Bassett Family Association Database

Doctor Mary Elizabeth Bassett

Female 1863 -


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  • Name Mary Elizabeth Bassett 
    Prefix Doctor 
    Born 16 Nov 1863  Beaver Dam, Dodge County, Wisconsin Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Female 
    _UID F1C39151DC682542BC811710B5C043F956E8 
    Notes 
    • The Biwabik Hospital and Biwabik Bray Family
      Written by Robert Bray - July 6, 1976
      The Biwabik Hospital was established in 1892 by Dr. William H. Magie and was sold to Dr. Ralph Sewall about 1896. Dr. Sewall was a classmate of Dr. C.W. Bray and Dr. Mary Bassett. The building had five to six available beds, two offices, and an operating room. Living quarters were on the south side of the building. There was no electricity or running water in the building. Water was piped to two locations in town. The faucets were located in little sheds - one at Talley's corner (Main and Third Street) and one on Erickson's corner (First Avenue and First Street North). Water was carried to the hospital in a 55-gallon barrel equipped with two large side wheels and a handle to push or pull it. Heat for the hospital was provided by coal stoves in various places and light was from kerosene lamps and candles.
      Dr. Charles William Bray was born September 7, 1868 in Young America, Minnesota, into a family with a medical background already established. His father, Ebenezer Bray, was a practicing physician and dentist. His uncle, Dr. James Madison Bray, was a pioneer surgeon in Evansville, Indiana, and as a surgeon served in the Civil War. He loaned money to C.W. Bray to help him through medical school. Charles Washington Bray (1850-1922) was a cousin of C.W. He graduated from New York College of Physicians and Surgeons and practiced in Portland, Maine. A brother of C.W., Dr. Wleyn Royal Bray (1879-1967) was an Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat specialist, and practiced in St. Paul, Minnesota.
      Dr. C.W. and Dr. Mary Elizabeth Bassett met while attending the Medical School of the University of Minnesota and both graduated in 1895. Dr. C.W. interned at Ancker Hospital in St. Paul, then practiced one year in Wabasha, one year in Anoka, and about one year in Minneapolis. In January of 1899 he bought the Biwabik Hospital from Dr. Ralph Sewall. The location of Biwabik was chosen because of the many iron mines in this area and it was thought that the Eastern Mesaba Range had a great future.
      Dr. Mary Elizabeth Bassett (1863-1957) was born in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. Her father died when she was less than a year old and her mother died six years later. During her childhood she was cared for by her maternal aunt, Lottie Stultz. She was graduated from high school in Hastings, Minnesota, in 1882, then worked as a bookkeeper in a store to earn money to go to the university. Her salary was nothing for a few months, then $12.00 a month, and finally $50.00 a month. Her friends thought that was a tremendous salary and better than going to the university. However, she did go to the University of Minnesota and started in mid--term in January 1889. She entered the second term classes of Virgil, Chemistry and Algebra and had no previous Latin. She lived with friends, Mr. and Mrs. L.M. Countryman and their daughter, Gratia. After she used up her savings, Mr. Countryman loaned her $25.00 a month, without interest and gave her room and board until she finished school. She was graduated from the Medical School in 1895 at the head of her class. This should have given her an internship of her choice, but most hospitals at that time would not accept women physicians. She was a friend of Dr. Will Mayo and he helped her to get an internship at the State Hospital in Rochester and later on the staff of the State Hospital in St. Peter, Minnesota.
      On March 9, 1899, Dr. C.W. Bray and Dr. Mary Bassett were married and on March 10th they came to Biwabik by train. They had to walk through deep snow from the Biwabik station to the hospital.
      The original hospital never did have running water. Sometime before 1905 electric wiring for electric lights was installed. Electricity was generated by a steam engine driving a dynamo located just west of the present City Park. The steam engine and dynamo were started just before dark and I can remember the lights coming on about 4 p.m. in the wintertime. Also before 1905 a furnace was installed and radiators heated with hot water.
      Dr. Bert Adams was one of my father's first assistants, but he soon moved to Hibbing where he established the Adams Clinic and Hospital. He told me some time later that he taught me to walk. About 1932 I owned a small airplane and flew up to the Iron Range from Fargo, North Dakota and took Dr. Adams for his first airplane ride. Dr. Hovde was the next assistant and he was with us at the time of the hospital fire.
      Peter Foss was the hospital janitor and handyman. He also took care of the barn with two horses and sometimes a cow. On February 25, 1906, on a cold Sunday morning, Peter may have built too hot a fire in the furnace. Mr. Jerome Gilliazzi, walking by about 6 a.m. saw smoke coming out under the eaves. He ran in and gave the alarm. The fire had started in the basement and gone up through the walls. Hannah Leikas, the hospital cook at that time, carried me out. Everyone - family, employees and patients got out safely, then the whole building burst into flames, so very few furnishings were saved. Most of us were taken to the Mt. Iron House, a boarding house owned and operated by Engens, which was one house north of the Mandel home, which was kitty-corner from the hospital. There we sat in the window and watched the hospital and home burn.
      Replacement was started immediately and the present home and twelve bed hospital were ready for occupancy in October, 1906. This building was equipped for running water with bathrooms and the following year the city sewer and water systems were completed and connected.
      In their early days in Biwabik, Dr. C.W. and Dr. Mary made their calls by bicycle when weather permitted, otherwise by horse and buggy or in winter by horse and cutter. As I recall, it was about 1912 when they bought their first car, a Buick. The horses were kept until about 1920, for they were still needed during the winter and for roads that were not passable by car.
      When the children came, Dr. Mary did less and less medical work, but always did the bookkeeping for the hospital and continued this even after Dr. Robert came to Biwabik, and until her eyesight failed. Then this work was taken over by Robert''s wife, Eleanor.
      Dr. C.W. and Mary Bray and five children:
      Robert - born February 21, 1900
      Elizabeth - born September 30, 1901 and died July 26, 1966
      Philip - born September 27, 1903
      Rachel - born August 16, 1906 - died of pneumonia October 12, 1906
      Kenneth - born July 20, 1909
      Elizabeth Bray Bassett was graduated from Biwabik HIgh School in 1920, salutatorian. She went two years to Carleton College, then was graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1924. She taught Commercial work at South High School in Minneapolis and was head of this department for several years. She had sabbatical leave of one year, 1941-1942, during which time she obtained a degree of Master of Science in Education from Columbia University, New York. She had to retire in June of 1958 because of a disabling illness. The illness was slowly progressive and undiagnosed until her death on July 26, 1966. Autopsy showed a lower motor neuron disease. Progressive spinal muscular atrophy with atrophy of the motor tracts of the spinal cord. Immediate cause of death was broncho-pneumonia.
      Philip Noyes Bray was graduated from Biwabik High School in 1921, was graduated from Carleton College in 1925, graduated from the University of Minnesota Medical School in 1929. Interned at Minneapolis General Hospital February 1929 to July 1929 and then at the Miller Hospital in St. Paul, July 1929 to July 1930. After that he had four and a half years post-graduate work at the University of Minnesota and Minneapolis General Hospital in Pediatrics, Obstetrics, and Gynecology. He married Helen Catherine Carlson, a graduate nurse, on January 1, 1935. They had two children - Mary Elizabeth, born November 29, 1935 and Philip Noyes, Jr., April 6, 1939. Dr. Philip practiced obstetrics and gynecology in Duluth, Minnesota from 1935 until his retirement September 3, 1975. He received his M.S. degree in Obstetrics and Gynecology in 1936 from the University of Minnesota Post-Graduate School and membership in Central Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists in October, 1939. He was a Founding Fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, which was established in 1952. He belonged to the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and was a member of the American College of Surgeons.
      He entered military service in 1943 with the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the US Navy Reserve and served the South Pacific Theatre in the 7th Fleet under Admiral Chester Nimitz. He was commanding officer of Medical Unit 9-7 and was retired in 1963 with the rank of Captain.
      He headed both the OB and GYN departments at St. Mary's and St. Luke's Hospitals, four terms at St. Luke's and one at St. Mary's. He also served as chief of staff at St. Luke's in 1957. He was president of the St. Louis County Medical Society in 1961. His records show that he delivered 5,200 babies. The other half of his work was GYN surgery. When he retired, the Duluth paper reported that he was sorely missed as a practicing physician of the city. His patients loved him and for good reason; he was kind and patient with them always. He rarely missed a delivery after a woman came to him for obstetrical care - his work always came first.
      Kenneth Eben Bray graduated from Biwabik High School in 1927. He fulfilled his pre-medical school requirements at Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota after three years, then transferred to the University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He graduated in the class of 1934 and interned at Charity Hospital, New Orleans, Louisiana. His first position was assistant medical director, Nopeming Tuberculosis Sanatorium, Minnesota. In May 1936, commissioned as a First Lieutenant in the Army Medical Corps, he went on active duty and served as a physician in the Civilian Conservation Corps until December 1936. From then until recalled to active military duty on March 16, 1941, he was in private practice in Park Rapids, Minnesota. He married Florence Cecilia Little, September 10, 1938, a registered nurse from Park Rapids, who assisted him.
      Kenneth had remained in the Army reserves in an inactive status since leaving the Civilian Conservation Corps and he was called back to active duty on March 16, 1941. His first assignment was Battalion Surgeon, 69th Armored Regiment, Medium Tanks, First Armored Division, Fort Knox, Kentucky. He was interested in the rapidly developing Air Force and transferred to it as a Flight Surgeon. He remained with it on active duty until May 16, 1946. His overseas duty was Post Surgeon and Chief Flight Surgeon for the Central India Air Depot, Agra, India. Following his release from active dutty, he remained in the Medical Reserve program, serving as Deputy Commander or Commander of several Reserve Air Force Hospital Units. He retired as a full Colonel on July 20, 1969, his 60th birthday, and the date of the first landing on the moon.
      After returning to private practice following World War II, Kenneth took residency training in Anesthesiology, 1946-1948 at Charity Hospital, New Orleans, Louisiana. He became Board Certified in the American Society of Anesthesiology and Fellow in the American College of Anesthesia. After a year as Chief of the Department of Anesthesia, St. Mary's Hospital, Evansville, Indiana, he became a Veteran's Administration Physician. He was Chief of the Department of Anesthesia, Columbia, South Carolina, from 1950-1954 during which time he helped organize the South Carolina State Society of Anesthesiology, serving as its Charter President. From 1954 to 1970 he served as Chief of the Department of Anesthesia, Veteran's Hospital, Louisiana and Clinical Instructor of Surgery (Anesthesiology), Louisiana State University School of Medicine. During this time he was a member of and took an active part in several medical societies. He served as Secretary and Vice President of the Louisiana State Society of Anesthesiologists, Chairman of the Anesthesia Section of the Southern Medical Society and joined the American College of Chest Physicians at its International Congress in New Delhi, India in 1965. He retired from the Veterans Administration in 1970 and joined the full time staff of Louisiana State University School of Medicine as Assistant Professor of Surgery (Anesthesiology) and served as Chief of the Department of Anesthesia, Earl K. Long Memorial Hospital, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. During thiis time he also served as a consultant to the Carville Lepresarium. Kenneth retired from active medical practice on March 1, 1976.
      Robert Bassett Bray - I know a little more about him because I am writing this account. After my sophomore year in high school, I got work in the carpenter shop of the Biwabik Mine. Mr. Frank Dane was the Superintendent. My boss was Peter Burke. Edwin Johnson and I went together to apply for work and he was assigned to work under Louis Delak in the blacksmith shop. Our pay was 31 cents an hour and 10 hours work - 7 a..m. to 6 p.m. - one hour off at noon - no coffee break in those days. After my junior year I went to the mine again, started in the carpenter shop, but requested the job of firing a locomotive, if such an opening became available. This soon occurred and I was told to fire on the 4 spot, a small locomotive. My engineer was called "Brandy Bob" - I don't remember any other name for him. The brakeman was John Budnovich. He was a good friend and helped me learn my work as fireman. He helped me shovel coal from the floor of the coal dock up into the back of the engine cab. From there I shoveled it into the firebox as it was needed. My job was to keep steam and water in the boiler, coal in the back of the cab, oil in the oil cans, keep the engine clean, and ring the bell when the train was approaching a crossing. When all this was done I could sit in the cab window and look about. I enjoyed this work and especially to feel the power of the engine when it was pushing three loaded ore cars out of the mine. As I recall, my pay at this time was $5.00 for about eleven hours of work. The engine had to be steamed up, then we got to the railroad yard and picked up three empty ore cars and to be down at the steam shovel ready for them to start loading at 7 a.m. It was quite demanding to go back to high school for my senior year after doing a man's work all summer. At that time we had rules and order in school. We sat in our seats until it was time to be dismissed, then as the Principal said "one" we turned in our seats, at "two" we stood up and at "three" we marched to the cloak room.
      World War I was on at this time and during my junior and senior years at high school I was a member of the Home Guard. Mr. Carl Schuster was Major and taught us the basics of army marching and drilling.
      I was graduated from high school in 1918 and that summer Harold Goldthorpe and I got work on a concrete bridge that was being built over the Duluth and Iron Range Railroad tracks just south of the cemetery. That fall I went to Carleton College enlisted in the S.A.T.C. (Student Army Training Corps). This was regular army combined with college work and as vacancies occurred we were shipped out to Officer's Training School. Only one group of our company was shipped out, because the Armistice was signed and the war ended on November 11, 1918. After my freshman year at college I spent the summer vacation selling books, an occupation I never thought I would try, but it turned out to be a valuable experience. The book was called "P.H.L." (People's Home Library), a book in three parts, 1) Home Medical Remedies, 2) Cook Book, 3) Home Remedies for farm veterinary work. It was a book put together to sell in farming communities. My headquarters were at Garretson, South Dakota. From there I traveled through the farming country on a bicycle. I cleared $400.00 that summer, which was a fair amount at that time.
      Before returning to college that fall, Phil Sherman, Bryan Gilkinson (two college friends), Harold Goldthorpe and I went on an eight day canoe trip. We picked up our final supplies and a second canoe (I had one) at Winton. Our planned trip was to paddle around Hunter's Island, a part of the Quetico forest. We were advised at the supply store that we should hire a guide, which would cost us $8.00 a day. That we could not afford, and we had a much more satisfactory and exciting trip going by ourselves. Many portages we had to hunt for. The country was wild and sparsely traveled at that time. Also, our maps were not the best, but we did make the complete trip in our eight days. Fishing was good and we caught a fish only when we wanted fish for dinner.
      I graduated from Carleton College in 1922 and went from there to the University of Minnesota Medical School, graduated in the class of 1926, interned at Miller Hospital, St. Paul, which included a contagious service at Ancker Hospital and an Orthopedic service at the Shriner's Children's Hospital; received my M.D. degree July of 1927. Dr. William H. Long, who had worked for my father at one time, but was now located in the Dakota Clinic in Fargo, North Dakota, called on me and offered me work assisting him there and that is where I went. With Dr. Long my work was mostly in internal medicine. I had always had an ambition to learn to fly, and in 1929 I bought an airplane (monocoupe) in partnership with two other men and we learned to fly. In 1932 I flew the airplane to Northfield, Minnesota to attend my tenth class reunion. It was there that I met Eleanor Burnett at the time of her graduation. Her parents lived in Fargo and I was already acquainted with them. Also Dr. Long was their family physician and with his help Eleanor obtained work as a laboratory technician at the clinic. There we became better acquainted and after one year she agreed to marry me. At this time the obstetrician at the clinic left and I was offered that work. Our marriage was postponed so that I could take a three month post-graduate course in obstetrics at the Minneapolis General Hospital. My brother, Philip, was there and was nearing the completion of his fellowship in obstetrics. He taught me many of the finer points of obstetrics. My youngest brother, Kenneth, was a medical student doing clinical work at this same hospital at that time. This completed, I returned to Fargo and Eleanor and I were married on January 3, 1934, which was also her birthday. Our first home was in an apartment, then while Eleanor was in her first pregnancy we had an opportunity to buy a one and a half story home with a beautiful lawn and flower garden. The price was $5,500.00 and we borrowed the money on my life insurance for the payment. The house is still there and now worth four times as much. Eleanor cleaned and redecorated the house and prepared one room for the nursery. Our daughter Roberta was born on May 1, 1936.
      All these years my parents continued to operate the Biwabik Hospital. My father had been unable to get an assistant and the continuous work was threatening his health. On July 1, 1937, a young doctor just out of school, Dr. Henry Rokala, came to assist him. On July 7th my father went down the ward before breakfast to check a patient who had been admitted with possible appendicitis. He was stricken with a sudden, severe heart attack and dropped dead over the patient's bed.
      Dr. Rokala, with the help of Agnes Johnson, a most efficient nurse, continued the work at the hospital until I was able to give notice and finish my work in Fargo and move to Biwabik. The work there was most interesting, although it was confining and continuous. My mother kept the books and wrote out the salary and tax checks until her eyesight failed. Then Eleanor took over this work as well as the management of the hospital kitchen and laundry. There was no unemployment at the hospital and this was one of our most distressing problems. When some employee was sick or for some reason left work, someone else had to be found. Many times Eleanor would go out in search of a cook, a maid, or a laundry worker. A common reply was, "I can't right now because I am receiving unemployment compensation, but when that is over I will come". So often Eleanor would have to take over some of the work herself and often our very good friend Mrs. Irene Glanville, the wife of our engineer and X-ray technician would step in and help.
      During World War iI, instead of being drafted into military service, I was essential to continue the operation of the hospital of this iron-mining region. Two of my assistants were drafted, so most of the time I had to work alone. When surgery was necessary, Dr. Dahlin from Aurora would come over and assist.
      Our son, Richard, was born there on April 12, 1940.
      We had an ambulance provided by remodeling a Mercury car. The back of the back seat we put on a hinge so it could be lifted and hooked up, the seat removed, and a stretcher slid in through the trunk. Stirrups for obstetrical deliveries were on a metal pipe frame. At the time of delivery this was slid across the bed under the mattress. The incubator for premature babies was homemade, ventilated, moisturized, and heated with four electric light bulbs.
      We took care of many interesting and unusual cases, but all hospitals have those so no need to relate them here. The hospital served Biwabik and the surrounding area: McKinly to the west, Embarrass to the north, Aurora and Mesaba to the east and Palo and Makinen to the south.
      There was always work and many all night sessions, occasionally it was necessary for me to be up for two or three consecutive nights. Office patients numbered between 30 to 60 a day. This was beginning to be too much for me to continue. Eleanor recognized this before I did and pursuaded me to leave the hospital. In 1950 we had an opportunity to sell to Dr. Blackmore. This we did and moved to Rapid City, South Dakota. Dr. Blackmore had the hospital for about a year and a half when he had a heart attack. The hospital was then sold to Mr. and Mrs. Harold Johnson, who operated it as a nursing home. Mr. and Mrs. Arvic Koski bought it as a boarding home.
      In Rapid City I was associated with Dr. W.W. Holleman. We worked together until 1964 when Dr. Holleman moved to Sun City, Arizona, and I took an office in the Medical Arts Building with four other doctors in general practice. There I was semi-retired until June 12, 1975, when I retired completely.
      In 1956 the city of Biwabik honored the Bray family for its more than fifty years of medical service to the community by naming its beautiful new school the Bray Elementary School; and by asking me to be the parade marshal of its Diamond Jubilee celebration, July 4, 1967 - Biwabik's 75th year - giving me the title of "Tital of Taconite".
      July 6, 1976 by Robert B. Bray

      1870 Federal Census of 3rd Ward, Beaver Dam, Dodge County, Wisconsin (14 Jun 1870)
      Henry Stultz - 63 - M - New Jersey - Blacksmith 3000 3000
      Sally - 58 - F - New York - Keeping House
      Charlotte - 23 - F - Wisconsn - At Home
      Tallman - 19 - M - Wisconsin - Painter
      John - 16 - M - Wisconsin - At School
      Mary Bassett - 25 - F - Wisconsin - School Teacher
      Mary E. - 6 - F - Wisconsin - At School
    Person ID I1907  1B John Bassett of Connecticut
    Last Modified 18 Dec 2012 

    Father Robert Lees Bassett,   b. 25 Nov 1835, New Haven, New Haven County, Connecticut Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 21 Apr 1864, Beaver Dam, Dodge County, Wisconsin Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 28 years) 
    Mother Mary Stultz,   b. Abt 1844,   d. 19 Nov 1870  (Age ~ 26 years) 
    Married 2 Dec 1860  Beaver Dam, Dodge County, Wisconsin Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Family ID F446  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Doctor Charles William Bray,   b. 7 Sep 1868, Young America, Minnesota Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 7 Jul 1937  (Age 68 years) 
    Married 9 Mar 1899 
    Children 
    +1. Doctor Robert Bassett Bray,   b. 21 Feb 1900,   d. 11 Dec 1997  (Age 97 years)
     2. Elizabeth Bray,   b. 30 Sep 1901,   d. 26 Jul 1966  (Age 64 years)
    +3. Doctor Philip Noyes Bray, Sr.,   b. 27 Sep 1903
     4. Rachel Bray,   b. 16 Aug 1906,   d. 12 Oct 1906  (Age 0 years)
     5. Doctor Kenneth Eben Bray,   b. 20 Jul 1909,   d. 30 May 1997  (Age 87 years)
    Family ID F695  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart