Iowa History Project |
History of
Medicine in Iowa
by D.S. Fairchild, M.D., F.A.C.S.
reprinted from The Journal of the Iowa State Medical Society,
1927
~~~
transcribed from the original book for the Iowa History Project
by S. Ferrall
-U & V-
| Nathan Udell pg 32, full text Dr. Nathan Udell came to Appanoose county in 1849. He was born in Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, February, 1817. He was educated as a physician and came to Iowa as a pioneer practitioner of medicine. In 1849 when Dr. Udell came to Appanoose county there were but few people to need his services. He was elected to the senate of the Fifth General Assembly in 1854 and in the Eighth and Ninth General Assembly. Served in the regular and extra sessions. During the Civil War, Dr. Udell was for several months surgeon of the Seventh Iowa Infantry. In 1860 he was again elected to the senate and served in the Tenth and Eleventh General Assemblies. He died in Denver April 11, 1903. (pg 32) |
| E. Van Fossen pg 237, full text Dr. E. Van Fossen, a graduate of Rush Medical College, located in Adel in 1852 where he practiced four years, served one term in the Iowa legislature when he retired from the practice of medicine to become a farmer. (pg 237) |
| P. Van Patten pg 75, mention P. Van Patten, M.D. is listed as a member of the 1854 faculty of College of Physicians of the University of Iowa in Keokuk. Demonstrator of anatomy. |
| William Vogt (* Voght) pg 119, mention; pg 31, full text Dr. William Vogt was one of the most noted of early Iowa practitioners of medicine. His activities were limited to his profession. For twenty-five years he was the most loved physician in Iowa City and his memory was cherished for many years after his death in August, 1873, at the age of fifty-five years. Dr. Vogt a native of Prussia, began practice in Iowa City in 1848. It is said that he never presented a bill for medical services, but devoted himself to his patients and his practice without thought of money compensation. His modesty, his willingness to render service, his devotion left a place never quite filled in the professional annals of Iowa City, which has been adorned with some of the noblest men in the profession of Iowa. (pg 31) Dr. Voght was elected a
censor, of the Iowa State Medical Society at the 18th
annual session in Des Moines, February 5, 1868. |
| Matthew Nelson Voldeng pg 331-332, full text In August, 1902 the board of control elected Dr. Voldeng as the first superintendent [of the Cherokee Hospital for the Insane]. He had served the state at Independence as assistant physician. Matthew Nelson Voldeng was born on the farm of his father, Nels Lars, and his mother, Anna Mathis Voldeng near Decorah, Iowa, January 21, 1863. He attended Luther College at Decorah receiving A.B., 1883. He graduated in medicine from what is now the University of Illinois in 1887. Post-graduate work was done in Berlin, Paris and London in 1855-56. He wears the honorary degree of L.L.D. given by Buena Vista College, Iowa, in 1914. He was the assistant physician in the State Hospital at Independence 7 years until his resignation in 1895. While engaged in private practice in Des Moines he was professor of pathology 1897-98, and in charge of neurology and psychistry 1899-1902, Drake University School of Medicine. He was then elected by the board of control to prepare, open and take charge of the new State Hospital at Cherokee. After 13 years he was transferred from Cherokee to Woodward, where as superintendent and medical director of the State Hospital and Colony for Epileptics, he again has demonstrated his ability to establish, organize and put in operation an up-to-date institution with suitable equipment. (pg 331-332) |
*Transcribers note:
throughout the book there were instances of a physician's name
being given slightly differently from one mention to another;
whenever I was positive they denoted the same man, I have
included the alternate name or spelling, not knowing which is the
'correct' one.