CHAPTER XI.
MEDICAL SOCIETY AND PHYSICIANS [Note 1].
The Doctor of Early Days -- Organization of the Addison County Medical Society -- First Members -- First Board Officers -- Names of Early Members -- Vicissitudes -- Suspension of the Society -- Reorganization -- An Era of Success -- Biographical Memoranda of Deceased Physicians.
THERE is little of a general character to record of the medical profession in early days in Addison county. The experiences of the family doctor in a new country may not be generally understood in this late day, but his beneficent, arduous and often ill-requited labors are remembered with gratitude in many families. The physician of pioneer times may not have possessed in all cases the advantages for securing the broadest and most perfect professional education, but in his practice, when his "ride" covered territory many miles in extent; when roads were none of the best; when accommodations for travelers were very meager, and when everybody was poor in the world's goods, while at the same time sickness and death made their unfailing visits at every hearthstone -- then the country doctor's deeds and life often rose to the heroic.
Addison County Medical Society -- This society was organized and met for the first time on the 15th day of December, 1813. There were present the
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[Note 1]. Prepared chiefly by Dr. Charles L. Allen, of Rutland.
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following physicians: Drs. Ebenezer Huntington, William Bass, Edward Tudor,Frederick Ford, Rufus Newton, Luther E. Hall, Horace Brooks, Dan Stone, Jacob Peck, David McHollister.
Organization was perfected by the election of the following officers: Dr. Ebenezer Huntington, president; William Bass, vice-president; Luther E. Hall, secretary; Frederick Ford, jr., treasurer; William Bass, librarian. Dan Stone, Edward Tudor, Frederick Ford, jr., John Lyman, David McHollister, censors.
Luther E. Hall and Dan Stone were made a committee to present a code of by-laws. It was also voted that the president should deliver an inaugural address at the next meeting; that members pay each a tax of one dollar; and Josiah Lyman was examined by the censors and approved. The next meeting was ordered held at the house of Dr. Bass, and a notice of the same to be published in the Vermont Mirror.
At the next meeting a code of by-laws was presented and Horton, admitted 182I; Joel Rice and Jonathan A. Allen, admitted 1822; Moses C. Deming, admitted 1824; Isaac Seeley, admitted 1825.
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[NOTE 1]. It will be observed that several of these names are spelled differently from the way they are given in the previous records of the meeting; but in both cases we have followed the orthography of the old record book.
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Dr. Ebenezer Huntington was continued in the office of president of the society until 1820, when Dr. Dan Stone was elected. He was once re-elected, and in 1822 Dr. Huntington was again placed in the office; in 1823 Dr. Luther E. Hall was elected and held the office through 1825. For 1826 William Bass was elected.
There is little in the proceedings of the society during the period under consideration that demands attention here; a few members were expelled and one was convicted of stealing a watch, which he refunded. The society kept up communication with the State society, and was called upon on several occasions for reports on diseases, mortality, etc., and papers were prepared and forwarded. The members were granted diplomas by the board of censors, beginning in a short time after the organization of the society, upon payment of five dollars each; and they were assessed from one to two dollars annually, for current expenses. That some of the members were delinquent in the payment of these dues is seen by a resolution adopted in 1818, expressing a determination to collect by law all moneys due the society where the amount exceeded one dollar. A receipt appears in the records for twenty-five copies of diplomas in blank from Dr. James Porter, of Rutland, under date of June, 1821.
A new code of by-laws was adopted in 1822, the principal changes in which related to additional stringency in the examination and admission of members; the purchase of books for the library; the collection of dues, etc. One provision reads as follows: " No spirituous Liquor shall be drank in the society, while on business, or smoking tobacco, without special permission from the presiding officer."
Of the causes which led to the dissolution or the suspension of this society, which occurred in 1826, we are not advised. After the society had elected its officers in May of that year, the following resolution was presented by Dr. D. Stone:
"Resolved, By the Addison County Medical Society, that we will, on the second Wednesday of June next, at the house of Dr. William Bass, put up our Library at auction to the members of the Society, in manner as may be agreed on by a committee appointed for that purpose. The avails from the sale of said Library to be at the disposal of the Society."
It was then voted that a committee of three be appointed to "attend to the sale of the library." The members chosen were Drs. Martin Gay, William Bass and Frederick Ford. At the June meeting the aforesaid committee reported recommending that the library be sold in as small portions as convenient, for notes payable in thirty days, with an endorser. The sale was made, the schedule showing some sixty sets of works, which brought a gross sum of about eighty dollars. Another meeting was held on the 4th of October, 1826, at which only six physicians were present. They voted that a committee of two be appointed to settle with the treasurer, and in connection with him to
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make a schedule for a dividend of such money as may be found in his hands. Drs. Joel Rice and Thomas P. Matthews were appointed as the committee. The last vote recorded is to adjourn until the second Wednesday in January next (1827).
The next organization of this society was effected in December, 1835, the meeting being held on the 16th of December. Dr. Dan C. Stone, of Vergennes, occupied the chair, and Erasmus D. Warner, of New Haven, was appointed secretary. A resolution was passed that the physicians of the county be invited to attend a meeting at the Vermont Hotel on the 24th of December, for the purpose of organization. A committee consisting of Drs. Dan C. Stone, A. Hall and N. H. Finney, was appointed to prepare a constitution and bylaws. At the next meeting there were present the following: Drs. Dan C. Stone, Atherton Hall, Erasmus D. Warner, J. A. Allen, Zacheus Bass, Wm. P. Russell, R. Gowdey, Marcus O. Porter, Cullen Bullard, James S. Ewing and N. H. Finney. The following offcers were elected: J. A. Allen, president; Dan C. Stone, E. D. Warner, vice-presidents; R. Gowdey, secretary; Atherton Hall, treasurer.
The record.book is blank between 1836 and 1842 showing that the society was dormant during that period. A meeting was held at Masonic Hall, in Middlebury, on the 17th or June, 1842 and another organization was effected. Drs. J. A. Allen, Zacheus Bass and E. H. Sprague were appointed a committee to prepare constitution and by-laws, and a committee to address the succeeding meeting, consisting of Drs. D. Goodale, M. H. Ranney and Wm. P. Russell. Jonathan A. Allen was elected president; Dan C. Stone, vice-president; David C. Goodale, secretary. The following physicians subscribed to the by-laws as adopted at different dates after the society was organized: Jonathan Adams Allen, Middlebury; H. A. Smith, New Haven; Dan C. Stone, Vergennes; D. C. Goodale, Addison; A. Sprague, Vergennes; A. Bradford, Vergennes; George E. Stone, Monkton; Lucian P. Cheney, Addison; E. H. Sprague, Middlebury; M. H. Ranney, Salisbury; P. Maxfield, Panton; William P. Russell, Middlebury; Noble H. Finney, Monkton; Joel Rice, Bridport; Erasmus D. Warner, New Haven; William C. Warner, Bristol; L. M. Kent, Lincoln; F. P. Wheeler, Starksboro; J. B. Murray, Moriah, N. Y.; S. Pearl Lathrop, Middlebury; O. G. Dyar, Salisbury; D. D. Page, Shoreham; Cullen Bullard, New Haven; Norman Towsley, Lincoln; Washington Miller, Hasseltine, New Haven; Earle Cushman, Orwell; Zacheus Bass, Middlebury; Nathan Gale, Orwell; Henry R. Jones, Bridport and Benson; George F. Stone, Ferrisburgh; Edward F. Smith, Middlebury;J. N. Moore,
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Salisbury; William S. Hopkins, Vergennes; James S. Gale, Orwell; G. W. Bromley, Huntington, Chittenden county; F. H. Stevens, Bridport; J. E. Weeks, Salisbury; O. L. Nimblet, Monkton; H. Meeker, Middlebury; J. H. Steele, Middlebury.
We need not attempt to follow the proceedings of this society through its period of success; it must suffice for us to note a few of the chief features. In February, 1844, the following catalogue of fees was adopted: For every visit within one-half mile, not less than fifty cents; over one-half mile and under two miles, $1.oo; over two miles, $1.50; over four miles and under six, $2.50; over six miles and under eight, $3.00; over eight miles and under ten, $5.00; this was supplemented by a list of fees for extraordinary cases. Some changes were occasionally made in the catalogue at later dates.
In 1845 Dr. Dan C. Stone was elected president, and S. P. Lathrop secretary and treasurer. J. A. Allen, Joel Price and P. Maxfield, censors. The attendance at the various meetings was usually small, and a resolution was adopted in 1845 that each member who should thereafter fail in attendance should be written on the subject and the reason requested for his nonattendance.
In 1846 Dr. J. A. Allen was again elected president, with W. P. Russell as secretary, and Dr. Bradford was appointed in place of Dr. Stone on a committee on the medical history of the county. In 1847 Dr. A. Bradford was elected president and C. L. Allen secretary. The following year Dr. E. D. Warner was made president. In 1849 Drs. C. L. Allen, F. P. Wheeler and W. P. Russell were elected delegates to the National Medical Association held in Cincinnati in May, 1850. In this year Dr. Earle Cushman was elected president, Charles L. Allen continuing as secretary. In 1854 Drs. W. P. Russell, F. P. Wheeler and N. Gale were sent as delegates to the American Medical Association in Philadelphia. In the following year the same association met in Detroit, and Drs. C. L. Allen, E. D. Warner and W. P. Russell were sent as delegates. The next change in officers recorded was made in 1856 when E. D. Warner was elected president; W. P. Russell, vice-president; C. L. Allen, secretary; L. Hazeltine, librarian; H. A. Smith, George S. Gale and Earle Cushman, censors. The last meeting of the society, as then organized, was held on the 16th of October, 1858. At this time, from various causes which need not be detailed here, the meetings were abandoned, and Addison county was without a medical society for about twenty years.
On the 18th of July, 1875, a meeting of physicians was held pursuant to a call, at which Dr. Zacheus Bass acted as moderator, and B. F. Sutton as secretary. A committee was appointed, consisting of Drs. Hopkins, Wheeler, Porter, Woodbridge and Sutton, to prepare a constitution and by-laws, and the following officers were elected: Dr. Z. Bass, president; Dr. F. P. Wheeler, vice-president; Dr. B. F. Sutton, secretary and treasurer. Following are the
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names of the original members of this society: Drs. Z. Bass, Middlebury; B. F. Sutton, Middlebury; M. H. Eddy, Middlebury; C. W. B. Kidder, Vergennes; E. H. Callender, Middlebury; E. G. Blaisdell, Bridport; W. H. Platt, Shoreham; Joseph Warner, Bridport; W. M. Day, Middlebury; E. P. Russell, Middlebury; E. C. Porter, Cornwall; J. P. Hinckley, Salisbury; F. P. Wheeler, Bristol; John Avery, Starksboro.
In December, 1875, the following officers were elected: E. C. Porter, president; Joseph Warner, vice-president; B. F. Sutton, secretary; C. W. B. Kidder, treasurer; William Platt, William S. Hopkins, M. H. Eddy, censors; E. P. Russell, librarian. In 1877 C. W. B. Kidder was elected president, and William H. Platt, secretary. In 1879 Dr. William H. Platt was made president, and M. H. Eddy secretary and treasurer. At the present time Dr. M. H. Eddy fills the office of president of the society, and Dr. B. F. Sutton, secretary.
Champlain Valley Homoeopathic Medical Society. -- This society was organized at Middlebury May 5, 1874. Beginning with seven members, it has increased until in 1885 it has a membership of twenty-three. The society admits physicians who are regular graduates of either school in good standing, and practicing their profession in the valley of Champlain. The annual meetings are held in Middlebury on the first Tuesday in May; quarterly meetings at different towns as voted at each annual meeting. Following are the names of the officers of the society for 1885: President, G. E. E. Sparhawk, M.D., of Burlington; secretary and treasurer, M. D. Smith, M.D., Middlebury; censors, Drs. A. A. Arthur, Vergennes; Charles Gale and F. W. Hamilton, Rutland.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
Dr. Zackeus Bass. The name of Bass is coeval with New England. As early as 1630 we find in the records of Roxbury, Mass., the name of Samuel Bass. In 1640 this Samuel Bass removed from Roxbury to Braintree (now Quincy), Mass., where he became the first deacon of the church. He and his wife were born in the same year, 1600. His wife died in 1693, and he died in 1694, aged ninety-four years and leaving one hundred and sixty-two descendants, the youngest having been born only eleven days before his death. Deacon Samuel Bass was said to have a vigorous mind and to have been a leading man in the community. Among his descendants was the Rt. Rev. Edward Bass, D.D., the first Episcopal bishop of Massachusetts.
Dr. Zacheus Bass, the sixth generation from Deacon Samuel Bass, was born in Windham, Conn., on the 14th of February,1791. His father, Captain Eleazer Bass, was a soldier in the War of the Revolution, a farmer in Windham, and had twelve children, of whom Zacheus was the youngest. In 1806, when only eighteen years old, young Bass came to Vermont to be with an
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older brother, Dr. William Bass, who had some years before settled in Middlebury where he had quite an extensive practice. Here he attended the Middlebury Academy, where he fitted for college. He entered Middlebury College, but left before graduating. He studied medicine with his brother, and attended two courses of lectures in the medical department of Yale College when Professors Ives, Knight, and the elder Silliman were in their prime. Just before the close of the second course of lectures his father was taken very sick and he was obliged to leave for Windham. Afterwards he came to Middlebury, and on the 7th of June, 1815, he was examined and licensed to practice by the Addison County Medical Society, of which he then became a member. When Vermont was called upon to draft soldiers for the Plattsburgh campaign he volunteered to accompany the troops, and went to Burlington. He went on board Commodore MacDonough's ship, and assisted in taking care of the wounded on the island after the battle.
On the 27th of May, 1817, he married Miss Susan Dorrance. They had one son and one daughter. The son, a bright, active lad of five years, was in a neighboring yard, watching the trimming of shade trees, when a falling limb struck him on the head and killed him. In after years, even when the father had become an old man, if any allusion was made to the son, it would instantly bring tears into his eyes.
Middlebury College granted him the degree of M.D. in 1829, during the time when the Vermont Academy of Medicine of Castleton was connected with the college. In 1871 Rush Medical College, of Chicago, conferred upon him the honorary degree of M.D., which is very rarely conferred upon any except the most distinguished practitioners in this country and Europe. At each re-organization of the Addison County Medical Society he became a member, and at times was its president. He was a member of the Vermont Medical Society, and was also a member of the American Medical Association, and attended several of its annual meetings.
Dr. Bass never sought office, but such was the respect which his fellow townsmen had for him that he was very frequently moderator of the town meetings, and continuously for some years he was moderator of the village meetings. Very often he was one of the selectmen of the town. For many years he was overseer of the poor, and was almost always the town doctor.
Dr. Bass was a man of quick and strong impulses, a firm and trusting friend, a cordial hater. He hated shams and deceit; he hated pompous display, even of knowledge; he hated quackery of all descriptions. He loved and honored his profession, and was always glad to help the younger members when he found them worthy. He was fond of hearing and especially fond of telling a good story. He particularly enjoyed a good quiet game of "old sledge," and was delighted when he could catch his opponent's jack. He rarely opened a medical book, and never took any medical journal, but being blest with a good
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memory, quick perception and sound practical sense, he kept well abrest with the best practitioners by always having counsel in any new kind of a case, remembering well all the essential points, and the new remedies proposed. He adhered firmly to remedies which he had tried, but was always ready to use new ones upon sufficient grounds. He quickly apprehended the essential features of a case and knew, almost intuitively, the nature of the disease and what would be the result. He never treated disease by name, in a routine manner, well knowing the difference between the essential and the differential diagnosis, -- the essential diagnosis indicating the real condition of the patient and the therapeutic agent to be employed; the differential diagnosis only indicating the name of the disease. Patients with pneumonia, typhoid fever, or a broken leg even, might all need the same remedy, while different cases of the same disease might require opposite remedies. When called to the first case of diphtheria which occurred in Middlebury, he frankly said he had never before seen anything of the kind, but at once seeing the essential diagnosis, gave an accurate prognosis and prescribed correctly. He was in no sense of the term a specialist; his forte, however, was in obstetrics. In this he had a very large practice, and possessed the entire confidence of the community. He had patience to wait,. but knew when to interfere. We often hear about "good luck" in such cases,. but really good luck consists entirely in skill, sound judgment and experience, in knowing when and how long to wait, and when and how to interfere. He was at all times assiduous, but never intrusive in his attentions to his patients. He never allowed personal pleasure or comfort to interfere with his regular visits, which rarely varied many minutes from the time appointed. He was always pleasant and cheerful, often jovial socially, and even children always remembered the peculiarly merry twinkle of his eye when he met them with some genial remark or agreeable joke. Very few students of Middlebury College, who were there during the sixty years of the doctor's active practice, ever forgot his genial countenance or funny sayings. Kind and sympathetic in the sickroom, he always had an encouraging word for the desponding patient, and he never seemed more happy than when he could, by some queer allusion or funny remark, bring a smile upon the face of the patient who had been very sick. But he had a tell-tale countenance which would betray him whenever he gave up hope in any case. His years passed quietly by without much excitement, only varied by an occasional visit to his old home in Windham, Conn., or by attendance upon the meetings of the American Medical Association. He was never wealthy, but acquired a competence, the main part of which, however, he lost in the Lake Dunmore Glass Company, and in the Middlebury Manufacturing Company.
On the 27th of May, 1867, on their golden wedding, Dr. and Mrs. Bass were "at home," and received calls. It was delightful to see that hale and hearty couple, on the fiftieth anniversary of their wedding day, apparently
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enjoying as much as when first united in marriage. Very many friends, from out of town as well as from in town, called to pay their respects. Mrs. Bass died April 2, 1876, after an illness of about two years. Her sickness had an influence upon his health and spirits, so that during the year preceding her death, he pretty much gave up his practice, and afterwards only rarely visited patients among his old friends.
Dr. Bass was for many years a member of the Episcopal Church. Formerly he was an old-time Whig, of the Clay and Webster stamp, but in later years he became a Democrat. After he gave up practice he could be seen almost every day wending his way down-town for his daily New York paper, which he always read with interest as long as he lived.
On the 15th of February 1881 Dr. Z. Bass calmly and quietly breathed his last, having been confined to the house only a few weeks and to his bed less than one week. His intellect was bright and clear to the last. Almost his last expressed wish was that he might live until his ninetieth birthday, which came on the day he was buried.
Dr.Benjamin Bullard . The family of Bullard trace their history to John Bullard, one of three brothers, who came from England and settled at Watertown, Mass., in 1635. John Bullard was proprietor of and lived in the town of Dedham. About 1650 he became proprietor and removed to the town of Medfield. Dr. Benjamin Bullard, the fourth generation from John Bullard, married Miss Margaret Ward, in Athol, Mass., on the 26th of February, 1799. He settled first in New Salem, Mass., then he went to Herkimer, N. Y. In 1803 he came to Weybridge, Vt. In 1807, in addition to the practice of medicine, he went into the mercantile business in connection with Dr. Shaw, the firm being Bullard & Shaw. In 1810 we find him living at Massena, N. Y. He was a surgeon in the army during the war of 1812-15. After the war he returned to Vermont and settled in New Haven, within one-fourth of a mile of his former residence in Weybridge. He became a member of the Addison County Medical Society in December, 1815, and continued a member as long as the original society had an existence. He had seven children, four sons and three daughters. He died December 31,1827, aged fifty-five years.
Cullen Bullard, M. D., was born in Weybridge, Vt., on the 4th of December, 1806. He was the third child but oldest son of the preceding Dr. Benjamin Bullard. He seems not to have inherited his father's restless, roving disposition, for with the exception of a few years that his father resided in Massena, N. Y., he always lived within eighty rods of his birth-place. While a small boy Cullen had a narrow escape from drowning, in Massena Springs, being taken out of the water by his oldest sister in an insensible condition. At Massena he began his education by attending school in a barn, the teacher giving the scholars recess while a load of hay was being put in. After his father's return to Vermont, Cullen attended the Middlebury Academy. Afterwards he
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taught school several terms. He studied medicine with his father, and also attended the summer school of medicine of Prof. J. A. Allen, at Middlebury, during the session of 1826 and 1827. He attended one course of lectures at Castleton, in the Vermont Academy of Medicine, and two courses in the medical department of the University of Vermont, at Burlington, where in 1820 he received the degree of M. D. Immediately after graduating he located on the homestead, his father having died only the winter before. This was a farm at the western extremity of New Haven, a considerable distance from New Haven village, but not very far from the village in Weybridge. This farm was the continuous residence of the Drs. Bullard, father and son, for seventy-one years, and is still owned by one of his descendants. He married Miss Wealthy Aubrey, daughter of Captain John F. Aubrey, of Burlington, Vt, on the 2d of September, 1829. She yet survives and resides on the old homestead. They had five children, one son, a very promising young man, who died of disease of the brain at the age of nineteen, and four daughters. Two of the daughters died of consumption at his house, in 1850. One other died of the same disease in 1864, leaving one living, the wife of Mr. M. E. Sprague, of Weybridge. In 1831 the doctor's sister, who had been married to Mr. Israel Barber, was taken down with small-pox, from which she and two of her children died. There were sixteen cases in the Doctor's and the two nearest houses, and only the three cases mentioned proved fatal. There was very great excitement in all the towns around. Dr. Allen, of Middlebury, was called in council. The citizens of Middlebury made a great ado, and threatened to send Dr. Allen to a pest-house should he return, in consequence of which he took up his abode with Dr. Bullard until the excitement was passed. Dr. Bullard was a man of sound judgment and good practical sense. He was devoted to his profession, excellent in diagnosis,and eminently successful in treatment. He was attentive to his patients, always taking deep interest in them. He possessed in a marked degree that personal magnetism which drew his patients to him and made them feel that in him they had found a friend as well as a physician. He practiced principally in the towns of New Haven, Waltham, Weybridge, and Addison, although his ride extended throughout Addison county and beyond. Living in the country, he was, of course, obliged to take the charge of every case that occurred, both in medicine and surgery; yet it was in obstetrics that he excelled. It is said that he attended about twelve hundred women in confinement without having lost a mother. In 1875 it was suggested that some of the children at whose birth he had officiated should call upon him in a body. The suggestion flew like wild-fire and finally culminated in "the Doctor's picnic," held on the 16th of June of that year. It was estimated that eight hundred people were present on that occasion, from many States of the Union and from Canada, including the Doctor's "babies" of all ages up to forty-six years, their mothers, their fathers and their friends. The Vergennes cornet band discoursed
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fine music, address were made, toasts were given and responded to, and bountiful supplies, furnished by friends and neighbors, were feasted upon. It was decided by those present that this first gathering of the kind on record was also one of the happiest ever enjoyed. Full accounts of the picnic were published in the newspapers at the time. At the reorganization of the Addison County Medical Society Dr. Bullard became a member. For many years he was an active member. One paper, in particular, which he read in 1845, was received with attention and met with cordial approbation. It was on the fevers prevalent in this region, and characterized by sound sense and careful, practical observation. His remarks were always listened to with deference by the society. He was also a member of the Vermont Medical Society. For many years he was a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He never sought or would accept any public office. He was a stanch, old-time Democrat all his days, and voted for every Democratic candidate for president, of his time, except one; when Horace Greeley was nominated, it was too much; he did not vote. His last vote was cast for Hancock. During the last two years of his life he was not well, suffering from an organic disease of the heart. He, however, continued to practice his profession to the last. He dropped dead, while walking about the house, on the 2d of January, 1883.
Dr. Edward Tudorwas born in East Windsor, Conn., January 16,1771. His father was an eminent surgeon who had studied his profession in England. Edward was the eldest son and studied his profession with his father and afterward in Philadelphia under the immediate direction of Dr. Rush. He there attended two courses of lectures and received his degree. He practiced some years with his father in East Windsor and afterward established himself at Orford, N. H., where he was married. In 1804 he removed to Middlebury and continued a successful practice until age forced him to retire. He was a diligent student and through life sustained the reputation of a learned physician. He was an active member of Addison County Medical Society. At the age of eighty-seven years, on the 3d of March, 1858, he slipped on a piece of ice, fell and broke his leg; from this injury he never recovered, and died on the 8th of May following.
Dr. William Bass, from Windham, Conn., pursued the study of medicine at Westfield, Mass., when there was no medical school in the country, but the honorary degree of Doctor of Medicine was conferred upon him by the corporation of Middlebury College in 1825. He settled in Middlebury as a physician in 1797, when a young man, where he remained until his death. Immediately on his settlement here, he entered into an extensive and increasing practice, which was enlarged by the removal of Drs. Willard and Matthews to other spheres. He was not only a skillful and faithful physician, but by his social disposition and manners became popular and a favorite in many families in this and the neighboring towns. His practice was laborious and profitable,
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until near the close of his life the infirmities of age and disease forced him to retire from it. He possessed sound judgment and practical common sense, and was popular as a man as well as a physician, and had an extensive influence in town, and was often appointed to places of trust. He was distinguished for his benevolence in all his relations, and for his liberality to all our literary, religious and benevolent institutions. He was also a prominent and influential member and deacon of the Congregational Church. His death occurred in March, 1851, at the age of seventy-five.
Dr. Oliver Barber Norton, was born in Easton, Washington county, N.Y., December 19, 1799. His mother having died when he was three months old, he was adopted as a child by Rev. Edward Barber, of Greenwich, N. Y., father of Edward D. Barber, with whose family he lived as a son until he left it to engage in business for himself. To those most intimate he exhibited from his earliest boyhood proofs of no ordinary talents and force of character, and manifested a great thirst for learning, and extended his researches into many branches beyond the routine of a common English education. At the age of twenty-three he selected for his profession the practice of medicine, and continued his professional studies for two years under Dr. Cornelius Holmes. In the fall of 1822 he attended a course of lectures at the medical institution at Castleton, Vt. The summer following he became a member of Dr. J. A. Allen's summer school in Middlebury. He attended a second course of lectures the next fall, and, during the winter, he attended the anatomical lectures of Dr. Alden Marsh, in Albany. The following summer he again became a member of Dr. Allen's school, and "was chosen by the principal and students to give a course of lectures on botany." The fall of 1824 he attended his third course of lectures at Castleton, and was admitted to the degree of Doctor of Medicine, which was conferred upon him at the next commencement of Middlebury College. He left the institution with a high reputation as a scholar in the various branches of his profession. The two following years he assisted Dr. Allen in his practice, and in his school as a lecturer on botany, anatomy and physiology; and the year following was a partner of Dr. Allen, and afterwards, until his death, he continued his practice separately in Middlebury. In the fall of 1829 he was threatened with pulmonary consumption, but by the aid of a short journey to the South, he recovered his health so that he resumed his practice in the spring. During the fall of 1830 he was attacked with a disease which terminated in ulceration of the cartilage of his left knee joint, and ended his life on the 25th of April, 1831 at the early age of thirty-one.
Dr. Jonathan Adams Allen died at his residence in Middlebury on the 2d of February, 1848, at the age of sixty. At a meeting of the Addison County Medical Society in the same month of his death was announced, appropiate and highly commendatory resolutions were adopted, and Dr. S. Pearl Lathrop, of Middlebury, was appointed to prepare a biographical sketch of him, which
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was afterwards ordered to be published in the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal. This sketch we have before us. Our limits will allow us to use only a part of its materials, with such others as we possess. The subject of this sketch "was of poor but respectable parentage." His father was Amos Allen, son of Seth Allen, who was an immigrant to this country from Wales. His mother was daughter of Abel Smith, and granddaughter of Jonathan Adams, of Medway, from whom he received his name. The mother of Jonathan Adams was killed by the Indians, and he, after his head was dashed against a stone, was left as dead, but afterwards found alive, and became distinguished in various departments of public life. Through him Dr. Allen's genealogy is traced to the origin of the family of John Adams and his son John Quincy Adams. Dr. Allen was born at Holliston, Mass., on the 17th day of November, 1787. His father at an early day removed with his family to Newfane, Vt. Here he labored with his father on the farm. During this period he had only the advantages of a common school education. But having a thirst for learning, he purchased books for himself by trapping and selling furs. By this means he was able to store his mind with much useful knowledge. On the 17th of November, 1808, his twenty-first birthday, he started with a bundle containing his wardrobe, to "seek his fortune." He engaged in the duties of a school teacher in the West Village of Townshend, in this State, and immediately made arrangements with the minister of the parish to be instructed in Latin. In this position he remained for several years, and afterwards gave his attention more directly to studies preparatory to the practice of medicine under the tuition of Dr. Paul Wheeler, of Wardsborough. He also attended the lectures at Dartmouth College, under Dr. Nathan Smith, and there he received his degree of Doctor of Medicine August 24, 1814. After a practice of two years at Wardsborough, in partnership with Dr. Wheeler, his instructor, he removed to Brattleboro in August, 1816. In October, 1820, he was appointed to deliver lectures on chemistry in Middlebury College, which he continued until 1826. He removed his family to Middlebury in the spring of 1822, and commenced practice here; and at the same time he was appointed professor of materia medica and pharmacy in the Vermont Academy of Medicine, then in connection with Middlebury College. In this office he continued until 1829. He continued the practice of his profession in Middlebury until his death. His practice as a surgeon and physician was always extensive and increasing from year to year, and was not confined to the town or county in which he resided; as in cases of surgery and difficult cases of disease, he was often called beyond the limits of the State. Notwithstanding his great labors in his practice, he was always persevering in his studies, and employed all his leisure hours in diligent pursuit of knowledge. He not only became a learned physician, but directed his studies to other sciences, and especially to those branches of natural history more immediately connected with his profession. Among other specimens of natural history, he made a handsome
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collection of minerals, which were purchased by Middlebury College, and constitute an important part of their cabinet. Several scientific articles which he wrote were published in Silliman's Journal of Science. He also published a still greater number of articles on various branches of medical science and the laws of nature, as applicable to the practice of medicine, in the medical journals. He was a prominent member of the State Medical Society, and an active and much respected member and officer of Addison County Medical Society, up to the time of his death. Dr. Allen had many traits of character, besides his learning, which endeared him to his friends, professional associates, and especially to his patients. He was always amiable, unassuming and conscientious; always prompt in his attentions to his patients, who were never neglected, whatever sacrifice it cost him. He wore himself out in their service. Even after he was enfeebled by disease he continued his labors, until they induced or aggravated diseases which prematurely terminated his life. His usefulness was not confined to his professional duties, but as a citizen he was prompt by his aid and influence in promoting every good object. Dr. Lathrop, in the sketch to which we have referred, says: " The crowning trait of character of Dr. Allen, and one which harmonized and rendered most valuable all his other qualities, was decided and stable Christian principle. He was a firm believer and supporter of the Christian religion, and for many years a member of the Congregational Church. He first became connected with the church in Brattleboro in 1818, then under the pastoral charge of Rev. Caleb Burge. Religion with him was not a matter of profession alone, but of principle. It exerted its benign influences on the affections of his heart, and exhibited itself, in its power and excellency, in the moulding of his thoughts, and generating of his actions."
Dr. John Willard was the first physician who settled in Middlebury. He came to this place about the year 1787. When he commenced practice the town was almost wholly a wilderness, and the roads which had been opened were nearly impassable, especially in muddy seasons. But he continued an extensive practice until he was called to the discharge of other duties. He resided first in a house built by Freeman Foot, on the south side of his farm, afterwards owned by Daniel Chipman. In 1791 he purchased of Judge Painter a small lot next north of the tavern lot sold to Simeon Dudley, and built a house just back of the present bank building. Here he lived until 1797, when he sold it to Samuel Mattocks, and purchased of Stillman Foot the lot on which the late Judge Phelps resided. There was on it at the time a small house built by John Foot, and occupied by him as a dwelling house. Here Dr. Willard resided until some years after he built the brick house on the Cornwall road, which constituted the late elegant homestead of Charles Linsley, esq. In 1801 under the administration of Mr. Jefferson, he was appointed marshal of the district of Vermont. In this office he continued until 1810. After this appointment he relinquished principally
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the practice of his profession. But in the mean time he became distinguished as a politician. He was for several years at the head of the organization of the Republican party as chairman of its central committee. No man at the time probably had as much influence in controlling the measures of the party as he. On the establishment of the Vermont State Bank in 1806 he was appointed one of the directors, and continued in that office until the branch at Middlebury was closed. In 1812 Dr. Willard was appointed and officiated as sheriff of the county. Dr. Willard was born in 1759, at the town then known as East Guilford, now Madison, Conn. His father, Captain John Willard, a ship master, died when he was a child and he was left in the care of his mother, and aided in carrying on her small farm. Not liking the drudgery of a farmer's life, he went to sea. Toward the close of the Revolutionary War he was taken by the British on board an American privateer and confined in and subjected to the horrors of the Jersey prisonship lying in Walabout Bay. After he was released and had regained the health and strength which he had lost in prison, he received the appointment of quartermaster in a Connecticut regiment of volunteers. At the close of the war he entered upon the study of medicine under the tuition of Dr. Jonathan Todd, the principal physician in his native place. He had before had the limited advantages for education of only a few months each year, at a district school, in his childhood. But he was fond of study and made the most of the advantages he enjoyed. As an introduction to his medical studies he pursued, to a limited extent, classical studies with the pastor of the parish. After completing his medical studies he settled in the practice as before stated. In August, 1809, he was married to Miss Emma Hart, then principal of the Female Seminary here, and who has since become distinguished in that department. After she opened her school at their residence he co-operated with her in building it up and sustaining it. Having greater encouragement from friends in the State of New York, they removed their residence and school to Waterford in 1819, and two years afterwards to Troy. Dr. Willard's death took place May 25, 1825, at the age of sixty-six years [Note 1].
Dr. Stephen Pearl Lathrop was graduated at Middlebury College in 1849. The year following he spent in teaching, as preceptor of Black River Academy, at Ludlow, in this State. He afterwards pursued the study of medicine at Middlebury, and in the mean time attended the lectures at the Vermont Medical College at Woodstock, and received his diploma as Doctor of Medicine at that institution in 1843. He then established himself in the practice in this place, which he continued 1846. During this short period his practice was not extensive, but he industriously pursued scientific studies, and was regarded as a distinguished scholar in several departments of science, especially in natural history. In this period he was appointed by the late Professor.
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[Note 1] This sketch of Dr. Willard and several others in this chapter are from Swift's History of Middlebury.
page 176 HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
Charles B. Adams, his assistant in the department of chemistry and natural history and in the geological survey of the State. From 1846 to 1849 he officiated under appointment as principal of the Female Seminary in Middlebury. In the latter year he was elected professor of chemistry and natural history in the college at Beloit,Wis., and removed to that place, and continued a teacher in that college until the latter part of the year 1852, when he was elected a professor in the State University at Madison, Wis. In this office he continued until his death, which occurred on the 25th of October, 1854.
Dr. Ralph Gowdey was the son of Mrs. Lucretia Gowdey, a widow, who resided in Middlebury for many years. He graduated Middlebury College in 1819, and from that time until 1822 was employed as a teacher in the State of Georgia. The climate not being favorable to his health, he returned to Vermont and entered upon the study of medicine. In the year 1825 he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine at the Castleton Medical College and immediately began practice in Rutland. In 1828 he removed to Middlebury, and from that time until his death on the 13th of June, 1840, he continued the practice with a growing reputation and the increasing confidence of the people. A written description of him says: "He was unassuming in his disposition and manners, but his talents and learning were of an order to give him a high rank in his profession, and were soon duly appreciated in the community."
Dr. William P. Russell was born in Charlotte, Vt., and received his medical education partly with Dr. Jonathan A. Allen and in part at the Berkshire Medical Institution, Pittsfield, from which he received his diploma in 1830. He began practice in Middlebury in 1831 and continued until his death, which occurred 1857, and held numerous other positions of trust. He filled the office of surgeon in the Fifth Regiment Vermont Volunteers, and for two years was on active duty in the field. In surgery Dr. Russell was one of the most eminent men in the county, and his success in the practice of medicine was scarcely less marked. He was a man of unusual social popularity and all who became acquainted with him soon looked upon him as a friend.
Joel Rice, M. D. was born in Bridport, April 15, 1792. He graduated at Middlebury College in 1819, in the class with Dr. Gowdey, of Middlebury, and Beriah Green, president of Oneida Theological Institute. In 1822 he graduted at the Vermont Academy of Medicine, in Castleton, Vt. He at once settled in Bridport in the practice of his profession. He became a member of the Addison County Medical Society in December, 1822, and continued a member as long as he resided in the State. He was also a member of the Vermont Medical Society in 1843-44-45. He represented the town of Bridport in the Legislature, and in 1849-50-51 he was elected a member of the State Senate from Addison county. He furfilled his duties in the Legislature with honor and
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credit to himself and his constituents. Dr. Rice was deservedly popular in the community, for he was a conscientious man, a man of unswerving integrity, reliable in every position in which he was placed. He was an intelligent, careful and safe practitioner, and had a good practice in Bridport and the towns surrounding. He possessed in a remarkable degree a religious sentiment, which pervaded and influenced every act of his life and endeared him very much to his patients. When he removed to Madison, Wis., where he died in 1860, his loss was very acutely felt and regretted by the people of Bridport.
Dr. Frederic Ford, sr., was one of the early settlers in Cornwall and occupied a conspicuous place in the profession. He came to that town in 1784. In 1795 he purchased of Dr. Campbell his store and goods, real estate and good will. The store was soon given up, as his medical practice extended. Of his subsequent career we find the following in Mr. Matthews's history of the town: " Few medical men in this or adjoining towns have enjoyed a wider or more lucrative range of professional employment. He was often called as a consulting physician to Leicester, Orwell and other remote towns. Dr. Ford, early in his career, became distinguished in this region by the adoption of a hydropathic system of medical practice peculiarly his own, at least as to the extent of its application. Cold water he used in subduing fever in almost every form. Among his papers are found minute descriptions of its successful employment in numerous and some extremely critical cases of scarlet fever, puerperal fever, bilious fever, typhoid fever and even mumps. The use of the doctor's favorite remedy was often so prompt and sometimes so abundant as to meet the opposition of his medical brethren, and to awaken the fears of his patients and their friends. He tells us, in his written reports of these cases, of wrapping some of his patients in wet sheets frequently renewed, or of pouring upon them pailful after pailful of water; of immersing his patients in casks of cold water; and even once of laying a child upon a snow bank, wrapped in a wet cloth and there applying the water. Dr. Ford was a man of social turn, and was very fond of society. Few men had more pleasant anecdotes to relate and none loved better to listen to their recital by others. His laugh -- peculiar for its manner and its heartiness -- cannot be forgotten by those who were favored with opportunities to witness his intercourse with his neighbors. As a citizen he took an active part in measures affecting the secular interests of the community. In the early part of his residence in Cornwall he often accepted town offices and discharged their duties to acceptance. He continued in the house he purchased of Dr. Campbell until about the year 1816, when, with his son, he built a spacious mansion now occupied by his grandson, Charles R. Ford. Dr. Ford had been accustomed for a considerable period to receive medical students into his family for instruction, and in erecting his house he intended to provide for their accommodation. His death occurred September 17, 1822, at the age of sixty-three. Dr. Ford was connected with the army in the Revolutionary War,
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and belonged to the detachment which, under General Wayne, 'Mad Anthony,' captured Stony Point by storm in July, 1779 -- a fit soldier to follow a leader so dauntless and determined."
" Frederick Ford ,jr., M. D., was the only surviving son of the preceding, and the only child who survived infancy, of a family numbering, it is said, twenty-two, all children of the same mother. He was born in 1787 before his father's removal from his first pitch. After leaving the common school he studied Latin to some extent under the instruction of Rev. Mr. Bushnell -- pursued the study of medicine under his father's direction, and completed his professional education at the medical school in Hanover, N. H., and there received his degree. Dr. Ford was married to Miss Sally Reeve in 1810, and commenced professional practice in connection with his father, and adopted his theory in regard to cold effusion in inflammatory diseases. During the continuance of his father's life Dr. Ford devoted himself exclusively to his profession, but after that period devoted his attention more to agricultural pursuits, preferring, in the enjoyment of a competency, to leave the management of his affairs very much in the hands of his son. He was fond of reading, especially the current intelligence of the day; was an interested and active member of the 'Young Gentlemen's Society,' and was its librarian, I believe, from its establishment to his death. He died in April, 1858."
One of the first physicians of prominence in the town of Salisbury was Henry S. Waterhouse, an adopted son of Eleazer Claghorn. He studied medicine with Dr. John Horton, of the same town, and finally settled in Malone, N. Y. He attained eminence as a surgeon, and in 1825 was called to the professorship of surgery in the University of Vermont at Burlington. His health becoming impaired, he resigned his position in 1827, and went with his son to Florida. Both were drowned soon afterward while sailing off Key West.
Darius Mathews was the first permanently settled physician in Salisbury. He was from Cheshire, Conn., and settled in Salisbury in 1788 or 1789. He is remembered as a successful practitioner; but he remained in town but a few years when he removed to Middlebury. He was clerk of the Supreme Court in 1798, and made judge of probate in 1801 which office he administered until his death in 1819. In 1809 he removed to Cornwall, which town he represented several years in the Legislature.
Rufus Newton, son of Captain Joel Newton, began practicing medicine in Salisbury in 1805, but removed to St. Lawrence county, N. Y. Late in his life he removed to Illinois, where he died in 1857.
Moses H. Ranney, M. D., was born August 16, 1814, in Stockbridge, Vt His early life was passed in school, and at fifteen he began studying medicine with Dr. Daniel Huntington, of Rochester, Vt. Later he attended four courses of lectures and graduated from the Berkshire Medical College, Massachusetts,
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at the age of nineteen. He practiced eleven years in Salisbury, and in 1837 married the daughter of Aaron Burrows, one of the prominent citizens of the town. Dr. Ranney secured an extensive and lucrative practice, but gave it up to obtain a still better knowledge of his profession in the hospitals of New York city. He was finally chosen as physician in chief of the New York City Lunatic Asylum. He died in New York.
William Aaron Hitchcock was born at Great Barrington, Mass., January 13, 1805. After a good common school education he was placed in a cooper's shop to learn the trade, in which he labored for some years. Abandoning a pursuit so uncongenial to his tastes, he entered the Rensselaer Institute at Troy, N. Y., preparatory to the study of medicine, for which he entertained a strong predilection from his very childhood. After leaving Troy he pursued the study of medicine with Earle Cushman, M.D., of Orwell, Vt.; attended lectures at Castleton Medical College, where he graduated with honor in 1829. In the spring of 1830 he settled in the town of Shoreham, and entered zealously into the practice of his profession, giving the whole of his valuable life and energies to the service of the people of that town and vicinity. Dr. Hitchcock had a clear brain, was quick and accurate in his diagnosis, prompt and energetic in his treatment. He was keen and discriminating in his observations; diligent and appreciative in his reading; keeping far in advance of most country practitioners; possessed of a remarkably retentive memory. His sound judgment, indomitable will and perseverance enabled him to work out a successful career in the profession of his choice. Few practitioners secure and retain in so large a degree the confidence and affection of a community, as did Dr. Hitchcock.
Always healthy, he rarely declined a sick call on account of fatigue, and often performed an amount of labor which would have hopelessly broken down a less robust system. In the last two or three years, however, he had several attacks of pericarditis, leaving him the victim of uncomfortable symptoms. A severe attack during the summer of 1867, complicated with pneumonia, made a more decided impression upon his constitution. From this he never entirely recovered, although still able to do considerable business through the autumn. Early in the winter, after fatigue and exposure in the prosecution of his professional labors, there happened a recurrence of the pericardial trouble, attended by considerable effusion and consequent dyspnoea. Remedies failed to give relief. He lingered on with progressive oedema of the lower extremities, and the usual accompaniments of this distressing disease, until his death on the morning of the 25 th of February, 1868. His private character was ever strongly marked by his early training and education. His habits were always most temperate. He never indulged in dissipation of any kind, and wholly eschewed tobacco and spirituous liquors.
George S. Gale, M.D., was born in Cornwall, April 11, 1814. He was the .youngest of nine children. His father, General Somers Gale, was among the first settlers of Cornwall, and commanded a
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battalion at the battle of Plattsburgh. He received good academic education, and commenced the study of medicine with an older brother, Dr. Nathan Gale, in Orwell, in May, 1834 He attended lectures at the Castleton Medical College, and graduated at that institution in 1837. He commenced the practice of medicine in Franklin, Vt., but subsequently removed to Rouse's Point, N. Y. Later he settled in Bridport. In February, 1848, Dr. Gale became a member of the Addison County Medical Society. After a rigid competitive examination he was commissioned, by the governor, surgeon of the First Regiment of Vermont Cavalry in 1861, and served through the war. At times he was detached from his regiment to act as brigade surgeon and as division surgeon. For a considerable time during the last part of the war he was detailed to the Cavalry Corps Hospital at City Point, where he was surgeon-in-chief In October, 1862 he had a very severe course of malarial fever which lasted several weeks. During the convalescence from the fever he had a leave of absence. Aside from this, with the exception of a few weeks in the summer of 1863, when he was suffering with rheumatism, he was on active duty, and the greater part of the time on duty of the most arduous kind, throughout the whole four years of the war. At the termination of the war he settled in the city of New York in the practice of his profession. He at once received the appointment of pension examining surgeon. After practicing six or eight years in the city of New York he removed to Brooklyn, N. Y., where he continued the active duties of his profession until he was stricken with paralysis. From this he never fully recovered, but lingered along about three years. He died in Brooklyn, March 22, 1877. Dr. Gale was of about medium height, thick set, light complexion and hair, and blue eyes. He was genial and companionable in social life. In professional life he was very much respected and loved by his brother physicians, among whom he ranked above the average. He was the strongest kind of a Republican.
Earle Cushman, M.D., of Orwell, received a diploma conferring upon him the degree of M. D. from the Addison County Medical Society, June 5, 1822, after having passed a satisfactory examination, and being approved by the board of censors. He became a member of the society in August, 1845, and was its president during several years. He read some valuable and interesting papers before the society, one of which in particular will be remembered as forming the basis of a long and instructive discussion. Dr. Cushman was a gentleman of culture and education. He was cautious, careful and diligent in his profession, always on the alert to learn anything which might be for the advancement of his science or art. He was ever ready to seize a new idea and develop it. From first to last he was a diligent student, and the students who studied with him, along with the principles of medicine, did not fail to acquire a zeal and devotion to the profession. There have been other physicians in Addison county who should be included in the foregoing
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sketches, but all efforts to obtain the required data have resulted in failure. The following list gives the names of all the physicians who have ever practiced in Middlebury and the periods of their practice:[Note 1].John Willard, 1787 to 1801; Joseph Clark, 1793 to 1795; William Bass, 1797 to 1849; Edward Tudor, 1804 to 1856; Zacheus Bass, 1815 to 1881; Jonathan A. Allen, 1825 to 1848; Oliver B. Norton, 1826 to 1831; Ralph Gowdey, 1830 to 1840; William P. Russell, 1831 to 1871; John Marshall, 1836 to 1842; Gerry Ross, 1840 to 1855; D. C. Goodale, 1840; Edwin H. Sprague, 1841 to 1843; S. Pearl Lathrop, 1844 to 1849; Charles L. Allen, 1847 to 1862; Joseph Billings, 1847 to 1864; Charles C. P. Clarke, 1848 to 1850; John G. Wellington, 1848 to 1849; William M. Bass, 1848 to 1865; Norman D. Ross, 1850 and now; Hiram Meeker, 1854 to 1860; J. M. Jennings, 1857 to 1858; Joseph N. Steele, 1860 to 1863; Marcus 0. Porter, 1861 to 1863; Smith T. Rowley, 1861 to 1876; Homer Bostwick, 1866; Merritt H. Eddy, 1866 and now; Christopher B. Currier, 1866 to 1878; Edward P. Russell, 1867 and now; Edward 0. Porter, 1867 to 1884; Oliver E. Ross, 1868 to 1870; Miss Emma Callender, 1873 to 1878; Benjamin F. Sutton, 1873 and now; William M. Day, 1874 to 1875; Edward S. Craft, 1874 to 1875; Frederick W. Halsey, 1876 to 1884; Edward 0. Porter, 1878 and now; William H. Sheldon, 1880. Melvin D. Smith, 1883 and now. Two or three others practiced here a few months only.
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[Note 1] Compiled by Henry L. Sheldon