456 



OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. (KEDZIE KIMBALL.) 



Kedzie, Robert Clark, chemist, born in Delhi, 

 X. Y., Jan. 23, 1823; died in Lansing, Mich., Nov. 

 7, 1902. He was graduated at Oberlin College 

 in 1846, and at the Medical Department of the 

 University of Michigan in 1851. When the civil 

 war broke out he enlisted as surgeon of the 12th 

 Michigan Infantry, but resigned in 1803 to be- 

 come Professor of Chemistry at the Michigan 

 Agricultural College, which post he held till 

 June, 1901, when he was made professor emeritus. 

 He was a member of the Michigan Legislature in 

 1867; of the State Board of Health in 1873-'81, 

 MTving as pres'iclent in 1877-'81. Prof. Kedzie 

 had been president of the Michigan State Medi- 

 cal Society, the American Public Health Associa- 

 tion, the Association of Agricultural Colleges, and 

 the Sanitary Council of the Mississippi Valley. 



Kendrick, Adin A., educator, born in Ticon- 

 deroga, N. Y., Jan. 7, 1836; died in Alton, 111., 

 April 7, 1902. He was educated at Granville 

 Acudeniy and at Middlebury College, Vermont; 

 later he studied law and practised for two years. 

 In 1861 he was graduated at the Theological De- 

 partment of the University of Rochester, and he 

 held pastorates in the Baptist Church till 1872, 

 when he was elected president of Shurtleff Col- 

 lege, where he remained till 1894. He was pastor 

 of Immanuel Baptist Church, of St. Louis, in 

 1894-'99, and in the latter year returned to 

 Shurtleff College as dean of the School of Divin- 

 ity, where he remained till his death. 



Kimball, James Patterson, military medical 

 officer, born in Berkshire, Tioga Co., N. Y., Aug. 

 21, 1840; died in Onteora, Tannersville, N. Y., 

 April 19, 1902. He was graduated at Hamilton 

 College in 1862, and at Albany Medical College 



in 1864. So de- 

 termined was he 

 to enter the army 

 before the close of 

 the civil war that 

 he completed the 

 work of two years 

 in one at the med- 

 ical college, and 

 was admitted to 

 the corps of med- 

 ical cadets. In 

 January, 1865, he 

 was advanced to 

 the rank of assist- 

 ant surgeon of the 

 121st New York 

 Infantry. At the 

 battle of Hatcher's 

 Run, in March, he 

 was almost con- 

 stantly under fire, his duty being to assist in 

 bringing off the wounded as they fell on the 

 field. He passed through the ensuing campaign 

 when for a week the Confederate army was re- 

 treating westward from Petersburg, closely pur- 

 sued by the Army of the Potomac, with a run- 

 ing fight all the way, and he was present at the 

 surrender. He was mustered out in July of that 

 year; and in 1867 he joined the medical staff 

 of the regular army and was made assistant sur- 

 geon with the rank of 1st lieutenant. His first 

 important service under this appointment was at 

 Fort Buford, Dakota, from 1867 to 1870. Here 

 the little garrison, surrounded by hostile Sioux 

 and frequently raided, led a lonely and hazardous 

 life. From 1884 to 1887 he was on duty at West 

 Point, and from 1887 to 1896 at various posts 

 in the West, except a part of 1892, when he had 

 leave of absence and visited Europe. He was 

 promoted to the rank of major and surgeon Jan. 



24, 1886; lieutenant-colonel and deputy surgeon- 

 general, Feb. 1, 1900; colonel and assistant sur- 

 geon-general, Jan. 1, 1902; and on April 7, 1902, 

 he was retired for disability incurred in the line 

 of duty. During the war with Spain he was sta- 

 tioned at Governor's Island, where he performed 

 the double duty of post surgeon and attending 

 surgeon at headquarters, Department of the East. 

 In 1898 the hospital accommodations were more 

 than doubled and the wards were filled witli 

 wounded and fever- stricken patients. Besides 

 carrying the great burden of regular duty, Dr. 

 Kimball spent many hours at night answering 

 the constant letters of inquiry concerning wound- 

 ed or missing soldiers. In 1900 he was promoted 

 to the rank of lieutenant-colonel and deputy sur- 

 geon-general, and transferred to Omaha, Neb., as 

 chief surgeon of the Department of the Missouri. 

 The change of climate and of duty was at first 

 beneficial, but in the end the strain of the pre- 

 ceding two years told upon him and his health 

 steadily failed. Through thirty-five years of act- 

 ive service Dr. Kimball placed first his duty to 

 his patients and to the service, yet he always 

 found time for hunting, and he was also a reader 

 of wide range. Outside of his professional read- 

 ing, his favorite study was botany, and he knew 

 thoroughly the flora of every military post at 

 which he was stationed. An account of some 

 rare or curious plant was often embodied in re- 

 ports sent to Washington, or to the medical 

 journals (see Apocynum Cannabinum, New York 

 Medical Journal, 1895, vol. Ixi). The language 

 and customs of the Indians, particularly those of 

 the Sioux and Navajos, interested him greatly. 

 His mastery of the Sioux tongue enabled him 

 to discover and decipher the autobiography of 

 Sitting Bull, a narrative told in pictures, which 

 Dr. Kimball contributed to the Smithsonian col- 

 lections. Both in camp and in garrison he was 

 frequently consulted by the Indians, and he in- 

 variably won their confidence and gratitude. 

 Both as a physician and as a surgeon he was 

 cautious and conservative, yet alert and daring 

 when necessary. Thus in a case of maggots in 

 the nose (the larvae of a little-known fly had 

 been deposited in diseased tissues) he saved the 

 life of a soldier by heroic injections of chloro- 

 form (see his report of the case, New York Med- 

 ical Journal, 1893, vol. Ivii). Again, an officer 

 Avounded in an Indian campaign was being tor- 

 tured to death by the jolting of the hospital 

 ambulance. The command was ordered to halt 

 while the surgeon devised a litter on wheels upon 

 which he successfully earned his patient for a 

 month's march across the plains. His article on 

 Transportation of the Wounded in War, written 

 at the outbreak of war with Spain, was consid- 

 ered authoritative (Albany Medical Annals, 1898, 

 vol. xix; Medical News, New York, 1898. vol. 

 Ixxii; Journal Military Service Institution, U. S., 

 Governor's Island, New York Harbor, 1898, vol. 

 xxiii). In 1899 he was president of the Albany 

 Medical College Alumni in the City of Nc\v Fork. 

 A high medical authority writes: "As a mili- 

 tary surgeon and sanitarian Dr. Kimball stood 

 very high, not as a brilliant man, fond of inno- 

 vation and display, but as one imbued with the 

 highest sense of duty. His reports to the depart- 

 ment all show care and a low mortality rate, 

 and to this he lent every effort. His personality 

 was quiet and yet magnetic, his manner dignified 

 but always approachable, his voice was low, 

 sweet, and musical." In 1869 Dr. Kimball mar- 

 ried Sarah Eddy, of Albany, N. Y., who died in 

 1890, and in 1892 Maria Porter Brace, who sur- 

 vives him. 



