History of Fairfield County, Connecticut

Eid(jeficM.--0. S. Iliekok, William S. Todd. Reading. — M. H. Wakenian. Sonthport. — C. II. Osborne. Stratford. — Edwin D. Nooney, Almon S. Allen. Stamford.— 'S. D. Haight, h" P. Geib. A'ort/i Stamford. — George AV. Birch, AV. H. Trow- bridge. Weston. — F. Gorham. }Ve.<>lport. — George B. Bouton, F. Powers. Huntington. — Gould A. Sheltoii. Sandy //oo/t.— AVilliam C. Wyle. Wilton. — A. E. Emery, L. H. Huntington. Of these, Drs. D. H. Nash, of liridgeport, A. L. Williams, of Brookfield, E. P. Bennett and James Baldwin, of Danbury, and N. D. Haiglit, of Slam- ford, are over sixty years of age. The records give no indication as to which is the oldest member of the society. The name of Dr. James Baldwin, however, appears earliest on the records. In the year 1833 he was appointed one of the delegates to attend the Medical Convention at Hartford. He must, there- fore, have been a member for some years previous. He was the same year (1833) appointed, with Dr. A. L. Williams, " to read a dissertation at the next an- nual meeting." Their names ajipenr frequently in the records of the society. In 1S3{), Dr. E. P. Bennett was appointed fellow of the State Medical Conven- tion in New Haven, and to read a dissertation at the next annual meeting. In 1S38, David H. Nash was appointed a fellow of the State Convention. In 1850 Nathaniel D. Haight was chosen one of the fellows for the ensuing year. It may be safe to estimate their rc-spcctive ages as members froni the above data. Fairfield County has furnished from its members the f<illowing presidents for the State society: Elijah Midillebrook, 18-41-42: RmTh-: Blakeman, 1851-52; Robert Hubbard, 1877. So much time has been >[., iit with the living that none is left for the virtue^ aad memories of the dead who strove to keej) and to improve the society and themselves. They labored, and we have entered into their labors. Only recently has it become customary to publish obituaries of deceased members. In 1854 a motion was passed "that the clerk notice the death of the members of this Society with a concise biography." If this was ever done, no record of it remains. The records contain but one obituary, which, on account of its tenderness and of the source whence it comes, I am constrained to give in full. April, 1856, " Dr. Blnkcman, committee on obituary of members dcceasc<l, reported on Dr. K. B. Botaford, dec'd of Danbury, the fi^llowlng letler, whicli waa ordered to be iuuluded in the niinuteti : " ' Dr. Kuisscl B. Bot«ford was tjorn at Newtown, 5Iay 7, 1794. and com- menced tbe study of medicine with Dr. Sliepnni, of Newtown, duiing two years of liis medical cout»e. In New Haven lie was in Dr. Gilbert's ofHce. IIo received his diploma September, ISUi. lu tlie spring of 1817 lie commeiicel the pmctijc of medicine in the village of Danlmry. In 1S20 be waa married, and \\U general lienlth was sucli tliat for tliirty-six years he was (wlien at home) never prevenled fnnn sitting at tlie taldo and enjoying tlie regular meals of his family. Being of a very depressed temperament and dyspeptic habits, and from toj intense application to study and a very laborious practice, in 18:12 lie was afllicteil with a rusli of blood to tbe bead, which In a few years resulted in attacks of an ci>i- leptic character, which oiitinned with more or less frequency and se- verity until, Dec. ll(i. lsr,r>, tliey terniinate<l his life at the age of sixty- two. His habits of industry and system were snch that to the day before his death he attendetl to all his domestic duties, keeping everything about and in his premises with perfect neatness and order. l*erhn|M it doi-a not become tbe band of aifection to pen liU eubigy, but allow me to say that for purity of character, untiling devotion to his profession, hospi- tality, and kindnesa to bis fiieiida, he had not liia superior. *' ' Very respectfully, ■'' Kliz\ W. BoTsroBD.' " A few facts seemingly of interest may be added re- garding the study of medicine and the granting of licenses. Dr. Blakeman states in his address: "Pre- vious to the formation of tlie ctmnty society it is believed that the time devoted to medical qualifica- tion, even of the regular practitioner, was optional with the candidate for public favor. His reliance for a successful practice was more upon the popular decision regarding his skill than upon certificates of qualification which he might derive from his medical teachers." Yet this great "art, Wlii.li doth niond Nature," must be handed over to Science or Knowledge for its highest, its complete attainment. "The grounds of every rule of art are to be founil in the theorems of Science" (Mill's "Logic," vol. ii.), and the true phy- sician (for there were many such in those earlier days) Bought some place for the beginning of his medical career. The sources for the acquisition of medical knowl- edge in the American colonies wore few and scanty. A medical department was connected with King's — after\vards Columbia — College from 1767 to 1813. The Yale Medical School was not organized until 1813, and did not confer degrees until the following year. But very early in the century we learn of young men appealing for licenses to practice. Dr. George Sum- DK. KUFUS BLAKEMAN. MEDICAL HISTORY. 29 ner, in an address on "The Early Physicians of Con- necticut," in IS")!, says John Copp, styled school- master, obtained the recommendation of the selectmen of ^Torwalk and applied for a license to practice medicine in 1705. Dr. Uriali Kogers* studied with Dr. Jonathan Bull, of Hartford, and was licensed by the (leneral Court in VS'A. Dr. David Itojjers,* born iu 1741, stn<lied medicine with his father, oli- tained a license to practice medicine iu New Y<irlv, and located at (ireeufield Hill, Fairfield. It was tlie custom for the student, after having qualified as was thought sufHcieiitly by study with a precei>t(ir, to make application and ai)pear before the physicians of the county or a committee appointed by them for examination and license. Thus were most permits granted until the establishment of the Connecticut Medical Society in 17;i2. "Among the earliest and most important of the duties of the State Jledical Society was examining candidates for the practice <d' medicine and surgery by a board annually appointed from its members, and legally empowered to issue licenses to ])ractice to such as they deemed |iroperly qualified. It ;dso thus early in its history established a standard of qualifications, making, on the part of the candidate, the attainment of his majority, the evidence of a good moral character, and certificate of three years' stmly with some reputable physician or surgeon, save in the case of college graduates (when two years were accepted), as prerequisite to examina- tion. This method of (lualifying students was in vogue until the establishment of the Medical Insti- tution of Yale College" (address of President C. M. Carleton, of Xorwich, " Proceedings Connecticut Medical Society, 187S," p. S). In closing this sketch, cursory and imperfect as it is, I cannot do better than by going back to the be- ginning of the Fairfield County Medical Society. Eurt'S Blakemax, M.D., was a lineal descendant of the fifth generation from Kev. Adam Blakeman, who was born in Staftbrdshire, England, iu lO'.lS, en- tered Cambridge College May 2.3, 1(517, from which he was graduated. He was ordained an E]>iscopal clergyman, and preached in Leicester, Derbyshire, England, came to Anu'rica about 1630 or !(>;>.'>, and was the first clergyman of Stratford, Conn. He died in 1()().'). He had a family of six children, the eldest of whom was named John, who married Dorothy, daughter of Rev. Henry Smith, of AVethersfleld, and died in 1GG3. He had three children, the second of whom was named Ebenczcr, who was twice married, first to Patience, daughter of John Wilconen, of Strat- ford, Conn., second to Abigail Curtis, of Stratford, Conn. Ho had nine children, of whom the eighth, by his wife Abigail, was named Nathan, who was born Sept. 29, 1702, and married Sarah, daughter of Samuel Wills, in 1732, and had fiiur children, of whom Eph- raim was the second, born March 9, 1746, in Monroe, * Blukemuu's .\ddress. Fairfield Co., Conn. He was a farnu'r iu the town of Monroe, marrieil, and had a family of eleven children, of whom Rufus, the subject of this sketch, was the ninth. He died April 13, 1811, aged sixty-five years. His wife, Sarah, died Sept. 19, 1828, aged seventy-four years. Rufus Blakeman was Ikhui iu ^Monroe, Fair- field Co., Conn., Jan. 12, 179-'>. He was graduated from Union College iu 1817, and from the .Aledii'ul University of the city of New York in ISiil, and im- mediately commenced the practice of meilieine on Greenfield Hill, Fairfield Co., Conn., in the year 1X22, and continued to jiractice until his death, Fel). 27, 187(*. His ride was very extensive, reaching far into the adjoining towns. Pie was a member of the Medi- cal Board of Examiners of the New Haven Medical Scho(d for many years, and at one time was president of the Connecticut Medical Association. Besides at- tending to the various duties of his profession he often contributed articles on various subjects iicrtaiuing to his profession to the medical journals. He also jiub- lislicd a work entitled "Credulity and Superstition," which met with a ready sale. In jiolitics he was a staunch Whig and Rejiubliean, and as such was a magistrate of the town of Fairfield for many years, judge of Probate for more than twenty-four years, and mendier of the State Legislature. He was not a mem- ber of any church, but was a regular attendant and liberal supporter of the Congregational Church of Greenfield Hill, of which Rev. Thouuis I>. Sturges was ])astor. He married Mahala, daughter of Nathan N. Walker, of L"ng Hill, (.'onn., iu 1819. They had two children, — viz., Catharine A. and Rufus (de- ceased). Mrs. Dr. Blakeman is now, 1880, residing on the old homestead with her daughter. The fi)llowing is the address of Dr. Blakeman, de- livered before the State Medical Society in LSoS: ADDRE.SS OF THE PKKSIDENT, lUFUS BLAIvEJl AN, M.D.