Chapter Eighteen

PIONEER DOCTORS.

Minor ailments were taken care of by the early settlers themselves. Mothers understood the medicinal properties of the native plants, barks and herbs. The Indians were very conversant with the simple remedies of the country and their advice was always freely given when sought for.

It is generally conceded that the Indians did not suffer from many diseases that came with civilization. They were doubtless better acclimated, but there were conditions produced by the cultivation of the soil whi~h developed particular kinds of fevers. There were a number of things which contributed to make the new country appear unhealthy, Impure water, coarse and scanty food and the multiplied privations of the wilderness were extremely trying on the first settlers.

The prevailing diseases were intermittent fevers, fever and ague, or the "chills," which refused to yield to anything but the use of quinine, then a common remedy in its crude form.

Cuts and wounds were treated With poultices, the only antiseptic being hot or cold water, and it is interesting to learn that there were very few cases of blood poisoning. There were no laws governing the practice of medicine and self-made doctors sprung up who carried saddle-bags filled with bitter herbs and roots

Dr. Seth Hobbs was one of the first physicians who practiced in the Narrows and vicinity. Dr. E. A. Boyer, out on the Des Moines river, was a man of culture and a highly esteemed physician. Being one of the first settlers in the county, he became widely known and for fifteen years had an extensive practice. A gentleman, then a young man, who was a neighbor of Dr. Boyer, stated to us that he had frequently accompanied the Doctor on his perilous trips in the early days, when they often had to swim their horses across swollen streams and make long journeys. The pay never entered into the trip.

Once, after a long ride through snow and storm almost to Albia, where the Doctor had been called in great haste, when they arrived almost frozen, the Doctor preceded him into the house and immediately returned, telling him not to come in, as it was a contagious disease. He then laid off all his outer wrappings, went inside in his shirt sleeves and prescribed temporarily for the patient, and again took to the saddle for the long ride home, telling his patient to secure another physician, as it would not be possible for him to treat the case. Dr. Boyer's practice reached from Bonaparte on the south to Red Rock and occasionally to Des Moines on the north.

Dr. C G. Owen came to Oskaloosa in 1845 and was a practicing physician in this county for forty years. Mrs. H. B. Owen, who came in 1852; relates some of his frontier experiences. We give one that will illustrate a phase of life among one class of early settlers. The Doctor was called some twelve miles into the country. It had been raining some through the day, and in the evening, when the message caine for him, it had turned into sleet. He was riding a strong, sensible black horse which he had named "Nig." He was so sure footed and obedient that the Doctor always felt safe on his back. When he had gone about ten miles he came to a narrow, swollen stream. It could not be forded as there was thick shore ice on either side. The only possible way he could continue his journey was to select the narrowest place in the angry stream and leap across it. There was only a possibillity of success, as the water was deep. Pioneer physicians were not accustomed to thinking much about their own safety and the good doctor informed "Nig" that he would have to make the leap. To this the pioneer Black Beauty tacitly consented to do his best, which he did in the darkness, and proudly carried his master over the danger. Reaching his suffering patient, he found the cabin in utter darkness; nothing in the room to make a light; no comfort of any kind. They expected the presence of the doctor to bring health and cheer to the home. Dr. Owen tied a button in the center of a small piece of cloth, which, when he had twisted he dropped into a saucer of some sort of grease which was brougllt out. When the cloth had become saturated with the melted grease it furnished a fair lIght as the end of it hung over the edge of the, saucer. The Doctor was always a cheerful man and made the best of the circumstances and succeeded in giving the needed care to his patient, but never forgot the perilous ride and the cold reception of that stormy night.

Dr. Warren, father of Robert Warren, was an early settler in Black Oak township. Besides being a practicing physician, he made himself doubly useful to the settlers by looking aftelthe spiritual welfare of the community in which he labored. All of the old-time residents speak his name with reverence. J. M. Wharton says that shortly after his father's family had located in West Garfield township, Dr. Warren called at their cabin and his good mother came to the door and called the children in. When the Doctor had read a portion of scripture, he offered a short prayer. This was his custom Mr. Wharton said that the incident awakened a train of thought in his mind that has never left him. Coming to the county in 1843, he first stopped in Black Oak township in this county, but shortly afterward moved over into Marion county, three miles southeast of Pella, where he made a claim and remained until 1847, when he returned to this county and settled south of Peoria, where he resided until the time of his death, January. 18, 1870.

Dr. D. A. Hoffman is one of the men who has rendered most faithful and constant service to Mahaska county people. Coming to the county in 1861, he has given his life to answering calls night and day, wherever the services of a competent physician were needed. A gentleman related to the writer that on the night of December 31. 1862, when the the thermometer was 26 degrees below zero and as fearful a storm raging as ever passed over Iowa, Dr. Hoffman responded to a country call in a very critical case, and insisted on returning home the same night, when stock of all kinds was freezing to death by the hundreds. No doubt cases like this might be multiplied many times. Through cold and flood and heat Dr. Hoffman has lived almost a charmed life in his more than forty-four years of service in ministering to suffering humanity in this county. In the course of these long years of almost uninterrupted service as a physician, Dr. Hoffman has been a constant student of nature. He has collected perhaps the finest private museum in this part of Iowa.

Among the pioneer doctors in the northeast part of the county was a German lady by the name of Hoopes. Herself and husband constituted the family and their home was over on Middle creek in Adams township, near what was then known as Buckhorn Tavern. She was a thorough-going, energetic character, and had acquired some skill, as a nurse, to which she added a practical knowledge of herbs and simple borne remedies. These herbs she carried in a cloth sack or when prepared ready to be administered, the liquid was conveyed in a jug so as to have a ready supply if the case demanded it. She answered calls day and night as a midwife. Her practice was in the late '40s and early '50s. There were no roads leading anywhere in that early day. Mrs. Hoopes had a trusty young animal which seemed to partake of her own resolute spirit, which she rode, answering calls for eight or ten miles distant. She knew every Indian trail, cow path and ford in the entire neighborhood and always led the way when sent for, and the messenger needed to ply his spurs to keep along with her. Her charges were about one dollar per day, and her patients seemed to get along about as well as those of the regular profession, so the old settlers say. The good lady was well respected and esteemed by her neighbors. She used the gifts she possessed and served her generation well.

Dr. Carter, afterwards Capt. Carter, practiced at Indianapolis for some years in the '50s and early '60s. Dr. W. L. Crowder relates that while he was a young man studying medicine he witnessed an operation by Dr. Carter in which he amputated the shattered arm of a gentleman who had met with an accident, using only a butcherknife and a common saw. The operation was entirely successful.

Dr. E. N. Woodworth practiced twenty years in the north and northwest part of the county. First at Georgetown and then at Peoria. He moved from this county to southern Missouri.

Dr. Amasa Fisher came to this county in 1854, locating north of Indianapolis, where he practiced medicine for twenty years or more. We find the names of Doctors S. S. Cook, David Mills. Matthew Griswold, Samuel Evans and Cyrus Bond, who in the early years looked after the ills of the settlers in the vicinity of Fremont. Dr. Wm. Edmundson, son of the first sheriff of Mahaska county, practiced in Fremont during the war of the Rebellion, from which place he moved to Denver, where he built up a lucrative practice.

Dr. L. F. Ellsworth, of Mauch Chunk, came to Iowa in 1864 and for many years was a practicing physician in the northwest part of the county.

Dr. William Jarvis, of Rose Hill, began practicing in the east part of the county in 1847 and was a pioneer physician during most of the early years.

Dr. W. L. Crowder began practicing in 1864 at Springfield, just across the Keokuk county line. In 1876 he located at Rose Hill. In the course of his practice in those years he recalled the unusual fact of having eleven cases of fracture in a single week following a heavy fall of sleet. Dr. Crowder has made Oskaloosa his home since 1884, and still keeps his mind fresh by study and in the practice of his chosen profession. The first county medical association was organized in the year 1855. The names of the men who appear on the old records as having perfected this organization are as foilows: J. F. Smith, S. E. Rhinehart; F. W. Coolidge, G. Elkin, S. H. Evans, C. H. Harrison, C. B. McCabe, J. C. Macon, J. Y. Hopkins, Cyrus Bond and N. Henton. Many of the older citizens will recall the laborious life of at least a part of these men who in their day did a large practice and faithfully served their generation. The pioneers always speak with tender affection of the unselfish services of the men whose names appear in this article. An unselfish physician is a great factor in building up a community either new or old. He gets very near to the heart and life of the people, whom he serves and is an unconscious builder of character as well as physical health. There are doubtless names of other doctors of whom the author has no knowledge, who should be included in this list of pioneer physicians.