Los Angeles County
Biographies
CEPHAS LITTLE BARD
BARD, CEPHAS
LITTLE, Physician and Surgeon, San Buenaventura, California,
was born at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania,
April 7, 1843, the son of Robert McFarland Bard and Elizabeth S. (Little)
Bard. He was married October 25, 1871,
to Clara Winter Gerberding, daughter of Christian
Otto and Mary J. (Hempson) Gerberding. He died April 20, 1902, and she followed him,
January 12, 1905. They were the parents
of two children, Mary Blanche Bard, now a resident of Chambersburg, and Albert
Marius Bard, who died in Brussels, Belgium,
in 1905.
The Bard family,
splendidly represented by Doctor Bard and his elder brother, former United
States Senator Thomas R. Bard, of California, is one of the oldest and most
picturesque in America; but prior to its advent in the new World, in fact,
several centuries before the discovery of America, the house of Bard was
conspicuous in the history of several of the old countries. While, like many of these families of
indistinct origin, its beginnings are misty, careful research seems to fix the
first root of the family in Italy,
during the latter part of the twelfth century.
There are of record at this time several embers of the family, whose
head was Ugone de Barde. Following his death his two sons became
engaged in fratricidal war, were re-united and finally, after years of
turbulent warfare against others, deserted their castles and left the Valley
of Aosta.
It is generally
believed they fled t Scotland,
where they later became noted warriors, and one of them is mentioned as having
signed the safe conduct for William the Lion, granted by Richard of the Lion Heart in the year 1194. They figure frequently in the records of the
Wars in England and Scotland. There were various branches of the Bard
family in the Old Country and their identification has been difficult to trace.
The original
ancestor in America was Archibald
Bard, who settled prior to 1740, on “Carroll’s Delight,” near Fairfield
in York (now Adams) County, Pennsylvania. Of his son, Richard Bard, the
great-great-grandfather of Dr. Bard, there is an accurate and thrilling
history. He learned the trade of miller
in his father’s mill, probably the first in that section, and after marriage
made his home at the base of Sugar Loaf Mountain. The country was at that time, following
Braddock’s defeat, infested with Indians and massacres by the savages were
numerous in the region, but the Bards lived safety until April 13, 1758, when
nineteen Redskins of the vicious Delaware Tribe attacked their home on
“Carroll’s Delight.” At the time there
were in the house Mr. Bard, his wife and seven-months-old boy; his cousin, a
little girl and a bound boy. The men beat
off the Indians in a hand-to-hand struggle, but realizing that they were greatly
out-numbered, surrendered after time upon promise of the Indians that none
would be killed.
The party of six
captives, together with two field hands, were bound by the Indians and started
toward the latters’ (sic) camp, several hundred miles
away. They had not gone far when the Delawares broke their pledge and
killed Thomas Potter, a relative of Richard Bard. Later they killed Mrs. Bard’s infant son, and
in time killed various others of the party.
They practiced the most fiendish kind of cruelties upon the survivors,
who were dragged more than forty miles the first day. Richard Bard told of their sufferings in a
poem which he wrote later.
About the second
day out he aggravated the anger of his Indian guard and was terribly beaten
with a gun, then forced, in his crippled condition, to pack a tremendous load
of supplies. Finally, on the night of
the fourth day of their captivity, Mr. Bard was sent by one of the Indians to
get a pail of water. He never returned,
and, by hiding in a hollow log, escaped the searching Indians who hunted him
for two days. He then began to make his
way back to civilization to get help for the rescue of his wife and
friends. But it was nine days before he
reached Fort Lyttleton, after nearly
perishing on the way. He was starving,
almost naked, his shoes were gone, his feet were torn and poisoned and for a
time his life was despaired of. He
recovered, however, and then set about rescuing his wife. He went to various parts of the country
looking for the Delawares,
but it was not until two years and five months that he was able to effect her rescue by ransom.
In the meantime she had undergone almost indescribable hardship, had
been beaten by the Indian squaws on various occasions and had only been saved
from death by being assigned as a substitute for the dead sister of two
warriors, to take care of their household.
Following the
release of his wife, Richard Bard purchased a plantation near Mercersburg,
Penn., and later became one of the leading
citizens of his section. He fought in
various subsequent Indian battles, and in the Revolutionary War served under
several commanders in the campaigns around Philadelphia. He later served as Justice of the peace and
as a member of the Pennsylvania Convention of 1787, to which the Federal
Constitution was submitted. He was an
anti-Federalist and in the Harrisburg Convention of 1788 fought so hard against
ratification of the Constitution that he practically obliterated himself politically. One of his sons, Thomas Bard, the grandfather
of Dr. Bard, served as a Captain in the War of 1812.
Dr. Bard’s
father, Robert McFarland Bard, upheld the traditions of the family and attained
a commanding position at the bar, and a reputation throughout the State of Pennsylvania
as a lawyer of great ability. He was a
Whig in Politics, but only on one occasion permitted himself to be put up as a
candidate for office. He had served for
many years on the Chambersburg School Board, and also served as Chief Burgess
of the Borough. In 1850 he was nominated
for Congress on the Whig ticket, but was defeated by a former law partner,
James X. McLanahan.
He survived until 1851.
Dr. Cephas L. Bard, who bore the distinction of being the first
American physician holding a diploma to settle in Ventura
County, California, inherited
his taste for the medical profession from his maternal grandfather, Dr. P. W.
Little. The latter was a student under
Dr. Benjamin Rush, signer of the Declaration of Independence, and was a
prominent physician of Mercersburg, Pennsylvania
in the early part of the nineteenth century.
He had two sons who were physicians, Dr. Robert Parker Little, a
practitioner of Columbus, Ohio, and
Dr. B. Rush Little, who held the post of Professor of Obstetrics in the Keokuk,
Iowa, Medical
College at the time of his death.
Dr. P. W. Little’s wife, Mary Parker, was the daughter of Col. Robert Parker, a
distinguished officer of the Revolutionary War, and her sister was married to
General Andrew Porter, one of their children being David Rittenhouse Porter,
Governor of Pennsylvania. He was the
father of General Horace Porter, late American Ambassador to France.
Dr. Bard received
his classical education at Chambersburg Academy,
but from early boyhood he had made up his mind to adopt the medical profession
and he had hardly graduated when he entered the office of Dr. A. H. Senseny, a celebrated physician of Pennsylvania,
to prepare for his future career. When
he had just got fairly started in his work, news was received of McClellan’s
reverses at the hands of the Confederates and the embryo doctor decided to
leave his studies and enlist in the Union Army.
Although he was only slightly past his nineteenth birthday, he became a
member, on August 11, 1862, of Company A, One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth
Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, and was sent to the front immediately. He participated with his regiment in the
battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Antietam and
the second battle of Bull Run.
The doctor was
mustered out with his regiment on May 20, 1863, and immediately resumed his
medical studies. He attended Jefferson
Medical College
at Philadelphia and was graduated
in 1864, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine.
The war was at its
height about that time and instead of going into private practice, Dr. Bard
took examination and was appointed an Assistant Surgeon in the Army. He was assigned to the Two Hundred and Tenth
Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers and again went into action. His regiment figured in numerous engagements
of more or less importance and Dr Bard served until the surrender of General
Lee at Appomattox. He then returned to his home in Chambersburg
and practiced his profession there until 1868.
In the latter
year he moved to California,
whether his elder brother, Senator Bard, had preceded him, and settled at San
Buenaventura, where he was one of the pioneers.
As stated before, he was the first graduate physician to locate in that
section, and except for a few brief intervals spent in post-graduate study in
Eastern medical colleges, remained there until his death.
The career of Dr.
Bard from the time he settled in California
was at once a record of brilliant professional achievements and a splendid
character lesson. He was not only a minister to the sick, but a zealous and
intelligent laborer for the general development of the community.
At the first
county election in Ventura, Dr.
Bard was nominated for the office of Coroner on both tickets then in the field
and was unanimously elected. With
characteristic self-denial, he devoted himself to the interests of the public
and was kept in office continuously for twenty years. Added to the duties of Coroner were those of
Health Officer, and Dr. Bard, a progressive thinker, inaugurated many
regulations which served to keep the general public health up to a high
standard.
Dr. Bard also
served on various occasions as a member of the Board of Pension Examiners.
Aside from his
official duties, Dr. Bard maintained a large private practice and into this
took the splendid traits of character which made him beloved by his
fellows. A writer, summarizing the work
of Dr. Bard and his influence in the community he served, declares:
“He became an
integral part of the County—a fixed figure in its social and civic life. With him the hardships that befall a country
physician with a large practice had no power to draw him to a large city, where
the routine of his professional life would be easier and the emoluments
greater. He found his reward in the
gratitude, love and esteem that the people he served so unselfishly, bestowed
upon him. It was a common occurrence
with him to risk his life in the roaring Santa Clara
when the summons came to him from a patient on a Winter
night. ‘Oh, I have to do it,’ was his
own comment on his unselfish devotion to duty.
He always felt the keenest satisfaction in the success of his
professional efforts. For more than
thirty years there was no public highway in Ventura
County so long, or mountain trail so
distant, that it was not traversed by him again and again on his errands of
mercy. He knew nearly every man, woman
and child in the County; knew their names, their dispositions, their ailments
and their limitations. The tenacity of his memory was as marvelous as the
accuracy of his knowledge. His quick
intuitions made him a leader of men as well as a skillful and unerring
physician.”
One of the
greatest personal satisfactions of Dr. Bard was his establishment, in
association with his brother, the Senator, of a modern hospital at Ventura,
California.
This institution, named the Elizabeth
Bard Memorial Hospital,
in memory of their mother, is complete in every particular and represents the
realization of a life-long ambition entertained by Dr. Bard. Had it not been for the multitude of other
duties, it is very probable that the hospital would have been built many years
sooner, because the doctor had long planned such a building, and had even gone
so far as to work out the details of the building, its arrangements and
fittings. Finally he was able to start
work on the structure and devoted a great deal of time to its erection. It was completed in 1902, the year of Dr.
Bard’s death, and he entered it in his last illness as the first patient. He passed away within the walls of the
institution and his death there identified it more closely with his life. It is generally regarded as a monument to his
own career, and after his death, the Ventura Society of Pioneers, of which he
was the virtual founder, unveiled a bust of him, which is to-day one of the
features of the hospital.
Practically every
minute of the day was filled with some duty for Dr. Bard, but in addition to
his numerous responsibilities he found time to take an active part in the affairs
of his profession, also to contribute to its literature. He served as President of the Medical Society
of the State of California, and
also of the Ventura County Medical Society.
He was greatly interested in the youth of the country and an advocate of
advanced educational methods. During his
tenure of more than ten years as President of the Ventura City School Board he
was especially active and watchful of the children and inaugurated numerous
reforms looking to the mental and physician betterments of his wards.
As President of
the Ventura County Society of Pioneers, Dr Bard devoted himself to its work
with the same unselfish zeal displayed in his other spheres of activity and to
him is given credit for the success of the organization.
Patriotism was
one of the chief characteristics of Dr. Bard and as a member of the Grand Army
of the Republic, he was a worker at all times for the
perpetuation of the traditions and memories represented by the
organization.
His fathers
before him having been members of the Presbyterian church,
Dr. Bard abided by the teachings of that faith all his life.
The doctor, in
addition to the organizations already named, also was a member of the military
Order of the Loyal Legion, prominent in Masonic circles and a Knight
Templar. His death was mourned by a wide
circle of friends and admirers, and the medical societies and other bodies
which he had served during life honored his memory by the adoption of
resolutions which showed their appreciation of his qualities and attested to
the esteem in which he was held.
His funeral was
one of the most notable in the history of Ventura
County, remarkable for the fact
that people in all walks of life, from all sections of the country, gathered to
pay tribute to his memory. The “Southern
California Practitioner,” the official medical publication of that section, and to which Dr. Bard had been a frequent
contributor, contained in its issue of May, 1902, the following:
“His death was a
source of grief throughout Southern California, but especially in Ventura,
which had for so many years been his home.
“There was a
great outpouring of the people of that County, and thousands took advantage of
the opportunity of seeing their dear friend’s features for the last time. On the march from the residence to the
railroad station there was led behind the hearse the gray horse of the doctor,
a noble animal that had shared many of his kind master’s hardships, and was
almost as well known as he. There was no
driver in the seat, and as men saw the significance of this fact they broke
down and wept. Over five thousand people
gathered at the station and waited until the last sign of the train disappeared
in the distance, bearing the body away towards Los Angeles,
where it was finally cremated.
“Besides being a
great physician and an able surgeon, Dr. Bard was a most delightful writer, and
his articles, which appeared from time to time in the ‘Southern California
Practitioner,’ have all been eagerly read by the medical profession.”
The
Ventura County Medical Society of which Dr. Bard was a
charter member and life-long supporter, passed the following resolutions
following the death of its distinguished member:
“WHEREAS, the
members of the medical fraternity of Ventura
County deeply deplore the death of
their colleague, Dr. C. L. Bard, when at the height of his activities for the
profession and community
“BE IT RESOLVED,
that we publicly express our sympathy for the bereaved relatives, and our
respect for the man who was known by us for so long.
“Dr. Bard was the
first American physician to locate in Ventura
County, and during his many years
of hard labor, was ever ready to bring to the service of the sick, and the
profession, a personality rich in qualities acquired through long years by an
honest, fearless and pure soul.
“His friends were
very numerous, and he was ever prompted by a kind heart and generous thought to
aid or counsel whenever there was need.
His professional ambitions he never allowed to be dimmed by weariness or
age, and he was a student to the very last days of his useful life.
“This pioneer
doctor, this rugged, brainy, gentlemanly man has gone from among us, but his
personality is a part of each one of us.
“Of him it cannot
said that he was not without honor save in his own country.”
The committee
which drafted this resolution was made up of three of the leading members of
the medical profession of Southern California and they
expressed, in dignified language, the feelings of the rest of the community.
Resolutions
similar to these were passed by the other organizations of which Dr. Bard was a
member, these including the Southern California Medical Society, the Medical
Society of the State of California,
Ventura County Pioneer Society, the Grand Army of the Republic and others.
Transcribed 6-1-08
Marilyn R. Pankey.
Source: Press
Reference Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Pages 41-43,
International News Service, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles,
Boston, Atlanta. 1913.
© 2008 Marilyn R. Pankey.
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