Baxter's, p 764.
The same block in 1888, from the Sanborn Fire Map, below. Greenwich Street, to the right of Ottawa, is now Ionia, and goes through the block to the north. Dr Putnam's house is gone and replaced by the Shepard Block. He had moved before 1870, 5 blocks south to the corner of Island (now Weston) and Sheldon. Dr Shepard is making good money in real estate by this time. He bought the Gunnison property on the West Side, the subject of an earlier post.
As shown on the map, above, the Pen Club is on the corner of Fountain and Ottawa, and you can see the Shepard house on the left. From the book "Grand Rapids As It Was", 1888.
On the left is the Shepard house. Looks like wash day! From the GRPM Fitch Collection courtesy of Robert Kline.
Shepard house about 1890, from "Old Grand Rapids" by George Everett Fitch, page 20.
Baxter's, p 728.
Part of a paper written by Harvey J Hollister, and read at the annual meeting of The Michigan Historical Commission in 1906 had this to say about Dr Shepard:
"Not one of the older residents will forget the drug firm of Shepard & Putnam. Dr. Shepard was quite an old physician when I came here. He had been a resident of the town some fifteen years, which carried one back to the beginning of things in this then embryo city. I remember an incident that Dr. Shepard related at one of our Old Residents' meetings, when he was president of the association. The meeting was held at the Morton house. He said, "As I was coming through the State from Detroit to Grand Rapids I came upon a tribe of Indians on the Flat river. I could not speak the Indian language at all, but the Indian chief seemed glad to see me and, being an Indian, welcomed me as a physician. I found that the tribe were suffering from smallpox, which had broken out among them. While in Detroit, I had fortified myself with some vaccine matter and, with the consent of the chief, I applied the remedy to the entire tribe who were well or convalescent and remained among them for some little time before continuing my journey to Grand Rapids. When at last I told the chief that I must go on, he put his hand on my shoulder and uttered his thanks in impressive Indian words."
This was the Doctor's first practice in Michigan. How long he lived in our midst! How sadly was he missed! When seventy-two years of age there was a birthday party given for him, when he seemed to be not over fifty. I think he lived to be about eighty-four years of age."
Following is a very windy obituary from the Cyclopedia of Michigan, p 256. It was all one paragraph, so I have broken it up to be more readable.
DR. CHARLES SHEPARD, deceased, Grand Rapids. The history we have of the struggles and trials of those pioneers who were the founders of our great Commonwealth is largely the result of the formation of social organizations having for their object the recording of the personal experiences and attainments'of its early settlers, their abandonment of almost every attribute of civilization to take up a life of unceasing toil, of neverending perseverance and industry, of forgetfulness of self, to share all the burdens and hardships of existence in a wilderness. While noble lessons of courage and faith are taught in the record of the least successful of these, the process of compilation gives to each his proper place, and how invaluable is the inspiration and example of those who, by their unconquerable will, their superior ability of mind and body, their indomitable courage and unfaltering energy, have placed their names above and in front of their fellows, standing out like beacon-lights from the common mass, and handed down to posterity the record of noble deeds, of lives whose purity and unselfish devotion to duty emblazon them for all time high on the roll of honor and of fame! The historian in the larger sphere, whose aim is the history of the whole State from its inception to the present time, is thus enabled to select the most valuable and interesting subjects, and while confined to narrow limits, both as to individuals and space, is at no loss for material.
The Grand River Valley is a fruitful field, and among the first and best of the many valued names on its scroll of pioneers, whose lives were a victory for themselves and for their State, none stands more highly or commands a greater degree of respect than that which heads this article. That he sprang from a hardy and sterling stock is evident, and those of his ancestors of whom there is any record attained great age. His grandfather, Daniel Shepard, was a native of Connecticut, and died at Chatham (now Portland) in that State, at the age of ninety-seven years. Silas, his son, was born at Chatham, September 2, 1779, and removed to Fairfield, Herkimer County, New York. He died January 19, 1863, in Cattaraugus County, New York. His wife, Anna (White) Shepard, died April 11, 1873, aged ninety-two years, in Portage County, Ohio. Our subject was born July 18, 1812, at Herkimer, New York, and spent a portion of his early youth in his father's workshop, he being a carpenter and joiner. Having no opportunity for obtaining a college education, he was dependent upon the common schools, and such reading as was obtainable in the books at hand, for his education. He early developed a taste for the study of medicine, and having an energetic disposition and a large ambition -he commenced to prepare himself for that profession, at eighteen years of age, in the office of Dr. H. W. Doolittle. Subsequently he attended lectures and graduated, in March, 1835, from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of the Western District of New York, situated at Fairfield. He commenced practice in Jefferson County, and at the end of six months came West, arriving at the then village of Grand Rapids, October 20, 1835.
He was, with one exception, the first physician to settle at that place, where he announced his intention of remaining permanently. His first professional labor performed in Michigan was the vaccination of one hundred and fifty Indians at Thornapple (now Ada). Grand Rapids was then a hamlet in the midst of the dense pine-forests, which have since disappeared-the Monroe Street of to-day, its principal business thoroughfare, was an Indian trail-and to eke out an existence he added surveying to the practice of medicine. He formed a partnership with Dr. Stephen A. Wilson, who had located in Grand Rapids about two months before him, which continued until the spring of 1839. His work as a physician was rendered doubly arduous by combining surgery with medical practice, and it was. in this field of labor perhaps that he won his great renown.
His name first became prominently known throughout the State in this branch of the profession in 1837 by some notable surgical operations performed upon the badly frozen crew of a vessel which was wrecked near the mouth of the Muskegon River. For many years he was the only surgeon within a radius of nearly one hundred miles, and the stories of his frequent pilgrimages oil horseback, then the only mode of travel, over this territory, show at once a most unselfish devotion to what he considered to be his duty, the highest regard and sympathy for the sufferings of his fellows, and ofttimes tell a tale of hardihood, adventure, and daring. Many of these, too, show to how small a degree was he influenced by the expectation of a mere money reward, as the necessities of many an occasion called for financial as well as medical aid at his hands, -and it was never withheld or granted stintingly or reluctantly. One undeviating principle governed him in his pioneer practice: if called, he went. It was never a question of compensation with him; the demand meant necessity, and he never failed in prompt response to the call.
During the winters of 1843, 1860, and 1872, Dr. Shepard visited the medical colleges and hospitals of New York City in order to keep up with every advancement in medicine and surgery. To some extent he made a specialty of obstetrics and diseases of women, and so successful was he in this department that frequently patients were brought to him from various other States, in addition to those attracted by his popularity and ability from his own Michigan, where his name was almost a household word. During his active practice he was called upon to perform almost every species of capital operation, and in general practice stood at the very head of his profession in Western Michigan, as he did in time of service. He possessed one of the finest medical libraries in the State, and a costly microscopical outfit, being greatly interested in that study. In later years he to a large extent relinquished general practice, and devoted himself to office work and consultation.
Having the unbounded confidence and esteem of his fellow-practitioners, much of his time was taken up in this way. It was his endeavor, if possible, to avoid any public prominence, and while foremost in every public duty, actively interested in every case that touched his great heart or excited his compassion, he sought rather to hide his large charities than to ostentatiously display them, and it was only "in his passing away that his good deeds were unfolded to his neighbors." He was one of the founders of the Union Benevolent Association Hospital, president of its Board of Managers, and chief of the medical staff, and it was through his efforts that physicians of all the different schools secured the privilege of practicing there. He was four times president of the Grand Rapids Medical Society, and a member of the State Medical Association, of which he was the president in 1876, and represented Michigan, as the delegate therefrom, at the International Medical Congress at Philadelphia in 1876. He was also a member of the American Microscopical Society, American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Medical Association.
During 1855 he was mayor of Grand Rapids, and was for two years, 1853-1854, a member of the Board of Aldermen. For a number of years prior to his death, Dr. Shepard was president of the Old Residents' Association, in which lie took a most active interest. "In his religious views he was a follower of the tenets of the New Church (Swedenborgian), and in a day when obloquy awaited the man who professed such doctrines he was the acknowledged leader of that Church in the community, and the first to promote its interests. In spite of almost certain religious, social, and business ostracism, he proved the loyalty of his convictions, and was the first and last president of its Society, as well as a continuous worker in the cause."
Dr. Shepard was twice married, his first wife being Lucinda A. Putnam, who died April 17, 1873. Their five children had all died at a comparatively early age. July 27, 1876, he married Dorinda N., daughter of Edward and Abbie Sage, formerly of Portland, Connecticut. Mr. Sage died May 3, 1855, and his widow resides with her daughter at Grand Rapids. Mrs. Shepard, who, with their two sons, survived her husband, was born at Portland, March 11, 1839. Their eldest son, Charles, was born October 12, 1878, and Silas Edward was born May 3, 1881.
A true indication of the character of our subject is found in his reference to his sons in his will. He says: "It is my desire that my sons be thoroughly and liberally educated, and that out of my general estate they have such yearly allowance as their guardians think will best promote their growth in life and tend to ripen them in mind and body into men useful and helpful to others." Dr. Shepard died Wednesday, March 8, 1893, falling quietly and sweetly asleep after an illness of some four months, the result of a general breaking down of the vital forces.
A fitting tribute to his life and services was paid by the Rev. George N. Smith at the memorial services held on March 19th, from which we quote: "As a citizen, as a physician, and as a father, Dr. Shepard was an ideal man of the times. Two things went to make up his character-an unbending tenacity of principle on one hand, and a spirit of kind forgiveness on the other. He was a man who took a true and lasting interest in the public welfare, and in all offices of trust he fulfilled his duties as a citizen without hope of reward. His business mottoes were always centered around the law of doing justly by his fellow-men. He stood at the head of his fraternity in the respect in which he was held, being esteemed the ideal physician. Phenomenally skillful, successful in dangerous surgery and in general practice, he was remembered gratefully and affectionately in hundreds of homes where but to have had his kindly presence was to have received a benison."
That he won for himself the highest honors of citizenship in the hearts of his friends and the people of his adopted city was evidenced in the resolutions of respect and regret which were adopted by the Medical and Old Residents' Associations, of which he was a member, as well as in the beautiful tributes paid to his memory by various of his intimate friends. His name will long be remembered gratefully and lovingly and with all reverence and respect by the whole community, and must ever be as a guiding star, an example fit for all men to follow, a standard of upright morality, of all that is best and great and good in our American citizenship.
Interestingly, only one of his children, his last son, Silas, lived to be more than 30 years of age.
.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Have some additional information? Please comment!