LOCAL HISTORY: Tarring S. Davis, History of Blair County, Volume I, 1931, Blair County, PA - Chapter 13 Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Judy Banja Copyright 2005. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/blair/ html file: http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/blair/1picts/davis/tdavis1.htm _______________________________________________ A HISTORY OF BLAIR COUNTY PENNSYLVANIA UNDER EDITORIAL SUPERVISION OF TARRING S. DAVIS LUCILE SHENK, ASSOCIATE EDITOR HARRISBURG: NATIONAL HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION, INC., 1931 VOLUME I CHAPTER XIII THE MEDICAL PROFESSION AND MEDICAL PRACTICE 182 BLAIR COUNTY HISTORY THE history of medicine and the medical profession in Blair County has its beginnings in the pioneer days. The physicians were few, hard-working and sympathetic, with limited facilities for easing pain and curing ills. Bleeding was generally used for a great variety of ailments, calomel was prescribed frequently, too. In addition to prescribing for internal ailments, the physician had to be surgeon and medical practitioner combined. Amputations were sometimes necessary in the hard life of the frontier. Very often home-made splints had to be applied to broken bones, and in some cases the doctor had to play the role of dentist and remove an aching tooth with the "turnkey." The number of frontier practitioners were few, the population was scattered, and transportation difficult. As a result many varieties of home remedies were put into use before the doctor was called in, or in case he could not be found. Traveling by horseback, the pioneer doctor covered many miles of rough trails in making his rounds. He was tireless in his work and never had the opportunity to specialize in any particular phase of medicine, for his practice was always general. Many times he practised the adage "Necessity is the mother of invention," and put into use whatever homely remedies were at hand in obscure mountain cabins. The pioneer days were days of large families and many deaths. Contagious diseases could not be checked, because the germ theory was not prevalent then. Isolation of cases, such as smallpox, was almost impossible because of the crowded conditions in the small frontier cabins. The work of the pioneer doctor can never be lauded enough. It was he, who in addition to caring for the bodily ills, aided in solving personal problems, and untiringly served persons living over great areas of land without accumulating more wealth than was barely necessary. The type of work that befell him was so varied that he really came to know how to adapt himself to new conditions continually. Thus it is that the pioneer doctor stands out among the members of professions as a great personality with unknown capacities for healing sick bodies and minds. Curious as it may seem in this practical-minded world, the physician of the frontier was not the only source of available advice for bodily ills. Eggleston, in his volume the "Transit of Civilization," devotes much space to accounts of the medical practices, traditionally handed down from generation to generation in the European homes of our American pioneers, and carried by them to the New World. Vogel, in his publication "Superstitions of the Pennsylvania Germans," produces a wealth of material, including medical practices, gathered from every section of Pennsylvania. Hygiene has done much to shatter the superstitions that grandparents and great-grandparents throughout the United States practised faithfully. It is a revelation to some of us to discover that nevertheless many of them are still put to use. This fact is another striking indication of the truth of the theory that local customs and institutions are the most clinging and THE MEDICAL PROFESSION AND MEDICAL PRACTICE 183 are hardest to uproot. It is still possible in Blair County to learn something of early superstitious remedies used by our forefathers, if older citizens are sought out and questioned as to what their grandmothers believed to be the best remedy for measles or mumps. These traditions are frequently thought to be characteristically German. A study of the other pioneer stocks brings one to the conclusion that before the science of medicine achieved prominence and general acceptance, such practices were in use everywhere, and are not limited to persons or places. J. Elmer Butts, Supervising Principal of the Morrison's Cove Joint Vocational School, at Martinsburg, has prepared a collection of "Home Cures for Diseases," that have been actually practised in our county. In some instances several cures were advised for the same ailment. The list as prepared by Mr. Butts follows. CROUP - A narrow belt of ribbon tied around the child's neck. EAR ACHE - Roast onion in ashes, peel and put the heart of the onion into the ear. Melt two drops of butter and pour into the ear. Blow cigar smoke into the ear. Put a cat's nose to the ear. FEVER - Put salt in the stockings. Put bags of salt on the feet. FELON* - A person, who before the age of seven, has had a blind mole in his hand until dead, can cure felon by holding the hand with the felon. FITS - Put salt in the hands for fits. FRECKLES - Walk downstairs backwards on the first day of May, wash in the dew before talking to anyone. APPENDICITIS - Eat turnip seeds to prevent appendicitis. BOILS - Go around a boil nine times with a cat's tail. BEE STING - Use wet mud. ASTHMA - For child, bore hole in a tree at the height of the child. In it put a lock of the child's hair. When the child grows higher than the hole, the asthma will have gone. BLEEDING - Certain persons quote Scripture to stop bleeding. The first name must be known. A black silk thread worn around the neck prevents nose-bleeding. Drop a door key or cold water down the back to stop nose-bleeding. Place a piece of paper under the lip to stop nose-bleeding. Use a dusty cobweb to stop bleeding. CORNS - Cover the corns with grafting wax. DIPHTHERIA - Onions and speck for diphtheria. DIRT IN THE EYE - Put flax seed in the eye. GROWTHS - Rub a growth three times with the right hand of a dead man. GOITER - Wear a string of Job's Tears around the neck. Tie a frog around the neck until warm, then allow it to hop away. Wear an eel-skin around the neck. HEADACHE - Put mustard poltice on the feet. Vinegar and black pepper on a damp cloth tied around the head. Carry a bullet that has killed a hog. 184 BLAIR COUNTY HISTORY HIVES - Stay out of the water in "Dog Days" to prevent hives. Rub the hives with bran. HICCOUGH - Think about three churches in one district. Take three swallows of water. Take nine swallows of water without breathing. HOMESICKNESS - To cure, drink dishwater. To prevent - put salt in the hem of one's apron unawares. Upon leaving home, hide the dishrag among one's belongings. JAUNDICE - Feed the patient a pill made from the combings from the head. Hollow a carrot, fill with urine, hang in the chimney until all has disappeared. MEASLES - Wear salt in the shoes. MUMPS - Rub neck on the edge of the hog trough. NAIL IN FOOT - Grease the nail, lay away in a dry place. Wound will not get sore. PNEUMONIA - Wear a silk vest to prevent pneumonia. RHEUMATISM - Roll in the dew on Good Friday. Eat whole flax seed. Carry a horse chestnut. RING WORM - Tie a fish bait on the arm until dead. Draw a circle around the ring worm with an indelible pencil. Use a mixture of vinegar and black gun-powder. Pass a gold coin or a thimble around it ten times. SNAKE BITE - Carry an onion in the pocket to prevent. SORES - Eat a raw egg on Good Friday to prevent. SORE THROAT - Wear the right stocking around the neck. TAKE-OFF** - Tie a string containing nine kinds of fruit around the neck. Pass the child through the bake oven three times. Pass the child through the steps or around the table leg three times. TOOTHACHE - Bore a hole in a nutmeg and wear around the neck. WARTS - Put saliva on a potato, rub the wart, bury. Wart will leave as the potato sprouts. Pick up a bone, rub the wart three times, lay it down same as found, leave without looking at it. Rub with bacon, put in rain spout. Washed away, wart leaves. Rub with corn grains and feed to swine. Rub with bloody chicken head and bury under the roof. Apply stump water. WHOOPING COUGH - Something eaten which has been given by a woman who did not change her name when married. Feed the child pap soup from which a dog has taken three laps. Draw a live fish through the mouth three times, throw into the pond. Put a horse collar around the neck. SPRAINS - Tie a yarn string around the sprain. Tie an eel skin around the sprain. Tie a knotted string around the wrist. COLD - Walk in the dew. PAIN IN THE SIDE - Pick up a stone and throw it over the shoulder. Pick up a stone, spit under it and place it as before. An apple a day keeps the doctor away. An onion a day keeps the doctor away. BLOOD POISON - Soybean poltice. Pioneer physicians in the county included Dr. John McCloskey, who according to early records was unmarried, owned one horse and practised in Frankstown THE MEDICAL PROFESSION AND MEDICAL PRACTICE 185 Township in 1787. Dr. Bond was another Frankstown physician who owned unseated lands there at the same time. Dr. John Buchanan had an extensive clientele throughout Blair and Huntingdon Counties before the Nineteenth Century. He was succeeded by Dr. Alexander Johnston, of Frankstown, who followed his profession in this county until he moved to Indiana County in 1856. Drs. James Coffey, John Metzger and Thomas Stark are listed on Frankstown records bearing the date of 1830. Dr. George Kneophler was prominently identified with the early life of Williamsburg where he practised in the first part of the Nineteenth Century. Other members of the profession who served in that neighborhood then were: Drs. Daniel Houtz, Alfred Keisey, Jesse Wolf, James Trimble, Robert Hamill and John D. Ross. At Davidsburg, Dr. Thomas Johnston owned property in 1830. Ten years later, Drs. Schmidt and John Getty were serving in the vicinity of Martinsburg. Pioneers at Hollidaysburg were Drs. Joseph A. Landis, who was there in 1837, and Crawford Irwin, from 1854 for a half-century that followed, and Dr. Aristide Rodrique, who became the first vice-president of the Blair County Medical Society. In Altoona, among the first physicians to serve the community after it was organized were: Drs. John Christy, J. C. McKee, John Fay, Samuel D. Ross, William Hall, George F. Arney, Edwin S. Miller, E. M. Ike, Harvey K. Hoy, J. Tietze, John H. Weaver, David J. Appleby, J. W. Rowe, J. H. Hogue and H. C. McCarthy. Every county has a family or two in which several generations of physicians have been actively identified with the work of the profession. In Berks there are the Levengoods, in Lebanon the Marshalls, and in Blair the Findleys and Taylors. Dr. Christy established his first offices in Hollidaysburg with Dr. Aristide Rodrique. In 1854, he became associated with Dr. J. C. McKee, later a surgeon of the United States Army, in the drug business in Altoona. During a period of half a century, Dr. Christy was well known in local medical circles. Dr. John Fay, a native of Williamsburg, graduated from Jefferson Medical College in 1855, and returned to his home town where he followed his profession until he entered the service of the Union Army in the Civil War. It was after that time that he came to Altoona and built for himself an enviable reputation as a keen, unerring analyst of disease. He was able in surgery and was appointed chief surgeon for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. With the organization of the Altoona Hospital, in which he manifested much interest and activity, he became chief of staff and remained in that capacity from 1885, when it first began operations, until his death in 1907. The high character of his services, and the great regard with which he was held in the community, expressed itself in the erection of a monument to his memory on the grounds of the hospital. One of his most able assistants on the medical staff of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company was the late Dr. Caleb Horace Closson, also a surgeon, who was a native of Tipton and graduated from the Jefferson Medical College in 1873. 186 BLAIR COUNTY HISTORY He rapidly rose to the front rank in medical circles of central Pennsylvania. Dr. Closson performed the first amputation of a leg in the Altoona Hospital under difficult conditions, without modern equipment. This operation gave him much prominence in surgery. Later he served as physician to the poor of the county, and was very active in public health work, particularly in Altoona, where he was secretary of the Board of Health. His death occurred in 1911. The Findley family were first represented in the profession in Blair County by Dr. William R. Findley, who practised in Williamsburg and Frankstown before coming to Altoona in 1854. He continued in this city for more than forty years, and with the other members of his family who entered the profession, built a splendid reputation for service and character. His sons, Drs. Thomas F. and William M. Findley, began practice here. The former's services were terminated after five years, by death. But Dr. William B. Findley became a leader in the profession and was appointed to the first medical staff of the Altoona Hospital. He was identified with his profession in this city from 1866 to 1907. Dr. Joseph D. Findley, his son, took up the mantle of his immediate predecessors when he graduated from the medical school of the University of Pennsylvania in 1900. He has ably carried on the traditions of the family, for he became a member of the staff at the Altoona Hospital in 1906, and chief of staff in 1919, a position which he continues to hold. His surgical ability is of such a high order that he has been elected to be a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. Dr. Amos Ogden Taylor is a son of Dr. James Taylor, and was graduated from Hahnemann Medical College in 1883. Since then he has practised in this county, principally in Altoona, where he is a well-known homeopath. His sons, Drs. James Swan Taylor and Samuel Paul Taylor, are among the younger leaders of the profession here. The former is a noted obstetrician, serves as chief of that department in the Altoona Hospital and is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. In 1914, he was granted his degree at the Medical College of the University of Pennsylvania. The entrance of the United States in the World War saw Dr. Taylor enlisting in the medical corps, receiving the commission of lieutenant, serving at Base Hospital Number 64 at the front, and rising to the rank of captain before receiving his honorable discharge. Dr. Samuel Paul Taylor, the younger son of Dr. Amos Ogden Taylor, also received his professional training in the Medical School of the University of Pennsylvania, graduating in 1919. Also a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, he is now assistant surgeon for the Altoona Hospital. An example of the unusual qualities that are present in this young physician and surgeon are expressed in his great personal courage and unusual presence of mind. In a motor accident in the spring of 1931 his heels were caught in the door of his car, and the arteries cut. To relieve his condition he applied tourniquets and drove back to Altoona for assistance. There are several other Blair County families in which father and son have been noted members of the medical profession, but the Findleys and Taylors are outstanding in the number of representatives. At present there are 104 physicians in Altoona. They include Drs. George THE MEDICAL PROFESSION AND MEDICAL PRACTICE 187 Ellsworth Alleman, David Edward Allen, William Franklin Beck, William Herbert Black, Gerald Douglas Bliss, Joseph Uriah Blose, George Edwin Boesinger, Daniel Bohn, Arthur St. Clair Brumbaugh and Clair William Burket. Dr. Burket has been practising here for more than twenty years, became a member of the Mercy Hospital staff when it was organized, and has continued in that capacity ever since. He is a recognized authority in his special field which is gynecology. Dr. Daniel Gordon Burket graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School in 1922 and came to Altoona to engage in his profession in 1925. Here he has been associated with Dr. Howell, and is a member of the Mercy Hospital staff. Drs. James Malcolm Cameron, Charles Campbell, Harry Downing Collett, Harry Blair Corl, Sarah M. Davies, Charles Walter Delaney, Christopher Cyrus Dick, Herman H. Dight and George James Donovan. Dr. Donovan came to Altoona as an interne in Mercy Hospital, after graduating from McGill University at Montreal in 1925. He is a native of Fredericton, New Brunswick, and has rapidly attained prominence as an anaesthetist and X-ray specialist in connection with the Altoona Clinic, where he is in charge of that phase of professional work. Drs. Roswell Thomas Eldon, Paul Epright and Charles Edward Fawber. The latter is identified with the practice of homeopathy here. He is a graduate of the Hahnemann Medical School, Philadelphia, class of 1925. Dr. Joseph Dysart Findley has been referred to earlier. Dr. John Hughes Galbraith is a specialist in orthopedics, who has the advantage of much experience in that field gained while in the medical corps of the United States Army during the World War. He served for two years in the 32nd and 90th Divisions at the Liverpool Orthopedic Hospital, the Base Hospital Center at Savigny, France, and at Lakewood Hospital, Camp Dix, New Jersey. At present he is a member of the staffs of two Altoona hospitals, and is a consultant for the Phillipsburg State Hospital. Dr. Galbraith is recognized as outstanding in his field and is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. Drs. Fred William Geib, Ralston Ozias Gettemy and Pietro Giacchelli. The latter came to the United States from Italy in 1904. He received his education at the University of Turin there, and graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1897. He has been connected with the Mercy Hospital staff, Altoona. Drs. Lewis Pellman Glover and Samuel P. Glover. Dr. S. P. Glover is a well-known specialist in diseases of the ear, eye, nose and throat. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Medical School with the class of 1884, he made special preparation for his work at the University of Vienna, Austria. For five years, before coming to Altoona in 1891, he taught in the American College at Beirut, Syria. With the opening of hostilities in the Spanish-American War, Dr. Glover entered the service of the United States as an assistant surgeon. The Pennsylvania Railroad Company engaged him as a surgeon on their medical 188 BLAIR COUNTY HISTORY staff, and he retained that post for fifteen years. At present he leads in his specialties here, and is laryngologist at the Cresson Sanitarium. Dr. Andrew Jackson Williams Handwork is another laryngologist who is connected with that phase of medical science as a member of the Altoona Hospital staff. He has been following his profession here since 1913, after graduating from Hahnemann Medical School. Dr. Handwork took special post-graduate courses in London and Vienna. During the World War he spent two years in the United States Army Medical Corps, part of which time he was stationed at Base Hospital Number 94, in France. Drs. William Harlos, Henry Lloyd Hartzell, Ralph Francis Himes, John D. Hogue, Ernest Justin Hoover, William H. Howell, Benjamin L. Hull and Logan Earle Hull. Dr. Logan E. Hull specializes in obstetrics in addition to maintaining an extensive general practice. He graduated from the Medical School of the University of Pittsburgh in 1910 and after establishing offices in Altoona became a member of the Altoona Hospital staff. The World War found him ready to serve wherever needed. He entered the medical corps of the army, was commissioned as a first lieutenant, and spent two years in hospitals of France and Germany. In the latter country he was connected with the Army of Occupation at Coblenz for a year. His division of the service participated in the Aisne- Marne, St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne Campaigns while in France. At Evacuation Hospital Number 6 he became a specialist in X-ray work. He was elevated to the rank of captain before receiving his honorable discharge. Dr. Spencer Wells Hurst is a representative of a prominent family of Lancaster County. He completed his professional training at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School in 1909, and was made an assistant medical examiner for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company at Altoona. Since then he has become chief medical examiner for the company. Drs. William Arthur Jarrett, Henry O. Jones, Frank Keagy, Augustus Sheridan Kech, Denzil King, Frederick Joseph Edmund Koelsch and Louis Lass. Dr. Lass is identified with the medical staff of the Altoona Hospital. He is a native of Poland, and received his professional education at New York University and the University of Maryland, graduating from the latter institution in 1921. Dr. Dwight Elmer Long is engaged in general practice here. In 1910, he completed his medical course at the Chicago College of Medicine and Surgery. He was commissioned a lieutenant and later a captain in the medical corps of the United States Army during the World War. In this period he was stationed at Newport News Base Hospital and with the 48th Infantry. Drs. Merrell Harrison Long and Edward W. Loudon. The latter is a scion of an old Pennsylvania family, who has practised in Altoona for twenty years. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Medical School and in 1907 established offices here. Dr. Loudon has been medical inspector for the public schools of Logan Township and Altoona. At present he is chief medical examiner for the Prudential Life Insurance Company, and for the Knights and Federal Union Life Insurance Companies. THE MEDICAL PROFESSION AND MEDICAL PRACTICE 189 Dr. Ada Belle Blair Mackey is one of the few women represented in the profession. Dr. Richard Samuel Magee has been connected with Altoona medical circles for ten years. Immediately after leaving Jefferson Medical College in 1916, he entered the medical corps of the United States Army and was with the 1st Battalion, 69th Infantry, 5th Division, until the Armistice was declared. Then he was assigned to the Base Hospital at Brest, France, and remained there until July, 1919, when he returned to the United States. Then he was stationed at the Fitzsimmons General Hospital in Denver, Colorado, until he resigned in 1920. In Altoona he serves on the Altoona Hospital Staff. Drs. Herbert Dudley Maginley, William Kieffer Maglaughlin and William Kirk Mathewson. Dr. Mathewson is one of the founders of the Altoona Clinic and is now its treasurer. Graduating from Hahnemann Medical School in 1920, he became a specialist in surgery and urology. He has engaged in extensive research in New York hospitals, at Johns Hopkins Medical School, Baltimore, and in the Laboratory of Surgical Technique at Chicago. Dr. Charles Frederick McBurney is an outstanding leader in his profession, particularly in the field of public health. For more than thirty years since he completed his medical course at Jefferson Medical School, he has engaged in practice in Altoona. At first he was associated with Dr. James A. Smith, but later opened offices independently. He has been a member of the Altoona Hospital Staff for twenty years, secretary of the Blair County Medical Society for fifteen years, and has served as president of the Altoona Board of Health. In the late war he was a medical examiner for the East Side Draft Board in Altoona. Drs. Samuel Lloyd McCarthy, Sr., Samuel Lloyd McCarthy, Jr., Olin K. McGarrah, Louis Edwin McKee, Carl Henry Metzger, Frank Klare Miller, Homer Clark Miller and Proctor Thayer Miller. The latter is the son of a physician and received his medical degree from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1893, and for thirty years he has conducted a practice of medicine and surgery here. Dr. Samuel M. Miller, Jr., established offices here in 1921, and is the son of a Colorado physician. He has extensive experience in medical work and is thoroughly prepared to conduct the general practice in which he engages. Dr. Miller's formal preparation for his life work was acquired at Oberlin College, the Universities of Denver and Colorado. In the Philadelphia Municipal Hospital for Contagious Diseases and at Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn he obtained specialized training. In addition, he was assistant alienist at the Bellevue Psychopathic Hospital in Denver, and in the army medical corps of the United States during the World War. There he was assigned to the Neuro-Psychiatric Department as a specialist, and remained in that capacity for three years before coming to Altoona. Dr. Daniel R. Mock, a native of Williamsburg, has been connected with the work of the Altoona Clinic since 1924. He is a graduate of Hahnemann Medical School. Drs. Harold F. Moffitt and Chalmers Montgomery. The latter is identified with the staff of Mercy Hospital here. In addition to his regular 190 BLAIR COUNTY HISTORY medical course which he pursued at Medico-Chirurgical College, Philadelphia, he has studied under eminent European specialists at the University of Vienna. For a period of six years he was assistant surgeon on the staff of the Punxsutawney Hospital before coming to Altoona where he has developed a general medical and surgical practice. Drs. Emory H. Morrow and James Robert Morrow. Dr. James Robert Morrow has been connected with the Mercy Hospital Staff for eight years and practised here for eleven years. He is a specialist in surgery and served as first lieutenant in the medical corps of the United States Army, and was stationed for part of the time, during the World War, at Base Hospital Number 89, Mesners, France. Drs. Elmer Ellsworth Neff, Charles W. Noff, John Cyrus Noss, Albert S. Oburn, Raymond M. Ogawa, Frederick Otterbein and Paul F. Pershing. Dr. Pershing is a graduate of Jefferson Medical College, has practised in Altoona for twenty years and holds the position of Chief of the Gynecological Department in the Altoona Hospital. Drs. Emil Reith and Henry Brown Replogle. Dr. Replogle is president of the Altoona Clinic and has been engaged in that capacity since its incorporation in 1927. In addition, he is an assistant surgeon on the Mercy Hospital Staff. Dr. Replogle acquired his professional education under Dr. I. D. Metzer, at Hahnemann Medical School, where he received his degree, and in the New York Polyclinic and New York Post-Graduate Medical College. In 1921, with Dr. William K. Mathewson, he established the Altoona Clinic. Drs. Wilbur Paul Rickert, Clair Edward Robison, Marks Julius Rosen, Horace S. Saylor and Byron Monroe Sell. Dr. Sell is also connected with the Altoona Clinic, and has been engaged in its work since 1925. He obtained his premedical education at Juniata College and later enrolled at Jefferson Medical College where he received his medical degree in 1924. After a year of interneship he became identified with the Altoona Clinic. Drs. John M. Sheedy, Charles Edgar Shope, Ronald Vivian S. Silknetter and Claude Edwin Snyder. Dr. Snyder is a veteran of the late war in which he served with the 319th Regiment Medical Corps as first lieutenant. He was assigned to Base Hospital Number 14, in France, and saw action at Chateau Thierry and the Meuse- Argonne Campaigns, during which he was wounded while discharging his duties. In Altoona, he has become a specialist in gynecology and obstetrics, and is chief of those departments in the Mercy Hospital. Dr. George A. Snyder, a graduate of Jefferson Medical College in 1928 has established offices in Altoona where he is identified among the younger leaders of the medical profession. Drs. John Robert Thompson Snyder, Albert L. Spanogle, Elwood Wakefield Stitzel, Amos O. Taylor, James S. Taylor and Samuel Paul Taylor. The Taylors have been referred to in an earlier paragraph. Drs. Herbert Chester Thomas, Louis Stockton Walton, Harry Wolfgong Weest, Jr. Dr. Weest has been conducting a general practice in Altoona for ten years, ever since he completed his THE MEDICAL PROFESSION AND MEDICAL PRACTICE 191 final professional training at Jefferson Medical College in 1919. While there he was a member of the Students' Army Training Corps in the World War. Dr. Ulysses Samuel Wharton is the leading negro physician of Blair County. He has been identified with local medical circles for fifteen years. A native of Virginia, where his father is a clergyman, Dr. Wharton was educated at Hampton Institute, Oberlin College and Howard University. The latter institution conferred the degree of Doctor of Medicine upon him in 1913. He enjoys a large clientele in this vicinity. Drs. Alfred White II, Edward Franklin Williams and Robert Henry Wymer. Dr. Wymer is one of the younger men in the medical profession here, having come to Altoona in 1924 after obtaining a pre-medical and professional education at Juniata College and Hahnemann Medical School, respectively. Major Charles S. Hendricks has been a resident of Altoona for more than a decade. In 1915, he graduated from the Medical School of the University of Pittsburgh, and as a member of the Pennsylvania National Guard, was sent to the Mexican Border in 1916. He was a first lieutenant then, and was associated with the 18th Regiment. When the United States became involved in the World War he participated in seven battles as a captain in the 111th Regiment of the 28th Division. His professional training coupled with his military background made his services invaluable, and in August, 1918, he was appointed regimental surgeon. By the time he left the army, honorably discharged, he bore the rank of acting major, and is now major in the Pennsylvania National Guard. Dr. Edgar H. MacKinley of Altoona is perhaps the youngest member of the medical profession in this city. After completing his preparation for practise at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, in 1929, he served as an interne in Mercy Hospital here, and is now developing a fine following in Altoona. Rocco M. Fusco established the Institution of Physiological and Electrical Therapeutic Treatments at Altoona in 1924. He is a native of Italy who came to this country in 1912 and became a student at the Pennsylvania College of Aropentics, now part of Temple University, and graduated there. After varied experiences as a laboratory technician in several hospitals, he came to Altoona where he is a leading physiotherapist in this vicinity. Among Altoona dental surgeons, Dr. Guy S. Tippery is outstanding. In 1908, he graduated from the dental school of the University of Pennsylvania, and shortly thereafter established offices here. Dr. Tippery is a valued citizen who is devoted to the educational improvement of the children of Altoona, where he has served as a member of the school board. In addition, he sponsors athletic activities and public health movements. Dr. Herman S. Wagner is also a graduate of the dental school of the University of Pennsylvania where he received his degree in 1917. The World War period saw him as a first lieutenant in the Dental Reserve Corps of the United States Army. Since 1919, he has conducted a practice in Altoona with headquarters in the Central Trust Building. Dr. William E. Varnes comes from the University of Pennsylvania, too. 192 BLAIR COUNTY HISTORY He graduated there in 1926 and since 1930 has been located here. Dr. N. R. Snively is widely known in dental circles of this county. He has been identified with professional work here since he finished his professional education at the University of Pennsylvania Dental School in 1909. Dr. L. A. Dughi is another Altoona dentist who was identified with the service of the United States Army in the late war. As first lieutenant he was stationed at Fort Oglethorpe. For eleven years he has been building a fine clientele in Altoona, and has excellent formal training as a background. He is a graduate of Franklin and Marshall College and of the University of Pennsylvania. BELLWOOD Bellwood had two excellent physicians in the latter part of the last century. In 1883, Drs. W. Y. Levengood and J. C. Thompson were actively engaged in professional pursuits there. At present one of the few women listed in the profession, of the county, resides in Bellwood. She is Dr. Alma Read Derick. Drs. Brooklyn Boyer Levengood and William Howard Morrow are both representatives of families who have been associated with the practice of medicine for several generations. Other Bellwood doctors are Fletcher Bliss Forrest, Roy Wilson Goshorn and Thomas I. Wilson. CLAYSBURG In Claysburg, Dr. Charles Oliver Johnston carries on the splendid medical work of his father, Dr. John W. Johnston, who graduated at Albany Medical College during the period of the Civil War, and established himself in Claysburg in 1867. From that year until 1912, he served Claysburg and vicinity, with a high sense of duty and responsibility to his calling. His son, Dr. Charles Oliver Johnston, received pre-medical education at Dickinson College and then attended the famous Medico-Chirurgical College at Philadelphia. The needs of the community and his father's extensive practice drew him to Claysburg where he is a general practitioner, conducts a drug store and serves as a member of the staff of the Nason Hospital at Roaring Spring. DUNCANSVILLE Two physicians, Drs. David Clarence Confer and Harper A. Wright, are located at Duncansville. Dr. Wright is a physician and surgeon who graduated from Johns Hopkins University and is now a specialist in diseases of the eye. In communities not far from Duncansville, several physicians served in the era before Blair County's development really began. In 1810, a Dr. Wallace resided at McKee's Gap and in 1842, Dr. A. T. Shriver served the vicinity about East Freedom. HOLLIDAYSBURG Among Hollidaysburg physicians who have actively pursued the practise of their profession in our county-seat since the beginning of the century is Dr. THE MEDICAL PROFESSION AND MEDICAL PRACTICE 193 Edward Milton Duff, who died in 1916. Dr. Duff became identified with the practise of medicine in Blair County in 1900 when he was appointed to the first staff of the Nason Hospital at Roaring Spring, after its incorporation. He was unusually well prepared for his special field which was diseases of the stomach, because he attended the University of Maryland, graduated at the medical school of the University of Pittsburgh and took up post-graduate work in the New York Polyclinic Hospital. Eventually he became Lecturer of Special Nursing in the Training School at the Nason Hospital. Drs. Oliver Finger Andrew, Robert Wilson Christy, who is no longer active in the profession, Elliott Charles Flick, Robert C. Irwin and Wayland R. Palmer are among the present practitioners in Hollidaysburg. Dr. Palmer is a leading homeopath who graduated from Hahnemann Medical School. He is particularly known as a diagnostician, having served as medical examiner in the local schools, on the Selective Service Board during the World War and is now medical examiner for the United States Pension Board. Dr. Waldo Emerson Preston is the present medical inspector for the Hollidaysburg Public Schools. He is a specialist in diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat, is a veteran of the World War, during which period he was commissioned a first lieutenant in the medical corps of the United States Army and served in France for eleven months. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, class of 1914. Dr. John Oswald Prosser is a recent addition to the profession here. He has made most effective progress toward leadership in the medical circles of the county since his graduation from Hahnemann Medical School in 1927. On the staffs of the Mercy Hospital, Altoona, and Nason Hospital, Roaring Spring, he is, in addition, physician for Highland Hall, famous local preparatory school for girls. In the field of surgery, Dr. Charles Irwin Robinson has attained prominence. After completing his pre-medical and medical courses at Allegheny College and the University of Pennsylvania, respectively, he was appointed surgeon for the Harlan Plant of the Bethlehem Ship Building Corporation at Wilmington, Delaware. He transferred his activities to the surgical staff of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company here, and in addition conducts a general practice. Drs. Frank R. Shoemaker, Henry J. Sommer and Jonas Wakefield Stitzel. The latter has a wide reputation in central Pennsylvania as a specialist in diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat. He is a graduate of Hahnemann Medical School and has engaged in special research at the New York Ophthalmic Hospital. Other physicians practise in Hollidaysburg but they have offices in Altoona also, and have been referred to in connection with the medical profession there. MARTINSBURG Martinsburg has been the center from which members of the Bonebreak family have practised for several generations. Dr. D. W. Bonebreak was widely known in Morrison's Cove where he developed an extensive following. His 194 BLAIR COUNTY HISTORY son, Dr. John Shubert Bonebreak, studied medicine with him and then completed his formal training at the medical school of the University of Pittsburgh. In addition to continuing his father's work he has built up a large clientele of his own. Dr. James Warren Hershberger is also a practitioner here. ROARING SPRING This community which benefits from a combination of natural beauties is the home of the Nason Hospital, established as a private institution in 1896, and incorporated in 1900, by Dr. William Albert Nason. Dr. Nason is the son of Dr. William Nason an eminent physician of northwestern Pennsylvania. The former was educated at the Eclectic Medical College at Cincinnati, Ohio, and at Rush Medical College, Chicago. He has been surgeon-in-chief and chief of staff of the Mercy Hospital, and a consulting member of the Altoona Hospital Staff. A specialist in surgery, Dr. Nason performed the first appendectomy in Blair County, and has become one of the most noted surgeons in Pennsylvania. Drs. Wilbur Lee Grounds, Wilfred Lorenz Hair and William Herbert Robinson have identified themselves with the medical profession at Roaring Spring. Dr. Grounds is a graduate of the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Baltimore, and served in the United States Army during the World War. After establishing offices at Roaring Spring he became connected with the staff of the Nason Hospital and has developed a fine practice. Dr. Hair has been in Roaring Spring since 1919. He is a graduate of Jefferson Medical School and became associated with the medical corps of the United States Army during the late war. His experiences in the service included post-graduate work at the Army Medical School, Washington, D. C.; the Neurologic Institute, New York City; St. Elizabeth Hospital, Washington, D. C.; University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan. For a time he was stationed at General Hospital, Number 37, Madison Barracks, New York. Dr. Robinson has been a member of the Nason Hospital Staff since 1915. He has had the advantages of an extensive and thorough education both in preparation for professional training, in medical school, in the Adrian Hospital, Punxsutawney, where he served his internship, and at the State Hospital for the Insane at Warren where he was House Physician. Dr. Robinson is active in civic affairs. Dr. Charles Fox practised medicine in Roaring Spring for many years. A native of this county, he studied under Dr. John Oeillig, at one time a leading practitioner of Woodbury Township. Later he attended Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, and graduated there in 1882. Five years later he located at Roaring Spring where he developed a large and lucrative practice. Dr. Fox was associated with Dr. Nason in the work of the Nason Hospital. Although Dr. A. L. Garver is best remembered by citizens of the county in connection with industrial, civic and cultural enterprises, his prominence in so many diversified activities makes it essential that his relation to the medical profession be reviewed. Dr. Garver came to Roaring Spring after he graduated from Jefferson Medical College in 1883 and practised here for four years. He THE MEDICAL PROFESSION AND MEDICAL PRACTICE 195 left the profession to become associated with the D. M. Bare Paper Company, and built for himself a splendid reputation for achievement in the world of industry, finance and civic welfare before his death occurred in 1920. TYRONE Major Luther Fleck Crawford was prominently associated with the medical circles of our county for forty years, and was a leader in civic, fraternal and military affairs of this state and Tyrone as well. He was educated at the Eclectic Medical College in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1890. At the time of the Spanish-American War he served, with one of his sons, now a practising physician in California, in the American Forces at Porto Rico. Then he held the rank of Captain. Major Crawford was generally recognized as an outstanding representative of his profession, for he was a member of the Medical Examining Board of Pennsylvania, medical inspector for the Tyrone Public Schools, and was appointed by Governor Brumbaugh to serve on the Selective Service Board here, during the World War. His death, which occurred recently, removed a man whose position will be a difficult one to fill. Drs. Carey Clarence Braden, Charles Bunting Daugherty, Franklin F. Fickes, Dan Fulkerson Glasgow, William L. Lowrie, Edwin Bryant Murchison, Walter Scott Musser, John Blaisdell Nason, Frank Patterson, Robert L. Piper, and Howard M. Pownall are the present physicians of Tyrone. Dr. Glasgow has been practising here since 1912. Before that he graduated from Jefferson Medical College and was a member of the faculty of the Atlanta College of Physicians and Surgeons at Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Lowrie is a veteran member of the profession in this county, having engaged in practice here for more than forty years. He is a graduate of the medical school of the University of Pennsylvania and first came to Tyrone in 1886. For twenty-one years he acted as surgeon for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company and has made many professional contacts. He is frequently called upon for consultations at the Huntingdon Memorial Hospital and is a member of the staffs of the Altoona and Phillipsburg State Hospitals. Dr. John Blaisdell Nason is of the second generation of his family to practice medicine. His father was Dr. William Nason, a native of Sheridan, New York, who died in 1896. Dr. John Nason has developed a general practice here since completing his professional training at Rush Medical College, Chicago. In the World War era he was identified with the Medical Corps of the United States Army. The Altoona Hospital and Phillipsburg State Hospital include him as staff member. The Piper family have had noted representatives in civic and military life since the colonial period of our history. Dr. Robert L. Piper, who has been a Tyrone medical practitioner for nearly forty years, is an eminent member of the family. His paternal ancestor, Colonel John Piper, was a frontiersman and Indian fighter whose name appears on the earliest colonial records of this part of 196 BLAIR COUNTY HISTORY Pennsylvania. Dr. Piper is a graduate of Hahnemann Medical College and is a leading homeopath of this vicinity. WILLIAMSBURG Many physicians who found in Williamsburg golden opportunities when this town was a port on the canal, moved to Altoona when the railroad center was constructed there. Drs. William R. Findley and John Fay, both of whom can readily be numbered among the greatest members of the profession that this county has yet produced, served this community before finding larger fields of endeavor in Altoona. Seven of the pioneer practitioners of the county, who are mentioned in an earlier paragraph, made Williamsburg their headquarters more than a century ago. Drs. Clarence Frye and Ralph Rohrer Whittaker care for the physical ills in Williamsburg now. MEDICAL ORGANIZATIONS AND HOSPITALS Drs. James and Harry T. Coffey, J. A. Landis, Aristide Rodrique and Robert W. Christy called a meeting of Blair County physicians at Hollidaysburg on July 25, 1848, for the purpose of organizing a county medical society. They were all present at the first meeting as were Drs. William R. Findley, of Frankstown, and Dr. John Getty, of Martinsburg. Dr. Getty was called upon to preside, and Dr. Harry T. Coffey acted as secretary. A committee composed of Drs. Landis, Findley and H. T. Coffey was appointed to draw up a constitution and by-laws. The next meeting convened at the Exchange Hotel in Hollidaysburg on November 15, 1848. The report of the committee on constitution and by-laws was presented and adopted. The following men who were present, affixed their signatures to it: Drs. James Coffey, Harry T. Coffey, Landis, Rodrique, and Christy. The first permanent officers were: Dr. James Coffey, president; Dr. Aristide Rodrique, vice-president; Dr. Robert W. Christy, secretary; Dr. J. A. Landis, treasurer. According to the first regulations that were followed, physicians who had practised for fifteen years were the only ones eligible to membership. Later this provision was changed to enable all graduates of medical schools, who were in good standing in the profession, to affiliate with the organization. The purpose of the society has always been to advance medical science, maintain high professional standards and promote public health. Dr. Herbert C. Thomas, of Altoona, is the present presiding officer and Dr. Edward Franklin Williams of the same city is secretary. The Blair County Homeopathic Medical Society has been active since 1901. Before that time its members met with the Central Pennsylvania Medical Society. Blair and Cambria County physicians who followed homeopathy, organized the Rane Medical Club in 1901, with Dr. J. W. Stitzel of Hollidaysburg as president, In 1908 the name was changed to the Blair County Homeopathic Medical Society. In the promotion of public health Blair County is directed by Dr, Augustus Sheridan Kech, of Altoona, county medical director. T. G. Herbert is the city THE MEDICAL PROFESSION AND MEDICAL PRACTICE 197 health officer in Altoona. The Altoona Clinic, founded by Drs. Henry Brown Replogle and William Kirk Mathewson in 1921, was incorporated in 1927 and is doing valuable service for the city. The Altoona Hospital at Howard Avenue and Seventh Street was established as a general hospital in 1883. Colonel Theodore Burchfield, to whom Altoona is indebted for much important legislation, both municipal and state, was influential in making the Altoona Hospital a reality. Dr. John Fay was the first chief of staff and remained in that position until his death in 1907. At present the chief of staff is Dr. Joseph Dysart Findley and N. C. Peters is hospital superintendent. There are 162 beds, 18 bassinets, an outpatient department and a school of nursing in this hospital. Mercy Hospital was established in 1910. Drs. B. F. Books, E. E. Neff, J. D. Hogue, O. K. McGarrah, R. T. Eldon and H. B. Replogle were among the members of the profession who promoted the construction of this medical center. They comprised a committee to purchase the first equipment used here. Dr. William H. Howell is the chief of staff and Miss Mary Whitney, R. N., is superintendent. Mercy Hospital is a general hospital with 122 beds, 13 bassinets, an outpatient department and a school of nursing. It is situated at 2601 Eighth Street, Altoona. The Nason Hospital at Roaring Spring was established as a private institution in 1896. In 1900, it was chartered as a charitable institution by the state. Dr. William Albert Nason was responsible for its organization and with the aid of public-spirited citizens of Roaring Spring has made it a successful institution. The school of nursing has graduated a fine group of nurses of whom seven served in the World War. Of this number, Miss Bertha Maugle served overseas for eight months; Mrs. Mary Snyder Milleisen for one year; Mrs. Alice Smith Webber for fifteen months. Miss Agnes Resch served in this country, overseas and on transports. Mrs. Mary Plemple Lemare and the Misses Alice Riddle, Anna Graffius, and Orpha Wilt remained in this country while in the service. The hospital is a general one with 52 beds, 6 bassinets, and an outpatient department in addition to maintaining the aforementioned nurses' training school. Dr. Nason is medical superintendent. The Blair County Hospital for the Insane was established in 1898, for treatment of nervous and mental diseases. It is supported by the county and has 335 beds. Dr. Henry J. Sommer is the medical superintendent. The Methodist Church supports a Home for the Aged at Tyrone. This institution contains a hospital department with 9 beds, and was established in 1919. Rev. Emerson Karns is the superintendent. The history of medicine in our county has witnessed many changes. A century ago there were no medical examiners for schools, industrial plants and insurance companies. Public health movements were sponsored by a few organizations with limited facilities and little information for carrying on the work. Specialists were unknown. The oldest hospital in our county was not established, although it was planned by far-seeing physicians, fifty years ago. It is 198 BLAIR COUNTY HISTORY a remarkable fact that so many of the leading physicians in this county saw service in the hospitals in Europe and this country during the World War. The experiences they met and the adaptability to all types of conditions that necessity forced them to show there, has been responsible in a great measure for the sympathetic, keen, diagnosticians, and the able specialists who serve the people of Blair County in this generation. _____ * "a deep usually suppurative inflammation of the finger or toe especially near the end or around the nail" - Merriam-Webster Online ** no definition found