HISTORY
OF HOMŒOPATHY
AND ITS
INSTITUTIONS IN AMERICA
By William
Harvey King, M. D., LL. D.
Presented by
Sylvain Cazalet
CHAPTER XXXII
HOMŒOPATHY IN IOWA.
By Thomas Lindsley
Bradford, M. D.Trials of Dr. Beck, the First Homœopathic Physician
in Iowa – Subsequent Permanent Introduction and Development of the New
System in the State – Iowa Medical Societies – Reminiscences and List of
Early Practitioners.While there is no lack
of homœopathy history in Iowa, the profession there has recorded so
little of its interesting annals that the chronicler of its events is at
once confronted with a lamentable absence of material from which to
weave the historical narrative. Indeed, the pioneers of homœopathy in
the region now called Iowa were from the outset bent on a more important
errand than noting the history of their movements ; theirs was a
struggle for comfortable livelihood in a region which then had recently
come into the sisterhood of states, for if local tradition be true, it
was only five years after the character of territorial government had
been laid aside that Dr. Beck planted the seed of Hahnemann’s “tree
of life” in that fertile soil, in the face of such obstinate
resistance on the part of old school practitioners that the worthy
pioneer was compelled to yield to the pressure of adversity and betake
himself to a more congenial neighborhood, where he would be less beset
by enemies.The story of the growth
of homœopathy in the state during the ten years next following Beck’s
advent is correctly told by Dr. Seidlitz in a narrative in which he said
that it was “not very marked,” but that in later years the
outspreading of the system surpassed the development of the state in
other respects. In 1857, in all this rich region there were only
nineteen homœopathic practitioners, and in 1870 they had increased to
eighty-two in number. In the next decade, 1870-1880, in respect to
increase in number of practitioners, splendid progress was made, the
number in the state in 1880 being three hundred and eleven ; in
1890 three hundred and twenty-four ; and in 1904 three hundred and
seventy.Much of this notable
progress during the last thirty years has been due to the founding of a
homœopathic department in the state university, and in the sweeping
away of the obstacles which the old school doctors placed in the pathway
of the homœopath to impede the progress of his school of medicine and
the advancement of its science. The establishment of a homœopathic
department in the university was nothing more than a recognition of
right and justice, and was not in any sense a concession ; and its
successful accomplishment required only the application of intelligent
effort on the part of the powers controlling the physical affairs of
that public institution. However, the homœopathic department of the
University of Iowa is made the subject of special mention in one of the
later chapters of this work.
MEDICAL SOCIETIES.
The Iowa Homœopathic Medical
Association was organized at a meeting of physicians held in Davenport,
May 21, 1862, and while from the first the interest shown in its welfare
was commendable, the disturbed conditions which then prevailed
throughout the country on account of the civil war made the continuance
of the society impracticable.The Society of Homœopathic
Physicians of Iowa was organized in Des Moines, May 31, 1870. The Cedar
Valley Homœopathic Medical Society was organized at Waterloo, September
30, 1875. The Central Homœopathic Medical Association was organized at
Cedar Rapids, January 29, 1879. The Hardin County Society of
Homœopathic Physicians was organized about 1875. The Linn County
Homœopathic Medical Society was organized at Marion, June 23, 1875. The
Northeastern Iowa Homœopathic Medical Society was organized at the
second meeting of the Cedar Valley Society, at Waterloo, October 28,
1875, by changing the name of the latter. The North Missouri Valley
Homœopathic Medical Society was organized at Hamburg, Iowa, June 1,
1876. The Polk County Homœopathic Medical Society was organized at Des
Moines in May, 1882. The Scott County Homœopathic Medical Society was
organized at Davenport in 1883. The Homœopathic Medical Society of
Woodbury County was organized at Sioux City, December 27, 1888, and on
May 7, 1889, the name was changed to Sioux City Homœopathic Medical
Association. The Des Moines Homœopathic Clinical Society was organized
in 1890 or 1891.
REMINISCENCES.
In 1853, about the time
that Dr. Beck abandoned his station in Dubuque, Dr. Nathaniel Dodge
brought the new system to Mount Pleasant in Henry county, but left in
1855, being succeeded by Dr. C. P. Smith, who maintained himself there
until 1859. Among the other early practitioners in that vicinity were
Dr. C. A. Miller, who settled in Mount Pleasant in 1858 and left in
1861 ; Dr. C. A. Ritcher, who later removed to Florida ; Dr.
F. C. Pitcher, of whose coming and going little is known ; Dr.
Clement Pearson, who began practice in 1850 in Wellsville, Ohio, removed
to Iowa in 1857, to Washington, D. C., in 1874, and died there January
29, 1886 ; Dr. John Peter Connelly, born in Ireland, came to
America in 1833, taught school in Ohio and studied homœopathy at the
same time, secured a supply of medicines and began practice about 1840,
and located himself in Tuscarawas county in 1863.Dr. Wilmot Horton
Dickinson located in Des Moines in 1858. He had graduated from the
Western College of Homœopathic Medicine in Cleveland in that year. He
studied medicine with Dr. Hunter of Louisville, Ky., and with Dr. Jones
of Penfield, Ga. Dr. Dickinson became one of the leading physicians of
the homœopathic school in Iowa. He died October 26, 1898. Drs. W. B.
Hartwell, E. W. Garberich, A. O. Hunter, S. S. Hersey, C. W. Eaton. Mrs.
E. F. D. Fletcher, H. Matter and R. M. Stone were among the other early
practitioners in Des Moines. In 1876 there were but seven homœopathists
there ; in 1904, twenty-seven.The pioneer
practitioner in Clinton county was Dr. Mortimer Marston, who located in
Clinton in 1865. Dr. Marston had studied with Dr. Waggoner of DeWitt,
and attended lectures in Keokuk. He established a large practice in
Clinton, and died March 21, 1868. Dr. C. H. Cogswell, Mrs. Cogswell,
Drs. E. H. King, S. P. Yeomans and Mrs. Dr. Yeomans also practiced in
Clinton.In 1856 Dr. Edward
Augustus Guilbert located in Dubuque. He had graduated from the Rush
Medical College of Chicago in 1847, and commenced practice in Ottawa,
Illinois, going from there to Waukegan, where he remained until 1852.
During this time he experimented with and convinced himself of the truth
of homœopathy and adopted it in his practice. In 1856 he removed to
Dubuque, where he has since lived. He has been one of the most prominent
physicians in the state and has taken an earnest interest in the
contests for legislative rights and other advancement of the cause of
homœopathy. In 1876 he published one volume of the “Northwestern
Annalist,” a popular paper devoted to the championship of
homœopathy in the fight that raged at that time for the introduction of
homœopathy into the Iowa state university.Dr. Robert Louis Hill
was a student of Dr. Guilbert and in 1864, after graduating from the
Rush Medical College of Chicago, became junior partner with his
preceptor. In 1867 he removed to Illinois.About 1857 Dr. Edward
C. Franklin returned from California and practiced for a short time in
Dubuque after he became a convert to homœopathy. He went to St. Louis
in 1857. Drs. S. H. Guilbert, E. R. Jackson, S. Mills Fowler and R. S.
Gee were early practitioners in Dubuque.As early as 1857 there
were four homœopathic practitioners in Davenport, Drs. Gehson, C.
Haight, W. S. Minier and H. E. Stone.Dr. Savina L. Williams,
who had been a practitioner of homœopathy in Ohio since 1856, located
in Clarence, Cedar county, in 1869. Her husband, Dr. Isaiah Williams,
was also a practitioner.In 1865 Dr. S. A.
Merrill commenced the practice of homœopathy in Council Bluffs. At the
beginning of the war he accepted a position in the United States
Military Hospital in Kansas City, which was at that time under
homœopathic care, remained there two years, and then began practice. In
1863 Drs. W. L. Patten, W. D. Stillman and T. Jeffries were
practitioners in Council Bluffs. In 1899 nine homœopathic physicians
were practicing there.The first woman
physician to settle in Iowa, and perhaps the first to locate between the
Mississippi river and the Rocky mountains, was Dr. Maria W. Porter, who
studied medicine in Pittsburgh with Dr. J. P. Dake, and took two courses
in the Women’s Medical College of Philadelphia, graduating in 1859. She
then came with her family to Davenport and gained considerable
prominence by giving a course of medical lectures. Few of the people
there had heard of a woman physician and in consequence Dr. Porter had
many prejudices to overcome ; not only prejudice against her sex,
but the fact that she was a homœopathist. She overcame this, however,
and became one of the leading women in the town in various charitable
works. She died September 8, 1888.Dr. George M. Seidlitz
located in Keokuk about 1864. He received his medical education in
Europe and practiced allopathy several years, becoming a homœopath
about, 1850.Dr. John W. Davis, a
graduate of the medical department of the Georgetown University in
Washington, D. C., became a convert to homœopathy in 1865, and began
its practice in Lansing.Dr. Richard M. James
was a pioneer homœopath in Knoxville, about 1854, having been an old
school practitioner previous to that time. He left Knoxville in July,
1867.Dr. Edward Walther was
the pioneer homœopath in Elkader, Clinton county, in 1862. He was
successful in a severe epidemic of diphtheria that occurred at that
time. He afterward went into partnership with Dr. C. D. Williams in St.
Paul, Minn.Dr. Calvin C. Waggoner
practiced in Cedar Rapids from about 1860 to the time of his death in
1867.Homœopathic physicians
in Iowa previous to 1870. 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.1862 Austin, P. A. x Muscatine
1870 Baker, R. F. x Davenport
1869 Bancroft, Augustine A. Burlington
1857 Barthol, Dr. x Guttenburgh
1853 Blakesley, James M. Iowa City
1862 Blanding, A. O. x Lyons
1862 Brown, J. Emory x E. Mitchell
1870 Brewer, E. x Independence
1858 Burt, William H. Lyons
1857 Chase, H. C. x Yankee Settlement
1866 Cogswell, C. H. Clinton
1840 Connelly, Peter J. Des Moines
1858 Dickinson, Wilmot H. Des Moines
1853 Dodge, Nathaniel Mount Pleasant
1865 Davis, John W. * Lansing
1862, Ehinger, G. E. x Franklin Centre
1870 Fintel, P. C. x Blue Grass
1870 Fletcher, I. H. x Toledo
1856 Franklin, Edward C. * Dubuque
1857 Gehson, Dr. x Davenport
1870 Greene, S. W. x Manchester
1852 Guilbert, Edward A. * Dubuque
1857 Guilbert, S. H. Dubuque
1857 Haight, C. x Davenport
1852 Hatch, Philo L. Dubuque
1857 Hindman, David R. Marion
1864 Hill, Robert Louis, Dubuque
1857 Holcomb, Dr. x Keokuk
1857 Hollingsworth, Dr. x Keokuk
1862 Hummer, J. N. x Keokuk
1869 Hunter, A. O. x Des Moines
1869 Hillis, L. x Winterset
1869 Holt, L. E. B. x Marshalltown
1857 Jaeger, C. A. x Guttenburgh
1862 Jackson, E. x Epworth
1854 James, Richard M. * Knoxville
1867 King, Edward H. Clinton
1867 King, John E. Fairfield
1870 Kludge, Albert x Elkport
1857 Lillis, W. B. x Dubuque
1865 Marston, Mortimer D. Clinton
1863 Merrill, S. A. * Council Bluffs
1858 Miller, A. x Mount Pleasant
1857 Minier, W. S. x Davenport
1870 Olney, S. B. x Fort Dodge
1862 Palmer, N. H. x St. Charles City
1857 Patchen, U. R. Burlington
1870 Patchen, G. H. x Burlington
1857 Paine, E. R. x Burlington
1850 Pearson, Clement Mount Pleasant
1870 Porter, Mrs. M. W. x Davenport
1870 Pitcher, A. C. x mount Pleasant
1870 Pitcher, F. C. x Mount Pleasant
1857 Potts, O. G. x Keokuk
1857 Prowell, J. M. x Keokuk
1870 Poulson, P. W. x Council Bluffs
1870 Russell, W. C. x Calamus
1862 Rust, J. D. x Floyd
1850 Seidlitz, George M. * Keokuk
1870 Stanley, George M. x Cedar Rapids
1857 Skiles, Dr. x Iowa City
1855 Smith, C. P. x Mount Pleasant
1870 Starr, C. x Iowa City
1857 Stone, G. E. x Davenport
1870 Virgin, W. T. x Burlington
1870 Waggoner, M. R. x DeWitt
1862 Waggoner, G. J. x Maquoketa
1860 Waggoner, Calvin C. Cedar Rapids
1870 Whitlock, F. W. x Farmington
1862 Worley, P. H. x Davenport
1856 Williams, Savina L. * Waterloo
1860 Walther, Edward Elkader