Voltaire once
defined a physician as "A man who crams drugs of which
he knows little into a body of which he knows less."
That may have been true of a certain class of French
empirics at the time it was written, but since
Voltaire's day the medical profession has made almost
marvelous strides forward, and the physician of the
Twentieth Century is generally a man entitled to the
honor and respect of the community, both for his
professional ability and his standing as a citizen.
In the early settlement of every section of the
Mississippi Valley each family kept a stock of roots,
barks and herbs, and common ailments were treated by
the administration of "home-made 1 ' remedies. Old
residents can remember the bone-set tea, the burdock
bitters, the decoctions of wild cherry bark, the
poultices and plasters that "grandma" would prepare
with scrupulous care and apply — internally or
externally, as the case might demand — with more
solemnity than the surgeon of the present day cuts
open a man and robs him of his appendix.
Such was the condition in every frontier settlement
when the pioneer doctor arrived, and probably no
addition to the population was received with warmer
welcome. Yet the life of the frontier physician was no
sinecure, and about the only inducement for a doctor
to cast his lot in a new country was that he might
succeed in establishing himself in practice before his
competitor arrived in the field. Money was a rare
article and his fees, if he collected any at all, were
paid in such produce as the pioneer farmers could
spare and the doctor could use.
The old-time doctor was not always a graduate of a
medical college. In a majority of cases his medical
education had been obtained by "reading" for a few
months with some older physician and assisting his
preceptor in his practice. When the young student
thought he knew enough to branch out for himself, he
began looking about for a location, and frequently
some new settlement appeared to him as the best
opening. Of course, there were many exceptions to this
rule and some of the best physicians, already
established in practice, would "pull up stakes" and
seek a new location in some young and growing
community.
If the professional or technical knowledge of the
early doctoi was limited, his stock of drugs and
medicines was equally limited A generous supply of
calomel, some jalap, aloes, Dover's powder, castor oil
and Peruvian bark (sulphate of quinine was too
expensive for general use) constituted the principal
remedies in his Phar- macopoeia. In cases of fever it
was considered the proper thing to relieve the patient
of a quantity of blood, hence every physician carried
one or more lancets. If a drastic cathartic, followed
by letting blood, and perhaps a "fly blister," did not
improve the condition of the patient, the doctor would
"look wise and trust to a rugged constitution to pull
the sick man through." But, greatly to the credit of
these pioneer physicians, it can be said they were
just as conscientious in their work and had as much
faith in the remedies they admin- istered as the most
celebrated specialist has today. It can further be
said that a majority of them, as the population of the
new settlement increased, refused to remain in the
mediocre class and attended some medical school, even
after they had been engaged in practice for
years.
The doctor, over and above his professional calling
and position, was a man of prominence and influence in
other matters. His advice was frequently asked in
affairs entirely foreign to his business; his travels
about the settlement brought him in touch with all the
latest news and gossip, which made him a welcome
visitor in other households; he was the one man in the
community who subscribed for and read a newspaper, and
this led his neighbors to follow his leadership in
matters political. Look back over the history of
almost any county in the Mississippi Valley and the
names of physicians will appear as members of the
legislature, incumbents of important county offices,
and in a number of instances some doctor has been
called to represent a district in Congress. Many a boy
has been named for the family physician.
When the -first doctors began practice in Lee County
they did not visit their patients in automobiles. Even
if the automobile had been in existence, the condition
of the roads — where there were any roads at all — was
such that the vehicle would have been practically
useless. Consequently the doctor relied upon his
trusty horse to carry him on his round of visits. His
practice extended over a large expanse of country and
frequently, when making calls in the night with no
road to follow but the "blazed trail, 11 he carried a
lantern with him, so that he could find the road in
case he lost his way. On his return home he would drop
the reins upon the horse's neck and trust to the
animal's instinct to find the way.
As there were then no drug stores to fill
prescriptions, the doctor carried his medicines with
him in a pair of "pill-bags" — two leathern boxes
divided into compartments for vials of different sizes
and connected by a broad strap that could be thrown
across the saddle. Besides the lancet, his principal
surgical instrument was the "turnkey" for extracting
teeth. A story is told of a man once complaining to a
negro barber that the razor pulled, to which the
colored man replied : "Yes sah ; but if the razor
handle doesn't break de beard am bound to come off."
So it was with the pioneer doctor as a dentist. Once
he got that turnkey fastened on a tooth, if the
instrument did not break the tooth was bound to come
out.
And yet these old-time doctors, crude as were many of
their methods, were the forerunners of and paved the
way for the specialists in this beginning of the
Twentieth Century. They were not selfish and if one of
them discovered a new remedy or a new way of
administering an old one he was always ready to impart
his information to his professional brethren. If one
of these old physicians could come back to earth and
step into the office of one of the leading physicians,
he would doubtless stand aghast at the many surgical
instruments and appliances, such as microscopes,
stethoscopes and X-ray machines, and might not realize
that he had played his humble part in bringing about
this march of progress.
Doubtless the first physician to locate in Lee County
was Dr. Samuel Muir, who, in 1820, built a log cabin
within the present limits of the City of Keokuk. He
was a Scotchman by birth and had been educated in his
native land. After coming to America he became an army
surgeon and while stationed at Fort Edwards (now
Warsaw), Illinois, married an Indian maiden of the Fox
tribe. When the United States Government issued an
order to the effect that all officers in the army
having Indian wives must abandon them, Doctor Muir
resigned his office, saying: "May God forbid that a
son of Caledonia should ever desert his child or
disown his clan." It was at this time that he built
the cabin at Keokuk. He died at Keokuk of cholera in
1832, leaving a widow and five children. Owing to the
unsettled condition of land titles in the half-breed
tract, his estate was wasted in litigation and the
widow returned to her people.
Dr. Isaac Galland was one of the early physicians of
Lee County, but there is no positive evidence that he
practiced his profession to any considerable extent
after coming into Iowa. He was born near Marietta,
Ohio, in 1790. Opportunities to acquire an education
at that time were rather limited, but it appears that
Doctor Galland managed to educate himself, as it is
said that, "when he died at Fort Madison in 1858, he
was a tolerably good physician, a tolerably good
lawyer, was deeply learned in ancient as well as
modern history, and had few superiors in the West
either as a speaker or writer." As a young man, he was
fond of adventure and with a few kindred spirits went
to New Mexico, where he and his associates were
arrested by the Spanish officials, on suspicion of
their having evil designs against the government, and
kept for about a year in prison. That was enough of
New Mexico for him, so he returned to the States and
practiced medicine for a time in Edgar County,
Illinois. In 1829 he removed to what is now Lee County
and was one of the earliest settlers at Nashville (now
Galland), about three miles below Montrose. After the
act of Congress permitting the half-breeds to sell
their lands in the half-breed tract, Doctor Galland
became the agent for the New York Land Company. In
1839 he became a convert to the Mormon faith and for
over a year was the private secretary of Joseph Smith,
the Mormon prophet. While acting in this capacity it
was his duty to write down the "revelations" that came
to Smith in his trances and he came to the conclusion
that the prophet's claim to supernatural powers was a
fraud. He therefore gave up the Mormons nad resumed
his residence in Iowa.
A few years before his death he went to California,
but soon after he left Lee County Daniel F. Miller
succeeded in compromising the claim of Doctor Galland
against the New York Land Company, receiving $11,000.
When notified of the successful termination of his
suit, Doctor Galland returned to Fort Madison, where
he died in 1858. His daughter Eleanor was the first
white child to be born in what is now Lee County, and
his son, Washington, veteran of two wars, is still
living in the county.
Another pioneer physician was Dr. Campbell Gilmer, who
is credited by some writers with being the first man
to practice medicine in the vicinity of Fort Madison.
He came to Lee County in 1835 and settled upon a tract
of land about three miles northwest of the infant
town, which had been surveyed and platted but a few
months before. At that time physicians were few and
Doctor Gilmer's practice extended for miles in all
directions. Open-hearted and generous to a fault, he
answered all calls, day or night, no matter what the
state of the weather, and never made inquiry as to
whether the patient was able to pay a fee. He died on
his farm, near Fort Madison, July 9, 1865, and his
widow survived until June 15, 1877.
Dr. Joel C. Walker was born in Springfield, Ohio,
February 7, 1813. After attending the schools of his
native state, in which he received a good academic
education, he entered Jefferson Medical College of
Philadelphia, where he was graduated in 1836. In
December of that year he came to Iowa and located at
Fort Madison, where he practiced his profession for
many years. In October, 1838, he married Miss Martha
N., daughter of Dr. Abraham Stewart, a surgeon in the
United States Army. During the territorial era, Doctor
Walker was clerk of the United States District Court
for fiveyears. In 1853 he was elected mayor of Fort
Madison and served one term, and from 1862 to
1867 he was collector of internal revenue for the
First District of Iowa. He was otherwise actively
identified with county and city affairs; was a public
spirited citizen, and a successful physician. His last
years were spent in retirement. About the time Doctor
Walker located at Fort Madison, Dr. J. P.
Stephenson, with his wife and four sons — Samuel T.,
George E., John D. and Joseph E. — came from Ohio and
settled near the present Village of Denmark. He was
one of the first physicians in that part of the
county, was a man of generous impulses, a successful
practitioner and answered calls over a large expanse
of territory in and Des Moines counties. His
wife died in 1840 and in 1853 his right side became
paralyzed, which forced him to give up his practice.
His death occurred in 1858. Three of his sons were
successful farmers in the county and Joseph E. engaged
in the clothing business in Fort Madison.
It is a matter of regret that a number of old-time
physicians passed away, leaving no records from which
an account of their careers can be obtained. Among
those may be mentioned Dr. John Cutler and Doctor
Ferris, who platted part of the City of Fort Madison;
Drs. L. D. McGugin, Samuel G. Armor, Nicholas Hurd,
George W. Richards, A. S. Hudson and S. Mathews,
members of the first faculty of the College of
Physicians after it was established at Keokuk. Dr.
John M. Anderson, who was one of the early practicing
physicians of Montrose, was born in Montgomery County,
Kentucky, July ii, 1 8 1 8. Whe he was ten years of
age his parents removed to Quincy, Illinois, where he
acquired the greater part of his general education.
About 1833 his father sent him with a young man and a
stock of goods to open a store at Farmington, Iowa. At
Alexandria, Missouri, his companion was taken ill and
young Anderson returned to Quincy to await his
recovery. Upon going back to Alexandria about two
weeks later, he learned that the young man had sold
the goods and decamped with the proceeds. Not caring
to return home under the circumstances, he went on to
Farmington, where he taught school and worked at
anything he could find to do between terms. There he
studied medicine under Doctor Miles, who went to New
Orleans and died there of yellow fever in 1840, when
Doctor Ander- son succeeded to the practice. In 1844
he located at Montrose, where he found some Mormon
"steam doctors" and some prejudice against a regular
physician. He stuck to it, however, and succeeded in
build- ing up a satisfactory practice. Doctor Anderson
represented Lee County in the lower branch of the
State Legislature from 18 151 to 1856 and was for
years engaged in the mercantile business at Montrose
in connection with his practice. He was a typical
country doctor.
Some time in the late '30s or early '40s Dr. Freeman
Knowles located at West Point. He has been described
as "a gentleman of high standing and character, with a
remarkable memory." He was a witness in the celebrated
case that resulted in the conviction of William and
Stephen Hodges for the murder of John Miller. After
practicing for some time at West Point, Doctor Knowles
removed to Keokuk.
In 1845 Dr. D. Lowrey, a native of Berlin,
Pennsylvania, settled at West Point. He was at that
time about thirty-nine years of age. At the age of
eighteen he began Tiis medical studies under Doctor
Cooper, of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, with whom he read
for two years and then took a three-years' course in a
medical college at Philadelphia. From that time until
he came to West Point, he practiced in Pennsylvania
and Ohio. Doctor Lowrey was a very successful
physician. It is told of him that, during one sickly
season, he did not sleep in a bed for six weeks,
catching "forty winks' 1 now and then while in the
saddle or his buggy. After practicing for several
years he turned his attention to growing grapes and
had one of the finest vineyards in southeastern Iowa.
He and his family were all members of the Catholic
Church. One son, Clement G. Lowrey, entered the
priesthood and was for some time stationed at Cedar
Rapids, Iowa. Later he was in charge of St. Francis de
Sales parish at Keokuk.
Dr. Herman F. Stempel, who located at Fort Madison in
1847, was born in Germany in July, 1824. He was
educated and studied medicine in the Fatherland, and
in 1847 decided to try his fortunes in America. Upon
landing in this country he came direct to Fort
Madison, where he began the practice of his
profession. In 1852 he was appointed deputy county
treasurer and from that time until January, 1864, he w
T as employed in that office and the office of the
county recorder. He then resumed the practice of his
profession. In 1869 he was appointed United States
revenue gauger, though he continued to practice
medicine until advancing age compelled him to
retire.
Keokuk Medical
Colleges
The year 1850 witnessed quite a change in the status
of the medical profession in Lee County, as in that
year a medical school was opened in Keokuk, which
brought a number of eminent physicians to that city.
This institution owes its establishment to Dr. John F.
Sanford, more than to any other one man. Doctor
Sanford was born in Chillicothe, Ohio, April 23, 1823.
After attending the schools of his native town he
began the study of medicine under Dr. J. S. Prettyman.
In 1839 he entered the Cincinnati Medical College,
where he completed two courses of lectures, and in
1841 began practice at Farmington, Iowa. In 1846, when
only twenty-three years of age, he was elected to the
state Senate, and while a member of that body he
secured the passage of a bill granting a charter to a
medical college.
Prior to 1840 the only three medical colleges west of
the Allegheny Mountains were located at Cincinnati,
Louisville and New Orleans. Medical students
throughout the growing West were without adequate
opportunities to complete their professional training.
To remedy this condition of affairs, Dr. Joseph Nash
McDowell and some other physicians founded the
Missouri Medical College at St. Louis in 1840. Four or
five years later another western medical school was
opened at Charleston, Illinois. This school was soon
afterward removed to Laporte, Indiana, thence to Rock
Island, Illinois, and in 1849 to Davenport, Iowa,
where the first class was graduated in the spring of
1850. The school was then removed to Keokuk, under the
charter secured by the passage of Doctor Sanford's
bill, and there opened in the fall of 1850 under the
name of the "College of Physicians and Surgeons."
Doctor Sanford was made dean of the faculty and
professor of surgery — a well-deserved recognition.
The other members of the first faculty were: Dr. L. D.
McGugin, president and professor of obstetrics and
diseases of women and children; Dr. Samuel G. Armor,
professor of physiology and pathology; Dr. Nicholas
Hurd, professor of anatomy; Dr. George W. Richards,
professor of theory and practice of medicine; Dr. A.
S. Hudson, professor of materia medica and
therapeutics; Dr. S. Mathews, professor of chemistry;
Dr. Joseph C. Hughes, demonstrator of anatomy.
Doctor Sanford was a man of strong personality, great
executive ability, an excellent teacher and a
skillfull surgeon. Shortly after locating in
Farmington, in 1841, he performed the first amputation
at the shoulder joint ever performed in Iowa, and this
he did before he was twenty years of age. He was
devoted to his profession and was one of the founders
of the Western Medico-Chirurgical Journal.
The college was made the medical department of the
state university, by which diplomas were issued until
1870, when the institution adopted its original name —
College of Physicians and Surgeons. Dr. J. C. Hughes,
Sr., died in the summer of 1882, and there were
several changes in the faculty — Doctors Carpenter and
Cleaver withdrawing. The following year other changes
were made, and in 1884 the faculty rented the building
where the Masonic Temple now stands from the Hughes
estate for a period of five years, and continued the
school as the College of Physicians and Surgeons. At
the expiration of their lease all except one or two
organized the Keokuk Medical College and bought the
building on Sixth Street now occupied by the Daily
Gate City. Dr. J. C. Hughes, Jr., organized a new
faculty and continued the College of Physicians and
Surgeons, but it was a different school from the old
corporation. In 1899 the two schools were
consolidated, diplomas after that date being issued by
the Keokuk Medical College, College of Physicians and
Surgeons. In the spring of 1908 the school was merged
with Drake University of Des Moines, Iowa.
In 1853 Dr. Joseph C. Hughes succeeded Doctor Sanford
as professor of surgery. He was born in Washington
County, Pennsylvania, April 1, 1821; received his
classical education at Jefferson College, Cannonsburg,
Pennsylvania; studied medicine under Dr. J. F.
Perkins, of Baltimore, Maryland, and graduated in
medicine at the University of Maryland in 1845. Soon
after receiving his degree he began practice at Mount
Vernon, Iowa, devoting much of his time to the
practice of surgery, and when the medical college was
established at Keokuk he accepted the position of
demonstrator of anatomy. At the beginning of the Civil
war, in 1 86 1 , Governor Kirkwood appointed him
surgeon-general of the state, in which capacity he
organized and had charge of the army hospitals at
Keokuk, where at one time over two thousand sick and
disabled soldiers were under treatment. In 1866 Doctor
Hughes was elected one of the vice presidents of the
American Medical Association and one of the delegates
to the British Association for the Promotion of
Science. He was also a member of several other medical
societies and in 1876 was a delegate to the Medical
Congress at Philadelphia. In connection with the
college at Keokuk he operated a medical and surgical
infirmary and eye and ear institute. He died in 1882.
His son, Dr. Joseph C, Jr., was elected professor of
anatomy in the Keokuk College of Physicians and
Surgeons in 1876.
Dr. George F. Jenkins, who practiced medicine for many
years in the City of Keokuk, was born in Clark County,
Missouri, in 1842; graduated at the Missouri Medical
College in 1867, after having at- tended the Leland
Medical College of San Francisco, California; located
at Keokuk a short time after receiving his degree, and
at the time of his death, in the summer of 1914, was
one of the best known and most universally respected
physicians in Southeastern Iowa. In an article written
by Doctor Jenkins and published in the Iowa Medical
Journal for May 15, 1909, he says of the Keokuk
Medical College: "It is my opinion that the great
success of this school for its entire career, is due
very largely to the fact that Keokuk has always had an
able, painstaking, student-loving faculty. The Keokuk
Medical College has always had a splendid reputation
and of its 3,500 or more graduates, many of them have
attained high positions in the profession;
practitioners from this school have always creditably
maintained themselves in competition with graduates of
the best colleges in the country. The Keokuk Medical
College has always been proud of her alumni, and in
our merging with Drake University, we have passed over
to that school a heritage of which any institution in
the land might well be proud."
Another physician who came to Lee County in 1850, but
who was not connected with the medical college, was
Dr. J. G. Mallett. He was born at Stratford,
Connecticut, in 1875, the son of a Revolutionary
soldier who was with Gen. Anthony Wayne at the capture
of Stony Point. He studied medicine in the East and in
1837 came to Iowa, first locating at Brighton,
Washington County. In 1850 he removed to Van Buren
Township, Lee County, and settled on a farm near
Hinsdale, where he continued to practice for a number
of years. He lived to be nearly one hundred years old,
with mental faculties unimpaired to the last.
Dr. James H. Bacon, a native of Washington County,
Tennessee, was born on July 19, 1816. He was educated
and studied medicine in his native state and began
practice in Nashville. In 1840 he located at Macomb,
Illinois, where he remained until 1851, when he
removed to Fort Madison, Iowa. After practicing there
for seven or eight years he engaged in the banking
business, with Judge John- stone, of Keokuk, as a
partner. About 1871 failing health forced him to
retire from active business and he then bought a farm
in Green Bay Township. His landed interests here,
known as "Bay- view," contain 1,200 acres and the
improvements cost him about twenty-five thousand
dollars, making one of the most attractive places in
Southeastern Iowa. Here he passed the closing years of
his life.
Dr. Augustus W. HofTmeister was born on June 14, 1827,
at Altman, in the Hartz Mountains of Hanover, Germany;
at the age of nineteen he graduated from the college
at Clausthal as the honor man of that class. He then
came to America, locating first in St. Louis,
afterward going to California, and in 1854 ^ e located
at Fort Madison, having graduated in medicine at St.
Louis in the early part of that year. During the Civil
war he served as surgeon of the Eighth Iowa Infantry,
and in 1866 was appointed surgeon at the Fort Madison
penitentiary. Doctor HofTmeister was an able and
successful physician. He died about 1900.
Dr. A. M. Carpenter, who has been mentioned above in
connection with the medical college, was born in
Lincoln County, Kentucky, December 12, 1835 ; he was
educated at Centre College and graduated in medicine
at the University of Louisville in 1854. The next year
he located in Keokuk, where he soon became recognized
as one of the leading physicians. In 1865 he was
elected to the chair of Theory and Practice of
Medicine in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, a
position he held for nearly twenty years. In 1876 he
was one of a committee of physicians to organize the
state board of health and was elected the first
president of that board. He was a frequent contributor
to the medical literature of the country, and a man
who is remembered by older people of Keokuk as an
energetic, public-spirited citizen.
Another Keokuk physician of early days was Dr. Milton
F. Collins, who came from Indiana at an early day. At
the time of the Civil war he was made
lieutenant-colonel of the Sixtieth United States
Colored Infantry, the greater part of which regiment
he recruited himself. He had two sons in the army — W.
B. Collins, major of the Seventh Missouri, and Joseph
A. M., a sergeant in the Second Iowa. The latter was
in the signal service at the siege of Fort McAllister,
near Savannah, Georgia, and in 19 14 was one of the
councilmen of the City of Keokuk. Dr. Milton F.
Collins was the first president of the Keokuk Medical
Society, and is remembered as a popular and successful
physician.
Dr. Abel C. Roberts, who was journalist as well as
physician, was born in Warren County, New York,
January 15, 1830. In his boy- hood days he attended
the common schools and after his parents re- moved to
Lenawee County, Michigan, he attended the high school
at Adrian for one term. In 1850-51 he studied medicine
in the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. His
financial condition was such that he was unable to
complete the course, and in 1852 he went to
California, where he spent over a year. Returning to
Ann Arbor, he re-entered the university and graduated
in 1854. In 1859 he came to Fort Madison and engaged
in practice. In 1862 he was appointed surgeon in the
government hospital at Keokuk, and in March, 1863, he
was commissioned surgeon of the Twenty-first Missouri
Infantry, with which regiment he served until mustered
out in April, 1866. He then resumed practice at Fort
Madison; was elected county treasurer in 1869, mayor
of Fort Madison in 1873, and was appointed a member of
the board of pension examiners. In 1874 he became
associated with the ownership and publication of the
Fort Madison Democrat, with which he remained
connected practically all the remainder of his life.
As a surgeon, Doctor Roberts was ofen called to
considerable distances to perform operations. He was a
prominent Mason and a member of a number of medical
societies and associations.
Dr. J. J. M. Angear, a native of England, came to this
country in 1843, when fourteen years of age. His
parents settled in Racine County, Wisconsin, where he
was educated, and in i860 he graduated at Rush Medical
College, Chicago. At the close of the war he located
in Fort Madison and in 1871 became professor of
physiology and pathology in the College of Physicians
and Surgeons at Keokuk. Doctor Angear was a member of
various medical associations and was a delegate from
the American Medical Association to the convention
which met at Bath, England, in 1878. After that
convention he spent some time in the hospitals of
London and Paris. He contributed a number of articles
to medical journals and was frequently called upon to
testify in courts as a scientific expert.
Dr. Hiram T. Cleaver, at one time a member of the
faculty of the College of Physicians and Surgeons at
Keokuk, was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania,
February 17, 1822. He began the study of medicine with
a Doctor Greene at New Lisbon, Ohio, and in the summer
of 1848 removed to Wapello, Iowa. From 1854 to 1858 he
represented his district in the State Senate, and in
1862 graduated at the College of Physicians and
Surgeons, Keokuk. He was then connected with the
faculty of that institution for about twenty years.
Doctor Cleaver was a member of various medical
associations and took an active part in municipal
affairs. He served as city treasurer of Keokuk, and
was otherwise identified with movements for the
general uplift of that city.
Among the pioneer doctors of Lee County, whose names
are about all that can be remembered, were Haines,
Randall and T. H. Sullivan. They were typical country
doctors, respected citizens, and it is a matter of
regret that more cannot be told of their careers. The
Wymans, Drs. R. H. and F. W., who were for many years
connected with the practice of medicine and drug
business in Keokuk, were among the leading physicians
of that city in their day.
Source: History
of
Lee County, Iowa, by Dr. S. W. Moorhead and
Nelson C. Roberts, 1914
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