WAUD, THOMAS SMITH, M.D.

WAUD, CANDEE, RILEY, LEY, CHESSMAN OR CHISMAN

Posted By: Jean Kramer (email)
Date: 7/7/2003 at 20:15:08

Biography reproduced from page 488 of Volume II of the History of Kossuth County written by Benjamin F. Reed and published in 1913:

Dr. Thomas Smith Waud, who for fiften years has been promiently identified with the professional and business circles of Germania, is one of the foremost citizens of the town and takes an active and helpful interest in forwarding its development. Dr. Waud was born in Buffalo, New York, on the 19th of June, 1850, and was reared and educated in his native state. In 1861, at the age of eleven years, he laid aside his text-books and began earning his own living, his first position being that of messenger boy for the Erie Railroad Company, at Dunkirk, New York. He was retained in this capacity for four years, but he was ambitious and enterprising and during that period he learned telegraphy, and in 1865 was given a position as operator. When he was twenty-one he was promoted to the position of train dispatcher, and ten years later, in 1881, he was made division superintendent on the Erie road. Four years later he resigned this position to become general western agent for the Hendrickson Coal Company, of Carbondale, Pennsylvania, with headquarters at Buffalo, New York. In 1886 he was elected colonel of the Sixty-fifth National Guards of the state of New York and served in that capacity for six years. At the expiration of that time he came to Waterloo, Iowa, to accept a position as train dispatcher on the Illinois Central Railroad, and six months later he began the study of medicine under Dr. O. J. Fullerton, of that city. He subsequently went to Iowa City, Iowa, and two years later completed his course in the Kentucky School of Medicine, being awarded his degree by that institution, in 1891. He then located in Radcliffe, Hardin county, this state, and engaged in practice for six years. In 1897 he came to Germania, buying the practice of Dr. Lohr. Together with his son, T. S. Waud, Jr., he subsequently bought out the drug store of Frank Miller, the business being continued under the firm name of T. S. Waud & Company. Later Dr. Waud bought his son's interest and has since conducted the business alone. He carries a complete stock of drugs, patent and proprietary medicines, as well as toilet articles and such sundries as are usually found in a store of this kind. He has also added a nice line of jewelry and a good assortment of silver and cut glass, and in connection with this he maintains a repair department, in charge of a skilled workman. The enterprise is still conducted under the name of T. S. Waud & Company and is one of the most up-to-date and attractive establishments in the town. In 1900 together with others Dr. Waud organized the Kossuth County Telephone Company, of which he was the first president. He gave his personal supervision to the construction of their lines, comprising three hundred and fifty miles of wiring, and was head of the system until it was sold to the Western Electric Telephone Company, now part of the Bell Telephone System. In 1905, he organized what is known as the Germania Rural Telephone Company, of which he is president and general manager.

In Buffalo, New York, in 1884, Dr. Waud was married to Miss Lottie L. Candee, a native of the Empire state, and a daughter of Gilbert and Catherine Candee. Unto Dr. and Mrs. Waud were born five children: Annie and Lottie, both of whom died at the age of eighteen months; Catherine Bessie, who was graduated from the Livermore (California) State Normal School, and was elected principal of a grammar school the day following her graduation; Clarence C., a dentist of Livermore, California, who married Mrs. Marie Riley; and Thomas S., Jr., a druggist of Swea City, who married Ada Ley. The wife and mother passed away while the family was living at Waterloo. She was thirty-eight years of age and is buried in the cemetery at Buffalo, New York. Dr. Waud subsequently married Miss Lydia E. Chessman, a native of Iowa, and a daughter of John and Lydia Chessman, natives of West Virginia. To this union have been born the following children: Lydia Ellen, who died at the age of fourteen years; Kinnie Matteson, who will graduate from the high school at Faribault, Minnesota, with the class of 1913; Louise, who is a student in Bethlehem Academy, at Faribault, Minnesota; Mathias M., who is attending the Germania high school; and Lilly Belle and Channing S., both of whom are in school.

Fraternally Dr. Waud is a member of the Knights of Pythias fraternity and at Waterloo in 1895 was elected grand chancellor of the Iowa state lodge, in which capacity he served for a year. He is also a member of the Supreme Lodge of the Knights of Pythias. He is a thirty-second degree Mason and a past grand master of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and he also belongs to the Yeomen, and Modern Woodmen of America. He maintains relations with his profession through the medium of the Kossuth County Medical Society, the Flint Medical and Cedar Valley Medical Societies and the Iowa State Medical Association. Dr. Waud has for twelve years been local physician for the Rock Island Railroad and he is examining physician for all of the insurance companies represented in Germania and vicinity. In politics he is a progressive republican. While living at Radcliffe he was mayor of the town for three years and a member of the school board, and he is now health physician for the town of Germania and Ledyard and Lincoln townships. He has also served as coroner in Kossuth county for two terms and he held the same office in Hardin county for one term. He was appointed to the military staff of Governor Larrabee in 1891, and was retained in that capacity by both Governor Boise and Governor Frank Jackson. In matters of religious faith both Dr. Waud and his family are Episcopalians. He is highly esteemed in the community as he is a man of high standards of citizenship and business integrity and is always ready and willing to do anything in his power to advance the interests of the town or to promote its development.

Note: Correct last name of Lydia Chessman and Martha Chessman is Chisman. Note submitted by Trudy Miles.