HALEY, HENRY A. – Biographies – History of Homeopathy

ALEY, HENRY A., M. D., of Urbana, Champaigne county, Ills., was born April 10th, 1830, in Blandford,
Hampden county, Mass., and was the only son of Tucker Haley, Esq., who settled in that place in the year 1820. In early life, Dr. Haley for a long time
had very poor health, and the allopathic course of treatment pursued in his case seemed as often to aggravate as to mitigate the disease from which he
suffered. Yet at a very early age, his father having allowed him to choose his own profession, he selected that of medicine, and while quite a youth,
he, by devoting all his leisure hours to its study, acquired a very considerable knowledge of anatomy, physiology, and disease. His academic course was
commenced at Blandford, continued at the Westfield University, and finally finished at Otis, Mass. Under the medical tuition of J. B. Gifford he
continued his preparatory studies for three years. Before entering upon his collegiate course, he became connected with the mercantile house of Haley
& Waters, at Otis, which engaged a large portion of his time for three years longer ; but the dominant thought and object of his life was the
study and practice of medicine, and his motto, similia similibus curantur. In fact his tastes and habits all indicated, and his subsequent success as a practitioner has proved, that he
was, as his tutor once remarked, a natural physician. On relinquishing mercantile pursuits, he entered the Hahnemann Medical College at Chicago, from
which he graduated with high merit, and soon after married Miss Annette G. Fern, of Otis, Mass.

     In 1862, Dr. Haley moved to Urbana, Champaigne county, Ills., but being at that time in very poor
health, he deemed it best for a time to engage rather in the healthful exercises of a farmer’s life, than in the irregular duties and continual
anxieties attending the practice of his profession ; for two years, therefore, he devoted his time to improving one of the largest and best farms
in the county, and soon proved himself as capable a farmer, as he has since shown himself to be a skilful physician.

     As a knowledge of his profession became disseminated, his services were sought for, though, as the
pioneer homœopath in that county, he had much ridicule to bear with, and much prejudice to overcome.

     His first case was a patient ten years of age, suffering from pneumonia in its second stage. There was
much cerebral disturbance, and very considerable hepatization of the right lung, indeed all the symptoms were unfavorable, and it was a most unpromising
“first case.” Confident, however, of the efficacy of his remedies, and reliant upon nature’s law of cure, notwithstanding the evident want of
confidence on the part of the parents, and the manifest contempt evinced by their friends for the “tasteless, worthless stuff” he dealt out so
charily, Dr. Haley prepared the medicines required, and though with some misgivings as to the results in that particular case, endeavored to inspire the
parents with some respect for his ability, and some confidence in the potency of his remedies. If he did not sleep unusually sound that night, he had at
least the consolation of reflecting that he was by no means the only young physician who had found himself somewhat restless on account of his first
critical case. On an early visit the next morning, however, he found all his hopes more than realized ; every symptom was improved, the parents
themselves were aware of the change, and were as much surprised as delighted.

     From that time forward, the doctor’s course was continuously from one triumph to another, and his
success seemed only equaled by the bitter enmity which arose in the minds of some of his opponents in practice ; he, however, “pursued the
even tenor of his way,” and his ever increasing popularity caused his enemies, first, to change their tactics, bitter opposition and ridicule being
alike unavailing ; they gradually, to some extent, adopted his method of treatment, eventually they courted his friendship and acquaintance, and
finally some of them even sought a business connection with him. The doctor, however, having thus far fought his own battles, won for himself an
enviable reputation, and paved the way to certain success, prefers to enjoy the credit and the profits of his labors, and himself to reap the harvest
his good deeds now bring him.

Source : Cleave’s Biographical Cyclopædia of Homœopathic Physicians and Surgeons By
Egbert Cleave