Doc's Dream Fulfilled

Since we moved into our Walnut Street home, I’ve been fascinated by the question mark of its history. Built in the 1930s, how did its owners experience the Great Depression, World War II, and the ensuing years? What were their family stories? How could I tell their story? I hoped to find a stash of diaries hidden in the rafters of the attic or under the floorboards in the barn (a former tannery), but alas, no diary, no photo albums, no stack of letters encircled by a faded ribbon. After an unfruitful visit to the historical society, my idea to write a book about our house has been transferred to the back burner, as I don’t have enough energy, time, or passion to attempt any additional research at this point.

Time, energy and passion are what William “Doc” Emery brought to his quest for a comprehensive compilation of the history of the practice of medicine in Ashland County. After a long, fulfilling practice as a surgeon, Doc carved out time to follow his dream of chronicling that history.

His research was painstaking. He became a fixture at the historical society, newspaper office, health department, and probate court. He scoured the records of the Ashland County Medical Society and gathered snippets of information from a variety of other sources. He collected photos, scanned historical records, and even discovered a fee table from 1864, where a house call cost one dollar, with fifty cents added after 10 p.m. Imagine that!

It’s the little known facts in his account that interest me most, and I’m tucking them away just in case I ever do write my historical novel about our house. I was excited to learn that Miss Thelma Rumph, who served Samaritan hospital for thirty-five years, first as bookkeeper and ultimately as administrator, lived across the street from my house.

I’ve been a downtown booster since moving to Ashland, and so I could picture the scene in the 1930s, when downtown was bustling on Saturday evening. Doc tells us that “Beginning about 5:00 p.m., families who had automobiles would line both sides of Main Street. The infirm who needed to visit their doctor would be delivered to their respective offices to await their physician’s arrival. The families who waited on Main Street would shop, visit or sit in their cars to see and be seen and await their patient’s return from the physician’s office” [also on Main Street]. Pardon me for saying it, but how times have changed.

Since I’ve shared a vocation with my husband for many years, I was interested to read about Doctors Mary (McClain) and Norman Neptune, both Loudonville natives who trained in Philadelphia. They practiced for many years on South Water Street in Loudonville, and their son Edgar followed in their physician footsteps (although he apparently moved to Syracuse, NY).  As I look at her picture, I wonder what life was like for her, and how she balanced the practice of medicine with motherhood in the years where a woman in medicine was not the norm. Maybe I can put her in my book too!

Perhaps it was the family connection that especially stoked the passion in “Doc” Emery to capture our local story on paper. His grandfather, William Franklin Emery, practiced on Sandusky Street for fifty-plus years. George Myers Emery, Doc’s father, practiced medicine, served as commanding officer of a medical unit in the National Guard, and was the Ashland County coroner. And young Bill Emery graduated from Western Reserve University School of Medicine and returned to Ashland to serve his home community as a surgeon and coroner.

In January 2013, the healing touch of medicine Doc extended to others was unable to sustain his life any longer, and he died on January 21 without ever holding his historical volume in his hands. I’ve had a small part in bringing it to print, and it is with great respect for Bill Emery’s passion and determination that his wife Karen has published his final bequest to Ashland: “The History of the Practice of Medicine in Ashland County, Ohio.“ Thanks, Bill and Karen, for preserving the rich history of medical care in our community.