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Family doctors were hard to come by in the pioneer days. Maybe he didn’t have a diploma, which was common in the early days. "Circuit Riders" were probably the first, coming occasionally to treat the sick. A person might have to go many miles on horseback or buggy to "fetch the Doc" while someone lay ill or dying. When you visited the Doctor he didn’t shove you out quickly or charge by the hour. Some people paid with a chicken or corn or whatever they had. Young mothers stayed home to have their babies and the Doctor stayed until the baby came, all night and day if need be. Doc stayed until the "fever broke" or the "crisis passed". They went miles through all kinds of weather, day or night, on horseback or buggy. The old-fashioned "Doc" was a true pioneer.
A Dr. Guthrie was one of the early doctors of Urbana. He sold his practice to Dr. Whiteis about 1854. Dr. U. B. Whiteis was Urbana’s doctor for over 45 years. A Dr. R. T. Jewel and Dr. L. G. Wyckoff started practice in about 1898.
DR. U. B. WHITEIS
He was born in Bellefontaine, Ohio in 1830 and died in Urbana on January 17, 1903. He was the son of Thomas Whiteis, a blacksmith of Pennsylvania. Thomas moved to Ohio about 1800. He had nine children. Dr. Whiteis was reared in Ohio and educated in common schools. He went to Ann Arbor, Keokuk, and Chicago Universities. He practiced medicine in Rockport, Ohio for five years. He came to Iowa and found a location for practice, then returned to Ohio to marry Emeline Sproot (parents John and Tamzen Fleming). Then he came to make his home and to practice in Urbana until he died. He bought out Dr. Guthrie, the only doctor in town. After four years he bought eighty acres. He returned to Ohio, left his wife, and went to Chicago University. The next year he returned to Urbana.
He was considered a fine physician, not sparing himself to answer his calls and making long drives through wilderness and at night to answer sick calls. He practiced until two weeks before his death. In politics he was a Republican and belonged to the Christian Church, attending church regularly.
Their four children - John, Samuel W., Edith (wife of Dr. Albert in Iowa City), and William.
Sam was born January 12, 1868, and died, unmarried, January 10, 1909. He went to school in Urbana and was a graduate of the Tilford Academy. He was a large land owner and prominent citizen. He was president of the Urbana Bank, was Postmaster for five years, and was a school director.
William went to school here at Tilford, the University of Iowa, and later went abroad to Vienna, Austria, and Germany. He was a prominent doctor in Iowa City. In 1910, he married Alice Fernstrom of Lone Tree. They had one son, Robert.
DR. M. E. DINGMAN
Dr. M. E. Dingman practiced medicine in Urbana from 1902 to 1960. He was born and raised in Urbana.
When doctors brought prescriptions to his father’s drug store, Marshall studied them and went to his father’s books to find out what they were for. He was just a boy then in high school or Schroeder’s. In 1898 he enrolled in the University Academy of Iowa and graduated in 1902.
He delivered between 5000 and 6000 babies during the years he practiced medicine.
He opened his practice in 1902 in the building that was recently Jones barber shop and moved into a new brick building in 1906 where he practiced until his death in 1960.
He never forgot the long drives with the horse and buggy over sometimes impassable roads and the severe snow storms of winters.
He was commissioned in World War I as a medical army officer, but was held back because medical authorities declared the "community need" for him was too great.
He made the statement, when asked about retirement, "Inactivity kills people. I’ll work until I’m 100, take a ten year rest, and start over again".
His formula for longevity, "Don’t worry unnecessarily. Let the other fellow worry - but don’t you do it. Worry kills people, too."
He was an honorary elder of the Urbana Christian Church. He was a member of the Consistory, a Thirty-second degree Mason.
He was married in 1932 to Lucille Cue, and had one daughter, Belinha. Previously, he was married on July 7, 1908, to Abbie Burrell. An infant son died. She passed away in April, 1932.
SCHMITZ MID-WIFE NURSING
Mary "Lena" Schmitz was born Mary Ernest, July 25, 1862. She married Mickeal Schmitz on October 5, 1881. Her husband was born August 15, 1857, and died February 20, 1892, at the age of 35. She was left a young widow with five young children, Margaret, Joseph, Theodore, Anna, and Anthony. To help support her family, she drove the mail route from Urbana to Liken’s Corner.
Mrs. Schmitz and Margaret moved to town and when the railroad came through, they boarded the men. The telephone office was moved to their house and they were the operators until 1915 or 1916. They started the midwife nursing in about 1920. They had beds in their home and could accommodate 3 or 4 mothers at a time. The hardest work they did was other people’s laundry on the old scrub boards. There were over 500 babies born in the nursing home.
Margaret and her mother both went to people’s homes as midwives when some women had their babies. In 1934, Mrs. Schmitz died and Margaret continued with the nursing home. She canned her own fruit and vegetables for the patients.
Many people from Urbana were born at "Margaret’s" and Doctor Dingman delivered them. The average time the mothers stayed after the baby was born was ten days.
Margaret never married. She was born May 17, 1883, and died October 1, 1971. She was a member of St. Mary’s Catholic Church. She retired from midwife nursing in 1956.
DR. PHILANDER REVEL
Dr. Philander Revel was Urbana’s one and only veterinarian. He moved to Urbana in 1902 after his home near Cheney had been destroyed by fire. He purchased the house in Urbana that is now (1976) owned by his granddaughter, Mrs. Eileen Roll. He drove a team of broncos for many years, and later drove one horse he called Spike. He was a dedicated member of the Christian Church. His wife, Julia, rarely left home, but was the confidant of nearly everyone in town who beat a path to her door.
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