TALMAGE, JOHN FRELINGHUYSEN – Biographies – History of Homeopathy

ALMAGE, JOHN FRELINGHUYSEN, A. M., M. D., 155 Joralemon street, Brooklyn, N. Y., was born on a pleasant
hill-side, called Mont Verd, near Somerville, N. J., on March 11th, 1833, and was named after his mother’s brother-in-law, the late General John
Frelinghuysen.

     His father, Thomas Talmage, was one of twelve children of a gentleman of the same name, all of whom
reached maturity, served their generation in various spheres, and at last died in the fellowship of the Christian church.

     One of these was the Rev. Dr. Samuel K. Talmage, President of Oglethorpe University, Ga. Another was
the father of four sons who became ministers of the gospel, James, John, Goyn, and J. De Witt, of whom the second is a distinguished missionary in Amoy,
China, and the last the widely known and popular pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle.

     Dr. John F. Talmage was brought up on his father’s farm, enjoying the best of advantages in an
intelligent and happy home circle, and in the society in which his parents moved. His preparatory education was begun in the Academy in the village, and
completed under the personal tuition of his father’s pastor and friend, the Rev. T. W. Chambers, D. D., of New York, who at that time was settled in
Somerville.

     The pupil always regarded this training as one of the great blessings of his life, not so much in the
instruction given, as in the habits of attention, thought and self-discipline which were then formed.

     Dr. Chambers, having himself been under the care of that prince of teachers, the late Dr. Alexander
McClelland, was able in some measure to reproduce the results of his unrivalled method and tact. He, however, left New Jersey in the year 1849, and the
same year, Dr. Talmage was entered at Rutgers College, New Brunswick, N. J., and took his place in the second term of the Sophomore class.

     He acquitted himself with fidelity in the collegiate course, and was graduated with his class, in 1852,
his diploma bearing the signature of Theodore Frelinghuysen, President.

     Soon after this he traveled extensively in the Southern States, and for a time filled the professorship
of Ancient Languages in an Alabama college, now extinct. At Huntsville, Ala., he became acquainted with Drs. Burritt and Gillson, physicians of the homœopathic
school of medicine. The former he often accompanied during his professional calls among the people of the neighboring cotton plantations, and had
opportunity personally to observe the effects of the treatment upon a great variety of maladies, both among the whites and the blacks ; and he was
surprised to note the number of cures effected, even in cases which had been pronounced hopeless by physicians of the allopathic school, then dominant.

     He was thus led by his own observation to abandon the convictions of earlier years, and adhere to the
school of Hahnemann. At the same time there revived in his mind a purpose of devoting himself to the profession of medicine -a purpose formed soon after
graduation, hut then renounced in view of the apparent plethora of practitioners.

     His experience has shown what an eminent medical man of Edinburgh has said-that however great the crowd
in any particular sphere of life, there is always room there for brains.

     For six months Dr. Talmage pursued his medical studies with his friends in Huntsville, and then coming
North, attended a course of lectures in the medical department of the University of the City of New York. The next summer, through the kindness of a
connection by marriage, the Hon. Samuel Sloan, President of the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad Company, he was introduced to the late Dr. A.
Cooke Hull, of Brooklyn, N. Y., who received him into his office as a student. This was a very great advantage. Dr. Hull was the most distinguished
physician of the new school of scientific medicine in Brooklyn, and had a larger practice than any other of any school.

     He was also a man of extensive and varied culture, of enlarged public spirit, of great refinement of
manners, and adorned with many social virtues ; and hence of much weight and influence in the community. He was, if not the originator, one of the
prime movers and most efficient helpers in the establishment of many of Brooklyn’s best institutions. Among these are the Athenæum, the Philharmonic
Society, the Art Association, the Academy of Music, the Historical Society, the Brooklyn Club, etc.

     Pursuing his studies with such eminent aid, Dr. Talmage made rapid progress, and, in the year 1859,
received his graduating diploma from the University Medical College, in which at that time the eminent Dr. Valentine Mott was Emeritus Professor of
Surgery. It is a singular illustration of the haste with which men hurry into the profession, that Dr. Talmage and some five or six others were the only
members of his graduating class, which numbered a hundred and fifty, who had passed through college and held the degree of A. B. The humanities of
course will not make a physician, but any practitioner is the better for having studied them.

     After spending some further time in. Dr. Hull’s office as pupil, Dr. Talmage became his partner, and
remained in that relation for about twelve years. For one year he acted as Physician of the Brooklyn Orphan Asylum, and during that time met with
uniform success in treating all the epidemic and other diseases apt to prevail in such institutions.

     He afterward received an appointment to the department of Diseases of Women in the Brooklyn Homœopathic
Dispensary, but in the course of a year was compelled to resign it in consequence of the growing demands of his large private practice. For the same
reason he has been obliged to decline all active service in any of the medical charities of the city, but, however, is one of the consulting physicians
in the Gates Avenue Dispensary.

     At the time of the last visitation of Asiatic cholera in this country, in 1866, early in the spring he
issued a printed circular, containing hints and suggestions for his patients. Though intended only for private circulation, it soon came to the
knowledge of others, and so admirably did it meet a great pressing emergency, that various public journals, such as the Union and Eagle of Brooklyn, the New York Tribune, the Springfield Republican reproduced it at length, with emphatic commendation of its form and matter.

     This wide diffusion enabled it to perform a good work throughout a large portion of the country. Dr.
Talmage’s contributions to the literature of the Hahnemannic school have been scanty, and have been given to the profession generally in the form of
clinical observations.

     After the death of Dr. Hull, Dr. Talmage naturally succeeded to the larger portion of his practice,
which, added to his own, occupied every moment of his time. Indeed so great became the pressure that, in 1870, he found it necessary to seek aid, lest
the strain upon his physical endurance should become too severe. He accordingly associated with himself his brother, Dr. Samuel Talmage, who like
himself was a graduate of the Medical College of the New York University, and also a very successful practitioner.

     In 1863, Dr. Talmage gave pledges to fortune by taking to himself a wife. He was married to Miss Maggie
A. Hunt, a lady of great personal and social attractions, the youngest daughter of Thomas Hunt, Esq., widely known as one of the merchant princes of New
York. They are happy in the possession of three children, the oldest of whom is a daughter, the others sons.

     As the doctor’s practice lies chiefly among the most cultivated and refined families of the beautiful
city in which he lives, he enjoys an enviable social position, and a constantly growing appreciation of his professional ability and skill. The secret
of his large and rapid success in life lies in his acumen in diagnosis, prognosis, and therapeutics, his unremitting attention, his soundness of
judgment, his fidelity to truth and honor, and his unfeigned sympathy with suffering and sorrow. These qualities win confidence and command respect. Dr.
Talmage has recently been appointed Surgeon of the 11th Brigade National Guards, State of New York, Brigade General J. V. Meserole commanding,
Lieutenant-Colonel William Bunker, Assistant Adjutant-General, Chief of Staff. Still in the prime of a vigorous manhood, he has the prospect of filling
the role of “the beloved physician” for many years to come. All who know him pray that that prospect may be fulfilled. This sketch is kindly
written by Rev. Talbot W. Chambers, D. D., of New York.

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