History of Fairfield County, Connecticut

Public-spirited and U])right in his daily walk and conversation, Dr. Beardsley has ^von for himself an enviable name in the community where nearly lialf a century ago he pitched his tent, and went forth to en- joy, in the words of Giddsmith, " the luxury of doing good." A Fairfield County boy, he well deserves this place of honor in its history. If to ronowii wf give the soldier's name "Who sw iiif^s the swon] fur country or for fame. If he who Haves, ami not ulio doth destroy, Uefure his Maker hatli tlie best emjdoy, Then should we write our village doctor's name High on the scroll of that undying fanio "Whieh crumhles not within the burial-shroud Nor waits the tickle plaudit of the crowd. With tender liand the fainting one to save. To starve the sexton, and to foil the grave; To lift the shatlow from tlie palace-door, Or smooth the pillow of the dying i)oor; By l)leasant word to clieer the heart of woe, Where Heardsley went hut few are fnind to go. What matter, then, if lofty stone or low Sliall lift above the ashes of his restV When we no more the kindly fare shall loiow. Its niem'ry still shall fill the grateful breast. And best who knew shall clierish it the best. Courage, 0 youth : Though forluae thee disown. Like Beardsley, snatch tho laurel aid the crown Of that great manhooil which — tho' sometimes wrong — Ends at the last with this triuuiphant song: " He fought the tiglit, and i-ver. till he slept, 'Twixt man and man the faith he kept." J. W. S. Ezra P. Benjjett, M.D., one of the oldest [ihysi- cians in the State, and one of the most widely known in this portion of it, has l)een in active practice in Danlniry nearly fifty-three years. Like many other men who have become eminent in various avocations, I his early days, spent on a farm, gave no |)romise of j his luture career. He was born in Weston. Conn., Aug. cil, 1800, the fourth of a family of seven. His father, Ezra Bennett, was descended from ;i Scotch liiniily of the name that settled in Connecticut several generations earlier. The ancestors of his mother, Esther Godfrey, came fnnn England. The opportunities for obtaining an education in his native town were very meagre, but such as they were he made diligent use of them. According to the cus- toms of rui'iil communities he atteinled school in the winter and worked on the farm in summer, :ind U]i to Ids fifteenth year he enjoyed no other educational j privileges. Even the newsiiaper, which has liecome j such a universal medium of instruction, was tlien hardly circidated outside of the larger towns. After leaving the public school young Bennett was al.ile to attend a private school for two winters under the charge of a college graduate, where he succeeded in slightly enlarging his knowledge of the common branches and picking up a smattering of Latin. Thus equipped, at the age of .seventeen he taught scho(d in Weston iluring a winter term and the following sum- mer in Redding. However small the wages tor this latter service may have been, he has had reason for congratulation for one of its results, for during that aus])icious season he met her who afterwards became his wife, and has been his faithful coadjutor for more than half a century. Wlien he was fourteen an injury to the knee, sus- tained in wrestling, incapacitated him for etficient work on the farm, and obliged him to seek employ- ment more in accordance with his tastes. He entered the office of Dr. Charles Gorham, of Redding, paying in part for the privilege by making himself usefiil in doing chon^s. In 182(i the young student spent eight months in the medical school at Pitt-ifield, Mass. The next year, after a term of the same length, he was graduated a doctor of medicine. With a fair education gained under such adverse circumstances and an indomitable spirit he liegan at once, in January, 1828, to practice in I'etlicl, then a part of the town of Danbury, and entered U]ion a struggle tlmt jiroved long and severe. His worldly goods and professional equi]inients consisted of what books he could conveniently carry under his arm, a pocket-ca.se of surgical instruments, a horse and sad- dle, a meagre wardrobe, and ten dollars in cash. He had thus no abundance of means to support him while he built up a jiractice, nor hail he infiueiitial friends 42 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT. to open the way for liim, hut was entirely dependent on the knowU'dire and skill which incrensed with years, and on boldness and energy that have never failed him. Durinir the ten years of his sojonrn in Bethel he managed to lay aside about fifty dollars a year. The economy that secured this result wa.s rigid, for in the early part of that period he added to his earthly possessions a wife, a dwelling, and barn. If the helpmeet diil not come from his side, like the primeval woman from her husband, the real estate did come from his head and hands, the j>roduct of their cunning and industry. June 24, 1S29, he was married to Sarah Maria, daughter of Billy Comstoek, Esq., of Redding. Dr. Bennett's career in Bethel was as successful as its narrow sphere rendered possible, but when, in IS-^.S, an opening encouraged him to remove to Danbury, he gladly improved the op|)ortunity of entering ou broailer usefulness. He purchased the place on Deer Hill which has since been his home. Here his practice steadily increased, giving him all he could attend to even in ordinary circumstances. From the first he has been especially interested in surgery, and there he has won his fairest laurels. Beginning with the simple task of trejihining he has jierformed operations worthy of the most eminent men in the profession. He was the pioneer in Connecticut in operating for ovarian tumor, vesico-viiginal fistula, and club-foot. He has per- formed lithotomy by the lateral method nine times successfully, save one, which was undertaken against overwhelming chances. Seven of his nine cases of ovariotomy have succeeded perfectly. His other capi- tal operations have been numerous. He has tied the subclavian artery once and the femoral artery four time^. The boldness and skill of his operations have given him a deserved ])lace of honor in the minds of those who have been familiar with them, both in and out of the i)rofession. The necessity of rapid manipulation was a prere- quisite to success before the discovery of anaesthetics, and tiie rapidity with which Dr. Bennett worked was perfectly wonderful. He once amputated a thigh in thirty seconds, according to the testimony of bv.stand- crs, who timed him accurately, his celerity in op- crating being due, doubtless, in a mea.surc, to the fact that he is ambidextrous. In 1850 he made a trip to England, with his two boys, to consult Dr. Marshall Hall respecting the health of one of them. He was absent, however, but a few months. In n sketch of this kind, necessarily brief, it is im- possible to do justice to the jiersonal and professinnal characteristics of a man like Dr. Bennett. Moulded largely by the circumstances of his early-life struggles, which developed boldness, independence, and obsti- nate determination, he has made firm friends, and bv his intelligence and skill has won respect even from caemie.s. A nuiii that has his own way to make in the world, and makes it successfully, naturally feels some degree of sclf-^niplacency, and cannot be blamed for reviewing his career with considerable satisfaction. Dr. Bennett has done what he under- took, and done it well. How many have done less! In the course of his profe-isional career he has met in consultation some of the most eminent physicians in the countrj', and they have invariably admired his talents and respected his opinions. He ha.s always been remarkably quick and sure in his diagnosis, seeming at times to have an almost intuitive percep- tion of disease, and his hand is still as steady in oper- ating as it was fifty years ago, nor has he lost the zest of early ambition in his favorite department of sur- gery. He has kept abreast the age in his profession, and his library, of a few books carried under the arm, has grown to contain all the works of authors of stand- ing, and occupies two sides of a long room from fioor to ceiling. June 24, 1870, the doctor celebrated his golden wedding. It was an enjoyable, impromptu affair, arranged during a ride the doctor was induced to take, at which many of the friends were present, and not the least plea.sant feature of which wa.s the presentation to him of a gold watch and chain, in a happy speech by Deacon E. T. Hoyt. The watch was inscribed as follows: "Dr. E. P. Bennett from his friends, in recognition of the faithfulness and skill with which, as surgeon and physician, he ha.- long served them and honored his profession." In 1875, Dr. Bennett wivs appointed one of the trustees of the State Lunatic Hospital fur four years, and reai>pointed in 1879. The doctor's children have been three: William Comstoek and Andrew Comstoek, twins, and Sarah L. One of the twins, Andrew, in the interest of whose health the trip to England was made, died on the re- turn voyage. The surviving son, William, attended school at New Haven and Northampton, Mass., en- tered Yale College, and was graduated with the class of 1858. He received the degree of M.D. from the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York t'ity. in March, 1860; practiced medicine with his father until .Inly, \>^Ct\, when he entered the army as assist- ant surgeon Fifth Connecticut Volunteers; aflerwaril- surgeon of the regiment. Resigning this jiosition, In- received an appointment from the United States a- surgeon of volunteers; was assigned to the Twentieth Army Corps as medical inspector, serving on tln' stalls of Slocum, Hooker, and Williams, successively. He was in the Arnty of the Shenandoah, Potomac. Cumberland, and Georgia, accompanying Sherman in his march to the sea. Starch, IStJo, he Avas mn- tered out of service and returned to Danbury, wher. he has since practiced in company with his father.