HISTORY
OF HOMŒOPATHY
AND ITS
INSTITUTIONS IN AMERICA
By William
Harvey King, M. D., LL. D.
Presented by
Sylvain Cazalet
CHAPTER XXXV
HOMŒOPATHY IN NEBRASKA.
By Thomas Lindsley
Bradford, M. D.Homœopathy Introduced in Omaha in 1862 Wright, the
Pioneer – Drs. Way and Hemingway in Nebraska City – The State
Homœopathic Medical Society – Gradual Growth of the System in Nebraska
– Reminiscences of Early Practitioners.Nebraska makes no claim
to pioneership in the field of homœopathic medical practice. In 1862,
while the state was still a territory, Dr. Augustus S. Wright left his
former home in Indiana and took up his abode in Omaha -the Omaha of two
score years ago and not the modern city of the twentieth century which
men have built on the site of the town of which, in 1869, Saxe wrote :“Hast ever heard of Omaha
Where rolls the dark Missouri down,
And four strong horses scarce can draw
An empty wagon through the town ?
Where sand is blown from every mound
To fill our eyes and ears and throat,
Where all the teamsters are aground
And all the shanties are afloat ?”
This Dr. Wright, the
homœopathic tidings-bearer before mentioned, was the only practitioner
of his school in the state until 1866, when Drs. Way and Hemingway, who
were partners, established themselves in Nebraska City and gave their
system a foothold in that vicinity. During the next ten or twelve years
several other practitioners settled in various parts of the state, some
in the more populous centers and others in the less thickly inhabited
districts, until in 1878 there were eighteen physicians of the school in
the state. Three years later the number had increased to forty, and in
1885 to one hundred and nineteen ; in 1893 to one hundred and
thirty-nine, and in 1904 the number in the whole state was one hundred
and twenty-five. But notwithstanding the moderate early growth of the
homœopathic school in the region under consideration, the few
practitioners held a general meeting in September, 1873, and organized
the Nebraska State Homœopathic Medical Society, then known, however, as
the Nebraska State Homœopathic Medical Association, and with these
first officers- Dr. E. M. T. Hurlbut of Lincoln, president ; Dr. C.
S. Wright of Omaha and Dr. J. H. Way of Nebraska City,
vice-presidents ; Dr. Allen C. Cowperthwaite of Nebraska City,
secretary ; Dr. J. L. Bumstead of Lincoln, provisional
secretary ; Dr. O. S. Woods of Omaha, treasurer ; and Drs.
Way, Burr, Casley, Lewis and Wright, censors. About 1883 the society was
incorporated and made the change in name as above indicated. It is still
in active existence and has a membership of more than two hundred.
REMINISCENCES.
Dr. Wright’s
professional life in Omaha was not made especially pleasant by the
practitioners of the old school there, but their persecutions served to
bring him new friendships and it was with reluctance that he gave up
practice on account of his health and removed to California in 1874. Dr.
Hemingway in Nebraska City died before practicing there a year, but in
the meantime Dr. A. M. Smith had come in, and was there as late as 1881.
Dr. Jacob Heald Way was
a graduate of Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia in 1866 and
practiced allopathy for a time in Nebraska City. Later on returned to
Philadelphia and took lectures in homœopathy and then returned to
Nebraska, but failing health caused his removal to Pennsylvania. He
served nine months in the 124th Pennsylvania regiment, then located in
West Chester, and finally went to Arizona, where he died September 3,
1887.
Dr. William H. H.
Sisson was in service during the early part of the civil war, and
graduated from the Homœopathic Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1863.
He practiced in New Bedford and Falmouth, Mass., about two years, and in
1868 went to Omaha and identified himself with that growing city. He
lived there until his death, January 25, 1873.
Dr. Orlando S. Wood
located in Omaha in the summer of 1868. After educating himself in
Pennsylvania, he began the study of homœopathy in the spring of 1857,
graduated from the Homœopathic Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1860,
and commenced practice in Phoenixville, Pa. In 1861 he took the practice
of Dr. R. R. Gregg at Canandaigua, N. Y., remaining there five years.
Ill health then compelled him to sell, when he went to Philadelphia,
graduated again from the Homœopathic Medical College of Pennsylvania in
1868, and in June of the same year started for Omaha. He practiced in
the state many years and also identified himself with its homœopathic
institutions and progress.
Drs. Marsden and
William J. Ehrhart, partners, located in Omaha in 1869. The partnership,
however, was soon dissolved, and Dr. Ehrhart went to Fremont. Dr.
Marsden the next spring returned to New Jersey. Dr. Ehrhart was a
graduate of the Homœopathic Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1864.
In 1871 Dr. F.
Saxenburger located at Omaha, remaining there until 1874, when he left
the state. Dr. Emlin Lewis entered the office of Dr. Sisson in 1870. He
had been a school teacher, and his first impressions of homœopathy were
received through a copy of Pulte’s “Domestic Physician.” He
graduated from the Hahnemann Medical College of Chicago in 1872, located
in Papillion and later removed to Omaha, taking the practice of Dr.
Sisson, who had just died.
In, the summer of 1872
Dr. G. D. Streeter reached Omaha and became a partner with Dr. J. H.
Way. In October, 1872, Dr. Eugene F. Hoyt settled in Omaha and became
partner with Dr. O. S. Wood, but in the next year removed to New York
city. Other early homœopathic practitioners who located in Omaha were
Dr. James M. Borghem, 1874 ; Dr. H. C. Jessen and Dr. H. A. Worley,
1875 ; Dr. C. M. Dinsmoor, 1875 ; Dr. John Ahmanson,
1879 ; and Dr. Willis B. Gifford and Dr. C. S. Hart, 1880.
In 1869 Dr. W. A. Burr
located in Lincoln, then a city two years old. In 1875 ill health
compelled him to go farther west.
In January, 1872, Or.
L. J. Bumstead joined Dr. Burr in Lincoln, where he practiced for many
years. Dr. Edwin Taft Monroe Hurlburt, who graduated from an allopathic
college in Buffalo in 1867, soon afterward adopted the homœopathic
system and located in Lincoln in 1873.
Dr. L. Walker settled
in Seward in 1867. He had a large country practice. Dr. Frederick
Churchill located at Grand Island in the summer of 1872. In 1875 he went
to California. Dr. D. H. W. Carley settled in Palmyra in 1871.
Dr. Allen C.
Cowperthwaite graduated from the Homœopathic Medical College of
Pennsylvania in 1869, practiced for a time in Illinois, and in 1873
located at Nebraska City and became a partner with Drs. Way and
Streeter. Dr. Streeter soon withdrew from the firm and went to Quincy,
Illinois. A few months later Dr. Way gave up practice and Dr.
Cowperthwaite was left alone.
Dr. S. C. Case located
at Syracuse in 1874. Dr. Ira Walker La Munyon located at North Platte in
1871. Dr. La Munyon had been a railroad engineer, and government
surveyor of public lands. His studies were geology, botany and natural
history. In 1859 he became a convert to homœopathy through Dr. B. S.
Hill of Ohio. On locating in Nebraska he engaged in surveying, but
having recovered his health, he bought a newspaper and, in company with
Mr. Peake, became its editor.
Dr. John Elisha Smith
went to Guide Rock about 1873. He was a graduate in 1856 of the Western
College of Homœopathic Medicine at Cleveland, had practiced in
Michigan, served in the army, and by ill health was compelled to seek
the climate of Nebraska. Mrs. F. R. H. Reid went to Nebraska City when
only four homœopathic doctors were there.
Dr. Henry Haseler met
his death at Belleview about 1856, while introducing the practice there.
He was a son of Dr. Charles Haeseler of Pottsville, Pennsylvania.
Dr. Lucy Robinson
settled in Lincoln in 1875. In March of that year Dr. W. J. Ehrhart
returned to Omaha from Fremont, but soon went to the east. In 1875 Dr.
Hullhorst located at Headland.
Homœopathic physicians
in Nebraska previous to 1880. 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.
1879 Ahmanson, John x Omaha
1868 Burr, W. A. x Lincoln
1872 Bumstead, Lucius J. Lincoln
1874 Borgham, James M. Fremont
1855 Bunting, Thomas C.
1878 Brewer, S. H. x Columbus
1874 Case, S. C. x Syracuse
1870 Carley, D. H. W. x Palmyra
1878 Chubbuck, C. K. x Tecumseh
1872 Churchill, Frederick x Grand Island
1869 Cowperthwaite, Allen C. Nebraska City
1878 Davies, H. B. x Nebraska City
1864 Ehrhart, William J. Omaha
1874 Dinsmoor, C. M. x Omaha
1855 Haeseler, Henry x Belleview
1866 Hemingway, Dr. x Nebraska City
1870 Hoyt, Eugene F. Omaha
1867 Hurlburt, Edwin T. M. * Lincoln
1875 Hullhorst, F. x Headland
1877 Huss, George x Sutton
1878 Jessen, H. C. Omaha
1878. Johnson, Mrs. J. C. x Nebraska City
1878 Jefferies, Dr. x Guide Rock
1872 Lewis, Emlin Omaha
1869 Marsden, Dr. x Omaha
1859 LaMunyon, Ira W. North Platte
1877 Paine, Bartlett * Lincoln
. . . . Reid, Mrs. F. R. H. Nebraska City
. . . . Reid, H. A. Nebraska City
1875 Robinson, Lucy A. Lincoln
1870 Saxenburger, F. x Omaha
1878 Schildknecht, D. x Plattsmouth
1878 Smith, A. M. x Nebraska City
1856 Smith, John E. Guide Rock
1863 Sisson, William H. H. Omaha
1872 Streeter, G. D. x Nebraska City
1878 Starr, C. x Nebraska City
1872 Way, Jacob H. * Nebraska City
1867 Walker, L. x Seward
1860 Wood, Orlando S. Omaha
1873 Worley, H. A. Omaha
1850 Wright, Augustus S. Omaha