Historical Collections of The Hawaiian Islands - Kamehameha lV --- (Part 2) The US GenWeb Archives provide genealogical and historical data to the general public without fee or charge of any kind. It is intended that this material not be used in a commercial manner. All submissions become part of the permanent collection. Historical Collections of The Hawaiian Islands " Keepers of the Culture " A study in time of the Hawaiian Islands As told by the ancients-- Kamehameha lV -- Part 2 Dr. George Albert Lathrop Dr. Robert McKibbin, SR Dr. Thomas Charles Byde Rooke Dr. Robert W. Wood by Darlene E. Kelley December 11, 2000 http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ As told by the ancients-- Kamehameha 1V -- part 2 Members of the first Hawaiian Medical Assn. continued-- Dr. George Albert Lathrop [ 1819--1879 ] Dr. George Albert Lathrop was born in 1819 ad was a native of New York State. He arrived in Honolulu, June 24, 1849, aboard the " Montreal from Boston, accompanied by his wife Frances Maria [ Smith ] Lathrop. and his son, Francis Augustus, born at sea two days before they reached the Islands. Within a month of his arrival, the doctor was advertising vaccinations with vaccine matter of good quality, proven by the fact that it has taken on some half-dozen promising subjects. Early in 1850, he established his own drug store, but by December,1850, the partnership was dissolved. Dr. Henry Lyman in his " Hawaiian Yestedays" describes Dr. Lathrope as " a short, stout, kindly tempered little man, ambling about on his white cane, who made himself very accepable to the foreign community and after a few years returned to America with a handsome fortune." Dr. Lathrop took an active part in community affairs and the year 1850 saw him elected to the executive committee of the newly organized Royal Hawaiian Agricultural Society, serving on the committee to prepare a constitution and by-laws for a News Room and Library, and elected to the first Board of Health. In April, 1852, he joined forces with aother American medical man, Dr. Seth Porter Ford, in the operation of a Hydropathic Establishment and Private Hospital in Nuuanu Valley, but by September the two had separated by mutual consent and Dr. Lathrop had his own office. On August 25, 1851, a second son, George Parsons, was born to the doctor and his wife. During the great small-pox epidemic of 1853, Dr. Lathrop was placed in charge of one of the medical districts into which Honolulu was divided. In a controversey over carrying out the compulsory vaccination program, Dr Lathrop and Dr. Wesley Newcomb were the leaders of a committee of 13, who blamed Dr. G.P. Judd, minister of finance and missionary doctor, for defective vaccine and general mismanagement of the epidemic. So strong was the feeling against Dr. Judd, that Dr.Judd was forced to resign that post. In 1885, Dr Lathrop made a second attempt to establish a private hospital, which was located near the corner of Beretania and Punchbowl streets and called it the Honolulu Marine Hospital. Doctors, T.C.B.Rooke, W.Newcomb, C. Guillou and later B.F. Hardy were on the staff. Dr. Lathrop was a charter member of the Hawaiian Medical Society organized in 1856. From March 1856, to August 1857, he held the position of U.S. Vice-Consul. On January 26, 1858, after eight and a half years in Honolulu, Dr. and Mrs. Lathrop and their two sons returned to the mainland due to his wife's health. Eighteen years later the doctor returned to the Islands, but this time without his family. Announcing on his arrival on September 21,1876, the " Pacific Commercial Advertiser " says, " the doctor looks hale and hearty with much of his old vivacity, but the storms of Northern winters have whitened his head." He practiced in Honolulu for a few months and in March, 1877, he and Dr. F.H. Enders formed a parnership for practice of medicine on Maui, with a regular office at Wailuku and branch offices at Lahaina and Makawao. On September 1, 1879, Dr. Lathrop died at Wailuku. ***************************************************** DR. Robert McKibbin, SR. [ 1796 - 1876 ] Robert McKibbin,Sr., was born about 1796 and was a native of County Down, Ireland. He arrived in Honolulu aboard the " Pons Aelii" from Liverpool on April 27, 1855. The following September, he ran this notice in the newspaper "Polynesian" : " Dr. McKibbin, Surgeon, informs the inhaitants and visitors of Honolulu and neighborhood, that he intends to practice in the different branches of his profession, and hopes he may rest his claims to their confidence, on an experience of nearly 40 years as a practitioner in a large seaport and manufacturing town of Belfast; to the principal hospital of which he was for many years attached as operating Surgeon. In private practice, the diseases of women and children have received much of his study and attention. Residence --- the house lately occupied by J.C. Spaulding, Esq, Union Street." Dr. McKibbin was accompanid to Honolulu by his wife, Jane, three daughters, Anna, Mary, and Jenny, and his younger son, Alexander. His older son, Robert Jr.,followed the family to Honolulu in November,1856, and became one of the prominent doctors of his time. On the arrival of his son, Dr.McKibbin left the active practice of medicine to him and spent his time managing the drug store which bore his name. However, he did not lose his interest in medical matters and was apponted by the Board of Health in August, 1859, one of a committee of three doctors to form a Board of Examiners to pass on the qualifications of applicants for Physician's license. Shortly thereafter the Board refused to license a Chinese doctor trained in China, but when his decision was criticised as an injustice in the papers, the matter was reconsidered with Dr. Edward Hoffman and Dr. Seth P.Ford voting this time to grant the license and Dr. McKibbin standing firm, as opposed. In May.1856, the doctor was one of the signers of the charter of incorporation of the Hawaiian Medical Society. Dr. McKibbin died in Honolulu on March 11, 1876, at the age of 81. In the notice of his death the " Advertiser " stated; " Dr. McKibbin had resided here since 1855 and was much esteemed as a gentleman, philospher, and a Christian." **************************************************** Dr. Thomas Charles Byde Rooke [ 1806- 1856 ] Thomas Charles Byde Rooke was born May 18, 1806, in Bengeo, Hertford, England. his family were professional people who had served in the Royal Navy. He was educated at a branch of Christ's College Hospital in Hertford and had studied in London where he graduated from the Royal College of Surgeons in 1826. Clarice B. Taylor in her ' Tales about Hawaii" [ Star-Bulletin, December 16, 1955 ] says that Dr. Rooke fell in love with a women beneath his station, and, quarreling with his father, gave up his career in the Navy and became a surgeon on a whaling ship bound for the South Seas. He first landed in Lahaina in 1829, where he met some high chiefs and some ' Foreigners." After another season's cruise his ship put in at Honolulu. Here Dr. Rooke was asked to remain and practice medicine, and, with the consent of his Captain, he agreed. In 1830, Dr, Rooke married Grace Kamaikui,the second daughter of Mr. John Young, friend and counselor of Kamehaeha l. Dr. and Mrs. Rooke had no children, but, according to ancient custom. in 1836, they adopted the infant daughter of Mrs. Rooke's sister. It was this much beloved daughter of the Rooke's who became Queen Emma in 1866 when she married Kamehameha lV. Dr. Rooke had his office and dispensary in his home and soon had a large practice. He was also physician to the Court, friend and advisor to the royal family, and became a naturalized citizen. In 1844 he is listed as Port Physician, and in December,1850, he was appointed to the first Board of Health and served as its chairman.When the Hawaiian Guards, a vounteer comany, was organized in November, 1852, Dr Rooke was elected surgeon. The Doctor served twice as a member of the House of representatives [1851-1855 ], representing the Honolulu district. For a time he was Chmberlain to the Royal Househol during the reign of King Kamehameha lll, and in May, 1858, he was named as a member of the Privy Council by King Kamehameha lV. Dr Rooke was one of the ten signers of the charter of incorpoation of the Hawaiian Medical society in 1856. His interest and care of the Hawaiians impressed the future Queen Emma with the need for a hospital to treat her people. Although he did not live to see the opening of the Queen's Hospital in 1860, it was he who kindled the spark whch brought it into being. Henry M. Lyman in his " Hawaiian Yesterdays" tells of his first meeting with the doctor as follows; " One day Mr. Dole sent me with a note of introduction to Dr. Rooke---- Presently he appeared, elegantly dressed, rebicund, affable, and redolent of delicious odors that afterwards I learned to recognize as indictive of acquaintance with the choicest brands of rare old wine," He was also known as a "middle of the road" man who never quarreled with anyone. Dr.Rooke was deeply devoted to his adopted daughter, Emma, and anxious that she should have every cultural advantage. It was he who had her enrolled at Mr. and Mrs. Cooke's School for the Chief"s Children and, when her formal education was ended with the closing of the Royal School, he engaged a tutor and had her taught at home. To further broaden her horizons he sent to England for books and assembled a library which was the finest in Honolulu. After living in the Islands for nearly 30 years, Dr.Rooke died in November 28,1858, at Kailua, Hawai, at the age of 52. In 1838 he was listed as being a member of the Board of Trustees of the Oahu Charity School. He was one of the pioneers in the cultivation of coffee and was the charter member of the Royal Hawaiian Agricultural Society when it was organized in 1850, serving on the coffee committee. Another of his interests was meteorology and he kept a table of meteorological observations for many years. He held the highest degrees in the Odd Fellows and Masons, and was one of the oldest members of the Mechanic Benevolent Union. ****************************************************** Dr. Robert W. Wood. Robert W. Wood, wa born in Augusta, Maine, was a graduate of Waterville College [ now Colby College ] in 1829 and recieved his medical degree for Bowdoin Collge, Brunswick, Maine, in 1832. Sailing from Boston in October,1838. Dr. Wood arrived in Honolulu on April 6, 1839, the first American Doctor not a missionary to settle in Hawai. On his arrival he was appointed physician to the U.S. Seaman's Hospital at Honolulu by Dr. Anthony Ten Eyck, the U.S. Commsioner, a position he held for ten years. In 1848 he served as Acting Commisioner during Dr. Ten Eyck's absence. In 1847 Dr. Wood opened the first public pharmacy. Dr.Wood was not in the Islands long before becomng interested in the cultivation of sugar cane. In December, 1847, he purchased the bankrupt sugar plantation owned by Ladd and Company at Koloa, Kauai, for $17,500. He brought Mr. David M. Weston fom the mainland to introduce his adaption of the centrifugal for extracting sugar, installed the latest machinery and soon had the plantation on a paying basis. When he sold the plantation in 1872, the purchase price was $ 35,000. The doctor also put money into a sugar plantation on East Maui. With his interest in sugar, it is not surprising that in 1850 when the Royal Hawaiian Agricultural Society was established Dr. Wood was one of its founding members and served on the first executive committee and later on the Board of Managers and as vice- president from Kauai. Although from 1849 until he left the Islands he abandoned the active practice of medicine to become a sugar planter on Kauiai. He was one of the signers of the charter of incorporation of the Medical Society in 1856 and served as President from 1856 through 1858. On July 25, 1862, Dr Wood's wife, Delia M., and the mother of his son, Robert W., died at Honolulu. Two years later on October 31, 1864, he married Miss Lucy Jane Davis at Concord, Massachusetts. In March, 1866, Dr Wood left the Islands and from 1872 made his home at Jamaica Plains. near Boston. He retired from all business in 1878, and his death occurred on January 4, 1892. at Jamaica Pains. During his years in the Islands, he was Preident of the Nuuanu Cemetery Association [ 1842], a life member of the Hawaiian Bible Association [ serving as President in 1847 and again in 1857] , a member of the American Club [ President in 1857 ],and a trustee of Punahou College in 1866. On the mainland he was a member of the Hawaiian Club in Boston. In 1880 Dr.Wood donated $1,000 to Oahu College, $ 500 to the Queen's Hospital, and $500 to the pastor of the Bethel Church.