The county of Eaton, Michigan : topography, history, art folio and directory of freeholders / Bullock, Taggart & Morrell, topographers and publishers.

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A72
tLHYSICIANS OF EATON COUNTY.... ~;I~

By WM. PARMENTER, A. M., M. D.

The practice of medicine in this state
was regulated by no laws requiring
study or preparation. The result has
been that in the earlier history of this
county the number of qualified physicians was few. In the early 60's it
would have bee.n possible to count all
the doctors of this county on -the;,fingers of two hands. Now there are
more than fifty such physicians. Moreover, the requirements for graduation
in these later days are three or four
times as extensive as then. Medical
schools were few, and the professional
equi pment of the young doctor was
obtained in a course of reading in a
doctor's office, attending at the same
time to cleaning of spittoons and
grooming of his preceptor's horsc. In
some cases he concluded his studies by
a single or double course of lectures of
four months' duration in a one-horse
medical school; yet the majority went
directly from their preceptor's office to
assume the responsible duties of physician. The result was that a very few
persons, endowed by nature with peculiar aptitude for the profession of
medicine, rose superior to their surroundings and became noted physicians; noted more because of the contrast with the average-physician of the
time than because of actual attainments in knowledge and skill, compared with that of large numbers of
our physicians of to-day; the great mass
of doctors were contented, or compelled
by their environments to be, and remained mediocres.
It must be said, however, that with
the great advance of science in the last
half century, medicine has not lagged
behind. This is particularly true of
preventive medicine and surgery. The
causes of many diseases, especially contagious diseases, having been discovered, the means of their prevention wvas
worked out and applied. The existence of disease producing germs in the
atmosphere, and attached to all material objects, has called for and obtained
the means for their destruction; and as
a result, surgical operations are performed with impunity, which, before,
were almost uniformly fatal. In the
early 60's there were not a dozen surgeons in the United States who dared
to open the abdominal cavity; now, in
our own county, there are at least four
who have successfully removed abdominal tumors, and did not think it "in
form" to "sound a trumpet before
them"'on account of it. Thirty years
ago the diseases in the autumn and
early winter were almost exclusively
malarial. Large quantities of quinine,

at $2.50 to $4.50 an ounce, were prescribed, often amounting to an ounce
of the drug in one round of the "physician. The diseases during the remainder of the year were largely the
results of the malarial poisoning of the
internal organs and nerve centers. This
has changed. Ague is a nerve disease
and yet it lingers in the vicinity of
sluggcroish streams and ponds. The practice of medicine then was attended with
many inconveniences and hardships,
among which were the sparcity and
scatteredicondition of the population,
requiring long rides on horseback over
corduroy'roads, and along bridle paths
through thexwoods, to find in a log
cabin whole families shivering with the
ague, or pale and cadaverous, awaiting
with dread the hour of the return of
the swaamp. fiend; and he was sure to
come. The scarcity of surgical supplies at that time is well illustrated in

a very common incident occurring in
the year 1863. It became necessary to
amputate a torn or broken limb in -the
town of Vermontville, but no instruments could be found nearer than
Eaton Rapids, 24 miles away. The
physician in charg'e set the hour of operating at ten o'clock the next day, as
it was then near evening; then mounted
his horse and rode all night-fortyeight miles-and was -home in time to
remove the limb without delay. It
was his first amputation.
While the present physicians of this
county compare favorably in ability and
success with any others in the state,
there are none who have attained
special prominence, or who have been
called to professional chairs in medical
schools. One, who thirty years ago
laid down the scalpel and medicine
case, after ten years of service, has
found in other fields a prominent place.
Dr. R. C. Kedzie, a graduate of the first
medical class in our State University,
was called in 1863 to the chair of Chemistry in the State Agricultural College;
and has since become prominent in
sanitary and scientific circles. A very
brief history of medical practice in the
various localities in this county will be
given in the alphabetical order of the
localities. Under each local headingu
will be found the names and qualifications of each physician now in practice, as reported by himself. It will
be noted that four ladies are now in
the field. Twenty-two years ago there
were none.
It has been attempted to give in
these pages the name and address, at
least, of every physician in the county.
If anyone has been overlooked it has
not been for want of careful and persistent inquiry.
BELLEV UE.
This is the earliest settled town in
the county. A Dr. Carpenter was
probably the first doctor who settled
here, but of his history nothing can be
obtained. Later came Drs. S. H. Gage,
Pero, Taylor, Marshall and sixteen
others, who remained but a short time.
The present practitioners are A. W.
Adams, Erastus Berry, A. S. Wilson
and Horace D. Hull.
Dr. Albert W. Adams received his diploma from the Medical Department of
Michigan University in 1872. He also
took an ad eundem from the Bellevue
Hospital Medical College of New York,
the following year. He began his professional career in Kalamo, in 1872,
but removed to Bellevue in 1882, and is
in active practice there at the present
time. He has never had time for office.
He acquired the title of Ph. D. from

the Michigan University and has since
been satisfied with his titular honors.
He is now in the prime of manhood.
Dr. Erastus Berry, now seventy-two
years of age, commenced business as a
physician at about forty-two. He
graduated at the Detroit Medical College in the year 1871, six years after
commencing his practice. Of late years,
and at present, he has combined the
business of druggist, with. the practice
of medicine. The first year as druggist
he took out a United States revenue
permit to sell liquors, paying the usual
fee of $25. Determined to sell according to law, and strictly for useful purposes only, he found at the end of the
year his sales, all told, amounted to
but $20, and said good bye to the liquor
business. Hie is married, but without
children.

Dr. H. D. -Hull graduated at Hahnemann Medical College of Chicago, in
1870, at the age of forty-one. He is
married, has a fine farm just outside of
the corporation and has not aspired to
political honors. He has been continuously the health officer for fifteen years,
the entire time of his practice in Bellevue.
Dr. A. S. Wilson is a young physician
of twenty-seven, a graduate of the
State University in 1891, and has practised only since graduation. So:ne
future historian may be able to write
a brilliant history of h's future career.
He is married and glad of it.
BROOKFIELD.
This town has been supplied with a
physician most of the time since 1860.
The order of their practice is: Dr.
Thomas, 1860-1865; Dr. D. T. Williams,
1870-1887; Dr. W. E. Van Ande, 1883 -1888; Dr. W. E. Newark, 1889-1894, and
Dr. C. S. Sackett, the present incumbent, who came in 1894, a young married man from the Eclectic Medical Institute of Cincinnati, which gave him a
diploma in June, 1894. He has a promising future.
CHARLOTTE.
The first doctor to attempt the task
of visiting the sick in this city, then a
little hamlet, and surrounding woods
and marshes, came in 1842 but soon removed to Eaton Rapids, where he died.
His name was Rolph. He wasfollowed
by Dr. J. P. Hall '49, who also died
twenty years later. Contemporary
with him was Dr. H, M. Munson who
finished his work on earth ten years
before the death of Hall. Dr. A. B.
Sampson came in '53 and died in '68.
Dr. Chas. A. Merritt came in 1853 and
in 1857 Dr. G. T. Rand, a homoeopathist, located here but died in 1890.
The present physicians in active practice are G. B. Allen, P. D. Pattersoni
A. R. Stealy, E. C. Palmer, F. A.
Weaver, C. A. Merritt, W. E. Newark,
Warren Rand, Sara J. Alien, H. J.
Emery, and Mary E. Green.
Philo D. Patterson claims the State
University as his Alma Mater, in 1869,
and has used his knowledge.and skill
as a physician ever sinze that date; one
year at Marshal, two at Carlisle in Kalamo township, and thirteen years in
Charlotte. He is now fifty-one years
of age, married. He filled the office of
County Clerk for six years, from "72 to
78, has been First Vice President of the
State Medical society, and has also held
several other honorable positions in
that body. Besides his degree, M. D.,
he holds that of B. S. conferred by
Hillsdale College.
Dr. G. B. Allen has spent 35 years in

Charlotte in the healing art, and now
(1895) finds himself a member of the
lower house of the State Legislature,
his "first political offense." He received his degree of M. D. from the
State University in 1867, and has practiced medicine twenty-eight years. He
is genial, able, reliable.
Dr. Mary E. Green graduatedin Philadelphia in 1868, and began practice in
New York City. She became a member of the New York Medical Society,
and, later, of the Medico Legal Society;
the medical journals, both British and
American, referred to her as being the
first woman ever admitted to any medical society. She was elected Judge of
Food Products at the Columbian Exposition. Makes a specialty of the
study of foods, as to their scientific and
nutritive value. Haspracticed in Charlotte 21 years.

Dr. Horatio J. Emery took his medical degree from Queen's University,
Ontario, in 1884, at the age of 25, and
has spent ten of the eleven subsequent
years in attempts to heal the sick. He
combines the cognato of drurgg-ist with
that of physician.
Dr. Allison R. Stealy found himself
dubbed doctor of medicine by the Rush
Medical College of Chicago, February
16th, 1886, at the age of 29. "Sensible
to the last," he married and settled at
Carlisle, in this county, remaining but
one year, when he took up his abode in
Charlotte. His early life was a struggle for existence; but by dint of farming, teaching school and studying at intervals he finally succeeded in obtaining his title of M. D. at Chicago, in
1886. In 1894 he took a post graduate
course in Chicago.
Dr. Charles A. Merritt, at the ripe
age of 70, remembers that his diploma,
Ssigned-by. Henry P. Tappan, D. D., L.
L. D., University of Mlichigan, bears
date of 1855. He combines agriculture
with medicine, the former for pelf, the
latter pro bono pubico. He has been
Mayor of Charlotte one term, and for
20 years Superintendent of the Poor.
He is now the oldest physician in Charlotte, having lived and practiced there
since 1855-forty years.
Dr. Emory C. Palmer has practiced
medicine in this county for twenty-five
years, and two years elsewhere. He
first located in Potterville, where he remained twenty-two years and more
since that time he has resided in Charlotte. He claims for his Alma Mater
the State University in 1876, and took
a post graduate course in 1882 at Rush
Medical College, Chicago, with private
course in gynecology. He has also
combined, a part of the time, and at
present, the drug business with the
duties of physician.
Dr. Sarah J. Allen took her medical
degree from the Hahnemann Medical
College, Chicage, in 1881. She has
practiced in Chicagd, Burlington, Ia.,
Battle Creek, Mich., and Charlotte.
in 1885 she gave three months' special
study to medical electricity, under
Prof. Mills, of Binghamton, N. Y.
Dr. Lewis A. Snell has given twenty
years to the 'practice of homoeopathy
in this state; at Lyons, Mason and Charlotte, where he is now located. He
claims graduation from Detroit Homoeopathic College, session of 1874 and
1875; from the Homoeopathic Medical
College of St. Louis, session of 1875
and 1876, and Chicago Homoeopathic
Medical College, session of 1884 and
and 1885.
Dr. Frank A. Weaver, aged 37, wid

ower, commenced business fifteen years
years ago at Chester,. where he remained eleven years, going thence
to Charlotte. He acquired his medical
equipment at the Detroit College of
Medicine, in 1881, after studying in the
office of Dr. George E. Ranney, Lansing, 1878. He is at present the Secretary of the Eaton County Board of
United States Examining Surgeons.
Dr. Wallace E. Newark presents his
credentials from the Toledo Medical
College, Ohio, dated 1888. Seven years
he has followed his chosen profession,
and now, at ths age of 38, finds himself
installed in practice in the beautiful
City of Charlotte. His first year was
given to Nashville, Barry County; then
five years to Brookfield, in this county,
CH fESIER
Has had but three physicians since
its foundations were laid. Dr. James

L. Johnson first served that town from
1870 to 1882, then came Dr. F. A.
Weaver, who was finally succeeded in
1892 by Dr. L. Frank Rice, a gentleman
now twenty-nine years old, married, a
graduate of Michigan University in
1890. He claims five years active practice, four of them in this county; first
at Sunfield one year, and now three
years in Chester.
DIMONDALE.
As early as the year 1848, Sylvester
Derby located in the town of Windsor
near the present site of Dimondale and
treated the sick, made chairs and
hunted wild game for a living. His
knowledge of medicine was "picked
up," yet he was considered a person
well informed for the times. He was
the first physician of the town, if tradition is not at fault. Then came Martin E. Munger, a graduate of the State
University in 1852. The present physicians are Drs. Tyler Hull and E. S.
Walford, both of Dimondale.
Dr. Tyler Hull has tried for twentyeight years to cure the people in and
about Dimondale. He began in the
in the year '67 after having attended
one full course of lectures at the Ssate
University. His graduation from the
Detroit Medical College dates from 1871.
He took a practitioner's course at Rush
Medical College, Chicago, in '83. He
studied law and was admitted to the
bar nearly two years since. In 1882 he
was elected to the lower house of the
State Legislature.
Dr. Edgar S. Walford is thirty years
of age, married, and has seen six years
of practice. He located in Dimondale
in 1890, one year after graduating from
the College of Physicians and Surgeons,
Chicago. He tried and abandoned the
drug business, in connection with his
practice.
EATON RAPIDS.
In the year 1836, so saith tradition,
there came to this locality a Dr. Hart,
but whenever he came or where and
whither he went, this scribe has not
been able to learn. Among those of
later dates are found the names of Drs.
C. N. Hayden, C. Metcalf, W. B. Hunt
and A. C. Dutton, the last-still-resident
but retired.
The present Medical faculty consists
of Drs. Wilkins, Walter, Knight, Gallery, Bradley, Stimpson, Hyde, D. A.
Long, Fred Long, Mary A. W. Williams
and Henrietta A. Carr. Of all these,
Drs. Wilkins and Knight are the earliest. A brief notice of each and all,
whose history could be obtained, is
given below
Dr. Amos Knight, aged1 -fifty-five, is
contemporary with Dr. Wilkins; both

locating here in the year 1866. He is a
graduate of Cleveland Medical College,
Cleveland. 0., 1869; took an adeundem
degree in '71 at Rush Medical College,
Chicago, and again at the College of
Physicians and Surgeons, New York,
in '75. He ismarried and has one child,
a daugher.
Dr. Samuel M. Wilkins came to Eaton
Rapids in 1866 and, with the exception
of two years spent in Dakota, has continned in the healing art in that city
now twenty-nine years. His degree
was conferred by the Charity Hospital
Medical College, Cleveland, 0., in '66,
and an ad eundem degree, in 1871, was
bestowed by the Wooster University of
the same city. He is nearing the sixties and hassuffered for several years
from poor health. He has been twice
elected to the State Legislature, one
term in each house; has served as

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