Who Were These Doctors?

Test your knowledge of chiropractic history with this quiz. The following ten individuals are named at the end of the article, and their photographs appear in Dynamic Chiropractic's January 29, 2001 issue. (No peeking!)

1. This fellow reportedly graduated from the Lincoln Normal University in Lincoln, Nebraska in 1893, and subsequently from a number of chiropractic colleges (although his DC credential was challenged in court). He founded the California Chiropractic College (CCC) in Los Angeles and purchased the LACC in 1913 (Keating et al., 1994). He tried to have the CCC approved by the Board of Medical Examiners, but ended up being arrested at the request of the Board, partly for falsifying his credentials. T.F. Ratledge, DC, founder of the ultra-straight Ratledge Chiropractic College of Los Angeles (today's Cleveland Chiropractic College of Los Angeles), referred to him as "the chief of traitors to chiropractic." Following his release from jail, he went on to establish several additional branches of the CCC: in Long Beach, San Francisco, San Jose, and perhaps also in Oakland.

2. This 1907 graduate of the Carver Chiropractic College in Oklahoma City (then part of the Indian Territory) was a member of Oklahoma's first Board of Chiropractic Examiners. In 1926 he was a founder of the International Chiropractic Congress, a federation which eventually included divisions for state licensing boards, state associations and chiropractic colleges. In 1930 he authored A History of Chiropractic, which discussed the evolution of the chiropractic profession, with special emphasis on developments in Oklahoma. His volume is especially helpful to chiropractic historians for the numerous photographs and biographical sketches of early practitioners in Oklahoma.

3. This gentleman was born in Le Mans, France on 23 March 1943. He earned his first doctorate from the Anglo-European Chiropractic College in 1972, and a second (PhD in the history of medicine) from the °cole des Hautes °tudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris in 1983. His doctoral dissertation was translated into English and published by the National College of Chiropractic in 1994. This masterful treatise, entitled Chiropractic: Early Concepts in Their Historical Setting, involved a critical analysis of DD Palmer's theories within the context of 19^th century neurophysiology. He was conferred the Lee-Homewood Award by the Association for the History of Chiropractic in 1996. A victim of cancer, he died on 22 May 1996. At the time of his passing he was under indictment for unlicensed practice in his native land, which still restricts the practice of chiropractic to medical physicians (Keating et al., 1998).

4. This 1911 graduate of the Palmer School of Chiropractic (PSC) has the distinction of being the only woman to serve as president of a national professional membership society of chiropractors (in 1926 she presided over the Universal Chiropractors' Association [UCA], the protective society founded by BJ Palmer in 1906 and a distant forerunner of today's ACA). Matriarch to a well known, five-generation chiropractic clan (Keating & Cleveland, 1992), she was inspired to become a DC by the care she received for her diabetes. Active in the affairs of the UCA's successor, the National Chiropractic Association (NCA), she was a co-founder in 1944 of the Chiropractic Research Foundation (today's Foundation for Chiropractic Education & Research). She is fondly recalled as the "Grand Old Lady of Chiropractic."

5. Born in rural Iowa in 1897, this fellow graduated from the PSC in 1924, just as BJ was introducing the neu-rocalometer. He established his practice in Webster City, and quickly became involved in state and national professional politics. He served as executive secretary-treasurer of the National Chiropractic Association (later, ACA) from 1932 through the mid-1960s, and published its Journal (predecessor of today's Journal of the ACA) for more than 30 years. He was the first secretary (in 1944) of the Chiropractic Research Foundation, and in 1946 was a co-founder of the National Chiropractic Insurance Company, which became today's NCMIC. (Keating, 2000). This chiropractor served as executive secretary of the mutual insurer through 1970, when illness forced his resignation. He has been called "titular to the NCA as equally as BJ was to the ICA" (Gibbons, 1985).

6. Born in Dundas, Ontario in 1895, this gentleman earned his DC from the National College of Chiropractic in 1923 and practiced in Hamilton, Ontario for decades (Keating, 1997a). This chiropractor has the distinction of has the distinction of being the only Canadian to serve as president of the NCA. He was active in provincial chiropractic affairs throughout his career, and was a co-founder in 1943 of the Dominion Council of Canadian Chiropractors (today's Canadian Chiropractic Association) as well as the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College (CMCC). He subsequently served on the board of trustees of the Chiropractic Research Foundation (today's FCER).

7. Born in Blacksburg, Virginia on 14 September 1895, this doctor had established a thriving chiropractic practice in San Antonio even before his 1935 graduation from the Texas Chiropractic College (TCC). Based on his training in "innate" chiropractic principles, he developed Concept-Therapy (C-T) and the Concept-Therapy Institute, which is his continuing legacy. Although trained as a straight chiropractor, his C-T integrated a proto-theology with suggestive therapeutics, dietary recommendations, marketing and "Americanism." Among his admirers and protâgâs were James R. Drain, DC. (president of TCC), Raymond L. Nimmo, DC (seminar instructor in marketing and salesmanship), Leo Spears, DC (hospital founder and marketer extraordinaire) and James W. Parker, DC. (salesman and founder of the Parker College of Chiropractic). Doctor #7 died in 1983 at the age of 88 (Keating & Fleet, 1997).

8. She earned her DC from the Eclectic College of Chiropractic (ECC) in Los Angeles in 1921 and joined the faculty of her alma mater. She married Charles Wood, DC, ND, president of the merged ECC-LACC, and upon their divorce in 1929, acquired the college in the property settlement. She continued as corporate secretary and principal shareholder of the LACC until 1947, during which time she was a strong advocate of higher standards in chiropractic education. Her sale of the LACC in 1947, following stormy negotiations with John Nugent, DC and Ralph J. Martin, DC, ND, led to the merger of the LACC and the non-profit Southern California College of Chiropractic into today's non-profit LACC (Keating et al., 1993).

9. Born in Conway Springs, Kansas on 15 February 1887, this remarkable individual was nephew to Mabel Heath Palmer, DC, wife of B.J. A 1911 graduate of the PSC, he attempted to bring about a reconciliation between BJ and DD. Palmer in 1913 (Keating, 1997b). Recruited as business manager and registrar of his alma mater, he served the PSC for more than a quarter century. Along the way his credits included appointment as treasurer of the Universal Chiropractors' Association (predecessor of NCA and today's ACA), general manager of Radiophone Station WOC and vice-president of the Central Broadcasting Company, co-founder and president (1926) of the National Association of Broadcasters, repeated election to the Iowa state legislature (1919-1935), and 27 years as an officer (president, secretary-treasurer and board member) of the Colorado Chiropractic Association. An enthusiastic member of today's ACA, he passed away in Denver on 13 August 1976.

   
   

10. Born in Toronto in 1916, he took his first training in alternative healing at the University of Natural Healing Arts in Denver, and earned a "Doctor of Physical Therapy" degree in 1941. Continuing at Western States College in Portland, Oregon, he was awarded the DC in 1942. For the next several years he served in the Royal Canadian Navy, and saw action about a corvette in the North Atlantic. Upon discharge, he joined the faculty of the CMCC and was eventually appointed administrative dean and later president (Brown, 1989). Among his many published works are The Chiropractor & the Law and the Neurodynamics of the Vertebral Subluxation. This doctor was the individual most responsible for building the current campus of CMCC. He also served briefly as president of the LACC.

1. W. Richardson, DC

    

2. Gallaher, DC, PhD

    

3. Gaucher-Peslherbe, DC, PhD

    

4. L. Ashworth, DC

    

5. M. Rogers, DC, FICC

    

6. A. Schnick, DC, FICC

    

7. G. Fleet, DC

    

8. Churchill, DC, ND.

    

9. Frank W. Elliott,DC

    

10. Earl Homewood, DP, DC, ND, LLB

• Brown DM. A. Earl Homewood, DC, chiropractic educator. Journal of the Canadian Chiropractic Association 1989 (Sept); 33(3): 142-6
• Gibbons, Russell W. Chiropractic's Abraham Flexner: the lonely journey of John J. Nugent, 1935-1963. Chiropractic History 1985; 5: 44-51
• Keating JC, Dishman RW, Oliva M, Phillips RB. Roots of the LACC: the Southern California College of Chiropractic. Journal of Chiropractic Humanities 1993; 3: 21-41
• Keating JC, Jackson RB, Oliva M, Phillips RB. Origins of the LACC, 1901-1922. Journal of Manipulative & Physiological Therapeutics 1994 (Feb); 17(2): 93-106
• Keating JC. John A. Schnick, D.C., F.I.C.C.: a photo remembrance. Dynamic Chiropractic, 7 April 1997a, pp. 32-3, 42
• Keating JC. B.J. of Davenport: the early years of chiropractic. Davenport IA: Association for the History of Chiropractic, 1997b
• Keating JC. Roots of the NCMIC: Loran M. Rogers & the National Chiropractic Association, 1930-1946. Chiropractic History 2000 (June); 20(1): 39-55
• Keating JC, Callender AK, Cleveland CS. A history of chiropractic education in North America: report to the Council on Chiropractic Education. Davenport IA: Association for the History of Chiropractic, 1998
• Keating JC & Cleveland CS. Sylva L. Ashworth, D.C., the "Grand Old Lady of Chiropractic." Chiropractic History 1992 (Dec); 12(2): 14-23Keating JC & Fleet GT. Thurman
• Fleet, D.C. and the early years of the Concept-Therapy Institute. Chiropractic History 1997 (June); 17(1): 57-65

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