Early Physicians of O'Brien County

  

The following pages are copied from the first book of the three volume "Northwestern Iowa: its history and traditions, 1804-1926; comprising the counties of Woodbury, Monona, Plymouth, Cherokee, O'Brien, Sioux, Lyon, Osceola, Sac, Buena Vista, Clay, Dickinson, Emmet, Palo Alto, Pocahontas, Calhoun, Ida, Crawford, Carroll and Greene" by Arthur Francis Allen (Chicago: S.J. Clarke Pub. Co., 1927).

CHAPTER XV

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RESIDENT PRACTITIONERS OF THE O'BRIEN COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY.

T. Arnold
------Primghar
H. L. Avery
------Primghar
H. J. Brackney
------Sheldon
W. R. Brock
------Sheldon
G. E. Vermer
------Sheldon
C. Longshore
------Sheldon
J. W. Myers
------Sheldon
L. L. Myers
------Sheldon
Frank L. Myers
------Sheldon
L. L. Corcoran
------Rock Rapids
Jay M. Crowley
------Rock Rapids
J. E. Dahlbo
------Sutherland

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T. D. Kas
------Sutherland
E. Dudley
------Paullina
W. A. Hamilton
------Paullina
G. C. Oldag
------Paullina
J. W. Levy
------Sanborn
W. C. Hand
------Hartley
J. W. Conoway
------Hartley
E. Pfeiffer
------Hart1ey

Dr. C. Longshore located in Sheldon, Iowa, in 1873. His mother was among the first graduated women given license to practice medicine in this country. She was a distinguished practitioner located in Philadelphia. Doctor Longshore was elected county recorder about 1876 and served one term, then returned to Sheldon, where he continued in practice until 1880, when he retired. He was a licentiate under the medical practice act. The Doctor spends the summer months at Lake Okoboji and the winters either in Sheldon or Florida.
Dr. H. T. Lanning was the second physician to locate in Sheldon, which he did in 1876, being a graduate of the Iowa State University. He served the people well during the disastrous grasshopper scourge and then went to West Branch in 1881 where his relatives lived. He died from meningitis at Luverne, Minnesota, in 1885.
Dr. C. L. Gurney, a graduate of the Keokuk Medical College, located here in 1878 and continued until about 1885. He moved to Doon, Iowa, where he continued in practice until about 1890, when he died.
Dr. W. P. Woodcock, a graduate of Bellevue Hospital Medical College, date not known, but probably in the '50s. He located in Sheldon in 1876 and continued in practice until 1890 when he made Spencer his home and started what is now the widely known "Woodcock" greenhouse. He died at Spencer in 1910. 
Dr. Ralph Waldo Emerson Puckett, a graduate of the Iowa State University in 1878, located at Sheldon in June, 1881, and continued until 1885 when he removed to Rock Rapids, Iowa, where he continued for a few years and after-

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wards represented the W. P. Saunders Company in this territory, selling medical publications.

Dr. F. W. Cram was born in Bangor, Maine, in 1854 and graduated at Rush Medical College in 1878, Located at Sheldon, in 1881 and practiced here until his death on August 24, 1926. He was local surgeon for the C. St. P. M. & 0. Ry Co., and the C. M. & St. P. Ry. Co. from 1881 and the Sioux Falls branch of the I. C. Ry. Co. since it was built through here. He built the first telephone exchange here, but sold it to the Western Electric Telephone System in 1.895. He operated the first hospital which was and is still going as a private institution.
Doctor Struble, a graduate of the Iowa State University, located in Sheldon in 1890 and continued for four years when he removed to Inwood, Iowa, where he practiced for several years, then went to Kansas.
Dr. W. H. Myers was born in 1858 and graduated from Rush in 1886 and was licensed in Iowa in 1886. After graduation he located in Aurelia, Iowa, where he practiced until 1889, when he came to Sheldon, Iowa, and continued in active practice until his death, which occurred February 7, 19220 Outside of his medical work he took great interest in educational affairs and was a member of the local school board for a great many years and chairman at the time of his death.
Dr. Frank L. Myers was born in Illinois in 1865 and graduated from the University College of Medicine at Chicago and located at Sheldon in 1888. His practice was largely limited to the eye, ear, nose and throat. He is still in Sheldon.
Dr. Walter R. Brock, born in 1870, graduated from Drake University, Des Moines, 1894, located in Sheldon, 1896. He is still in active practice, making a specialty of surgery. Dr. H. J. Brackney, born in 1881, graduated from University of Iowa in 1905, located in Sheldon in the same year.
Doctor Brackney was a captain in the Iowa National Guard, 1910-11, volunteered in World war in May, 1918, was accepted and commissioned captain. Was ordered out October, 1918, and commanded Company 50, M. O. T. C., Ft. Riley, until the war ended. Company 50 consisted of sixty-five doctors. He was commissioned major in June, 1920, and served as commanding officer, Sanitary Department, One Hundred

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Thirty-Fourth Infantry, for over a year. At present is Major in Medical Relief Corps.

Dr. Judson W. Myers, born in Sheldon, 1889, graduated from the Iowa State University in 1915 and located in Sheldon the same year. In August, 1918, he volunteered in the World war service and went to Ft. Riley, Kansas. In October he was sent to the base hospital at Camp Custer, Michigan, where he remained until the close of the war.
Dr. Lynn L. Myers, born in Sheldon, 1893, was graduated from the Iowa University in 1916, locating in Sheldon the same year. In 1918 he recruited in Des Moines for the navy service, but did not have opportunity to see active service.
Doctor Wilcox, an eclectic practitioner, located in Sheldon in 1884 and removed to Huron, South Dakota, in 1892, where he died in 1906.
Dr. C. V. Page graduated from the State University homeopathic department in 1901 and located in Sheldon in 1903, but moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1918, where he is still in practice,
Dr. Gerritt E. Vermer, born November 19, 1882, at Alton, Iowa, graduated June 14, 1911, Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago. Served an interneship in Seattle Emergency Hospital 1911-1912. Entered practice in Osceola July 28, 1912, and left here October 28, 1912. Practiced in Rock Valley, November 1, 1912, to October 1, 1914. Returned to Sibley October 1, 1914, and practiced three and a half years as partner to Dr. F. P. Winkler and owned a half interest in Osceola Hospital. Sold to F. P. Winkler April 1, 1918, and resumed practice at Sheldon, Iowa. Joined Medical Reserve April 1, 1918. Owns and operates Samaritan Hospital at Sheldon. Belongs to the O'Brien County, Northwest Iowa, Sioux Valley, and Iowa State Medical Societies, and the American Medical Association.