William Gutch, MD

William Gutch, M.D., is a prominent physician and surgeon of Albia, Iowa, and one of the oldest practitioners in the southern part of the State, having for almost half a century devoted his life to the relief of suffering humanity. He is now in his seventy-second year, but has the vigor of a man many years his junior, and is yet an able representative of the calling to which he has given his manhood efforts.

The Doctor was born in England, March 22, 1824, and his parents were James and Fannie (Taunton) Gutch. His father was a manufacturer of England, where he spent his entire life. Our subject spent his early boyhood in his native land, but when a young man crossed the Atlantic to Canada, and took up the study of medicine with Dr. Flint, of Ontario. Subsequently, in the winter of 1846-47, he pursued a course of lectures at the Medical College of Cleveland, Ohio, and in the latter year he came to Iowa, locating at Blakesburg, which is situated in the corner of Wapello county, almost at the point where this county joins Monroe, Appanoose and Davis counties. There he made his home for thirty-one years, engaging in practice in all those counties, his business extending over a wide range of territory. During the earlier portion of his stay there the surrounding country was sparsely settled, physicians were few, and he was frequently called long distances. The hardships of a physician's life on the frontier can hardly be overestimated. Through the storms of winter and the rains of summer he would frequently have to ride across almost trackless prairies, fording the unbridged streams; but no matter what the hardships he might have to meet, he never failed to respond to a call for aid from the sick and suffering. He did not hesitate to go even if he knew there would be little and perhaps no pecuniary compensation. A real interest in and sympathy for his fellow men has been one of the characteristics of his life, and he has won the gratitude and highest regard of many.

In 1854 the Doctor took a second course of lectures at the Cleveland Medical College. He then returned to Blakesburg, where he followed his profession and reared his family. His home was situated on a farm, the cultivation of which he left to his sons while he gave his attention to his extensive practice. In 1873 on account of failing health he took a trip to England and visited the different hospitals, being absent three months, hoping that the sea air and the rest might prove beneficial. Nor was he disappointed in this. He went to California in 1890, and again in 1891, and there spent about six weeks each time, but preferring his Iowa home he returned to this State, and resumed active practice in Albia. Although he has passed the allotted age of three-score years and ten, he yet follows the profession which has brought him to a high reputation and a handsome competence.

The Doctor was twice married. In 1853 he was joined in wedlock with Cornelia Tyrell, and they had nine children, seven sons and two daughters, of whom the following named reached years of maturity: Franklin and Harry, who are farmers; William who died in 1889; James and Alfred B., who also carry on agricultural pursuits; Ernest, who is now studying medicine; and George, a student in the high school. The mother of these children died in 1886, and in 1889 the Doctor wedded Miss Isabel Martin, by whom he has a bright little son, Edmund, now five months old (December, 1895). Dr. Gutch purchased fifteen acres of land within the corporate of Albia, in 1889, and erected upon it a large, substantial brick residence, one of the most pleasant homes in the city, to which he removed his family.

The Doctor has been a member of the American Medical Association since 1876; also a member of the Des Moines Valley Medical Society, of which he has served as president, and is a member of the State Medical Society. He has ever been found on the side of progress, has been a deep student of sciences, and is an enterprising and public-spirited citizen.