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CHAPTER VII.
PHYSICIANS OF WARREN.
Sickness did not prevail in the Mahoning valley during the period of first settlement to the same extent as in many other parts of the State. A change of climate, and from the conditions of a long settled and long cultivated country to a wet and shaded forest, induced more or less ague and fever. In the neighborhood of Warren there was very little bilious sickness. Doctors were nevertheless needed, particularly in cases requiring surgical operations. We are unable to state positively who was the first physician located at Warren, but Dr. John W. Seeley in all probability was. He located in Howland township, on a farm, in 1801, having previously been settled at Jefferson, Green county, Pennsylvania. He removed his family to Howland in 1802. It is proper that we should speak of Dr. Seeley as a Warren physician, for his practice embraced Warren and a surrounding territory of at least ten miles. He was a man of congenial habits and affable manners. His professional attainments were respected and praised. In the spring of 1812, when the Government had lost all hope of a peaceful settlement of difficulties with England, and a call was made for troops to increase the army, Dr. Seeley was one of the most active in this part of Ohio to encourage volunteering. When the Trumbull company roll was finally full he was complimented by an election to the captaincy, and was mustered into the army before war was formally declares. We know very little of the details of Dr. Seeley's army life, further than , that he attained to the rank of general. After the war General Seeley resumed his profession. He continued in active practice until the time of his death. , The Ohio and Pennsylvania canal project received from Him enthusiastic and valuable support. He labored from the beginning soliciting stock, and afterwards, as one of the board of directors, gave personal attention to its construction. His death occurred on the day of triumph. A delegation of Mahoning valley and Pennsylvania capitalists and citizens celebrated the completion in March, 1841, of this link between the Ohio and Pennsylvania canals, by an excursion to Akron. It was a gala day, and General Seeley was a leading spirit in the party, until seized by apoplexy. His death soon followed. The same boat brought back his lifeless body.
Dr. Enoch Leavitt came to Warren township with his father, Enoch Leavitt, Sr., about 1805. He was at the time a young man, but whether a practitioner or merely a student we are not informed. It was not many years after that date, however, when he was answering professional calls and making a reputation as a physician. He was what has has beer called an "old line" doctor—a dispenser of roots, herbs, and calomel, but that was the common practice of the period. Time has added to all sorts of scientific knowledge, medicine not excepted. We learn from his gravestone at Leavittsburg, that he was born May 12, 1775, and died August 7, 1827.
The next physician in practice, and latterly a contemporary of Doctors Seeley and Leavitt was, John B. Harmon, whose office was in the village' of Warren. A full biographical sketch will be found in this volume.
Sylvanus Seeley was born in Jefferson, Green county, Pennsylvania, January 5, 1795. He read medicine under his father in Howland township, this county, and in 1812, though only seventeen years old, entered the service as surgeon's mate to Dr. John D. Harmon, the friend and contemporary of his father. He was present at the attack on Fort Mackinac, and rendered Dr. Harmon efficient assistance. In the year 1814 he married a daughter of Colonel George Jackson, of Virginia, which circumstance induced him to locate in that State. After a few years he returned to Warren, and until his death stood
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High as a physician, his reputation going beyond the limits of Trumbull county. He died April 2, 1840. He has two surviving children, viz : Mrs. Cyrus VanGorder, of Warren, and George J. Seeley, of Cleveland.
Dr. Farrell was a physician of considerable prominence between 1840 and 1861. He was a man of very respectable culture, and possessed the confidence of a large circle of friends who regretted his departure.
Other physicians of some prominence were : Dr. Ebon Blattsley, who practiced in Warren about ten years; Dr. Kuhn was here a short period ; Dr. D. W. Jameson practiced about three years, until his health failed ; Dr. Nichols, a man of some promise, died of consumption; Dr. William Paine practiced some, but gave his attention chiefly to the drug trade, and came to Warren in 1845.
The oldest practitioner in Warren, the oldest, with one exception, in Trumbull county. His reputation needs no defence and his merits no praise. John Woods, father of the doctor, a Pennsylvanian of German descent, settled in Youngstown township in 1816. Of his five children four are living—Daniel B., John R., Sarah A. (Lanterman), and Clark. E. Winchester died near Youngstown in August, 1878. John Woods died on his farm near Youngstown, March 22, 1863. Daniel B. Woods, the oldest son, was born in Youngstown township, November 11, 1816. At the age of sixteen he entered Allegheny college, receiving the full course of instruction, except the last term. In 1836 Mr. Woods began reading medicine under Dr. John A. Packard, of Austintown. The degree of M. D. was conferred in 184o by the Ohio Medical college, Cincinnati, where he had attended a regular course of lectures. In April of the same year the young physician opened an office in Warren. Since that time his energies and talent have been closely devoted to the profession. Dr. Woods has not been content to follow in the prescribed ruts, as is the case with too many medical men of talent. It is well that there are ruts for some practitioners, for their judgment would be dangerous. Those, however, who are competent to rely upon themselves generally profit by doing so. Dr. Woods was one of the first doctors in the West to use ether in surgical operations. He used chloroform before it was manufactured for commerce or sold anywhere in the country. This was about ten years after its discovery by Leibig in Germany. From the formula by Professor Simpson, of Edinburgh, Dr. Woods, assisted by Daniel Jagger, a druggist in Warren, the first chloroform used, at least in Northern Ohio, was made and administered to a patient in October, 1846. The experiment was repeated in the spring following. A few years later this valuable anaesthetic came into general use in this country. Dr. Woods' reputation as a surgeon is not confined to this State. He is practical and careful. The doctor has given some attention to politics, but is not, nor has he ever been ambitious for political preferment. He has three times been the Democratic candidate for Congress, the first time against Joshua R. Giddings, and the last time against James A. Garfield, in 1876. The latter, that year, carried the county by only two- hundred and fifty majority. Dr. Woods married, in 1842, Phebe L. Holliday, of Warren. Their family consists of five children living, William E., Dallas M., Daniel B., Emma B., and Sarah E. Julia E. (Smith), the youngest daughter is dead. Dallas M. is a practicing physician in Warren. William E. resides in Youngstown.
An extended sketch of Dr. Julian Harmon will be found elsewhere in this volume.
Warren Iddings, son of Richard Iddings, a Warren pioneer, was born March 4, 18r7. In 1839 he began the study of medicine in the office of Dr. Tracy Bronson, at Newton, Ohio. The second and third years of his course were pursued in the office of Coon & Seeley, at Warren. He attended lectures at the Ohio Medical college, Cincinnati, and graduated from that institution in 1844. Dr. Iddings at once began the practice of medicine in Warren, and continued until failing health required his retirement a few years later. He engaged in general business until 1862, then removed to Mercer county, Pennsylvania, to resume his profession. For a period of sixteen years he had an extensive practice. Dr. Iddings returned to Warren in 1878, since which time he has been devoting himself especially to the treatment of the eye and ear. He married, in 1848, Laura, daughter of Hon. Thomas D. Webb, of Warren.
Dr. John Loy, son of John and Anna Loy, was born in Pennsylvania, in 1812. His parents
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were of German descent. They removed, with the family, to Ohio, and settled in Liberty township. He worked on a farm and attended common school until he entered upon the study of medicine in the office of Dr. Dellenbaugh, in Georgetown, New York. He removed to Buffalo, and was there during the cholera scourge in 1832, in active practice. His health was broken down by overwork, requiring his return home. After recuperating he opened an office in Liberty township, and removed to Warren in 1845. In the meantime he had attended a course of lectures at Cleveland Medical college, and subsequently a course at the Eclectic Medical institute at Cincinnati, from which a degree was received in 185o. Between 1848 and 1869 Dr. Loy was in partnership with Dr. Nelson in the practice, but suffered more or less from ill health. He was married in 1839 to Mary B. Oswald, daughter of Jonathan Oswald, of Liberty township. Since the doctor's death she has continued to reside in Warren.
John R. Woods, son of John Woods, was born in Youngstown, in 1825. His early life was spent on the farm and in the common schools. He 1eceived his preliminary education at Allegheny college, Pennsylvania, and read medicine in Warren in the office of his brother, Daniel B. Woods. Mr. Woods attended lectures, and graduated at the Cleveland Medical college in 185o, since which time he has been practicing in Warren, except for a period of about two years spent in California. He was in partnership with his brother, Daniel B., for a score of years. Dr. Woods married Julia H. Heaton, a daughter of James Heaton, of Weathersfield.
Dr. J. R. Nelson has been practicing in Warren since 1847. His father, Abram Nelson, was one of the early settlers of Liberty township, where the Doctor was born in 1813. The family is of Irish descent. He studied medicine under Dr. Loy, in Liberty, and attended lectures in Cleveland. He began practicing in Garrettsville in 1844, and in 1847 came to Warren, where he has since been located.
J. R. VanGorder, a son of J. L. VanGorder, an early settler of Warren, was born, in 1825. He received his education at the old academy in Warren, and then read medicine in the office of Dr. Sylvanus Seeley. After the death of the latter he completed his studies under direction of Dr. Farrell. He attended lectures at the University of Pennsylvania Medical college and received a degree from that institution in 1849. Dr. VanGorder has been in continuous practice in Warren since 1852. He has a family.
Frederick Bierce was born in Litchfield county, Connecticut, in 1822. In 1825 the family removed to Portage county, Ohio. He worked on a farm and taught school until a course of medical studies was entered upon at Nelson in Portage county. He began practicing in Ashtabula county in 1852, and was actively employed there until 1861. Since that date he has been in Warren. Dr. Bierce is a member of the Northeastern Ohio Homeopathic society.
Dr. Myers would be an interesting subject for a detailed biography, but the character of our work and the limits of our space requires brevity. He was born in Bavaria, Germany, in 1823. From the public schools in his twelfth year he was placed in a gymnasium at Padua, Italy, where a six years' course was pursued. A course of philosophical study covering two years, followed at Vienna. The time of medical preparation occupied five years—two years in Bardua, two years in Vienna, and one year in hospital service. At the completion of his long course of preparation, covering thirteen years from the time he left the common school, Dr. Myers received a diploma which gave him the privileges of a full practitioner. He opened an office in Vienna in the fall of 1847, but became involved in the revolution which occurred during the following winter. That year is characterized in history as the revolutionary epoch. The insurgents were mostly educated young men, unwilling longer to bear the yoke of despotism, but the time was not ripe, and the revolution proved a failure, and the participants had to flee for their lives. Dr. Myers, in company with five young friends, left Vienna in disguise and under assumed names. They traveled incognito through Germany to France, and then took ship for America, having safely evaded danger of arrest. Dr. Myers was informed at New York of the prevalence of cholera in Cincinnati, and at once started for that city. After practicing two years in Cincinnati he removed to New Castle, Pennsylvania, and from there to Alliance in 1856, thence to Cuba, Missouri. At the opening of the war he volunteered, and was made surgeon
PICTURE OF GENERAL JOHN CROWELL
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of a German battalion under General Sigel, stationed at Cuba. After the battle of Wilson's Creek he was mustered out of the service and came to Warren in the fall of that year. He has since been in active practice here. Dr. Myers married, in Cincinnati, Mary Rapbould, who died in 1858, leaving two sons. For his second wife he married Malissa Post, of Johnston township, who has borne him one child.
Dr. L. Spear was born in Austintown in 1828. His father, Dr. Alexander Spear, settled there in 1820. Mr. Spear read medicine under Dr. B. W. Spear, in Salem, Ohio, and graduated from the Cincinnati Eclectic , Medical college in 1855. He began practice in 1855, and came to Warren in 1861. He accompanied the One Hundred and Seventy-first Ohio volunteer infantry as surgeon to Camp Sandusky, but did not go to the field.
Cyrus Metcalf is of English descent. His father, John Metcalf, was a native of Massachusetts, from which State he removed to Medina county, New York, where the doctor was born July 7, 1822. In 1836 his family removed to Licking county, Ohio. After spending several years in attendance at Granville academy and teaching school, he began the study of medicine at Newark, Ohio, and subsequently attended lectures at Geneva Medical college, New. York, receiving a degree in 1846. He opened an office at Bristolville that year, and soon had a satisfactory practice. In 1866 he removed to Warren and is now in full practice.
Dr. H. A. Sherwood is one of the younger physicians of the homeopathic school of practice. He was born in Knox county, Ohio, in 1851. His preliminary education was received at the public schools in Frederickstown, Knox county. He commenced the study of medicine in September, 1873, and the same year entered the Homeopathic Hospital college of Cleveland, on a three years course, which was completed, and the degree conferred in 1876. While in college he was house physician at the Huron Street hospital, and physician to the college dispensary. Soon after graduating Dr. Sherwood. opened an office at Warren. In 1880 he was appointed city physician and member of the board of health. He is a member of the Homeopathic Medical society of Eastern Ohio, and has served as president of that organization.
Dr. C. S. Ward is a son of Columbus Ward, and was born in Ashtabula county, in 1854. His family removed to Warren in 1865, at which time he entered the Warren public schools, and graduated in 1871. He commenced the study of medicine with Dr. H. McQuiston, completing the course in the office of D. B. and J. R. Woods. Mr. Ward attended lectures at the University of Michigan Medical college, from which institution he received a degree in 1874. In 1875, he received an ad eundum degree from Bellevue Hospital Medical college, New York city. He served one year as surgeon in the Ninety-ninth Street Reception hospital. Since 1876 Dr. Ward has been practicing with Dr. D. B. Woods, in Warren.