History of Fairfield County, Connecticut

Professor Strong is buried in the old ground at Stratlield, near the entrance. Stephen Middledkook, M.I)., another son of Dr. Stephen Jliddlebrook,. first altovc named, was Ixirn in Long Hill, town of Trumbull, then in the town of vStratliu'd. He was located by his father in the town of Monroe at Edwards' Four Cfirners, and there prtic- tieed medicine for about twenty-five years, and al- though a very skillful and popuhir ]diysician, yet having a strong aversion to the discomforts necessa- rily incident to an active practice, he ivtirrd from the in-ofessiou in middle life, and passed the remainder of his days in leisure, in his native village, where he died Oct. IS, 1850, aged fifty-four years, and was buried in the cemetery in Long Hill. The Humceopathy jiractice is also worthily repre- sented in Fairfield County. The practitioners of this school are AVilliam B. Bcebe, B. F. Bronson, L. II. Norton, Charles E. Sanford, and L. M. Benedict, Britlgeport; ^V. E. Bulkley, S. Penfield, and A. (trifiin, Danbury ; James H. Brush and L. P. Jones, ( i^reenwieh ; Theodore Roljcrts and Eli Acker, New Caiuian ; G. S. Comstock and Dexter Hitelicock, Nor- walk ; Chauneey M. Ayres, George F. Foote, and J. F. Griflin, Stamford; G. W. Colhird, of Stratford. Eclectic Physician.s, J. W. King, T. A. Shat- tuck, J. D. S. Smith, Joseph Fanyon, Bridgei)ort ; E. A. Brown, Danbury; Cooke, C. C., New Canaan; Henry L. MtiUoy, Sherman ; George AV. Rubey, of ^\'estport. Botanical, H. M. Richardson, Bridgeport. Indian, Ct. C. Richards, of Danbury. David Hull Nash. — It is always a pleasure for tlie historian to place upon his jiagcs passing inci- dents in file life of one who has devoted his life-study to the advancement of a noljle profession and to the amelioration of the human race. Such a one is Dr. David Hull Nash, the subject of this sketch. He was born on Greenfield Hill, in this county, March 21, 1811, and is the son of Dr. W. B. Nash and Rutha M. El- liott, daughter of the sterling old patriot, Andrew Elliott, who was pastor of the Congregational Church of Fairfield when the town was burned by the British in 1779.* Dr. W. B. Nash was born in Westport, Conn., and ' * See History of Fairtiel 1. 40 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT. commenced practice in Greenfield, and from tliere re- move«l to Fairfield and formed a copartnersliii) with the late David Hull. Here he remained until 182"), when he eame to Bridgeport, and continued in prac- tice until his death, which occurred Dec. 9, 1872, in the eighty-seventh year of liis age. David H. was educated at the Fairfield Academy and in the schools of this city, and commenced the study of iiis profession in the office of his father, who was then in active practice. He subsequently con- tinued his studies under the instruction of Eli and N. B. Ives, leading physicians in the city of New Haven. He also attended medical college at New Haven, from which he graduated in 18.34. In the following year, 183.5, he commenced practice with his father, under the firm-name of William B. Nash & Son, which partnership continued until .July 1, 1853, when he associated with him Dr. Uobert Hubbard. The firm of Nash & Hubbard existed until Jan. 1, 1871, since which time he has continued in the practice alone. Hence it will be seen that Dr. Nash has been in the active practice of his profession for nearly half a century. He haa always taken a lively interest in every measure tending to advance the interest of the pro- fession generally, and is a member of the county, State, and United States medical societies. Politically, Dr. Nash is a Republican, and an earnest advocate of the principles of that party. He was jircviously a Whig. Religiously, the doctor is a Congregationalist, and a member of the North Church, in this city. Jan. 6, 18.36, he united in marriage with Susan E., daughter of the late Jesse Sterling, and their family consists of Andrew Eliot and .Jesse S., both of whom reside in Bridgeport. The eldest son, William S., is deceased. Dr. Nasli has a large and lucrative practice, and ranks among the leading physicians in the State. Although now nearly seventy years of age, he retains in a remarkable degree the vigor and elasticity of youth, and daily may be seen visiting his numerous patients, )iis interest never waning in that noble i>ro- fession to which he has devoted a long and active career. Ambrose Be-vrpsley, JI.D.— The subject of this sketch was born in the town of Jfonroe, Oct. 23, 1811. His father, Elihu Beardsley, a thrifty farmer of his native town, was a descendant of William Beardsley, one of the first settlers of Stratford, in Fairfield Co., Conn. The Beardsley family were for many years ver)' numerous in Monroe, where they wielded a good deal of influence in the affairs of the town. Ambrose had three brothers; one of whom — to wit, the Rev. E. E. Beardsley, D.D., LL.D. — is an author of considerable eminence in matters of church history. .\gar Beards- ley is a farmer upon the homestead land, while Rufus, the fourth of the son-*, is deail. There were also two girls in the family, botH of w-liom are still living. Ambrose, the subject of this sketch, "roughed it" on the farm until he was sixteen, when having, by an industrious economy of time and his naturally studious habits, fitted himself for school-teaching, he, at this early age, tried the hazardous experiment of playiuL' the schoolmaster to his late companions in his native town, and with such success that he was eng.oged for several successive seasons in the neighboring town of Redding. When, at length, he decided to abandon the birch and the ferule, he had by odds and ends, in ' one way and another, managed to pick up a consider- able knowledge of the classics (though with little or no instruction, for, in the days of our fathers, "book- larnin' " for farmers' sons was not held, in high es- teem), and becoming convinced that his pathway of life did not lie in the trail of the i)low, he chose for his i)rofession the study and the practice of medicine. Accordingly, after following a course of study under the eminent Dr. Willard Parker, now of New York, he entered the Pittsfield Medical College, where, in j December, 1834, he graduated with the first honors of his class. Locating in Newtown, Conn., he practiced in his profession successfully until September, 1836, i when he accepted an invitation to locate in the then infant village of Birmingham, in the town of Derby, where he has ever since devoted his time and his talents — of which he has many — to the sick and the 1 suffering for many miles around, almost reverenced by many and greatly beloved by all. Courteous and affable in his manners, prepossessing in his personal presence. Dr. Beardsley has won for himself an envi- able reputation as a physician and surgeon. Not only has he been prominent in his profession, but our now venerable friend has filled many official po- sitions in his adopted town. For twenty-five consecu- tive years he was the trciisurer of the town of Derby; for four yeiirs president of the Derby Savings Bank; nine years warden of the borough of Birmingham ; besides many other minor offices of profit and trust, all of which positions he has ever occupied with cre<lit to himself and to the entire satisfaction of the people, as is evidenced by the fact that when nominated for ■ any oftice in the gift of the jicojile " the old doctor" is never beaten. Dr. Beardsley, early in life, was fond of debate and controversy, and, being a young man of bright abili- ties, he wjvs always foremost in lyceum debates, etc., and it is to this sort of training that he attributes hi- success Its a fluent speaker, as he unquestionably is upon almost any topic that he chooses to take up. Uj)on almost every public occasion within the last lbrtj--four years in Derby, Dr. Beardsley has been :i conspicuous actor and speaker. Within the limits •■' the town there is no man living who has delivered s.. many orations, lectures, and impromptu addresses a~ he, and always to the acceptance and gratification of his audience. Always too much in love with his profession and too faithful to his patients to engage in State politic-. ^ y ^o '^^^i.*^:./^:^^ MEDICAL niSTORV. 41 he has yet at home been prominent as a Reiniblican (though uevtT a camlichite tor im/xiilr honors, which he miglit easily liave obtained liail he so (h'sire(l), up to the nomination of Horace Greeley, when, with that noble philosopher and excellent American, he " went West," politically, from which journey and its effects he seems not to have sufticiently recovered to enable him to again take part, to any great extent, in local politics. During the late civil war Dr. I>ear(lsley was ever an ardent Unionist, contributing often far aljove his means to the support of the soldiers in the field. In 18 — he was married to Slary Bassett, the daughter of Samuel Bassett, Esq., late of Seymour, Conn., by whom he had two children, one of whom, Capt. A. E. Beardsley, — still living, — was a brave an<l a valualile soldier in the " Twentieth Citonecticut." The other, Mary, wife of Dr. T. B. Jewett, is now deceased. The doctor is a fluent and graceful writer, as is evi- denced by the i>ages of the History of Derliy, lately jiublislied, of which he was a co-editor and the lead- ing writer, to whom the book is largely indelited for its spice, vivacity, and local historical interest. The History of Derby will doubtless be regarded through many coming years, by generations yet to come, with affectionate interest as the crowning sheaf in the life- work of a wise counselor, a skilled physician, a kind, affectionate liusljand and fiither, a friend of humanity, and an honest man. Judged by his works, it can truthfully be said of him that, while of worse men there are many, yet of better men there are few. As a physician liis services were as accessible to the poor as to the rich, the question of probable reward never being considered to deter from or jirompt to the most arduous service.