History of Linn County Iowa: From Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time [1911]Brewer, Luther Albertus
History
History of Linn County Iowa: From Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time [1911]
Brewer, Luther Albertus
Linn County (Iowa) -- Biography; Linn County (Iowa) -- History; Registers of births, etc. -- Iowa -- Linn County
A complete city directory published in 1869 gives the names of the
following: C. F. Bullen, J. H. Camburn, G. P. Carpenter, J. P. Coulter,
J. W. Edes, Mansfield & Smith, Freeman McClelland, John North, Israel
Snyder, C. H. Thompson, W. Bollinger, J. C. May. Of these, Dr. Camburn
and Dr. Edes were prominent in their profession for many years. Dr. R.
R. Taylor was a Virginian, who went to reside in Philadelphia about the
time of the Civil war. Dr. J. C. May was a druggist as well as a very
popular physician. He was a brother of the late Major May, of island
fame.
A medical and surgical directory of Iowa for 1876 gives the first
authentic list of doctors in Linn county to which access has been had.
A list of fifty is given as in active practice in the county at that
time. Only six of these remain: Dr. George P. Carpenter, dean of the
profession in Cedar Rapids; Dr. G. R. Skinner, of Cedar Rapids; Dr. T.
S. Kepler, of Mt. Vernon; Dr. Hindman, of Marion; Dr. Edwin Burd, of
Lisbon; and Dr. F. M. Yost, of Center Point. The last of these, Dr.
Yost, class of 1853 University of Pennsylvania, is the oldest living
practitioner in the county. His two sons are now associated with him in
his work. One other, Dr. J. H. Smith, of Cedar Rapids, has not been in
practice for many years but preserves a close relation to his old
calling through his presidency of the board of directors of St. Luke's
Hospital. The two Doctors Sigworth are still living near their old
neighborhood, having retired to Anamosa.
A registry of all physicians practicing in the county was begun in the
county clerk's office in 1880-1881. It started with sixty-four names,
probably the full number of those in active practice at the time. Since
then about 230 additional doctors have been registered, and of this
total of nearly 300 about 125 are now practicing in the county.
At Western some of the early physicians were Dr. Crouse, Dr. W. B.
Wagner, Dr. Miller, all of whom preceded Dr. J. C. Schrader who removed
to Iowa City. Dr. J. C. Hanshay located here in 1863 and Dr. Favour in
1877. Dr. Patterson was the first doctor in Bertram, in 1857. Dr. J.
Stricklippe was an early doctor and druggist at Palo, and Dr. J. W.
Firkin was the second doctor at Vanderbilt, later known as Fairfax. His
son, Edgar Firkin, is now a popular druggist there. Dr. U. C. Roe came
to Fairfax in 1864 for the practice of medicine. He also sold drugs.
The business finally drifted into a grocery store, as it seems that the
settlers preferred sugar and prunes to pills and quinine.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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