Dr. John C. Batsell lived about two and one-half miles northwest of Monrovia. He was a native of Kentucky, and was born in Marion county March 16, 1818. He was reared and educated in his native county, where he took up the study of medicine, and became proficient in the science. He commenced the practice of his profession in Valeene, Orange county, Indiana, where he continued successfully for over seven years. In the autumn of 1855 he came to Atchison county, along with John Graves and others, and after looking around, went to DeKalb, Mo., where he remained until the spring of 1866, when he returned to Atchison county, and preëmpted a quarter section, upon which he lived, northwest of Monrovia. He engaged in the practice of medicine in connection with farming, being frequently called into Doniphan and Brown counties. Malarial diseases prevailed to a great extent in those early days, and the people were in straitened circumstances. He furnished medicine and attended to their wants, losing largely in a financial way, as the greater portion of the first dwellers moved away. In 1863 Dr. Batsell organized one-half of Company D, Thirteenth Kansas, of which he was tendered the captaincy, but declined and accepted the position of first lieutenant. On account of serious illness he only served three months in the army. He was major of the Thirteenth Kansas during the Price raid, and at the close of the war was elected to the legislature by the Republican party. He was originally an old-line Whig, but upon the organization of the Republican party he joined it, as he was in favor of the abolition of slavery. During his latter years he discontinued his practice and devoted his time to his farm. He died about ten years ago.
Dr. David Wait came from Missouri to Kansas in 1859 and settled on a farm near Eden postoffice, now known as the Vollmer farm. He was a striking-looking man and was looked upon as very proficient in his profession. He was an ardent Union man. In fact, Dr. Moore, Dr. Batsell and Dr. Wait were all of great help to the Union cause in the days before the war.
Among other leading physicians of the county, outside of Atchison, of the early days, were Dr. J. F. Martin, Dr. S. G. Page, Dr. C. C. Stivers, and Dr. Desmond, concerning whom the following information is available:
Dr. J. F. Martin was one of the first practitioners in Atchison county. He was a native of Bourbon county, Kentucky, and was born September 29, 1828. He graduated at the Transylvania Medical University, in 1854, and afterwards took a course of lectures in St. Louis Medical University. Subsequently he removed to DeKalb, Mo., where he practiced until 1856, coming to Kansas about the same time that Dr. Batsell came. He had a large practice in Doniphan and Brown counties. He practiced ten years, and returned to Decatur, Ill., in 1866, where he remained seven years, and returned to Kansas, locating in Effingham. He died in Effingham in 1877.
Dr. S. G. Page, a native of Juniata county, Pennsylvania, was born July 16, 1845. He attended Bellevue Hospital Medical College in New York in 1867: came to Kansas in 1868, and located in Center township, five miles south of Effingham, where he located on a farm which he operated a few years, and then located in Effingham.
Dr. C. C. Stivers, a native of Brown county, Ohio, was born January 6, 1842. He enlisted in Company A, Sixtieth Ohio Volunteer infantry; participated in the battles of Bull Run, Cross Keys and Port Royal. Returning from the war, he took a course of lectures at Miami University in Oxford Ohio; located in Eden in 1877 and practiced until 1881, when he became a resident of Effingham. In 1880 he attended Keokuk Medical College, graduating from that institution. He had the reputation of being a brilliant conversationalist and a very interesting gentleman.
The first doctor to locate at Lancaster was Dr. Desmond, who went there in the latter seventies. While there he married a Miss Streeper, of Good Intent, and about 1885 moved to Stewartsville, Mo. Dr. Desmond was succeeded at Lancaster by Dr. A. L. Charles, who came there from Bunker Hill, Russell county, Kansas, where he had gone four years previously, after graduating from the Kansas City Medical College. Soon after locating at Lancaster, Dr. Charles married Miss Alice Keeney, who lived near Lancaster. Dr. and Mrs. Charles raised a family of seven children, the eldest of whom is the Atchison surgeon, Dr. Hugh L. Charles. Mrs. Charles died of pneumonia in the Atchison hospital in January, 1915. Dr. Charles has been a very successful physician. He enjoys the profoundest respect of his colleagues throughout the county, who regard him as an ideal physician. It is needless to add that he also enjoys the utmost confidence and esteem of a clientele whose numbers are limited only by his ability to serve.
The first physician at Mt. Pleasant was Dr. Eagle, who located there during territorial days and practiced for a number of years. Dr. Jacob Larry also located at Mt. Pleasant about 1856. He was a South Carolinian, and a graduate of Charleston Medical College. During the war he was a surgeon in the army. He located in Iatan, Mo., and was building up a large practice when he committed suicide by taking strychnine and then blowing his brains out with a pistol. Before moving to Iatan Dr. Larry induced Dr. John Parsons, of King’s Bridge, N. Y., who also had been an army surgeon, to come to Mt. Pleasant. Dr. Parsons practiced there several years, and his practice became so large that he finally induced Dr. George W. Redmon to locate at Mt. Pleasant and assist him. Dr. Redmon located there in the fall of 1872, and remained a number of years, later locating at Oak Mills. There was also a Dr. W. W. Crook at Mt. Pleasant, in the seventies. Dr. Crook also practiced in Doniphan, and later moved to Wyoming. Dr. P. R. Moore was another physician who located in Mt. Pleasant township during the seventies, as was also Dr. Johnson. Dr. Charles H. Linley, now a resident physician of Atchison, practiced in Mt. Pleasant for a number of years, and following Dr. Linley came Dr. Miller and Dr. Rice. Dr. Roberts had a small drug store and practiced medicine at Oak Mills in the early days. He was addicted to the liquor habit, and was found dead in his office one morning. He had been preceded in practice at Oak Mills by Dr. Earle, who lived about half way between Oak Mills and Kickapoo, and who settled there during the fifties.
Dr. J. M. Linley came to Atchison March 14, 1865. He was born in Concord, Ky., October 28, 1837. He attended college at Princeton, Ky., and was graduated from Miami Medical College at Cincinnati, Ohio, in March, 1858, and subsequently attended lectures in Bellevue College, New York. He was post surgeon at New Madrid, Mo., in 1864. Dr. Linley was one of the most successful practitioners of Atchison and was held in high esteem. In 1891 he went abroad and attended clinics in hospitals of Berlin and London. He died in Phoenix, Ariz., November 28, 1900.
The following are the members of the Atchison County Medical Society as reported in 1915: Dr. C. H. Johnson, Dr. H. L. Charles, Dr. M. T. Dingess, Dr. E. J. Bribach, Dr. Robert Dickey, Dr. E. P. Pitts, Dr. C. A. Lilly, Dr. Charles Robinson, Dr. C. H. Linley, Dr. T. E. Horner, Dr. F. A. Pearl, Dr. P. R. Moore, Emmingham, Dr. S. M. Myers, Potter, Dr. G. E. White, Effingham, Dr. G. W. Allaman, Dr. W. F. Smith, Dr. Virgil Morrison, Dr. E. T. Shelly.