Page:History of Goodhue County, Minnesota.djvu/387

 EISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY 321 Slate Medical Society in 1873, author of several prize essays, and member of the territorial legislature. Dr. Sweney was a practi- tioner of wide repute, and possessed the confidence of the people in a rare degree. He was endeared to all by his remarkable integ- rity, gentleness, sterling worth, and high professional morality. The constant influence of his example, personal and professional, has alike honored him and the calling to which he was chosen. Dr. Sweney had a long and honorable career. The writer knew him as one of the finest specimens of the kind-hearted, ever-help- ful, modest medical gentlemen of his generation. He was laid to rest amid general regret and deep sorrow in August, 1882. Another of the earliest physicians was Dr. John Kelly, born in New York, in 1801. He crossed the plains in 1849, and came to Goodhue county in 1853, settling in Florence. He was chairman of the first board of township supervisors and member of the board of county supervisors. In 1856, Dr. J. E. Tebbetts settled in the village of Cannon Falls. He was of Maine birth, and a fine type of the old doctor. He grew gray in the pioneer service, and passed away in 1877. Dr. Charles Hill came to this county in 1857, settling in Roscoe that year, and in Pine Island in 1859. He was born in Illinois in 1826, and was graduated at Rush Medical College in 1857. In 1869 he was elected to the state senate. At the reorganization of the Goodhue County Medical Society, in 1902, he was chosen president. Dr. Hill is a gentleman of the old school. He is the Nestor of the profession in the county. Him we should be tempted to call venerable if he had not suc- ceeded in remaining young through the aid of his eternally youth- ful enthusiasm. In the same year a valuable addition to the pro- fession in Red Wing was made in the arrival of Dr. A. B. Hawley, a native of New York, born in 1833. Dr. Hawley was of attractive personality. He was a man of the most genial nature, fine phy- sique, tall, active, keen-eyed and perfectly unostentatious; an able practitioner, and very popular. He was a leading citizen, and one of the prime movers in the building of Christ Church. He passed away September 20, 1878. Other physicians who came in ante-bellum days were Drs. C. II. Connely. William Brown and F. F. Hoyt. Dr. Brown was commissioned as surgeon in the Civil War. Dr. Hoyt had the honor of being elected a member of the first city council. Some time in the fifties, Dr. Ole Oleson settled in or near Leon. His name appears in the records of the period as a judge of elections. In 1862, Dr. E. S. Park established him- self in Red Wing. He was born in Pennsylvania in 1811. Alto- gether his practice covered forty years of earnest, active work. He served the county many years as coroner. His death occurred February 12. 1888. It is to be regretted that so little is recorded of the pioneer physician and his stirring and hazardous lot. At