3,000 Babies Shiloh Reunion Series

The life of a country doctor was a hard one. Irregular hours and rough conditions made the profession seem endless. A lot of the experiences of a rural doctor were that of riding on horseback for hours only to reach the patient just in time. Early medicine on the prairie was coarse. Modern medicine was still scarce and old home remedies were still the go to treatment. Mixtures of quinine and sugar were given for colds. Castor oil was popular with any ailment. And earaches were soothed by the smoke blown in the ear from Dad’s tobacco pipe. Midwives were valued as families grew. Most children were born at home and the midwife was a valued comfort for the neighborhood families.

In 1877, a physician came to the Hopeville area of Clarke County. Dr. William Orrin Parrish was born in Hanover, Michigan on March 8, 1839. His family moved to Iowa in 1856, settling in the Pella area. During the Civil War he enlisted into the 3rd Iowa Infantry Co B on November 11, 1861. He, like many other young men, saw his first conflict at the Battle of Shiloh. After completing his enlistment, Parrish returned to Iowa and married his first wife Laura in 1869. She passed in 1870. He then married Emma Moore in 1871. They had 5 children. It was after graduating from college in Pella and he decided to further his education. He graduated from College of Physicians and Surgeons in Keokuk, Iowa. Dr. Parrish’s specialty was obstetrics.

Hopeville was home to Dr. Parrish for over 20 years. It was later in his established practice that he moved to Osceola. He was county physician in 1899 and had a successful medical practice at 130 W. Jefferson St, in the second floor of where Earth Angels is located today, on the south side of the Osceola town square. During his 50 year career in Clarke County, he delivered a sum of 3,000 babies. Leaving to the imagination of who was not delivered by the kind doctor. Dr. Parrish was said to have been of a gentle demeanor and sweet spirit. In 1920, Dr. Parrish moved his practice from the square to the 300 block of South Fillmore St.

At the time of his death, August 30, 1928, he was Clarke County’s oldest physician at the age of 89. He is laid to rest in Maple Hill Cemetery with his wife, Emma and daughter, Maude.