Franklin District Medical Society
Dr. Lucius Cook commenced practice in Wendell, Franklin Co., about 1840. He is believed to have been from Amherst, Hampshire Co., and was considered eminent both as a physician and surgeon. Some years after his settlement at Wendell he removed to Miller's Falls, where he continued to reside until his death, about 1858, at the probable age of fifty-five to sixty years. He left no children. He is remembered as a stoutly-built and very corpulent man. He was something of a pettifogger in the law, and held the office of justice of the peace for several years.
Dr. William Hamilton was the son of Capt. Robert Hamilton, an officer of the American army in the Revolution. He was born in Conway, Franklin Co., Mass., in 1772. It is said that in consequence of lameness in early life he devoted his time to books. He read medicine in the office of Dr. Cutler, of Amherst, a fellow of the Massachusetts Medical Society, and later with Dr. William Kittredge, who then resided in Conway. He commenced practice in his native town, and continued there until his death, which occurred in 1810, when he was thirty-eight years of age. He was a popular physician and citizen, fond of study, and a man of careful reflection. He educated several students, most of whom became respectable and successful practitioners. In the affairs of civil life he was very popular among his fellow-townsmen, and commanded their confidence through life. On one occasion, during the excitement upon the President's embargo in 1808, he prevented by his influence a serious and probably bloody riot among the people. His memory is held-in affectionate remembrance.
Dr. Eli S. Wing was born in the town of Harwich, Barnstable Co., Mass., in 1758. Tradition says that he was a great lover of books in his young days, and had a great aversion to manual labor, and, in consequence of what would probably in those days been deemed his worthlessness, his father, who was in comfortable circumstances, left him no portion of his estate. But, notwithstanding his father's unjust treatment, he managed, by his own industry, to obtain a good education, and was for many years engaged in teaching school. It was not until the unusual age of thirty years that he began the study of medicine with Dr. Samuel Ware, of Conway, Franklin Co., Mass. He was an industrious and ambitious scholar, and carried his love of reading through his whole life. In his later years he accumulated a very respectable library, mostly of medical works. He also studied the French language late in life. His reputation among the profession was good. He was admitted to the Medical Society of Massachusetts in 1816, and continued until his death, in 1823, at the age of sixty-five years. Dr. Wing practiced for many years, in the town of Leyden probably, as Dr. S. W. Williams, in his medical biography, speaks of him as belonging to that town.
Dr. Charles Bowker was born in Savoy, Berkshire Co., Mass., Sept. 16, 1824. He studied medicine with Dr. A. M. Bowker, of that town, since dead, and graduated at the Berkshire Medical College, Pittsfield, Mass., in November, 1854. His medical practice has been one year in Plainfield, Mass., four years in Savoy, four in Wilbraham, and fourteen in Bernardston. He was also engaged for one year in the military hospital at Alexandria, Va. Dr. Bowker is at present secretary of the Franklin District Medical Society. His reputation as a medical man and citizen is excellent, and he has a very comfortable practice in and around Bernardston.
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06 Aug 2005
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