SOURCES OF INFORMATION.

     The history of the earliest practitioners of the healing art in Clark County is very meager.  What is known of them has come from two sources; that which has been handed down from one generation to the next in the memories of men, and that which has been preserved in the more or less incomplete records of the Clark County Medical Society.  Some physicians, of course, were not members of the Society, and so nothing is known of them from that source.  In the early days there was no elaborate system of registration, such as we have today, by means of which some record is kept of every legalized practitioner and will be preserved for future generations.
     Two physicians are still living whose lives span the greater part of the history of the county.  For more than a half century they have been useful and honored members of the profession and of the County Society.  These men are Dr. Isaac Kay and Dr. John H. Rodgers, both of whom read interesting and valuable papers on medical history upon the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of membership in the society of Dr. Isaac Kay and the

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late Dr. H. H. Seys.  These papers have been incorporated in the minutes of the society.
     The Clark County Medical Society has an ancient and an honorable history.  The records of the society have been preserved from its earliest infancy.  They were well written and are of great interest, especially to physicians, as they show in a definite manner the progress of medical thought.  One thing that is inclined to cause a feeling of sadness as they are read, is the fact that they contain the names of so many men who were evidently prominent members of the society and probably influential citizens of the community, who are practically unknown today only a few decades after they have gone to their rewards, so fleeting is human memory, and so few men there are who succeed in making a secure place even in a local history.

MEDICAL DISTRICT.

     In 1815 the Legislature divided the state into medical districts, the Seventh, which was composed of the following counties: Montgomery, Champaign, Greene, Preble, Miami and Darke.  The medical society organized in this district, licensed to practice medicine, among others, Dr. Isaac Hendershott and Dr. W. A. Needham, who located in this county and who were probably among the very earliest pioneers of the profession in the county.
     In 1824 the Legislature again divided the state into districts, this time twenty in number, of which the Seventh was composed of Montgomery and Clark Counties.  The Clark County physicians who were members of the society organized in this district were as follows: Drs. W. A. Needham, Richard Hunt, Elijah Lawrence, Ambrose Blount, Job Haines, Thos. S. Towler and ROBT. HOUSTON of South Charleston.

     DR. RICHARD HUNT was probably the first physician to locate in Springfield.  He was born in Greenwich, Cumberland County, New Jersey, in 1780.  He came to Cincinnati in 1807, and learning that there was no physician in Springfield, came here at once and began to practice, boarding at
Griffith Foos' tavern.  He is said to have been present at the Indian conference when Tecumseh refused to disarm his followers and it was he who offered the clay pipe which Tecumseh tossed away in disgust.  In 1818 he wrote to a friend that Springfield had four public houses, eleven stores, three physicians, three attorneys, and mechanics of every description.  He married Miss Frances Reeder,
then living on the Yellow Springs Road about three miles from town.  His daughter, Miss Sophia Hunt, is living here.  He died in 1848.

     DR. WILLIAM A. NEEDHAM was born in Shoreham, Vt., in 1776, and came to Springfield in 1813.  He first located near Lagonda, which for that reason was called "Pillville."  He afterwards lived in a log cabin on the southwest corner of Columbia  and Factory Streets until 1817, when he moved to his own frame house on the corner of Main street and the first alley east of Limestone, where he died in 1834.  An interesting fact in his history is that his last visit was made upon the occasion of the birth of William Needham Whitely, "The Reaper King," the middle name of whom is thus accounted for.  He, sick as he was, returning from this call, died in four days of some malignant epidemic fever.  He was buried in the old Colum-

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bia Street graveyard.  Dr. Henry Baldwin, the city health officer, is a great-grandson of Dr. Needham.

     DR. ISAAC HENDERSHOTT is another of the pioneers of special interest to present-day physicians as he was the first President of the Clark County Medical Society and one of the few physicians who have held an elective office in Clark County, excepting that of coroner.  Nothing is known of the date or place of his birth or of his coming to Springfield.  He was a cripple, walking with one cane, as the result of hip-joint disease, and had a very beautiful daughter who became afflicted with and died as a result of the same disease.  He was at one time postmaster, and twice was elected county recorder, from 1835, and from 1856 to the time of his death, in 1862.

     DR. JOB HAINES was born in New Jersey in 1791 and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1815.  He practice medicine in partnership with Dr. Hunt until 1817, when he removed to Dayton, where he practiced until he died in 1860.
     The above meager facts are about all that can be learned of the first generation of physicians, the real pioneers of the profession.  There are no doubt persons living, who, if they were known, could give something of interest of others, especially of those who practiced outside of the City of Springfield.  If there be any such, the writer would be more than pleased to have them communicate with him in regard to the matter.

COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY.

     The Clark County Medical Society was organized on Apr. 4th, 1838, at the Buckeye Hotel.  A preliminary meeting to arrange for the organization had been held March 1st, 1838, in the office of Dr. Robert Rodgers.  The following officers were elected:  President, Isaac Hendershott, vice-president, ____ Smith, secretary, Robert Rodgers; treasurer, William Murdock; Board of Censors, Berkley Gillette, E. W. Steele, and Robt. Rodgers.  The constitution was signed by the following: Isaac Hendershott, Benj. Winwood, Berkley Gillete, Elias Garst, Robt. Rodgers, Wm. Murdock, ROBT. HOUSTON, John C. Stone, Michael Garst and James Robbins.  In addition to these there appear in the minutes the names of Happersette and Towler.  Two meetings were held each year; the annual meeting in April and semi-annual in November, somewhat in contrast to the present society, which meets twice each month.  The first paper was read April 30th, 1838, by Dr. Winwood on “Progressive Improvement of Medicine in America,” and another at the same meeting by Dr. Garst on “The Mucous Membrane of the Alimentary Tract.” The infant could not survive the second summer, and passed away after the election of officers, Apr. 14, 1840.

REORGANIZATION.

     A meeting was held to reorganize in the office of Dr. Robt. Rodgers; vice-presidents, Berkley Gillette and Isaac Hendershott; secretary, E. M. Buckingham; treasurer, G. H. Bunyan; Board of Censors, B. Gillette, Jesse Cook, J. N. Stockstill, G. H. Bunyan and Robt. Rodgers.
     While all of those who were present at the meeting to reorganize the society have

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PHOTO
RESIDENCE OF J. S. CROWELL, SPRINGFIELD

PHOTO
RESIDENCE OF J. S. CROWELL, SPRINGFIELD

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long since gone to their rewards, it is during this period that names begin to appear that connect it with the present.  At the May meeting, 1853, the late Dr. H. H. Seys was admitted to membership, and one year later the same honor was bestowed upon Dr. Isaac Kay, who is the senior member of the present society.  Dr. John H. Rodgers, the second member of the present society, in the point of age, and one of the first in interest, was admitted in 1856.

SECOND REORGANIZATION.

     After five years of activity the society was again allowed to discontinue, this time for nine years, or until Apr. 12th, 1864, when it was reorganized and again the meeting was held in the office of Dr. Rogers.  Of the eight men at the meeting in May, 1850, Dr. Rodgers was the only one present this one, the others having all died or moved away.  The following were the officers elected at this meeting: President, Robt. Rodgers; vice-presidents, A. C. McLaughlin, and Edward Owen; secretary, Isaac Kay; treasurer, A. Dunlap; censors, A. Dunlap, E. M. Buckingham, Geo. F. Kennedy, H. H. YOUNG and Isaac Kay.  Of the officers elected at this time.  Dr. Kay alone survives.
     During the periods of the history of the medical society just passed over there appear the names of the truly great men of the profession, men whose lives and deeds were such that they deserve to be handed down to future generations as Clark County's examples of "The doctors of the old school," men who braved the perils of flood and storm, of pestilence and fever, just as real as those faced by that great creation of the novelist's imagination, Weelum MacClure of Drumtockty.  All of them are worthy of mention, but space and available material will permit of only the briefest mention of some of them.

     DR. ROBERT RODGERS

     DR. BERKLEY GILLETTE

 

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     DR. ANDREW BRUCE

     DR. BENJAMIN WINWOOD

     ALEXANDER DUNLAP

     DR. ISAAC KAY, the senior member of

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     JOHN H. RODGERS

     DR. H. H. SEYS

     DRS. BUCKINGHAM