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DR. GEO W. BICKNELLS TONIC STOMACH BITTERS : NEW UPDATE It has been brought to my attention from a fellow bottle collector and digger from Beloit, Wis. He and a friend dug two examples of this bitters bottle in a privy several years ago. The privy was producing both smooth base and pontil bottles. (more below) Below is what I wrote in Article 8 bottle number 3 along with a photo of this bottle. DR. GEO W. BICKNELLS / TONIC / STOMACH BITTERS Listed as extremely rare. Color a shade of amber and the shape being square. The height is 9 ½ in. This Bitters is thought to be from Kendallville, Indiana from 1871-1872. It is my believe that this would be incorrect. There was a T.P. Bicknell which settled in Lisbon Indiana in 1847. Lisbon was two mile south of Kendallville. He was the first regularly educated surgeon in the county. He was also was a member of the constitutional convention for the revision of the state constitution in 1850-1851. He was twenty six years of age and the youngest member. He moved to Kendallville between 1859 and 1860 when his landlord raised the rent on him. He died in 1863 and his grave site is located in the sweets cemetery in Noble County. There is no listing for a Geo W. Bicknell in Kendallville's City Directories as being a doctor or a resident. When you really take a good look at this bottle it appears to be made around the 1880s or 1890s . Having a smooth base and very little texture with a tooled lip. I have seen a small clear druggist bottle embossed Dr. Geo Bicknell Hammond Ind. on Ebay before. Could it be possible that he was from Hammond or the surrounding area. I am still trying to figure that out. References: The Doctors of Kendallville by Genevieve Saller 1978. This new information is from the Beloit, Wis. History Society. Please note that Dr. White was the first doctor in Beloit, Wis. This article was written by Dr. Harold M. Helm in October 9 1942. "With Dr. White the New England Emigrating Company included fourteen members, there of whom were of the Bicknell family: Captain John W. and his sons, Otis P. and George W. John Bicknell was the father-in-law of R. P. Crane, and George Bicknell was Beloit's second doctor. George arrived in Beloit in July, 1837, and for a time lived in the Crane home on the northeast corner of Race and State streets, where his brother Edward and he slept in the loft reached by a ladder. Later George's office was in the Crane stone block in which Matt Carpenter had his law office. Dr. Bicknell was on the many who went to the California gold fields in 1849 and was one of the first wardens and vestrymen of the Episcopal Church, elected in the home of the Rev. Mr. Humphrey, with his brother Otis P. Bicknell, C. F. H. Goodhue, John C. Burr, and Leonard Humphrey. In the Rock County Gazetteer, Directory and Business Advertiser for 1857-8 one of the conspicuous professional cards reads: "Bicknell and Knight Physicians and Surgeons, State Street, Beloit, Wis. - Grateful to the citizens of Beloit and the surrounding country for past patronage, the Subscribers still render their professional services to the public at all hours of the day and night." A conventional pointing hand emphasized: "Special attention given to the treatment of all Surgical Cases [heavy type] and performing of all Surgical operations. G. W. Bicknell Wm. Knight" During the Civil War Dr. Bicknell was surgeon of the Twenty-second Wisconsin Infantry. He was born in 1807 and died in 1870. A pathetic little sidelight: the large red granite Bicknell monument in Oakwood Cemetery, Beloit, indicates that three children - Aby Maria, Hattie Eliza, and Freddie - all died at less than two years of age. In July, 1838, another Bicknell brother, Charles H., arrived in Beloit. Born in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1818, he grew up in the East, was a farmer in Canaan, Vermont, and followed the same vocation at Beloit with his father for five or six years. He then opened the Beloit House which he conducted for five or six years before beginning the study of medicine at Rockford, Illinois, under the preceptor ship of Dr. Josiah Goodhue, one of the incorporators of Rush Medical College. Leaving Rockford, Charles Bicknell continued his medical studies at Beloit in the office of his brother George. With another brother Thomas he conducted a drug store for four year, under the firm name of Bicknell Brothers. Thereafter he devoted himself to medical practice only, being associated with Dr. George until 1861, after which time he was alone. In 1848 he was married to Elizabeth S. Goodhue of Sherbrooke, Canada. There were two children, Charles H. and Elizabeth. Dr. Charles Bicknell died in 1888 at the age of seventy, just fifty years after coming to Beloit. The January 27 issue of the Beloit Daily Free Press contains the funeral sermon preached by Dr. Fayette Royce. Dr. Bicknell is referred to as "the last of the first settlers of 50 years before." While Charles Bicknell was Beloit's first medical student, and probably the third medically inclined citizen." There was a H. M. Bicknell came over for Kendallville on April 23, 1875, and erected a one-story frame building which he used as a drug store. This was called the Pioneer Drug Store. H. M. Bicknell, druggist, Garrett, Ind., was born in Noble County, Ind., June 16, 1848, the youngest son of Dr. T. P. and Lydia (Myers) Bicknell. His youth was spent in assisting his father in the drug store, and in attending school. He completed his education at Notre Dame Academy, South Bend, Ind., in 1866, and after his return home engaged in the drug business at Kendallville, in partnership with Dr. Ericson. In 1875 he moved to Garrett and built what is known as the Pioneer Drug Store, where he has since carried on a successful and lucrative trade. He was married Jan. 1, 1869, to Jennie Dunn, a native of New York, who came with her parents to Noble County when a child, and subsequently moved to St. Joseph County where she lived at the time of her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Bicknell have one daughter - Nellie. Mr. Bicknell is politically a Republican. He is a member of Garrett Lodge, No. 602, I. O. O. F., and Garrett Lodge, No. 537, F. & A. M. He was the first Vice Grand, the second Noble Grand and the first representative to the Grand Lodge from the Garrett Lodge, I. O. O. F. Source: History of De Kalb County, Indiana; Inter-State Publishing Company, Chicago, 1885 T. P. Bicknell, M. D., deceased. — Although not a resident of De Kalb County, there are few who will be longer remembered by the early settlers than Dr. Bicknell. He was a native of Chenango County, N. Y., and received his education in his native State. In 1846, realizing the more favorable opportunities offered a young man in the West, he moved to Northern Indiana and settled in Lisbon, Noble County, at that time little more than a wilderness. Being a skillful physician, he soon gained a wide reputation in Noble, De Kalb, Steuben and surrounding counties, and he was obliged to ride night and day in all kinds of weather. From constant exposure his health became impaired and for several years he was unable to engage in active practice. Such was the confidence reposed in him and his skill that when he was unable to visit patients they were brought to him from miles away on cots. In 1854 Dr. Bicknell was elected to represent Noble County in the convention to revise the Constitution of the State of Indiana, and was the youngest member of the convention. In 1861 he was the first Examining Surgeon appointed in his district, and was twice appointed by Governor Morton as Surgeon (first of the Thirtieth and second of the Forty-fourth Regiment), but was obliged to decline on account of his health. Dr. Bicknell died in 1863, leaving a large circle of friends to mourn his loss. He was married in New York to Lydia Myers, and to them were born three children — Hattie, Thompson P. and H. M. Mrs. Bicknell resides in Fort Wayne. Source: History of De Kalb County, Indiana; Inter-State Publishing Company, Chicago, 1885 References: http://www.beloithistoricalsociety.com/physician.php History of De Kalb County, Indiana; Inter-State Publishing Company, Chicago, 1885 |
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