Dr. Bass Rawson - Findlay's First Doctor

The 1800s was a time of medical discovery. Doctors had new tools, such as microscopes and thermometers, that were technological marvels. The indiscriminate killer known as smallpox was being contained by a new vaccination technique. However, for a new frontier town like Findlay, these wonders were of little use. The town had no doctor, but there were plenty of ailments. Gun shot wounds, snake bites, broken bones and malaria were all too common. Several people died from a disease they received from drinking the milk of sick cows. Taking care of the sick and weak fell upon the shoulders of the women who used roots, leaves and berries to create medicine. Homegrown cures were sometimes ineffective, and the town suffered. That is, until 1829 when Dr. Bass Rawson choose to make Findlay his permanent home.

Dr. Rawson was originally from Massachusetts, having been born there on April 17, 1799. At first, Rawson’s trade was the hat business. He made and sold hats in his hometown, but when he was in his 20s his health failed. History did not record what his specific aliment was, but we do know that was the time he began studying medicine. He attended the academy in New Salem, Massachusetts while teaching at a grade school.

At the age of 25, Rawson got married and moved to Ravenna, Ohio. Several months later he moved to Otsego, New York where he once again taught school. It was at this time that he started to seriously study medicine under a physician.

Once again, history doesn’t seem to have recorded his reasons for coming back to Ohio. Perhaps he felt his services were better put to use in a town that didn’t have a doctor yet. Or maybe he was an adventurous man who enjoyed the challenges of pioneer living. Whatever the reason, his presence was welcomed with open arms. In fact, before Rawson even entered the town his services were needed. He was eating dinner by the campfire when a man rode up on a horse. The stranger asked if he was the new doctor, and could he please look at his wife? Dr. Rawson finished his dinner quickly and tended to the needs of his first patient.

Dr. Rawson thrived in Findlay, and Findlay thrived as a community. The good doctor was soon joined by other physicians. His brother LaQuineo Rawson had a practice in Findlay for about two and a half years before moving to Fremont. Dr. William H. Baldwin moved to Findlay from Fort Harmon, a small town near Marietta. He had completed his medical studies at the Cincinnati Medical College after studying with a physician in Zanesville. Dr. Charles Oesterlen came to Findlay from Stuttgart, Germany. He was the first homeopathic physician in Hancock County.

All of the early physicians were great men who made their mark, but there was something about Dr. Rawson that made people want to name more things after him. He was a typical frontier doctor who rode on horseback to his patients in all kinds of inclement weather. He tended to  the white families, all 12 of them, as well as the Indians still living in the area. He was there to bring a new baby into the world, tend to the childhood diseases, care for the parents’ illnesses; and sometimes he was there as the patient drew their final breath.

Ever the man surrounded in mystery, history seems to have recorded two years of death - 1891 and 1897. Either way, he lived a long, healthy life; one of servitude to the people of Hancock County. If it were not for Dr. Rawson, perhaps Findlay would not have survived as a community. After all, he brought the medical wonders of the 1800s to our small frontier town.