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BELMONT COUNTY, OHIO - 795 CHAPTER IX. BY COL. C. L. POORMAN. MEDICAL - EARLY PHYSICIANS OF BELMONT COUNTY - FIRST MEDICAL SOCIETY - CHOLERA EPIDEMIC - OTHER EPIDEMICS - MEDICAL ORGANIZATIONS - BELMONT COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY - MEDICO-CHIRURGICAL SOCIETY. VERY little tangible history in relation to the early physicians and the practice of medicine in Belmont county is extant. During the first twenty-five years after the organization of the county there, were but few physicians, and these were located at St. Clairsville, Morristown and Barnesville, and had the whole county for their field of operation, and frequently had calls into the adjoining counties. The first authentic record within the county was Dr. John Herron, at St. Clairsville, of whom it is of record that "he cut out the letter M ' branded in the hand of Peter Sunderland by order of the court of quarter sessions, for the murder of John Holtz." Dr. Hughes and Dr. Quigly succeeded Dr. Herron at St. Clairsville, the latter practicing until 1822, when he lost his eyesight and died blind. Alexander Gaston removed from Brooke county, Va., in 1800, and built a cabin near Morristown. He was a blacksmith, but studied medicine and commenced to practice in 1809. He removed to Morristown in 1811 and soon secured a large practice, extending as far south as Woodsfield, in Monroe county, and northwest to Freeport in Harrison county. He died in 1829. Dr. Carolus Judkins removed to Barnesville in 1809, and was the first practitioner in the southwest part of the county, his practice calling him into the adjoining counties. His son, Nicholas, born in 1815, studied medicine with his father and succeeded to his practice. These were the pioneers among physicians that did most of the medical practice in the early history of the county. They did not practice in thickly populated towns with paved streets and nice sidewalks, with neat spring buggies, or "dog carts," nor yet on bicycles, but were called in all kinds of weather to ride long distances on horseback through an uncleared country without roads and cross swollen streams without bridges, swimming their horses through turbulent currents at the risk of life to both horse and rider, carrying their "saddle bags," which contained their drugs and instruments for any possible case. It is true that there was not such an extensive and elaborate materia medica as now, and the practice was much simpler, but the labor and drudgery of the practitioner very much greater. 796 - HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY. The practice of medicine then was different in many respects from the practice now. The lancet was of first importance, and a basin to catch the blood drawn from the patient's arm, and bandages to tie up the wounded arm the first thing prepared. Then followed, frequently, a careful examinati0n of the bundles of roots and herbs that invariably hung in festoons from the rafters in every well regulated cabin in the country, and it is not clear even now, amid the claims of science, that the great improvements in medical practice has lengthened the average of human life, that the decoctions prepared from these were not quite as efficient in many cases as are the elegantly prepared prescriptions with great Latin names filled by the present graduated and licensed pharmacists. In 1828 the number of physicians in the county had materially increased, and we find the following persons were engaged in practice of medicine in the county: At St. Clairsville, Thomas Carroll, John McCracken, James Wishart; at Barnesville, Car0lus Judkins and Lewis Grategney; Flushing, Jesse Barley; Morristown, John W. Ayers and Ephraim Gaston; Uniontown, John Camp- bell; Somerton, William Scho0ley; elsewhere, Aaron Hartly and Nathan Johnson. From 1828 to 1834 there was a considerable increase in physicians, among the number John Alexander, of Flushing, and 1837, St. Clairsville; Henry West, of Bridgeport, afterward of St. Clairsville; S. B. West, of Martin's Ferry; Thomas Irwin, of Uniontown; Robert Hamilton, of Morristown; Dr. Andrews, of Bellaire; E. Barnes, of Bridgeport; John T. Mackall, Isaac Hoover, of Barnesville; Dr. Plumby, of Somerton, and Caleb H. Cope, of Farmington. Of all these there is but one living at this date, Dr. John Alexander, of St. Clairsville, to whom the writer is indebted for much of the information in this chapter. His life is phenomenal; born in Ireland in May, 1799, he is now ninety-one years of age. He has been in the continued practice of medicine since 1832, his practice extending over this and adjoining counties in Ohio and to Wheeling, W. Va,, has been nearly all done on the back of that noble animal, the horse, of which he has been a passionate lover, swimming swollen streams amid drift, scores of times endangering life, and with limbs broken seven different times in that period, he is still in the practice of medicine, with an intellect as bright and strong as forty years ago, and a head stored with information that he imparts with such ease as to make listening a pleasure. There is not his equal in the profession or in any profession within the writer's knowledge. About the year 1835, or a little later, the first attempt to organize a medical society was made in this county, and it was kept up with considerable interest for a number of years, but there seems to be no one who has the record, or who knows where it is. Dr. Evans, of Morristown, one of the first practitioners, was its secretary, and its meetings were held at St. Clairsville, and this organization had shipped to the county the first "subject" for dissecting table of which there is any information. The secretary in writing to the professor of Anatomy in the Baltimore Medical college, asked him to have the vascular sys- BELMONT COUNTY, OHIO - 797 tern injected so as to disclose the arteries and veins, and when the professor in answering assured the secretary that " the arteries and veins were usually found close together," the society feared that the secretary had not disclosed, in his letter, the highest order of anatomical information. The " cadaver" came, however, all right, and the first subject was dissected. During the epidemic of cholera, in 833, there was great excitement throughout the county, and great anxiety in advance among physicians to learn all they could about it, and for the purpose of investigation where it assumed epidemic form at Wheeling, Drs. Thomas Flanner, of Mt. Pleasant, Jefferson county, John Alexander and Thomas Carroll, of St. Clairsville, resolved to go there to investigate it. They discussed remedies to be used as preventives and differed. Dr. Carroll insisted that complete salivation was a good preventive, and took large doses of calomel until his system was thoroughly salivated and his mouth a great sore. Dr. Flanner had great faith in brandy and used it copiously. Dr. Alexander believed in the power of a good, healthy system to resist disease, and took nothing but good care of himself. Dr. Flanner took the cholera and died before he reached home. Dr. Alexander took it shortly after he reached home, and a panic in St. Clairsville closed the sc000ls, broke up court, then in session, and well nigh depopulated the place by the stampede. Dr. Carroll did not take it and took care of those who did, scoring a victory for his theory of salivation as a preventive. About 1835-6 scarletina maligna assumed an epidemic form in parts of the county, and many deaths occurred in St. Clairsville. Drs. Carroll and Alexander had large experience in this disease, and while both practiced bleeding in their treatment, many of the patients of Dr. Carroll died from gangreen or mortification in the lancet wound. Medical Organizations - The Belmont County Medical Society. - The second organization of the medical practitioners of Belmont county, took place February 30, 1847, at St. Clairsville. The first entry upon the journal of this society reads: " In pursuance of public notice to that effect there was a meeting of physicians of Belmont county at the National House, in the town of St. Clairsville, on the 30th ult., when on motion the meeting was organized by appointing Dr. Schooley, of Loydsville, chairman, and Dr. Holloway, secretary." The first motion after this temporary organization was to appoint a committee of three "to draw up a fee bill of rates and charges to govern all members." Drs. William Estep, C. Schooley and L. Schooley, committee. The next motion was for a committee "to draw up a code of ethics to govern the society." Drs. H. West, J. Alexander and James McConahey, committee. Then a motion . was made to raise a committee on constitution and by-laws, and Drs. A. Hewetson, T. I. Holloway and S. Walker were appointed the committee. The next day the committee reported a constitution, the preamble to which declares that "we, the undersigned, practitioners of physic and surgery, in the county of Belmont and vicinity, as well for 798 - HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY. the purpose of promoting harmony and good fellowship, as of elevating the cause of the medical science and its collateral branches, associate ourselver under the following constitution." The constitution has ten articles and is signed by the following names: Ephraim Gaston, Isaac Hoover, Beriah L. Steele, Z. T. Bethel, Lindley Schooley, John T. Mackall, John Campbell, Robert Hamilt0n, William Schooley, J. T. Murphy, Josephus Walker, Leander J. Dallas, P. R. Chapman, John G. Affleck, Theodore I. Holloway, John Alexander, John A. Weyer, Daniel L. Pratt, William Estep, Hiram G. Judkins, Thomas Irwin, Ephraim Williams, Clarkson Schooley, P. L. Ramage, William Milligan, P. H. Mulvaney, Henry West, Samuel Livingston, James D. Coleman, Caleb H. Cope, S. B. West, William N. Drake, David Tidball, James D. Wright, E. P. Birdsong, John Davis, Harrison Wilson, William W. Watters, James M. McConahey, I. T. Updegraff, George Lisle, Jesse Bailey, B. T. Cash, William Wilson, Thomas N. Flannerty, Joseph Hewetson, I. G. Stenlair, J. W. Warfield, Merwin K. Wright, W. T. Sinclair, William McMasters, Israel Weirich, Joseph Gaston, Wiloughby Doudna, Milton W. Jenkins. The first officers elected were: Ephraim Gaston, president; John Campbell, vice president; Henry West, secretary; Josephus Walker, treasurer; John Alexander, librarian; censors, Drs. Hewetson, Hearvy, Estep, Weyer and Tidball. In 1851 this society published an interesting volume containing the proceedings of the society from its origin, its constitution and by-laws, and many valuable essays, but only 260 copies were published, and it is almost impossible to find one now. The work was published by Dr. J. G. Affleck, of Bridgeport. The last election of officers by this society occurred at Belmont, April 16, 1867, and resulted in the election of Dr. Lindley Schooley, president: Dr. Ephraim Williams, vice president; Dr. Henry West, secretary; Dr. Ephraim Gaston, treasurer, and Drs. C. Judkins, I. T. Mackall and J. S. Bailey, censors. The last meeting of this association was held at Barnesville, January 20, 1859, at which " the nature, cause and treatment of typhoid fever" was the special subject of consideration, and after what was called " a very animated discussion," the chairman appointed Dr. J. Hoover to prepare an essay on " Inflammation," and Dr. E. Gaston one on "Typhoid Fever," and the society adjourned, " to meet in Belmont, on the third Thursday of April next," and there the record ends. It is generally supposed that the approval of the war and conditions connected with it was responsible for the suspension, but others attribute it to an attack made upon Dr. Henry West, for the recognition of a young practitioner, by a consultation with him,- and the excitement incident to the controversy. The Medico-Chirurgical Society of Eastern Ohio. - This organization, as its name implies, was not a Belmont county affair, but embraced the members of the medical profession from several counties, including Belmont, Jefferson, Harrison, Guernsey and Monroe. It was organized at Bellaire in 1870. Its constitution, by-laws and code of BELMONT COUNTY, OHIO - 799 ethics were very similar to those of the Belmont County Medical society, and copied after those of the National Medical association. Dr. A. H. Hewetson, of St. Clairsville, was elected its president, and Dr. John West, its secretary. Its meetings were held regularly for several years and attracted considerable attention because 0f its interesting essays and discussions, and was frequently attended by leading physicians of Wheeling and other places. Its official record could not be secured, and the facts given are from those who were members. Its last meeting was held in 1883. Dr. W. S. Fisher, of Bridgeport, who was treasurer of the organization, furnishes the following as the list of its members: Doctors A. H. Hewetson, M. W. Junkins, John Alexander, S. T. Satterthwait, C. E. Kurtz, John Cook, T. C. Hoover, A. Grafton, Samuel Levingston, N. R. Coleman, John A. Hobson, P. R. Chapman, L. J. Baker, J. M. Todd, W. S. Fisher, E. W. Inskip, J. A. Hawthorn, John E. West, I. G. McCullough, M. Sanders, A. McCullough, James A. Judkins, E. B. Yost, M. D. Hill, George Yost, H. Cape- hart, B. H. Mackall, .George Anderson, Van Wagner, Woodbridge, Addison, Schooley and Pierce. Belmont County Medical. Society. - December 5, 1885, in response to a call signed by Drs. A. H. Hewetson, T. C. Parks, and twenty other practicing physicians of Belmont county, a meeting was held at Morristown, at which Dr. A. J. Hogue presided, and Dr. J. A. Hobson acted as secretary. At this meeting a resolution was passed, adopting the constitution and by-laws of the extinct " Medical Cherurgical Society of Eastern Ohio," and the new society Was named the Belmont County Medical society, and the following officers elected: President, Dr. A. J. Hogue; vice president, Dr. William Estep; secretary, Dr. J. A. Hobson and treasurer, J. A. Judkins. The following is a list of members of this organization: John Alexander, A. H. Hewetson, C. C. Whitsitt, J. S. McClellan, W. R. Clarke, J. A. Hobson. G. A. Close, W. E. Hervey, J. W. Cooper, A. J. Heinlein, T. C. Parks, G. H. Colvitt, D. S. Walker, J. C. Workman, John Cooke, J. A. Clark, J. M. Blackford, J. D. Hobensack, B. A. Williams, Israel Weirich (deceased), V. Wagener, J. S. Boone, J. Park West, G. T. Anderson, W. S. Fisher, W. E. Thompson, C. E. Kurtz, W. B. Shuttleworth, J. A. Spence, William Estep, D. W. Long, J. V. Webster, A. H. Korner, G. S. Wellons, Joseph Piersol, S. T. Gregg, S. L. West, D. W. Boone. This organization has met regularly and maintained an active existence. At each session members previously designated, deliver addresses or write essays upon specified subjects, and discuss current questions of interest to the profession. The present officers are: President, Dr. J. A. Hobson, of Flushing; vice-president, J. S. McClellan, of Bellaire; treasurer, G. H. Colville; secretary, A. J. Heinlein, of Bridgeport. |