Second Generation

4. Dr Horace A ACKLEY^25,26 was born about 1810 in Genesee , New York.^11,25,27,28 In 1843 he was Proffesor of Anatomy at the Cleaveland Medical College at Cleveland, Cuyahoga , Ohio.²⁹ Medical Pioneer. Surgeon and first local (Cleveland) physician to use ether during surgery. Founder of the Cleveland Medical College, now the medical school of Case Western Reserve University
He appeared in the following News Article from the Alton Telegraph And Democratic Review on 19 Jul 1845 in Alton, Madison, Illinois Illinois College

At the commencement on June 25th.
(excerpt) the honorary degree of M D was conferred on H A Ackley, Professor of Surgery in the Cleveland Medical School, Ohio. He appeared in the census in 1850 in Ohio. He was living in 1850 in Cleveland, Cuyahoga , Ohio.²⁷ On 5 Aug 1850 he was Physician at Cleveland, Cuyahoga , Ohio.^27,30 Vincent Lumbard Hurlbut was b. in West Mendon, N. Y., 28 June 1829. At an early age he removed with his parents to Jefferson, O., where he received educational advantages at the Academy, and when 17 years of age, choosing the medical profession, he received special attention in his studies from his father Dr. H. N. Hurlbut, and also from Prof. Horace A. Ackley, of the Medical College of Cleveland, O., at which institution, he attended several courses of lectures He appeared in the following News Article from the The Ohio Repository on 3 May 1854 in Canton, Stark , Ohio Trustees of New Lunatic Asylum

(excerpt) Horace Ackley of Cuyahoga He appeared in the following News Article from the The Ohio Repository on 6 Apr 1859 in Canton, Stark , Ohio Payment of Old Claims

(excerpt) The Senate Committee has reported in favor of paying Dr H A Ackley, $427 for his services as Commissioner of the Northern Lunatic Asylum He died on 24 Apr 1859 in Cleveland, Cuyahoga , Ohio.^{11,25,28,31,32,33} ACKLEY, DR. HORACE. prof. of surgery for many years in the Cleveland Med. Coll.; d. suddenly April 23, 1859, in his 48th year

He in Nov 1860 Cleveland, Cuyahoga , Ohio.³² GP 26 - 29:166; Apr.19, 1860; Nov Term, 1860 E. N. KEYES vs . DANIEL SHELDON, Executor of the Last Will of Dr HORACE A. ACKLEY; Money Only.

E. N. Keyes, H. H. Little and Lyman Little comprised the real estate broker­age firm of Little and Keyes

- Dr. Horace A. Ackley owned ten-acre lot 62, near the head of Prospect Street. John Blain and Horace P. Weddell had title to tracts of land adjoining lot 62 on the east.

In November 1857 Dr. Ackley conceived a plan to lay out his .land into lots and to extend Prospect Street through. his tract. However a large brick building stood directly in the line of the proposed street extension. Feeling that the owners of adjoining properties would certainly benefit, by the extension of Pros­pect Street, Dr. Ackley employed the Little firm to procure contributions from these property owners for a fund to remove the brick building. Keyes maintained that Dr. Ackley promised to pay his firm $500 if they succeeded in soliciting contributions totaling $1,500 from Blain and Weddell. The fund, if collected, was to be applied toward the removal of the building and the opening of the street.





On January 1, 1858 the Little firm procured a written agreement from Blain and Weddell and forwarded $500 to Dr. Ackley. The balance of $1,000 was forwarded half on JUly 1, 1856 and half on January 1,. 1859.

Keyes contended that Dr. Ackley refused to reimburse his firm according to agreement. Daniel Sheldon, later executor of. Dr. Ackley's will, protested that the Little firm was entitled. to no more than $250 for its services in the matter. Sheldon became executor of Dr. Ackley' a will when the latter died .on April 24,. 1859.

Keyes filed a claim for $500 against Dr Ackley's estate on May 6, 1859 and Sheldon said. that on August 1, 1859 he announced his refusal to allow the claim.

The Little firm was dissolved about April 1, 1860 and Keyes took over the claim against Dr. Ackley's estate

On April 19, 1860 Keyes sued Sheldon in the court of Common Pleas for $500 with Interest . Keyes was awarded $252. At a retrial Keyes was allowed $260. He in Feb 1862 Cleveland, Cuyahoga , Ohio.³² 1862; Feb. Term, 1862.
DANIEL SHELDON Executor of the Estate of DR. H. A. ACKLEY vs. JAMES S. BENEDICT
GEORGE LATHROP and CASWJELL WRIGHT, Trustees of BEIDFORD TOWNSHIP Money Only.


On the afternoon of June 19, 1858 a deaf and dumb boy of 17 was struck and seriously injured by a railroad car in the depot of the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad Company at Bedford Township. The boy was removed to a room in the depot building and attended by physicians sent by the railroad company in a special engine. The doctors were in attendance until late that night, then left, having lost all hope of saving his life. An officer of the railroad company
took charge of $50 in money found on the boy's person.
At about 2 o'clock the following morning the boy's condition seemed to improve and Dr. D. G. Streator, in attendance at the time, sent L. B. Hathaway, a witness of the accident, to summon Dr. Horace A. Ackley, an eminent Cleveland surgeon. Hathaway deposed that Dr. Ackley knew the trustees of the township had not official]y taken charge of the boy and said he would amputate the leg as a matter of charity. The doctor stated he had to attend many such charity cases.
Dr. Ackley arrived in Bedford at 11 o 'clock in the morning but did not amputate the boy's leg until 2 o'clock that afternoon, the operation taking 15 minutes. He was assisted by Dr. H. Gerrold, Dr. Streator and others. Dr. Ackley expected the trustees would pay for his services. The township trustees, James S. Benedict, George Lathrop arid Caswell Wright, claimed there was no need for haste after the doctor arrived at Bedford; he. had had sufficient time to notify them of the boy's condition. In any event, the trustees maintained, they did not ask his services.
As Cuyahoga County at the time had no infirmary to which the boy could be sent, he was removed to Daniel Culver1 s Franklin House in Bedford Township.
Culver found $7 on the boy's person and informed, the trustees that he could keep him only as long as the money would cover his bill. The boy was then officially designated a township charge. Later the trustees sent for his mother who resided in Canada and for whom the boy had been traveling as a book agent. They paid all the boy's expenses incurred after he became a township charge but refused to pay any bill incurred before that time. Such settlement was made with the county commissioners in August 1858. The boy' a mother arrived on August 17. The trustees declared the woman announced she would settle with Dr.Ackley out of the money found on the boy's person. She then left with the boy.
The trustees 'were later presented with a bill for Dr. Ackley's services.
Dr. Ackley died on April 24, 1859 and Daniel Sheldon was appointed executor of his estate. Sheldon filed suit in the court of Justice of the Peace James D. Cleveland on February 9, 1860, asking for $50 and interest. The justice found in favor of Sheldon, and the trustees appealed to the Court of Common Pleas. That court awarded Sheldon $53.75.




The' trustees filed an appeal in the District Court. The decision was re­versed and the case remanded He was buried in Lakewood Cemetery, Lakewood, Cuyahoga , Ohio.^11,34 Id#: 0000664Name: Ackley, Horace A. (Dr.)Date: 4/24/1859Source: Cemetery record; Cleveland Necrology File, Reel #001.Notes: 1810 - 4/24/1859. Lake View Cemetery Cleveland, Ohio.

buried in Section 2 Lot 28
He.³⁵ AN ECCENTRIC DOCTOR.

In 1849, I first came to well know Dr. Horace A. Ackley, then a well-known character in Cleve­land. The doctor was somewhat eccentric and attracted a good deal of notice. He was a large, well-proportioned man, full six feet in height, angular in appearance and careless in dress. He was ugly as a tiger toward a foe, but gentle as a lamb with a friend. He was at the head of the medical profession in Cleveland, and considered the foremost surgeon in this section of the coun­try. Be it said to his credit that when cholera became epidemic in Sandusky, he was one of the first to respond to the call for physicians. There :to the afflicted he freely gave his time and often his means.
In 1854, Dr. Proctor Thayer, and another young Cleveland doctor, were arrested one night while in the act of digging in Erie Street Ceme­tery for a “subject.” When the case came before the Police Court, Dr. Ackley appeared and as­sumed all the responsibility. Said he, “Fine me if you like, but not the boys, for they did only what I told them to do. The body they were after was that of a pauper from the Poor House, who had no friends. The man served no good purpose in life and his body was justly forfeited to medical science for the benefit of the living.” The young men, however, were each fined $25, but the clerk of the court was directed to issue no execution, and the record now shows that the fines were never paid.
The story was often told of how Dr. Ackley once upon an occasion was called to set the limb of a man which had been dislocated, and after a few moments' work, having set the joint, told the man the charge for his services was $10, which the fellow objected to paying, saying the charge was exorbitant~ The doctor thereupon, it is said, replied, “Well I will put things right back as they were, and charge you nothing,” but as he started to carry out his threat, the man cried out, “Oh, don't, doctor; I'd rather give a hundred dollars than have you do that.”
One day the doctor, accompanied by a student and his dog, went out into the country hunting, when meeting a farmer on whose land the men were trespassing, they were ordered off. Said the man, “If you don't go I'll shoot your dog.” Said the doctor, “You shoot my dog and I'll shoot you !“
The man shot, and so did the doctor, who now hurried home. A few hours later, when he had cast aside his hunting suit and put on quite dif­ferent clothing, a man, apparently suffering from great pain, called at his door saying he had been directed there to get some shot taken out of his back and legs. The doctor and his student, it was said, spent several hours extracting shot, for which the farmer was charged $25, he not for a moment suspecting that they had been put in his body by the doctor, who during his treatment had, expressed for the man great sympathy and a hope that the fellow who had been guilty of the dastardly act of shooting him might be speedily found. He.²⁹ The banks of Cleveland have had rather less than the~ share of failures, burglaries and defalcations, although a few relics of that character have been discovered, in this search into the records of the past. The first discovery partakes more of the character of the legendary than of the hard solidity of historic fact. It pictures the senior Leonard Case, in the days when the Commercial Bank of Lake Erie was housed in a portion of his dwelling, sitting on his hearthstone, with. a hatchet, ready to brain an indus­trious burglar who was working his way in with a spade; but, as no use was made of the hatchet, it is to be sup­posed that this primitive burglar was warned away, or found the task greater than the possible stake. Or, per­haps, the bank broke up before he completed the tunnel, and he desisted, lest possession of the bank should make him responsible for its liabilities.
Of a more definite character is. the attack made by de­termined men on the old Canal Bank, which exploded into thin air, in the early part of November, 1854. Those were exciting times to men who held the paper money then afloat, and who made haste to get rid of it, in fear that it might turn to worthless paper in their hands~. So com­mon was the explosion of weak concerns that the
Dealer,” in those days of Gray, dug from its cellar a relic of the “Hard Cider Campaign,” a cut of a log-cabin being blown up, and published it from day to day over the an­nouncement of each crash. The evaporation of the Canal Bank was not unexpected, and we read in the “Herald” of November 9, i8~, the calm announcement that “the failure of this bank excited no surprise in this city.” “During the day,” adds this unmoved chronicler, “a crowd was about the door, where a force of police were stationed to prevent any disturbance.” The “Plain Dealer” of the same date seems to have found some endorsement of its financial doctrines, in this and like failures, as it treats the Canal wreck in a cheerful strain. It says: “About the Canal Bank, yesterday, there was not only a large, but a greatly interested crowd. The bill-holders, who got the gold for their notes, were arrayed in smiles, and con­trasted, most ludicrously, with the grim-visaged deposi­tors, who got nothing.”
Isaac L. Hewitt, H. W. Huntington, and W. J. Gor­don were appointed assignees, but objection being raised to Mr. Huntington, he gave place to the late E. F. Gay­lord. There seems to have been no headlong rush for the position of assignee, as it was offered in succession to Franklin T. Backus, Philo Chamberlain, H. N. Gates, and George Mygatt, and as often declined. There was great excitement for a few days, and the old men of Cleveland tell the tale in a Homeric strain, wherein lies an intima­tion that, though these modern days have their share of stirring events, they are not such as saw the fall of Troy, or Dr. Ackley's raid on the outer and inner walls of the Canal Bank vault. But even Dr. Ackley had his prede­cessor. On the day preceding the failure, a fresh-water captain named Gummage had deposited one thousand dol­lars, the result of the season's labor and danger on the great lakes. When told that his cash was swallowed up, he became desperate, and proceeded to a desperate reme­dy. Arming himself, he entered the bank and demanded his money. When it was refused, he said: “It is all the money I own in the world, and I will have it or I will kill you!” He meant what he said and looked his meaning, and his cash was handed over without parley. No one ever proceeded against him, in law or otherwise.
Dr. H. C. Ackley, who was as determined as he was eccentric, had a personal deposit in the Canal Bank, but laid no claim to it in preference over the other victims. He was, however, one of the trustees of the State Insane Asylum at Newburg, and had placed in the bank nine thousand dollars of the public funds. On the announce­ment of the suspension, he demanded this sum, which he did not get. He hurried to the sheriff's office and swore out a writ of attachment. Sheriff M. M. Spangler proceeded to the bank, which was located on Superior street, near the American House, in the building now occupied by the “Leader,” and took possession. “The keys of the vault being refused him,” says the “Herald,” “he pro­ceeded to break open the vault. The excitement, both inside and outside the bank, was intense while the work proceeded; but, to the credit of our citizens, no signs of riot were displayed. Dr. Ackley has a heavy deposit of his own, but has procured an attachment only on behalf of the State, claiming that unless its money is procured, the asylum at Newburg can not be opened for more than a year, and that during that time one hundred insane patients will be deprived of treatment.
Sheriff Spangler construed his duty to be the getting of the money, and when he found that brick walls and iron doors opposed the entrance of the law, he summoned sev­eral stalwart deputies, and, under the guardianship of Dr. Ackley, who is said by ancient rumor to have threatened to shoot the first man who interfered, laid down such lusty blows as had not been heard since Richard of the Lion Heart drove his battle-axe against the castle gates of Front-de-Boeuf. Sledge-hammers swung in the air, and came down on the brickwork with a crash; clouds of lime and mortar filled the room. The population of Cleveland could almost have been enumerated from those who crowded on the scene. The officers and clerks of the bank looked on, helpless to prevent, and in no posi­tion to aid. F. T Backus, a part owner of the building, and the attorney of the bank, rushed in and ordered a halt, on the grounds of trespass. The sheriff replied that he had come for the money, and that it was a part of his offi­ cial oath to get it. The blows still fell, and at one o'clock the outer wall of the vault was broken, and measures set. on foot to break into the burglar-proof safe. Truces were held, from time to time, lawyers rushed here and there, with messages, advice, and papers; but the sheriff knew' no law but that of his writ, and had but one purpose, which was to get at the cash. Finally, late at night, to save the safe from damage, the assignees gave up the keys, and. the hard-earned money was carried away by the sheriff. There were $400 in gold and $1,460 in bills. r1~he one hundred insane of Northern Ohio had their shelter for the year, and, if the stories of the day were well founded; the depositors were not the worse off for it, as very small re­turns were forthcoming, in settlement of their claims.
Sheriff Spangler, in a personal interview, some years ago, informed me that the excitement was intense, and the affair talked about for weeks afterward. He said that while he was hammering away, he was threatened with prosecution for damages by Mr. Backus, the attorney for the bank, and by its cashier and assignees; but the more they talked, the more determined was he to gain his point.


Ackley, Horace A 1813-1859
Dictionary of American Medical Biography. Lives of eminent physicians of the United States and Canada, from the earliest times. By Howard A. Kelly and Walter L. Burrage. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1928. Reprint. Road Town, Tortola, British Virgin Islands: Longwood Press, 1979. (DcAmMeB)


The Biographical Encyclopaedia of Ohio of the Nineteenth Century

Surgeon, was born in Genesee county, New York, in 1815, and died, April 24th, 1859, in Cleveland, Ohio. He was educated in the common schools of his native town and finished at a private academy. He commenced the study of medicine on leaving school, and, after some instruction at Elba and Batavia, attended a course of lectures at Fairfield, Herkimer county, where he graduated in 1833. In the following year he removed to Rochester, New York, where he practised in the office of Dr. Havill, and gave a course of lectures on anatomy for Dr. Delmater, at Palmyra, New York. In 1835 he removed to Ohio, settling at first in Akron, where he practised medicine. In 1836 he gave a course of lectures in Willoughby, being appointed Demonstrator of Anatomy at the Willoughby Medical College. In the same year he removed to Toledo, where he practised his profession three years, and then removed to Cleveland, where, with other prominent physicians and surgeons of that city, he founded the Cleveland Medical College, or the Medical Department of Western Reserve College, and was appointed to the Chair of Surgery. This position he retained until 1858, when he resigned it. During his occupation of the chair he acquired a high reputation in the practice of surgery, and his large acquaintance and extended reputation served to attract many students from all parts of Ohio and the neighboring States. He was gifted as a surgeon and anatomist, and had already laid the foundation for an extensive and brilliant reputation. As a lecturer he was very effective and practical. His style was impressive, and he had the magnetic power necessary for attracting and securing the attention of his hearers. By nature he was endowed with the qualities most useful to the surgeon, being bold, dashing and fearless in his operations, and having a strong will that enabled him to master his sympathetic emotions and hold his feelings in check. When he came to northern Ohio the art of surgery was but little known or practised in the West, and he may justly be designated the pioneer of his section of his adopted State. The reputation of his operations spread far and wide, whilst the boldness of many of them and the coolness with which they were carried through, made him famous throughout the whole country. In the treatment of inflammations in their various stages following operations, he probably had no superior in the United States. He was a man of magnificent physique, extraordinary powers of endurance, and great personal courage, which were severely tested in the times of impassable roads, long distances, and rude accommodations. In social life, as in professional, he was a man of strong convictions, lasting attachments, and deep-rooted prejudices. In every way he was a positive man, of striking appearance and marked character. His death was sudden. When going to Cleveland from Detroit by steamer on the night of the 21st of April, 1859, he was taken very sick, and on his arrival at home was in an exhausted condition. He lingered in great suffering until the evening of April 24th, when his decision of character again asserted itself, and he insisted on leaving his bed. He was assisted to a chair, when he sank rapidly. A restorative was given to him, but he motioned the glass from his lips, and expired immediately.

The Biographical Encyclopaedia of Ohio of the Nineteenth Century

Originally known as the Northern Ohio Lunatic Asylum, this was the second of 6 public asylums established in Ohio in the 1850's. In later years it was commonly known as Newburgh State Hospital because it was located in Newburgh Township as recompense for Cleveland having been awarded the location of Cuyahoga County Seat. The main building, containing 100 beds, was completed in 1855 on land in Newburgh donated by the Garfield family. The purpose of the asylum was to provide the mentally ill a quiet place outside the city with a moral environment where healthy living could be learned. Previously, many of the insane had been kept in jails or almhouses. Dr. Horace Ackley was the first chairman of the board of trustees and superintendent. A professor of surgery in the Medical Dept. of Western Reserve College, Ackley was an important figure in the building of the hospital and its early development. He was "a pioneer surgeon of Northern Ohio" and the first local physician to use ether as an anesthetic in general surgery. He used it in 1847, just 3 months after its first public demonstration in Boston, to perform the first ether-assisted operation in the Western Reserve.

Dr Horace A ACKLEY and Sophia L HALL were married on 3 Oct 1837 in Cuyahoga , Ohio.^{20,27,34,36,37} LDS has marriage date as 4 Oct 1837 Sophia L HALL appeared in the census 1850 & 1860 in Ohio. She was born about 1820 in Massachusetts.^27,31 She was living between 1860 and 1880 in Cleveland, Cuyahoga , Ohio.^31,38 She lived at 308 Sterling Ave in Cleveland, Cuyahoga , Ohio in Jun 1880.³⁸ She died on 8 Oct 1888 in Cleveland, Cuyahoga , Ohio.³⁴ Her Obituary appeared in the³⁴ Id#: 0000692Name: Ackley, Mrs. Sophia hallDate: October 9, 1888Source: Source unknown; Cleveland Necrology File, Reel #001.Notes: Ackley- At Trinity church Home on Monday, the 8th inst., Mrs. Sophia Hall Ackley, widow of the late Dr. Horace A. Ackley. Funeral services at the Home, cor. Euclid ave. and Perry st. on Tuesday the 9th at 4 p. m. Dr Horace A ACKLEY and Sophia L HALL had the following children:

+11

i.

Horace H ACKLEY.