History of Warren County, H. P. Smith
Chapter XXIII: The Medical Profession
This transcription was produced through the use of Readiris Pro 11 OCR software. Contributed by Tim Varney.
Early Medical Legislation - Organization of the State Society - The County Society - Loss of Records - First Members - Early Delegates to the State Society - List of Officers of the Warren County Society - Biographic Sketches of Prominent Members of the Profession.
1. Prepared by Dr. A. W. Holden, of Glens Falls.
Unfortunately Page 303for a correct and authentic account of the Warren County Medical Society, the records of that association were burned about the year 1858. Anterior to that period we are indebted chiefly to such brief mention a; may be found in the transactions of the State Society for any reliable information concerning it.
By an enactment of the New York Legislature, passed on the 4th of April, 1806, authority was given for the organization of medical societies for the purpose, as therein stated, of "regulating the practice of physic and surgery." (2) In accordance with this statute the Medical Society of the State of New York was duly organized on the first Tuesday of February, 1807. The county of Warren was not set off from the county of Washington, of which it formed an integral part, until March 12, 1813; hence it is manifest there could not have been a County Medical Society prior to this date.
2. Prior to this time a most remarkable for licensure of candidates existed, by virtue of an act passed March 23d, 1797, which authorized "the chancellor, a judge of the Supreme Court or Common Pleas, or a Master in Chancery, to license physicians and surgeons on receiving evidence of their having studied two years," etc.
The first record that has been found of the existence of a county society is dated February, 1814, which states as follows: "The following gentlemen presented their credentials from their respective county societies [viz., to the State Society] and were duly admitted as delegates." Then, among other names, follows that of Dr. Asa Stower.
The society (as is learned from the present record book, which was rewritten as well as possible after the destruction of the original records on the 2d day of October, 1858) was formed by the following named members: Asa Stower, of Queensbury; Zephaniah Tubbs, of Caldwell; John P. Little, of Chester; Reuben C. Gibson, of Bolton; Thomas Pattison, of Warrensburgh; Darius Hewitt, of Queensbury; Chester Thomas, of Chester; and Harmon Hoffman, of Warrensburgh. The organization took place some time in the year 1813.
There afterwards, and previous to 1858 (when the records were destroyed), joined the society the following named physicians: Martin Jillett, Johnsburgh; Truman B. Hicks, Caldwell; John S. St. John, Luzerne; Paul More, Bolton; Page 304 Zerah Cushman, Chester; Nathan Tubbs, --- Kelley and Benjamin Dean, Chester; Lemuel Bugbee, Bolton; George Andrews, Athol; Fletcher Ransom, Queensbury; Nathaniel P. Seaver, Bolton; Wm. Wilson, Johnsburgh; --- Fuller, and Nathan P. Colvin, Bolton; Wm. N. Edgerton and Oliver Strong, Warrensburgh; Alfred Mallory, Chester; James Lawrence, Luzerne; Bethuel Peck, Glens Falls; Ira Clement, Athol; Eliakim W. Howard, Warrensburgh; Louis Charette, Bolton; Morgan W. Pritchard, Chester; Hiram McNutt, Warrensburgh; Samuel H. Hooker, Chester; Austin W. Holden, Glens Falls; John B. Burneson, Luzerne; Marshall Littlefield, Glens Falls; James Cromwell, Queensbury; James Ferguson, Glens Falls. (1)
1. The spelling of these names is as given in the record.
In addition to the above list (which may be more or less incorrect) the records show the following named physicians to have joined the society, the dates being given in some cases: Godfrey R. Martine (then of Johnsburgh); D. B. Howard, Warrensburgh; F. L. R. Chapin, Glens Falls; M. R. Peck, Glens Falls; John T. Parker, Thurman; James G. Porteous, Luzerne; N. E. Sheldon, Glens Falls; Wm. D. Aldrich, 1872, Warrensburgh; Hiram E. McNutt, 1872, Warrensburgh; R. J. Eddy, 1875, B. G. Streeter, 1876, and Benjamin C. Senton, 1876, Glens Falls; W. R. Adamson, 1877, Lake George; G. H. Aldrich, 1878, Stony Creek; W. W. Aldrich, 1878, Weavertown; F. E. Aldrich, 1879; W. W. McGregor, 1879, Glens Falls; Fred B. Streeter, 1879, Glens Falls; A. O. Ameden, 1880, Glens Falls; Jno. C. Wall, 1880, Olmsteadville, Essex county; Adam Weston, 1880, Glens Falls; Chas. F. C. Weston, 1880, Glens Falls; W. S. Robinson, 1878, Schroon Lake; S. J. Murray, 1881, Glens Falls; J. B. Washburne, 1882, Caldwell; Edward S. Coyle, 1882, Chester; Cassius J. Loggins, 1882, Chester; C. A. Foster, 1882, Glens Falls; Chas. F. Aldrich, 1882, Thurman; Chas. S. Barney, 1882, Glens Falls; E. J. Dunn, 1882, Pottersville; F. H. Stevens, 1882, Lake George.
In the annual reports of proceedings of the society we find in addition to the above the names of W. C. B. Stewart, John Cady, A. Irving Sternberg, and D. P. Kaynor among those admitted to membership.
In 1817 the Warren County Society was represented at the State meeting by Dr. John S. St. John, then practicing at Glens Falls. The county does not appear to have been represented in the State Society again until the year 1822, and there was considerable irregularity in sending delegates until comparatively recent years. In 1822 the name of Truman B. Hicks appears as delegate; he then resided and practiced in Luzerne and was for many years, subsequent to 1820, president of the County Society. He was also delegate to the State meetings in the years 1823, 1824, 1826, 1827, and was present in several other years, but not as a delegate. In the years 1829, 1830 and 1831 the County Society was not represented.
The first meeting held after the records were destroyed was on January Page 305 19th, 1859, at which were present Doctors Bethuel Peck, Alfred Mallory, E. W. Howard, Louis Charette, Hiram McNutt, Marshall Littlefield, M. R. Peck, N. E. Sheldon and James Ferguson.
A. W. Holden, M. D.
New by-laws were ordered drawn and other routine business transacted. Doctor M. Littlefield was elected president for the ensuing year, and Doctor Charette, vice-president; with Doctor James Ferguson secretary; and M. R. Peck, treasurer. Doctor H. McNutt was appointed delegate to the State Society.
Since that date the following physicians have held the offices of president, vice-president and secretary of the County Society and delegates to the State Society: -
1860, Louis Charette, president; Alfred Mallory, vice-president; H. McNutt, secretary; James Ferguson, delegate.
1861-62, no record.
1863, H. McNutt, president; James Ferguson, vice-president; L. Charette, secretary.
1864, A. Mallory, president; L. Charette, vice-president; A. Irving Sternberg, secretary. E. W. Howard was elected delegate to the American Medical Association.
1865, L. Charette, president; James Ferguson, vice-president; E. W. Howard, secretary; H. McNutt, delegate to American Association.
1866, A. I. Sternberg, president; H. McNutt, vice-president; D. B. Howard, secretary.
1867, G. R. Martine, president; F. L. R. Chapin, vice-president; D. B. Howard, secretary; M. R. Peck, delegate to American Association.
1868, F. L. R. Chapin, president; J. G. Porteous, vice-president; D. B. Howard, secretary; M. R. Peck, delegate to American Association. Doctor H. McNutt was sent as delegate to the State Society.
1869, M. R. Peck, president; G. R. Martine, vice-president; D. B. Howard, secretary; F. L. R. Chapin, delegate to American Association.
1870, Alfred Mallory, president; J. G. Porteous, vice-president; D. B. Howard, secretary.
1871, J. G. Porteous, president; Louis Charette, vice-president; D. B. Howard, secretary.
1872, Alfred Mallory, president; Louis Charette, vice-president; D. B. Howard, secretary.
1873-74, no record.
1875, James Ferguson, president; Louis Charette, vice-president; D. B. Howard, secretary.
1876, E. W. Howard, president; G. R. Martine, vice-president; R. J. Eddy, secretary. Doctor Chapin was elected delegate to the State Society and Doctor Louis Charette to the American Association.
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1877, B. G. Streeter, president; William Aldrich, vice-president; R. J. Eddy, secretary.
1878, William D. Aldrich, president; W. R. Adamson, vice-president; R. J. Eddy, secretary.
1879, W. R. Adamson, president; W. W. McGregor, vice-president; R. J. Eddy, secretary. D. B. Howard, delegate to State Society; L. Charette, to American Association.
1880, R. J. Eddy, president; F. E. Aldrich, vice-president; E. W. Hill, secretary.
1881, W. W. McGregor, president; W. R. Adamson, vice-president; F. B. Streeter, secretary; G. H. Aldrich, delegate to American Association.
1882, L. Charette, president; F. E. Aldrich, vice-president; F. B. Streeter, secretary; W. D. Aldrich, delegate to American Association.
1883, D. B. Howard, president; --- ---, vice-president; F. B. Streeter, secretary.
1884, C. S. Barney, president; F. H. Stevens, vice-president; W. D. Aldrich, secretary.
The new by-laws were adopted at the second meeting, as was also a code of ethics, the latter being drawn by Doctors James Ferguson, Hiram McNutt and A. W. Holden, as committee.
In the year 1875 a committee embracing Doctors F. L. R. Chapin, R. J. Eddy, M. R. Peck, Louis Charette and D. B. Howard, was appointed to revise the by-laws. This was done, but no changes of great importance were made. Another revision was made in 1881.
Herewith we give in brief the statistics of the medical profession in Warren county, so far as they could be ascertained by diligent and persistent research through town, county, family and society records. Old residents have been consulted, correspondence instituted with those far away, and every available source of information sought out in order to make this chapter creditable alike to the subject, to the individuals memorized, to the work itself, and to the compiler as well. The results are unsatisfactory. Considering, however, the many difficulties in the way, the long time which has elapsed since many of the actors in this field of science have "passed over to the great majority," it is not surprising that so many of the pioneers of medical practice should be passed by with the mere mention of a name. This, however, does not excuse or apologize for those who, still living, have declined or neglected to avail themselves of the opportunity to place themselves fairly and squarely on the record, a chance that is not likely to occur again in many years. Following we give life sketches of such individuals of the profession as we have been able to procure sufficient data: -
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"Dr. Seth Alden, son of Seth, was born probably at Shaftsbury, Vt., in 1749, died at Caldwell (head of Lake George) 30th July, 1809. We have no account of his early life, but that he was a man of some note in his profession is evident from the fact that in 1783 he was requested by Colonel Ethan Allen to visit his daughter in consultation with Doctor Hutton, his family physician, at the distance of some forty miles. From Shaftsbury he removed to Caldwell, N. Y., where he continued to reside until the time of his death." In a letter from Judge Hay I find the following: "I have heard old James Caldwell speak of clearing and laying out the site for the Lake House, Caldwell; the first occupant I knew was Doctor Alden. Before the Lake House was erected, the old hospital, or long house, had been used for a tavern."
He married first, Priscilla Cole, who died 20th of November, 1798, and second, Keziah Beach on the 1st of March, 1800, who died 10th October, 1810, aet 51. His two eldest daughters were married successively to John A. Ferriss, a prominent merchant and business man of this place. Doctor Alden was of the fifth generation in direct descent from John Alden of Mayflower memory, and was the grandfather of Hon. O. Ferriss. The late Mr. Ralph Stebbins, of Caldwell, informed me that Doctor Alden removed from Lake George to Fort Edward in 1809, and died the same year or the year following.
Asa Stower was a native of Massachusetts, born as nearly as can be determined in one of the western border towns of the State. His early childhood was passed at or near New Lebanon, N. Y. While yet a small boy his father embraced the Shaker faith and joined the society at that place, removing his family among them. He soon afterward died of small-pox, when the mother, who still retained her religious views (being a Presbyterian), took her children and went back to live on their farm, for which they were still considerably in debt, but, with the help of the boys, after a few years finished paying for their home.
Asa with his elder brother was allowed to attend the district school, and possessing a laudable ambition with a studious turn of mind, acquired a fair knowledge, not only of the rudimentary branches of learning there taught, but applying himself at leisure hours to the pursuit of the more recondite departments of science, evincing a special aptitude and taste in the direction of botany, a study then but little pursued in this country, and still in its infancy. His inclination in this direction doubtless determined the choice of a profession, and at the age of eighteen he commenced the study of medicine, which he steadily prosecuted with such aid as his mother in her straitened circumstances could afford. At the age of twenty-one he had completed his studies, and with a horse, saddle and bridle, and a pair of saddle bags filled with medicine, the parting gift of his mother, he started out to seek his fortune. What led him to Queensbury is not known, but certain it is he came as the pioneer of Page 308 the medical profession in Warren county, according to a statement of the late Dr. Bethuel Peck, in the year 1788 or 1789, armed with a judge's certificate of ability to practice. He first made his home with William Robards, esq., who lived in a dwelling subsequently burned, not far from the residence of John M. Haviland near the Ridge. Here he commenced his life work, and here he remained for a number of years, supplying a circle of country, thinly settled but very sickly, many miles in extent. Being economical, plain in his tastes and inexpensive in his habits, he soon acquired a competency. One of his first purchases was the farm at the Ridge now owned and occupied by Joseph Haviland, disposing of which he bought the farm where Anson Staples now lives, where he passed the remainder of his days in works of kindness and usefulness. In those early days, when the facilities for education were not as plentiful or accessible as at present, his office was the resort of medical students, who almost from the commencement of their studies were enabled to pay their way and acquire practical with theoretical knowledge by assisting the doctor in his long and laborious rides. Among the number who thus graduated from his office and supplied the adjacent country in the years following, were Dr. Lemuel C. Paine, Dr. Nathan Tubbs, Dr. Seneca Wing, two brothers and a cousin by the name of Dean, Dr. Durfee and others whose names are forgotten or not readily recalled to mind.
In a communication to the author in 1870, the venerable Dr. Paine speaks of him as follows: "Dr. Asa Stower was held in high repute all over the country. He was a great reader and had a retentive memory, but I think he was more diffuse than profound in his reading, and was far from being a scientific man in his profession. He was strictly a physician of the old school, but by reading and observation he had acquired a stock of medical information and experience which made him truly a successful and useful physician. He was a bachelor and a little singular in his manners and habits; by some he would be deemed a little odd, at least not exactly Chesterfieldian in his address and manners, especially among the ladies." He acquired during his long practice a handsome property, owning real estate in various parts of the town. One of the last acts of his life was to order his accounts against the poor to be destroyed in order that they might not be distressed to make their payments.
Of an estate, whose final adjustment realized upwards of twenty thousand dollars, not enough was left, by the greed of his heirs at law, to pay for a gravestone. Among his old neighbors a subscription was taken up sufficient to pay for a plain marble slab, on which is engraved the following simple inscription, a touching memorial of the evanescent character of all earthly things: -
"DR. ASA STOWER,
DIED MAY 25, 1848,
Aged 79 Years.
He lived respected in society."
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Jared Hitchcock, son of Elijah and Sarah Hitchcock, was born in the town of Palmer, Mass., on the 11th of August, 1778. His elementary and professional education were obtained in that State, where, as the writer has been informed, he also received the degree of doctor of medicine, and practiced for a number of years. He removed to Glens Falls in the month of November, 1819. The following year his wife was thrown from a wagon near the residence of Truman Hamlin, in the town of Moreau, and killed. By her he had four children. He married for his second wife Caroline Stickney, who bore him six children. In 1821 he removed to Sandy Hill, N. Y., and from thence in 1828 to Galway, Saratoga county. He afterward went to West Troy, and thence in 1840 to Glens Falls, where he died March 26th, 1846. Dr. Hitchcock was a man of considerable erudition and a good practitioner. He invented'a remedy which attained considerable local repute and celebrity under the name of Hitchcock's pills. He also left a medical treatise containing an exposition of his peculiar views as to theory and practice, but which never came to print.
Billy J., son of Ithamar and Sarah (Simonds) Clark, was born at Northampton, Mass., on the fourth of January, 1778. About the year 1784 his parents removed to Williamstown, Mass., where, for three or four years, he enjoyed the benefits of that public school founded by the munificence of Col. Williams, who fell in action at "the bloody morning scout." At the age of ten he removed with his parents to Pownal, Vt., where his youth, up to the time of his father's death, was passed in the varied avocations of farm boy, clerk and bar-tender. His medical studies were commenced at the age of seventeen in the office of Dr. Gibbs, of Pownal, where he was soon characterized as a pains-taking, indefatigable student. In 1797 he removed to Easton, Washington county, N. Y., where his studies were continued in the office of Dr. Lemuel Wicker, a practitioner at that time of extensive repute and practice.
Having obtained the requisite testimonials and passed the necessary examinations, he obtained a license from the county judge of Washington county to practice medicine. He commenced his life work in the town of Moreau, Saratoga county, N. Y, in 1799, where, for forty years, he was the only physician, and supplied a radius of country nearly twenty miles in extent, following the humanities of his calling, achieving a well earned reputation for usefulness, and that by the popularly appreciated gauge of success, a substantial competency.
Dr. Clark's name will be famous through all time as the originator of the first temperance organization that ever existed. The date of this important event was in the early part of April, 1808. In this field of philanthropy the doctor was an ardent and efficient laborer all his life. He represented his Page 310 county in the Assembly in 1820, and was a member of the New York Electoral College in 1848. He died in this village on the 20th of September, 1866.
Through his energy and perseverance, a special act of legislature was obtained, incorporating the Saratoga County Medical Society, the first organization of the kind in the State.
Dr. John Perrigo, of Queensbury. In Judge Robard's docket, under the date of April 30th, 1803, appears a record of more than forty summonses issued in Dr. Perrigo's favor against parties residing mostly in Queensbury. There is but little authentic information to be obtained concerning him at this late date. It is believed that he came to this place about the year 1800 and resided during his stay here at a humble dwelling, subsequently known as the O'Flanagan house, the site of which is now registered No. 17 Elm street. He was then in the decline of life, and of somewhat dissipated habits, and his brief stay here was neither a professional or pecuniary success. It has been stated that he was a brother of Robert Perrigo, of Whipple City, later known as Union Village and now called Greenwich, of Washington county, N. Y. Dr. Perrigo at first settled at Kingsbury street in Bradshaw's patent, in the adjoining town of Kingsbury. He was one of the three or four pioneers of the medical profession in this region of country, and at one time bore the reputation of a skillful and successful practitioner. It is said that he was the first to introduce to the attention of the profession and public at large the prophylactic and curative properties of the rattle-snake weed (Prcllantltes Serpentaria), and its use as a prompt and efficient antidote to the poison of the Crotalus horridns and its cognate species, with which terrible pests in that early period of our history the swamps, morasses, ledges, cliffs and mountain sides of this region of the country were infested, (1) and some of the islands and promontories of Lake George are to the present day. This knowledge was in all probability derived
1. The Crotalus durissus is the species more commonly encountered nowadays. In regard to this reptile we find the following interesting incident recorded in Aubury's Travels, vol. 1, p. 387, (Lieutenant Aubury being an officer in Burgoyne's army): -
"This island (Diamond) as well as the one that is close to it, formerly was so over-run with rattlesnakes that persons when they passed the lake seldom or never ventured on them.
"A batteaux in sailing up it, went near Diamond Island, and among other things it contained several hogs, which swum to the shore as did the Canadians who were rowing it up; the latter, in apprehension of rattle-snakes, climbed up trees for the night, and the next morning observing a batteaux, they hailed the people in it, who took them in, and conveyed them to Fort George.
"Some time after, the man owning the hogs, being unwilling to lose them, returned down the lake and with some comrades ventured a search. After traversing the island a considerable time, they at last found them, but so prodigiously fat that they could scarcely move, and, in the search, only met with one rattle-snake, which greatly surprised them, as the island was reported to abound with them. Their wonder, however, was not of long duration, for, being short of provisions, they killed one of the hogs, the stomach of which was filled with rattlesnakes."
It may with truth be stated, currente calamo, that to the same cause may be attributed the extinction of the reptile from the quarries and ledges, and rocky cliffs at Glens Falls and neighborhood. Page 311 from the Indians, who, in his day, still lingered around their ancient hunting grounds, and made their summer camps by our rivulets, ponds, lakes and hillsides.
Dr. Perrigo finally removed to Burlington, Vt., where he died and was buried, as the writer of this sketch has been credibly informed.
Dr. Thomas Pattison was born at Stillwater, Saratoga county, N. Y., on the 24th of November, 1781. He was the son of Thomas Pattison of that place, and a near relative of the Pattison families of Troy and Fort Miller, N. Y. His opportunities for an education were limited to the common schools of that day, when a fair knowledge of arithmetic with the ability to read fluently and write readily were considered sufficient for all practical purposes. His course of medical studies was pursued in the office of Dr. Potter, an eminent and successful practitioner of that day, who resided at Waterford, N. Y. Having obtained his license to practice from a judge of the Court of Common Pleas, he removed in 1803 to the town of Athol, in what was then known as "Thurman's Patent," and commenced the practice of medicine. He boarded in the house of Richardson Thurman, whose daughter Elizabeth he married on the 4th of February, 1810, by whom he had eight children, four sons and four daughters. The following year he removed to Warrensburgh, and settled upon the farm on Schroon River road near the lower borough now owned and occupied by John and James McGann. Here he lived the remainder of his days in the faithful and industrious discharge of his professional duties, his practice extending in every direction, over rough bye-ways and forest paths, through a sparsely settled and heavily wooded country abounding in wild animals and game, and not over-productive in the comforts and necessities of life. In 1820 he was appointed county treasurer by the Board of Supervisors, in the place of Michael Harris, deceased, and continued in the discharge of the duties of that office until 1832.
Dr. Pattison possessed the elements of a strong character. To a sound judgment and close observation were added sterling probity, industrious application and a wonderful self-reliance. In regard to practice he followed in the beaten track of his predecessors, making no hazardous venture; being at all times a safe, prudent, and careful, as well as a successful practitioner. He died of cystitis, at his home, on the 6th of February, 1867.
From an autobiographic sketch furnished by Dr. Lemuel C. Paine some years ago, we condense the following: -
"I am a descendant of a very ancient family in Barnstable county, Mass., and my line of descent is as follows: I am the son of lchabod S. Paine, who was the son of Dr. Ichabod S. Paine, who was the son of Joshua Paine, who was the son of Thomas Paine, jr., of Eastham, Mass., who was the son of Page 312 Thomas Paine, sen., of Eastham, Mass., who was the son of Thomas Paine, of Yarmouth, Mass.; the two latter came from Kent county, England, to Plymouth in New England, in 1621, and the former of the two, of Yarmouth, was the first representative from that town in the General Court of Plymouth Colony, in 1639.
"My grandfather, Dr. Ichabod S. Paine, was an early settler in Shaftsbury, Bennington county, Vt., and died there when only twenty-nine years of age, in the year 1765. My father was born there about the time of the death of his father, but was brought up in the family of his uncle, Judge Ephraim Paine, in what is now called Amenia, Dutchess county, N. Y. My father on reaching his majority married and settled on some lands left by his father in Shaftsbury, and I was born there November 9, 1787. After living here a short time, and in Orwell and Benson, Rutland county, in the same State, he finally came down into York State,' and purchased a tract of land near the 'Round Pond,' in the vicinity of 'Sugar Loaf Mountain,' in the west part of Westfield, now Fort Ann, Washington county, N. Y., in 1793. "
After several removals the practical results of which were unfortunate, Dr. Paine's father located soon after 1800 in Plattsburg, where he died of consumption in 1807. A portion of the previous years he had lived in the town of Queensbury. After narrating his experience in securing a fair education by persevering study, "without a master," the autobiography states that Dr. Paine paid a visit to his uncle and aunt, Eli Pierson and his wife, at Fort Ann, and continues: -
"After some consultation it was made up between uncle and aunt Pierson and myself that if equitable arrangements could be made I should commence the study of medicine with Dr. Asa Stower, of Queensbury, and commence immediately. This arrangement was easily made, with some offers on his part for the future which were deemed at the time highly favorable, but which were never realized. For a time I boarded with Mr. Pierson; then taught school awhile on the Ridge; and then near Mr. Pierson's in Fort Ann again, and so on during my studies, sometimes teaching and sometimes living and boarding with Dr. Stower. In May, 1811, having finished the legal term of study, I passed examination before the Censors of the Medical Society of Washington county at Cambridge. . . . I formed a partnership with Dr. Stower, first for six months and afterwards for an indefinite period, which continued till the spring of 1816; and afterwards I continued alone in Queensbury and Kingsbury till about the close of 1817 when I left that part of the country. Thus it will be perceived that in all, first and last, my residence in the town of Queensbury and its vicinity amounted to about eleven years.
"In the autumn of 1811 I married Miss Cornelia Osborn, daughter of David Osborn, of Kingsbury, and commenced house-keeping in the winter following in a part of Stower's house, on Sandford's Ridge, Queensbury. I Page 313 lived here and hereabouts, a part of the time in Queensbury and a part of the time in Kingsbury, in rather an unsettled state until the close of 1817, when, as intimated above, I closed my business here and sought my fortune elsewhere.
"At the time of my debut as a physician, the physicians in practice in that vicinity were Dr. Asa Stower, of Sandford's Ridge; Dr. Israel P. Baldwin, of Glens Falls; Drs. Zina Hitchcock and Russell Clark, of Sandy Hill; Drs. Adolphus Freeman and --- Barnum, of Kingsbury; Drs. Isaac Sargent and Roderic Roe, of the village of Fort Ann; Dr. Liberty Branch, of West Fort Ann; Dr. Joel Tubbs, of Warrensburgh, and Dr. Reuben C. Gibson, of Bolton."
Here follows brief sketches of the physicians named, which we insert only as far as they lived in this county. Of Dr. Asa Stower we have already given a sketch: -
"Of Dr. Israel P. Baldwin (I am not sure I have given his first name correctly, but I believe so) I knew but little. I met with him often and I believe he was a reputable practitioner of medicine. I remember I visited him in his last sickness, which I think was consumption, when he advised me to get out of the country as soon as I could, where I could have a more compact practice and better pay. He said I was doing just as he had done, riding over the mountains, hills and forests of Luzerne and the surrounding country, night and day, summer and winter, wet and dry, with hard fare and poor pay. This was probably an epitome of the experience of Dr. Baldwin.
"Of Dr. Joel Tubbs I remember but little more than his name, though I think I used to meet with him occasionally at Caldwell and in the town of Warrensburgh.
"Dr. Reuben C. Gibson, the last in the list of names which occurs to my memory, resided for a time at what was then called Brown's Landing in the town of Ballston. Dr. Stower and myself used occasionally to ride into that town and it was there that I became acquainted with him, though he afterwards, about the time I left that county, moved to Sandy Hill and went into the druggist or some kind of mercantile business, I believe. We were intimate friends and I respected him very much though I have little knowledge of his medical attainments.
"I cannot say but Dr. Rugg, of Glens Falls, was in practice a short time before I left, and I think I signed his diploma as secretary of Warren County Medical Society. Dr. Peck, I think, was licensed afterward.
"In the professional line the few living who know me, or knew me, must speak for me. I only say that while I remained I had as much practice as I could do. My greatest fault was, my ambition in other matters was greater than my means, and my inexperience led me into pecuniary embarrassments which the hard times for money in that county just after the close of the War of 1812, completed my overthrow and made it necessary for me, if I would pay Page 314 my debts, to remove to another place. I did so and saved myself and my creditors too; I have since been more fortunate. In politics I was always active and as such I was somewhat distinguished when I was young."
Here follows an extended account of the various political offices held by Dr. Paine, which we need not reproduce; the list embraces the offices of clerk of elections (1809), town clerk of Queensbury (1812), justice of the peace, master in chancery, etc. The autobiography then concludes as follows: -
"In the spring of 1813, in consequence of the death of my father-in-law, David Osborn, I moved from the Ridge to his place, just beyond the town and county line into Kingsbury, and remained here till the spring of 1815, when I moved back to the Ridge again and remained about one year and then back to Kingsbury again. I cannot say with certainty that the Medical Society of the county of Warren was organized in this time, but I think it was. I recollect well of attending a meeting, I think about the beginning of 1816, at the Lake George Coffee House. Dr. Stower read an article on the great epidemic of 1813-14 at this meeting, and I was elected secretary, and I believe a censor of the society.
"Having moved back into Kingsbury again, as above stated, I was again appointed a justice of the peace, and a master in chancery, an office in those days corresponding with a commissioner of deeds in later times, which I held till I moved from the county in December, 1817."
Dr. Paine died in Albion, N. Y., about the year 1875.
Bethuel Peck was born at Sand Lake, Rensselaer county, N. Y., on the 16th of June, 1788. His father, Daniel Peck, who was originally from New Hampshire, was a soldier in the War of the Revolution. His mother was Mehitabel Harvey, of Marlborough, N. H. His grandfather, Ichabod Peck, of Cumberland, R. I., was a lieutenant-colonel in the War of the Revolution. He was wounded in action, and died in consequence of his wounds. His wife was Lydia Walcott, of the same place. His father and grandfather both also bore the name of Ichabod. The latter was the son of Jathniel, the son of Joseph, jr., who was born in England and baptized there August 23d, 1623, came over to the new world with his father in the ship Diligent, of Ipswich, John Martin master, and settled at Hingham, Mass., in 1638, from which place they both removed, about seven years later, to Seekonk, now Rehoboth, Mass. - Peek Genealogy,
It is not known with certainty what causes led the subject of this sketch to Glens Falls, but it is believed that he was brought along by some of the return gangs of raftsmen who, in the early days of the settlement here, rafted their lumber to market down the Hudson River. He at first found employment as a stable boy at the old Glens Falls Hotel. Subsequently he secured a position as an office boy for Dr. Levi Rugg, with whom he commenced the study of Page 315 medicine, paying his way with his own earnings from a practice which he rapidly picked up and afterwards retained. He subsequently attended medical lectures at the Medical College of Fairfield, N. Y., from which institution he at a later period received his diploma. He married Jerusha Winston, by whom he had one child that died in infancy. She survived him a few years and died at Chicago, Ill., whence her remains were removed and deposited by the side of her husband in the village cemetery. As will be seen by a reference to the civil list, he was elected for a term of four years to the State Senate. He was a partner for a number of years with the late Billy J. Clark in a drug and medicine establishment on the site now covered by Vermillia's market After his return from the Senate he erected the brick building to which he gave the name of the Glens Falls Druggist, on Glen street. Here, in conjunction with Dr. M. R. Peck, he carried on the drug business for a number of years. As a medical man Dr. Bethuel Peck was a close observer and good diagnostician, following in the broad beaten pathway of the schools, he was a safe and successful practitioner. His air in the sick-room was well calculated to inspire trust and confidence, for besides his genial and sympathetic manner, he always contrived to leave the impression that what he didn't know about the case was hardly worth knowing. He acquired in the practice of his profession and the judicious investment of his resources what was considered in those days a handsome fortune. He was for many years a leading and influential politician of the place. He died on the 11th of July, 1862.
Dr. Penfield Goodsell came to the town of Bolton anterior to the year 1805 from Connecticut. He had a wife, and also a son named after himself, but never brought them to Bolton to live. He was the first physician who settled in the town to practice medicine. He was respectable and highly esteemed, and for a time had a widely extended practice. After a few years he became insane and a wretched, aimless wanderer, up and down, to and fro through the earth for many years. After the establishment of the county poor-house he was removed thither, and was an inmate there for several years. At length, having been restored to reason, he left and returned to a former home in Vermont, where he died.
The next physician who settled in Bolton after Dr. Goodsell was Dr. Reuben C. Gibson. He resided and practiced there somewhere between the years 1813 and 1825. In 1814 he was allowed pay by the Board of Supervisors for medical services rendered to paupers. He was one of the physicians who assisted in organizing the County Society in 1813. He subsequently went to Sandy Hill and embarked in the mercantile business. In this he acquired some property, and afterward removed to Michigan, where he died.
During the period indicated in the two preceding paragraphs a Dr. John Stanton settled at Bolton for the practice of medicine. In the winter of Page 316 1814-15 he was attacked by the epidemic (spotted fever) which prevailed that season through the Northern and Eastern States with such fatal virulence, and died. His remains were buried in Bolton.
Dr. Stanton was succeeded by a Dr. Paul More (or Moore, as it is variously written), who settled in Bolton about this time. Of him but little is known, except that he is recorded as a member of the Warren County Medical Society. In 1827 Dr. Elisha Moore was allowed by the Board of Supervisors an account for professional services rendered to prisoners at the county jail. Could it have been the same man?
About the same time there came to Bolton a Dr. Samuel Buckbee, or Bugbee, who it is stated was a man of superior ability and attainments. He is also recorded as a member of the County Medical Society. He built up a somewhat extensive business, traveling far and near in the practice of his profession. The supervisors' records show that he was allowed compensation for professional services rendered to prisoners and paupers in the years 1827, 1829, 1830, 1831, 1835 and 1836. In 1830 he was appointed county physician by the Board of Supervisors.
At a very early date Dr. Herman Hoffman settled in practice at Warrensburgh. He represented his town in the Board of Supervisors in the years 1814 and 1815. It appears from a record at hand that he was allowed a claim of ten dollars by the Board of Supervisors of Washington county in 1805. He was also one of the physicians who assisted in organizing the County Medical Society in 1813.
Dr. Nathan North, the only record of whom may be found in the town books, in which it is stated that in February, in the year 1817, he made a present to the overseers of the poor of Queensbury, a bill amounting to $28.40, for professional services.
Dr. Zephaniah Tubbs resided near the Baptist Church in the north part of Caldwell. He was one of the pioneers of the profession in this county, and assisted in the organization of the County Society in 1813. His practice, if we may judge from the records, was extensive and remunerative. He was allowed claims by the Board of Supervisors in the years 1824, 1825 and 1831. He was the father of Dr. Nathan Tubbs, who subsequently practiced medicine in Warrensburgh, Chester and Glens Falls. He finally removed to Pennsylvania, where he died. The following obituary notice appears in the Warren County Messenger and Advertiser for Friday, February 6th, 1835: -
"DIED. - In Caldwell, on the 29th ult., Dr. Zephaniah Tubbs, in the 72d year of his age."
Nathaniel Edson Sheldon was the youngest of ten children, the offspring of Job and Joanna C. (Trippe) Sheldon, who migrated from Cranston, R. I., to Page 317 Barnet, Vt., where the subject of this sketch was born on the 28th of September, 1804. While in early youth, Dr. Sheldon's father removed to Delhi, Delaware county, N. Y. Here he received the advantages of a good common school education, and being baptized and confirmed in the Episcopal Church, commenced studying for orders in that communion. We are not advised as to the causes which led to a change of pursuit in life, but shortly after we find him prosecuting the study of medicine with Dr. Lang in the city of New York, in one of whose colleges he graduated about the year 1831. After receiving his diploma, he was appointed ward physician in one of the worst and hardest districts of the city. During the cholera season of 1832 he saw and reported the first case of that terrible scourge in the city. His superiors scouted the idea. The next morning seven more were down with the disease and three dead bodies in the building. A medical commission which had been dispatched to Canada to investigate the disease, on examination confirmed his diagnosis, and he was awarded the credit due to his discrimination and good judgment. At the end of the season he was presented with a massive silver pitcher, which remains as an heir-loom in the family, upon which is engraved the following inscription: -
"Presented by the Board of Health of the city of New York to N. Edson Sheldon, M. D., for professional services gratuitously rendered to the poor of the Second Ward during the prevalence of the cholera, A. D. 1832."
The following year he removed to Glens Falls and embarked in practice, and notwithstanding a sharp and sometimes acrimonious competition, he soon succeeded in acquiring a fair proportion of the patronage; the population of the village and town being less than one-fourth what it is to-day. For nearly twenty years, and until his voluntary retirement from professional cares, he held the position of a first-class practitioner, and the reputation of more than ordinary success. Even later his professional brethren, in token of respect, elected him president of the County Medical Society.
While pursuing his medical studies, a young English lady, named Elizabeth Goodwin Olive, stopped for a few days' visit at his preceptor's while on her way with an uncle, a clergyman of the church of England, to Canada. A romantic attachment sprung up between them, and in May, 1834, they were married. She died on the 30th of December, 1840. On the 3d of October, 1842, he was again married to Abigal T., daughter of the late John A. Ferriss, esq. Soon after, he engaged in the drug and medicine trade, and by strict attention and assiduity he built up a large and remunerative business. For a large proportion of his life, Dr. Sheldon was known as an active and influential politician. Originally a Democrat, he with many others came out in 1838 in opposition to that party, and for many years his office was the rallying place and centre where politicians arranged the local affairs of both the Whig and Republican parties. In the exciting and important campaign of 1860, Page 318 whose events culminated in our late civil war, he was chosen one of the electors of the Empire State, and cast his vote for the first term of service of the martyred and lamented Lincoln.
In 1866 he was appointed by the governor one of the Board of Trustees of the New York State Institution for the Blind at Batavia. In the exciting campaign of 1872 he was nominated and elected county treasurer, a position which his failing health compelled him to resign early in the succeeding year.
Dr. Sheldon was public-spirited, and always contributed to the development and advancement of the place. He was from the first a stockholder and director in the Glens Falls and Lake George Plank Road Company, and for many years its secretary. He was also for a long time one of the trustees of the Glens Falls Academy. Conspicuous, however, above all other traits of character, was his sterling honor and integrity. In the language of one who knew him intimately and well, "He would not have done an unjust, dishonest or fraudulent act to save his life." He died suddenly at his residence in Glens Falls, on the 3d of July, 1873.
Dr. Eliakim W. Howard, was born the 2d of January 1808, at Fort Ann, Washington county, N. Y., being the son of Eliakim and Anna (Williams) Howard, and received his preparatory education at the common and graded schools of that vicinity. He began the study of medicine in the month of April, 1830, with Dr. Nelson Porter of Fort Ann. In the winter of 1832 he taught school at Doe's Corners, and continued his studies with Dr. H. Reynolds. Beginning with the fall of 1830, he attended three courses of medical lectures at the Vermont Medical College at Castleton, and graduated from that institution, December, 1833. In the summer of 1832, and the following winter his studies were profitably pursued in the office of Dr. Fletcher Ransom, a physician of growing repute, of Glens Falls. Immediately after graduating he commenced practice in a settlement known as "the Oneida," a hamlet in the north part of Queensbury, N. Y., five miles north of Glens Falls, at that time boarding at a public house kept by Harvey Low. In April, 1837, he removed to Warrensburgh. He resided the first year in a house on the south side of the Schroon River, on the road to the town of Thurman. The following year he moved to the upper borough and lived for thirty years in the house now occupied by Captain F. A. Farlin. At the end of that time be removed to his present residence on the north side of the main street, and about midway of the two villages.
On the 22d of September, 1835, he married Rebecca Brown, of Queensbury, by whom he had four children, two sons and two daugbters; a son and daughter now living. She died in 1869. On the 31st of July, 1871, he married his second and present wife, then Mrs. Adelia (nee Cameron) Fenton.
Page 319Dr. Howard for many years has had a laborious and extensive ride reaching from Cedar River, in Hamilton county, to the southern extremity of Warren. Notwithstanding his advanced years he is still hale, active and vigorous, and attends to his professional calls with the same alacrity, zeal and interest that he did forty and fifty years ago, and gives promise of many years of usefulness yet to come. He was appointed an examining surgeon for the pension office before the close of the war, and has acted in that capacity ever since.
Dr. James Cromwell was born at Carlisle, Schoharie county, N. Y., on the 27th of September, 1811. He was a direct descendant of Oliver Cromwell, so famous in English history as the stern puritan, regicide and ruler of the English commonwealth.
His early educational advantages were restricted, with the exception of a single year's academic instruction at Schenectady, N. Y., to the scanty and often interrupted opportunities afforded at the district school of his neighborhood. Nevertheless, by great diligence and application, he succeeded in acquiring a thorough knowledge of the ordinary English branches, and also a fair understanding of the rudiments of Latin and chemistry.
When he had attained the age of eighteen he commenced the study of medicine with a young, and subsequently eminent, practitioner, then residing in his native place. For two years or more his studies were thus pursued with advantage and satisfaction, when the removal of his preceptor broke up his plans and barred his further progress. At this time, also, it became necessary to seek the means of self-support in the acquirement of a trade. This was followed for four years and upwards, when an opportunity was gladly improved to resume his studies. He succeeded in obtaining a position as a prescription clerk in the city of New York, which familiarized him with the character, composition and properties of drugs and medicines, and their recent method of combination, preparation and administration. A position afterward obtained in the old City Hospital during the year 1835 gave him ample field for observation and practical experience in both surgery and medicine. During the terms of 1837-38, 1838-39, he attended full courses of lectures at the Medical College at Fairfield, N. Y., pursuing his studies meanwhile at the office of a prominent firm of medical practitioners at Albany.
On the 10th of February, 1839, he was married to Miss Sarah C. Bradshaw, of Mechanicsville, Saratoga county, N. Y., a union which for a lifetime has proved of perfect harmony and accord.
An eligible opportunity presenting for embarking in practice, he removed in the month of June following to Mantua, Portage county, Ohio, where for six years he found in a wide and constantly extending field of patronage, ample employment for himself and an assistant. He then returned to the east, and, with a view to graduating, attended an additional course of lectures at Page 320 the Albany Medical College, pursuing his practice during the interim at Mechanicsville, N. Y. Four years after receiving his diploma he removed to the settlement known as "The Oneida," in the northern part of the town of Queensbury, where he practiced his profession for several years. Here his attention was first called to the then new system of practice, which was beginning to find scattering adherents here and there throughout the country. Pursuing his investigations carefully, he at length became a believer in its efficacy, a convert to its law of cure and adopted it as his mode of practice. He soon after (in May, 1848) removed to the village of Caldwell, at the head of Lake George, so long and favorably known to the traveling public as an attractive resort, and fashionable watering-place. Here Dr. Cromwell's eminent abilities and marked success speedily placed him in the possession of an exclusive and wide-spread practice. Here, surrounded by influential patrons, and an ever increasing circle of trusting friends, the doctor completed his life-work and ended his days. During his career he was scrupulous and respectful in his relations to the profession, and invariably recognized the claims of suffering humanity upon his ability and skill, whenever opportunity offered. He associated himself in the various organizations of the faculty, serving as president of the Warren and Washington County Homoeopathic Medical Society, and also of the Society of Northern New York. He was also a member of the State Homoeopathic Medical Society.
At the fall election preceding his demise he was elected one of the coroners of Warren county by a gratifying majority. Like most men of marked character, Doctor Cromwell's friends were fast, zealous and warm; his enemies bitter and unforgiving. His death, which occurred on the 7th of December, 1875, has proved a serious loss to the community in which he lived, and where he was held in universal esteem. The following testimonial forms a fitting close to a long career of usefulness.
At a special meeting of the vestry of St. James's Church, Lake George, N. Y, held at the rectory on Saturday evening, December 11th, 1875, the following minute was unanimously adopted:
Forasmuch as it hath pleased Almighty God, in his infinite wisdom, to remove from his labors in the church militant, our beloved associate and Senior Warden, James Cromwell, M. D., we, the rector, surviving warden and vestrymen of St. James's Church, do hereby express our high appreciation of his faithful services as warden of this church for twenty years past, since its organization in 1855, and of his uniform bearing as a Christian gentleman, consistent churchman and devoted servant of the Lord. And we record, with sincere feeling, our affectionate remembrance of his companionship, and of the kindly disposition which endeared him to all, and secured the respect of the entire community.
And we further desire most feelingly to tender to his widow and children Page 321 our sympathy and sincere condolence in this the time of their sorrow, commending them to Him, the dear Lord, who comforteth those that are cast down.
And it is hereby ordered that a copy of the foregoing be presented to the family of the deceased, entered on the parish record, and its publication asked in the Glens Falls papers.
Charles H. Lancaster, Rector.
S. R. Archibald, Clerk.
Samuel Jenkins, M. D., of Queensbury. Dr. Jenkins was born in the town of Queensbury on the 19th of October, 1815. He was a descendant of one of the earliest settlers of the town, and the family of which he was a conspicuous and honored member was one of the most prominent and respected in that portion of the town in which he was raised. His early education was such as could be derived from the better class of our public schools; later on, his advantages being of a superior order, he graduated at the Clinton Liberal Institute in 1840, and was for a considerable period professor of lauguages at that institution.
In 1842 he was, after a course of preparatory study, ordained a minister of the Universalist Church. On the 12th of September, 1843, he was united in marriage with Almaria, daughter of Rufus and Sarah Anderson, who, with two sons, viz.: Lyman and Palmer B., still survive. The same year he was called to and accepted the charge of the Universalist Church at New Market, N. H. In 1844 he commenced the study of eclectic medicine, under the tutelage of Mark Anthony Cushing, M. D., of Glens Falls, N. Y., and from the period of his graduation forward, continued the practice of medicine (except at Huntingdon, L. I.), in connection with his ministerial duties.
In 1844 he was called to the pastorate of the Universalist Church at Utica, N. Y., at Lee Center, N. Y., in 1845-46, at East Medway, Mass., in 1847-48, at Rochester, N. Y., in 1850, at which place on the 10th of February, 1851, he received his degree of M. D. from the Rochester Medical College. For the six years following, namely, until 1857, he was in charge of the Universalist Church at Schenectady, N. Y. From 1857 to 1860 he was pastor of the Universalist Church at Huntingdon, L. I., and again in 1860 at Schenectady. From the later city he removed to his birthplace at the north part of Queensbury, where he remained in the successful practice of medicine, supplying an extended radius of rich farming country with his professional services, until the time of his death, which occurred on the 20th of December 1873.
Joseph L. Stodard was born in the town of Moreau, Saratoga county, N. Y., in the year 1817. His education was acquired in the common schools of his native place, the circumstances and condition of his parents being such as to preclude the opportunities for a higher grade of education. In youth, however, Page 322 he foreshadowed some of those qualities which in after life contributed largely to a career of usefulness. In character he was diffident, retiring, sedate, candid and industrious. But small portions of his time, even in boyhood, were passed in the sports and pastimes, fun and frolic usually characterizing that active and formative period of life. Assiduous and attentive to his studies, and improving to the utmost the scanty opportunities, he laid broad and deep the foundations of future character and intellectual culture yet to he achieved by his own personal endeavors.
While yet a lad of immature age he was apprenticed to learn the trade of cabinet-making, in the village of Palmyra, Wayne county, N. Y., in which pursuit he, in the course of his apprenticeship, became a skilled and accomplished workman. At the age of eighteen years he was assailed by a chronic gastric disease, which, for a time, crippled his energies, and from which he never fairly recovered. For two years he was under medical treatment, and during this period commenced the investigation and study of topics relating to medical science.
His health being partially restored, and lacking the means to further pursue his medical studies, he in 1838 removed to Glens Falls and opened a cabinet ware-room. Renewed application to his trade soon brought on a return of his disease, and thus being crippled in health and ability to work, he speedily became embarrassed in his pecuniary condition and circumstances; and soon his business venture proved a failure.
This was indeed a dark and gloomy period of his life. To add to his trials, a prolonged fit of illness ensued which greatly prostrated his system and sapped the vital forces. This was in the year 1847.
During his convalescence he began the regular course of study, adopting the Hahnemannian system, of which he had already acquired a partial knowledge. He soon after embarked in practice, and notwithstanding the hostility and opposition of the other school of medicine, he built up a substantial and paying practice among an intelligent and appreciative portion of the community in which he lived. For twelve years and more he maintained his position, constantly increasing in the confidence of the community, until he was again assailed by the disease, whose insidious approaches gradually sapped the fountains of life, and he died on the 9th of April, 1860.
Marvin Russell Peck, son of Joel and Hannah (Baldwin) Peck, was born at Sand Lake (or rather that portion of it which has since been set off under the name of Poestenkill, in Rensselaer county, N. Y.), on the sixteenth of July, 1822. His early education was received at the common schools of the neighborhood where his father resided, working on his father's farm summers, and going to school, as opportunity offered, winters. As a somewhat characteristic incident, illustrating his tenacity of purpose, he followed a teacher (whose Page 323 superior acquirements and ability rendered his instruction desirable) to Wynantskill, a distance of six miles, and during a winter of considerable severity made his way on foot morning and night to and from the school whatever the weather, and whatever the traveling, as long as the school continued. After this he had the advantage of a select school one season. He came to Glens Falls on the last day of the year 1842, literally to seek his fortune. That winter and the summer following he attended the Glens Falls Academy. In the September succeeding he was taken in as office boy and clerk in the drug and medicine business. Here he acquired the repute of being one of the steadiest young men of the place. Two years later he was admitted as an equal partner in the same business. At about the same period he commenced his medical studies, which were prosecuted under peculiar embarrassments and difficulties, at such scanty intervals as could be snatched from the cares and anxieties of business. He had in the interval of student life the advantage of a large practice. He entered the Albany Medical College in the winter of 1848-49 and graduated, after attending three courses of lectures, with great credit in the class of 1851. After this he remained three or four years in partnership with his uncle, assisting him in his practice, and then sold out to him. He was married on the 9th of September, 1853, to Miss Marcia L., daughter of Thomas H. and Eliza (Miller) Bemis, of New York city. He settled down to the practice of his profession, commanding a fair share of the public patronage and esteem. Two years later he bought out the old doctor, as his uncle was often called, and resumed the drug business in connection with his practice. Subsequent to the death of his uncle he bought of the executors the building used as his store and office. Was burned out in the great fire of 1864. Rebuilt the same year, materially enlarging the size of the building. He closed out the drug business in 1869 to Messrs, Pettit & Fennel, after which time he devoted his attention exclusively to the practice of his profession.
Dr. Peck was a physician of more than ordinary acumen and discrimination; as a surgeon he had few, if any, superiors outside of the cities. He performed several capital and important operations, and a more than average amount of success attested his judgment and skill. He died on Friday the 4th day of April, 1884.
Uberto Crandell, of Warrensburgh, studied with his uncle at Scipio, N. Y.; entered Union College, sophomore class, and graduated at the age of eighteen; studied medicine with Dr. William U. Edgerton two years; attended one course of medical lectures at Geneva, N. Y., and died about 1846, as supposed from blood poisoning, the result of a dissecting wound.
Buel Goodset Streeter was born 25th July, 1832, at Warsaw, Wyoming county, N. Y. His father's name was Joab Streeter. His mother's name was Page 324 Sophia Wheat. His father was a Methodist preacher. He was one of Bishop Philip Embury's first class of converts in Hampton, Washington county. He began preaching when he was about twenty years of age; first at home as a local preacher, from which he moved to the tract called "The Holland Purchase," about the year 1828, and filled the position of traveling preacher until the time of his death which occurred in 1868, at Carlton, Orleans county, N. Y., aged seventy-two years.
B. G. Streeter, M. D.
The subject of this sketch at the time of his mother's death, which occurred when he was nine years old, was thrown as a waif upon the mercies of a heartless world - thenceforth destined to carve out his own career, working as a chore-boy wherever he could get a job of work and receiving such chance advantages as were to be obtained by an irregular attendance upon the public schools until he was sixteen years of age, when for two winters he became a teacher himself. He all this time lived in and about Warsaw. When eighteen years of age (1850) he moved to West Poultney, Vt., where he entered the Troy Conference Academy, where he remained for a year, and at the same time commenced and prosecuted the study of medicine under the tutelage of Dr. Wm. H. Miller, a young physician of promise and ability, who had then but recently settled there, and who afterward completed his life work at Sandy Hill, N. Y., where he died about the year 1873. In 1852 he entered Castleton Medical College, from whence he graduated at the end of a second term, 4th of November, 1853. He was married soon after to Lizana Hotchkiss, daughter of Captain Hiram Hotchkiss, of Hampton, Washington county. He embarked in the practice of medicine in Hampton, where he remained until about the year 1858 when he moved to Granville (Bishop's Corners), and resumed the general practice of his profession. At the breaking out of the Rebellion, moved by the same patriotic impulses which actuated so many of the brave and daring spirits of the North, he tendered his services and was commissioned assistant surgeon of the Ninth N. Y. Cavalry, June 25th, 1862. His command was attached to Siegel's celebrated corps, then operating in front of the defenses of Washington, and was in action at the battle of Cedar Mountain and the second battle of Bull Run. The ensuing fall Siegel's command was turned over to the Army of the Potomac, and constituted the Eleventh Corps under the command of General O. O. Howard. During this period, preceding Burnside's famous "mud march," the Ninth Cavalry was detached and incorporated with other regiments of that arm of the service into the cavalry corps of the Army of the Potomac under the command of Major General George Stoneman. During this period the battle of Chancellorsville occurred, in which this brigade was a participant, acting as provost guard, the remainder of the corps being detached on a raid to the rear of the rebel lines. General Stoneman was superseded soon afterward by Major General Alfred Pleasanton, under whose leadership the subject of this sketch was promoted to the position of surgeon, and transferred Page 325 to the Fourth N. Y. Cavalry in the same brigade. On the 9th of June, 1863, the entire corps was ordered to make a reconnaissance in force across the Rappahannock from the vicinity of Stafford C. H., and in discharging that duty struck the right flank of the rebel army under General Lee at Brandy Station, where a severe all-day action occurred, resulting in being driven back across the Rappahannock, two heavy skirmishes having taken place previously at Beverly's and Kelly's Fords. From opposite Brandy Station - the two armies moving in parallel lines down the Shenandoah Valley, and a spur of the Blue Ridge - the corps was ordered to make a reconnaissance through Ashby's Gap to determine the enemy's strength and location; here at Aldie on the 17th the corps encountered a division of Jeb Stuart's cavalry and had a severe engagement in which the colonel, Louis P. Di Cesnola, was wounded and taken prisoner. The rebels were driven through and beyond Middleburg on the Little Valley Pike where they remained until the 19th, the interval being devoted to bringing up the supplies and caring for the wounded; then moving forward encountered the enemy again a little beyond the town where another severe action took place, resulting in again driving the enemy. On the 21st another encounter took place at Upperville, which resulted in the dispersion of the enemy in the direction of their main army. During these various actions, casualties to the number of several hundred occurred which kept the medical force in general, and Dr. Streeter in particular, in active employment, engaged in amputations and superintending the removal of the wounded. Here it was definitely ascertained that the enemy had determined upon invading the Union territory, and the cavalry corps, acting as an army of observation, retired slowly before the enemy's advance until the famous battle-field of Gettysburg was reached, when the division of General Gregg, in which the Fourth N. Y. Cavalry was included, was stationed to guard the right flank of the Union army and protect the immense trains of supplies and stores in the rear. After the defeat of the rebels at Gettysburg this division was dispatched in pursuit of the retreating army, with the rear guard of which they had an active engagement at Falling Waters. From this time forth Dr. Streeter's regiment participated in all the active movements of the cavalry corps of the Army of the Potomac until the close of the campaign and then went into winter quarters at Culpepper Court House. In the following May, 1864, the Army of the Potomac, being under the leadership of General Grant, and the command of the cavalry having been transferred to General Sheridan, this force crossed the Rapidan at Germania Ford and participated in the series of engagements known in history as the battle of the Wilderness. After the action of Todd's Tavern (one of the series), Dr. Streeter was ordered to take a large ambulance train of wounded and medical supplies and establish a hospital for the care of the wounded and sick of the cavalry corps, numbering about 2,000. Of this he had charge from two to three weeks, his time being fully occupied in the cares and duties devolving Page 326 upon so important a responsibility. At the end of this period the hospital was broken up and the sick and wounded placed on transports and sent to Washington, the doctor being ordered to rejoin his regiment, which he found stationed at Whitehouse Landing. Crossing the James River with his regiment, he remained with the Army of the Potomac until Washington was again threatened by the invasion of Early from the valley, when two divisions of the cavalry (including the doctor's brigade) were dispatched to the relief of the national capital, under the command of General Sheridan, whose name is now a household word in every hamlet of the North. The enemy speedily retired up the valley followed sharply by Sheridan's troopers, and in a sanguinary engagement at Newton, something like 200 men being wounded, the doctor was ordered to remove the disabled and wounded to Winchester and thence to Washington so soon as the railroad, which had been torn up by the vicissitudes of war, was reconstructed, he was afterward ordered to rejoin his regiment. In this attempt, after having discharged the duty assigned him, he was captured by Mosby's guerilla band near Kernstown, four miles above Winchester. He was sent to Richmond and confined in Libby prison for twelve days, and was finally released through the kindness and intervention of Captain Semple, of the rebel army and inspector of rebel prisons, who had previously, when wounded and a prisoner, received many kindnesses and attentions at the hands of the doctor, and through his agency and instrumentality the latter was released unconditionally and sent forward to the Union lines, reaching his regiment at Charleston Heights on the 12th of September, 1864. Here the doctor resigned his commission as regimental surgeon to accept the position of acting staff-surgeon of the U. S. army, having a commission from the general government, and was at once assigned to duty as surgeon-in-chief of Powell's Division of Cavalry, in the cavalry corps of the Shenandoah Valley. On the 15th of November following (1864) he was assigned to duty as medical director of the cavalry corps of the Army of the Shenandoah; on the 10th of January following he was assigned to duty as medical director of the Army of the Shenandoah, in which capacity he served until July 1st, 1865, when he with the army was mustered out by general orders, and he returned to his home at Granville, where he remained in practice until April 1st, 1867, when he removed to Glens Falls. He has been elected coroner two terms, and served as trustee of School District No. 2 from 1872 to 1881, when, upon the consolidation of five of the village districts into the Union Free School No. 1, of Glens Falls, he was elected one of the board of directors, and holds that position at the present time. The doctor feels justly proud of his relations to our public schools, and has, during his extended term of service, proved an energetic, faithful, and efficient officer. Upon the organization in January last, in Glens Falls, of a board for the examination of pension claimants, he was appointed a member and elected treasurer of the same, positions which he now holds. In Page 327 his profession, the doctor has earned a wide-spread reputation as a skillful surgeon and successful practitioner of medicine. He is still in the prime and vigor of an active manhood, and gives promise of many coming years of activity and usefulness.
Godfrey R. Martine, son of James J. Martine, of Caldwell, Warren county, was born in the city of Troy, N. Y., on the 27th day of April, 1837. He came to Warren county when a lad of eight years and received his general education principally at the Warrensburgh Academy under different instructors, notably among whom was O. E. Babcock, afterwards General Babcock, conspicuous for his connection with General Grant. The subject of this sketch pursued his Latin course under the direction of Rev. R. C. Clapp, of Chestertown, and attended the Normal School in Albany, receiving a teacher's State certificate. He afterwards taught in several of the towns of Warren county and was for a few terms principal of the Warrensburgh Academy. He then entered the medical department of the University of Vermont for the study of his chosen profession, in which he continued until he graduated in June, 1862. Immediately after graduating he returned to Warren county and commenced the practice of medicine in Warrensburgh, afterward in Johnsburgh, and has practiced more or less in all the towns of Warren county and in all the adjoining counties. In 1882 he removed to Glens Falls, where he has attained an enviable position in his profession.
Dr. Martine was married on the 9th of September, 1869, to Mary Woodward, of Warrensburgh, a lady of well-known attainments and refinement. They have one child, Byron A. Martine, born April 8, 1883. Politically, Dr. Martine has been a life-long Democrat, and in 1866 he was the nominee of that party for county school commissioner. He represented the town of Johnsburgh on the Board of Supervisors from 1866 to 1870 inclusive. In the fall of 1869 he was elected Member of the Assembly. In these positions of trust his excellent natural and acquired qualifications and unflinching integrity enabled him to discharge his duties to the eminent satisfaction of his constituents.
It may not be out of place here to state that the present popularity of the grand and beautiful Blue Mountain Lake region is due almost solely to the foresight and energetic efforts of Dr. Martine, In the year 1875, when that section was an unknown wilderness, he purchased the site and erected the Blue Mountain Lake House, a splendidly located hotel, accommodating 250 guests, inclusive of ten or twelve cottages which have been gradually added to the grounds. Roads were opened and this famous region has become one of, if not the most popular resort in the great Adirondack wilderness. It is to-day acknowledged by those best able to judge, that Dr. Martine's perseverance and faith in this enterprise were the means of saving the Adirondack Railroad from an early decline. The lasting benefits thus conferred upon the people of that section and the public at large, can never be properly estimated.
Page 328Dr. Martine is a Fellow of the New York State Medical Association, and one of its original members; has been president of the Warren County Medical Society; member of the American Medical Association, to which he has been several times elected delegate, and is now secretary of the Pension Board of Examining Surgeons, at Glens Falls. With the exception of a short term of volunteer service in the hospital at Annapolis, Md., during the War of the Rebellion, Dr. Martine's labors in the medical profession, now extending over more than a quarter of a century, have been confined to Warren county and its surroundings, and his record throughout this whole section is that of a faithful and reliable physician.
G. R. Martine, M. D.
Dr. Fletcher Ransom came to Glens Falls in the year 1824. His office was in a framed building, subsequently occupied by Billy J. Clark as a drug store, which stood on the site now occupied by Albert Vermillia as a meat-market. He was born in West Townshend, Windham county, Vt., in the year 1801, and graduated at the Vermont Medical School at Castleton, Vt., a short time previous to his removal to Glens Falls. He married the daughter of John Noyce, esq., of Putney, Vt., who died about the year 1849 at their home in Michigan. In 1830, according to the supervisors' record, he was allowed a claim for treating paupers. Dr. Ransom was an enthusiast in his profession, and shortly gathered about him a number of young, ardent and aspiring students of medicine. In furthering their purposes, and in perfecting his own knowledge of anatomy, it is stated that he sent below for subjects for dissection and practiced his anatomical researches, in company with his students, as opportunity presented. As this became gradually known to the public it met with popular disfavor and dislike. Whether owing to this or other causes is not known to the writer, but at all events he suddenly decided to remove from the place, and in the spring of 1835 he, in company with A. T. Prouty and Colonel Fred Curtenius, removed to Kalamazoo, Mich., where it is understood he abandoned the practice of his profession, and settled down to a farmer's life and all its peaceful, prosperous, and uneventful details, until the time of his death, which took place on the 2d of June, 1867.
Truman Barney Hicks was born in the town of Sunderland, Bennington county, Vt., on the 8th of January, 1785. He was the son of Simeon and Molly (Barney) Hicks. Simeon Hicks was a soldier in the War of the Revolution and with that galaxy of Vermont patriots present in action at the battle of Bennington.
Dr. Hicks's educational advantages were only such as could be obtained in the very common schools of a border settlement. He attended lectures and graduated at the Medical College at Fairfield. N. Y. One of the professors of this institution was named Westch Willoughby, for whom he formed so warm Page 329 and durable a friendship as in later years to name for him his youngest son. In 1810 he commenced practice at Wilton, Saratoga county, N. Y. His first wife was a Miss Barbara Hays, of Rutland, Vt., by whom he had three children, two sons and one daughter. From Wilton he moved to Hadley in the same county, and later on to Luzerne, where he resided for many years. Here he married for his second wife, Charlotte B., daughter of Judge Jeremy Rockwell, of Hadley. By her he had one son, already referred to in a preceding paragraph. Dr. Hicks was a man of unusual ability, good judgment and fair attainments. He was a rugged, manly type of the hardy Green Mountain Boys, such as Ethan Allen, Remember Baker, and Seth Warner, of Revolutionary memory, and of whom his father was another kindred spirit. Jovial and rollicking, self-reliant, ready for any emergency, he had many fast and warm friends and but few foes. In his practice he had few equals in this section of country. He was often called either in counselor for professional services for distances of thirty or forty miles, and in his prime his activity and endurance were something wonderful. From Luzerne Dr. Hicks removed to Caldwell at the head of Lake George where he passed the remainder of his days. In the course of his life he filled many positions of honor and trust. He served seven months in the American army in the last war with England, was commissioner of highways, colonel of militia, associate judge of the Warren County Court of Common Pleas, coroner in the year 1827, and member of Assembly for Warren county in the years 1828 and 1835. In 1846 he received the honorary degree of Doctor of Medicine from the Regents of the University of the State of New York. In 1847 he was elected a permanent member of the State Medical Society, in which body he had for many years represented the county of Warren.
He died at Caldwell, Warren county, N. Y., on the 16th of September, 1848, after an illness of about two weeks duration. His remains were removed to the town of Wilton, Saratoga county, N. Y., for burial.
Marshall S. Littlefield was born in the year 1804, in the town of Arlington, Vt. He was the son of Simeon and Lydia Littlefield. His early education was acquired in the common schools of his native town. He studied medicine with his father, who was also a physician of considerable note and ability, and had an extended ride through the rough mountainous region which environed his home. After passing through two or three courses of lectures at the Vermont Medical College at Castleton, the subject of this memoir received his diploma from that institution in due course. He at first located at Cavendish, Vt., where he embarked in practice and remained about two years. At the end of this period he returned to Arlington and married a Miss Hoyt, and remained in practice there until her death, which occurred in something less than two years. In 1830 he removed to the hamlet known as Pattin's Mills in Page 330 the north part of the town of Kingsbury. Here he speedily became popular and built up an extensive and lucrative practice. During his sojourn at this point he joined the Methodist Church, of which he remained a consistent and exemplary member to the day of his death. In 1838 he removed to Glens Falls and opened an office for the practice of medicine. In the fall of the same year he was united in marriage with Miss Catharine Buckbee, formerly of Clinton, Duchess county, N. Y. He continued in the flood-tide of remunerative and successful practice up to within a few days of his demise. He was a kind and indulgent husband and father. Genial, sunny, and self-possessed in the sick-room, always well dressed, neat, cleanly and tidy in his personal appearance, his general air and manner were prepossessing and assuring to his patients and friends, who looked up to him as an oracle. He died of typhoid fever, but notwithstanding the deadly contagion working in his system and slowly sapping the fountains of life, he bravely kept at his professional duties up to within five days of the time of his death, and retained his mental faculties nearly to the last. On his gravestone is the following inscription: "Dr. Marshall S. Littlefield, died Nov. 20, 1863, aged 59 years." He was buried after the formula and ritual of the Masonic fraternity.