Dr. M.J. Belden - 1910

BELDEN, ATKINSON, BOWEN

Posted By: LuAnn Goeke (email)
Date: 10/10/2009 at 21:38:09

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF DR. M.J. BELDEN.
(BY DR. A.B. BOWEN, M.D.)

The subject of this biographical sketch, M.J. Belden, M.D., was born in Steuben county, New York, A.D. 1831, and located in the little inland town of Canton, Iowa, in 1855, after exercising all the patience and self reliance that is usual for medical students to bring to bear in the accomplishment of their object and the consummation of their cherished hopes. But the courage and fortitude required to sever the ties of home and embark on his life's mission, the practice of his chosen profession, in the wilderness of the west, on the confines of civilization, requires a firmness of purpose and a spirit of philanthropy that surmounts obstacles and breaks down barriers that would discourage one of less firmly fixed purposes.

The little hamlet known by the name of Canton fifty years ago, nestling in the big timber of the forks of the Maquoketa, had few allurements for one who had learned the ways of the world in a more advanced civilization and the more refined social life of Steuben county, New York. But the subject of our sketch evidently did not contemplate reclining upon the lap of luxury and ease, but rather to court fame and fortune from the rugged resources of nature. It would seem that the conditions around Canton were not altogether congenial to his tastes, for he resolved to explore and prospect the country westward, and in 1858 he journeyed across the state on horseback, as he once informed me, to acquaint himself with conditions, and perhaps find a spot that offered greater inducements to his tastes and inclinations than his first stopping place afforded. But he was not favorably impressed with the broad and timberless Iowa prairies and returned to his "first love" and cast his destinies in the primeval forests that shaded the Maquoketa.

In 1862 Dr. Belden married one of Canton's fair daughters, Miss Cecelia Atkinson, and together they achieved success and carved fame and fortune from this rugged field of action.

Here for over forty years he responded to the calls of those who appreciated his services, and through the vicissitudes of the varying seasons, he was ever a welcome guest at the comfortable home of the thrifty farmer or the lonely cabin of the pioneer. His services were not sought in vain, for he was ever on the alert to respond to the call of those in suffering and distress. His midnight rides through the gloomy forest, that skirted his town of Canton, sometimes startled the wild deer from its lurking place, and sometimes these lonely trips at unreasonable hours were serenaded by the howl of the wolf if not by the fierce scream of the catamount.

The practitioner of medicine in an isolated field like Canton, learns to be more self-reliant than he who finds himself located in a more attractive field of labor where doctors by the dozen or score, perhaps, share the honors of the surrounding advantages, while they expect to divide the responsibilities that none are exempt from.

But the physician in the remote field has not a brother practitioner at his elbow to call in consultation at the ever approaching crisis, but in his gladatorial encounter with the grim messenger, he learns to be self-reliant and resourceful, and thus through force of necessity becomes a stronger and abler practitioner. But the time came, as it comes to all "when wasting age and weary strife had sapped the leaning walls of life." In 1898, a stroke of paralysis prostrated his iron constitution and compelled the relinquishment of practice, much to the regret of a large number of patients and patrons. It was my mission to see him during this crisis in his life, and I remember well the philosophy with which he met this trial. A temporary rally of his vital forces enabled him to abandon the scenes of his trials and triumphs and locate in Maquoketa, where he died, in October, 1902, aged seventy-one years, leaving a wife and one daughter who mourn the loss of a kind husband and father.

Dr. Belden took a lively interest in the Jackson County Medical Society, although his attendance upon its meetings required a drive of some forty miles; notwithstanding this hardship he occasionally honored us with his presence and participated in the discussions and read papers on scientific subjects. – 1910 History of Jackson county Iowa, pgs. 368-69