Page:A cyclopedia of American medical biography vol. 2.djvu/116

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LINDE


98


LINDSLY


He married in 1S41 a Miss Bctzold, of Alexandria, and had two children, a sou and daughter. In 1872 he retired from practice. His mental powers to the last seemed as active and stron*!; as in middle life when he died on jMarcli 27, 1SS6. D. S. L.

Busey, Reminiscences.

Jour. Amer. Med. Assoc, vii, 1886.

National Intelligencer, 1841.

Linde, Christian (1817-1887).

Christian Linde was descended from the noble Danish family of De Linde- Freidenreich, and was born on that estate near Copenhagen, February 19, 1817. He was educated at the Royal Univer- sity from which he graduated in 1837, but on account of political troubles while attending the hospitals of the Danish capital, he came to America in 1842 and settled near Oshkosh. Here he intended to found a landed estate and devote a portion of his time to hunting, of which he was passionate- ly fond. This pursuit led him much among the Indians with whom he soon gained fame and influence as hunter and healer. From his blond counte- nance and numerous deeds of strength and bravery, they called him Muckwa (meaning White Bear). This phase of his life and character is marked bj' incidents romantic, tragical and humor- ous sufficient to fill a volume, and in later years he was fond of relating them to his intimates. To illustrate the diflBculties of his practice in the early days, it is related that:

During a small-pox scare among the Indians along the lower Fox, he set out on a tour of vaccination accom- panied by John L. Williams, famous as the son of the lost Dauphin of France. Despite the doctor's reputation for honesty among the savages, they were still skeptical and at each place visited, they required as a precautionary meas- ure that the operation be performed on his companion. The condition of W^illiams' arms, as well as feelings, after several days' touring, may be left to the imagination.


But the insistent demands of the settlers for his profes.sional services drew him reluctantly from the woods and streams, and after practising a few years in Green Bay and Fond du Lac, he settled permanently in Osh- kosh. He was the first regular sur- geon in Northern Wisconsin and during his long career he was called upon to perform many difficult operations. In keeping with his fine sentiments of honor as a man, his professional ideals were the highest. Dr. Linde belonged to the Medical Associations of his coun- try, state and nation, serving as pres- ident of the Winnebago County Society, as vice-president of the Wisconsin Society. To these and to various publications he furnished a number of learned papers on surgery. His most brilliant contribution to medical science, however, was the use of animal tendon in surgery. To him belongs the dis- tinction of having discovered its value and first applied it in the treatment of wounds.

Dr. Linde married three times: to Sarah Dickinson, daughter of Clark Dickinson, in 1843; to Sarah Davis, niece of Gov. Doty, in 1852, and to Mrs. Hulda Henning Volner in 1858. Dr. Fred Linde, the only issue of the first marriage, was associated with his father until his untimely death in 1880. Two daugh- ters survived Dr. Linde.

Besides his attainments in medicine, Dr. Linde was a fine classical scholar and linguist, being able to converse in seven languages.

He died at Oshkosh, of senile cap- illary bronchitis. Stoical in his philoso- phy of life, during his last hours he discoursed calmly of death, and at the end whispered " How beautiful it is to die!" M. L. B.

United States Biographical Dictionary for Wisconsin, Reports of Wisconsin Historical Society, Harney's History of Winnebago County.

Lindsly, Harvey (1804-1899),

Harvey Lindsly was born on Janu- ary 11, 1804 and descended through