History of Michigan, / by Charles Moore. [Vol. 3]

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

1509

definite ambition and well formulated plans he then entered the Grand
Rapids Medical College, in which he was graduated as a member of the
class of I906 and from which he received his degree of Doctor of Medicine. Since his graduation he has been engaged in successful general
practice in his native city and he has shown much discrimination by
specializing in electro-therapeutics, a work for which he carefully prepared himself by taking a post-graduate course in an institution devoted
specifically to this branch of remedial application,-the Electrical Therapeutic School, in Chicago, in which he took his course in the year I909.
He has his offices in the building at 40I-3 Division street, and the same
are equipped with the most approved electrical devices applied to therapeutic purposes, besides which he has a specially complete and select
medical library. The Doctor holds membership in the Kent County Medical Society and the Michigan State Medical Society, as does he also in the
American Medical Association, and through the medium of these organizations, as well as through constant study and investigation, he keeps
in close touch with advances made in all departments of professional
work. He was for seven years a medical examiner of United States Marine
Corps of West Michigan; he is a Republican in politics, is affiliated with
York Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons; and both he and his wife hold
membership in the First Methodist Episcopal church of Grand Rapids.
In March, Io99, was solemnized the marriage of Dr. Duncan to Miss
Ella Myrtle Barr, of Grand Rapids, and they have a winsome little
daughter, Mildred Elizabeth.
MABEL BEECHER KING, M. D. The professional career of Dr. Mabel
Beecher King embraces a period of more than thirty-eight years, thirtysix which have been spent in Flint, Michigan. Her life possesses several
features of peculiar interest, in that her success was early an instrumental
factor in overcoming the obstacles formerly reared by professional prejudice, which had before her advent in the field prevented women from
entering the ranks of the medical calling. She has not alone won an
eminent position in the ranks of her chosen vocation, but through her
precept and example has made the path to success in professional life
far easier to travel for the members of her sex.
Dr. Mabel Beecher King was born October 21, 1838, at Brimfield,
Portage county, Ohio, and is a daughter of Guy Beecher and Jane (Wakeman) King. Her father was a Beecher and a direct descendant of Dr.
Lyman Beecher, and Harriet Beecher Stowe and Henry Ward Beecher
were third cousins. Mrs. King's mother's family were of English stock
and were among the founders of the New Haven Colony. One of the
members of the family, John Wakeman, was the first treasurer of the
colony and the founder of the American branch. John Wakeman's son,
also John, was a captain in the patriot army during the Revolutionary
War, and the latter's son, Rev. John Wakeman, was a minister of the
Episcopal church.
The parents of Doctor King were both born in I808, at Watertown,
Litchfield county, Connecticut. They were married at that place September 7, 1831, and in 1838 moved into the wilderness of Brimfield, Portage
county, Ohio, where, in a small log house, one mile from the nearest
neighbors, Doctor King was born. An ox-team, with cart, furnished the
only means of travel and conveyance of merchandise and produce to and
from the small towns ten and twelve miles distant. Doctor King's early
education was gained at the common district school in Portage county,
Ohio. The log schoolhouse in the wilderness, without blackboards or
maps, or comforts of any kind, with six months of school during the
year under good, fair or indifferent teachers, gave the child but small