HISTORY
OF HOMŒOPATHY
AND ITS
INSTITUTIONS IN AMERICA
By William
Harvey King, M. D., LL. D.
Presented by
Sylvain Cazalet
CHAPTER XXIII
HOMŒOPATHY IN MICHIGAN.
By Thomas Lindsley
Bradford, M. D.Beginnings of Homœopathy in Michigan – Early
Practitioners all Converted Allopaths – Record of Medical Societies –
Hall and Lamb, the Pioneers – Reminiscences and Lists of Early
Practitioners.History and tradition
both accord to homœopathy in Michigan a lodgment sometime between the
years 1841 and 1843, and at a time when the tide of emigration first set
strongly toward the great northwest territory of which the
“Wolverine” state then formed a part. Here homœopathy was
introduced soon after the region in question evolved from a territory
into a state of the federal union. In the years following the growth of
the new system was more rapid than in many other states farther east and
south, and the work of the pioneers soon spread the doctrine of
Hahnemann throughout the entire region.One of the most
noticeable facts in connection with early homœopathy in Michigan was
that almost every one of its pioneers was a converted allopath, an
excellent practitioner and a man of influence, well equipped in every
respect to battle against the cholera ravages which soon came upon the
country, and also to wage battle in the war of words and argument which
preceded the absolute recognition of homœopathy in the state and gave
to it a separate department in the state university. This movement began
in 1850 and was carried forward with varying degrees of success until a
school of homœopathic medical instruction was founded in connection
with that institution of learning. Drs. Thayer and Ellis, who figured
conspicuously as editors and publishers of the “Michigan Journal of
Homœopathy,” were among the most zealous advocates of the
endeavor, and from the time their journal was founded neither spared
time or energy in striving for the accomplishment of the desired end.As early as 1855 the
legislature passed an act which authorized at least one professorship of
homœopathy in the university, which was a gain, yet produced
comparatively small results, but was the foundation of the splendid
homœopathy department which in later years has accomplished grand
results in the world of homœopathic medicine. This subject, however, is
mentioned at greater length in another department of this work. In 1871
a private homœopathic medical college was started in Lansing, and was
known as the Central Michigan Homœopathic Medical Institute, a name
more formidable perhaps than the college itself, as its life continued
only one session. In 1872 the Detroit Homœopathic College was
established, and lived through about four years of vicissitudes ;
but it was a beginning of homœopathic college life in that city, a
subject which is fully discussed by Dr. MacLachlan in another volume of
this work.In 1847, when the
Michigan Institute of Homœopathy was first started, there were only
eight practitioners of the school in the state, and the system then had
an abiding place in the towns of Adrian, Detroit, Pontiac, Ann Arbor,
Dexter, Birmingham and Lyons, all in the southeastern part of the state.
Ten years later, in 1858, the number of practitioners had increased to
fifty-eight and the system then had been introduced in thirty-three
towns. In 1870 there were two hundred and nineteen homœopathic
physicians in the state, and the methods of the school were being
practiced in one hundred and twenty-five towns. In 1896 there were four
hundred and sixty, and in 1904 five hundred and one practitioners in
Michigan, of whom eighty were in Detroit, thirty in Grand Rapids,
nineteen in Ann Arbor, eleven in Battle Creek, with one or more in every
other settled town in the state.Photo : W. Hanford White, M. D.
From 1859 to 1864 and
from 1872 to 1876 homœopathic treatment was practiced in the Michigan
state prison, but in other years the allopathic school has succeeded in
maintaining supremacy in that penal institution. The first homœopathic
pharmacy in the state was opened in Detroit in 1850 by Dr. John Ellis,
who was succeeded in 1859 by Dr. Edwin A. Lodge, and the latter in turn
in 1875 by his son, Albert Lodge. The senior Lodge then opened a
pharmacy in Orchard Lake and about the same time in Pontiac. In 1856
Drake & Foster opened a pharmacy in Detroit, and Dr. H. C. Driggs
started a similar business there in 1852, and Dr. Benjamin E. Sickler in
1873. In 1858 Farnsworth & Spinney opened a pharmacy in East
Saginaw, the same now carried on by Drs. A. & W. A. Farnsworth.
Eberbach & Son opened a pharmacy in Ann Arbor in 1875, and the
Michigan homœopathic pharmacy in Grand Rapids was started in 1880 by J.
S. Mortlock & Co.
HOMŒOPATHIC MEDICAL SOCIETY OF MICHIGAN.
Michigan was early in the field with
organization, the, first society having been formed October 20, 1847, by
the eight physicians of that school then in the state. Their pioneer
organization took : the name of Michigan Homœopathic Institute,
probably in allusion to the American Institute of Homœopathy, of which
it was an offshoot and branch. Its first officers were Dr. C. A. Lamb of
Pontiac, president ; Dr. Thomas Blanchard of Ann Arbor,
vice-president ; Dr. P. M. Wheaton of Detroit, secretary ; Dr.
John Ellis of Detroit, treasurer. This society passed out of existence
in 1855, and was succeeded in 1866 by another society of the same name,
the history of which dates from October 3 of the year last mentioned to
May 16, 1871, when it was merged in the then newly organized Homœopathic
Medical Society of the State of Michigan.Previous to the
organization of the latter society the homœopathic profession in the
state had become divided in opinion regarding the establishment and
maintenance of a school of homœopathic medicine in connection with the
university, but the main purpose of the successor organization, its
principal mission in life at the time, was the accomplishment of that
very object, and in which its endeavors were rewarded with ultimate
success. The new society was founded at a meeting held in Jackson,
November 10, 1869, and soon afterward was incorporated ; and it has
since maintained an active, healthful existence, publishing yearly
transactions. It was re-incorporated February 18, 1900.Among the other
principal homœopathic society organizations which have been or are
incidental to the history of the profession in the state, each worthy of
greater recognition than the scope of the present chapter permits,
mention may be made of the Central District Homœopathic Medical
Society, organized in Lansing in 1866 ; the Central Michigan Homœopathic
Medical Society, organized in East Saginaw, July 13, 1869 ; the
College of Physicians and Surgeons, organized in Detroit, October 21,
1878 ; the Detroit Institute of Homœopathy, organized April 12,
1876, subsequently a part of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, and
still later of the Homœopathic Medical Association of Detroit :
the Grand Rapids Society, organized in 1875 ; the College of Homœopathic
Physicians and Surgeons, Grand Rapids, organized April 26, 1890 ;
the Hahnemann Medical Society of Eaton and Barry Counties, organized in
1879 ; the Huron District Medical Society, organized in 1886 ;
the Ingham, Shiawassee, Clinton and Eaton Counties Homœopathic Society,
organized June 18, 1868 ; the Jackson County Homœopathic Medical
Society, organized March, 1876 ; the Kent County and Grand Valley
Homœopathic Medical Society, which dissolved in 1879 ; the
Northern Michigan Homœopathic Medical Association ; the Saginaw
Valley Homœopathic Association, organized in 1886 ; the Homœopathic
Medical Society of Southwestern Michigan, organized in December, 1886 ;
the Homœopathic Medical Society of Southern Michigan and Northern
Indiana ; Homœopathic Medical Society of Tuscola and Adjacent
Counties ; Thayer Homœopathic Medical Society of Southern
Michigan, 1876 ; Wayne County Homœopathic Institute, 1868 ;
Western Michigan Institute of Homœopathy, 1886 ; Homœopathic
Society of Western Michigan, 1903.Grace Hospital,
Detroit, as an institution of homœopathy, is closely allied to the
Detroit Homœopathic College, in which connection its full history is
narrated.In this connection,
also, it is proper to make some brief mention of the homœopathic
relation to the Michigan Asylum for Insane Criminals, in Ionia, which is
a state institution, under homœopathic care, incorporated in 1883 and
opened in 1885.
REMINISCENCES.
Sometime between 1841
and 1843 Dr. S. S. Hall, who had for many years practiced medicine and
was then living in Detroit, became interested in homœopathy. His son
was suffering with a bronchial trouble for which he could obtain no
relief, and he procured homœopathic books and medicines and devoted
himself to the study of his own case. Relying on his father for proper
diagnosis, he also prescribed for other patients, and it is said that
during the year 1843 the father and son treated one hundred and fifty
difficult chronic cases and cured one hundred of them.Another physician, Dr.
C. A. Lamb, living in Pontiac, became interested in the new medical
practice and borrowed books and medicines from Dr. Hall and began to
practically investigate the subject of homœopathy.In 1843 Rev. J. D.
Perry, who had been restored to health by homœopathic medicines while
living in the east, went to Michigan. He became acquainted with Dr. Hall
and was largely instrumental in inducing him to adopt the homœopathic
practice. Mr. Perry also persuaded Dr. Thomas Blackwood of Plymouth,
Wayne county, to test the truth of the new practice, with the result
that he soon became an avowed follower of the doctrines of Hahnemann. In
a visit to a patient Dr. Blackwood met Dr. Lamb and the result of the
treatment caused the latter to espouse the new cause. Mr. Perry was a
zealous missionary of homœopathy and made many converts. He was of
value in assisting young physicians, and was held in great esteem. He is
said to have been a skillful prescriber.There seems to be some
doubt as to the first practitioner of homœopathy in the state. Dr. A.
Bagley, a pioneer, gives that honor to Dr. John Mosher. Dr. E. M. Hale
called Dr. Mosher the pioneer in central and southern Michigan. Dr.
Francis Woodruff accords the honor to Dr. Hall. It is certain that Dr.
Mosher was practicing homœopathy in Somerset, Hillsdale county, as
early as 1842. He lived in Cayuga county, New York, as early as 1810. He
had become converted through a young lawyer named Peterson, who had
occupied a part of Dr. Mosher’s office in Union Springs, N. Y. This was
in the thirties. Peterson had visited New York where he became
interested in the new medicine, then unknown in Union Springs, and on
his return told Dr. Mosher of its wonderful results and something of its
methods in practice. Soon after this Dr. Mosher removed to Somerset,
Hillsdale county, Michigan, where homœopathy never had been heard of,
and, notwithstanding the opposition of the allopaths, in a few years he
established a large practice. He was a man of strong will and great
mental energy, and fought the battle for homœopathy manfully and
successfully. 111 1850 Dr. Mosher was a member of the convention to
revise the constitution of the state and he was largely instrumental in
effecting the change in the law so that any qualified person could
practice medicine and collect fees.Dr. L. Sabine located
near Dr. Mosher in the town of Adams, Hillsdale county, in 1844, and
practiced in that vicinity until his death in 1855.Dr. Lewis Dodge settled
in Adrian, Lenawee county, in 1843, remaining there until 1850. He had a
wide practice, often riding from thirty to fifty miles, and he gained a
good reputation.Dr. John Ellis located
in Grand Rapids in 1843. A short time before, while he was in practice
at Chesterfield, Mass., his attention was called to homœopathy, and he
procured books and medicines and devoted himself to its study, but did
not practice it until he had settled in Michigan. He was a noted surgeon
and performed a number of remarkable operations, one of which mention
was made in Mott’s notes on “Velpeau’s Surgery,” and was also
commented on in the allopathic journals of that day. Dr. Ellis practiced
in Grand Rapids three years and then went to New York for further study.
In 1846 he returned to Michigan and located in Detroit, forming a
partnership with Dr. P. M. Wheaton, who had succeeded Dr. Hall. He
remained there fifteen years. He was one of the men who were
instrumental in securing a professorship of homœopathy in the
University of Michigan.Dr. Thomas Blackwood
was the pioneer homœopath in Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor, settling in the
latter town in 1847. While living in Plymouth he was challenged by Dr.
E. F. Olds, a champion of allopathy, to a public discussion of the
merits of the two systems of medicine, with the result that Dr. Olds
became a believer in homœopathy. In 1847 Dr. Olds removed to Ann Arbor
and was invited by his allopathic brethren to repeat his lectures
against homœopathy, which he refused to do, being half-convinced of its
truth.Dr. Isaac Newton
Eldridge was converted to homœopathy in New York state by Dr. A. P.
Biegler of Rochester, and after studying under Dr. C. M. Dake of
Genesee, for three years, he went to Michigan in 1846 locating in Ann
Arbor, where he was a partner a short time with Dr. Blackwood. Dr.
Eldridge cured several cases that Dr. Olds had given up, and this
completed the latter’s conversion. The two were then associated for a
short time. In 1851 Dr. Eldridge located in Flint, being the pioneer
there.Dr. H. Knapp became a
convert to homœopathy in 1849 and located in Adrian. In relating his
early professional experience he once wrote : “I pitched my
tent in Brooklyn, Jackson county, in October, 1839, where for ten years
I practiced medicine under the old school banner. During my residence in
Brooklyn I heard of Dr. Adams living west of Clinton, and Dr. Mosher of
Cambridge, practicing homœopathy occasionally, but the first
homœopathic physician with whom I came in contact was Dr. Amos Walker.
We were allopathic competitors for a few years in Brooklyn.” * * *
“About this time it became my duty to deliver an essay before the
Jackson County Medical Society, of which I was president, in which I
paid particular attention to humbugs, claiming homœopathy to be the
chief and explaining it away according to my philosophy. I have
preserved that essay as a curiosity. After Dr. Walker went east I felt
it a duty I owed to the friends who had so valiantly stood by me to
prove to them that what I had claimed was true. So I sent to Drs. Ellis
and Thayer of Detroit, then the principal homœopathy of Michigan, for
some remedies, and a book of instructions for using them. I was
determined to prove experimentally that in practice homœopathy was a
humbug. They sent me ‘Jahr’s Ten Remedies’ and ten of the principal
medicines, aconite, arnica, arsenisum, belladonna, bryonia, etc. After
trying these remedies for nearly a year I was convinced that there was
something in the system, sent for more books and medicines and was
soundly converted to homœopathy. This I afterward acknowledged to Dr.
Walker, and said that in opposing him I became converted. Twenty years
of my homœopathic experience were in Adrian, in which place I located
in October, 1849. During the first ten years of my practice in Adrian,
my business was very large and my practice very successful. At first I
had ten old school competitors, but after some four years only five
remained, as I had taken their best families. When I first went to
Adrian I was associated with Dr. Lewis Dodge, who subsequently removed
to Cleveland, being appointed professor in the homœopathic college
established there about that time.”Dr. Lamb, after his
conversion by Dr. Hall, went to Farmington, Oakland county, where he
delivered lectures on homœopathy. He then located in Pontiac and
remained a short time, returning thence to Farmington. Later on Dr. Lamb
removed to Clinton county, retired from practice and entered the
ministry. He continued to preach until his death in 1884, when he was in
his eighty-fifth year. He was greatly respected and was known as
“Father Lamb.”Dr. S. B. Thayer
located in Detroit in 1847 and began the practice of homœopathy. He had
practiced allopathy in Kalamazoo until 1846, when his attention was
called to homœopathy by Dr. E. A. Atlee of Philadelphia. He tested the
“system at the bedside, adopted it, removed to Detroit, and became
partner with Dr. Ellis. Dr. Thayer was of great assistance in gaining
for homœopathy recognition in the University of Michigan.Dr. John Doy was one of
the pioneers of Michigan homœopathy. He came to the United States from
England in 1846. He had been an old school practitioner, and soon after
1846 located in Battle Creek. He says in a letter written in 1867 :
“I practiced as a regular, as the dominant school is called, for
twelve years, came to this country in 1846 and have practiced homœopathy
more or less ever since, the less part was while making Kansas a free
state ; I was not allowed by the invaders to practice with little
pills, but distributed large blue pills from and with a ‘Beecher’s
Bible’ (a rifle). While in Kansas Dr. Doy was persecuted, arrested,
imprisoned, and rescued by force.Dr. P. M. Wheaton
located in Detroit at a date not now definitely known, but it must have
been as early as 1845, as he became partner with Dr. John Ellis in 1846.
In December, 1848, he was practicing in Nashville, Tennessee. In a
letter written in 1847, Dr. Wheaton said : “Homœopathy is
progressing steadily and surely throughout Michigan. We have now more
than a dozen avowed and acknowledged practitioners of homœopathy
throughout the state, and several allopaths are investigating its truth.
The result of the investigation I anticipate will be the same as it
always has been when homœopathy has been examined and tested by honest
men, always mean its unhesitating adoption.”Dr. John R. Jewett
began to practice homœopathy in 1846 in Lyons, Ionia county, farther
west than his fellow practitioners. In 1832 he received a territorial
license and had practiced the old school system at Lyons. In 1838 his
attention was called to homœopathy by the address of Dr. Hering,
published in “A Concise View of Homœopathy” in 1833 and by a
communication from Dr. Gideon Humphrey of Philadelphia ; but it was
not until 1846 that he declared his belief. In 1851 he attended lectures
and received a degree from the Western College of Homœopathic Medicine.Dr. A. Van Dusen
introduced homœopathy in Birmingham, Oakland county, previous to 1846.
Dr. Charles Jeffries began practice in Ingham county before 1846, and
Dr. E. W. Cowles located in Adrian about the same time.Besides the regularly
educated physicians who had become converts to the mild system of
medicine, there were several laymen who procured Hering’s “Domestic
Practice” and some homœopathic remedies for use in the then
sparsely settled towns in which they lived, and were wont to prescribe
for their neighbors. Among them were the Rev. Mr. Kanosh of Washtenaw
county, Rev. J. N. Reed, H. C. Knight, and Rev. Mr. Perry, of whom
mention has been made.Photo : Edwin M. Hale, M. D.
Dr. Charles L. Merriman
located in Jackson about 1847. In 1849 the following letter was written
by him to Drs. Ellis and Thayer, and very plainly shows the conditions
with which the early homœopathic practitioners in Michigan were
surrounded. “The excitement here in Jackson in favor of homœopathy
amounts to a perfectly wild enthusiasm. I address you to learn if there
is within the bounds of your acquaintance an experienced, scientific and
practical homœopathic physician, who can be procured to come to my
assistance. I am willing to guarantee a business that will be entirely
satisfactory to such a man. You can scarcely imagine my anxiety on
account of the circumstances under which I am placed. I have on hand
from twenty to thirty patients at present, and I am rejecting daily
about the same number. Many of these I have taken from the hands of the
allopathic physicians after the friends, and in some cases the
physicians, have despaired of their recovery. Among the latter, I am
happy to state, I have had thus far the most marked success.”Dr. Charles Mann O’Dell
located in Paw Paw in 1850 and began the practice of homœopathy. He had
come from Canada, where he had practiced allopathy and the eclectic
system. He had been cured of a lingering sickness by Dr. J. I.
Lancaster, a homœopathic practitioner of Canada, and this decided him
to practice homœopathy. He graduated from the Detroit Homœopathic
College. He was a zealous Methodist, and in 1863 was ordained to the
ministry, after which he combined the two professions.Dr. Charles Hastings, a
graduate of the Columbian Medical College, adopted homœopathy previous
to 1850 and located in Detroit. In 1852 the board of auditors of Wayne
county appointed him county physician. The “Detroit Tribune”
in commenting upon this said : “This, we believe, is almost
the only instance of the appointment of a homœopathic physician to such
a post.”Dr. Hastings, writing
to Drs. Pulte and Gatchell in 1852 regarding the introduction of homœopathy
into the University of Michigan, said : “The assertion that
homœopathy is going down in the west is false, and in Michigan it
stands higher and promises sooner to redeem the people from the errors
and sufferings of allopathy than ever before. In no state has
homœopathy succeeded better than in Michigan, and the future promises
quite as much as the past has realized. Seven years since, there was
scarcely a physician in our state practicing the new system, and now
there are not less than forty, and perhaps as many more who are
investigating it, with adherents numbering nearly one-third of the
reading and intelligent citizens of the state.”Dr. O. D. Goodrich
located in Allegan, Allegan county, in the western part of the state in
1855. He had practiced in Allegan as early as 1836, in 1845 had gone to
Connecticut, and there had become satisfied of the truth of homœopathy.
He was the first homœopathic practitioner in Allegan county.Dr. Smith Rogers, who
had attended the Western College of Homœopathic Medicine during the
session of 1851-52, located in Union City, Branch county, in 1852, being
the first homœopathic practitioner there. He remained five years and
then went to Battle Creek. In 1856 a Dr. Rodgers was practicing there,
and in 1867 there were five homœopathic practitioners in Union City.Dr. Francis Woodruff
graduated from the Western College of Homœopathic Medicine, Cleveland,
in 1852, and located in Ann Arbor, where he remained until 1875 and then
went to Detroit. Dr. Woodruff was one of the earnest workers in
establishing homœopathy in the University of Michigan.Dr. Elijah H. Drake,
having studied medicine in New York state, and having received a
practitioner’s license from the Steuben County Medical Society, settled
in Battle Creek in 1845, and began the practice of allopathy. The
principles of homœopathy were brought to his attention by Drs. Ellis
and Thayer, and in 184, after attending lectures and graduating from the
Rush Medical College, he began the practice of homœopathy in Detroit.
He lived twenty years in Detroit and became a leader in his school of
medicine. He was killed in a railroad accident in Ypsilanti, November
16, 1874.Dr. William Hanford
White began the practice of homœopathy in Coldwater, Branch county, in
1854. In 1866 he removed to New York city, entering into a partnership
with Dr. E. E. Marcy.Dr. David C. Powers
located in Coldwater in 1855 and became partner with Dr. White. He had
graduated in 1848 from the Berkshire Medical College, Pittsfield, Mass.
In 1849 he went to California but returned the next year, married and
located in Auburn, N. Y., where he became converted to homœopathy. In
the autumn of 1855 he settled in Coldwater.Dr. Frederick Finster
graduated from the Western College of Homœopathic Medicine in 1855, and
at once entered into partnership with Dr. E. H. Drake in Detroit. He
remained there two years and in 1857 went to Port Huron, where he died
in 1885.Dr. Edwin M. Hale was
an early practitioner in Michigan and a physician of ability. While a
young man he had been cured of pneumonia by homœopathic treatment and
this resolved him to study homœopathy, which he did against the advice
of his father. He attended the Western College of Homœopathic Medicine
at its first session, and in 1850 located in Jonesville, Hillsdale
county, being the pioneer in that section. He remained in that town
until 1864.Dr. E. D. Burr located
at Mason, Eaton county, previous to 1846, and afterward settled in
Lansing. In 1857 he was practicing in Eaton Rapids. He formerly had been
a practitioner of allopathy.Dr. Eugene Bitely
graduated from the Western College of Homœopathic Medicine in 1853, and
located at Paw Paw, where he practiced until his death, March 31, 1873.Dr. Erastus R. Ellis,
nephew of Dr. John Ellis, studied with his uncle, graduated from the
Western Homœopathic College in 1857, and at once located in Grand
Rapids, where he remained until 1867, and then went to Detroit.
BIOGRAPHICAL.
Dr. John Ellis was born in Ashfield,
Mass., November 26, 1815. He studied medicine at Berkshire Medical
College, Pittsfield, where he graduated in 1841. He first located in
Chesterfield, remained there about a year, and then went to Grand
Rapids. He became interested in homœopathy while in Chesterfield. In
1846 he located in Detroit where he practiced for fifteen years, during
the last six of which he devoted a part of his time to lecturing on
theory and practice of medicine at the Western Homœopathic College of
Cleveland. In 1861 he went to New York, opened an office, and accepted
the chair of theory and practice of medicine in the then recently opened
New York Homœopathic Medical College. About 1868 he gave up practice
and entered manufacturing pursuits. He was an earnest advocate of
temperance and other reforms, and wrote a number of books on hygienic
subjects. He died December 3, 1896.Dr. Lewis Dodge was
born in Utica, N. Y., June 27, 1815. He was educated at Woodstock
Academy, Hamilton College, Geneva Medical College, and the Ohio State
and Union Law School. From 1840 to 1843 he was professor in Granville
College, Licking county, Ohio, being principal of the preparatory
department. Leaving that position, he opened a private training school
for boys and young men for college or business. While thus occupied he
met Dr. John Ellis in Detroit. In 1844-45 he attended lectures at Geneva
College and then commenced the practice of homœopathy in Adrian. He
attended the Homœopathic Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1849-50 and
graduated from there. Two years later he received an honorary degree
from the same institution. In 1850 he became a professor in the Western
College of Homœopathic Medicine. About 1860 he removed to Chicago. He
died in June, 1890.Dr. S. B. Thayer was
born in Canandaigua, N. Y., February 12, 1815. He was educated in
Medicine at Geneva, and graduated from the medical department of the
Western Reserve College, Ohio, in 1842. He practiced in Kalamazoo county
until 1846, when his attention was called to the homœopathic practice
by Dr. E. A. Atlee of Philadelphia. He adopted the system and removed to
Detroit, entering into partnership with Dr. John Ellis. In 1861 he was
appointed surgeon to the 2d Missouri cavalry (Merrill’s Horse) and
afterward became brigade surgeon and medical director of a military
district. He left the army in 1863 and settled in Battle Creek. He was a
persistent anti-slavery man. He died September 16, 1874.Dr. John Mosher was
born in Washington county, N. Y., in 1783. In 1809 he was elected a
member of the Washington County Medical Society. In 1810 he went to
Cayuga county, where as a physician, merchant, and faithful public
officer, he was greatly esteemed. In 1842 he removed to Hillsdale
county. His death occurred November 5, 1856.Dr. John R. Jewett was
born in Saybrook, Middlesex county, Conn., March 5, 1809. In 1829 he
commenced the study of medicine in Ann Arbor with his cousin, Dr. David
Lord. In the winter of 1831-32 he attended lectures in Cincinnati, and
the next year received a license to practice from the Territorial
Medical Society. In 1838 his attention was called to homœopathy, and in
1846 he adopted that system. He received the degree from the Western.
College of Homœopathic Medicine in 1853.Dr. Isaac Newton
Eldridge was born in Livingston county, N. Y., August 5, 1819. He
studied medicine under Dr. C. M. Dake of Genesee, N. Y. He located in
Ann Arbor in 1846, and in 1851 went to Flint, where he died, January 18,
1893.Dr. Thomas Fuller
Pomeroy was born in Cooperstown, Otsego county, N. Y., May 11, 1816. He
was educated at Hamilton and Union Colleges, graduating from the latter
in 1836. After reading law one year, he went to Cleveland, Ohio, and
engaged in mercantile pursuits, and fourteen years later took up the
study of medicine, having in the meantime become a convert to homœopathy.
He graduated from the Western College of Homœopathic Medicine in 1853,
and located in Utica, N. Y., where he was in partnership with Dr. Lucien
B. Wells, an old friend of his father, until 1859, when he removed to
Detroit. In 1891, his health failing, he sought relief in Philadelphia,
and being restored, he went to Providence, where he resided until his
death, April 2, 1892, at the age of seventy-six years.Dr. Eugene Bitely was
born in Moreau, Saratoga county, N. Y., April 17, 1824. He graduated
from the Western College of Homœopathic Medicine in 1853, and acted as
demonstrator of anatomy in his alma mater during the winters of 1854 and
1855, being at the time located in Paw Paw. He died March 31, 1873.Dr. Edwin M. Hale was
born in Newport, N. H., February 2, 1829, his father, Dr. S. Hale, also
being a practitioner of medicine. The elder Hale removed from New
Hampshire to Ohio when the son was seven years of age, locating in
Fredonia, near Newark. At the age of eighteen young Hale learned the
trade of printing and became associate editor of a newspaper in Newark.
While there he was attacked with pneumonia and was attended by Dr. A. O.
Blair, then the only homœopathic physician in the place. He was cured
so promptly that he became a believer in homœopathy, and against the
wishes of his father began the study of the new system under Dr. Blair.
He attended the Western College of Homœopathic Medicine in 1850, and
then located at Jonesville, Hillsdale county. He remained there twelve
years and in 1864 located in Chicago, where he passed the remainder of
his life. His death occurred January 15, 1899. Dr. Hale was best known
by his voluminous writings and publications on homœopathic materia
medica. He also was the author of some works upon the diseases of women.
At one time he held the chair of materia medica in the Hahnemann Medical
College of Chicago.Photo : Charles J. Hempel, M. D.
Dr. Frederick Finster
was born in Bavaria, Germany, April 3, 1831. He came to this country
when six years of age, and in 1850 became a student of medicine with Dr.
John Ellis and Dr. S. B. Thayer of Detroit. He attended the University
of Michigan in 1853, and graduated from the Western College of Homœopathic
Medicine in 1855. He became partner with Dr. E. H. Drake, and two years
later removed to Port Huron.Dr. Alfred Isaac Sawyer
was born in Lyme township, Ohio, October 31, 1828. He graduated from the
Western College of Homœopathic Medicine in 1854, and entered into
partnership with his former preceptor, Dr. D. H. Beckwith of Marietta.
He also practiced in Zanesville. In 1856 he passed some time in New York
in study. In the spring of 1857 he settled at Monroe, where he remained
until his death, May 7, 1891.Dr. Charles Julius
Hempel located in Grand Rapids in 1859, making that place his permanent
home until his death, September 24, 1879. Homœopathic physicians in
Michigan previous to 1860. The date preceding the name indicates the
year the physician began the practice of homœopathy. The character *
indicates that the practitioner originally was of some other school ;
the character x indicates that the physician practiced medicine before
the date given.1857 Bagley, A. x Marshall
1857 Bagg, Dr. x Corunna
1857 Ball, Dr. x Grand Lodge
1848 Baldwin, S. C. x Jackson’s Mills’
1853 Bitely, Eugene Paw Paw
1845 Bissell, A. F. Grand Rapids
1857 Botsford, A. H. x Grand Rapids
1845 Blackwood, Thomas * Plymouth
1846 Burr, E. D. * Mason
1857 Brown, Dr. x Farmington
1857 Brown, Dr. x Pinckney
1857 Carpenter, R. x Ann Arbor
1857 Cronell, Dr. x Kalamazoo
1857 Cranmer, Dr. x Kalamazoo
1857 Clark, Dr. x Niles
1847 Cowles, E. W. x Ann Arbor
1857 Day, S. B. x Detroit
1845 Dodge, Lewis Adrian
1846 Doy, John * Battle Creek
1854 Driggs, H. C. * Detroit
1853 Drake, Elijah H. * Detroit
1846 Ellis, John * Grand Rapids
1857 Ellis, Erastus R. Grand Rapids
1846 Eldridge, Isaac N. Flint
1859 Farnsworth, A. M. East Saginaw
1855 Finster, Frederick Detroit
1857 Fish, Dr. x Otisco Fulton, S. J. Tecumseh
1857 Godfrey, E. x Quincy
1855 Goodrich, O. D. * Allegan
1857 Gray, A. x Dexter
1841 Hall, S. S. * Detroit
1850 Hale, Edwin M. Jonesville
1850 Hastings, Charles * Detroit
1857 Hawley, Dr. x Lansing
1845 Hempel, Charles J. Grand Rapids
1857 Hemingway, Dr. x Flint
1850 Hewitt, J. I. Detroit
1857 Hopkins, I. H. x Pomfret
1857 Huntington, Dr. x Howell
1846 Jewett, John R. * Lyons
1846 Jeffeies, Charles x Dexter
1850 Kanosh, Rev. Washtenaw county
1857 King, Dr. x Detroit
1850 Knight, H. C. (Hon.) layman
1849 Knapp, H. * Adrian
1846 Lamb, C. A. * Pontiac
1857 Lander, Dr. x Monroe
1846 Meacham, W. P. x Pontiac
1848 Merriman, Charles Jackson
1857 Miller, W. x White Pigeon
1842 Mosher, John * Somerset
1857 Mott, P. W. x Hillsdale
1848 Olds, E. F. * Salem
1850 O’Dell, Charles M. * Paw Paw
1857 Pattison, Wm. x Ypsilanti
1851 Powers, David C. * Cold Water
1843 Perry, J. D. (Rev.) Detroit
1857 Pierce, Dr. x Ypsilanti
1853 Pomeroy, Thomas F. Detroit Reed, J. N. (Rev.)
1857 Reynolds, I. C. x Jackson
1864 Rice, M. B. * Lansing
1852 Rogers, Smith Union City
1857 Rudolph, S. B. x Detroit
1854 Sawyer, Alfred I. Monroe
1844 Sabine, L. Adams
1857 Sill, J. x Kalamazoo
1857 Shepherd, Dr. x Grand Rapids
1857 Smith, Dr. x Monroe
1857 Sullings, H. x Battle Creek
1857 Sangen, Dr. x Detroit
1847 Thayer, S. B. * Battle Creek
1850 Turrill, G. F. Detroit
1845 Van Dusen, A. Birmingham
1847 Walker, Amos * Pontiac
1857 Wheeler, Dr. x Pontiac
1845 Wheaton, P. M. * Detroit
1854 White, William B. Cold Water
1852 Woodruff, Francis Ann Arbor