Person:Ira Van Camp (3)

Morton^[2] writes:

Ira Van Camp, M.D., deceased, pioneer. Omaha. Neb., was born in Durham county, Canada West, and died in Omaha, June 1, 1903. He was the second son of Jesse Van Camp, minister of the Christian church at Bomanville, Can., and spent his youth on the old Van Camp homestead between Bomanville and Oshawa, Can. He acquired his early education in the public schools and afterwards was a private pupil of W. G. King. He moved to Nebraska in 1862, settling in Dakota county: two years later he removed to Omaha, where he continued to reside until his death. In 1867 he graduated from his medical studies at Cincinnati, O., where he delivered the valedictory of his class. In 1881 he established the Nebraska Medical and Surgical Institute. In 1884 he was elected professor of obstetrical science in the University of Nebraska, where he remained two years, going to Lincoln twice a week to deliver lectures, at the end of which time he was compelled to resign on account of his large practice. He was one of the organizers of the Nebraska Eclectic Medical society, holding the office of president several years, and was also associate editor of the Nebraska Medical Journal. He served for some years as municipal councilor and was an excellent platform speaker. By the force of his natural ability he left his impress on the community in which he lived. He acquired a fortune, but real estate speculation caught him in its net, and he was a heavy loser in the panic of 1893. Dr. Van Camp was in no sense a theorist, but on the contrary practical in all things, slow to advocate the new and untried, adhering to the proven article or agent of the materia medica as a friend not to be forsaken. He was one of the oldest practicing physicians in the state, and was a very skilled surgeon, a man of broad mind and wide charity. Dr. Victor H. Coffman says in a recent communication to the editor, "Dr. Van Camp was greatly handicapped in his profession by a mistake in his medical education, having entered upon the study of medicine in an eclectic college at a period when it was considered irregular by the general practitioner of medicine, and at a period, too, when the code of ethics of the American Medical association was a great stickler for restricting consultation and professional associations to the established school of medicine. So bitter was the feeling that it extended not only to the restricting of professional courtesy but likewise to social life. But the independent Esculapian, daring to recognize ability wherever found, soon made Dr. Van Camp an associate who proved honorable and worthy. As time advanced, likewise, ethics enlarged and harmony prevailed. During this long period of humiliating conditions Dr. Van Camp was never heard to complain, but sought to increase his knowledge from every source, and lived to attain success and command respect and recognition by the very exquisitely ethical." Dr. Van Camp was first married in Canada to Phoebe L. Bourke, who died in 1869. leaving three children: Alda Jane, deceased, wife of J. M. Eddy: Albert Eugene, deceased: and Hamilton Brisbon. He was again married in 1870 to Sarah Virginia Cowan, daughter of Mai. Joseph Bute of Cambridge, O.. and three children were born to them: Clarissa Bute, wife of Edward R. McMahon, Omaha; Ira L., Wyoming; and Bertha Frederick Van Camp, a teacher in the public schools of Omaha. Mrs. Sarah Y. Van Camp died very suddenly at her home in Omaha, Nov. 22, 1904.

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 http://www.kancoll.org/books/andreas_ne/douglas/douglas-p49.html, in Andreas' History of the State of Nebraska, Douglas County.

   "IRA VAN CAMP, M. D., came to Nebraska in 1862 at Dakota City, where he remained until 1864. Then came to Omaha and has practiced here ever since. With Dr. E. L. Siggius he established the Nebraska Medical and Surgical Institute in February, 1881. He was born in Durham County, Canada West, October 5, 1828, and lived in Omaha most of the time, until he came to Nebraska. He was educated at the Eclectic Medical Institute, Cincinnati, Ohio. He has been engaged in practice for twenty-one years. He was married in Canada, to Phebe L. Bourke, who died in November, 1869, leaving three children--Alda Jane, Now Mrs. J. M. Eddy; Albert Eugene, and Hamilton Brisbon. The Doctor's present wife was Sarah Virginia Cowan, maiden name Bute. They were married in Omaha, and have three children--Clara Bute, Ira L. and Bertha Falk."

2. ↑ Morton, Julius Sterling; George Le Forest Miller; and Albert Watkins. Illustrated history of Nebraska: a history of Nebraska from the earliest explorations of the trans- Mississippi region with steel engravings, photogravures, copper plates, maps, and tables. (Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1978)
   Volume 1, p468-470.