was married, in May, 1S66, to Julia F. Randall, daughter of James
Randall, of Utica, N. Y. They have one child, Grace.
Illinois Charitable Eye and Ear Infirmary.
ā In May, 1858, Dr. Edward L. Holmes, Dr. Joseph
W. Freer, Rev. William Barry and Dr. Charles V. Dyer
met with several wealthy and charitable citizens of Chi-
cago, and determined upon establishing the Chicago
Charitable Eye and Ear Infirmary, and as a preliminary
thereto organized the following board of trustees :
Walter L. Newberry, president ; Charles V. Dyer, Lu-
ther Haven, vice presidents ; Samuel Stone, secretary
and treasurer ; William H. Brown, Rev. William Barry,
Philo Carpenter, J. H. Kinzie, Ezra B. McCagg, Flavel
Moseley, Rev. N. L. Rice and Mark Skinner. It being
determined that, at first, but a dispensary should be in-
stituted, one room in a small wooden building was pro-
cured at No. 60 North Clark Street, on the northeast
corner of Michigan Street. The consulting surgeons
were Daniel Brainard and Joseph W. Freer, and the
attending surgeons Edward L. Holmes, Henry Parker,
F. B. Norcum, and W. H. Baltzwell.
During the first year about one hundred and fifteen
patients were treated, and during the year ending May
1, 186 1 ā about three years after its opening ā two hun-
dred and eighty-eight patients received treatment ; two
hundred and thirty-seven of whom were afflicted with
ophthalmic diseases and fifty-one with diseases of the ear.
Up to May 1, 1861, five hundred and eighty patients
received treatment, and during that year the dispensary
was removed to Ewing's Block, corner of North Clark
and North Water streets, where the surgeons were
Daniel Brainard, Joseph W. Freer, Edward L. Holmes
and Edwin Powell. In July, 1864, Walter L. Newberry
donated to the Infirmary the use of the lot occupying
Nos. 16-18 East Pearson Street, opposite the old Ogden
School, for ten years, whereon a large two-story wooden
building, costing $2,000, was moved. The trustees at
that time were Walter L. Newberry, president; Charles
V. Dyer and Luther Haven, vice-presidents ; Samuel
Stone, secretary ; Ezra B. McCagg, treasurer ; William
H. Brown, William Barry, Flavel Moseley, Philo Car-
penter, John Evans, John H. Kinzie and Cyrus Bentley.
Drs. Brainard and Freer were the board of surgeons and
ex-officio trustees, and Drs. Holmes and Powell the
consulting surgeons. Dr. Holmes thus summarizes the
history of this institution up to the year 1871, in Early
Medical Chicago :
" The first patient requiring board in the institution applied
before a single room had been cleaned and furnished. For two
nights he slept on a blanket on the floor. The rooms were fur-
nished as the gradually increasing number of patients required.
In a few months the number of applicants, especially soldiers
recently discharged from the army and suffering from diseases of
the eye, became so numerous that greater accommodations were
rendered necessary. A large attic was finished, and divided into
several comfortable rooms. The building was soon after raised
and a brick basement constructed under it. Support for a limited
number of patients from Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin was
made possible by the donation of $500, placed for this purpose in
the hands of the respective governors of these States. The United
States Sanitary Commission, the Northwestern Sanitary and Chris-
tian Commissions, also, granted large sums for the support of sol-
diers at the Infirmary. In the fall of 1S69, additional accommo-
dations became necessary, and were obtained by the construction
of a large building in the rear of the lot. The Infirmary, during
the early period of its existence, was greatly indebted to the
churches of the North Side, especially, members of which con-
tributed, year by year, large quantities of furniture and clothing,
in addition to donations of money. In this way, the Infirmary
was enabled, not only to support an increasing number of patients,
but to cancel an indebtedness of nearly $6,000, and also to grad-
ually accumulate a fund of $7,000. From the year 1S67 to 1871,
the General Assembly appropriated $5,000 a year, for the support
of patients at the Infirmary, and, in 1871, the institution became
a public charity ā owned and supported by the State."
In 1 87 1, the consulting surgeons were Joseph W.
Freer and H. A. Johnson ; and Edward L. Holmes
and Edwin Powell, attending surgeons. During the
same year the hospital was destroyed by the great fire,
which reached the building about 3:30 a. m., on Monday.
The majority of the inmates were taken by George
Davenport, superintendent, to Blatchford's shot-tower,
on Kinzie Street, where they stayed for some days.
The City Hospital, on LaSalle Street, between
Cross and Old streets, was commenced in June, 1856,
and completed in November, 1857, at a cost to the city
of about $58,000, and was capable of accommodating
three hundred patients. In August, 1859, it was leased
by some surgeons for five years, and they contracted to
receive and care for the city patients at a uniform allow-
ance of three dollars a week. The hospital, under this
arrangement, was opened on August 13, 1859, with
Daniel Brainard, George Schloetzer and George K.
Amerman as surgeons, and DeLaskie Miller, Joseph P.
Ross and S. C. Blake as physicians. The warden was
A. H. Carter, and Mrs. Carter was the matron. There
was also a board of nine governors, three from each
division of the city, who exercised general supervision
over the affairs of hospital, as follows: North Division,
George W. Dole, Gurdon S. Hubbard, Edward I. Tink-
ham; West Division, Reuben Tayler, Edson L. O'Hara,
secretary, and D. F. Wilson; South Division, William
Jones, president, Dr. H. Hitchcock and Dr. John H.
Foster. In addition to the other services of the hos-
pital, clinical instruction was given ā principally to the
students of Rush Medical College.
In i860, W. C. Brown was the resident physician
and surgeon. In 1862, the medical board are given as
George K. Amerman, Joseph P. Ross, Joseph W.
Freer and R. L. Rea; Henry Dunham, resident physi-
cian and surgeon. In the summer of 1863, the hospital
was confiscated by the United States military authori-
ties, and placed under the jurisdiction of Surgeon
Brock. McVtckar, with Drs. Joseph P. Ross and George
K. Amerman as acting assistant surgeons. Dr. Mc-
Vickar was succeeded by Dr. Hall, and he by Dr. S. A.
Jackson. On July 25, 1865, Surgeon Joseph S. Hil-
dreth took charge, and the scope of treatment was
limited to diseases of the eye and ear, and the hospital
was termed the "Des Marres Eye and Ear Hospital."
Its location was at this period designated as at the cor-
ner of Arnold and Eighteenth streets; the main build-
ing seventy feet long by fifty-five feet wide and four
stories high, with a wing on the south side sixty-three
feet long by sixty feet wide. The hospital capa-
city was one hundred and thirty patients and forty
attendants. M. K. Gleason and J. H. Goss were the
acting assistant surgeons under Dr. Hildreth. On No-
vember 11, 1865, the two last patients were discharged,
536
HISTORY OF CHICAGO.
and the doors of the Des Marres Hospital were closed.
During the occupancy of the hospital by the United
States authorities, the county patients were treated in
a building at Jefferson, utilized for that purpose.
Drs. Ross and Amerman immediately and actively
interested themselves to re-establish the hospital as a
public charity, and. deciding that to further this end it
would be requisite to become a politician, Dr. Amer-
man suspended party banners from the caduceus, and
was elected a supervisor. In 1S66, the first year of his
service, he inaugurated and organized the Cook County
Hospital, but being enfeebled by ill-health he was com-
pelled to resign the direction thereof. Dr. Joseph P.
R< pss was elected to the position of supervisor and
chairman of the hospital committee in 1866, and occu-
pied it for two years. Hence, the establishment of the
present vast and beneficial Cook County Hospital must
be ascribed to the persistent energy and unflagging
labors of Joseph P. Ross and George K. Amerman.
The Cook County Hospital had the following
medical attendance in the years specified :
1S66 ā George K. Amerman, R. G. Bogue and Charles G.
Smith, attending surgeons; Joseph W. Freer, William Wagner,
consulting surgeons; Thomas Bevan, Joseph P. Ross, H. W.
Jones, attending physicians; Hosmer A. Johnson, R. C. Hamill,
consulting physicians ; Joseph S. Hildreth, eye and ear surgeon ;
Henry M. Lyman, pathologist. Benjamin Chase was warden and
Mrs. Chase, matron. 1S6S ā Edwin Powell, R. G. Bogue and C.
G. Smith were attending surgeons ; J. R. Gore and W. Wagner,
consulting surgeons. The remaining physicians and surgeons were
the same, with the addition of Daniel S. Root, house surgeon, and
Nicholas Lyon and Benjamin S. Miller, assistants. In 1S69, the
physicians and surgeons were as before, except that Benjamin S.
Miller was house surgeon, and George K. Uyce, and Mr. and Mrs.
Chase were replaced by H. S. and Mrs Eliza Rexford, as warden
and matron. In iSyoand 1S71, Edwin Powell, R. G. Bogue, T.
I). Fitch and Charles G. Smith were attending surgeons ; J. R.
Gore and J. W. Freer, consulting surgeons ; Thomas Bevan,
Joseph P. Ross, H. W. Jones, Hosmer A. Johnson, II. A. Lyman,
attending physicians; William H. Byford, R. C. Hamill, consult-
ing physicians; Joseph S. Hildreth, eye and ear surgeon; J. W.
Tope, house surgeon ; William Fox and J. T. B. Gephart, assist-
ants. Mr. and Mrs. Rexford were warden and matron.
Joseph P. Ross was born on January 7, 1828, in Clark
County, Ohio. When but six years of age, his father moved to
Piqua, Ohio, and there he received his early education, attend-
ing the district school during the winter, and helping on the
farm during the summer. When he was but nineteen, he made a
commercial venture in a woolen mill, and after two years, he suc-
ceeded in clearing two thousand dollars. Being possessed of capital,
he determined on securing an education, and attended the academy
at Piqua, where he took a thorough scientific course, after which,
he commenced the study of medicine in the office of Dr. G. V.
at Piqua. After two years study with Dr DoYsey, he at-
tended lectures at Starling Medical College, Columbus, Ohio, and
the ensuing year a course at the Ohio Medical College, Cincinnati,
whence he graduated in the spring of 1852. He immediately com-
menced practice at St. Mary's, Ohio, but after a visit to Chicago,
he determined that the Garden City was to be his home, and
i here in February, 1853. Shortly after his arrival, he
formed a partnership with Dr. Lucian P. Cheney, and after that
the history of Dr. Ross became commingled with the medical
history of Chicago, he being always found in the front of any
enterprise to help the poor and benefit his fellow-creatures by
medical aid and surgical treatment. Physician to the Orphan
Asylum, physician to the Reform School for fifteen years, origina-
tor, organizer and physician of the Cook County Hospital,
physician on the battle-field during the War, and attending surgeon
at Camp Douglas ā these are a few of the positions of honor and
philanthropy he has tilled. The professorship in the Rush Medical
he occupied in 1867 In- still retains, and his lectures have
ened to with interest and edification by the hundreds of
graduates of that institution since 1867. In addition to lecturing,
he has contributed largely to the financial success of Rush Medical
' After the fire, when the institution had a heavy bonded
debt, he. wilh his colleagues, developed a scheme by which they
were enabled to erect their present college building At present,
he is actively engaged in establishing the Presbyterian Hospital of
te to Chicago, In- has been identified
with the Presbyterian Church, and for the last eighteen years has
been an elder in the Jefferson-park Congregational Society, with
which he has been connected since its organization. Dr. Ross was
married, in 1S56, to Elizabeth H. King, a daughter of Tuthill
King, who was one of the solid merchants of early Chicago.
They have the following children : T. King Ross, J. Whitney
Ross, Robert E. Ross, William H. Ross, Bessie G. Ross and Lila
Frances Ross.
Small-Pox Hospital. ā The small-pox hospital, in
1859, was on North Avenue, between Wolcott Street
('now North State) and Lake Michigan, and Dr. William
Wagner was the physician in charge. George B. Bay
was the warden, Mrs. Clara F. Bay, the matron, and
Miss Ann Anderson, assistant. This building remained
at this location, and under this administration, until the
year 1864, when a large and spacious building, costing
$13,593.18, was erected, which contained twenty-four
wards. It had a main building, two stories and base-
ment, forty-eight by twenty-four feet, and two wings,
each one story and basement, of thirty-two by sixty
feet. This building was called the Lake Hospital. Dr.
T. B. Bridges, health officer, had supervision of the
hospital ; Dr. S. C. Blake was the physician, William E.
Jones was steward, and Mrs, Jones matron. In 1868,
Dr. Niles T. Quales became the surgeon, and, in 1870,
Dr. H. S. Hahn, who remained in charge of the hos-
pital until its destruction by the fire of 1871, when the
patients were all removed to Maywood. The fire
reached the hospital at about two o'clock on Tuesday
morning, and the value of the building and furniture
destroyed was $6,000. When the hospital was erected
near the Bridewell, the patients were removed thither
from Maywood.
Niles Theodore Quales, M.D., was born ne<>r Hardanger,
Norway, January 17, 1831. He attended the public schools of the
neighborhood and assisted his lather in farming until he reached
his seventeenth year, when he entered the agricultural school in
Hardanger, where he remained three years, graduating in 1851.
He then took charge of a large estate for one year, afterward going
to Copenhagen and matriculating in the Royal Veterinary College,
and received his diploma in 1856. Returning to his native town,
he practiced as a veterinary surgeon three years, and emigrated to
this city in 1 859, where he resumed practice. At the breaking out
of the Rebellion he enlisted in the First Illinois Artillery, Captain
Taylor's Battery, and followed the fortunes of that command until
1S63, when he was detailed for detached service at General Sher-
man's headquarters. At the close of the War he began the study
of medicine under the instruction of Dr. Paoli, of this city, and
matriculated in the Rush Medical College, taking his degree as
Doctor of Medicine in the class of 1867. He was appointed in-
terne at the Cook County Hospital, and filled that position one
year following his graduation. In 1S68, he was tendered the po-
sition of city physician, which he occupied nearly three years, and,
in 1870 was made surgeon of the United States Marine Hospital.
After the great fire of 1S71, he was visiting physician of the Relief
and Aid Society. Dr. Quales was married, May 26, 1S70, to Miss
Carrie L. Lawson, of Chicago, and has three children ā Iver L.,
Martha G. and Nellie R.
St. Joseph's Hospital. ā Upon Sunday, August 20.
187 1, the corner stone of this hospital was laid in the
lot at the corner of Burling Street and Sophia (now
Garfield Avenue). The ceremonies were conducted
under the auspices of Right Rev. Bishop Foley. After
the laying of the stone, Father McMullen, of the Ca-
thedral of the Holy Name, preached in the vernacular,
and Father Zimmer in German. The building was con-
templated to be one hundred and fourteen feet front
and one hundred and twenty feet deep, three stories in
height, with basement and mansard roof, and to cost
$80,000. As there was an insufficiency of funds, how-
ever, the main building alone was erected, at a cost of
$50,000. The hospital is under the charge of a Sister
Superior and eight Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de
Paul, the mother-house of which organization is at Em-
metsburg, Frederick Co., Md. There is accommoda-
tion for one hundred patients, and the medical staff
ā
+^4*.
MEDICAL HISTORY.
537
comprises Dr. Moses Gunn, Dr. W. Godfrey Dyus, Dr.
Charles T. Parkes, Dr. J. Adams Allen, Dr. Daniel R.
Brower and Dr. E. M. Eandis, house physician.
Francis L. Wadsworth, physician and surgeon, was born
in Oxford County, Maine, in 1S33, where he resided until twenty-
five years oi age. He then came west and located in this city. He
entered Rush Medical College in 1S65, and took his degree four
years later. He has since resided and been engaged in the prac-
tice of medicine and surgery in Chicago. Dr. Wadsworth was
married in 1S6S, but two years l^ter he lost his wife. In 1S72, he
was married to Miss Sarah F. Robinson, of Rhode Island. His
eldest son, Charles Freer, was born in 1S70, and the younger,
Frank Russell Wadsworth, was born in 1874. For eleven years
Dr. Wadsworth was lecturer and adjunct professor of physiology
at Rush Medical College, and since lSSi, has occupied the position
of professor of physiology and histology in the Woman's Medical
College, of this city. lie is at present the physician in charge of
St. Joseph's Hospital.
Mercy Hospital. ā This hospital was removed in
1853 to No. 265 Wabash Avenue, and in 1864 to the
northwest corner of Calumet Avenue and Twenty-sixth
Street, into a building which had formerly been occu-
pied by the St. Agnes Academy, and which now com-
prises the north wing of the hospital. The central
building and south wing were erected in 1869, and has
accommodations for three hundred patients, is managed
and controlled by thirty-four Sisters of Mercy, and has
the medical attendance of two resident physicians and
the faculty of the Chicago Medical College. It is
worthy of remark and praise that Dr. Nathan Smith
Davis, who first lectured for the benefit of the Illinois
General Hospital of the Lake ā control of which the
sisterhood assumed ā has remained in attendance upon
the Mercy Hospital ever since, a period of thirty-one
years.
Jewish Hospital. ā In 1859, the United Hebrew
Relief Association was organised in this city, having
for its object the amelioration of suffering and care of
the sick. The first president of the Association was
Henry Greenebaum. In 1867, the association deter-
mined upon establishing a hospital, where the objects
of their philanthropy could be brought together and
their wants attended to with system and better effect.
Consequently, on September 2, 1867, the corner-stone
was laid at No. 537 North LaSalle Street, between
Schiller and Goethe streets, under the auspices of the
association. The stone was laid by Isaac Greensfelder,
president of the association, and addresses were delivered
by Mayor John B. Rice, Godfrey Snydacker (in Ger-
man) and Henry Greenebaum. The hospital was com-
pleted in 1868, was of red brick, two-and-a-half stories
high, eighty feet front by forty feet deep, and cost
about $30,000, the lot being valued at $10,000. It was
called the " Jews' Hospital," and was destroyed in the
fire of 1871, at about 11 o'clock a. m., on Monday, the
loss aggregating about $40,000.
Alexian Brothers' Hospital. ā The Order of
Alexian Brothers was founded by Saint Alexius of
Rome, in honor of San Juan tie Dios de Hispana Saint
John of God of Spain , who lived in the 13th century.
The introduction of the order in Chicago was through
Brother Bonaventura in 1866, who came here to found
and establish a hospital, For some little time Brother
Bonaventura worked alone, boarding with Mr. Wisch-
meyer, and then found Brother Alex, who was working
in the city. Together these brothers worked, and in
about six months they established St. Mary's Hospital
ā named in honor of St. Mary of the Immaculate Con-
ception ā at No. 527 North Dearborn Street, corner of
Schiller. Of this hospital, Brother Bonaventura was
superior, and he had five brothers and three novices as
assistants, the hospital accommodating eight patients.
The fraternity exact payment from those who are able
to pay, but receive the poor gratis, making no distinction
on account of the religious belief, or irreligious unbelief,
of a prospective patient.
A novice is required to serve for six months, wearing
his ordinary apparel; then he is invested with the garb
of the Alexians, and has a further probation
of two years. If then found qualified, he is
admitted to this order, whose members de-
vote themselves to caring for the sick and
taking charge of Asylums. In Germany, where
the order comprises many members, only one
hospital is controlled by them, but numerous
insane asylums are under their painstaking
and gentle care. One peculiarity about the
order is, that the institutions under its care
will allow none but males within their walls,
from monastic dogmatism partaking of mis-
ogyny. But to those who obtain access to
their hospitals and asylums, the Alexian
Brothers prove kind, gentle and scrupulously
careful nurses; and many poor, afflicted men
have reason to bless this benevolent and phil-
anthropic organization. Their ambition is for
comprehensive charity, and they are desirous
of getting charge of a branch of the city
hospital, where their scope of sick-bed attendance will
be more general.
In 1868, the hospital was moved to No. 546 North
Franklin Street, the same site where their hospital is
now located. The house faced, in those days, upon
Franklin, in lieu of Market, Street. At this time, Henry
Engela was president, Matthew Pollig was vice-president,
and Nicholas Schyns was secretary. Henry Engela was
the first Provincial who came to Chicago ā a provincial
being the chief executive of a province, which is com-
posed of several localities. About the year 1869, the
name was changed to the Alexian Brothers' Hospital,
and the hospital was enlarged and added to, till, at the
time of the fire, it had accommodations for about seven-
ty-five patients and was attended by twelve brothers.
But the fire did not respect this noble charity, and the
Alexian Brothers' Hospital was destroyed thereby, the
fire reaching the building at 4 o'clock p. m., on Mon-
day. The value of the hospital was about $48,000, and
the furniture therein cost $5,200, malting tin- aggregate
loss $53,000, not including two magnificent statues that
stood in their chapel, which were conceded to be the
finest specimens of the sculptor's art in Chicago.
53S
HISTORY OF CHICAGO.
St. Luke's Hospital. ā In the spring of 1864. Mrs.
Sarah Franklin, Mrs. Henry W. Hinsdale. Mrs. Aaron
Haven, Mrs. B. F. Hadduck, Mrs. A. LeDuc, Mrs. W.
I. Barney, Mrs. Levi Colburn and Mrs. Clinton Locke,
under the leadership of Rev. Clinton Locke, determined
upon establishing a free hospital ; the initiatory pros-
pectus of which stated that it would forever be under
the control of the Episcopal Church, but would minister
unto the poor and afflicted of all creeds and nations. A
charter was soon after obtained from the Legislature.
Rev. Clinton Locke was then chosen president, and Dr.
Walter Hav physician. On January 20, 1865, the act
of incorporation was approved, and the following gen-
tlemen were the incorporated trustees : James H.
Hoes, D. W. Page, L. B. Otis. W. G. Hibbard, J. F.
Beaty, Thomas C. Haines, George P. Lee, Samuel
Gehr, A. C. Calkins, R. D. VanWagener, Walter Hay,
and the Rector of Grace Episcopal Church, of Chicago.
At the first meeting of the trustees, Dr. Clinton Locke
was retained as president, which office he has held ever
since. Since its inception, this hospital has gradually
grown in its scope of charitable treatment, in conse-
quence of the endowments it has received and the
stable financial benefit it has acquired. A given sum
of money provides a bed in the institution for some
poor stricken wayfarer, and several such provisions
have been made by the wealthy and charitable mem-
bers of the Episcopal Church. Mrs. N. K. Fairbank is
the treasurer of this praiseworthy institution. As St.
Luke's is a charity hospital, funds are always needed
for the support of its inmates.
Albert Bliss Strong, M.D., member of the Illinois State
and local medical societies, and medical director for the Chicago
Mutual Life Indemnity Association, was born in Galesburg, III.,
May 22, 1845. His father, Rev. Erastus A. Strong, of the Theo-
logical Seminary of the Diocese of Ohio, and chaplain of the 3d O.
V- I. during the War of 1S62-65, left his home, near Lake Cham-
plain, X. Y., in 1839, and made the entire journey to Galesburg on
foot. He was one of the most energetic and enterprising of the