Prunk - Daniel
Prunk, Daniel H
Civil War Rank: Asst. Surg.
Civil War Regiment: 20th
Place of Birth: Fincastle, Va
Date of Birth: 11.3.1829
Place of Death: Indianapolis
Date of Death: 8.2.23
Schools attended: Eclectic Medical Inst. Cinc. / Med. Col of Ind R. Central College of Phys. and Surg.
Year Medical Grad or Attendance: 1856,1876
Obit location: Journal of the American Medical Association 81:676
Final Date: 6.28.1862
2 Comm: 3.13.1863 Dismissed to 11.15.1862
County: Marion (Indianapolis)
Med. Reg./Exam.: 3.4.98
Sources: P1886 / Indiana State Board of Health 1884, 1890
Memoirs Of Indianapolis and Marion County, Indiana. 59
DANIEL H. PRUNK. There is no calling upon earth that demands greater self-sacrifice, unselfishness and devotion than that of the physician, who must needs incur the risk of contracting fatal disease and who must forego comfort and endure fatigues in the discharge of his duties. Nor is there to be found upon the globe a nobler spectacle than that of a physician who is true to himself, and conscientiously proceeds with the carrying out of the obligations resting upon him. He who is truly successful must needs live up to the full measure of his responsibilities and boar the burdens that rest upon him with a cheerful resignation. One recompense is his, at least, and that is the trust, confidence and the esteem of those who require his services in the times of illness; for no one gets closer to the hearts of those with whom he is associated than the good and worthy physician. Such thoughts are naturally awakened as one contemplates the life and the work of the estimable subject of this sketch, who not only has lived a life of great and disinterested usefulness in civil life, but who, also, in the time of his country's peril went to the front and with skillful hands ministered to the wants of the sick and the wounded, laboring unceasingly for the relief of suffering. Daniel H. Prunk M. D., of Indianapolis, was born near Fincastle, Botetourt County, Va., November 3, 1829; being the son of Daniel Prank, born in the State of Maryland in 1796, served his country in the War of 1 812 as a brave and true soldier and died in Illinois in 1861. The mother of our subject, Catharine (Edwards) Prunk, was born in old Virginia in 1 797 and (lied in Minnesota at the age of eighty four (in 1881). The father of our subject becoming impressed with the folly of endeavoring to compete with slave labor, left the old Dominion in the fall of 1831 with his wife and seven children, and on his journey Northward was compelled by the severity of the weather to winter at Xenia, Ohio. In the following spring, however, the family was again in motion, pressing forward over the most execrable of roads, the horses being¬ frequently stalled in quagmires, and again wading side-deep in and through great sloughs of mud. Again and again in the most difficult parts of the way, the children were trans-ported over the water and mud in the strong arms of their brave but wearied father. The westward journey was by way of Crawfordsville, Ind., which finally was reached and passed, the hearts of the parents growing lighter as the distance diminished, and their relief was infinite when at last they reached Hennepin, Bureau County, Ill., their final stopping place. But here their trials and hardships they soon found were but fairly begun. The travel-worn father proceeded at once, it being in the spring of 1832 when he reached his destination, to clear a farm and establish a home for his family in the then far West wilderness. The neighbors were few and lived far apart and the fear of the Indians was strong in the breasts of aIl, for this was the time when Black Hawk had stirred up the hearts of his savage followers to resist banishment across the Mississippi, and Mr. Prunk only saved his loved wife and children from the tomahawks of the red demons by taking refuge in the old Florida fort, situated about three miles from Hennepin. Notwithstanding the many besetments and perils, sturdy and brave Daniel Prunk did clear his land and erect a home, and in time golden stalks of the wheat waved in his field, inviting the blade of the sickle, and later, the tall tassels of corn proclaimed the presence of the ripened ears beneath. But society was imperfectly organized in those days and education was a precious quality, because the school-houses, always built, of logs, were so far apart, and the teachers so scarce. Subscription schools maintained for three months in the winter were the very best facilities enjoyed by the most favored, and parents rejoiced when this opportunity was offered their children. Those who were very poor were compelled to deny this limited privilege to their offspring. In truth, those who had settled in the wilds of Bureau, like the settlers of frontier country generally, had come together there imbued with the one great idea of accumulating property, the privations endured being a fresh stimulus to exertion, and the leading thought shut off in large measure the duties and obligations of cultivated life. Under such obvious difficulties and besetments the boyhood and youth of Dr. Prunk passed, and his ambitious spirit chafed under the privations he endured. His awakened mind demanded something above and beyond time drudgery of farm life, and bidding adieu to the home he made his way to Lacon, Ill., and there he worked mornings, evenings and Saturdays in order to defray his expenses at school, continuing thus until he was qualified to teach school. While engaged in teaching he conscientiously discharged his duties, earnestly seeking to impart, instruction to those consigned to his care. At the same time he diligently reviewed his studies and prosecuted them to further results, and with praisworthy economy saved every possible penny, so that in 1850 he entered the college at Mt. Palatine, Ill., where he remained one year, and then in 1851, he entered Rock River Seminary, where among his classmates were John A. Rawlins, afterward Secretary of War under President Grant, and Shelby M. Cullom, ex-governor of Illinois and now United States senator from that state. His limited means compelled him to return home at the expiration of a year and during the next fall and winter he again taught school. In the spring he began the study of medicine, under the preceptorship of Dr. Joseph Mercer, of Princeton, Ill., and during the winter of that year, 1853, he attended the Eclectic Medical Institute, at Cincinnati, returning the following winter, and the winter following that, finally graduating in 1856 receiving the diploma of a doctor of medicine and surgery. Having thus realized a dream and ambition that had fired his youth to energy and having endured much privation in order to accomplish his heart's great desire, he cast about for a favorable place for settlement, with the purpose strong within him to devote his life earnestly and conscientiously to his noble profession. He hit upon Carthage, a beautiful village in the suburbs of Cincinnati, where the gay and happy young people were wont to frequently gather from the city in picnic and other innocent and invigorating gatherings. It was at one of these happy parties that he met a most accomplished and estimable young lady from the Blue-Grass country, towards whom he was attracted from the first, and the acquaintance ripened into friendship, love and marriage, the auspicious event last named occurring one year later. In the year following, by a special arrangement, he took charge of the practice of Dr. A. Shepherd, of Springdale, Ohio, while that gentleman was absent on a foreign tour, and upon the return of the latter he yielded to the importunity of friends and settled at Rockford, Ill., which was then coining to the front. Every outlook was bright and he went there under the most encouraging prospects, it now seeming he had reached a point where he might begin to reap the reward of his long and faithful work. But he reached Rockford in the fall of 1857, the year in which the country was paralyzed by the great financial crash that spared no city or town or country place, and no power could resist its depression or rise superior to its influences. It was a keen and bitter disappointment to Dr. Prunk, when in the following fall he found it necessary to return to Princeton, but he kept it within his own breast and bravely did his duty. Reaching Princeton in October, 1858, he formed a partnership with his old precep for Dr. Mercer, which lasted until April 16, 1861, when special inducements offered led him to settle at Indianapolis, and this at the time when the great body of the North quivered because of the insult to the flag at Fort Sumter. In September of this year our subject was honored by Governor Morton with a commission as assistant surgeon in the Nineteenth Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry, to fill a vacancy. After passing a highly creditable examination before the regular board he was assigned to duty at the Marshall House Hospital, / Alexandria, Va., where he served several months, when the critical illness of his wife called him home. He was ordered June 28, 1862, by the governor to report to Col. Brown, of the Twentieth Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry, which lay at Harrison's Landing, Va., immediately after the Seven Days' battle. Rare indeed does it happen in the history of war that an army is so reduced as this was, by the ravages of disease, the casualties of battle and the fury of the elements. So decimated were the rank and file that scarcely sufficient men could be mustered to man the breastworks and trenches. It was said that such soldiers as Hooker and Kearney, who were inured to the most terrible of scenes, actually shed tears as they witnessed the trials and the agony of the army and saw the attenuated forms of the disease-ravaged men. Men and horses died so fast that there were none to bury them and the stench that arose was frightful, as well as threatening the safety of the living. Dr. Prunk moved among such terrible scenes as these, his strength taxed to the utmost to meet the demands made upon his professional services, and finally he succumbed (he had not been flesh and blood had he withstood it) and he was seriously attacked with a combination of camp diarrheea and typhoid fever. Hence, when the army was ordered to evacuate the place, he was shipped to David's Island Hospital, sixteen miles above New York city, where he was confined to his tent for six weeks. During his absence the Second Battle of Bull Run and of Centerville had been fought, and the veteran regiment lay near Arlington Heights, very much reduced in numbers and under marching orders, for the advance on Fredericksburg. Dr. Prunk was ordered by Gen. Barry to take charge of all the sick of the brigade and to conduct them to the Third Army Corps Hospital, near Alexandria, where he remained in charge until about the middle of December, 1862, when he resigned and returned home. But he did not remain long, his heart being with the brave boys who were bearing and suffering for the nation's cause, and he was soon again ready for active service. Having learned that there was a demand for competent surgeons at Nashville he proceeded thither, and after a two-days searching examination by the United States' army board, he was declared to be altogether satisfactory, when he immediately concluded terms with Dr. A. Henry Thurston, assistant surgeon general of the United States army and medical director at Nashville, and was ordered to duty at the officers' hospital. He subsequently assisted Dr. Salter in organizing the Cumberland Hospital, which had a capacity of 3,000 patients, and he remained here in the active discharge of his duties until October 12, 1863. During his leisure hours he had discovered a new preservative and disinfectant compound for embalming bodies, and he engaged in that business with a decided success during the remainder of the war, by permission of Gen. George H. Thomas, having his head-quarters at Nashville, with branches at Chattanooga, Knoxville, Dalton, Atlanta, Marrietta and Huntsville. He rendered valuable service to the remains of Gen. McPherson and other fallen heroes during the Georgia campaign. When the war was over Dr. Prunk returned to Indianapolis and has lived here ever since, devoting his time and energies to the practice of medicine, in which he has been signally successful. To smooth his professional journey, which had been made rough by the interposing barriers of "isms," and to divert the fire of enemies from without and within the profession, the took a course and graduated, at the close of the winter session of 1875-76, at the college of Physicians and Surgeons (allopathic school), just twenty years after he had received his first degree, and during all these years he had practiced with most gratifying success. Dr. Prunk has been eminently successful in his practice and his standing as a physician and surgeon is of the highest order. Always studious, he has prosecuted his studies and investigations throughout his career with the most unremitting ardor, while he has enjoyed the advantage of instruction in two medical colleges and had a large and varied experience in the army, to say nothing of what he has garnered in the may of knowledge in his extensive private practice. He is eminently fitted for the profession he adorns, being of a profoundly sympathetic nature, unselfish, sociable and possessed of charming conversational powers and the most agreeable manners. As a man, a citizen, father, husband, neighbor and friend in all the relations of life, he is an exemplar, worthy to be followed by all who appreciate the good and the honorable in living. As a citizen and patriot Dr. Prunk takes an active interest in public affairs, and in politics is a Republican, being in hearty accord with the teachings of that party. In religion he was reared in the Methodist Church, the faithful itinerants of that body having found their way into the great remote fastnesses of his old Illinois home, and he learned to love them for their devotion to the cause they professed. Hence he joined that body and consistently followed its teachings from the time of his connection with it at at Lacon, Ill., in 1849, until 1867, when he joined the Episcopal Church, his wife being a devout member of that church. The marriage of the Doctor to this most worthy lady, to whom reference has previously been made, occurred March 30, 1858, her name being Harriet Augusta Smith. The fruits of this union are: Frank Howard, born at Princeton, Bureau County, Ill., March 14, 1800; Harry Clayton, born at Indianapolis, August 17, 1861, and Byron Fletcher, born at Indianapolis, December 20, 1866. The accomplished mother of these children merits the highest distinction because of her true and womanly qualities, which endear her to a choice circle of friends. She is possessed of superior gifts and endowments of mind and heart, and whether as wife, mother or friend in the social circle, she reflects the virtues of highest womanhood. Hers are the qualities that attach persons to her strongly, and retain them under all conditions. Mrs. Harriet Augusta Prunk is a native of Cincinnati, although soon after her birth her parents, William J. and Lavinia (Lennox) Smith, moved to Covington, Ky., where she was reared and resided until her marriage. Her parents were natives of old Virginia, where the maternal name of Lennox has figured prominently for many generations, her grandfather Lennox having been a lieutenant in the war of the Revolution. Receiving a careful and thorough preparatory education, Mrs. Prunk at an early age entered the \Vesleyan Female College, an institution that had attained great prominence because of the thoroughness of its course, and that was one of the foremost educational institutions of Cincinnati, graduating from it in 1859, but a short time before her marriage. Very early in life she evidenced a rare talent in declamation and elocution, which developed into an exceptional quality of reading and dramatic power. This gift brought her into great prominence when. at college, so that she was assigned duties at all entertainments within its walls, as well as at social gatherings, amateur entertainments, etc. It was manifest to her friends that she possessed this quality in a high degree, and that application, which is inseparable from attainment of foremost places in any department of art or knowledge, would develop it into dramatic and elocutionary genius. In Mrs. Prank was the innate love, strong and abiding, for the art, and her will was all potent for the needed laborious study, and young as she was, she applied herself with assiduity, and with a continuity that would 1 we reflected credit upon a much older person. Her marriage did not end her progress in the line of literary work, nor cause her to terminate her studies, for she devoted ten years after to arduous study and close application, with the result of attaining to a high degree of perfection the ideal artist, qualification inherent and by nature given, only waiting to be nurtured by the warm sunlight of development into fruition and maturity. Her instructors were professors of eminence in the East, who were the more enthusiastic and painstaking in instruction, because they were impressed by her talent and admired the spirit that imbued her. Ambitious yet to acquire all possible perfection, she entered in October, 1877, the Boston University School of Oratory, under the control of the late Louis B. Monroe, and after the most diligent and persistent. application for a period of two years, she graduated from that celebrated institution in May, 1879, which was one year less than the regular course. She likewise enjoyed the high privilege of special instruction from Profs. Steele Mackaye and R. It. Raymond, of Boston and New York. The first appearance of Mrs. Prunk before the public in a professional capacity was in the Grand Opera House, Indianapolis, in October, 1878, in response to a pressing invitation from the leading citizens of that city, and the city, and press and critics united in praising her graceful presence, remarkable purity and quality of voice, and her high dramatic powers. Her second appearance was in Tremont Temple, Boston, May 19, 1879, before a large assembly composed of the elite of that cultured city. Her reception was an ovation, and the press of Boston teemed with adulatory praise of the distinguished Indianapolis lady. Since then she has appeared in public on many occasions, but principally in Indianapolis, and her wonderful ability and constantly augmenting powers have combined to urge her adoption of the plat-form as a profession, her friends insisting that such endowments and faculties as hers should not be lost to the people, and in response to numerous requests from friends and leading citizens, Mrs. Prunk established the Indiana Boston School of Elocution and Expression, of Indianapolis, in the fall of 1879, of which institution she has been principal since its organization. From this celebrated school there has been many graduates from different parts of the United States that are to-day doing good work in the various branches of the profession. Some are ministers, professors, teachers, elocutionists, readers and on the histrionic stage. Mrs. Prank and the public have a right to be proud of the work done in this school, which has been endorsed by some of the best known men in the United States. She loves her art, and from her soul. She is true and noble of heart, and has educated in the various branches of the art many pupils without recompense, because from her heart she desires to lend a helping hand to those who are deserving. Mrs. Prunk is also principal of the dramatic department of the School of Music of Indianapolis, and her work is endorsed by many distinguished men and women of letters, among whom may be mentioned, William E. Sheldon, editor of New England Journal of Education; Right Rev. D. B. Knickerbocker, Bishop of Indiana: Rev. Edward Bradley, of New York City; Rev. Dr. Cleveland, of Indianapolis; Rev. Dr. Haines of Indianapolis, and many others. It requires but the willingness on her part for her fame to become coextensive with the country. The highest and best authorities are agreed that she has no peer as a delineator of character and interpreter of dramatic art, and that has been acknowledged wherever she has appeared and by the numerous patrons of the school of which she is now principal. To the people of her own city and State and to the refined and cultured circles of the East she requires no introduction. Her friends place her alongside of Mrs. Siddons, the resemblance between the power and presence of both being marked. Mrs. Prank combines in a positive manner those mental and physical powers which constitute excellence in her art and which in any other situation or profession would cause some one or more of her splendid gifts to be misplaced or to lie dormant. Her face and form are highly attractive and she has attained that degree of perfection in her work that it has ceased to appear as art, but as nature itself. Mrs. Prunk has been a profound student of the forms and capabilities of language, so that a delicacy of emphasis is assured by which the meaning of an author is most intelligently conveyed, and no critic could suggest in her delivery a shade of intonation by which the sentiment could be more faithfully or fully expressed. With an unequaled genius and a passionate love for her art, and having the utmost patience in study, and a purely sympathetic nature, there is not a passage she cannot delineate, and the most delicate shade and nicest modification of passion she siezes with philosophical accuracy and renders with such immediate force of nature and truth, as well as precision, that what is the result, of deep study and unwearied patience and practice appears like a sudden inspiration. A Boston paper says of Mrs. Prunk: " There is not a height of grandeur to which she does not soar, nor a depth of misery to which she can not descend, nor a chord of feeling, from the sternest to the most delicate, which she cannot cause to vibrate at her will." One of Indiana's best-known writers, after attending one of Mrs. Prunk's entertainments, wrote the following of her voice:
TO HATTIE AUGUSTA PRUNK
Your voice! it is sweet as a day in June,
When buds are in bloom and the birds attune
Their songs to the gladness that pushes through
The air and the flowers and the heart of man,
And you clothe old thoughts with a meaning new
When you read as an artist only can.
Your voice! it is like an autumn wind
That quavers and moans and falters behind
The triumphant horns of summer days,
But which be the sweeter - .
June tones or sad,
It cloth matter not, for the love always
Throbs in the mournful as well as the glad.
Your voice! it is clear as a tinkling stream
That ripples and purls and glances between
The wlllows that lean o'er its shining breast.
You " Rock Me to Sleep" with the rhythmic flow
Of words that you read, and a holy rest
Cradles my soul when your voice falls low, low,
Like a dream of a olden lullaby
That sways the tired heart with its melody.
"Her personal appearance and presence are stately and dignified, while her command of facial expression seems almost unlimited, now capable of delineating the sunniest of smiles, now picturing the sternest of expressions, now lighted up with the beams of hope, and anon shrouded in the gloom of despair." Unlike a good many, who seem not to live outside of their profession, Mrs. Prunk shines as brilliantly in the social circle as on the platform, is a versatile and brilliant conversationalist, quick as lightning's flash, apt at repartee, and in the arena of refined sarcasm able to cut and parry with all the polish and dash of the witty, refined and accomplished lady. In her domestic relations she is by nature pre-eminently happy, a noble wife and a devoted mother, having inherited the qualities of head and heart characteristic of her late much beloved mother, a Christian woman of broad ideas, unusual intelligence and charitable in the highest sense of the word, and between mother and daughter there existed a remarkable bond of devoted affection and companionship. Mrs. Prunk is now in the very prime of life and cannot have yet reached the zenith of her physical and intellectual powers. Assuredly higher honors await her than she has yet achieved.
Record# 31121 in database 19th Indiana Century Physicians
Source: 19th Century Database of Indiana Physicians