CHAPTER XXVI -- THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.

Probably no class of men endured more severe hardships or were more distinguished in a nobler way for personal sacrifice, than the early physicians of Shelby county. Their privations and trials deserve that they be not forgotten. In the early days of this county it was necessary for a physician to hold himself in readiness to make a trip of ten, fifteen or twenty-five miles over the trackless prairies and to ford the streams in order to render assistance to patients. On many a wild, stormy night, without intervening houses at which they might stop to rest or to protect themselves from the merciless storm, these courageous men traveled alone, on a mission of relief to suffering humanity and with the hope of but scant financial reward. Physicians in those days usually made their journeys on horseback, but sometimes were obliged to travel long distances on foot. There were no roads, merely trails. They had many narrow escapes from drowning in the treacherous and swollen streams and on more than one occasion were in danger of freezing to death in blizzards. Physicians sometimes came from Council Bluffs or from Harrison county on horseback.

Perhaps the first physician to come into Shelby county was Dr. W. J. Johnston, of Cuppy's Grove, who settled there in 1852. He was the father of Mrs. L. N. Rogers, now Mrs. Jesse Scott, of Cuppy's Grove, and the grandfather of Douglas Rogers, an attorney of Manning, Iowa, and recently elected to the Legislature from Carroll county. The name of Doctor Johnston appears a number of times on the records of the county judges of Shelby county in the matter of small claims for medical services rendered paupers.

Probably the second physician to come to Shelby county was Dr. Adam T. Ault, who platted the first territory now embraced within the corporate limits of Harlan. This plat of Doctor Ault's was executed August 6, 1858, and it is likely that he was living in Shelby county for a few years previous to that time. He seems, however, to have been interested primarily in a store, probably the first store established in Harlan. The stock of goods was very small and the patronage of the store was undoubtedly very limited. I know nothing of the medical education of Doctor Johnston and of Doctor Ault. It appears that Doctor Ault left Shelby county about the time of the Civil War. It is doubtful whether he practiced to any extent.

Dr. L. D. Frost came to Harlan in 1863 and established the first drug store. He had formerly lived in Guthrie county, Iowa. He practiced to some extent in Shelby county soon after arriving here, but seems to have devoted most of his time to the management of his drug store. He took much interest in horticulture and very soon after coming to Harlan planted, in the northwest part, a very fine ten-acre orchard of apple trees.

Another pioneer physician to locate in Shelby county was Dr. David Gish. He was born in Botetourt county, Virginia, February 8, 1832, and was graduated from the Keokuk Medical College of Iowa, in 1863, practicing first in Jasper county, and afterwards in Story county, then coming to Shelby county in 1868. He at once purchased land when he came to Shelby county, and at one time was one of the largest land owners in the county. He lived in Douglas township northeast of Harlan. He died in Shelby county on August 13, 1878, at the age of forty six years. The funeral services were held at the Miles school house, conducted by Rev. Gilman Parker and Rev. Washington Wyland. A son of his, very well known in Shelby county, C. O. Gish yet resides in Douglas township.

Another physician who came to Shelby county, possibly a little later than Doctor Johnston and Doctor Ault, was Doctor F. M. Hill, of Manteno. He did some lecturing and it appears that in the late seventies he was invited to lecture in Harlan by the Young Folks' Literary Society. Doctor Hill was postmaster for a number of years at Manteno, subsequently resigning about the year 1883, with the intention of practicing medicine at Earling.

On August 16, 1864, Dr. N. E. Palmer, who belonged to the eclectic school of physicians, came to Bowman's Grove, where he practiced medicine for four years, subsequently going to Avoca for four years, and for six years practiced in Harrison county, when he again returned to Bowman's Grove. He studied medicine under his father at Adrian, Michigan. Doctor Palmer, living at Botna, Shelby county, and now eighty years of age, called on the author and gave some of his reminiscences. From these I gather that he, while practicing at Bowman's Grove, was frequently called into practically all of the surrounding counties. He, in his practice, often went over the old Magnolia road in Harrison county. While on one of his trips into Cass county, he came very nearly being drowned at the head of "Walnut Slough." He used to ford Indian creek more or less frequently. In the spring of 1881 Dr. Palmer had ninety-six cases of scarlet fever, which he treated, losing only three of the ninety-six. He was born in Wayne county, New York.

Perhaps the best known early physicians of Harlan were Dr. R. M. Smith and Dr. F. A. Bayer. Doctor Smith, who was the father of W. T. Smith, of Harlan, and of Ed S. Smith, was born in Coshocton county, Ohio, and came to Harlan in 1869. Dr. F. A. Bayer, who came to Harlan in 1872, was a native of Dansville, New York, and studied medicine at Cincinnati, Ohio.

As was true with the profession of law, so in medicine the promise that Harlan gave in the seventies of being a prosperous town induced many young physicians to establish themselves in Harlan. So early as 1874, Dr. W. H. Thermong, coming from Georgia, was to be found at the Harlan House. In 1877 Doctor Cowles, said to have had twelve years' experience in his profession in New York, had opened an office in Harlan. In 1877, Dr. Ransom L. Harris, a homeopathic physician and surgeon, located in Harlan.

Early physicians locating at Shelby were Dr. J. W. Campbell, Dr. Frederick Collins or Dr. L. Benham, also N. Jasper Jones, who is now in practice there, the pioneer physician of Shelby and one of the oldest practitioners in the county.

In June, 1877, Dr. J. R. Teller, previously of Albia, Monroe county, Iowa, located in Harlan. In 1878 Dr. J. H. Haslett was a Harlan physician.

In 1879 Doctor Franklin was practicing in Harlan, having his office in the drug store of Robinson & Elser on the north side of the square.

In 1878 there was a Dr. B. L. Leland at Leland's Grove in Cass township. Early in the seventies there located in Clay township, near Indian creek, Dr. P. B. Allen, a homeopathic physician, who farmed and practiced medicine there for many years.

One of the early physicians of the village of Westphalia was Doctor Fluesche.

One of the physicians establishing himself soon after Kirkman was platted was Doctor Dott. Dr. G. W. Todd came to Harlan in 1881 where he formed a partnership with Doctor Cartlich, who had located in Harlan in 1880.

Among the well-known early physicians of Defiance were Dr. W. B. Cotton, Dr. J. H. Guthrie and Dr. C. O. Eigler.

Dr. George A. Cassidy, a graduate of McGill University of Montreal, Canada, located at Earling in July, 1885, later moving to Shelby where he practiced medicine for a number of years.

The early physicians of Irwin were Dr. W. S. Branson, Dr. E. A. Whetstine and Dr. S. H. Watters. Doctor Branson and Doctor Watters are yet practicing at Irwin. In 1889 Dr. J. H. Guthrie was practicing medicine at Kirkman. In 1887 Doctor Stevens was practicing medicine at Elk Horn. One of the early physicians of Panama was Dr. A. E. Gregg, and one of the early physicians of Portsmouth was Dr. A. Smiley, a graduate of the McGill University of Montreal, Canada. It appears that in 1881 there died in Cass township a physician named J. W. Clark.

Probably one of the earliest Shelby county boys to study medicine in the State University of Iowa, was John Wyland, a son of Mr. and Mrs. I. P. Wyland, and brother of O. P. Wyland and William Wyland. He was studying medicine at Iowa City in 1882. This family also produced another physician, Dr. Asa Wyland, also a graduate of the same college, who practiced medicine at Underwood, in Pottawattamie county.

Many younger men all over Shelby county have entered the practice of medicine and surgery successfully. Among them may be mentioned Dr. A. E. Sabin, of Kirkman, who has been established for a number of years, Doctor James at Elk Horn, Dr. J. L. Lundby at Kirkman, Dr. V. J. Meyer at Defiance, Dr. Peters at Earling, Dr. Walsh of Panama, Dr. Weir at Portsmouth. Dr. P. Soe, who for some years practiced in Elk Horn, is now engaged in the practice at Kimballton, Iowa.

Dr. G. W. Todd was born at Bellevue, Huron county, Ohio, in 1838. He attended college at Granville, Ohio, three years and in 1861 was graduated from the Cleveland Medical College. He served in Company A, Fifty-fifth Ohio Infantry, during the Civil War, and at the close of the conflict came to Tabor, Fremont county, Iowa, where he engaged in the drug business and where he remained eight years. In the spring of 1878 he moved to the town of Shelby, in Shelby county, and to Harlan in 1881 where he formed a partnership with Doctor Cartlich.

In the nineties, Dr. F. A. Malick, a son of J. M. Malick, practiced medicine for several years at Corley. He is now deceased.

Another practitioner prominent in the eighties in Harlan was Dr. J. C. Dunlavy, who subsequently went to Sioux City where he achieved distinction and where he now resides. He is a brother of J. D. Dunlavy, a former county superintendent of schools of Shelby county, and a well known pioneer teacher of the county.

Dr. J. H. Waite was also well-known as another Harlan physician of the eighties and perhaps later, subsequently removing to Iowa City, where his death occurred.

The death at Harlan, on January 4, 1912, of Dr. Edwin B. Moore, closed the career of one of the best trained and most capable pioneer physicians of Shelby county, who began his practice at Harlan in 1878. He was born at Deer Creek, Pennsylvania, and spent several winters in the State University of Iowa preparatory to taking his course in medicine which he pursued at the Keokuk Medical College and at the famous Bellevue Hospital Medical College of New York City. He was a fine thinker, enjoyed a large practice and was prominent in local Democratic politics. He had the rare distinction of having his three sons study medicine.

In 1880, Dr. Elliott A. Cobb, a native of Wayne county, Pennsylvania, began his practice at Harlan, after a year's study in the medical department of the University of Michigan and after graduation from the Cleveland Medical College of Ohio, a training that he subsequently supplemented by a course in the Bellevue Hospital Medical College of New York City where he had the advantage of instruction by some of the then foremost medical men of America. He for many years had a county-wide practice, making surgery one of his specialties. He served several years as Democratic chairman of Shelby county, and was a member of the city council when electric lights and waterworks were established in Harlan. He served as public health officer of Harlan and stood for a rigid quarantine of persons afflicted with contagious disease when protecting the public health was not an especially popular activity. He has a son who is practicing medicine and surgery in Sioux City, Iowa. Doctor Cobb resides in Harlan in the former home of Hon. C. J. Wyland. He served in the Fifty-fifth Ohio Infantry in the Civil War.

Dr. E. J. Smith, a native of Indiana, came to Harlan in 1880. He is a graduate of Rush Medical College and has enjoyed a large practice in Harlan and vicinity. He served the city of Harlan as mayor, and was coroner of Shelby county when the present court house was erected. His genial, kindly bearing has made him many friends. He has a son practicing medicine and surgery in Ogden, Utah. This son has lately been in Europe taking special work in his profession.

Dr. E. L. Cook, of Harlan, who has the distinction of having risen from the ranks to the position of a lieutenant in the Civil War, although not locating so early as some of the other physicians in Harlan, soon made a place for himself as a careful and well-informed physician. He served for many years on the pension examining board of Shelby county. He has taken an active interest in Republican politics, has served as chairman of local conventions and enjoys the acquaintance and confidence of many of the distinguished leaders of the party in Iowa.

Dr. E. A. Moore, a son of Dr. Edwin B. Moore, deceased, is a graduate of the Harlan high school and of the Creighton Medical College, of Omaha. He is entitled to the credit of having made his own way through the medical college by hard work in vacations and at other times. After his graduation from this college in 1901, he had several years’ experience doing hospital work in Wyoming, Nevada and Utah, with a railway construction company, acting as hospital superintendent. He began his practice in Harlan in 1903, and at present is county coroner. Dr. Moore has two brothers, Dr. Morris Moore, who practices at Walnut and Dr. Fred Moore, who is pursuing a special course in the celebrated medical school of Johns Hopkins University. Dr. E. A. Moore resides in the former residence of Hon. Platt Wicks.

Dr. F. R. Lintleman, a graduate of the Homeopathic College of Medicine at Iowa City, practiced successfully in Harlan for several years. His partner, Doctor Vanatta, succeeds to his practice. Doctor Vanatta is also a graduate of the same college and has a good following.

Dr. Herman Bocken is one of the more recently established physicians in Harlan and is doing well. He is a graduate of the Harlan high school and of the medical school of the University of Nebraska. He is a son of H. Bocken of Harlan, the well known tailor.

Dr. James Bisgard, a graduate of the medical school of the University of Nebraska, is also one of the leading physicians of Shelby county, and for many years has enjoyed and now has a large and important practice.

The names of other physicians occur in the special articles treating of the various towns of the county

MEDICAL SOCIETY.

The Shelby County Medical Society was organized in June, 1887. Doctors J. C. Dunlavy, E. A. Cobb, E. J. Smith, J. H. Waite, E. B. Moore, W. S. Branson, W. B. Cotton, A. E. Gregg, N. H. Burks, S. H. Watters, N. J. Jones, J. Smiley and C. Tiske were the charter members of this organization. The first officers of the society were E. A. Cobb, president; N. Jasper Jones, of Shelby, vice-president; J. C. Dunlavy, now of Sioux City, Iowa, secretary, and E. J. Smith, treasurer. This society is yet in existence

DENTISTS.

One of the earliest dentists of Harlan was Dr. B. F. Eshelman, now of Tacoma, Washington. He was an inventive genius and secured a number of patents on his devices of various sorts. Among the men who have followed him are Dr. M. S. Overfield, who has been longest in practice in Shelby county; Dr. R. L. Osborn, now residing in Arkansas; Dr. Harry Donnan; Dr. George E. Erret and Dr. Frank Maasen. In the early days Doctor Gothard used to make occasional visits to Harlan, coming from Atlantic.

Transcribed by Denise Wurner, February, 2014 from the Past and Present of Shelby County, Iowa, by Edward S. White, P.A., LL. B.,Volume 1, Indianapolis: B. F. Bowen & Co., 1915, pp. 521-527.

< PREVIOUS

NEXT >

Site Terms, Conditions & Disclaimer