Mathew Nelson Voldeng, First Superintendent of the Cherokee State Hospital
Mathew
Nelson Voldeng was born Jan. 21, 1863 in Decorah, Iowa. He was the son
of Nels Lars and Anna N. Voldeng, immigrants from Norway. His parents
came to the United States in 1851 and went first to Yorkville, Wisc.
After a few months they again immigrated to Allamakee county, Iowa and
then to Winneshiek Co., Iowa where the father purchased land and farmed
for the remainder of his life.
Mathew Voldeng earned a Bachelor of
Arts degree from Luther College of Decorah in 1883. The winter
following his graduation he taught school and the following fall
enrolled in the Chicago College of Physicians and Surgeons, the Medical
Department of the University of Illinois. He graduated from college in
1887. During his last year in college he practiced medicine in Chicago,
having passed his examination before the Illinois State Board of
Medical Examiners.. For a time he engaged in private practice and then
was employed as assistant Superintendent of the Independence State
Hospital in Independence, Iowa for 8 years.
In 1895 Dr. Voldeng
resigned his position at Independence and on Sept. 19, 1895 married
Sadie W. Rosemond. He and his wife toured Europe where he attended
lectures at the University of Berlin, Lon, and Paris. In the fall of
1896 he returned to America and opened an office in Des Moines, Iowa,
specializing in the treatment of mental and nervous disorders. He was
appointed to the Drake University faculty as professor of pathology and
bacteriology and after two years was elected to the Chair of Neurology
and Psychiatry, where he remained until September of 1901.
At
that time he was appointed special examiner of all county hospitals for
the insane by the Iowa Board of Control of State Institutions. Later in
1901 he was appointed first superintendent of the Cherokee State
Hospital for the Insane, assuming his duties March 2, 1902.
It
was to him that the responsibility fell of supervising the completion
of the hospital and readying of it for occupancy. This job he did and
on August 14, 1902 the hospital opened its doors to the first patients.
His
two children Wier Nelson and Karl Edward attended Cherokee Public
Schools. His salary was set by statute at $3,000 per year
and living accommodation on the second floor of the administration
wing. And what accommodations they were. A main foyer large enough to
swallow up several houses. Eight large rooms, some with closets large
enough to be used for offices today. Huge fireplaces of marble and onyx
in several rooms.
After thirteen years as superintendent of the
Cherokee State Hospital, Dr. Voldeng was asked to take the
superintendency of the new institution at Woodward, Iowa, intended
primarily for persons with epilepsy. Early in 1915 he left Cherokee
where he was replaced by Dr. George Donohoe.
Cherokee
County Historical Society Newsletter, Special August - September Issue, Vol. 12, No. 7, 1977, pg. 7 |
