STACKHOUSE, Frank - M.D. - Fountain County INGenWeb Project

Frank Stackhouse, M. D.  - One often hears the assertion, "This is an age of specialists."  And the familiar sentence is certainly a true and incontrovertable one.  It has not been so very long ago when "jack of all trades" was as common as the first quoted line, now one seldom hears it.  The professional man, especially, the quoted line, now one seldom hears it.  The professional man, especially, the same as the mechanic, that does not specialize wins no more than mediocre success, if that, for competition is relentlessly fierce everywhere and he who covets pronounced success in anything must be able to do whatever he undertakes not only better but with great dispatch than his competitors.  A few decades ago when a person received from some of the comparatively few medical colleges of the land his degree of Doctor of Medicine he was supposed to be able to correct most all kinds of the ills of which flesh is heir and he was called upon for everything.  He did the best he could, according to his limited knowledge, and as might have been expected that "best" was miserable failure in many cases.  But science, one of the most potent of modern gods to which humanity of the 20th century bows arose from his lethargic repose of centuries and cried, "Onward," and today we note a wonderful transformation.  In one branch of science, perhaps has there been greater development and specialization than in medicine. The old family doctor no longer treats all ills.  We go to many different specialists, and of course get quick and, as a ruse, satisfactory results.  One of the most successful and widely known specialists in Montgomery County is Dr. Frank Stackhouse of Crawfordsville, who maintains a splendidly equipped and popular sanitarium here, to which hundreds of patients annually come, and they are all unstinted in their praise of the Doctor and his rapidly growing institution.  Dr. Stackhouse was born on May 2, 1865 in Orange County, Indiana.  He is a son of Sanford and Lydia (Harris) Stackhouse.  The father was born in Breckinridge County, Kentucky in 1828 and the mother's birth occurred in Orange County, Indiana in 1830.  She grew to womanhood in her native county was educated and married there.  Sanford Stackhouse was a well educated man, and he followed school teaching as a life work, in which he was very successful, his services being in great demand wherever he was known.  His death occurred at Decatur, Illinois at which city his wife also died.  Dr. Stackhouse received excellent educational advantages.  After passing through the common schools and spending one year in the normal at Terre Haute he began life for himself by teaching school, which he followed with much success and satisfaction to all concerned for a period of seven years.  Finally, tiring of the school room and believing that his true bent lay in another direction, he began the study of medicine, in which he made rapid progress.  In 1893 he entered a medical school in Indianapolis, Indiana where he made a splendid record and was graduated in 1896.  He first began practice at Cates, Indiana remaining there for a period of 13 years, during which he enjoyed a wide and ever growing patronage.  Then he took a special course of one year in chronic diseases, after which he located in Crawfordsville, where he has since remained and has gradually built up one of the most satisfactory practices of any of the local medial men and now has an 18-room sanitarium, well arranged, sanitary, convenient and equipped with every modern and approved device and apparatus for the successful carrying on of his special line of practice.  He now does only office practice, confining himself to the treatment of catarrhal and chronic diseases.  He is meeting with pronounced success, and hundreds of patients who emerge annually from his now noted sanitarium are unstinted in their praise of this benefactor of the human race.  Fraternally, the Doctor is a Mason, having attained the degree of Knights Templar.  He also belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Modern Woodmen of America.  He belongs to the united Brethren Church.  Dr. Stackhouse was married to Lula A. Marshall of Fountain County, Indiana in February 1900.  She grew to womanhood in this locality and received a good education here. To this union one child has been born, Doris B. who is in school.