Adams County, Nebraska - Chapter 12: Physicians and Vital Statistics, 1916

Chapter 12: Physicians and Vital Statistics

Tlie liealtliful climate characterizing the oiJen, prairie country out of which Adams County was carved does not tend to bring the medical profession into as much prominence as might pertain to it under different climatic conditions. Nevertheless, there has been in the natural course of affairs a demand for medical attention, and in the forty-five years of its history, a large number of physicians have settled in the county for greater or longer periods. Nearly five hundred j)hy.siciaiis at one time or another have practiced their profession in Adams County.

There was very little regulation of the profession in the early days. Doctors could practice in the western country with scarcely any previous preparation. The early settlers, of course, were of Hmited means, and also they were of a hardy stock, and they lived nuich in the open and lived on simple food. The prospect was not alluring to youngmen from reputable medical schools.

A. H. Bowen was probably the first doctor to settle in the county, and he did not have the intention to follow that calling, but finding a demand for the service of a physician, and no one to supply the demand, Mr. Bowen practiced intermittently in the couple of years following his settlement in Juniata in 1871. Probably the first doctor to ])ractice in Hastings was Dr. C. M. Wright. Doctor Wright located in Hastings in the spring of 1873, coming from Malcolm, la. He was joined by his wife the following December. The Wrights erected a frame house, about where the store of Wolbach & Brach is now located, and the office was in the residence.

It is ])ossible that Doctor Morgan settled in Juniata a little prior to tlie arrival of Doctor Wright. Doctor JNIorgan i)racticed several years. In 1872, Dr. .7. R. Laine presented a bill to the county commissioners for amputating the foot of Peter Fowlie, but no one now living in the county a])pears to remember Doctor Laine as a resident of the county.

time that Doctor Wright arrived. He i^urchased some lots near the corner of St. Josei:)h Avenue and Second Street and erected a house there. Doctor Buckworth did not come to Hastings especially to practice medicine. He was in the coal business for a time, and then opened a drug store. He was active in the affairs of the young town, and when it became incorporated was soon elected to the city council. Upon leaving Hastings, Doctor Buckworth went to North Platte and Avas employed in the United States land office.

Before the end of 1873, Doctor Sadler located in Hastings, and soon acquired a good jn-actice. He was interested in political affairs as well as medicine, and in 1876 was elected a state rei^resentative. He left Hastings soon after serving his term in the Legislature.

Doctor 'Wright preempted a quarter section of land a short distance east of Hastings and became possessed of 240 acres in all. By 1881 he was able to dispose of his land for $12. .30 per acre. He then went to Ann Arbor and was graduated from the medical dej)artment of that university. He now operates a drug store and practices his profession at Rock Island, Tex.

The early doctors of Hastings practiced over a wide territory, nortli to the Platte River, and south as far as Red Cloud. Returning from Red Cloud one niglit, Doctor Wright was caught in a violent rain storm in the valley of the Little Blue, and was unable to find his way out of the hills imtil the morning came. There was mucli exposiu'e to the early practice. As payment for his service one time. Doctor Wright was given a turkey hen by a farmer. JNIrs. Wright succeeded in raising fifty young turkeys from the mother hen. and so they felt that there were ways of beating the game.

Dr. T. A. Urquhart came to Hastings about 1874i and became one of the best known doctors in the country surrounding Hastings. He came originally from Virginia, and retained a warm sympathy for the lost cause in the Civil war. For many years Doctors Urquhart, Cooke and Ackley were the lioard of examiners for pensions. These examinations of tlie old soldiers were usually conducted in the office of Doctor Cooke, which was then located in the second story above the store l)uildings on tlie west side of Hastings Avenue, south of the alley. These offices are now for the most part occupied by attorneys, but in the early 80's, and for a time afterward, they were tlie strongholds of the doctors. Besides Doctor Cooke. Dr. Ralph J. Trwin and Doctor Urquhart had tlieir offices here. Doctor Irwin for manv years was one of the well-known doctors of Hastings. He came from Illinois, where lie received his medical education. He was unusuallv well read, and served for some time on the Hastings Board of Edu- cation. In 1898 lie went as an armj' surgeon with a Nebraskan regiment to Cuba. While in the army he lost liis health, and upon his return was unable to practice with the old-time vigor, and finally, several years afterward, left for jNIissouri, where at latest accounts he still lives.

In 1877 there arrived in the county a number of doctoj-s who remained and who left a dee}} impression ujion the county from the medical side. Among the physicians arriving that year were Doctors John Cooke, Francis A. Naulteus and Winfield S. Ackley. Some time - prior, but not long, Dr. T. H. Urquhart had located in Hastings. Doctor Urquhart had graduated from JeiFerson College, Philadelpliia. in 1848, and continued to practice successfully in Hastings until his death in the early 90's.

(^f the doctors Avho came in 1877 and attained a lasting prominence, only Doctor Ackley and Doctor Naulteus remain. Doctor Ackley settled in Juniata, where he still practices, and is the only physician in the town. Doctor Ackley was graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Keokuk, la., in 1876. He later attended lectures at Rush 3Iedical College, Chicago, and was graduated from that institution in 1 880. He ]:)receded Doctor Naulteus to the covmty a short time, and therefore has practiced longer in the county than any other physician.

Dr. John Cooke was a remarkable man and took a wide interest in matters outside of his profession, especially along governmental and industrial lines. He was a large man physically and spoke with a rich Scotch brogue, and had a remarkable way of inspiring confidence in his ])atients. Years after his death, a doctor who knew him well said: "If a patient died under Doctor Cooke, the relatives generally felt all right. They felt that all that could be done had been done." His son. Dr. Neil Cooke, died at the outset of his medical career, June 19, 1902. From this blow Doctor Cooke never recovered his spirits, and on February 13, 1903, he, too, died, after a short illness. Doctor Cooke received his medical education in Glasgow, Scotland, and before coming to Hastings practiced in Braidwood, 111., and other places in the East.

Doctor Cooke, though at times brusque of manner, was of quick sympathy. Once, returning from seeing a patient in the country, he observed a cow lying in a pasture in great distress and about to die. The doctor felt at once the physician's impulse to save, and succeeded in his veterinary adventure to such a degree that the life of the animal was spared. When the farmer learned of the incident, he insisted

Dr. W. A. Chapman came to Hastings in 1886, and soon acquired a large and lucrative practice. He was surgeon for the Burlington railroad for years. Doctor Chapman was a very affable man and won hosts of friends. His interests were wide and" he read much outside of his specialty. Doctor Chapman's two children, a son and a daughter, are physicians. The daughter. Dr. Alma J. Chapman, is located at Hastings; the son. Dr. William A. Chapman, is located in California. Doctor Chajaman died in Hastings in December, 1898.

Dr. W. H. Lynn came to Hastings in the early 80's and acquired a large practice. For the last several years of his life ill health prevented Doctor Lynn from practicing his profession. He died in Hastings March 21, 1907.

Dr. Francis Naulteus, who came to Hastings in 1877. holds the seniority among the doctors now practicing in the city. Doctor Xaulteus was active in the building up of Hastings, taking an especial interest in building operations, and helloing along development by making investments with local building organizations. He received his medical education in Germany. Next to Doctor Naulteus in point of seniority among Hastings doctors, is Dr. Joseph T. Steele, who came to Hastings in 1884. Dr. F. J. Schaufelberger has a penchant for botany, and has familiarized himself very largely with the botanical life of Adams County. His brother, Franklin Schaufelberger, has been associated with Doctor Schaufelberger in the practice since 1894. Dr. F. J. Schaufelberger came to Hastings in 1886 and is third in point of seniority.

Dr. A. R. Van Sickle came to Hastings in 1881 and became well known throughout the county. In the latter years, Doctor ^''an Sickle became interested in land in Garden City, Kan., and was not actively in practice in Hastings, although maintaining his residence here. He died in Hastings June 19, 1913. Dr. E. T. Cassell was associated with Doctor Van Sickle for several years. Doctor Cassell was interested in church work. He was the prime mover in establishing the south side Baptist mission. He was a singer and, with IMrs. Cassell. composed a number of hymns which are in general use throughout the country. Doctor Cassell now resides in Denver and is engaged in church work.

The registration of physicians in Adams County dates back to 1881. On June 1st of that year the state laws of Nebraska for the first time required registration of physicians with the county clerk. The law. however, did not ])rovide that the ai)plicants must furnish credentials. They merely presented diplomas without reference to the standing of the institutions granting them. In 1891 the state hoard of health came into heing charged to raise the standards necessary for medical practice. The board then as now consisted of the governor of the state, the state superintendent of public instruction, tlie attorney general and four physicians appointed by the governor and called secretaries of the board. The secretaries represent two of the regular scliool, allopaths; one homeopath and one eclectic pliysician.

Dr. J. V. Beghtol, of Hastings, was the first jiresident of the secretaries of the state board. Tlie others were Dr. F. D. Haldeman, of Ord; Dr. C. F. Stewart, of Auburn, and Dr. E. T. Allen, of Omaha. Through county organizations of physicians tlie state board in the first year of its existence enforced the requirement that applicants for license to practice must furnish evidence of having been graduated from rei)utable institutions. If not graduated they may lie allowed to practice, provided they had been practicing in Nebraska for five years pi'ior to the enactment of the law, which became operative in 1891. They are known as licensed physicians as distinguished from graduates. ^Vith the enforcement of the new law, some 400 ])hysicians removed from Nebraska. Doctor Beghtol, who located in Hastings, in 1903, was president of the secretaries of the board for seven years.

The sanitation and general health conditions of Adams County are in the care of the county board of health, which, is composed of the board of supervisors and one physician designated by them. In Hastings tlie board of health comprises the mayor, one councilman appointed by him, the chief of police and one physician appointed by the mayor and approved by the council. While Hastings and Adams County have been gratifyingly free from conditions making for ill health, there have been epidemics of contagious disease. In the late summer of 1879, many children in Hastings died of diphtheria, and at times between then and 1896, and in that year the disease reached epidemic proportions. Since the latter year, while there have been occasional cases, there is no sense of impending danger. In the early 80's and until the erection of the municipal water plant, typhoid fever was distressingly prevalent in Hastings. Since that time and the installation of the sewer system in 1889, there have been only scattering cases of typhoid. Investigation has revealed that no contagious disease is indigenous to Adams County. JNIicroscopic inspection of the water of the municipal water plant at Hastings, which is made by the railroads twice yearly, shows the water from the plant to be free from disease germs at the wells. There have been sporadic outbreaks of a mild form of smallpox in the county. A number in Hastings were quarantined for this disease in the winter of 1914-1.5, but no deaths from smallpox were reported. A small hospital for the isolation of those suffering with contagious disease Avas built bj^ the city on the sewer farm in 1915.

In a bulletin issued by the state board of health in January, 1916, it is recorded that there were 335 deaths in Adams County in 1915. The number of births were 518; 273 male and 245 female. Of the births of 1915, 452 were Americans, 35 Germans, 28 Scandinavians, 2 British and 1 unclassified. During 1912 the number of births in the county were exactly the same as in 1915, 518. Of the births in 1912. 285 were male and 233 female.

In 1911 there were 264 marriages in Adams County, and in 1914 there were 259. In 1911 there were 48 api)lications for divorce in the county, and in 1914 there were 42. Of the 1914 applications for divorce, eighteen were by those who had been married two years. In fourteen cases of the 1914 applications, cruelty was given as the cause, drunkenness was alleged in 1 case, non-support in 7, desertion in 18, and adultery in 2.

The Adams County Medical Society was organized in 1886. Among the charter members were Doctors Sowers, W. H. Lynn, F. A. Naulteus, J. T. Steele, R. J. Irwin and T. A. Urquhart. The society did little more than formally organize. After the creation of the state board of health, in 1901, the Adams County IMedical Society was formed and tb.e greater number of Adams County physicians are members. The county societies are affiliated with the Nebraska State Medical Association, and this in turn is a unit of the American ^Medical Association.

Tlie resident, registered physicians of Adams County at the present time are: Charles V. Artz, James V. Beghtol, Julian Raymond Blackman, Claude Bernard Calbreath, Alma J. Chapman, Charles Lloyd Egbert, Eugene Foote. Oscar Herman Hahn. Eli Barton Hamel, Elam Dolphus Haysmer, S. R. Hopkins, Sherman J. Jones. Wellington W. Kietli. Theodore Lightner, Russell Ross INIarble. James B. INIcPherson. Francis Naulteus, Warren James O'Hara, Amy B. Robinson, Frederick J. Schaufelberger, Franklin Schaufelberger, Arthur Andrew Smith, Charles R. Spicer, Joseph Turner Steele, John W. Straight, W. L. Sucha, James E. Warrick, S. J. Stewart and W. T. Carson, all of Hastings. In the towns outside of Hastings are the following physicians:

The fourteenth annual session of the Nebraska State IMedical Association was held in Hastings in May, 1881, and the forty-eighth in :\ray, 1915.

Dr. Charles K. Struble was the first osteopath to locate permanently in Adams County. He became established in Hastings in 1903, and still practices his profession. Other osteopaths are Drs. Floyd Pierce, W. J. Black and George Jones.

Registered In 1886

M. O. B. McKinney, W. A. Chapman, Jos. T. Steele, Laura A. Edwards. J. S. Curtiss, J. E. Anderson, F. J. Schaufelberger, Cieorge W. Randall.