History of Fairfield County, Connecticut

"Althougli not endowed with extraordinary intidU-ctual powers, Ids talents were lespectible and of a character calculated for usefulness rather than display or striking originality. If he did ii'it attain eminence as a profe-v'-ional scholar, he wiis diligent in his ctlorts to acquire suih portions of existing medical literature as were more immediately adapted to the emergencies of practice ordinarily presented to the notice of physi- cians. To his juinors in the profession, Dr. Shepard's dei^itment wjis ever urbane, and his counsels to them disinterested and parental. His professional coevals in neighboring towns generally concedeil to him a precedence as a consulting physician. The following vote from the records of Fairfield Meilical Society sulficiently evince the estimation in which he was held by his brethren : *'* VuU'd, That I>r. Gideon Shepard receive the patronageof this society in consuinption and chronic cases of disease, and that it be the duty of all members of this society to recommend him when counsel is deemed expedient, etc., and that it be his duty to report all cases of that descrip- tion to which he may be called to attend, with their particular symptoms, the partiiiilar medicines, and the con^titution of the several patients, to- gether with the predispositions of their ancestry.' "Altliough the existing generation of physicians may smile at such Mending t)f professional opinion with popular belief regarding excellence of the skill of individuals in special classes of disease, yet the fiict is un- doubted that smdi were prtifessional concessions as late as the close of the last and comniencenient of the present centuiy- Hi** mode of treatment of consumidiun, as I learu from his statement of cases left on the records of the society, was not peculia'. I eing in general mildly antiplilogislic and similar to the present treatment of jihtliisis. To meet ocrnning symptoms, local bleeding, cjunter-irrifanls, with anodyu'- and demub ent expectorants, were his general pi-esciiptions. " Dr. Shepard was somewhat eccentric in character, but social, instruc- tive, and agreeal le in his intercouise with society. In his leligious sen- timents he was a zealous Sandemaiiian. He ever sustained a reputation of great moral puiity ; and while lie was highly esteemed by his fiiends, his enemies or traducers were rarely found. 'Wliat few phy>i. ians can boast, he was the fatlier of seventeen children; thereby practically re- futing the possilde ch.arge that, while enjoying the profits of a sjiecial branch of his profession as a prompt accessory in the accumulation of responsibilities on his friends, he was cautious in the assumption of similar burdens on himself. " He is said to have be'^ii of an exlieinely chaiilable disp.i>.iii..n ao'I indulgent as to his pecuniary claims upon his poorer pali'-nts. This dis- position, with the necessary denumds for the support of his numerous fanuly, ever kept him poor, tliougli not indigent, as regarded a respectable living. Dr. Shepard was one of the most prominent of tlie oiiginatois and supporteis of the Fairfield County Medical Society, and the records of this convention will show that he was one of its niojst fre<pient and active members. He died a few yeai-s since at Hunter, N. Y., where he resided with one of In's daughters, when incapacitated fiom age for the jiraclice of hi:* professi m, at the advanced pelio.] of eighty-nine years. "Dr. Ilennett Perry wasacontemi"Mary practitioner with Dr. Sliepanl in Newtown. He was a son of Dr. Nath. Perry, of Wondlmiy, a highly respectable physician of that town. The son probably acquired his pro- fession witii his father, when he located in Newtown, where he practiced medicine until his death, which occurred in If^'JI, aged sixty-^ix years. His rejuitation is that of a physician possessing superitu- tiilents, well develoiicdby education, , and an able, respectable, and highly accomplished practitioner and citizen. "Dr. .lohn Lester was. I h.ave understooi], a native . if Ma.-K:ichus(tts. He studied medicine with Dr. Nath. Perry, of Woodbury, who it wouM appear was among tlie most prominent metlii at teacln-rs of the period. He commenced practice at the age of twenty-one, abi>ut IT^'.t, at Hunting- ton. I)r. Lester was one of the most resiK'Ctable physicians of the c<iunty, and an active and eiliciput member of its medical s'n iety, in the orgainza- tion of which he sustained a prominent part. His death occurre<l in I>n2, aged ak>ut thirty-five years. " Dr. William Sheltou was a native of Iluntingttrn, a graduate of Yale College in 17SS. He pursued his medical studies, I am infoimed, in part witn Dr. Eneas Munson, and was for a time under the in^tru<■tion of Dr. William Agur Tomlinson, of Stratford. He fiist located and practiced in Trnmbnll, but on the decease of Dr. Lester he removed to his native town, where ho continued its principal jdiysieian until his death. Di-. Sheltou was a talented, skillful, and most lesi'ccted jtiiysician. He was an inllneutial jiioneer in the county society organization, and ever con- tinued one of its principal supporters. He was tin- father of Drs. William Sheltou, of Stratford, and James II. Shelton, of Huntington. He died in LslD, aged fifty-two years. "Dr. David Hull was a native of the town of Derby. He was the sun of Hull, a resident of that town, and brotherof Gen. Hull of Detroit notoriety. He was also uncle to Com. I^aac Hull of the navy. Ho graduateil at Yale Cidlege in 1TS5, and studied mediiine with Dr. Titus Hull, (•{ Bethlehem, a propiietary of the celebrated ' Hull's Physic' ID- located and pra< (iced his piofesirion in Fairfield, wliero he continued a highly respectable and respected physician until his death, a jn-riod of nearly half a century. He enjoyed an extensive practice- not only in Fairfield, but, especially in cases of colic, in the adjacent towns, where he was often called as a consulting jdiysician. Dr. Hull a- quired from his preceptor, who I believe wiis a distant relative, a knowledge of the composition of 'Hull's Physic' in consideration of his name. The com- position of this nostrum was a secret which its inventor allowed to he iniparteil but to those of his name, and to those but with the condition that such only as enjoyed the family cognomen were to be admitted aa candidates for a reception of the concealed treiusure. Sucli was the posi- tion of Dr. David Hull in relation to tliis celebrated nostrvim, for which he encountered the censoiiousremaiksofhiB mediral bretliren al'road ami not unfrequently those of his own county, wlm were less familiar with the unostentatious mode in which lie emi)loyed it. " In justice to the professional memory of Dr. Hull, and in vindication of a friend whom I much esteemed, I am happy in being aide to state, from personal knowledge, that without proclaiming the specific virtues of the pills in the euue of colic, on whi(di disease its-popularity was based, or In any degi'ce adopting the mode of nostrum propiietors in au- 36 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CO"NNECTICUT. nouneing tholr Ivintliiigs for piillfc altoiilion, lio nnpretoiidinely cm- ployed them hi h\» pmctico as n favorite laxfttivo in tlmt as well as vori- ouii other iliHdiri'-d in wliicli ho (leeme<l tlicni iippn*priiite, siniply umler ttio flenomiimtinn of his AloeUc pill, lit- wiw fram U.s »»ii;;iii and over coutlimetl a member of the county society, iiutwitlistiindini; the rxistence of itd stringent f*:/-/<iir<i and the kniwn detestation of empiricism which nctnnteil it* m-wt prominent members. The tolerance which Pr. IlnU experienLoiI from his contemimniry brethren under such circumstances mi^ht be lUn-nnil adefpmte cvidento of Ihfir estimate of lii« chamcler os a respected and liononibk' memlwrof the county societi'; but in addition the foIUmink' vote on the society record exhll-its pos-itivc proof that he was recognizeil tig a vahied and ettteemed member, whose [tilluence it was deeiU'Ml de.sirul.le to secure and retain f'>r the promotion of the object for which it was or;!auized. Voted, ' that a committee be api>iiinti.'ii to coll on Dr. David Hull and inform him that by paying his taxes in arrears he will be considered an lionorable memlKsr of this society without inquiry Into the ee.'rct of the composition of HtiW$ Physic.'' A committee of three of the m>wt respcctuhle membfrs were, in arcordance wiih the above vote, apiHdntcil, and Dr. Hull remained a mwt enteemed memberof the society until his death, whicli occurred in 1834, aged sixty-eight years. " I am indebted to the politoue.-s of Pmfetwor Knight for the following notice of physiciana who practi-cd in Norwalk, hi^ nativo town. " Dr. Knight, in reply to a communication on tlie subject, staters 'The oldest p])y^i<.-ian whom I knew luid the only one of any distinction, when my father tu-ttled thore, was Thaddeus Bells, M.D. He was, I believe, u native of the town, agnidimtoof Yale Odlege in 1745, one of the original mendiers of the Connecticut Meili :hI Society, and received fioni it the degree of M.D. at an early po;ii»d of its existence. He died in IsiiT. He was a man «tf great excellence of character, well informetl in his pi-ofes- sioii, and a Judicious practitioner. I think he made no pretensions to Burgcry. I rvcollecl him as a cheerful, pleaj>ant old genlleman, abound- fng In wit, an<l intttructive in hut conver>ta(ion. **'My father, Dr. Jonathan Knight, wos born in Lisbon, then a part of Norwich, Conn., Jan. 10, IToS. He studied medicine with Dr. Ladd, a physician of that neighlHirliood. In 1770 or 1777 he entere<l the army, and was surgeon's mate of the Cuniieclicut Regiment, under tlie com- mand of C<d. DurUee or Durgee. He was with the troops under Gen. >Va«htngt-u) at Valley Forge during that most dispiriting period of the war. H» loft the army in 1780, and settled itr Norwalk in 17t>l-^2. For many yeais he was actively and extensively engaged in practice, princi- pally OS a phynician, in that and the neighboring towns. He continued In the performance of the active dulius of liis profession until they were diminished by advancing yearv and increosing infirmities. Ho died March, 1«'29, in tlio sovenly-sccond year of his age.'