Wayne County, Ohio - Chapter 17: The Medical Profession, 1910

Chapter 17: The Medical Profession

With the settlement of every new country, the family doctor was among the first of the professions to follow on the trail of the pioneers. His services were in demand, even as now. The sick had to be cared for, though with less skill than at present. The very elements of a new country, the swamps and unditched lands, the decaying forests and a thousand and one causes, led to much sickness. The home treatment of mother and grandmother was, it is true, more relied upon than now, but there were numerous cases in which the good family doctor had to be called. The rides, usually on horseback, made by the pioneer doctors, were long and ofttimes perilous. The streams were all unbridged and the roads were liut blazed trails through the dense woodland. But Iw day and by night the faithful physician, with saddlebags, would go where he might be called tO attend the sick. He was indeed a hero and in his breast usually beat the largest of hearts. He never refused to make a sick call because the family might be poor. His bills were carried over from one year to another, without interest, and many were never fully paid. While it is true the science of medicine had not then attained the perfection that now marks its course, yet there were highly educated and successful doctors in the long ago twenties and thirties of the last century

As much as may, from time to time, be said against the practice of medicine by thoughtless well men and women, there comes a time to each and all when a sight of the good doctor is indeed welcome. When the fevered brow and quickened pulse torture the victim of some grave and painful malady, then it is that the suffering one appreciates the warm hand and sympathetic heart of the physician and takes his treatment without a murmur. The remedies in olden times, howe^'er, were not sugar-coated or put up in a form pleasing to a sick person, as today, but were of the crudest sort, and often extremely unpalatable. Verily this profession has made wonderful progress in the last fifty years.

Without risking any unsupported claim, or indulging in any fulsome encomium, it can be truthfully said that the history of the medical profession and its personnel will compare favorably with any other profession in Wayne county. Law has produced many distinguished jurists and practitioners on the bench and at the bar. but medicine has had as brilliant and eminent men in its ranks as can be claimed for the legal profession, although, perhaps, they have not had occasion to display their talents as have the followers of Blackstone. Wayne county furnished a number of surgeons during the Civil war who rendered services both on the battlefield and in the tented hospitals.

The present-day physicians have no real conception of what hardships, exposure and trials were the lot of the early physicians of Wayne county. They were not blessed with macadamized roads, automobiles, coupes, depot wagons, taxicabs and closed carriages ; but rode through thick and thin, hot and cold, at all hours of the day and night, on horseback, with the old-time saddlebags strapped to their saddles. Some of the pioneer doctors would ride many miles over the country, in mid-winter, leaving at daylight and not returning till night, worn out from exposure, fatigue and nervous tension. It was characteristic of them to minister to the sick without reference to fee or reward, as the majority of the people were poor and, while honestly inclined, were unable to pay for medical attendance. One physician, now gone to his reward, who practiced his profession here for over a cjuarter of a century, estimated that he had done over thirty thousand dollars' worth of medical service, for possibly half of which he received no cash, and many times no thanks. While there is a spirit of grasping for lucre in all professions nowadays, yet the earlier practitioners seemed to take to the practice largely from motives of philanthropy, believing, as was right, that it was one of the grandest human offices to relieve suffering, to cheer the depressed, to succor from the assaults of disease, and, failing in this, to smooth the way to the inevitable tomb. There is no loftier mission ; none which more closely assimilates the human with the divine. While the earlier physicians had to depend on the science as a means of livelihood, still they rose above the purely mercenary motives in their practice. Many of the pioneer doctors not only ministered to the body, hut to the soul as well. Several practiced medicine and "preached the gospel to the poor.''

It is both amusing and interesting to look back fifty or seventy-five years and see the character of the service rendered and fees charged in those days. The doctors worked hard and were poorly paid for their ministrations. It was the period when "cupping,'' "leeching" and bleeding were regarded as indispensal)le. The practice was carried to extremes in many cases, as the ])ractice of venesection was performed on persons who had no blood to spare, and as a consequence it ceased.

While the ])ractice of medicine was regarded as most honorable, and is yet, it was then far from lucrative. In looking back, we find some of the fees charged for medicine and ])rofessional services, and it must be remembered that doctors then dispensed their own medicines. The charge for visits in the town was one dollar, and for visits in the country, one dollar for the first mile, and fifty cents for each succeeding mile; bleeding, fifty cents; two doses jallap, fifty cents; box of pills, fifty cents; extracting teeth, twenty-five cents; one dose of calomel and one ounce of paregoric, sixty cents. In surgery, the fees were very moderate, and even those mentioned w-ere not "'in vogue" until later days, the earliest practitioners making their individual charges, which were often much less than those enumerated here. Diseases such as dysentery and fevers were attributed entirely to miasm and visitations of sporadic and Asiatic cholera were common. Calomel was generally taken to get rid of the malaria. Bilious fever sometimes developed, but generally yielded to the calomel and quinine treatment, cvhich, if somewhat heroic, was generally successful, after the disease had run its course. Some years the ague was worse than othei'S, and at times there were not enough well persons to take care of the sick. Often the entire family wmuld be dow-n at one time and no one to give them even a drop of rvater. In winter the most common disease w'as winter fever, now known under its proper name - pneumonia. But sickness was really rare, except chills and fever in the fall, or, as it was generally called, the ague, in which, in the first stage, a coldness, that no fire could warm, took hold of the victim, and he shook and shivered so severely that the bed would shake and even the dishes in the cupboard rattle. ' "A chill which no coat, how'ever stout, of homespun stuff, could quite shut out." After an hour or two of this paroxysm the patient began to get warm and w'as soon in the agony of a raging fever. In an hour or tw'O more this would pass and the patient, apparently none the worse for his shake, w-ent about his business until the second da)u wdien the attack invariably returned. Quinine w'as the remedv always used in the treatment of this disease, w'hich w^as considered the only helpful remedy, and is so regarded by many today. The old-fashioned ague, where the victim almost shook himself to pieces, w'as very common in the spring and fall, and, besides the remedies mentioned, good big draughts of Peruvian bark and wdiiskey w^ere also the sheet anchors. Whiskey w^as found in every house and every one drank more or less, although it was usually confined to the morning dram, except in sickness. It w-as made from corn and was much purer and more wTolesome than the vile stuff now' purchased in saloons and drug stores. Drunkenness was almost unknow'n in those days and it w as the custom to show' the hospitality of the home by producing the bottle. No thought of discourtesy entered the mind of either when the minister was offered the contents of "Black Bettie," after his journey through the wilderness or the exertion of a two-hour discourse. Wdiiskey was worth only about twenty cents a gallon, and as it was made from corn, that was still cheaper, it was within the reach of all; but that fact did not lead to drunkenness. But with the springing up of Tillages, with their "doggeries," a change of sentiment took place, and ere long the habit of whiskey drinking began to be looked upon with disfavor and, so far as home drinking is concerned, has about passed away in all states except some remote mountain regions. Although the pioneer physician did not find it necessary -to carry a supply of whiskey along with his medicines, he usually recommended it to his patients, especially advising a free use of it when "winter-fever" was prevalent, for this was the most fatal of all frontier diseases, probably because of a lack of proper treatment, owing to its true nature not being well understood.

Births in the early days were in the hands of the older women of the settlements and were rarely attended with unpleasant or dangerous consequences.

The following is a list, as complete as is possible to give after so many years have rolled into oblivion, of the physicians w-ho ha^'e practiced the healing art within Wayne county. Many are dead, many of them removed to other sections of the country and some are still living here :

Dr. Thomas Townsend, the pioneer physician of Wooster, was of Quaker parentage, and a native of Pennsylvania. He removed to Wooster in 1810-11, remained there about thirty years, when he went to Wheeling, West Virginia, where he died. He was a man of marked ability in his profession, and performed a considerable part in the organization of the town and county. He held different positions of official relations and responsibility, prominent among which was an associate judgeship in 1819.

Dr. Daniel McPhail was another early-day physician of Wooster, settling at least as early as 1818. He was born and educated in Scotland: was a man of unusual accjuirements and a splendid chemist. He practiced medicine in Wooster about twelve years, but prejudice rose against him and he was sued for malpractice. Judge Charles Sherman, father of General Sherman, defended him, and Judge Edward Avery conducted the prosecution. In the trial Doctor McPhail vanquished his persecutors and was triumphantly vindicated. Desiring to avoid hostile combinations, he removed to Tennessee and thence to New Orleans. Later he went back to Tennessee, where he acquired a vast practice, and where he died, having achieved a great reputation for skill in his profession.

Dr. Stephen F. Day was a formidable man in the profession of medicine and wore the baton of a field marshal in the empire of physics. The annals of medical practice may supply a more illustrious name, but it is doubted if as a practitioner in his chosen sphere and field he had many equals or superiors. He entered the list not for the purpose of eliciting applause, starving competitors or of being a subaltern. His was a higher aim - that of acquiring a transcendent skull; of mastering the abstrusities of the books; of penetrating the mysterious origins of disease ; of exploring the ingeniously contrived, most complicated and most wonderfully constructed temple of life; of ennobling the ministry of pain, and exalting and glorifying his profession. His pronounced motto was :

He despised the vandal horde of mountebanks and quack professors that swoop down upon a community, devastate human habitations, augment the total of human misery, and who, in the solemn flight of death, allow not a single straggler to get home. He ever insisted that infinite mischief was occasioned by this piebald army of dog killers, insect hunters, weed pickers, spider catchers, cockle shell mongers, and brass- faced, unlettered charlatans that too often infest communities and, like the army in Caesar's time, slay in chariots and slay on foot.

Doctor Day - a truly remarkable man - was a native of Morris county. New Jersey, born September 4, 1798. When seven years old, he accompanied his father to Washington county, Pennsylvania, where he spent his time on a farm and where he remained until past sixteen years of age. He then, with an iron will, decided to press forth into life's activities for himself. Bidding farewell to home and kindred, he set out on horseback, attired in homespun garments and with twenty-five cents in his pocket. He labored hard at whatever his hands found honorable to perform. As a basis upon which to build his professional life, he commenced the elementary study of medicine with Doctor Leatherman, of Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, his course concluding with a diploma from the Medical College of Philadelphia. He immediately entered into the practice of medicine at Florence, Pennsylvania. He was equipped wdth pill-bag, nauseating jalap, the savage knife and the blades that shine, prepared to make a heal or a lasting scar. In the early spring of 1827 he came to Wooster, Ohio, the arena of a life of patient and exhaustive toil and the theatre of his subsequent professional career. Here he continued in practice until 1861, when approaching bodily infirmities ad-

Doctor Day was united happily in marriage, in 1833, to Eliza E. Straughan, of Salem, Ohio. In March, 1863, he was attacked by paralysis, from the effects of which he never fully recovered, but was confined to his bed until November 25, 1869, when a second attack suddenly caused his death. It is safe to assert that no physician and surgeon of this county enjoyed the monopoly of his profession as did this truly skillful man. His circuit of visitation was not confined to Wayne county, but extended far out into the adjoining counties. By some, in his surgery' he was called heartless, but he was not - he knew what had to be done and went straight at the work. Then he lived in an age before the science had made such strides as has been attained in the handling of the knife. He was a man of clear judgment and positive mind, and was extremely cautious of his conclusions at the bed of illness, but when his mind was made up no one could change his opinion. Personally, he was a man of imposing appearance, stood over six feet in stature and erect as a column. He was a great worker at whatever he turned his attention to and this rewarded him with honors and wealth. Many young men of talent took their instructions under Doctor Day, two of the most prominent of these being Dr. Edward Thompson, the renowned Methodist bisho]), who died in Wheeling, West Virginia, March 22, 1870, and Dr. Teander Firestone, the eminent surgeon of Wooster. The former was in the office of Doctor Day from 1833 to 1836 and the latter gentleman from 1839 to 1842. So long as the practice of medicine is known and talked of in Wooster and Wayne county, the name of Doctor Day will ever shine as among the bright stars in the science of medicine.

Dr. Samuel Norton Bissell, born January 22, 1809. in the ^-illage of ATrnon, Oneida county, New York, came of good old English ancestry. Plis father was a celebrated physician from near Hartford. Connecticut. Samuel N., of this notice, was named for his grandfather, witli whom his earlier years were spent in Connecticut. Under the careful guidance of both his father and paternal grandfather, he succeeded in procuring more than an ordinary education. Pie was a student and thorough investigator from the very first decade of his existence. Having chosen medicine as his profession, he embarked at once on the sea of life with this in mind. He pushed west, came to Wooster finally, and here entered the office of his uncle. Dr. llezekiah Bissell, then a successful physician of the little village, lie remained with him, studying until he had completed his elementary course and college course, when he entered upon the real duties of a well educated doctor. In September, 1832, he married Eliza, daughter of Hon. John Sloane. He followed his chosen profession in Wooster until his death, on June 13, 1848. d'he circumstances surrounding his death rvere indeed painful and affecting. His youngest sister. Eunice C., wife of Harvey Howard, then residing in Tiffin. Ohio was seriously ill. A courier was sent to Doctor Bissell, summoning him immediately to her bedside. Auth promptness, he obeyed the request. There being no railroad direct to that city, he had to cross the county, from which exposure he was prostrated with pneumonia, from the effects of rvhich, absent from his own home and in the house of his suffering sister, he suddenly died. Verily, indeed he was a martyr for his friends and the behest of duty. His remains were conveyed to Wooster and deposited in the old Preslw'terian burying ground, and later removed to the city cemetery. He left two sons, J. S. and El. H. Bissell. His wife survived him until 1871. His own death fell upon the people of Wayne county, and Wooster especially, like a thunder clap from out a clear summer sky. He was short in stature, but a perfect specimen of manhood.

It should be recorded of Doctor Bissell that the mystery and origin of life Avere not comprised in his motives; simply the perfection and healthy, symmetrical preservation of that life. It mattered not to Blind Tom who made the musical instrument on which he played ; his mission was to elicit its harmonies, correct its discords and make it perform a perfect work. With this interpretation of his duties. Doctor Bissell practiced medicine, and in the A'aried walks of his profession distinguished himself as one of the most popular and scientihc physicians and surgeons in northern Ohio. He was a man of strong attachments and of an amiable and benevolent disposition; of kind heart and strong brain. Politically, he rvas Whig, and had he taken to it he would have made an excellent political manager. He served in the capacity of associate judge of the common pleas court in 1845. While he was ]jractical and businesslike, those who knew him best testify to his w'armth of feeling and nolile disposition. Such in brief is the history of the subject of this memoir; such his skill and learning.

Dr. W. C. Moore was born in Columbiana county, Ohio, June i. 1822. His parents removed to Wayne county and settled in Chester towmship in 1832. He remained with his parents until he was twenty years of age, when, in 1842, he began the study of medicine with Dr. Leander Eirestone, then jiracticing in Congress village. Congress towmship. There he continued a student of medicine for three years, engaging in school teaching in the winter seasons. After finishing his elementary readings and having graduated, he began practice with his preceptor in 1845, continuing there a year, then moved to Rowsburg, where he remained another year, when he returned to Congress village and remained with Doctor Firestone for ten years. Though not a full-fledged politician, he was popular in his party throughout the county, and in 1859 was elected to the Democratic Legislature of Ohio, by that party, serving from Decemlier 2, i860, to January 6, 1862. In 1862 he removed to Wooster, where he practiced afterwards. It was written of him in 1878 that "His mind is liright, analytical, and he arrives at conclusions, not simply as a result of his logical premises, but by his actual comparative knowledge. His social developments are of a high order, and his heart and soul are not hidden under ice, liut lie near a warm tropical surface, where they expand into sunshine and burst into flowers. He was somewhat of a poet and the following is the closing verse of a long poem he wrote many years since, the same being suggested by a visit to his mother's grave in a Wooster cemetery :

Dr. Leander Firestone, who long adorned the medical fraternity of \Vayne county, was possessed of rare genius. In a world where all men cannot be inventors and discoverers, it is pleasing to note the \'irtues and strength of the few who do thus appear from time to time. In medicine there are but few men who comliine all the traits indispensable to a true physician. Doctor Firestone not only vindicated his claim to an exalted rank in surgery, l)ut in every department of the occult mysteries of medicine he wielded a strong pen, talked with the freedom of the gushing l)rook. and presided over the studies of others with eminent success, and to the fame thus achieved with scalpel he added the luster of instructor.

The Doctor was born in Saltcreek township, Wayne county, Ohio, in 181Q. After he attained his fourteenth year his time was spent at routine farm labor in the summer months, while in winter he attended the common country school. He then went to Columbiana county, near Salem, where he worked and attended country schools again. We next trace him to Portage county, Ohio, where he chopped cord word for three shillings per cord and hard beech wood at that. We next find him located two miles north of New Pittsburg, Wayne county, with his uncle, John Firestone, with whom he remained until eighteen years old. He finally became a country school teacher, teaching his first term in Perry township, Ashland county, Ohio, receiving twelve dollars a month for his services and boarded himself.

In August, 1838, Leander Firestone was married to Susan Firestone, and the next year - wdien he was twenty years old - he commenced the study of medicine wdth Dr. S. F. Day, wdth w-hom he remained three years, during which time he took a course of lectures at the Medical College of Philadelphia. In March, 1841, he located in practice at the village of Congress, this county, where he at once met wdth success. After thirteen years of practice at that hamlet, he graduated from the Western Reserve College, located at Cleveland. During these eventful years he had w-on a fame and far-reaching reputation as a skillful physician. The college from which he had recently graduated w'as in need of someone to occupy a chair, and in its survey for a suitable man to fill it, the abilities of Doctor Firestone w^ere duly recognized, and in 1847 he W'as made demonstrator of anatomy in that institution. This position he held until 1853, after w'hich honorable distinction w'as awaiting him. He w-as appointed superintendent of the North Ohio Lunatic Asylum, at Newburg, wdiich position he filled until August 6, 1856, wTen he removed to Wooster, in wdiich city he ever afteiwvards practiced. In 1858 he w'as elected president of the State Medical Society and in 1864 was made professor of obstetrics and the diseases of w'omen in Charity Flospital College, at Cleveland, and held the same for many years. In 1870 this institution was constituted the medical department of the Wooster LIniversity, and he still held the same position as at Cleveland. June 24, 1874, he w'as made Doctor of Laws by the LTniversity of Ohio, at Athens. As a public lecturer the Doctor was eloquent and always popular, no matter wTat his theme. His descriptive pow-ers were fine and interesting. He w'as an advanced thinker and a highly practical worker in the medical ranks. He held the position of superintendent of the Columbus (Ohio) Insane Asylum a number of years.

Dr. AM \y. Firestone, son of the celebrated Dr. Leander Firestone and his intelligent wdfe, adds another to the list of good medical practitioners of AATyne count}'. He w'as born in Congress. AA^ayne county, February 25, 1842. His parents, both highly educated, had their son also w^ell schooled, he having the advantages of the AAfooster city schools and select and graduated teachers, under w'hose tutelage he completed his desired course of study.

For three years he attended Adount Union College, and in 1861 began reading medicine with his father. A term of four years was spent in study, in professional assistance to his father, and in attendance on lectures, at the expiration of which period he graduated from Charity Hospital College, Cleveland, Ohio, now the medical department of the University of Wooster. In 1865 he devoted himself entirely to his profession, and soon found himself a partner in the office of Leander Firestone, AI. D. He made rapid strides, in his calling. Constant and ever watchful and of good judgment, he could scarcely be expected to fail at any point and he never did.

Dr. James D. Robison was born April 23, 1820, at the corner of Buckeye and North streets, Wooster, Wayne county, Ohio. His early years were spent with his father. Thomas Robison, Escp, during which time he spent much of his time attending the village schools, procuring such education as the limited opportunities of that day afforded. At the age of seventeen years he hired as a clerk to Robison & AIcCune, where he remained until he was twenty, at which time, and in accordance with an intention previously resolved upon, he commenced the study of medicine. He entered the office of Dr. Samuel Norton Bissell, in February, 1840, continuing with him until 1841, when, during the fall, he proceeded to Philadelphia, availing himself of a course of lectures at the Jefferson Aledical College of that city, soon thereafter taking advantage of the clinical course of instruction at the Brooklyn Hospital. The summer of 1842 he spent in Cincinnati, in pursuit of his professional work in the office of Dr. William Wood, simultaneously attending lectures at the Aledical College of Ohio and a clinical course at the Commercial Hospital of Cincinnati. In the autumn of 1842 he returned to Philadelphia, where he graduated and received his diploma in Alarch, 1843. He then returned to Wooster, remained during the summer months, the following fall removing to Queen City, locating there and actively engaging in the practice of his chosen profession. Here he met with signal success, and continued until July 3. 1846, and until the breaking out of the war with Alexico. He was made surgeon of the Third Regiment Ohio ATlunteers, leaving Cincinnati the same day for Old Alexico. Arriving at New Orleans on the 9th of July, he spent a few days in that city and proceeded to Brazos de Santiago, arriving August 6th at Camp Curtis. op]iosite the old city of Alatamoras. Decenilier 9th he was assigned to the Third Illinois Regiment as surgeon and was ordered by Gen. Zac Taylor to Victoria and later joined Gen. AA'inbeld Scott's command at Tampico, and in Alarch they were sent to A^era Cruz, where se\-cntcen days afterwards the Alexican forces surrendered, the United States taking possession of the city. On April lo, 1847, account of illness. Doctor Robison resigned his commission and returning to Wooster, Ohio, and in October of that year formed a partnership with J. P'. Coulter, M. D., for the practice of medicine, which relation continued to the fall of 1853. The next year he spent in and about the New York hospitals and medical institutions, keeping abreast with the progress and discoveries of the profession. He again returned to Wooster in the autumn of 1854, opened an office and engaging in the practice until 1861, when the Civil war broke out. He immediately tendered his services to his government, ivhich were promptly accepted, he being assigned to the Sixteenth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which he was identified throughout the three-months service. He was engaged in the battle of Phillippi, one of the first engagements of that long-drawn-out war. He it was who had the honor of am|iutating the first leg during the war, that of a Confederate soldier. He was promoted to the rank of brigade surgeon in July. i8(5i, and assigned to the command of General Rosecrans. Later he organized hospitals along the Kenawha and assumed charge of the one situated at Galiipolis. After being with Generals Shields and Banks and with McClellan, and being inspecting surgeon, which position he retained until the battle of Antietam, September 17, 1862, he was ordered to Washington to take charge of the Patent Office Hospital, where he remained until he was compelled to resign on account of his wife's illness. On his return home, he was appointed surgeon of the board of enrollment for this district, which place he held during the remainder of the Rebellion. From the very outset, in 1840, his was a well fought battle. Hence it will be seen by the foregoing that he acted well his part in two great wars. Had he ventured on the political field it is almost certain that he would have been elected to a seat in Congress.

Dr. A. M. McMillen was a native of Jefferson county, Ohio, born at Steubenville, in 1816, the son of a millwright and farmer, with whom he remained during all of his earlier years. After educating himself, he taught school for eight years. He then read medicine in Canal Fulton with Doctor Howard, and graduated at the old Medical College of Cleveland. He began practice at West Lebanon in 1849, continuing there until his death, which occurred May 4, 1874. He was married in the spring of 1849 to Rebecca Neeper, of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and as a result became the father of eight children. He was a devout member of the Presbyterian church at Mount Eaton.

graduated from the Cincinnati College of Medical Surgery in June, 1874. He began practice with his uncle in July, 1874, and was for years a well known physician and surgeon of West Lebanon.

Dr. William B. Blachley was born in New Jersey, from which state he removed to Washington county, Pennsylvania, where he remained twenty years, when he emigrated to Plain township, Wayne county, in 1816. He was twice married, and was the father of nineteen children. He practiced medicine in Blachleyville nineteen years, when he removed to AHlparaiso, Indiana, where he died at the age of seventy-four years. He was a graduate of Princeton College (now University) and a member of the Baptist church. The village of Blachleyville is named in honor of him. His son, William, also a doctor, was born in Washington county, Pennsyh'ania, November 27, 1799, and came to Plain township, this county, wnth his father, with wdiom he read medicine and commenced to practice. His eldest daughter married Doctor Hunt, of Shreve, Ohio, and the youngest became the wife of Capt. Benjamin, son of Constant Lake, of WMoster.

Dr. D. L. Moncrief was a grandson of a Scotchman and the son of the Moncrief who settled at Carlisle, Penns}dvania, from where he removed to Canonsburg, Washington county. There the subject of this notice was born September 23, 1823, and resided on a farm until fifteen years of age. He attended Jefferson College, and at the age of twenty-tw'O years commenced the study of medicine with Dr. Israel Moore, of Canonsburg, with whom he remained three years as a student, and then removed to western Ohio. In 1853 he concluded his medical course at Cincinnati. From Mercer county, Ohio, he came to Wayne county, settling at Orrville in March, 1857, at once entering upon a successful practice and residing there many years. He was postmaster at Orrville in 1861, appointed by President Lincoln, and served eight years. In church relations he was a devout member of the Lhfited Presbyterian church. He carved out his own earthly destiny, acquired competence and w^ealth, and by his manly methods won the deserved confidence and respect of all worthy citizens of WHyne county.

Dr. J. H. Stoll was horn in Chippewa township, WHyne county, Ohio, May 2, 1849, father being Christian Stoll, a wealthy and progressive farmer. He remained at home until he was sixteen years of age, when he attended the Smithville Academy, and from thence to Savannah, .Ashland county, Ohio, where he remained two years. .At the age of twenty he began reading medicine with L. Firestone, M. D., LL. D., of Wooster. .After taking thorough courses in the best medical colleges in the land, he graduated in 1871, and at once entered u])on the ])ractice of his profession at Marshall- ville, this county, where he continued for eighteen months, when he went to London, England, and there received lectures at Kings College, but on account of sickness was compelled to return home, when he located at Orrville. He was made surgeon of the C. Mt. & C. railroad company and also of the Ninth Ohio National Guards, all previous to 1878.

Dr. W. B. Hyatt was horn March 29, 1829. He studied medicine and practiced at Marshallville. He was in the Union army two and a half years, was wounded by a rebel shell and received other bodily injuries which produced atrophy of the muscles and anchylosis of the left shoulder joint.

Dr. W. T. Barnes was born November 10, 1843, and worked on the farm until seventeen years of age, when he entered the Union army, enlisting as a private in the Fifty-first Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry. After his return from the army he attended school at Lexington, Ohio, and in 1866 began the study of medicine with John Russell, M. D., of Mt. Vernon, graduating from Charity Hospital College, Cleveland, in the spring of 1869. and the next year began the practice of medicine in Fredericksburg, where he was a successful doctor and surgeon many years.

Dr. James Martin was born October 20,' 1824, at the old Martin homestead, on Martin creek, Wayne county, and descended from an old and highly respectable Ohio family. He remained at home until twenty-two years of age. attending the public schools about three months each winter after he was of school-going age. Later he attended a select school at Fredericksburg for a number of years, after rvhich he began teaching school. He read medicine with Dr. T. B. Abbott, of Massillon, Ohio, and during the time availed himself of a course of medical lectures then being given by William Bowen, of Akron, Ohio, subsequently graduating at the Jefferson Medical College, of Philadelphia. He commenced his practice in East Rochester, Columbiana county, in August, 1850, remained three years, then removed to Fredericksburg in 1854. He married, in 1851, Elizabeth Craig, by whom seven children were born. The Doctor was a thorough gentleman and had a large countrv practice for many years.

Dr. William S. Battles, who for a long period was pronounced one of Wayne county's eminent and highly successful physicians, rvas born at White Hall Station, then a suburb of Philadelphia, May 12, 1827. On his paternal side he was half Scotch, his father being a descendant of an old Pittsfield family, of Berkshire county, Massachusetts. On the maternal side old English blood coursed through his veins. His mother's maiden name was Susan Snowden, a native of Philadelphia, all of whose ancestors were Quakers for more than two hundred years. Thomas S., father of Doctor Battles, removed from Philadelphia to Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, remained there less than three }^ears and then went farther west, locating in September, 1833, a mile and a half north of the present village of Shreve, Wayne county, Ohio. His father was a farmer and young Battles was used to and liked the work usually practiced upon a farm. At the age of nineteen a change came over the spirit of his dreams. He then abandoned the farm and entered Haysville (Ashland county) Academy, where he put forth every effort in gaining useful knowledge from books and teachers. He taught his first school when he was twenty years old. In August, 1847, he entered the office of Dr. T. H. Baker, of Millbrook, with whom he remained a period of four years, teaching during the meantime, with the exception of six months, both summer and winter. He attended his first course of lectures at Starling iMedical College during the winter of 1850-51 and then began to practice medicine with his preceptor, completing his course at Columbus, graduating February 22, 1852. On his return home he resumed practice with Doctor Baker, continuing with him until the wfinter of 1853, which he spent in Cleveland, Philadelphia and New York, in attendance upon the hospitals of those cities, at the termination of which time he once more renewed his professional labors with his old preceptor. In the spring of 1855 he went to Edinburg, in East Union township, where he stayed seven months, during which time he became a member of the American Medical Association. He was married, in November. 1855, to Mahala Keister, of Millbrook, daughter of J. A. Keister, Esq. In December of that year he proceeded to the village of Shreve, where he practiced until the spring of 1865, when, owing to lung trouble, with which he had suffered for a number of years, he abandoned medical practice and indulged in travel for one year. In 1866 he was one of the four men who organized the Ashland Citizens Bank, and he resided there a year. But becoming dissatisfied Avith commercial life, he sold his banking interest and, his health having been restored, he returned to Shreve, recommencing his practice there and ever after continued in the same. The Doctor was solely devoted to his chosen profession and loved it with the fondness seldom seen in physicians of todav. While a student, he joined the Wayne County Medical Society, in 1851, and was also a member of the Ohio State Medical Society. He represented his home society at Chicago in 1863 and at St. Louis in 1873. vicepresident of the Northern Ohio Medical Association. He was devoted to the church of his choice, the Methodist Episcopal: lo\ed poetry and good literature, wrote both prose and poetry: contributed to the University of Wooster: aided the Shreve public schools, and, like Tennyson, always looked forward to the Golden Year. One of his gems of poetry of song has this for its first verse :

Dr. Charles J. Warner was born in AVayne township, Wayne county, Oliio. January i, 1836, a son of Peter AVarner, a farmer and a native of Snnbnry, Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, and the son lived at home until eighteen years of age. The farm life, we are C|uite ready to believe, harmonized with the developing manhood of Doctor AATrner, and enabled him to become a splendid type of robust manhood. After availing himself of the common schools, he followed teaching school after nineteen years of age. first teaching in the Rumbaugh district, for which he was paid eighteen dollars a month and l)oarded himself. He attended school in the summer months and taught school in the winter time. He kept 'this up for five years in succession. During this time he became a proficient English scholar and acquired a valuable knowledge of the Latin language. From an early age. young AVarner had conceived the idea of becoming a physician and, in furtherance of this purpose, in March, 1857, he entered the office of Dr. W. C. Moore, then practicing in the village of Congress, with whom he remained four 3^ears, three as a student and one in partnership with him. He then went to Homerville. Aledina county, Ohio, where he spent two years, during the time attended a course of study at the Cleveland Medical College, from which he graduated in 1862. In the spring of the last named year he returned to Congress and there set up a medical practice which he held for many years. He married, September 15, 1859, IMary E. Pancoast, of Congress village. In stature it wns written of him in the late seventies that he was "solid, stands six feet high, weighs two hundred and seventeen pounds, is built of substantial material. has a l)right, intellectual face, is a man of pleasing manner and affable disposition, of fair complexion, firm and erect in carriage. He is a self-made, self-taught man. He w'as of a wide range and was forceful as an educator and writer on educational topics. He delivered more than a score of excellent lectures and public adflresses on schools and education in AVayne county, alone."

Dr. Justin Georget, a native of France, born June 23, 1830, in Mountusaine, and with his father, in 1840, emigrated to America, removing to Can- ton, Ohio, where he died. He entered the United States army, remaining one year at Governor's Island, when he was transferred to West Point Military Academy and remained there four years. He read medicine with J. P. Bairick, of Massillon, Ohio, graduated and, after a series of removals, came to Congress village, Wayne county, and thence on to West Salem, in the winter of 1866 and there practiced medicine in a most successful manner.

Dr. J. S. Cole was a native of Allegheny City (now Greater Pittsburg), Pennsylvania, where he was born February 19, 1836, and attended Vermillion Institute at Haysville, Ashland county, Ohio. He afterward read medicine with Doctor Glass, and graduated from Cleveland Medical College. He 1)egan practice in Reedsburg, Ashland county, Ohio, and moved to West Salem in 1873. He married Ruth A. Smith, daughter of James B. Smith, of Ashland.

Dr. I.. G. Harley was born in Chester county, Pennsyh'ania, in 1811. His father was a farmer who moved to Ohio in 1830. In 1833 the son commenced reading medicine with Doctor Haddock ; attended the course in Philadelphia, and graduated there in the spring of 1837. He then located in Dalton, where he soon built up a large and paying medical practice. In the autumn of 1839 married to Mary M. Fluke, of Dalton. His daughter.

Virginia, became a member of the medical fraternity, graduating in the medical department of the University of Michigan. For a short time she practiced in Wooster with her father; she later married and moved to New York city. Doctor Harley continued at Dalton thirty-one years and w'as the well- , known physician in many a score of homes in that section of Wayne county. He removed to Wooster in 1868 and here continued his practice.

Dr. T. M. Taggart, son of Samuel Taggart, was born in Baughman township, Wayne county, Ohio, September 22, 1822. He began the study of medicine with Doctor Bo\ven, of Massillon, afterwards graduaiihg .he Cleveland Medical College. In 1848 he began the practice of medicine at Dalton. He was married in 1849 to Henrietta Slusser, of York county, Pennsylvania, by whom he had seven children. One was Dr. Hiram D. Taggart, of Akron, Ohio. The father died May 23, 1867, having been a zealous member of the Methodist Episcopal church for seventeen years before his decease.

Dr. Moses Shaffer was the son of Jacob Shaffer and hlatilda, his wife, who lived for many years in Chippewa township, Wayne county, Ohio. The Doctor was born July 15, 1806, and when about the age of eighteen vcars commenced the study of medicine, and at twenty-one was admitted to ])iac- tice as a physician by a lioard of which Dr. James S. Irvine, of Millersburg, Ohio, was a member. Mt. Eaton, Wayne county, Ohio, was the first location of Doctor Shaffer's practice, and he was a successful physician. He removed to Wooster from there, and established a practice, continuing until he was twenty-seven years of age. when he was married to Margaret McClure, of a family of high standing at Wooster, and had a family of three sons and three daughters. The eldest daughter, Adelaide, was married to Hon. L. R. Critchfield, Sr., and Lyman R. Critchfield, Jr., now a resident lawyer of MMoster, is one of their sons. The family of the Doctor was one of high standing in Wooster, and he became one of the leading physicians of Wayne county. He was of medium size, compact of muscle and nerve, powerfully active, and was known as a man without fear. He was unusually reticent, sober, and attended to business ; courteous, but an unconciuerable antagonist in a controversy. He was a hunter, and cultivated fine-bred dogs and horses, and many an anecdote of his nerve in controlling his blooded colts is related.

Doctor Shaffer established his home and his offices on South iMarket street, in Wooster, and practiced his pro'fession there for over fifty years. He died when eight}'-three years of age. He was skillful in diagnosing diseases and prescribing remedies. He never failed to attend a call ; and his courageous temper defied storms, high waters, cold or any form of daneer. He was modest in his uniform success, and was ne\-er known to boast of his skill or remarkable cures. His remedTs were simple, and he deprived himself of many occasions for practice by generous advice as to homely methods. His fee was always reasonable, moderate, and he never would connect himself with medical societies or scale of prices. He was very conscientious in resorting to surgery, or what is known as "heroic treatment " He a genuine man, a nobleman, without fear or reproach, and his long life of benevolence, self-sacrifice and professional honesty endeared him to the people. The mention of his name in most parts of MHvne county, where he was known, is greeted with expressions of esteem and eulogies upon his character.

Dr. Hiram M. Shaffer was a son of Dr. Moses Shaffer, and under the tuition and example of his father and with the breeding of the Shaffers and the McClures, he became, after his services as a soldier in the Civil war, in a very brief time, one of the most noted surgeons and physicians in Wayne county. His death from pneumonia, in August, 1889, at the age of fifty-two years, induced by exposure in treating a patient, was very widely regretted.

He had a wonderful genius for his profession. He followed it with ardor and gave frequent and careful attention to his patients, and deservedly had the reputation of almost infallible diagnosis and the cure of dangerous diseases. To detect disease, accurately and quickly, seemed an intuition ; and his knowledge of modern practice was large. In surgery his nerves were like iron and he was fearless in the most delicate operations. He was brave, generous, a fast friend, powerful as a lion, and was esteemed by everyone that knew him.

Present-Day Physicians

The following is the list of physicians now engaged in the practice of the profession in WTyne county, the record giving the name, college from which graduated, year of graduation, and present location.

Roebuck, D. Y., University of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia, 1867, Dalton. Jamison, J. R., Medico-Chirurgical College of Philadelphia, 1894, Apple Creek.

Schollenberger, H. A., National Normal University, 1892, Smithville. Yoder, Anna Blattenberg, Cleveland College of Physicians and Surgeons, 1906, Smithville.