My Genealogy Hound

The Rouse Springs Sanitarium, so intimately connected with the affairs of Clay County, is of such importance to the interests of this portion of the State, that no worthy history of the community could fail to make mention of it, or of its worthy and well-known owner, Dr. James Rouse. The experiences through which he has passed, the honors conferred upon him by rich and poor alike, the success which has attended his efforts almost without exception, proclaim him a man worthy of more than ordinary notice, so that a sketch of his eventful life cannot but be of interest to the many readers of this volume. Dr. Rouse comes from a noble ancestry, having descended from Rouse who was lord of admiralty during Cromwell’s government. The Doctor’s great-grandfather commanded an English ship in the wars between Spain, France and England prior to the American Revolution. His grandfather and three brothers served in the Revolutionary War in the army of Washington, one of the brothers falling at Yorktown while besieging that place. One of the brothers rose to be a general, and settled at Rouse’s Point, N. Y. Dr. Rouse’s father, James Rouse, served in the War of 1812 under Gen. Brown, and rose to a captaincy. He married Miss Helen Temple, of Aberdeen, who descended by both her parents from the house of Stuarts, her uncle being earl of Aberdeen. Dr. Rouse, who is now sixty-seven years of age, was born in Canada while his parents were there on business, but was taken back to Virginia when only a few weeks old. He was sent to school in Northern Ohio, and also attended schools in Pennsylvania and New York, studying medicine under Dr. Dustan, a French physician, and Dr. Johns, an English physician. The Doctor, although a Virginian, is cosmopolitan in sentiment. He was a young man at the breaking out of the Mexican War, but saw active service in that conflict, his return being through the locality which thirty-five years hence was to claim him as a resident. It was then that he discovered the rare curative qualities of the springs now bearing his name. The beginning of his extensive travels had been made. Edinburgh College, of Scotland, had given him a diploma as a graduate, and being already possessed of an excellent knowledge of the science of medicine, he has since added to his learning by contact with different nations of the world, and by observing closely the diversified methods employed by various people. The experience thus gained has proved of incalculable benefit. While occupied at one time in three years of travel in Europe and Asia, he was called upon to perform an intricate and delicate operation upon one of Queen Victoria’s army officers, for which he was knighted. Two years were spent in South America, and while there also the success attending his efforts in saving the life of the daughter of the emperor of Brazil, and restoring her to health, was rewarded by a gift (in addition to a magnificent fee) of a solid gold inkstand, weighing three pounds and three ounces, inlaid with fine rubies, each valued at over $200. Besides this Dr. Rouse possesses a number of diamonds and other precious stones received from grateful potentates, who had been the beneficiaries of his ability. Amid constantly changing scenes time passed rapidly, and before conscious of it the Doctor had passed the three-score mile stone, and was almost broken in health. The advent of the St. Louis, Arkansas & Texas Railroad, through this locality in 1882 caused him to turn his attention in this direction, and in 1883 he settled here, and by personal experience determined the effects of the mineral waters so bountifully provided by nature. An analysis made by the Washington University, of St. Louis, indicates the presence of silica, iron, magnesium, iodine, potassium, sodium and manganese, ingredients sufficient to have wrought within the past six years some wonderful cures. One of the most noteworthy was the case of Joseph Cochran, son of J. Henry Cochran, banker of Williamsport, Penn., whose condition had baffled the skill of physicians of wide reputation for some six months. An abscess forming internally had burst into the cavity of the bowels, discharging and emptying large quantities of pus into the cavity of the abdominal and peritoneal membrane. From an incision ten inches in length through the abdominal wall there was removed the matter discharged into the peritoneal cavity from an abscess in caecum. The case was most critical as the constant discharge needed frequent cleansing, and any little exercise caused the bowels to protrude some six or eight inches. Hope had almost been abandoned when Dr. Rouse undertook the treatment. There were besides now two holes incaecum, one three-quarters of an inch and the other half an inch in diameter, from which faeces were constantly discharged. By patient, untiring attention and the help of his good wife, with the aid of instruments constructed for this particular case, the young man was restored to sound health within three months, the medicinal properties of the water used aiding greatly in this result. The father, without considering the usual formality of a bill, presented the Doctor with a check for $5,000. The Sanitarium is beautifully situated on an eminence overlooking the track of the “Cotton Belt’’ Route. In it are contained many interesting and curious specimens, viz.: fossils, shells, minerals, etc., evidences of Dr. Rouse’s taste as a geologist and paleontologist; one of these is a piece of rich quartz, containing $700 worth of gold. He owns over 700 acres of land in the county, his home place containing some 2,000 peach and 200 apple trees, and a garden surpassed by none in this portion of the State. One variety of grape is produced from a vine the original of which he brought from Riga, Russia; other small fruit of Canadian origin grow profusely. It only needs a visit to his wine cellar to demonstrate his ability to preserve fruit after raising it, last year’s crop producing over $1,000 of wine. With opportunities for gathering berries from the verge of eternal snow to the tropics, and fruit from every clime, he claims that there is no country like Arkansas capable of producing such a variety of highly flavored and useful fruits, while the roses here are more fragrant than those of Persia. He already has one of the largest farm residences in the county, to which an addition will be built sufficient to accommodate fifty patients by the fall of 1889. In addition to his duties about the Sanitarium the Doctor is surgeon for the railroad, and also has a large practice in the surrounding country. He is of untiring energy, ceaseless activity and persevering industry, of lithe and sinewy form, erect and of commanding presence, his hair tinged with gray indicating a dignified age. He has been three times married, his first wife bearing two children; by his second wife he had six, three now living. His first wife’s children are both married; the eldest, Helen, to Mr. Edwin Lovitt, of Liberty, Me.; the second daughter to Mr. J. Henry Cochran, of Calais, Me., now of Williamsport, Penn. His second wife’s children are also married: James W. Rouse, conductor on a railroad in Colorado; Lizzie, wife of Mr. Frank Miller, an electrician, of Philadelphia, Penn., and Eva Virginia, married to a Mr. Winslow, of Maine. The present Mrs. Rouse was born in 1855, and has proved of invaluable benefit to her husband in the treatment of cases. Pleasing in disposition, an agreeable companion and a welcome visitor to the sick room, she has shared very largely in the respect and esteem accorded her husband. She is a lady of intelligence and worth, having graduated from the normal school of her native town, Fredericton, N. B., Canada. She is of Scotch descent, her grandfather having been professor in Edinburgh University. Her father, William Anderson, is the recipient of a valuable gold medal given him as the best school-teacher in the Dominion of Canada. Dr. Rouse is a member of Orient Lodge No. 15, A. F. & A. M., of Thomaston, Me.