Elkhart County, Indiana - Chapter with an unread heading (no. 15 of those read), 1905

The Medical And Legal Professions

I hold every man a debtor to his profession ; from the which as men of course do seek to receive cowitenance and profit, so ought they of duty to endeavor themselves by way of amends to be a help and ornament thereunto.

Formerly the learned ]3rofessi(ms were considered to be the law, medicine, and divinity; lately they have been considered as includini^ also mechanical engineering, teaching, music and the fine arts, etc. Elkhart comity has always Ijeen well represented in these professions, though in an early day many of the incumbents would hardly be called learned. Elsewhere in this volume, in the chapter on churches, we have described the work and mentioned many representatives of the ministry, so that this chapter may be devoted in almost its entiretv tn those who have espoused vocations of the law and medicine.

Medicine

The earlv followers of .\esculapius, in Elkhart county as elsewhere. were in the main honest, practical and sympathetic men. Without the advantages of broad technical training such as are within reach I'f the medical aspirant of the present day, without the vast heritage of accumulated experience, analyzed and classified for application to every morbid condition of mankind, the pioneer physician had to compensate for his narrowness of professional vision and skill by a pervasi\'e svmpatlu' and inspiring cheerfulness. Most of the practice was done by doctors who followed their profession as an adjunct to the more necessar\- - to their own welfare - occupation of tilling the new soil or merchandising or any other of the trades or activities by which the early settlers gained a living. There were, proportionatel}-. fewer " town doctors," and there was little matter of distinction between the medical class and any other body of citizens, for, as w-e have seen elsewhere, men's wants were fewer and simpler in those days and were provided for by each individual for himself, cfimmunity work not yet being specialized. Some of these " farmer doctors " were college graduates and men of consideral^le attainments, though necessarily rough in exterior, and, although handi- capped for want of appliances, were perhaps as fully competent to combat the diseases incident to those conditions as our more modern physicians are to combat our more modern diseases. For it is a well known scientific truth that many of the refinements and advantages of modern civilization are really violations of the natural laws, which bring about their ov.'n diseases or punishment.

The diseases of tliose times were principal!}" malaria caused by lack of drainage in the county: bronchitis and pneumonia, due to exposure incident to their mode of life, and diarrhtea and dvsenter\' induced by their coarse fare. Contagious diseases on account of the isolation of the settlers had little opportunity to spread. Heroic treatment was accorded the patients of old-time doctors. There is an instance mentioned, not in this county, however, where a patient sufifering from a "blocked bowel" was given one hundred grains of calomel at a single dose, and. strange to say, there was recover}- from Ixith the ailment and the dosage. Dr. A. C. Jackson, of Goshen, who is. in point of }ears in continuous practice, the oldest physician in the count}-, witnesses to the extensive use of caloniel by regular physicians, and also of quinine, which was generally used for the very prevalent attacks of fever and ague, and when quinine was not procurable calomel was the ready substitute. The custom of bleeding, which originated hundreds of years ago and for long years was a co-ordinate branch of the barber's trade along with shaving and hair-cutting - hence the striped barber pole - was not }-et in complete desuetude fifty years ago. Dr. Jackson has in his possession the old lance which he used when he began the practice of medicine nearly sixty years ago. Blistering was a method of treatment considered \-ery efficacious for some cases. In cases of childbirth the old women of the community were summoned, and physicians were seldom called.

The earliest ph\'sicians traveled about on horseback. There were no telephones by which medical assistance could be summoned to remote parts of the rural district, and hence, up to recent years, the sight of a flying horseman hastening to town was a signal to the neighbors that some one was ill in the horseman's family. An hour or so later back would come the physician, muffled up beyond recognition during the severe winter season or bespattered with mud from hard ridingover the miry thoroughfares which then prevailed throughout the county. There -vvere no carriages, and if there had beeii thev would have l)een useless, because of the rough and mudd}- roads, all of which were scarce!)' more than trails cut through the woods. The distances traveled in reaching the sufferers was long, because the roads wound about so much, and often the delay in getting the doctor was so great that the patient was dead before he could arrive. The roads had to be cut around ponds and marshes and other obstructions, and Dr. Jackson tells of having to go four miles around a swamp in order to pass from the home of one fanner to that of another, while straight across the distance was only half a mile. Sometimes after heavy rains the streams would be swollen and bridges floated away, which necessitated a long detour in order to arrive at the destination. But numberless and arduous as were the difficulties which beset the pioneer practitioner - and only a few of the hardships have been mentioned here, so that the picture is quite inadequate to reveal the hard life of our first doctors - it is tO' the lasting honor of the rugg^ed character and faithful devotion to duty of those men that no call for help, matter not where it was or what its answering meant in the wa}' of personal hardship, was refused.

The pioneer physician of Go.shen was Dr. Johnson Latta, uncle of the late Dr. M. M. Latta, who died here in 1899. Dr. Johnson Latta is described as being a large, well built, finely proportioned and rather handsome man, with a wholesumeness of character and a physical vitality which made him a welcome visitor at every home in the county. After practicing a numhcj- of years and reaching an advanced age, he retired from practice and returned to his old home at Hawpatch, La- Grange county, where he dieil. His nephew. Dr. M, ]\I. Latta, succeeded him, about 1840, and continued uninterruptedly until 1897. He was not only a physician but a man of affairs and figured prominently in the history of his city and county.

Contemporaries of Dr. Johnson Latta were Dr. William [Matchette and Dr. Joseph Grover, and these three comprised the " regular " jihysicians of this vicinity for some years. Also there were several quack doctors, among whom was a Dr. Parks, who came here from Llawpatch, and who afterward took a regular course of medicine.

Tlie medical profession had no regulations at that time, neither imposed by the state nor, to any large degree, inherent in the fraternity. The strict code of professional ethics which now go\'erns with greater power than any system of law had l>een scarcely formulated at that time. The state took nO' cognizance whatever of the profession as such. There were no requirements as to length and extent of preparation. Any one who had enough faith in his own knowledge and skill could set him- self lip in practice, and after reading one or two medical books some individuals would offer their services toi the healing of mankind. Herbs and roots supplied the materia medica which, according to various formulas, were decocted by certain persons for the healing of man and beast, and several of these so-called " herb doctors " have achieved distinction in the county and were relied upon, in the treatment of certain cases, with as implicit confidence as ever imposed in the regular practitioners.

When traveling about the country on horseback the physicians carried their medicine, surgical instruments, etc., in a saddle-bag, which was an important part of their ecjuipment. Dr. A. C. Jackson was one of these saddle-bag physicians, and, now at the age of eighty odd years and still practicing, he forms one of the interesting characters that bridge the past with the present. He began practicing in 1847, -^^ Galveston, now Clunette, in Kosciusko county, but a year later returned to this, his native county. He formed a partnership with Dr. ^I. Latta, upon the dissolution of which, in 1861, Dr. Jackson practiced Avith his brother William until the death of the latter from blood poisoning in July, 1862. Continuing liis practice until 1870, Dr. Jackson was then interested in banking for about ten years, since which time he has continued his place in the profession. Dr. Jackson obtained his professional education at Indianapolis Medical College in the winters of 1843-44-45 while his father was a member of the legislature.

One of the early " farmer doctors," whose professional skill as well as his personal character are still well remembered about Goshen, was Dr. Jacob Cornell, who Ijegan practice about 1848. He lived five miles northeast of Goshen, and his familiar figure, mounted on a good horse, was seen almost daily in some part of the large territory covered b}^ his practice, and he continued making his professional calls on horseback even in later years. He died at Goshen in 1884.

The first physician at Elkhart was, of course, the revered Havilah Beardsley, the founder of the town. His prominence in industrial and civic affairs, and especially his absorbing duties connected with the promotion of the town at the Forks, gave him little opportunity for active practice, so that it is in other departments of this history where his name and career are most appropriately considered. The first doctor devoting particular attention to the piX)fession was Dr. Kenyon, who settled in the A'illage in 1834.

affairs has left a greater impress upon the history of his county than !iis professional career was Dr. E. W. l\. Ellis, the one-time county auditor, pmniinent in Elkhart county joiu-nalism and politics. Bom in Xew ^'ork state in 1815. the son of a iloctor, educated for the profession under e.\:cellent preceptors and schools and receiving his diploma at ihe age of nineteen, he came to northern Indiana in 1X36 and in 1838 arri\ed in Elkhart, where, according to his statement, at that time every liouse was a hospital. He had known as many as ele\cn ])ersons to he sick in a single room fifteen feet square. Even liefore coming to this county lie had ser\ed in pulilic office and had Ijcen c<innected with \-arious newspaper enterprises, and his actixity in this county was mainly identified with puhlic affairs. He served as county auditor, later was elected runlitor of the state, had an interest in one way or another with nearly e\-ery paper published at Goshen up to forty years ago. and. taken by and large, his is one of the most versatile and interesting careers that adorned the early medical, profession in this county.

Lack of space forbids anything like a complete account of the early Ijhysicians of this county and their eventful careers. Most of the oldtime doctors are dead, or have retired and left the field to a younger generation, although their early work and beneficent influence will always form au important part of the storv of tlevelopment and progress of the county. A contemplation of the li\-es of these noble jiioneers recalls these lines from Carleton's "Country Doctor":

One other character we must mention in this connection, as <.)ne who has sur\i\-ed the flight of )-ears since jiioneer times, and who, still !i\-ing, re])resents in person rm epoch of which the present generation can fonu only an inadequate conception. Dr. William W. Wickham, though no longer connected with the acti\-e work of his profession and spending only a ])art of his lime in this county, began practicing at Goshen in 1847. ^^'^ ^^''S born in Xew ^'ork state in 1820 and gained his medical education under ]3rivate preceptors while following a mechanical trade for a livelihood. He is one of the best known old citizens and doctors of Elkhart county. The names of many other earlv representatives of the medical profession will be found in the histories of the different towns of the county and in various connections, for. as has lieen indicated, the early physicians were oftentimes equally promi-

It will niterest the present constituency of Elkhart county medical men to know that a flourishing medical society existed here in the forties. Of the Union ^ledical Society of Northern Indiana - for such was the name of this body - E. \\". H. Ellis was president and AI. M. Latta secretary when the third semi-annual meeting was held at the village of Benton in No\emijer. ]847. The principal paper and discussion concerned the use and abuse of mercury. There was also an address on non-paying patrons. At the meeting of the society in June, 1848, at Goshen, Dr. Chamberlain read a paper on the nature and causes of congestion. Dr. Jackson spoke on the influence of cold in producing disease, and Dr. Parks read a paper on pneumonia. The ofticers chosen for the year were: E. \\'. H. Ellis, president: R. ^^'illard, vice-president; M. M. Latta, recording secretary: P. Henkel, corresponding secretary: S. B. Kyler. treasurer: and Chamberlain. Jackson. \\'illard. Eowler, Kyler, censors.

Nearly sixty years after the meetirigs just recorded we find the Elkhart County Medical Society with a splendid membershi)). embracing practically all the physicians of the county and through their unity of action and counsel maintaining their professional \\'ork abreast of the l)henomenal progress which the science is making during these latter years. During the regular season of 11)04-05 the society held ten monthly meetings, at each of which some iiuportant subject was taken up by some member and treated in writing: this followed by the report of a case exemplifying the subject matter of the paper : and then a general discussion open to all members. The oiificers of the society during the past year were: I. W. Short, president; J. A. Cook, vice-president; A. C. Yoder, secretarv-treasurer : I. J. Becknell, C. ]\r. Eisenbeiss and A. C. Yoder, censors.

The present membership of the Elkhart County Medical Society, including practically a representation cf the personnel of the jDrofession in the county at this writing, contains the following names :

Bristol: C. E. Dutrow and H. M. Hall. New Paris: C. M. Eisenbeiss, Samuel Eisenbeiss, James Mathews, S. \\'. Walters, G. M. Brothers. Nappanee : M. D. Price and W. A. Price. Millersburg: H. Rieman and J. A. Snapp. Wakarusa : A. S. Sensenich, N. C. Bauman, S. C. \\^ngner, LaMar Knepple. Middleljury : B. ¥. Teters, M. A. Far\-er.

The Elkhart Colinty Bar

Tht; Elkhart county bar has never lacked men of distinction by reason of sound ability, depth of learning, forensic skill, and active, virile character. Such men have honored the profession, have upheld the dignity of law and its institutions, and have been the strongest guarantee of healthful progress in all the lines of human activity. So broad is the field of modern jurisprudence, so peculiar and vital its expression and practice, that its ablest representatives are by no means conbned to one locality, nor any one locality necessarily without several leaders in counsel and court practice. It is not to our purpose here to state the distinctixe merits of the \arious representatives of the county bar both past and present, but rather to mention briefly those who have represented their profession, if not in an eminent degree, at least with that share of success and honor which has made their names worthy of record in the history of the county.

A new country demands administrati\e and executive ability rather than technical legal knowledge and skill, and for this reason regular ])racticing attorneys play a small part in the bistoiy of the county except in connection with such offices as required legal training for the proper discharge of their duties, and even there common sense and. impartial judgment were more important than a heart-to-heart acquaintance with Blackstone. The circuit court which convened for the transaction of Vmsiness arising in Elkhart county in November, 1830, was presided over by William Latta and Peter Diddy, associate judges. The former, who was born in 1801, and died in 1847, came to this county in 1828. He was one of the most successful business men in the county, but was not trained in the law. The same was no doubt true of many of the incumbents of judicial and administrative offices during that early period.

One of the first acts of Judge Charles H. Test in assuming the office of president judge of the sixth judicial circuit in April, 183 1, was to admit to practice in his court three members of the Michigan bar. A few moriths later the bar of the county was increased by the admission of the following: John Sevey, Elisha Egbert, D. H. Colerick. M. Ray, William J. Brown and J. S. Newman. Among the early lawyers who had their offices at Goshen were Henr}^ Cooper and Joseph L. Jernegan. They are the onlv law firm mentioned in the old Goshen Express of 1837, a notice of dissolution of partnership appearing in one of the issues of that year.

In a paper entitled " (ioshen Sixty Years Ago," read before the Historical Society by P. 'Si. Henkel, the following paragraphs give us an interesting view of the courts and some members of the bar during the forties.

" The old court house, now a thing of the past," says Mr. Henkel, " stood in the middle of the public square, then unfenced. A short sketch of this venerable old building may not he uninteresting at this time. Jacob Studebaker had the contract for its building. For this purix>se he wended his way to Dayton, Ohio, where he took exact measurement of the Dayton court house and duplicated the same for Elkhart county.

" The first courts were held semi-annually, spring and fall, and were limited to two weeks each term. Samuel Sample of South Bend was the presiding officer, with two associates, Joseph Beane and William Latta. The legal fraternity of that day consisted of Eben Chamix;rlain, Thomas G. Harris and Michael C. Daugherty, while Jonathan Liston and Joseph L. Jernegan of South Bend were among the regular attendants of the court. A separate court for the transaction of probate business was held at regular intervals and presided over by Samuel P. Beebe of Elkhart. Dr. E. W. H. Ellis was auditor and held his office in a small wooden building just north of the public square. Elbridge Chamberlain filled the office of recorder and kept his records in a small building on the west end of a lot owned by James H. Barnes. Thomas Thomas was clerk of the court, and his son William A. performed the duty of deputy and held the office in the upper part of the court house. Elias Carpenter was county treasurer and performed the duty of collecting taxes at his residence, as there was no other place l^rovided to perform that duty."

hart during ilie early days; he had been originally a merchant, but was then settled to the occupation of farmer, and had been elected to the office of probate judge. He was a man of more than ordinary intelligence, of great good sense and correct habits, and of honorable principles ; but withal a free thinker in religion, and a practical joker. He had a nickname for everybody, but a warm hand for his friends. He discharged the duties of his office with eminent ability and impartiality, but more men feared than loved him.

Ebenezer M. Chamberlain for many years held a commanding position at the bar of this count}' as well as in public life. Born in Maine in 1805, he taught school as a means of entrance into the law. was admitted to the bar in 1833, and shortly afterward came to Elkhart county. A Democrat, he was elected to the legislature in 1835, to the state senate in 1839, in 1843 was chosen presiding judge of the ninth district, and re-elected in 1851, but resigned in the same year to go to congress as the representative of the tenth district.

Judge Chamberlain was a conspicuous example of the men who left their impress on the jurisprudence of the state, and were largely influential for good in different phases of the early gi^owth and development of Indiana. Those were the days when the lawyers used to ride on horseback from one county to another on tlie circuit, put up at the hotel, and attend the session of court. Ihey used tu tell stories and have jolly times. Under such circumstances the character of each man was very apt to crop out, and every lawyer came to be understood very well. None of the legal pioneers remain, for they were as a rule in the ]irime of life when they came to associate themselves with the legal affairs of the county. Even those who were regarded as the principal legal factors in the county twenty-five years ago have since suft'ered much in the changes incident to death rir age. A quarter of a century ago the bar of the county was represented by such individuals and firms as Baker and Mitchell, M. F. Shuey, I. A. Simmons, Vanfleet and Bickel, J. W. Irwin. George W. Best, Osborn and Herr. Wilson and Davis, A. W. Simmons, Delos N. Weaver, I. N. Hall, Col. Johnson, O. H. Main, O. T. Chamberlain, Lewis Wanner. W. L. Stonex, A. H. Johnson. H. V. Curtis. I. N. Everett, C. C. Gilmore, M. E. Meader, Otis D. Thompson. Livy Chamberlain, E. R. Kerstetter, Zook Brothers, D. N. Leib, C. F. Shuey, James H. State, M. I. Beck, A. F. Wilden. Milo S. Hascall. H. C. Dodge, Bartholomew, G. T. Barney.

the changes that have occurred in the legal personnel of the county in these years. Many new names have come into prominence, of men fitted to maintain and advance yet higher the standard of the past, whose talents, whose industry, whose devotion to the best ideals of the profession are not less worthy of admiration and honor than those same qualities in their predecessors. And, happy to say, there are still living some of the ixjwerful ciiaracters whose careers attained the zenith of usefulness in the years before the present. There is George T. Barney, more than fourscore years of age, who has been identified with the. legal profession in Elkhart nearly forty years; Judge Baker, of the Federal court, now past seventy years, is one of the most eminent of the legal profession whether in county, state or nation ; and, for so long a time connected with the Elkhart county bar, and at the time of his death its oldest living representative, was Judge Henry D. Wilson. Born in 1829, Judge Wilson came to Goshen in 1864, and was the first mayor of the city of Goshen in 1868. Legally trained under the tutelage of Judge E. M. Chamberlain, another man of wonderful talent and conspicuous success as a member of the bar of this county, was John W. Irwin (see his sketch), who, locating in Goshen in 1849, occupied a premier position in legal circles throughout the latter half of the nineteenth century. Other names might be mentioned, hundreds of pages might be devoted to the bar alone, but here we must be content tO' mention a few names rather than afi^ord a complete portrait of each personage who has conferred lnjuiu' (in the legal history of this county.

As affording a ground for comparison between the personnel of the bar of the present and that of the past century in our county, it would be interesting to note how far the careers of our legal fraternity in 1905 bear out the observations of Hon. James Bryce, M. P., concerning certain tendencies of the profession as differing from what he had observed thirty or thirty-five years ago. Says ]\Ir. Bryce : " Lawyers now to a greater extent than formerly are Ijusiness men, a part of the great organized system of industrial and financial enterprise. The}- are less than iormerly the students of a particular kind of learning, the practitioners of a particular art. And they do not seem to be quite so much of a distinct professional class. Some one sexentv years ago called them the aristocracy of the LInited States, meaning that they led public opinion in the same way as the aristocracy of England led opinion there. They still comprise a large part of the finest intellect of the nation. But one is told they do not take so keen an interest in purely legal and constitutional questicjns as they did in the days of Story and Webster." It is certainly true that many of the best lawyers of this county take a foremost part in business; that is, commerce, industry and finance, but it is hardly possible to state in what degree that part is greater than a generation ago.

The active members of the bar of Elkhart county in 1905 are as follows: Ethan L. Arnold, L, L. Burris, Warren Berkey, David M. Best, L. H. Beyerle, George T. Barney, Clark Barney, Elisha A. Baker, Frank Brown, Livy Chamberlain, Orin M. Conle}', William M. Charnley, Mitchell Charnley, Milo H. Cripe, Ira H. Church, James S. Drake, AVilliam J. Davis, Thomas .\. Davis, William Dalton, Henry C. Dodge, James S. Dodge, James S. Dodge, Jr., Ethan A. Dausman, Anthony beahl, B. F. Deahl, Otto E. Deal, A. E. Darling, L. A. Dennert, Perry

B. Zigler, Edgar L. Zigler. Law firms : Church and Shaw : Davis and Schaefer : Deahl and Deahl ; Hughes and Arnold : Harman and Zigler; Hile and Baker; Miller, Drake and Hubbell; Raymer and Proctor; Skinner and Wider; Vanlleet and Vanfleet ; YM and Wehmeyer; Zook and Ja}-.

The Elkhart County Bar Association has the f(5llo\\ing officers for 1905: John M. Vanfleet, president; Aaron S. Zook, vice-president; Martin H. Kinney, secretary; William H. Charnley, treasurer. Executive Ct)mmittee; E. A. Dausman, George T. Barney, P. L. Turner, V. W. Vanfleet. Grie\-ance Committee : \\' illiam B. Hile, Charles A. Wehmeyer. Charles E. Frank, AVarren Berkey, Arthur E. Darling. Membership Committee: Lou W. Vail, A. S. Zook. J. B. Gattshall. James L. Harman, J. S. Dodge. Jr. Examining Committee : E. A. Dausman, B. F. Deahl, Vernon W. Vanfleet.