Tag Archives: Dr. J. Samuel Hess Jr.

Family Tales, Genealogy

Hospital Chart Documents 1939 Pneumonia Scare

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It might seem a very odd thing to save, the pages of a hospital chart from 1939. But I suspect my father viewed his battle with pneumonia at age 6 as a defining moment. Perhaps his parents, Carl F. and Ruby Hanneman, feared they would lose their youngest son to an illness with a reputation for being deadly.

The trouble all started on Thanksgiving Day, November 23, when David D. Hanneman took ill with a high fever. The hospital chart says my Grandma Ruby “took care of him alone until Tues. night Dec. 5.” It’s not clear if this means Grandpa Carl, pharmacist at the Mauston clinic and hospital, was away on business or just working. Either way, on December 5, Caroline Denzien came to the Hanneman house on Morris Street to care for Dad and give Ruby a break.

David D. Hanneman (center, in striped shirt) shown six months after his pneumonia scare.
David D. Hanneman (center, in striped shirt) shown six months after his pneumonia scare.

Early on Wednesday, December 6, they took him to the Hess Memorial Hospital in Mauston. Upon arrival, his fever was 104.2 degrees. Dr. J. Samuel Hess Jr. ordered a course of calcidine, a decongestant, and quinine, a potent germicidal drug known today as an anti-malaria treatment. They had reason for concern, since the pneumonia had festered for nearly two weeks. That first day, Dad drank frequently, but he was restless and had a “considerable” cough. He was “perspiring freely” as a result of the fever, which stayed above 104 degrees all day.

Dad responded quickly to the treatment. By midday on December 7, he was eating sherbet and sipping on some broth. He even felt bright enough to play a little bit of checkers. The fever was down below 100 degrees, but still shot back up on occasion. By nighttime, he was drinking lemonade, tomato juice and some tea. Overnight, the nurse noted he was “irritable” and had several coughing spells. On December 8, the fever dropped below 99 degrees and Dad graduated to eating noodles and rice, and custard.

By the December 10-11 period on the chart, Dad’s fever was gone and he was resting comfortably. Nourishment included chicken broth, Jello and Ovaltine. It appears he stayed at the hospital into the late afternoon of Wednesday, December 12, since there are no other pages beyond that time.

©2015 The Hanneman Archive

 

Chart from the December 1939 hospitalization of David D. Hanneman for pneumonia.
Chart from the December 1939 hospitalization of David D. Hanneman for pneumonia.
Chart from the December 1939 hospitalization of David D. Hanneman for pneumonia.
Chart from the December 1939 hospitalization of David D. Hanneman for pneumonia.

 

Family Tales, Genealogy, General History, On the Job

Carl’s Heartfelt 1937 Plea for a Brighter Future

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Just three weeks after becoming a father for the third time, young pharmacist Carl. F. Hanneman took the extraordinary step of writing to the attorney general of Wisconsin to ask that he be granted full licensure as a registered pharmacist. It was a heartfelt letter, written by a young man feeling the weight of responsibility of a wife and three children. Written by a well-educated and accomplished man who felt he deserved what he as asking. The very future was at stake.

“I am writing this letter in all sincerity as what I am about to ask means everything to myself as well as my wife and three little kiddies,” Carl wrote to Attorney Gen. Orland S. Loomis on Sept. 3, 1937. “I am 35 years old and will be 36 this coming October and feel that obtaining my full registered papers will mean life itself to myself and my dear family.” 

Carl explained that he was fully licensed as an assistant pharmacist, working at the Mauston Drug Store owned by Dr. J.S. Hess Jr. But he was unable to officially manage the drug store due to a quirk in state law.

Wisconsin Attorney Gen. Orland S. Loomis
Wisconsin Attorney Gen. Orland S. Loomis of Mauston

If Carl had worked in a smaller town with under 500 population, he  could have legally managed the pharmacy. But Mauston population was about 2,100. Carl would need to be a registered pharmacist in order to  manage the Mauston Drug Store. 

“My capacity in the drug store is as an unofficial manager, as I do all of the buying etc., but legally cannot manage the store,” Carl wrote. “Dr. J.S. Hess Jr. has confidence in me and I a great deal in him, and as far as I am concerned am willing to stay here the rest of my life, dispensing for our own doctors.”

Carl reasoned that if he was qualified to own and manage a pharmacy in a small town (such as neighboring Lyndon Station, pop. 236), why could he not serve the same capacity in Mauston? “I have often wondered as has many others, are not the lives of 500 people in a small town just as valuable to their loved ones as those living in a town where there might be more than this amount?” Carl wrote. 

A label under glass from Carl F. Hanneman's pharmacy collection.
A label under glass from Carl F. Hanneman’s pharmacy collection.


By 1937, Carl had 16 years of experience in pharmacology, starting as an apprentice in 1921 at the Sam Church drug store in Wisconsin Rapids. Carl graduated from the pharmacy program at Marquette University in 1925 and became licensed as an assistant pharmacist. He wasn’t eligible to take the full pharmacist exam at the time because his apprenticeship fell just short of the required five years. Over the next decade he worked at drug stores in Janesville, Fond du Lac and Wisconsin Rapids, and even worked a three-year stint as a salesman for Consolidated Water Power & Paper Co.

“I knew my lifework was with the drug store as I truly love it and was very fortunate in securing a position with the Dr. Hess Hospital, Clinic and Drug Store organization on Feb. 1, 1936,” Carl wrote.

Carl said he would likely need three more years of study to pass the registered pharmacist board exams as they existed in 1937. With three children (including baby Lavonne born in August 1937), Carl figured that simply would not be possible. So he asked for help from Loomis, a Mauston native who served as city attorney from 1922 to 1931. Loomis was attorney general through 1938, and was elected governor of Wisconsin in 1942. He died before taking office. Eventually, Carl became good friends with Loomis and photographed him for the Wisconsin State Journal on the 1942 night of  his election as governor of Wisconsin. 

Carl F. Hanneman's registered pharmacist license, issued in July 1944.
Carl F. Hanneman’s registered pharmacist license, issued in July 1944.


We don’t know if Loomis ever intervened on Carl’s behalf in his role as attorney general or governor-elect, or how he responded to the 1937 letter. A search of Loomis’ law-practice records at the Wisconsin Historical Society yielded no clues. Carl’s 1941 license from the Wisconsin State Board of Pharmacy still lists him as an assistant pharmacist. On July 12, 1944, the state of Wisconsin issued an ornate document certifying Carl as a full registered pharmacist. He worked under the new license number until his death in 1982. It would appear Carl secured his added credentials the hard way: he earned them.

©2014 The Hanneman Archive

Family Tales, General History, Historic Photos

Maps Show Detail of Old Mauston Brewery

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Newly digitized Sanborn Fire Insurance maps of Mauston, Wisconsin, provide more detail of the sprawling Mauston Brewery complex that once covered much of the land at the corner of Morris and Winsor streets along the Lemonweir River.

We previously wrote about the Mauston Brewery as detailed in a book by Mauston native Richard D. Rossin Jr. The Wisconsin Historical Society recently digitized hundreds of maps from the Sanborn Map Company that show intricate detail of the brewery complex. “Sanborn Fire Insurance maps are meticulously detailed, large-scale lithographed, color-keyed street maps,” the Wisconsin Historical Society wrote on its web site. “Sanborn Maps helped insurance agents in the late 19th and early 20th centuries determine the degree of fire hazard associated with a particular property.”

The fire map shows two Mauston Brewery buildings near the home at 22 Morris.
The 1894 fire map shows two Mauston Brewery buildings near the home at 22 Morris.

The old Hanneman home at 22 Morris Street was built around 1893 by Charles F. Miller, owner of the Mauston Brewery. Many of the details he put in the home — stained glass, hand-carved woodwork — remain to this day. The Sanborn maps show that the land around the home once included a bottling works and another out building related to the brewery. It is interesting that Morris Street is incorrectly labeled as Main Street on the 1894 version of the Sanborn map. By 1909, the bottling building near the Miller home was gone.

Across Winsor Street, the map shows a malt kiln, mash kettles, a well, a granary, an ice house and other outbuildings. The map notes that the buildings area heated by a wood stove, and a brewery employee sleeps in the building. The 1909 version of the Sanborn map shows addition of a second ice house on the shore of the Lemonweir River. Brewery workers cut ice blocks on the river in the winter, then moved them on a slide to the ice house.

The 1909 version of the map shows a second ice house near the river.
The 1909 version of the map shows a second ice house near the river.

Charles Miller died in 1907, ending that family’s involvement in the brewery. Charles Ellison continued operating the brewery. By 1916, the brewery had ceased operation, according to Rossin’s book. A pickle factory started operation on the property, but it burned to the ground in 1922. Dr. J. Samuel Hess Jr. bought the land and built a brick ranch home in 1928.

©2014 The Hanneman Archive