Doctor Shedd Ancestry

The Doctor Harold Shedd that some of us old folks can remember visiting in our childhood was Born in Bartlett in 1882, he graduated from Harvard in 1910, then spent several years in Boston and New York hospitals before returning to North Conway to practice with his father, also a country doctor. (see left column)

What trauma he treated in the teens and 1920s came mainly from farm and logging accidents, and the occasional mountaineering mishap like the Jesse Whitehead accident on Mt. Washington that gained wide press attention in 1926.

Dr. George Harold Shedd

As interest in skiing accelerated in the 1930s, Dr Shedd's winters became increasingly occupied with treating sprains and fractures originating on the mountains and slopes of the region. He devised a new way to cast broken limbs that left openings to accommodate swelling, allowing patients to spend minimal time in the hospital. By virtue of his location in one of the hotbeds of skiing activity in the 1930s and 1940s he became one of the first experts in treating ski injuries in the country. Memorial Hospital gained expertise in the field along with him,alist in the treatment of ski injuries.

In 1924 Dr. Shedd married Gertrude Greeley, the daughter of Adolphus W. Greeley, who was well known for his arctic expedition to Lady Franklin Bay from 1882-1884, and later became Chief Signal Officer for the US Army. When his father-in-law was presented with the Congressional Medal of Honor in 1935 for his arctic exploits, Dr. Shedd was kept from attending at the last minute by the need to minister to a casualty of Mt. Washington.

Dr. Shedd died in 1964 while making a house call on Kearsarge Street in North Conway. His several legacies live on in the valley; one is Memorial Hospital itself, which he shepherded through its early years, at one point even re-locating the hospital into his own house for a year while finances stabilized. Evidence of his medical handiwork can even now be seen in the dim scars on a few of his local patients, whose wounds from mowing machines and axes he stitched. His other legacy is the community of skiers which he and his associates--Carroll Reed, Harvey Gibson, Joe Dodge, Bob Davis, Bill Whitney among them--did so much to create in the Eastern Slope Region.

Originally published in the 2004 Hannes Schneider Meister Cup Race Program, March 2004. Thanks to Jeff Leich Executive Director of New England Ski Museum for letting us use part of the article.

Who's who in New England: a biographical dictionary of leading living men ... By Albert Nelson Marquis 1919

SHEDD, Qeorge Horsley, M.D. : b. Waterford, Me., Feb. 13, 1953; s. George and Rebecca (Frost) Shedd, and descendant of Daniel Shedd. an early settler of Braintree, Mass.; prep. edn. Norway Liberal Inst.; M.D., Med. Sch. of Me. (Bowdoln Coll.), 1879; post-grad, work in New York, Phlla., Berlin, and hosps. of Berne, London. Paris and Edinburgh; m. Norway, Me., May 16, 1880, Mary Hall: 1 son. George Harold. Practiced at Bartlett, N.H., and Fryeburg, Me., until 1891, since at North Conway, N.H. ; Burgeon-ln-chlef Memorial Hosp. ; mem. N.H. Bd. of Med. Examiners. Republican. Fellow Am. Coll. Surgeons: mem. Carroll Co. and Me. State med. socs.. A.M.A. Mason (K.T.). Recreations: pine tree farming. Address: North Conway, N.H.

source: em>Genealogical and family history of the state of New Hampshire: a ..., Volume 4

By Ezra S. Stearns, William Frederick Whitcher, Edward

(Ed. note: George Horsley is Harold's father)
(VIII ) George Horsley Shedd, son of George and Rebecca (Frost) Shedd, was born in Waterford, Maine, February 13, 1853. George Horsley's preliminary education was obtained in the public schools of Norway, Maine, and in the Norway Liberal Institute. After teaching a few years he entered the Medical School of Maine, from which lie graduated in June, 1879. His further medical education was obtained by post-graduate work in New York. Philadelphia, Berlin, and the hospitals of Berne, London. Paris, and Edinburgh. He is a member of the New Hampshire Board of Medical Examiners, of the Conway Board of Health, of his county, state and the Maine Medical Societies, also of the American Medical Association. He is a Mason, being a member of Mt. Washington Lodge and Signet Royal Arch Chapter of North Conway, and of St. Girard Commandery, Knights Templar, of Littleton, New Hampshire.

He commenced the practice of medicine in Bartlett, New Hampshire, during the summer of 1879, and in the spring of 1883 moved to Fryeburg. Maine, where he resided until 1891, when he removed to North Conway, where he has since resided and been actively engaged in the practice of his profession.

He married, May 15, 1880, Mary Hall, daughter of Solcman Smith and Emily Augusta (Warren) Hall. She decended on the paternal side from Hate Evil Hall, son of one of three brothers who came from England and settled in New Hampshire. Hate Evil Hall (2) was born at Dover, New Hampshire, in 1707, and afterward settled in Falmottth, Maine, where he died, November 28, 1797. He married Sarah Furbish, of Kfttery, Maine, by whom he had thirteen children: Dorothy. Daniel, Hate Evil, Mercy, Ebenezer, Abigail, William, John, Jedediah, Andrew, Nicholas, Paul and Silas. Jedediah (3), son of Hate Evil and Sarah (Furbush) Hall, married (first). Hannah Hussey, and (second), Elizabeth Clough. His children were: Peter, Joel, Elizabeth, Aaron, Mercy, Moses, Abigail, David, Jonathan, Ann and Dorcas. Jonathan (4), son of Jedediah, married Mary, daughter of Joshua Smith, who was town treasurer of Norway, Maine, for twenty years. Soloman Smith Hall (5), son of Jonathan and Mary (Smith) Hall, was born at Norway, Maine, June 10, 1821, and died at Waterford, Maine, January 8, 1895. He married (first), November, 1852, Emily Augusta Warren, granddaughter of Abijah Warren, who was born in Taunton. Massachusetts, October 15, 1762, and at the age of thirteen entered active service as minuteman in the battle of Lexington, and served with distinction throughout the Revolutionary war. She was born in Paris, Maine, April 22, 1832, and died in Norway, Maine, August 29, 1861. Of this marriage there were born three children: Mary, Julia and Lizzie E. He married (second), Olivia G. Warren, by whom one child was born : Sidney Smith Hall, now living in Waterford, Maine.

Mary, daughter of Soloman Smith and Emily (Warren) Hall, and wife of Dr. George H. Shecld, was born in Norway, Maine, March 6, 1854. They have one child, George Harold, born in Bartlett, New Hampshire, November 1, 1882. He is a graduate of Harvard University, A. B. 1905, and is now a student in Harvard Medical School. Mrs. Shedd has always been active in educational and charitable work. She is ex-president of the North Comvay Woman's Club, of which she is one of the founder's ; president of the Woman's Educational League ; vice-regent of Anna Stickney Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, an3 chairman of the industrial and child labor committee of both the New Hampshire Federation of Woman's Clubs and New Hampshire Daughters of the American Revolution.

John Z. Shedd was born at Norway, Maine, July 8, 1861. During the autumn of 1884 he went to Fryeburg. Maine, and entered Fryeburg Academy, from which he was graduated in 1886. The two following years were devoted to teaching and reading medicine. In 1891 the degree of M. D. was received from the Medical School of Maine, at Brunswick, since which time he has taken several post-graduate courses in New York. In 1891 he began the practice of medicine at North Conway, New Hampshire, where he has since resided and has met with a good degree of success. He is a member of his county, state and the Maine medical societies, as well as of the American Medical Association. Early in his twenty-first years he was made a Mason in Oxford Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Norway, Maine, and during the following year joined Union Royal Arch Chapter in the same town. He later withdrew from these societies to become a member of similar bodies* in the town of his adoption, where he has been an active Masonic worker, being past high priest of his chapter, of which he is a charter member. In more recent years he has become a member of St. Girard Commandery, Knights Templar, at Littleton, New Hampshire, and also of Bektash Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, at Concord, New Hampshire.

Myrtie Nina Shedd was born at Norway, Maine, September 16, 1875. Alton Brackett Shedd was born at the same place, February 17, 1880. AAbout two years after the birth of the latter, the children with their parents removed to Waterford, where they resided until after the death of their father, in 1893. Later, with their mother, they removed to Fryeburg, Maine, where both were graduated from Fryeburg Academy. On September 20, 1899, Myrtie N. was married to Dr. Byron W. McKeen. a native of Fryeburg, and a classmate in the academy. He received his M. D. from the Medical School of Maine, and, after serving one year as house physician at the Maine Insane Hospital, settled in Saxony, Massachusetts, where by his pleasing personality and medical skill he built up a large and lucrative practice. He died of pneumonia. May 7, 1903, at the age of twenty-eight years. Shortly after his sister had become settled in Massachusetts, Alton B. and his mother removed to the same town and household, where they all have continued to reside. Alton B. accepted a position with the Dennison Manufacturing Company at South Framingham, where he has been advanced to becoming the head of one of its departments.

SHEDD WOODS Shedd Woods is located on Route 16 and 302 directly across the highway from the Memorial Hospital. This 13-acre parcel is named for Dr. Harold Shedd, the former owner. Received by the Town in 1973 partly as a gift from the Pequawket Foundation as well as federal monies from the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The property is forested primarily with tall White Pines, thus creating a special overhead forest canopy, giving the landscape a dark, deep, cool and quite atmosphere. A picnic area at the edge of the drop off down to the Saco River floodplain opens up a “photo op” of the Saco Valley and the Moat Mountains just beyond in the National Forest. A connecting parcel, also given to the Town by the Pequawket Foundation, gives access to Shedd Woods from River Road. This long, narrow 3-acre lot on the east bank of the Saco River is primarily an open field maintained by the Town for picnicking, sunbathing, and swimming in the Saco.

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH REGISTRATION REPORT YEAR ENDING MARCH 31, 1882.
MALARIA IN NEW HAMPSHIRE.
The impression has been gaining ground within a year or two that malaria
is rapidly invading the state, as it has some sections of Massachusetts
and Connecticut. In reports received at this office from one hundred and
sixty-five physicians, from nearly all sections of the state, less than
thirty have seen anything like indigenous malaria in the state. The evidence received would not indicate that it is increasing in any marked degree, if at all. There are localities in which the topographical and sanitary conditions are such as to favor its development, and in such places it would be surprising if such malarial influences were not manifested. Several physicians, who report one or two cases each, have remarked that it was the first indication of malaria that they have seen in the locality, and hence expressed the opinion that it was invading sections of the state where it had never before existed.By a careful examination of the localities where it is reported to have existed, it was found that it occurred almost entirely along the larger rivers, especially the Connecticut, Ashuelot, and the Merrimack. There were very few instances given to indicate that it had a local origin. Most of the cases existed among men who "drive" logs down the Connecticut river to Holyoke or Hartford, and probably received the disease below our state line.

The following is some of the testimony upon which this opinion is based George H. Shedd, M. D., Bartlett, N. H., "observed, in all, six cases of intermittent fever, in the early part of last spring— April. All these cases occurred in the camps of lumbermen. These were situated in a swampy district near a small pond. Camps were poorly ventilated, surrounded by quantities of decaying animal and vegetable matter. Some of the camps were overcrowded with men. Type, usually tertian, and most if not all, had suffered from the disease the previous summer while ' driving' the Connecticut.

F. D. Henderson,M. D., West Stewartstown, N.H. "Have had about two cases,—one of the tertian type, and one of the quotidian. Cases well marked. The cases were not local, but occurred in two men who worked upon the river driving logs. C. R. Gibson, M. D., Woodsville, N.;Five cases, all rivermen passing through the place with logs in the river.

Drs. T. B. C. A. Sanborn, of Newport, report fifteen cases intermittent, most of them well marked, and express the following opinion: "We have not observed any cases that have originated in this state, but have observed that they have been contracted in adjoining states, and we attribute the increase in the past two or three years to its invasion of Connecticut and Massachusetts, where part of cases were contracted.

The following report from Dr. M. C. Dix, of Hinsdale, embraces a larger number of cases than have been reported by any other physician in the state, excepting one at Winchester. From the statement given, it would seem that these cases were of local origin: "Intermittent, one; quotidian and remittent, twenty. Our village lies directlv upon the Ashuelot river, upon the outside, and upon the other, about a half mile to the south, lies the Connecticut. A canal which takes its rise from the Ashuelot, at the upper end of the village, runs at the base of the bluff back of the village for about four hundred yards. It is upou the low grounds bordering these rivers, and the canal, that I have treated a large majority of my cases of malaria. That there has been an increase of fevers of a remittent type during the last three years is evident to the physicians who are acquainted with the practice in our vicinity. The principal reason, to my mind, for this increase is this: that during the summer months the manufacturers who utilize the water of the canal take the opportunity of low water to repair its banks, and consequently the inhabitants in close proximity to the reeking ditch, malaria

filled with foul odors, are the principal sufferers. During the past year 1 have met with many cases, usually denominated ' bilious attacks,' especially among children, which have shown a marked periodicity as regards their worst symptoms, which invariably yielded to quinine.

Dr. George W. Pierce, of Winchester, reports as follows : "I cannot give the number. The cases have all been mild, nearly all 'walking cases:' perhaps, in all, thirty. The cases have nearly all had a tertian character. There seems to be an increasing tendency to malarial manifestations ; cause, in doubt. It has been diffused all over town. It would seem from the reports of Drs. Dix and Pierce that the two south-west corner towns of the state, Hinsdale and Winchester, situated on the Connecticut and Ashuelot rivers, have experienced considerable malarial trouble,—very much greater than is reported from any other section of the state. Towns remote from the larger streams and ponds appear to be almost or quite exempt from malarial complications. There is but little evidence that malaria is increasing in this state other than that given above. No deaths are reported from malarial fever, and but a few (five or six) from cerebro-spinal meningitis. Several physicians report that in previous years they have observed malaria in their localities, but that during the past year none had been met with.

The conclusions in the matter are, that sufficient evidence to prove that malaria is increasing in the state has not been presented ; that if it is increasing, its progress is so slow as to be nearly or quite imperceptible. At the close of the present year (1883) sufficient information and facts will be in the possession of this office to settle the question of its invasion into the state.