History of Medicine in Iowa

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

A. Ady
pg 152, mention
From West Liberty, was the 1st president of the Muscatine co. Medical Society, organized June 1866.

J.M. Aiken
pg 282, mention
Selected by P.W. Lewellen as assistant physician of the new Clarinda Hospital for the Insane in 1884

Dr. Allen
pg 137, mention
At the next meeting of the Keokuk Medical Society on July 27, 1858, at the office of Drs. Allen & Stotts.

B.F. Allen
pg 165, mention
Member of the newly organized Story co. Medical Society, July 1873; was not a graduate physician with a diploma

D.D. Allen
pg 164, mention
Member of the newly organized Madison co. Medical Society, 1873

W.I. Allen
pg 182, mention
Of Davenport, was on the editorial staff of the Iowa State Medical Reporter, 1884
(note - the book doesn't specifically say he was a physician)

L.J. Allerman
pg 156, mention
Of Boone, was president of the re-organized Boone co. Medical Society, April 1871

W.H. Anderson
pg 164, mention
Member of the newly organized Madison co. Medical Society, 1873

L.W. Andrews
(L.A. Andrews *)
pgs 254 & 321, mention
Member of the 1st State Board of Health, 1880; Served as a temporary secretary at the first meeting of the Board, May 5, 1880; was succeeded as secretary on May 25, 1881 by Dr. J.F. Farquharson

Frederick Andros
pgs 11,12-14, full text; pg 156, mention
Dr. Frederick Andros came to Dubuque in 1833, probably the first physician to locate in Iowa. At that time Iowa was a part of Michigan territory, and included Wisconsin, Iowa, a part of Minnesota and the Dakotas. (pg 11)

In 1836, when Dr. Andros had enjoyed practically the entire practice of medicine in Iowa for three years the population was 10,531.
Dr. Frederick Andros was a native of Massachusetts, a graduate from the literary department of Brown University, 1822 and from the medical department in 1826, came to Dubuque in 1833. In 1837 he removed to Clayton county and engaged in farming. In 1845 he resumed practice having received the appointment of surgeon at Fort Atkinson and the Winnebago agency where he remained until the Indians were removed to Long Prairie, Minnesota in 1848. Dr. Andros went with the Indians and remained with them until 1854 when he returned to Garnavillo, Clayton county and resumed practice. In 1861 he removed to McGregor. Dr. Henry H. Clark of McGregor in an address before the Iowa State Medical Society relates some personally reminiscences of this interesting man who had the courage to be the first to offer his professional services to the settlers of Iowa even before it became the Iowa territory. Dr. Clark came to McGregor in 1870 as a young graduate from the Chicago Medical College (Northwestern University) and soon became a close personal friend of Dr. Andros. We cannot do better than to present Dr. Clark's tribute to Dr. Andros in his own words.

"A few days after my arrival (McGregor) I called on the Doctor (Andros) then nearly seventy years old, and presented my credentials. He gave me the 'glad hand' and we became firm friends.
"Some months before, he had met with an accident which had seriously impaired the strength and usefullness of his right hand. My association with him was therefore fortunate, for, while he was the surgeon and received the credit if any were due and emoluments, if any such were forthcoming, I did the work and gained the experience.
"Our association continued in this manner for about ten years, when the Doctor decided Iowa was getting too civilized and tame, and went West to grow up with the country. He was then eighty years old. After practicing in Dakota for ten years, he changed his residence to Minneapolis, where he died at the age of ninety-one years.
"Dr. Andros was far superior in intelligence and ability to the average physician of his day, but he was a typical frontiersman and something of a character. I remember a country drive I took a short time after I came to McGregor. He drove a good horse but he interfered so badly that either his right or his left hind leg seemed to be in the air all the time. As we were jolting over a rough road back in the Mississippi hills, the Doctor suddenly stopped his horse and remarked, 'There's the damndest nicest spring over there you ever saw'. We got out and walked over to where a fine stream of water gushed from the rocks and formed a pool about three feet in diameter and eighteen inches deep. The Doctor took off his high silk hat which he always wore and in which he carried his letters, red bandanna, cigars, stethoscope and always either a clean or dirty collar, pulled off his coat, rolled his sleeve to his elbow and thrust his hand to the bottom of the spring. After lifting aside a few stones he pulled out a flask of whiskey. He uncorked it, took a generous drink and then returned the bottle to the bottom of the spring for future use."

(pg 12-13)

When the North Iowa Medical Society was organized on June 22, 1859, Dr. Andros was elected president. (pg 156)

Dr. Angear
pg 258, mention
Was involved with Drs Field and Hughes, in discussing a paper read by Dr. Hazen at a meeting of the Iowa State Medical Society in Marshalltown, 1873.

O.W. Archibald
pg 329-330, mention
Of Glenwood. Assistant physician at the Mount Pleasant Hospital for the Insane until selected superintendent of the Glenwood Institution for Feeble-Minded Children in 1876. He served until early 1882, when he resigned the position. His wife, Mrs. S.A. Archibald, was matron during his time at the hospital.

Samuel G. Armor
pgs 67, 73 & 136, mention
Professor Armor was a professor of 'physiology' at the "Medical College of the Upper Mississippi" in Davenport, 1849. He later became professor of therapeutics in the Medical Department of the University of Michigan and still later professor of the practice of medicine in the Long Island Medical College in Brooklyn, N.Y. He was a graceful and eloquent lecturer. The writer well remembers the crowding of the lecture room with law and liberal arts students, University of Michigan, when Dr. Armor delivered his lectures on opium. The lectures were regarded as models of eloquence. Notice is given in the April number of the Journal [Western Medico-Chirurgical Journal, 1851] that Dr. Samuel G. Armor, professor of physiology and pathology in the Iowa University since the first organization of its medical department had been elected to the position of professor of natural sciences in the University of Cleveland. Dr. Armor was among the Keokuk physicians who signed the constitution of the newly organized medical society in Lee Co. on October 3, 1850. He read the first paper before this newly formed Society -- on the subject of "The Therapeutical Effects of Blood Letting" and was one of the first delegates elected to the State Medical Society.

Edward A. Arnold
pg 75, mention
He is listed as a member of the 1854 faculty of College of Physicians of the University of Iowa in Keokuk, Professor of anatomy.

*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.