Coshocton County, Ohio - Chapter 14: Physicians Statistics As to Healthfulness of County Pioneer Medical Remedies, 1876

There is record evidence to show that, in all, not fewer than a hundred and sixty persons have practiced medicine in Coshocton county. With the exception of some twelve or fifteen, these have all been " regulars."

The first resident physician was Dr. Samuel Lee. His hiography is given elsewhere in this volume. A ride of twenty miles was in his practice a common occurrence, and for consultation he went to Mansfield, in Richland county. His active practice covered more than forty years.

The next physician who seems to have made his mark distinctly enough to be readilj^ traced was Dr. Hiram Wright. He was a Canadian, coming to Coshocton directly from Western Kew York. He remained in the county until about 1831, when he removed to Knox county, and not long thereafter died.

In 1831 the physicians of the county were S. Lee, Lewis Colby, Thomas Heslip, William Emerson, Jared Cone, G. R. Morton, Benjamin Hill, and E. G. Lee. Of Dr. S. Lee information is given above and elsewhere.

Dr. Benjamin Hill came to Keene township in 1824 from Cheshire county, N^. H. Though very young, he had been in the Revolutionary war in its last year as an assistant to an army surgeon. He was quite eccentric, as people judged ; rough in speech, but kind of heart, and especially tender toward the brute creation, horses, dogs, cats, etc. His medical hobb}^ was that all diseases were produced by miasmatic influence. His wife died about 1834, and he returned to New England, and died soon after.

Lewis Colby was a well-educated physician, coming, it is understood, from Vermont to Keene about 1828. In a few years he went to Louisiana, and there died after a brief period of practice.

William Emerson read medicine with Dr. Lee, and, after attending lectures in Cincinnati, practiced in connection w^ith him, having his residence and office in Koscoe. That was about 1828. He was a promising young man. Died of pneumonia in 1833.

Dr. E. G. Lee was at East Union, one of the two towns united under that name having been laid out by him. He came from Knox county, and went back there after some years.

George R. Morton was at Coshocton ; came from Korristown, Pa., about 1880; about 1835 he removed to Sandusky city, and there died a few years since.

With the vast throng coming into the county from 1830 to 1845, there was a due proportion of those proposing to practice the healing art. Some of these did not abide very long, and others did not acquire a very extensive practice, and were chiefly occupied with other pursuits. Among these may be mentioned, as pertaining to the earlier day, Henry Miller, afterward so distinguished in business circles in Columbus, who practiced medicine for a short time at Warsaw, as also his brother Jonathan, afterward of Franklin county ; or A. T. Walling, now^ Congressman from the capital district. Or of still later day, Dr. E. Cone, of Washington township, afterward a M. E. preacher, and who recently reported himself as "grower of peaches and apples on sheep lands." Or, in still more recent times. Dr. B. C. Blackburn, who was for a time a merchant, and subsequently a farmer, and has even taken somewhat to politics, representing the county in the legislature. And, by the way, the doctors seem to have been in favor in this matter, the county having sent to the legislature Dr. S. Lee, Dr. Williams, Dr. Stanton, Dr. Cass, Dr. Fellows, and Dr. Blackburn.

Among the physicians who, by long residence and prominence in their profession, are worthy of notice, in addition to those ah-eady named, may be mentioned Dr. Willetts, for man}' years at N'ew Castle ; Dr. Delamater, who removed to Indiana, and there died in 1874 ; Dr. Barger, of ISTew Castle, who was killed by the explosion of a boiler of a steamboat at Louisville, Ky., while on a trip to the west in 1843; Dr. James, who removed from the county about 1846 ; the Madisons, both dead ; Silas Sapp (brother of Enoch), who removed to Indiana, and there died in 1870 ; R. R. Simmons (brother of John T.), removed to Harrison county about 1860 ; I- N. Fellows, who died in 1869; L. Howard, who met with his death in Keene at the time of receiving a blow at the hand of his brother-in-law, who was convicted of manslaughter about 1859.

The veteran physician of the county, at this writing, is Dr. Maro Johnston, of Roscoe. He is a native of the county, and studied with Dr. Samuel Lee, of Coshocton ; attended lectures at Ohio Medical College of Cincinnati ; commenced practice in Roscoe in June, 1833; uninterruptedly in practice.

Heslip Williams, native of Guernsey county, where he studied and practiced for a time, commenced practice at Jacobsport in 1835,; was in legislature ; otherwise steadily in practice.*

Josiah Harris, from Maryland, graduated in the medical department of the University of Maryland ; came to Coshocton county in 1837; practiced in Roscoe until 1840, and then removed to Coshocton.

William Stanton, native of Hartford county, Ct. ; studied with Dr. Sears, of Albany, IST. Y. ; came to Coshocton county in May, 1838 ; was at West Bedford five years, and then removed to Warsaw. He gave up practicing in 1849, and has since given attention to farming, merchandising, etc. He removed to Coshocton in 1868.

A. L. Cass, from Muskingum county, studied with his relative, Dr. John Andrews, of Steubenville ; graduated at the University of New York ; came to Coshocton county in 1842 ; and with brief exception, while in the State Senate, practiced uninterruptedly until the summer of 1874. At that time he was prostrated by disease, and has not yet resumed practice. At this writing he is residing at Pittsburg.

W. H. Vickars, of Muskingum county, studied with Dr. Watkins ; commenced practice at Otsego about 1840 ; removed to Coshocton count}^ (Jacobsport) in 1845 ; and there died in 1873.

J. B. Ingraham, a native of Harrison county, Virginia, studied with Dr. Carpenter, of Athens, Ohio ; attended lectures at Starling Medical College in Columbus ; came to Linton township in 1848 ; removed to Coshocton in 1864 ; uninterruptedly in practice.

Samuel McElwee, native of IsTew Jersey, studied chieHy with Dr. A. McElwee ; holds diploma of Cleveland Medical College; commenced practice in 1849 at iS'ew Castle; and has been there ever since.

E. Sapp, native of Knox county, studied with Dr. Houts, of Danville, and came to Coshocton in 1850. For a few years he gave special attention to dentistry.

John Anderson, native of Guernsey county, read with Dr. Kortz ; commenced practice in the fall of 1848 at Port Washington, Tuscarawas county ; then in Keene, Coshocton county. He came to Coshocton in 1868, and has since been engaged in the drug and book business.

S. H. Lee, native of Coshocton, studied witli his father, Dr. S. Lee ; commenced practice at Canal Dover, Tuscarawas county ; practiced from 1849 to 1856, at Peru, Indiana; then returned to Coshocton; was surgeon in Ohio Vohmteer Lifantry in 1862, 1863, and 1864. lie gave up practice in 1865, and has since been engaged in the drug business.

J. T. Edwards, native of the county, tead with Dr. Russell, of Mt. Yernon ; graduated at University of IS'ew York in 1857 ; and has since been in practice at West Carlisle.

In addition to those indicated in the foregoing list as still in practice, the following others may be named : J. W. Wright, J. W. Brady, J. C. Brower, W. C. Frew (native of county), at Coshocton ; John C. Davis, at Orange ; Wm. Bancroft and A. H. Garber, at Jacobsport ; W. H. Williams and A. J. Hughes, at West Lafayette ; B. W. Chapman and E. P. Stuart, at Bakersville ; Peter Lenhart, Chedister, and Yolz, at Chili ; M. J. Love (native of county), at Keene ; S. M. Carr and Beach, at Clarks ; John Moore (native of county) and JST. Calhoun, at Warsaw ; J.

Bedford; Wm. Smith (native of county), at West Carlisle; A. M. Henderson, at Frew's Mills ; J. M. Smith (native of county), at Canal Louisville ; T. Ralston, at East Union.

A county Medical Society was formed about 1855, holding meetings at intervals until about 1867, when the organization was practically abandoned. Under the State Constitution prior to 1851, the county authorities assessed a speciiic tax upon the physicians practicing in the county, running from three to five dollars per year.

Lest some readers might conclude from the number of physicians who have been in Coshocton county, that it was an unusually sickly region of country, it may be well to state that the statistics for many years show an average death-rate of one to everyone hundred and thirty -three inhabitants per year. In 1874, when the population of the county was about twenty-four thousand, the deaths reported were one hundred and seventy-seven.

From 1840, on for a number of years, a traveling dentist occasionally visited Coshocton. The poor fellow finished his course about 1858 by hanging himself (while in a depressed condition of mind, produced by discouragement in business and hard drinking) in a stable then standing in rear of the " Central House." The first resident dentist was Dr. E. Sapp. He was succeeded by Disney & ]SIoffitt. Dr. Jacobs next undertook this work. Disney & Moffitt were succeeded by Finlay and Wernett, and Jacobs by Dr. Wait.

Among the more notable practicers of the so-called " irregular " schools of medicine, have been Dr. Alexander McGowan, of the " Thompsonians ;" Dr. Martin Roberts, who learned his " arts of healing " from the Indians in Western ISTew York ; Drs. Wilson, Walling, Waddell, and Farquhar, of the " Uriscopians ;" Drs. Von Ruedegish, Alder, and Burr, of the " Eclectics."

The first Homeopathic physician to settle in the county was Dr. W. W. Smith, who came to Coshocton just after the war of 1861-5. He removed to Pennsylvania in 1874.

The medical remedies in the days of the first settlers, ere the doctors had come around, may have some interest for some young readers. The diseases of children were nearly all ascribed to worms. For the expulsion of these a solution of salt was given, or some scrapings of pewter spoons, or some copperas gathered near coal-bank runs.

A very general remedy for burns, swellings, etc., was a corn-poultice, made of pounded corn. Poultices of scraped potatoes or raw turnips and slippery-elm bark were often used. For the croup (called the bold hives) the juice of roasted onions or garlic was given. For fevers a tea of snake-root. The itch, which was very common, was cured by an application of brimstone and lard. Rheumatism, and swellings generally, were treated with oil of rattle-snakes, bears, geese, coons, ground-hogs, and polecats. White w^alnut-bark tea was a great favorite. If it was intended for an emetic the bark must be stripped up the tree; if for a purge, down. Some had great faith in charms. The erysipelas, or St. Anthony's tire, could, as some believed, be cured by circumscribing it by the blood of a black cat, etc.