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REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF INDIANA

Sutton, George, M.D., of Aurora, was born in London, England, on June 16, 1812. His father was a literary turn of mind. He had a good library, and was remarkable for his memory and colloqual powers. He died in 1850. His mother's maiden name was Ives. She received her education at one of the fashionable boarding schools near London, and was accomplished in music, drawing, and needlework. Her son has a piece of her needle-work representing an Egyptian scene. Although it is now more than eighty years old, it still adorns the walls of his parlor, and is regarded as a masterpiece of art. She died in 1827. In the year 1819 the parents of Doctor Sutton emigrated to the United States, and went on to Cincinnati, where they remained during the winters of 1819 and 1820. In the spring of 1820 the family removed to a farm in the valley of the White Water, in Franklin County, Indiana. There Doctor Sutton received as good an education as could be obtained in those days at the country log school-house. He was fond of field turkeys, which were in abundance at that time in that section of country. In 1828 he was sent to the Miami University to acquire a knowledge of Latin and mathematics. In the winter of 1832 and 1833 his father removed with the family to Cincinnati, where in the following summer he commenced the study of medicine, under Doctor Jesse Smith. He was a pupil of Doctor Smith only a few weeks, as his preceptor died from a sudden attack of cholera, at that time prevailing in the city as an epidemic. He afterwards became a student of Professor John Eberle, and also attended a course of private lectures given to a small class by Professor S.D. Gross, now of Philadelphia. He attended lectures at the Medical College of Ohio during the winter, and spent most of his time in the dissecting room in the spring and fall. In the spring of 1835, as he had been a close student, he needed change, and a rest from study. For this purpose, and also to look a the country, he made an excursion with gun and knapsack, going from Cincinnati by the Miami Canal to St. Mary's, down the St. Mary's River in a flat-boat to Fort Wayne; thence on foot to Huntington. Here he purchased a small canoe and floated down the Wabash to New Harmony. From Huntington to Logansport the river ran through an almost unbroken forest. He left Huntington in the afternoon, intending to stay all night at LaGrove, about twelve miles distant; but the Wabash was at flood height, and the branches of the trees on each side of the river hung down in the swift current, making it safer to keep in the middle of the stream than to attempt to stop. Night and a thunder-storm coming on just before he reached La Grove, he saw the lights of the town as he floated by, without attempting to land. By the flashes of lightning and the wall of trees on each side of the river, he kept in the middle of the stream until some time in the latter part of the night, when he lodged on the head of an island. To keep his canoe from turning he pushed his paddle down in the sand, and, with his head resting on its end and an umbrella hover him, he dozed till morning. At day-light he pushed away the drift-wood that had lodged against the canoe, swung out into the river, and resumed his journey. He stopped a short time at Peru, and visited the Indian village, as the natives at that time had not left the Reserve. On this solitary voyage of several hundred miles down the Wabash he shot wild turkeys and wild geese, and saw other game in abundance. As night approached he occasionally built a fire on the banks of the river, made a temporary shelter, and remained at this camp until morning, then embarked in his canoe and continued his journey. Invigorated in health, he returned to Cincinnati, after being absent about two months, and resumed his studies. He graduated the following spring at the Ohio Medical College, after having attended three full courses of lectures. The title of his thesis was, "The Relations between the Blood and Vital Principle." In the spring of 1836 he commenced the practice of his profession at Aurora. He soon obtained an extensive practice, as there was at that time a large amount of sickness on the low malarial bottom lands in the neighborhood of Aurora. On June 7, 1838, he was married to Miss Sarah Folbre, of Aurora. By this marriage they have had five children, four sons and one daughter. He has lost three sons, but his daughter and one son are still living. His wife died in 1868. In the winter of 1838, after failing to obtain a post mortem examination of a case in which he felt much interested, he wrote a series of articles on the "Importance of Post Mortem Examinations to the Public." These papers were published in the Dearborn Democrat, during the months of December, January, and February, and were his first literary efforts for publication. In 1839 the citizens of Aurora celebrated the Fourth of July in grand style. On this occasion he was one of the orators of the day, and delivered an address to an audience of many thousands. In 1840 he published a paper in the American Journal of Medical Science, Volume XXVI. "On Enlarged Prostate Gland Connected with Thickened and Sacculated Bladder." In the winter and spring of 1843, epidemic erysipelas, known by the popular name of "black tongue," prevailed at Aurora, and also in the surrounding country, in Dearborn and Ripley Counties. Neighboring physicians were attacked with the disease. It caused the death of one who resided a few miles from Aurora. The only physician in Wilmington, a little town two miles from Aurora, also had a severe attack, and at one time it was thought would not recover. The illness of these physicians enlarged the range of practice from Doctor Sutton, and gave him an extensive experience with the epidemic. In the fall of 1843 he published his observations on this epidemic erysipelas in the Western Lancet. He directed attention to the various forms assumed by erysipelas. He said: