This file portion of www.watertownhistory.org website
James Cody and William Cody [ father and son ]
James Cody
1820 - 1894
Derived from: The History of Jefferson County, Wisconsin by C. W. Butterfield, 1879
Dr. James Cody was born in St. John, Newfoundland,
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The followed was received but the quoted
source is not fully known. The
publication is that of the “State Medical
Society of Wisconsin” and the article was written by N M Wigginton, M. D.
Dr. James Cody was born
The doctor’s parents
died when he was a mere boy, leaving him and a younger brother under the
guardianship of an uncle who looked carefully to their education, which was
primarily obtained in their native city in a private school.
As the time advanced
for a higher education, the two boys were sent by the uncle to Montreal,
Canada, and placed in the large Jesuit school of that city, and there received
a careful moral and literary training.
The younger brother
died while studying for priest’s orders.
About this time the subject of this sketch began the study of medicine,
the preliminaries having already engaged his attention while at the Jesuit
school. The uncle watching carefully the
inclinations of his ward, and realizing even at that early date the superiority
of American institutions, especially that of Harvard, sent the young men to
Chelmsford, Mass., and placed him under the care and instruction of Dr. Hall
Kittridge of that place.
From Chelmsford he
took his regular courses in the medical department of Harvard University,
graduating
He gave Dr. Bowditch
one hundred dollars for the privilege of his office and special instruction in
auscultation and percussion, the doctor having just returned from Europe where
he had taken a course preparatory to teaching it in his country. During the doctor’s attendance at Harvard he
also took a special course of surgery and anatomy under Dr. Warren.
After graduating he
practiced in Boston for a short time, but finding visits few and far between,
which is unfortunately the usual experience of all beginners in the profession,
he gathered his little means together and again went to Canada, where he
invested a little money in a large lumber camp, and was employed by the company
as its physician and surgeon. The doctor
remained in this position for two years, at which time the company failed,
leaving him penniless, out of a job and badly in debt. “Rather than go to prison for debt in her
majesty’s dominions, the doctor turned his back upon the queen and again placed
himself under the broad and protecting wings of the spread eagle in the spring
of 1846.” Being enthusiastic over the
prospects of the great northwest country, the doctor got together a small
bundle of clothing, all his worldly effects, and immediately took passage in a
small sailing craft, and coming up the lakes under great stress and
difficulties, landed in Milwaukee and the wilderness full of buoyancy, hope and
enthusiasm.
1846
Remaining over night
only, the next day, as the doctor told it, “on foot and in company with another
passenger,” he plunged into the Milwaukee woods, following the rude territorial
road to Battle Town creek, where he deviated to the right following the Rock
river woods road, arriving in Watertown the next day, being about the middle of
April, 1846, without a dollar in his pockets but in a land of freedom, where he
was destined to endure the hardships and enjoy the enthusiasm of a frontier
practice lasting over forty years.
Dr. Cody was above
the average size, physically strong, rather slender in early life, and of sound
constitution. “Though of mild, timid
temperament, he was not unlike the hero of New Orleans, Gen. B. F. Butler, in
shape of face and size of head, and in many facial lineaments; especially the
strabismus of one of his eyes, might to many be misleading as to which was the
general or which the doctor.”
The doctor now
entered upon a pioneer life as physician and surgeon. “Poorly equipped as he was, his love for his
profession, coupled with indomitable courage and a sound constitution, enabled
him to surmount all difficulties.” Being
without a horse his visits were usually made on foot for over a year. The roads were few and horrible; no bridges
over small streams, few over large ones, and trackless forests to pass.
In his lonely trips to
his forest-bound patients, often the doctor’s only guide was the smoke in the
distance from the rude shanty of some recent settler, the sound of the axe, or
the ever welcome tinkling of the ancient cowbell as it swung loosely over the
neck of the leader of the herd. But
these guides often failed as the darkness came over the lonely forests,
compelling the doctor occasionally to spend the night within a fallen tree-top,
lighted up by a great fire to keep the mosquitoes and other animals at a
respectful distance, with nothing to cheer his lonely vigils but the hoot of
the owl, the screech of the night-hawk, or the dismal howl of the prowling
wolf. These are no fancy touches, but
are the actual experiences of that noble soul at that early period. Hunger and thirst were also never-failing
companions to fatigue.
Whisky was abundant
and cheap, but was only used by the more abstemious to satisfy the ague
microbe. At that early period the
doctor’s saddle-bags contained only a few necessary but effectual remedies. Quinine, opium, ipecac, jalap, nitrate
potash, antimony, and a lancet to bleed all fevers, were thought sufficient for
all medical emergencies. With quinine at
$8.00 an ounce and New York the nearest market, this article was often
absent. Common salt and cayenne pepper
were occasionally used as a substitute.
The second winter the
doctor succeeded in getting a horse and “cutter,” the latter consisting of a
crockery crate perched upon a couple of bent poles, the front ends answering
for thills; and one of the amusing sights of that winter in Watertown was to
see the doctor coming down Main street in his “pung;” and if the horse chanced
to run away, the occupant always succeeded in being “thrown out” over the back
of the seat, but strange to say, never was hurt.
“The doctor had no
gift of witticism, nor was he of a humorous disposition. He was quiet and retiring, but was fond of a
joke, when not at his expense. He was
very sensitive to any wrong, and quick to resent dictation, especially from young
members of the profession. Yet he was friendly and advisory with them. He loathed quackery in all its forms, while
he considered his highest duty.”
Marriage and children
The doctor was
married
Dr. Cody held but few
offices, and was absolutely devoid of political ambition. In early times he was elected superintendent
of the city schools for two terms. He
was appointed by Gov. Barstow as Surgeon of Wisconsin State Artillery, and in
1863 was appointed examiner of pensions by the government. He was surgeon for the St. Paul and
Northwestern railroads for over thirty years.
He visited Pittsburg
Landing by invitation of the governor just after the battle, and gave a graphic
account of the scene upon his return.
Through hard work and economy the doctor was enabled to accumulate a
large property and was considered at one time quite wealthy. Politically the doctor was an uncompromising
democrat, of the Jacksonian order.
Religiously he was a staunch Roman Catholic; but in religion, as in
politics, he was inclined to peace. His
life was fruitful for good, his reputation unsullied and his death lamented by
all, which sad event took place
Dr. Cody was noted
more as a surgeon than as a physician, although he had a large practice
extending over the greater part of two counties; in fact, many of his neighbors
thought they could not legally and legitimately depart this life until they had
finally seen the good doctor and been told the end was inevitable. The writer of this obituary well remembers
many cases of this kind during his student life with the doctor. As a surgeon, Dr. Cody was conspicuously
ahead of his time. One of his constant
themes was “union by first intention.”
He often debated why it was so infrequent, or upon what principle it
took place at all. As early as 1866 he
always insisted that all accidental and intentional wounds should be
scrupulously clean with soap and clean spring water, or what he thought better,
hot water.
He claimed that
cleanliness did away with some subtle source of suppuration which separated the
parts and prevented primary union.
Although he did not know what it was, he was convinced a cause existed,
and knew that cleanliness was in the right direction. He often spoke of Dr. Wolcott’s amputation at
the shoulder joint, in which union took place primarily. The writer of this article remembers a few of
the doctor’s capital operations in which union took place by first
intention. One was an amputation of the
lower leg for epithelioma of foot and ankle.
Another was the amputation of a large fatty tumor of the left chest
walls; also amputations of the breast.
The doctor always
insisted on having everything clean before operation. He felt that he was groping in the dark, but
was sure he was in the right direction.
I think he never entered the abdomen except for accident, but all the
operations of the successive decades were freely engaged in with the same
precautions, and with rare success. When
Lister electrified the world with his multiform antiseptic dressings, the
doctor, to put it mildly, was exceedingly glad, and expressed the fact that
“Lister got there first.”
The doctor began his
medical career just at the dawn of the discovery of anesthetics, and just one
year after the great discovery of Morton of Boston, the doctor was using it in
his practice in surgery in the city of Watertown. He gave it sparingly at first, and at times
preceded its administration by large doses of whisky. This was so different from his teachings at
Harvard, where whisky and opium were always relied upon for their stupefying
effects, that he was not only surprised but made bold to operate where
otherwise he would have been satisfied with palliative measures only. The discovery of anesthetics made the doctor
a surgeon.
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1862 - 1947
Contributed by Ben
Feld, Jan 2001
William Cody, born
1862, was the eldest son of Dr. (James) and Adaline Cody. Dr. Cody's second
marriage turned out to be very troublesome. Young Bill gave every appearance of
engineering a divorce between his father and stepmother. Obviously, it was thought, in an attempt to
have all his father's property deeded to him. But there is much evidence that
his stepmother was unfaithful to his father: and when the divorce became final,
Dr. Cody's property, which included two houses and at least a dozen farms, were
all assigned to young Bill. Over the years Bill lost all the farms and both houses.
Although Bill Cody
had graduated from a prestigious pharmacy school, he spent little time as a
pharmacist. Watertown became aware of him when he began proceedings to close
barber shops, bars and other public places on Sundays in Watertown and neighboring
towns. During the course of these proceedings he became quite proficient in the
law, and was known throughout the town has "the best damned lawyer in
Watertown".
At one time he had a
stable of race horses and apparently did quite well with them.
The entire state
became aware of Bill Cody through newspaper reports about his numerous lawsuits
concerning his cows which were kept in a barn behind the family home on
Even at the present
time, many people believe that he kept the cows in the basement of his home,
but there is no evidence to support that. His cows were pastured near what is
now the Buffalo Inn. At times the cows wandered into the pastures of
neighboring farms and were confiscated by those farmers. The resulting lawsuits
to regain possession of his cows were followed by newspapers all over the
state.
Bill Cody's escapades
in Watertown ended after his final eviction from the house on
_____________________________________________________
Kiessling,
Elmer C., Watertown Remembered
(Watertown: Watertown Historical Society, 1976), pp 58 and 60.
Dr. Cody, an early Irish
leader in Watertown . . .
BOOK AVAILABLE: The Best Damned Lawyer in Watertown: The Bill Cody Story
Image
Portfolio
Click to enlarge
Cow Barn behind Cody home Former Cody home
North Church St, 1931 2005
Cross-References:
No 1: 1887-88 Watertown City Dir:
Cody,
James, physician, s.w. cor. W. Main and O’Connell, res. w.s. Oak Grove rd, 2 n.
of R’y track.
Cody,
Wm. G., res. w.s. Oak Grove rd, 2 n. of R’y track.
No 2: 1893 Watertown City Dir:
Cody,
William, res. 114 N. Church.
No 3: Dr. James Cody (a Civil War veteran) is
buried in St. Bernard’s Cemetery, Watertown.
