OSMAN DEWEY GOODRICH, M.D., Allegan Village, Allegan Co., Michigan

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History of Allegan and Barry Counties, Michigan, with Illustrations and 
Biographical Sketches of their Prominent Men and Pioneers.
Philadelphia:  D. W. Ensign & Co.  1880.  Press of J. B. Lippincott & 
Co., Philadelphia.

This gentleman, the pioneer physician of Allegan, and whose name is 
prominently associated with the history of the medical profession, was 
born May 10, 1808 in New Hartford, Oneida Co., N.Y.  His parents, 
Leonard and Susannah Goodrich, were among the pioneers of that county, 
having emigrated there in 1800.  The elder Goodrich was a farmer, and 
reared a family of five children, --three sons and two daughters, 
--Osman D. being the fourth.  He remained  upon the farm until he 
attained his seventeenth year, after which time some three years were 
spent in efforts to regain lost health.  He commenced the study of 
medicine under the tuition of Dr. Uriel H. Kellogg, of New Hartford, 
and in 1834 graduated at the Berkshire Medical Institute, at 
Pittsfield, Mass.  In July following his graduation he established 
himself in the practice of his profession at Huron, Huron Co., Ohio 
which at that time was a new country.  Here he remained two years, 
during which time he aided in the organization of the first church, and 
was one of the ten original members.  In march, 1836, at the earnest 
solicitation of the Hon. Elisha Ely, one the pioneers of Allegan, he 
decieded to remove there, which he did in May of that year.  Shortly 
after his arrival his wife and child were taken sick, and this, in 
addition to other hardships and privations, rendered his first 
experience in the county bitter indeed.  There was but one house 
withing ten miles of Allegan.  North and south of the village was an 
unbroken wilderness, and west not a dwelling until the shores of Lake 
Michigan were reached.  Pioneer life and its attendant privations, in 
connection with his arduous duties as a physician, made sad inroads 
upon his health, and in September, 1845, he was obliged to relinquish 
his practice and make an effort to recover his health.  He went to 
Berlin, Hartford Co., Conn. residing there and at New Haven until 
September, 1855.  Eight years of this time were spent in the employ of 
the New York and New Haven Railroad Company.  During his residence in 
the East he investigated the principles of homoeopathy, and adopted its 
practice, and upon his return to Allegan he again established himself 
in his profession, and became the first homoeopathic physician in the 
county.  May 15, 1832, he married Miss Emeline Dickinson, of Berlin, 
Hartford Co., Conn.  She was an estimable woman in all respects, and 
highly esteemed by all who knew her.  She died Sept. 30, 1872, leaving 
two sons and one daughter.  In 1873 the doctor was married to Jane E. 
Shepard, realizing again the fulfillment of those words of Holy Writ, 
"Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favor of the 
Lord."  She departed this life April 24, 1879.  The pioneer life of Dr. 
Goodrich was one of hardship and privation.  In the practice of his 
profession he was frequently obliged to ford streams, following and 
Indian trail to the rude home of the early settler who was so 
unfortunate as to require his professional services.  He has not only 
witnessed the transition of a wilderness into a highly prosperous 
agricultural section, of a hamlet into a busy and enterprising village, 
but in his own person has typified many of the agencies that have 
wrought these changes.  He has made an eviable reputation as a citizen. 
 He possesses the necessary qualifications of the physician other than 
knowledge, --geniality of disposition blended with firmness, kindness, 
and compassion.  He will long be remembered for his genial faith in the 
Christian religion, carrying its precepts and teachings into his 
every-day life.  He is now the only pioneer physician remaining in 
Allegan County.