 and was for many years a well-known public character. He acted as county clerk and held many posts of honor.

Dr. J. K. Rickey bought John Young's claim in Cedar Rapids as early as 1841 and must have been located in that vicinity at that time. What became of him is not known, and whether or not he engaged in the practice extensively is doubtful. There were not many whites there in those early days and it is a question if any had the time or inclination to be very sick. In case they were it was no doubt homesickness, for which a doctor has so far been unable to offer any permanent cure.

The first doctor who came to Cedar Rapids was inclined to blow his own horn. J. L. Enos, the editor of the _Cedar Valley Times_, has the following to say: "Once when he had returned from Muscatine he claimed to have lost forty pounds of quinine in one of the streams below the Cedar. Constable Lewis once called on him with an execution to secure a judgment. The doctor threw off his coat and prepared for a fight. The constable seeing his opportunity seized the coat and made away with it and found therein sufficient money to satisfy the debt."

Profiting by the example, later comers have avoided fights and have tried to pay their debts.

In the correspondence between S. W. Durham and A. C. Dodge in December, 1848, the following named doctors are referred to: S. M. Brice (whig), Center Point; Ivanhoe, Jno. Evans; Hollenback P. O., Dr. Williams; Cedar Rapids P. O., J. F. Ely.

Thus during 1848 the above named persons must have been residents and practicing physicians in their respective localities. Dr. Brice was the second doctor in Cedar Rapids. Later he moved to Center Point. These men were no doubt slated as candidates for postmasters. Dr. Brice later acted as postmaster at Center Point.

A history of the medical profession in Linn county must be largely made up of a list of names, as the intrinsic work of the medical practitioner is scarcely a fit subject matter for the casual reader.

What seems to be the earliest date in connection with which there is mention of a physician in the county annals is 1841, in which year Dr. Magnus Holmes came to the town of Marion from Crawfordsville, Indiana. Promising to be of great value to the community, Dr. Holmes passed away a short time after his arrival. Dr. Henry M. Ristine, father of Dr. J. M. Ristine, of Cedar Rapids, was a brother-in-law of Dr. Holmes, and came to Marion from Indiana in 1842. Another of the very earliest practitioners was Dr. Sam Grafton, who was located on the Cedar river at Ivanhoe bridge, on the old military road from Dubuque to Iowa City. Just when he came is not known; this was one of the earliest settlements in the county and he had practiced there for some four years previous to 1847, in which year he fell a victim to a typhoid epidemic. Dr. Amos Witter was one of the first physicians in Mt. Vernon. He passed away in 1862 at the age of fifty-five, having been several years a member of the legislature. In 1886 there was still living in Viola a Dr. S. S. Matson, who had practiced there since 1845. He graduated from the University of Vermont in 1832, the same year in which Dr. Elisha W. Lake, an early Marion physician, graduated from the Ohio Medical College. These two men are in point of graduation the oldest men the county has had. In northeastern Linn the first physician was Dr. Stacy, who lived on the Anamosa and Quasqueton road near Boulder church. He was a brother to the late Judge Stacy, the pioneer promoter of the Dubuque & Southwestern Railroad. Some of the other early practitioners were Dr. E. L. Mansfield, who came to Cedar Rapids or Kingston in 1847; Dr. J. M. Traer, who made Cedar Rapids his home from 1847-51; Dr. J. F. Ely, who came to the same place in 1848; and Dr. S. D. Carpenter, who came in 1849.

Dr. Shattuck, of Green's Mills, now Coggon, Drs. Lannin and Byam, of Paris, Drs. Patterson and Mitchell, of Clark's Ford, now Central City, and Dr. Young, of Prairieburg, were all pioneer doctors in their respective communities. Dr. T. S. Bardwell, who became a leading physician of Marion, settled on a farm in that vicinity in 1840, making his residence in the county date back farther than that of any other medical man except S. H. Tryon.

A rather incomplete business directory of Cedar Rapids in 1856 gives the following as physicians: S. C. Koontz, J. H. Camburn, W. D. Barclay, J. W. Edes, Smith & Larrabee, R. R. Taylor.

A complete city directory published in 1869 gives the names of the following: C. F. Bullen, J. H. Camburn, G. P. Carpenter, J. P. Coulter, J. W. Edes, Mansfield & Smith, Freeman McClelland, John North, Israel Snyder, C. H. Thompson, W. Bollinger, J. C. May. Of these, Dr. Camburn and Dr. Edes were prominent in their profession for many years. Dr. R. R. Taylor was a Virginian, who went to reside in Philadelphia about the time of the Civil war. Dr. J. C. May was a druggist as well as a very popular physician. He was a brother of the late Major May, of island fame.

A medical and surgical directory of Iowa for 1876 gives the first authentic list of doctors in Linn county to which access has been had. A list of fifty is given as in active practice in the county at that time. Only six of these remain: Dr. George P. Carpenter, dean of the profession in Cedar Rapids; Dr. G. R. Skinner, of Cedar Rapids; Dr. T. S. Kepler, of Mt. Vernon; Dr. Hindman, of Marion; Dr. Edwin Burd, of Lisbon; and Dr. F. M. Yost, of Center Point. The last of these, Dr. Yost, class of 1853 University of Pennsylvania, is the oldest living practitioner in the county. His two sons are now associated with him in his work. One other, Dr. J. H. Smith, of Cedar Rapids, has not been in practice for many years but preserves a close relation to his old calling through his presidency of the board of directors of St. Luke's Hospital. The two Doctors Sigworth are still living near their old neighborhood, having retired to Anamosa.

A registry of all physicians practicing in the county was begun in the county clerk's office in 1880-1881. It started with sixty-four names, probably the full number of those in active practice at the time. Since then about 230 additional doctors have been registered, and of this total of nearly 300 about 125 are now practicing in the county.

At Western some of the early physicians were Dr. Crouse, Dr. W. B. Wagner, Dr. Miller, all of whom preceded Dr. J. C. Schrader who removed to Iowa City. Dr. J. C. Hanshay located here in 1863 and Dr. Favour in 1877. Dr. Patterson was the first doctor in Bertram, in 1857. Dr. J. Stricklippe was an early doctor and druggist at Palo, and Dr. J. W. Firkin was the second doctor at Vanderbilt, later known as Fairfax. His son, Edgar Firkin, is now a popular druggist there. Dr. U. C. Roe came to Fairfax in 1864 for the practice of medicine. He also sold drugs. The business finally drifted into a grocery store, as it seems that the settlers preferred sugar and prunes to pills and quinine.

Among names of note in the early history of these parts are those of several medical doctors whose prominence came along lines outside of their professional work. Dr. John P. Ely's name is prominently connected with the early business enterprises and later growth of Cedar Rapids. The doctor was called in the year he finished his medical studies in New York to the management of commercial and manufacturing interests in this county. The growth of these drew him gradually from the excellent practice for which he at first found time. To the close of his life, however, Dr. Ely kept himself well informed on the progress of scientific medicine. Perhaps the first autopsy in this locality was performed by Dr. Ely in the interests of both science and sobriety, if early annals are authentic, the subject having been in life notorious for his potations.

Dr. Eber L. Mansfield along with a large medical practice found time to build up successful business and real estate interests on both sides of the river at Cedar Rapids.

Dr. Seymour D. Carpenter left the practice after the Civil war and became active and highly successful in the building and financing of railroads in this state and further south. Dr. Carpenter is still living in a hale old age in Chicago.

Dr. Freeman McClelland, a talented graduate of Jefferson Medical College, won for himself enviable popularity and influence through his editorship of the Cedar Rapids _Times_. The flavor of his writings and rare personality are an enduring remembrance with all who knew him.

Dr. J. T. Headley, the eminent platform lecturer, at present living retired in Philadelphia, is said to have first hung out his "shingle" in Cedar Rapids.

Dr. G. W. Holmes, son of Dr. Magnus Holmes, of Marion, after finishing at Bellevue, went as a medical missionary of the American Board to Persia, where in addition to his other work he became royal physician to the Crown Prince, afterwards Shah of Persia. Dr. Holmes passed away in June, 1910.

Linn county sent a number of doctors to the army during the Civil war. The following list is as nearly accurate as to men and organizations as it was possible to make it:

Dr. H. M. Ristine, surgeon 20th Iowa Infantry.

Dr. J. F. Ely, surgeon 24th Iowa.

Dr. J. H. Camburn, surgeon 16th Iowa Infantry, also 6th Iowa Cavalry.

Dr. Freeman McClelland, surgeon 16th Iowa Infantry.

Dr. H. M. Lyons, surgeon 16th Iowa Infantry.

Dr. John F. Smith, assistant surgeon 65th Illinois Infantry.

Dr. G. L. Carhardt, surgeon 31st Iowa.

Dr. J. C. Shrader went from near Western College, this county, with the 22d Iowa Infantry as captain and later as surgeon.

Dr. Amos Witter, surgeon 7th Iowa Infantry.

Dr. T. S. Bardwell served as first assistant surgeon with the 6th Iowa Cavalry, Col. Carskadden of Marion, notably in an expedition against the Indians who were threatening the Nebraska and Dakota frontier, the male portion of the settlers there being largely absent in the Union army.

Dr. Seth Byam, of Jackson township, was surgeon in the U. S. army.

Dr. Seymour D. Carpenter, surgeon U. S. A., during the four years of the war.

Of those who served otherwise than as surgeons, Dr. J. P. Coulter was lieutenant colonel of the 12th Iowa Infantry. He afterwards was active in city and county politics and held several official positions, and distantly related to him was the late Dr. A. B. Coulter, in whose untimely passing away the community lost one of its most promising professional men.

Dr. G. R. Skinner, who came to Cedar Rapids in 1871, spent four years in the Civil war, leaving the service with a captain's commission.

[Illustration: THE LATE DR. J. S. LOVE, SPRINGVILLE]

Dr. W. H. French served through the war in the 89th Illinois Infantry.

Of those men whose distinctly professional work brought them especial esteem, space will allow for the mention of only a few.

Perhaps for no other one of their brethren did the Linn county profession award so universal preference as to Dr. Henry Ristine. Pioneer, patriot, and public-spirited citizen, he was first and before all a doctor, combining in generous measure the traits and faculties that make an eminently successful surgeon, with culture and genial sympathies. It could be truly said of him that he adorned his profession. His portrait hangs in St. Luke's Hospital along with that of the late Judge Greene, whom he ably seconded in the work of founding that institution. Jurist and surgeon alike believed in the hospital as the workshop without which the doctor could not do his best work, and their efforts accomplished much toward the establishment of medical and surgical justice to the physically afflicted, a form of service that deserves more and more public recognition in every community where moral justice to the criminally accused is so amply facilitated by the courts of law.

Among other well remembered physicians were Dr. J. S. Love, of Springville, Dr. James Carson, of Mt. Vernon, Dr. D. McClenahan, of Cedar Rapids, and Dr. G. L. Carhardt, of Marion. Beginning at an early date and devoting themselves exclusively to their practice till advancing age forced retirement, they all four typically exemplified in their respective communities the life of the family physician. They were, none of them, modern doctors, but they lived not only to see but to rejoice in the day of modern medicine. Long after they had ceased from practice they kept up attendance at medical society meetings, keenly alive to the advancements of medical art and scientific research there discussed. They were resourceful men, and they had labored faithfully and well with the art available in their day, how often futilely none felt more keenly than themselves. The realization that modern methods promised control of much that had baffled them seemed to lighten the burden of their declining years. Their abiding interest and faith in the future things of medicine was an inspiration to their successors.

Of medical organizations in Linn county the oldest is the Union Medical Society, founded as the Linn County Medical Society at Mt. Vernon in 1859 by Drs. Love, Ely, Ristine, Carson, and Lyon. Dormant during the war, it resumed in 1866 and ran till 1873, when its name was changed to the Iowa Union and it became a district society, taking its membership from half a dozen or more counties and centering in Linn and Johnson counties. It still meets twice a year at Cedar Rapids, occasionally at Iowa City for scientific work. Its officers now are: president, C. W. Baker, Stanwood; secretary, F. G. Murray, Cedar Rapids; treasurer, C. P. Carpenter, Cedar Rapids.

The present Linn County Society was organized in Cedar Rapids in 1903. It holds meetings twice a year and is the unit of the State and American Medical Associations. One of its members, Dr. G. E. Crawford, is the outgoing president of the Iowa State Medical Society. Its present officers are: president, Dr. A. B. Poore; secretary, Dr. H. W. Bender; treasurer, Frank S. Skinner.

There are other local organizations at Mt. Vernon and Cedar Rapids. The Practitioners' Club of the latter place meets once a month for discussion and action upon medical subjects of special interest to the members. Its officers are: Dr. H. S. Raymer, president; H. E. Pfeiffer, secretary; G. P. Carpenter, treasurer.

St. Luke's Hospital at Cedar Rapids has already been mentioned. It was founded in 1883. On its consulting staff are Drs. G. P. Carpenter, J. M. Ristine, G. R. Skinner, G. E. Crawford, A. B. Poore, and A. H. Johnson. It has an attending staff of younger men. The hospital has seventy-five beds, having recently added a new and completely appointed maternity department. Mercy Hospital, ninety beds, founded at Cedar Rapids in 1902 and housed in its spacious new building in 1904, is under the care of the Sisters of Mercy. These finely equipped institutions serve Cedar Rapids, Marion, the railroad systems and their contributing territory with facilities for the best of medical, surgical and maternity work. Few realize the large amount of free humanitarian work they accomplish every year. Together with Linn county's own excellent infirmary north of Marion they represent in a material and public way the present status of medical art, science, and humanitarianism in the county. Personally and privately these are represented by the 125 active practitioners of medicine.

It will be noted that the names of only a few of these have been mentioned and then only incidentally. The scope of this sketch does not allow adequate individual reference to the remainder. Nor is this the place to record contemporary progress. The lives of all the present members of the profession belong not to the past but to the future history of medicine in Linn county. The attached list gives the names of the practicing physicians in Linn county in 1910:

Adams, Ernest, Central City Anderson, P. O., Cedar Rapids Bailey, F. W., Cedar Rapids Bailey, H. H., Cedar Rapids Beardsley, D. E., Cedar Rapids Bender, H. W., Cedar Rapids Bliss, C. S., Cedar Rapids Bradley, W. J., Cedar Rapids Brown, C. T., Cedar Rapids Burd, Edwin, Lisbon Busta, Chas., Cedar Rapids Byerly, A. J., Coggon Carhart, Wm. G., Marion Carpenter, G. P., Cedar Rapids Carroll, Frank, Cedar Rapids Carson, Geo. A., Mt. Vernon Childs, Edward P., Cedar Rapids Cogswell, C. H., Cedar Rapids Cogswell, C. H., Jr., Cedar Rapids Crawford, A., Mt. Vernon Crawford, G. E., Cedar Rapids Crawford, J. L., Cedar Rapids Crew, Arthur E., Marion Dando, G. A., Marion Davis, J. L., Alburnette Downs, J. W., Paris Dvorak, Jos. F., Fairfax Ebersole, F. F., Mt. Vernon Eilers, Paul G., Alburnette Fisher, C., Central City Fitzgerald, Wm., Cedar Rapids French, Chas. H., Cedar Rapids French, W. H., Cedar Rapids Gardner, Jno. R., Lisbon Gearheart, G. W., Springville Graham, J. DeWitt, Springville Groff, H., Cedar Rapids Gross, H. G., Cedar Rapids Hamilton, John, Cedar Rapids Hayes, L. C., Cedar Rapids Hasner, C. T., Cedar Rapids Heald, Clarence, Cedar Rapids Hill, M. W., Mt. Vernon Hindman, D. R., Marion Hogle, Geo., Mt. Vernon Hogle, Kate Mason, Mt. Vernon Houser, Cass T., Palo Hubbard, W. A., Cedar Rapids Hubbell, S., Cedar Rapids Ivins, H. M., Cedar Rapids Jicinsky, J. Rudis, Cedar Rapids Johnson, A. H., Cedar Rapids Johnson, B. R., Cedar Rapids Kegley, E. A., Cedar Rapids Keppler, T. S., Mt. Vernon King, W. S., Cedar Rapids Knox, J. M., Cedar Rapids Krause, Chas. S., Cedar Rapids Kresja, Oldrich, Cedar Rapids Keech, Roy K., Cedar Rapids Ladd, F. G., Cedar Rapids La Grange, J. W., Marion Lee, J. A., Lisbon Lindley, Thos. H., Cedar Rapids Lindsey, Harry A., Walker Lord, Richard, Cedar Rapids Lowrey, N. J., Ely Loy, J., Cedar Rapids Manahan, Chas. A., Center Point Mantz, R. L., Cedar Rapids Martinitz, S. V., Cedar Rapids McConkie, Jas. J., Cedar Rapids McConkie, W. A., Cedar Rapids Meythaler, A. J., Coggon Miller, W. B., Center Point Moorehead, Jas., Marion Morrison, Wesley J., Cedar Rapids Munden, R. E., Cedar Rapids Muirhead, Geo. S., Marion Murphy, Jas. J., Cedar Rapids Murray, F. G., Cedar Rapids Nash, E. A., Troy Mills Neal, Emma J., Cedar Rapids Netolicky, W. J., Cedar Rapids Neuzil, W. J., Cedar Rapids Newland, M. A., Center Point Owen, W. E., Cedar Rapids Petrovitsky, J. C., Cedar Rapids Pfieffer, H. E., Cedar Rapids Poore, A. B., Cedar Rapids Raymer, H. S., Cedar Rapids Richardson, E. F., Cedar Rapids Richardson, J. F., Cedar Rapids Ristine, J. M., Cedar Rapids Robinson, J. B., Mt. Vernon Ross, Alice I., Whittier Ruml, W., Cedar Rapids Safley, Agnes Isabel, Cedar Rapids Sheldon, B. L., Cedar Rapids Skinner, Frank S., Marion Skinner, Geo. C., Cedar Rapids Skinner, G. R., Cedar Rapids Spencer, W. H., Cedar Rapids Spicer, S. S., Cedar Rapids Stansbury, G. W., Western, C. Rapids Sherman, D. F., Cedar Rapids Swab, C. C., Cedar Rapids Swett, P. W., Cedar Rapids Tiffany, D. E., Cedar Rapids Van Duzer, F. H., Cedar Rapids Walk, F. D., Walker Walker, H. L., Cedar Rapids Ward, J. A., Waubeek Webb, Sula M., Cedar Rapids Whitmore, Clara B., Cedar Rapids Wilkinson, L. J., Prairieburg Wolf, John M., Mt. Vernon Wolf, Thos. L., Mt. Vernon Woodbridge, Ward, Central City Woodruff, L. F., Cedar Rapids York, N. A., Lisbon Yost, C. G., Center Point Yost, B. B., Center Point Yost, F. R., Center Point

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