Handbook N-P - Fulton County Public Library

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Dr. J. N. Hurty had just received his commission as State Public Health impresario, and
Dr. J. W. Irons, who came to Rochester from Logansport in 1892, received the appointment as
health officer for Fulton County.
Irons was a young man - bright, colorful, efficient. Though only a year in this
community, he had managed to build a very promising medical practice.
He scoffed at the claim that people “caught cold” in open wounds, and propounded the
infection theory. He argued that “Grandma’s neighborly interest” in a case of scarlet fever or
small pox next door, was all right from the neighborly standpoint, but very disastrous from the
health angle. He concurred with Dr. Hurty’s theory that contagious diseases should be
quarantined. And last but not least, he proposed to see that the practice of grocery and meat men
to display their foodstuffs on the sidewalk in front of their stores - there to be at the mercy of flies,
dust and germs, was wrong.
Enforced Law
The first phase of the new public health service was to order foodstuffs removed indoors.
This started a storm of protest from dealers and public alike. A “crank” they called him, from
Logansport was trying to put into effect a lot of citified ideas. Indignant, they refused to comply
with the order. Refusal brought about several arrests and according to those who recall the
occasion, there was cryptic reference to riding the new official out on a rail.
But Doctor Irons stuck to his guns. It was a slow, heartrending ordeal to change the mind
of a community, but when anger had subsided, and calm reflection came, the health program
appeared in its true light. Gradually the information came, and providently it was continued, until
no more do we see the open sugar and coffee barrel, the boxes of dried prunes, covered with dust,
and the platetrs of butter and lard standing exposed to every predatory germ which chanced to
float by.
First Quarantine
The first record of death in a quarantined home occurred in 1896, during an epidemic of
scarlet fever. Prior to that time, an examination of the records of undertakers in Fulton county
shows that 75 percent of the deaths recorded were those of children.
This calls to mind the references by older residents to “Black Sunday” in January of
1874, when seven children were buried in I.O.O.F. cemetry in one afternoon, while diphtheria
raged from one end of the country to the other. The toll of this black epidemic stands material
witness to the ignorance of contagion in the public mind of that day.
Sanitation Big Factor
Noticeable, too, in the records pre-dating the innovation of the public health service, were
the deaths by typhoid fever. Open wells, little or no regard for the proximity of stagnant water,
seeping sewage and other health impairing agencies were responsible. To checkmate this, the
Health Officers in regular succession since Dr. Irons have worked diligently to eliminate such
conditions, and as a result typhoid has practically disappeared.
Birth, Death Records
Contrary to the general impression, birth and death certificates were not required by law
until the act of 1899.
Prior to that time - indeed as far back as the early 80’s there was some effort made to
record the vital statistics of the county, but some physicians were lax in their attention to this, and
the result was that many births and deaths were not officially recorded. But with the turn of the
century things changed. Since that time the record is clear and authentic.
A Debt to Irons
That the people of Fulton county owe a debt of gratitude to J. W. Irons for the excellent
work done can never by denied. The fact that his efforts to innovate a new and much needed
control of the public health caused so much resentment that he was finally compelled to seek a
new community in which to practice, is indeed an indictment against the sportsmanship and good
judgment of those who whispered against him.
Bur fortunately his work and his unyielding determination to educate the people along the
lines of contagion, infection and sanitation fell to competent hands. In the years which have