Early Doctors In Middlesex County – Connecticut Genealogy

By Rufus W. Mathewson, M. D.

THE Middlesex County Medical Society was organized in 1792. That the professional standing of the men who organized it may be better understood, a brief review is here given of the previous medical history of the territory which, seven years before, had been incorporated into this county. It was here that the “Clerical Physicians” instituted the reform in teaching and practice which resulted in the elevation of the profession throughout the colony to a proper standard.

Jared Eliot, the father of the regular practice in this State, was a son of the minister of Guilford, and grandson of the apostle, John Eliot. He graduated at Yale College in 1705, while the institution was located at Saybrook, which at that time belonged to New London county, and spent his whole professional life in Clinton, then Killingworth. He was assisted and succeeded by his pupil and son-in-law, Dr. Benjamin Gale, who graduated at Yale in 1733, making that place for three-quarters of a century a great resort for medical instruction, equal in importance for that period to any of the cities for the present day. Drs. Jared Potter and Elihu Tudor were educated there. It was there that the first medical treatise was published in the colony, in 1750, by Dr. Gale; and later, “Cases and Observation,” by the same; all of which were favorably noticed in Europe. Those were the only medical publications in this State before the present century.

Dr. Eliot had eleven children. The first, a daughter, died young. The second, Hannah, married Dr. Gale, and had eight children, most of whom died young. The third, Samuel, graduated at Yale, 1735, studied medicine, and died on a voyage to Africa for his health in 1741. The fourth, Aaron, studied medicine, married a daughter of Rev. William Worthington, of Westbrook, and settled in his native place as a physician and merchant. He was a judge, a colonel, a deacon, and one of his Majesty’s justices. He was engaged largely in the manufacture of steel. In a petition to the Colonial Assembly for pecuniary aid to carry on the work to better advantage, it was claimed that he supplied the colony and other governments with steel. The sum of £500 was voted, for three years, without interest; when due, an extension of two years was granted, on account of a large loss of steel by fire in Boston. He had three sons, who studied medicine, mostly with their uncle, Dr. Benjamin Gale. One of them married a daughter of Dr. John Ely. They all settled in the new clearings at the West. Dr. Jared Eliot’s fifth child, Samuel (Yale, 1740), studied medicine, and died at Saybrook in 1747, unmarried. He had six other sons, neither of whom studied medicine or divinity. Dr. Eliot was pastor of the church in Clinton for forty years, hardly failing to preach a single Sabbath.

Dr. Gale built the first story of the stone tavern at Clinton, inside of which was another stone house, two stories high, constituting a house within a house, constructed in a way to withstand the general conflagration. The upper story of the inner house, it was supposed, was used for anatomical purposes, and for meditation and study of the Scriptures, on which he wrote largely. After the doctor’s death, the inner house was removed, and another story added to the outer walls. He was buried in the cemetery north of his house, at right angles with other graves, his feet toward the south, so that when he arose he would face his former home. From his monument we read:

“In memory of Dr. Benjamin Gale, who, after a life of usefulness in his profession, and a laborious study of the Prophecies, fell asleep May 6th A.D. 1779, aet. 75, fully expecting to rise again under the Messiah, and to reign with him on earth. ‘I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth, and mine eyes shall behold him.'”

Dr. Phineas Fiske was a son of Dr. John Fiske, of Milford, one of the most noted physicians in the colony. He graduated at Yale College, at its third commencement, and two years in advance of Dr. Eliot, yet, having spent six years as a tutor in that institution, he did not commence practice as soon. He was contemporary with, and equal to, Dr. Eliot, but the misfortune was, he did not live as long. He was settled as a minister at Haddam, then in Hartford county, where he died in 1738.

Dr. Moses Bartlett, of Madison (Yale, 1730), studied both professions with Dr. Fiske, married the daughter of his preceptor, and settled in East Middletown, now Portland, where he died in 1766. A monument was erected to his memory near the quarries, by his parishioners, on which is inscribed: “He was a sound and faithful divine, a physician of soul and body.”

Dr. Bartlett had three sons — Moses (Yale, 1763), Phineas, and Elihu (Yale, 1764). The two former studied medicine with Dr. Gale. Moses succeeded to his father’s practice in Portland, surviving him for forty years. He was a deacon in the church.

The foregoing includes those clerical physicians of this county to whom the profession is so much indebted for its advanced standing. All the sons of the clerical physicians who studied a profession took to medicine; not one to the ministry. At the time this society was organized, there were but two medical colleges on this side of the Atlantic; and those had not fairly become established institutions. Not one of these original members had enjoyed advantages of medical college instruction, but they were confined to private teaching. Each physician constituted a faculty to teach, and an examining and licensing board.

Several of the members of this society made professional teaching a specialty. Doctors had to be prepared for the new frontier settlements. They were like the medicines — hand-made. Steam and machinery had not come into use. The candidate “served his time,” as it was then called, which was divided between the books on the shelf, the skeleton in the closet, the pestle and pill-slab in the back room, roaming the forests and fields for roots and herbs, and following, astride of the colt he was breaking, the horse which was honored with the saddle-bags.

The practice of inoculation was at its height at the time this society was organized, and was a source of great income to many of the members. The keeping of pock-houses (as they were called) was profitable. The location of these can generally be traced by the graves of the patients in the fields adjoining. Jenner’s great discovery was not made until after this society had been in existence several years.

Early in the present century, medical students desiring to obtain higher advantages resorted to Dartmouth College, where the celebrated Nathan Smith, M.D., was then sole medical professor. The first graduates in medicine in this county were graduated there. After the removal of Professor Smith to New Haven, and the opening of the medical institution there, a large majority took a single course of lectures, this being a great advance on former advantages, and received merely a license to practice; and if they proved deserving, a degree was conferred in after years. This practice was discontinued about 50 years ago, since which two full courses of lectures have been required for an examination.

Dr. Ebenezer Tracy was born in Norwich town in 1762, and was cousin to the late Dr. Tracy of the same place. He studied medicine with Dr. Philip Turner, who was surgeon-general of the northern States during the Revolutionary war. Dr. Tracy settled in Middletown in 1785, where he practiced more than 60 years, or as long as Dr. Osborn. Through his whole life he visited his patients on horseback, as did the Tracys and Turners of his native place. He was a gentleman of great smoothness of manners, and his practice was in accordance with his character — mild and expectant. He was elected Fellow in 1794 and ’98, after which he seems to have ceased his connection with the society. He was one of the examining committee as long as he remained a member. He built and occupied the house next east of the North Church, and he died in 1856.

Isaac Conkling, a native of East Hampton, L.I., and a student of Dr. Ebenezer Sage, of Sag Harbor, L.I., attended lectures in Columbia College, New York City, practiced three or four years in Portland, about as many in Oneida County, N.Y., and nine years in Middletown. He died in Portland, February 24th, 1824, aged 44.

Edward S. Cone was a son of Rev. Salmon Cone, of Colchester, a graduate of Middlebury College, 1815, a student of Dr. William Tully, and attended lectures in New Haven. He had a good practice. He died February 13th, 1831, aged nearly 36 years.

Thomas Miner, 2d, a native of Stonington, attended lectures at Pittsfield, practiced some years at West Stockbridge, then in Middletown, and removed to Hartford, where he died.

William Bryan Casey was born in Middletown, in 1815, and graduated from Columbia College, N.Y., in 1834. He received the degree of M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1837. He was physician to the New York Dispensary from 1837 to 1839, and practiced in Middletown from 1839 till 1860. He was an army surgeon during the war of the Rebellion, and lectured on Obstetrics at Yale College in 1863 and 1864. He died in Middletown in 1870. He was one of the original trustees of the General Hospital for the Insane. He was mayor of Middletown in 1851.

Elisha B. Nye was born in Sandwich, Mass., in 1812, and removed to Middletown in 1819. He was the first freshman that entered Wesleyan University, from which institution he graduated in 1835. He studied medicine with Dr. Thomas Miner, and received the degree of M.D. from Yale College in 1837. He practiced in East Haddam till 1851. He then removed to Middletown, where he is still in practice. He has been president of the County Medical Society, and in 1883, he was chosen president of the Connecticut State Medical Society.

Joseph Barrett, born in England in 1796, was professor of Botany, Chemistry, and Mineralogy in Partridge Military Academy, and removed to Middletown with that institution in 1824. He graduated, M.D., Yale, 1834, practiced in Middletown till March 1881, where he died. He paid much attention to the language of the American Indian, and various branches of natural science. It was to him that the celebrated Dr. Thomas Miner confided the story of his life, which was published in “Williams Medical Biography.”

George W. Burke, a native of New Haven, graduated at Wesleyan University in 1839. He studied medicine with Dr. A. Brigham, of Hartford, and in New Haven, where he graduated, M.D., from Yale in 1843. He practiced in Palmer, Mass., and came to Middletown in 1853 where he is still in practice.

Rufus Baker, a native of Maine, graduated, M.D., at Columbia College, D.C., in 1844. He practiced at Deep River till 1860, when he removed to Middletown.

Daniel A. Cleveland, a native of Martha’s Vineyard, graduated, M.D., at Bowdoin College in 1856.

Abram Marvin Shew graduated from Jefferson College in 1864.

James Olmstead was born in New Haven, Conn., in 1849. He graduated, M.D., at Yale in 1874. He practiced in New Haven and Middletown.

Wm. E. Fisher was born in Philadelphia, Penn., 1853. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1876. He has practiced in the Philadelphia and Connecticut hospitals for the insane.

James M. Keniston, born at Newburyport, Mass., in 1848, graduated, M.D., at Harvard, 1871. He practiced in Cambridge, Mass., from 1872 to 1882. Since then he has been assistant physician in the Connecticut Hospital for the Insane.

Henry S. Noble was born at Hinesburg, Vt., and graduated at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York City. Previous to engaging in general practice he was one year in the City Hospital of Hartford, Conn. He left general practice in 1879, and went to Hartford Retreat as assistant for one year, thence to the State Hospital at Middletown, thence to Michigan Asylum at Kalamazoo, where he remained two years, and returned to the State Hospital at Middletown in 1884.

Dr. Ellsworth Burr, one of the earliest of the Thompsonians or eclectic physicians, was born in Haddam in 1813. He studied with Dr. Sperry, of Hartford, and settled in Middletown in 1837, where he practiced till his death in 1867. He was for several years professor in a medical college in Worcester, Mass., where he graduated in 1849. He was the representative from Middletown for several years.

William C. Bell, homoeopathic physician, studied medicine one year under Horace Ballard, M.D., of Chester, Mass., and then mostly under Professor Child, of Pittsfield, where he was graduated, M.D., in 1833. He afterward practiced in Austerlitz, N.Y., and in Great Barrington, Mass., till 1849, when he came to Middletown, where he has since practiced.

Aaron S. Osborne was born in Austerlitz, and graduated, M.D., at Long Island Hospital College in 1873. He has practiced in Middletown for the past ten years.

Frank L. Burr, son of Dr. Harris R. Burr, was born in Killingworth in 1847. He graduated from Eclectic College, Pennsylvania, and received a diploma from the Connecticut Eclectic Medical Society in 1871. He commenced practice the same year in Middletown.

E. V. Burnett graduated from the University of New York in 1876.

Dr. George Haskell Abernethy was born at Harwinton, Conn. He was the son of William C. Abernethy. His grandfather, William, was a physician. He received the degree of M.D. from Yale College, in 1830. He was a student with Dr. B. H. Catlin, then of Haddam. After graduation, he spent a year in Bellevue Hospital, and in 1831 commenced practice in Chester.

Dr. Abernethy was clerk of the Middlesex County Society, in 1841–42, and Fellow in 1835 and 1840. He was enthusiastic and successful in his profession, was tall and strikingly handsome, and very popular in the community. He died in the fall of 1844, at Augusta, Illinois.

Ambrose Pratt, a graduate of Yale in 1837, was born in Deep River. He graduated, M.D., from Columbia College, D.C., in 1843, and practiced at Chester till 1847, then at Milwaukee, Wis., till 1853. Then he opened at Chester a water cure infirmary with which he was very successful. In 1862 he volunteered as surgeon in the 22d Regiment Connecticut Volunteers, and remained with it till its muster out. Since then he has been in regular practice in Chester and vicinity.

Sylvester W. Turner, Yale, 1842, born in Killingworth, graduated, M.D., Yale, 1846, and located in Chester, 1848.

Dr. Samuel Redfield, son of Dr. John Redfield, of Guilford, and Amanda Russell, of North Guilford, was born in Guilford, September 12th, 1762; served as a fifer during the Revolutionary War; after which he studied medicine with his father, and with Dr. Benjamin Gale, of Killingworth, and commenced practice as a physician in Guilford. After practicing about twelve years in Clinton, then Killingworth, he removed first to Fairfield, Herkimer County, New York, and afterward to Perrysburg, Cattaraugus County, New York, where he died in 1837, aged 75 years.

One of the first members admitted to the medical society was Austin Olcott, of Killingworth, now Clinton, in 1796, then about 20 years of age. He was born in South Manchester, which was the birthplace of his father, Dr. George Olcott. He was full of courage in the daytime, and as great a coward in the night; was very loath to respond to calls after retiring, always requiring a second or third rapping up before he made his appearance. He stood very high in his profession; his consultation practice in adjoining towns was very large; was quick as by an intuition to recognize disease, and very positive in his diagnosis. The second case of tying the external iliac artery, in this country, was performed on a patient of his, in 1820, by Nathan Smith. The diagnosis and subsequent treatment were by Dr. Olcott. The limb was oedematous at the time of the operation. The aneurism held eight ounces. The operation was perfectly successful, the patient living thirty-six years afterward, enjoying perfect health.

Dr. Olcott had a very large practice for nearly half a century, the most of the time having no one but himself to support; had no bad habits, and died in destitute circumstances from a failure to keep his accounts and collect his bills. He always rode on horseback to visit his patients. He died in 1843, aged 68 years.

Josiah Byles removed from Griswold to Clinton in 1841, where he died in 1843.

Dr. Denison H. Hubbard, son of Deacon Nathaniel Hubbard, was born in Bolton, Conn., in 1805. He studied medicine with Dr. J. S. Peters, of Hebron, governor of the State of Connecticut, and with Dr. William O. Talcott, of Winsted. He graduated at Yale Medical College, in 1829. He began his practice in Glastonbury, Conn., removed from there to Bloomfield, where he practiced till 1844, when he removed to Clinton, where he practiced till his death, in 1874. Dr. Hubbard was a good man, socially, professionally, and religiously. It was a part of his creed that beyond a reasonable providence for the uncertainties of the future, a Christian had no right to accumulate property; and his practice seems to have been in exact conformity to his creed. For while he was economical in the management of his affairs, and for more than forty years received a fair income from his business, he left comparatively little property. In 1872 he had an attack of hemiplegia from which he never fully recovered, although able to attend to a limited amount of business. In March, 1874, he had a renewed attack, which terminated in death, August 12th, of the same year.

David Austin Fox, born in Lebanon, graduated at New York University in 1852, soon after commenced practice in Clinton.

Dr. G. Harrison Gray and G. O. Johnson, each practiced in Clinton a few years.

Silas E. Peck, homoeopathist, practiced a few years in Clinton.

Gideon Noble, a native of Coventry, probably, practiced in Cromwell from 1791 to 1802, when he removed to South Glastonbury. He had a good education, pleasing manners, and acquired a respectable practice in both places. He died in 1807.

Titus Morgan was born in Westfield, Mass. He practiced in Cromwell from 1802 to 1811. He was a gentleman of refined poetic taste, and agreeable manners, a respectable physician.

Dr. Bulkley practiced in Haddam from 1821 to 1830.

William Meigs Hand was born in Madison, and was graduated, M.D., at Dartmouth College in 1812, and came immediately to Cromwell. In 1816 he moved to Worthington in Berlin. He was amiable and well-informed, interesting in conversation, and happy in writing sketches and essays; a successful practitioner and a man of good moral character. He published a pamphlet entitled “A Trip to Ohio,” and a manual of medicine and surgery for the family. He died in 1822, aged 32.

Ira Hutchinson, son of John and Mollie Hutchinson, was born in Gilead Society, in Hebron. He studied medicine with Dr. Silas Fuller, then of Columbia, subsequently of Hartford, and graduated at Yale Medical College in 1825. After the death of Dr. Warner he located in Haddam, where he made successful practice till 1853, when he removed to Cromwell, where he died. Here, as in his former field, he soon secured a full practice. He was in every sense a gentleman.

J. Francis Calef graduated at Yale in 1880. He succeeded Dr. Hutchinson in Cromwell.

Winthrop B. Hallock, proprietor of Cromwell Hall, was born in Utica, N.Y. He graduated from Long Island College Hospital, and was several years first assistant in the Insane Hospital at Middletown.

Dr. Jesse Cole was a physician in Durham at the time this society was organized; he was not a member, as Durham belonged to New Haven County, till some years afterward. He was born at Kensington, 1739; was a son of Mathew Cole and Ruth Hubbard; settled in Durham in 1765, and did a large and successful business till 1793. He died in 1811, leaving eight children. Dr. Cole, it is said, had two pills that he relied on, one of which he called the black dog, and the other the white dog. If the black dog failed, he would send the white dog into the stomach of the patient. On the south side of Mount Pisgah, in Durham, he cultivated rare plants and herbs. The place still bears the name of Dr. Cole’s garden. He was engaged at one time in the manufacture of potash, on what is now called Potash Brook and Potash Hill.

Dr. Thayer located in Durham before Dr. Cole left.

Lyman Norton, son of Stephen and Abigail, was born in 1763. He studied medicine with Dr. Jared Potter of Wallingford, commenced practice before 1797, and died in 1814, aged 51 years. He was a man of agreeable manners, and generally beloved.

William Foote, born in Northford, studied medicine with his brother, Dr. Malica Foote, in Rye, N.Y., and with Dr. Benjamin Rockwell of New York. He came to Durham in 1802, removed to Goshen in 1807, and after two years returned to Durham, where he resided till his death in 1842. He was contemporary with Dr. Norton, and had a better education than he, but less tact as a physician.

William Seward Pierson, son of a descendant of the first president of Yale College, was born in Killingworth, graduated from Yale College in 1808, and studied with Dr. Nathan Smith, at Dartmouth College, where he took his medical degree in 1813. He came to Durham on a formal invitation of the inhabitants as was the custom in those days, upon the death of Dr. Norton. He remained four years, and then, upon the invitation of the people of Windsor, removed there. He died in 1860.

Jared Potter Kirtland, born in 1793, was a grandson of the late Dr. Jared Potter. In 1810 he studied medicine with Dr. John Andrews, and afterward was a private pupil of Dr. Eli Ives and Dr. Nathan Smith, of New Haven. In 1812 he entered the first class in the medical department of Yale College, and in 1814 studied in the University of Pennsylvania.

John T. Catlin was born in New Marlborough, Mass. He was the son of Rev. Dr. Catlin, who was the teacher of Dr. David Smith. He attended a course of lectures at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at New York City in 1816 and 1817; was licensed to practice by the New York State Medical Society; practiced several years in Salisbury, and moved to Durham when Dr. Kirtland left. He died of fever, July 28th, 1825.

Henry Holmes, son of Uriah Holmes, of Litchfield, took his medical degree at Yale College, in 1825. He came to Durham about the same time with Harrison; boarded with Rev. Dr. Smith; spent the winter of 1830–31 at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York; returned to Durham, where he resided until 1833, when he went to Hartford, where he died in 1870. He held various offices in Hartford, was town physician, chairman of Board of Health Committee, city coroner, etc. He died a bachelor. He was polite almost to a fault. Dr. Russell, his biographer, says, “How often in after years he referred to this old town (Durham) and the happy time he spent there, many of us can remember. It was with the greatest pleasure that he referred to this or that event as having occurred when he was in Durham,—that when in Durham such or such a case had been treated by him, the minute details of which were still fresh in his memory.”

David Harrison was born in North Branford; graduated, M.D., at Yale College in 1826; soon afterward came to Durham at the death of Dr. Catlin; removed to Middletown in 1831; practiced in Cuba; returned to Middletown, and died a bachelor in December 1856, at Fair Haven, of heart disease.

William Hayden Rockwell graduated at Yale College in 1824; studied medicine with Dr. Thomas Hubbard, of Pomfret, who was afterward Professor at Yale, and with Dr. Eli Todd, of Hartford; took his medical degree at Yale College in 1831; came to Durham soon afterward, and remained in that town until the following year. He is now superintendent of the Insane Retreat, at Brattleboro, Vermont.

Erasmus D. North was a son of Dr. Elisha North, of New London. He was graduated at Chapel Hill College, North Carolina; took his medical degree in New Haven in 1833, and in the same year removed to Durham. He practiced four years in Durham, and left to be an instructor of elocution in Yale College. He died in 1855.

Seth L. Childs was born in Barnston, C.E. He studied medicine at Fort Covington, New York, and graduated at Woodstock, Vt. He came to Durham in 1838, was a member of the State Senate in 1845, built the house opposite the academy, which he sold to Dr. Fowler in 1845, and in the spring of 1846 removed to East Hartford, where he now resides.

Benjamin L. Fowler was born in Northford, studied medicine with Dr. Stanton, of Amenia, New York, and N. B. Ives of New Haven; graduated at Yale Medical School in 1845, and the same year came to Durham. He left Durham in 1856 for Poughkeepsie, N.Y., and there died, in September 1858, of pneumonia.

Rufus W. Mathewson was born in Coventry, R. I.; studied medicine in Norwich with W. Hooker, now professor of Practice of Medicine in Yale College, S. Johnson, and N. B. Ives of New Haven; attended lectures at Yale College in 1834–35; received his medical degree from the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, in 1835, then the only medical school in the city; remained in Norwich till 1846, then attended another course of lectures in New York; removed to Gale’s Ferry, in Ledyard, where he remained till he came to Durham, in 1856, and purchased the house of Dr. Fowler. He is still a practitioner in Durham.

Chauncey Andrews was born in Southington, Conn.; studied medicine with James Percival, of Kensington, father of the celebrated James Gates Percival, and practiced in Haddam, Hamden, and Durham. He died of cancer, in 1863.

Erasmus Darwin Andrews, son of the above, was born at Killingworth, Conn., in 1806. He graduated from Willoughby College, Ohio, practiced in Ohio and Durham. He died at the latter place in 1874, aged 65 years.

Thomas Moseley, son of Abner Moseley, of Glastonbury, was born in 1731, graduated at Yale College in 1751, and settled in East Haddam. He was one of the first Fellows elected by the Middlesex County Society, and was re-elected every year till his death. He was the fourth president and vice-president of the State Society, and was the first elected to either office from this county. He received the honorary degree of M.D. from the Connecticut Medical Society in 1795. He died in 1811, aged eighty years, leaving his medical library to his friend, Dr. Richard Ely.

Augustus Mather, brother of Elisha and Samuel Mather, was a contemporary with Dr. Moseley.

Dr. Jonah Cone was born in East Haddam, May 17th, 1763, and died September 18th, 1830, of typhus fever. He was educated in common school; then studied the languages with Rev. Elijah Parsons, and studied medicine with Dr. Thomas Moseley. He practiced all his life in East Haddam.

Datus Williams, a descendant from Robert Williams, of Roxbury, Mass., was born in Norwich, in 1793. He studied medicine with Dr. Osgood, of Lebanon, and with Dr. Cogswell, of Hartford. He attended lectures, and took a license to practice, from Yale College in 1823, and soon commenced practice in Millington. In 1835 he removed to the central part of the town, where he practiced till his death in 1867. His elder son, H. E. Williams, graduated at New York University in 1847, practiced in New York City till 1864, when he entered the service of his country as an assistant surgeon. His younger son was an officer in a New York City bank. He received the honorary degree of M.D. from Yale College. He practiced in substantially the same field for nearly half a century.

Winslow T. Huntington, of Bozrah, student of Earl Knight, graduated at Pittsfield, and commenced practice in East Haddam in 1832. He left the State in 1835.

Asa L. Spaulding, of Killingly, studied medicine with Dr. North, of Hartford, and received his degree from Yale College in 1832. He succeeded Dr. Huntington, and removed to Enfield in 1839, where he died of typhoid fever in 1864. Dr. Nye, of Middletown, succeeded Dr. Spaulding, and returned to Middletown in 1851.

Dr. Edmunds, a native of Griswold, studied medicine with his brother-in-law, B. M. Gay, and practiced in East Haddam for twenty years, where he died.

Nathaniel O. Harris, born at Salem, Conn., in 1823, graduated at New York University, 1854. He practiced in New London three years and in East Haddam twenty-seven years.

Albert Wells Bell, born in Killingworth in 1852, graduated from the New York University in 1873, and located in Moodus in 1875.

Christopher Holmes was born in Hadlyme in 1762, and died in 1812. He had a large practice, was one of the original members of the medical society, and stood well in the profession.

Asa Miller Holt was the successor of Dr. Holmes at Hadlyme, where he practiced for half a century. The degree of M.D. was conferred on him by Yale in 1833; he was a well-read physician, but too self-important to be agreeable to his professional brethren.

John Richmond was born in Brookfield, Mass., and studied medicine with Dr. Timothy Hall, of East Hartford. He commenced practice in East Hampton in 1792, and died in 1821 while attending a case of obstetrics, the patient dying at the same time. He educated a large number of physicians.

Richard Mayo Smith, a native of Chaplin, a student of the above, was attending lectures at the time of Dr. Richmond’s death; he succeeded his preceptor, and died the December following, aged 26 years.

Dr. Charles Smith, son of Col. Chester Smith, of North Stonington, who studied medicine with Dr. E. B. Downing, of Preston City, commenced practice in East Hampton in 1823. He removed to Middle Haddam, where he died in 1848, aged 47 years.

Francis Griswold Edgerton, third son of Simon and Lucy Griswold Edgerton, was born in Norwich, Conn., 1797, and died in East Hampton, in the town of Chatham, Conn., in 1870, aged 73 years. He studied medicine with Philemon Tracy, of Norwich Town, and William P. Eaton, of Norwich City. He attended lectures in New Haven in 1824–25, and received a license to practice. He located in East Hampton; he married Miss Marietta Daniels, who survives him. They had but one child, Francis D. Edgerton, M.D., of Middletown.

Albert Field was born in Bloomville, N.Y., and graduated from Long Island College Hospital in 1867. He practiced in Ashland, N.Y., then removed to East Hampton, Conn.

Lorin F. Wood, born in Medway, Mass., graduated from the Homoeopathic College, in New York City, in 1879. Since then he has practiced in East Hampton, Conn.

William F. G. Noelting was born in Mannheim, Germany, in 1819, and graduated at Wurzburg (Bavaria), Germany, in 1843.

Dr. Robert Usher, a native of Millington, in East Haddam, and a student of Dr. Huntington, of Windham, located in practice in the southeast part of Chatham, on the east side of Salmon River, near the Lyman Viaduct. Upon the breaking out of the Revolution, he went as a volunteer to the vicinity of Boston, in 1776, was appointed surgeon for Wadsworth’s regiment, in the recruits then raised for Cambridge, and served some time in that capacity. Dr. Elias Norton, son of Rev. John Norton, who served his time with Dr. Thomas Moseley, of East Haddam, was appointed mate of Dr. Usher. Dr. Usher returned from the war to his old home, where he died in 1820, aged 77.

Alanson H. Hough was born in Bozrah. He studied medicine with Earl Knight, and afterward with S. Johnson, of Bozrah. He graduated, M.D., at Yale, in 1832. He has practiced ever since at Essex.

Frederic W. Shepard was born in Plainfield in 1812. He studied medicine with Dr. Samuel Carter, of Saybrook, and graduated at Yale Medical School in 1834. He practiced one year at Gales’s Ferry; then removed to Essex, where he practiced twenty-five years, and died of pneumonia in 1860. He was a very excellent man in every respect, perhaps a little too excitable for a physician.

Charles H. Hubbard, son of Dr. D. H. Hubbard, of Clinton, graduated, M.D., at Yale in 1860. He has since practiced at Essex.

Dr. Hezekiah Brainerd, the oldest son of Hezekiah and Mary (Fiske) Brainerd, was graduated at Yale College in 1763, and studied medicine in part, if not wholly, with Dr. Benjamin Gale, of Killingworth, now Clinton, and commenced practice in his native place, where he was the principal physician for many years, and where, particularly as an inoculator for the smallpox, he was eminent, many resorting to him from Haddam and towns around for inoculation, as a protection against that disease, so dreadful when taken in the natural way. In 1787 he built a pock house (as it was called), under the direction of the town, which voted him the exclusive right to the business of inoculation and treatment, for the term of four years, paying him “ten shillings a head” for each resident inoculated, and receiving from him “eighteen pence a head,” for each non-resident. The thinness of the milk which constituted the bill of fare at the house is still proverbial. Upon the formation of Middlesex County, 1785, he was one of the number selected as judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and discharged the duties of that office until afflicted with paralysis in 1795, when he died, aged 63.

Dr. Smith Clark was born at Maromas, Middletown, graduated at Yale in 1786, where he was a classmate of Dr. Hall. He resided in Haddam for more than twenty years in the family of Dr. Brainerd, whom he succeeded in practice. He died in 1813. He was the first clerk of this society, and continued in office for ten years, and was one of the examining board for this county for about the same length of time. He was elected a Fellow for six years. Dr. Clark was a kind and faithful physician, beloved by the public, and respected by the profession.

Sylvester Buckley, born in Rocky Hill, graduated at Yale in 1810, was graduated M.D. at Dartmouth in 1812. He began practice in Haddam town in 1813, and some years afterward practiced in Chester and Higganum; in Cromwell from 1821 to 1830; and in Worthington from 1830 until within a recent period. He is now in practice in his native place. He was one of the first graduates who located in the county.

Andrew F. Warner (Yale, 1812), son of Selden Warner, of Hadlyme, studied medicine with Dr. Thomas Miner, of Middletown, and attended lectures at Yale College. He practiced medicine in Haddam, and died while clerk of the Medical Society, in 1825. Dr. Hutchinson succeeded him, marrying his widow.

Dr. Benjamin Hopkins Catlin was born in Harwinton, in 1801. He attended lectures in Yale College in 1824–25, and received his license to practice from the Connecticut Medical Society. The same year he commenced practice in Haddam. He removed to Meriden where he died in 1880, in the seventy-ninth year of his age.

William H. Tremaine was born in South Lee, Mass., and graduated, Berkshire, in 1838. He commenced practice at Higganum in 1845, and moved to Hartford in 1856, where he died in April 1883.

Miner C. Hazen was born at Agawam, Mass., in 1829. He graduated at the University of Michigan in 1855, practiced in Middletown, then removed to Haddam in 1860.

Leroy A. Smith was born in Haddam in 1843. He practiced in Hartford till 1880, and in Higganum ever since.

S. B. Bailey, of Higganum, is a successful physician and a prominent citizen, but no information has been obtained of his professional history.

Dr. Amos Skeels, a native of Woodbury, was a soldier in the Revolutionary War; and in the battle of White Plains was wounded in the right arm while pursuing the English in their retreat from Danbury; being in consequence unfitted for labor he turned his attention to the study of medicine. He commenced practice in Hampton, Conn., in 1783; removed to Middle Haddam, near the line of East Hampton, in 1787; and again to Somers in 1795, and afterward to Chicopee, Mass. He died in 1843, aged 93.

Dr. Joshua Arnold, a brother of Dr. John Arnold, of Middletown, studied with Rev. Phineas Fiske, in 1738. He died in 1753, aged 66 years.

Jeremiah Bradford settled in Middle Haddam in 1754 and practiced till 1814, when his age was 80 years. He was a man of good sense and an able practitioner, but much of a coward.

Albert B. Worthington, a native of Colchester, studied with Dr. John P. Fuller, then of Salem, Conn. He attended lectures in New York, and graduated at Yale in 1847. He came to Middle Haddam a little before the death of D. C. Smith, and he is still practicing there.

Rufus Turner was born at Mansfield, Connecticut, September 1st, 1790. With a good preliminary education, he entered the office of Dr. Joseph Palmer, of Ashford, and in 1813–14 attended the first course of lectures given at Yale College. Dr. Turner was licensed by the State Medical Society in 1814, and settled in Killingworth, where he continued in the practice of his profession for thirty-seven years, until his death, after an illness of four days, in November, 1851. As a practitioner he was careful and conservative, but in cases where promptness was demanded, bold and fearless, faithful in attendance, giving freely of his time and thought to the case in hand, warding off unfavorable complications, and always striving to have the last blow at death. In the protracted fevers of those days he was particularly skillful, and was very frequently called to neighboring towns in consultation. He received the honorary degree of M.D. from the Medical Society and the Corporation of Yale College in 1830, and was for several years Fellow and member of the Standing Committee to nominate professors in Yale College.

Dr. Benjamin Hill, it is said, studied medicine with Dr. Gale. He married Hannah Nettleton, of Killingworth, and practiced at North Killingworth with acceptation. He removed to Western New York about 1823.

Augustine J. Webster was born in Sandisfield, Massachusetts; studied medicine with Dr. William Welch, of Norfolk, Connecticut; took his medical degree at Pittsfield, Massachusetts; located in Killingworth in 1861, and practiced till 1864, when he died of erysipelas.

G. C. Reynolds studied medicine with John C. Fuller, at Salem, and graduated at New York University in 1852; commenced practice in Killingworth in 1866; remained five years, and then removed to Guilford.

Drs. Webster and Reynolds received a gratuity of about $300 a year while they practiced in that town.

Dr. J. Hamilton Lee, only son of Selah Lee, of Madison, graduated M.D. at Yale College in 1858; commenced practice at Greenville, Connecticut, where he had a good business till the war broke out. He was appointed assistant surgeon of the 21st Connecticut Volunteers, and was soon promoted to the position of brigade surgeon of the 3rd Brigade. Upon the close of the war he spent a few months in Mississippi, then returned to Killingworth, where he died of apoplexy in 1881.

Harris B. Burr, M.D., was born in Haddam, Conn., in 1820. He was educated at Brainard Academy, was a graduate of Worcester Medical College, and commenced practice in New Haven in 1844. Thence he removed to Killingworth in 1847, where he remained in the practice of his profession until his death, in 1861. Dr. Burr held many important offices in the town, was its representative for several sessions of the Legislature, and for six years high sheriff of Middlesex County. He was characteristically liberal in his views, and manifested a surprising readiness to march with the progress of the hour. In his profession he was distinguished by close application and very marked ability. His dignified, gentlemanly bearing never left him. Dr. Burr died September 29th, 1861.

Edward P. Nichols, M.D., was born in Newark, New Jersey, November 23rd, 1827. He graduated at Princeton College, New Jersey, in 1848, and graduated at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, in New York City, 1852. He commenced the practice of his profession in Newark, N.J., and was at once successful, so that he served as acting assistant surgeon, United States General Hospital, about a year and a half during the late war. He continued in practice until he moved to Killingworth, October 1881. Since then to the present time he has had a good practice.

Dr. A. Ward practiced in Middlefield several years. He died August 12th, 1788, aged 32 years.

Febiel Hoadley, Yale, 1768, was born in Northford. He practiced in Middlefield all his life. He made a specialty of colic curing. Gov. Hoadley, of Ohio, was a descendant of the family to which Dr. Hoadley belonged.

Dr. Elisha Ely was born in Lyme, in 1748, and like the former Elys, was a descendant of the original Richard Ely, who came from Plymouth, England, and settled in Lyme. He was half-brother to Dr. John Ely, with whom he is supposed to have studied his profession. He practiced at Old Saybrook; was largely engaged in small-pox inoculation. His reception house was on the present Fenwick grounds.

Samuel Carter, M.D., son of Benjamin and Phebe (Buel) Carter, was born in Killingworth, Conn., July 10th, 1779. He studied medicine with Dr. Austin Olcott, of Clinton, and commenced practice in Saybrook, Conn., in September 1802. He received his honorary degree of M.D. from Yale College, September 21st, 1822. After practicing in Saybrook for a third of a century, he removed to Vernon, N.Y., and died in 1853, aged 74, and was buried in Saybrook. He was a first-class teacher of medicine, and had many students.

Asa Howe King, son of the Rev. Asa and Eunice Howe King, was born in New Haven in 1798. He graduated honorably at Yale College in 1821. He studied medicine with Dr. Andrew Warner, of Haddam; graduated in medicine from Bowdoin College in 1824; commenced practice in Branford; removed to Essex in 1827, and from there to Old Saybrook in 1835, where he died, November 20th, 1870.

John H. Granniss was born at Ridgefield, Connecticut, and graduated at Yale Medical School in 1868. He served as private in the 17th Regiment Connecticut Volunteers in 1862 and 1863, and as surgeon’s steward, United States Navy, till the war ended. He located in Old Saybrook in 1869.

Dr. Isaac Smith was the son of Dea. Isaac Smith, of East Hampton. He studied medicine with Dr. William B. Hall, of Middletown, and commenced practice in North Killingworth, now the town of Killingworth. Having spent a few years there, he removed to Portland in 1800, where he practiced until his death, a period of thirty-nine years.

Newell Smith was born in Middle Haddam; studied medicine with Dr. John Richmond, of East Haddam, and practiced twenty-five years in Central New York. He afterward practiced ten years in Portland, where he died, aged 60 years.

Henry Everlin Cook, a native of Portland, who studied with Dr. Sperry, of New London, about 1835 commenced practice as a Thomsonian physician in Portland, where he remained about three years, and then removed to Moodus, in East Haddam, where he practiced as a cancer curer. His son, H. C. Cook, succeeded him in business.

C. A. Sears, M.D., was born at Chatham, Connecticut, in 1840; graduated from Union Medical College in 1862; practiced in East Glastonbury three years, and then removed to Portland.

Cornelius E. Hammond was born in Ellington, Connecticut. He graduated from New York University in 1848, and practiced in Rockville, South Glastonbury, and Portland.

E. B. Morgan was born in Haddam, Connecticut, 1853. He practiced in Lyme, then removed to Portland.

Edwin Bidwell was born in South Manchester, Connecticut, in 1821; graduated from Yale Medical College in 1847. He practiced in Madison, Westbrook, Haddam, and Deep River, where he succeeded Dr. Rufus Baker. Dr. Bidwell has a son practicing at Goodspeeds, in East Haddam.

Dr. Cone, a student of Dr. Elisha Mather, succeeded Dr. Ely, and practiced many years.

Horace Burr, a native of Haddam, graduated at Yale Medical Institution in 1842, and located in Westbrook, where he practiced about thirty years and then removed to Wilmington, Delaware.

Gersham C. H. Gilbert, a native of Mansfield, A.B., Yale, 1841, M.D., Yale, 1844, practiced in Portland till 1866. He is now practicing in Westbrook.

Thomas B. Bloomfield, a graduate of College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1876, late physician in the Insane Hospital, is now practicing in Westbrook.

Biographical Sketches of Early Middlesex County Doctors

Source

Whittemore, Henry, History of Middlesex county, Connecticut, with biographical sketches of its prominent men, New York : J. B. Beers & Co., 1884.

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Biographical Sketches of Early Middlesex County Doctors

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