We’ve seen some interesting news and family events from the early 1890s. Let’s finish the decade.
W.T. Cheney is appointed postmaster for Groveland post office. Ralph and Mollie Cheney have a new baby boy. And more…
1897
January began with the birth of Fred Dewitt Cheney on January 3. Fred was the third son of Ralph and Mollie Cheney.
In May, a Kansas lightning storm visited William and Eliza Cheney’s house, as did their two sons.
Midsummer brings wheat harvest. William Cheney’s sons came to help. After all, William was age 59.
As the year ends, it’s time to think about cold weather.
Country Doctor
Sometimes the doctor couldn’t relieve the patient.
1898
At 9:40 pm on the night of 15 February 1898 the United States battleship Maine, riding quietly at anchor in Havana harbour, was suddenly blown up, apparently by a mine, in an explosion which tore her bottom out and sank her, killing 260 officers and men on board.
The Sinking of the Maine – History Today
A few weeks later, W.T. Cheney spoke out about the incident.
Will Cheney graduated from Kansas City Medical College and began his medical practice in Roxbury, halfway between McPherson and Gypsum.
Dr. E.R. Cheney installed the first home telephone in Gypsum.
Mollie Cheney was the leader of the Loyal Temperance Legion.
There were lighter moments too, like a trip to Omaha, visiting grandparents in McPherson, and hunting and fishing.
Country Doctor
A doctor’s training didn’t end on graduation from medical school. Continuing education was important to stay current and competent. There are many news articles about E.R. Cheney going to medical meetings and conferences.
1899
W.T. Cheney continued to manage his farm and livestock.
He sold his wheat for 56 1/2 cents a bushel, slightly better than the Kansas average in 1899. He would probably be shocked at the 2023 price of $7.14 a bushel.
In April, William Cheney attended the Kansas encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic. The G.A.R. was a society of Civil War veterans who gathered annually.
William was a Civil War veteran that was seriously wounded at the Battle of Shiloh in Tennessee on April 6, 1862. He was active in the G.A.R. throughout his life.
In August, Dr. E.R. Cheney and Dr. Hawthorne moved into new offices in the back of Leland Schmitter’s new drug store building.
As in every year, there were “normal” family events.
Country Doctor
In January 1896, German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen published his amazing discovery of “A New Light”, the X-ray. Here’s the first X-ray, Röntgen’s wife’s hand. It shows her bones and wedding ring. Röntgen was awarded the first Nobel Prize for Physics in 1901.
Just three years later, in January 1899, Dr. E.R. Cheney installed an X-Ray machine. It must have seemed like a miracle in medicine.
Timeline
Sources:
- Family trees – Ancestry.com
- Images – Cheney family members – William Cheney, Mary Taylor Squires, Rollo Cheney, Ned Cheney, Fred Cheney – Cheney/Jarvis photograph collection
- Newspapers – each article footnoted with newspaper name and date – Newspapers.com
- Image – Medical Equipment – https://theconversation.com/ten-weird-and-terrifying-medical-instruments-from-the-past-22211
- Image – Roxbury, Kansas Main Street – Wichita State University – https://specialcollections.wichita.edu/kw/images.asp?xfile_name=kw_roxbury_mcpherson_ks1.jpg
- Image – Gypsum, Kansas Maple Street – Wichita State University – https://specialcollections.wichita.edu/kw/images.asp?xfile_name=kw_gypsum_saline_ks1.jpg
- Image – Medical Equipment – https://melnickmedicalmuseum.com/2009/12/01/a-short-history-of-stethoscopes/https://melnickmedicalmuseum.com/2009/12/01/a-short-history-of-stethoscopes/
- Image – Medical Equipment – https://birdlibrary.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16336coll1/id/146
- Image – Medical Equipment – https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/murder-medical-instruments-and-teaching-aids/
- Image – Lightning from a tornadic thunderstorm passing over Clearwater, Kansas strikes at an open field May 19, 2013. Photo by Gene Blevins/Reuters
- Image – Harvesting wheat – Kansas Memory – 216656 – https://www.kansasmemory.gov/item/216656
- Image and quote – USS Maine entering Havana harbour, January 1898 – The Sinking of the Maine – History Today – https://www.historytoday.com/archive/sinking-maine#:~:text=USS%20Maine%20entering%20Havana%20harbour%2C%20January%201898At,killing%20260%20officers%20and%20men%20on%20board.
- Image and poem – Telephone image and excerpt of poem “The Rural Telephone” – Our Telephone Heritage – Bill Schuette – https://saukcountyhistory.org/our-telephone-heritage-1
- Quote – Loyal Temperance Legion – Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loyal_Temperance_Legion
- Image – Loyal Temperance Legion badge – eBay – https://www.ebay.com/itm/286150678579
- Image – Missouri Pacific Railroad depot, Gypsum, Kansas – Kansas Memory – 313136 –https://www.kansasmemory.gov/item/313136
- Image – Kansas Wheat History – United States Department of Agriculture – https://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/Kansas/Publications/Cooperative_Projects/KS-wheat-history-24.pdf
- Image – G.A.R. Encampment – A photo by George Dresser. 7th Annual Encampment G.A.R. Department of Kansas, Winfield Kansas. February 22, 1888. Photo courtesy of Cowley County Historical Society Museum. – Judy Kraus
- Images – Schmitter’s Drug Store – Gypsum Valley, KS history / [Gypsum Valley History Book Committee; Virginia Ade, editor] – Johnson County Library, KS
- Image – X-ray of wife’s hand – How X-rays were discovered in the 1890s – momentous Victorian medical tech we still use every day – Click Americana – https://clickamericana.com/topics/discoveries-inventions/how-x-rays-were-first-discovered-medical-tech
- Image – X-ray machine ca 1900 – Introduction to the Imaging Sciences – Radiology Key – https://radiologykey.com/introduction-to-the-imaging-sciences/
- Audio – Music Box Rag – Heftone Banjo Orchestra – Free Music Archive – https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Heftone_Banjo_Orchestra/Music_Box_Rag
Family Nibbles 
