Dr. Henry H. Hewett - I'm Out to Find You

 

Post by Doris McCraw aka Angela Raines

Photo property of the Author

Have you ever run across something while researching that just won't let go? It happened when I started on the journey of early Colorado women doctors after reading an obituary in a newspaper. It happened again as I finished the short book about the early women doctors buried in Evergreen Cemetery here in town. 

What you may ask happened this time? Well, I came across the name of an early doctor, not a woman, by the way, that seems to want to keep his identity hidden. His story is intriguing and I just may have to write a fiction piece if I can't find much more.

Here's what I've found to date:

Name: Henry H. Hewett

Birth: 1846 - (+or- a year or two) in New York

He may have enlisted in the Union Army at age 18 in September1864 with the 148th New York Infantry, Company I. He was mustered out in June of 1865 in Richmond, VA.

or 

He lived in Colorado in 1860 during the early gold rush in this state, left and studied medicine in Ohio, returning in 1869

or

He was a combination miner, Doctor., Deputy US Marshal, and Deputy Provost Marshal here in the Colorado territory. From 1863 to 1866 he lived in California Gulch and from there moved to Georgetown where he had some success as a miner. In 1878 he was in Leadville, and then in the early 1880s, he moved to Aspen.

The only information I have about his death was that he was injured in a stagecoach accident between Aspen and Glenwood Springs. He died from his injuries in Denver.

The last piece of information I've located about Dr. Hewitt is that he was the first County Physician appointed for Lake County Colorado.  

Much like the joy and frustration I've encountered in telling the stories of the early women physicians, I feel this will be another such journey. Dr. Henry H. Hewett, I'm on the hunt and I will find you. 

Doris McCraw

 

How I Spend 'Free' Time

Post by Doris McCraw

writing as Angela Raines

Photo Property of the Author

One of my favorite places to spend time, prior to the 'lock-down', was the Special Collections at the local library. Oh, the hours spent reading microfilm of old newspapers or digging into the genealogy of someone whose name I found in the papers. Those were amazing times.

Although I haven't been as consistent as I was prior to the closing, I've been back a few times and if anything the time there is even more exciting.

 

Amazon

Lately, I've been perusing the 'stacks'. In addition to magazines such as Overland Dispatch: Smoky Hill Trail Association and The Colorado Magazine, the books I've come across are so full of information that takes me to some amazing pieces of history.

As I've been researching Colorado's History and the Women Doctors who were here in the early days, I've come across books like Mary DeMund's "Colorado Women Physicians". There's a book listing the applications of doctors to practice medicine from 1881 to 1967. Books on illness and cures, including the books by Dr. S. Edwin Solly, an early proponent of Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs as a place for recovery from Consumption. Of course, I can't leave out "Dr. at Timberline" by Charles Fox Gardiner.

Books about early pioneers to Colorado, including "Those Bassett Women" by Grace McClure and books on the Ghost Towns of Colorado. One of my favorites is by Sandra Dallas, "Colorado Ghost Towns and Mining Camps". 

I could go on and on, but I will include some of the books from the History Symposium Regional History Series the library has presented for over ten years. These include: "Film and Photography on the Front Range", "Disasters of the Pikes Peak Region" and "Massacre, Murder, and Mayhem in the Rocky Mountain West".   

Amazon

Until next time.

Doris McCraw