The Truth is in the Teeth

Did you know that two dentists connected to Longmeadow were critical witnesses in one of the most celebrated murder trials of the Nineteenth Century? Their testimony about the dental evidence successfully convicted a murderer. Let’s travel back to 1849 Boston…

On Friday, November 23, 1849, a respected, well-known, and wealthy Boston resident, Dr. George Parkman, disappeared. Over the next week, large rewards were offered for his recovery. City officials searched high and low for him, even dredging rivers, but he could not be found.

On the following Friday, in a grisly turn of events, the janitor at Harvard Medical School found the partial remains of a man in areas of the building controlled by Professor John W. Webster; the head, torso, and other parts of the body had been burned in the furnace of the school.

Harvard Medical School in the 1880's

Evidence led police to suspect that Professor Webster, a chemistry professor at Harvard Medical School, had murdered Dr. Parkman after Dr. Parkman had attempted to collect on a debt. However, they were unable to conclusively identify the body parts as belonging to Dr. Parkman. Without identification of the body, the murderer would escape punishment for the crime.

Prof. John W. Webster

This gruesome crime was a media sensation and the story was carried in newspapers throughout the country, and it is still famous today. Without going into all of the many twists and turns of the story, suffice it to says that its intrigue and gore has been the subject of many articles and books, some of which are listed below.

One of the few pieces of evidence recovered from the furnace was a set of porcelain teeth, and this is where our first hero enters the story. Dr. Nathan Cooley Keep, who had been born and raised in Longmeadow, had been Dr. Parkman’s personal dentist and had created the porcelain teeth and gold plate for Dr. Parkman.

Dental Plate and Teeth for Dr. Parkman

Our second hero, Dr. Lester Noble, was training under Dr. Keep when the false teeth were made and he often repaired them. In "Incidents Connected with the Trial of Professor Webster," Dr. Noble said, “With Dr. Parkman's teeth I had more than a first acquaintance. He was a very nervous man, and occasionally would take out his plates and put them in his coattail pocket, and soon he would forget them, and when he sat down the teeth would suffer considerably, necessitating repairs. I must have repaired those plates at least half a dozen times.”

In 1850, Lester Noble was a student at Baltimore School of Dentistry, but he traveled to Boston in March for the trial. Both men examined the teeth and plates carefully, comparing them to the models that Dr. Keep had used to create the teeth for Dr. Parkman, and concluded without a doubt that these were the teeth and plates which they had made for Dr. Parkman. At the trial of Professor Webster in March, 1850, they both testified as such. Here is a link where you can the trial record and the testimony for both men. The conclusive dental evidence convinced the jury that the remains were indeed the body of Dr. Parkman. Professor Webster was convicted of murder and sentenced to death by hanging. This landmark case is considered to be the first time that forensic evidence was successfully used to prosecute a defendant.

After the trial, Lester Noble returned to Baltimore and finished dental school. He moved to Longmeadow in 1860 where he lived until his death in 1905. For more information on Dr. Noble and Dr. Keep, read our earlier History Notes article--> Drs. Lester Noble and Nathan Cooley Keep.

Sources

1. Incidents Connected with the Trial of Professor Webster by Dr. Lester Noble

2. Report of the Case of John W. Webster

3. Trial Transcripts and Newspaper Reports

4. The Murder of a Wealthy Boston Physician by a Harvard Professor, 1849

5. The Murder of Dr. Parkman

6. Blood & Ivy, by Paul Collins

7. Dead Certainties: Unwarranted Speculations, by Simon Schama

8. The Disappearance of Dr. Parkman, by Robert Sullivan

9. Springfield Republican- Nov. 17, 1896

Contributed by Elizabeth Hoff, Longmeadow Historical Society Board Member

Originally published January 14, 2021

Drs. Lester Noble and Nathan Cooley Keep

Lester Noble, D.D.S.

Have you ever had a tooth extracted without anesthesia? Thanks in part to Dr. Lester Noble and Dr. Nathan Cooley Keep, you may never have to experience that pain.

Lester Noble had always been good with his hands. He first arrived in Longmeadow in 1839 as an apprentice to his uncle, Jacob Colton, and learned how to manufacture spectacles. But, he decided to become a dentist instead, and in 1846 he went to Boston to study dentistry under Dr. Nathan Cooley Keep.

Dr. Nathan Cooley Keep

Dr. Nathan Cooley Keep, who was born and raised in Longmeadow, was one of the pioneers of modern dentistry. Like Lester Noble, he was good with his hands and had apprenticed with a jeweler before graduating from Harvard Medical School. Dr. Keep put his jeweler training to good use by manufacturing porcelain teeth, and he invented new dental tools and created new dental techniques.

Lester Noble studied under Dr. Keep from 1846–1849. During this period, a new anesthetic, ether, was being introduced in surgical practices. Dr. Keep was the first physician to use anesthesia for childbirth, administering ether to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s wife, Fanny, during the birth of her daughter in 1847. Dr. Keep was also one of the first physicians to use ether in dental procedures and his assistant, Lester Noble, became skilled in its administration. On many occasions, Lester would assist Dr. Keep in dental surgery, administering the ether while Dr. Keep extracted teeth.

Baltimore College of Dental Surgery

To further his studies, in 1849 Lester Noble entered the world's first dental college, Baltimore College of Dental Surgery. At that time, the school was not using ether in dental surgery because one of the professors at the school opposed its use. Surprised at this, Dr. Noble asked for and was given permission to administer ether in the college infirmary. His great success in these demonstrations helped this crucial technique to become standard dental practice.

After Dr. Noble graduated in 1850, he opened a dental office in Washington, D.C. and married Mary Woolworth Burbank of Longmeadow. Lester’s younger brother, Henry Bliss Noble, followed in his brother’s footsteps, also practicing dentistry in Washington, D.C. and marrying a woman from Longmeadow (Maria Bliss). In his dental practice, Henry Bliss Noble mentored a young African-American man named Robert Tanner Freeman (we will learn more about Mr. Freeman later in this story).

In 1860, failing eyesight forced Lester to take a break from dental practice. He and his family moved to 655 Longmeadow Street in Longmeadow where they lived for the rest of their lives. By 1869, Lester was able to resume his dental practice; he opened an office on Main Street in Springfield where he practiced until 1896.

655 Longmeadow Street

In 1867, Dr. Keep became the first dean of Harvard School of Dental Medicine. A story from the early years of the school highlights Dr. Keep’s character. Robert Tanner Freeman, the son of former slaves (and former mentee of Henry Bliss Noble), called upon Dr. Keep and asked to be admitted as a student. Perhaps Mr. Freeman brought a recommendation from one of the Noble brothers with him. Upon Dr. Keep’s recommendation and insistence upon “right and justice above expediency”, Mr. Freeman was admitted as one of the school's first six students and, in 1869, Mr. Freeman became the first African-American to graduate from a dental college. The tower, or castle “keep,” that appears on the shield of Harvard School of Dental Medicine honors the leadership of Dr. Nathan Cooley Keep.

Robert Tanner Freeman

Dr. Noble was beloved by his patients and always regaled them with his endless fund of stories and anecdotes. He was also absent-minded, and several stories about him have traveled down through the years.

• One day, Miss Annie Willard was in the chair receiving a new gold filling. Dr. Noble suddenly remembered that he wished to mail a letter, and he left her in the dentist’s chair with a rubber stretched across her open mouth. While he was out, he found someone that he needed to talk with. Forgetting his patient, he was out for 1½ hours before he remembered her and rushed back to his office.

• On another occasion, his horse was stolen. He went out to the barn in the morning to feed the animal and found that it was not there. He carefully examined all tracks, and called in the neighbors to help him find his horse, but they could find no trace of him, so they decided that the horse had been stolen. But, when Dr. Noble walked up to the store, there was his horse hitched to the post – just where he had left him on the previous afternoon.

Dr. Noble died in 1905, but I, for one, will always think of him whenever I visit my dentist. Next week, we will visit Dr. Keep and Dr. Noble again as we learn of another of their "firsts".

Sources

1. 1900 U.S. Federal Census

2. Longmeadow Historical Society Archives

3. Springfield Republican Feb. 22, 1905

4. History of Harvard School of Dental Medicine

5. Wikipedia- Nathan Cooley Keep

6. Wikipedia- Robert Tanner Freeman

7. Black Past- Robert Tanner Freeman

Contributed by Elizabeth Hoff, Longmeadow Historical Society Board Member

Originally published January 7. 2021

When the Clock Strikes Midnight

Storrs House Museum, Longmeadow

In a few short days we will all settle in and prepare to ring in a new year. Perhaps a clock like this will help you keep time. Today this tall clock resides at the Storrs House Museum, the home of the Longmeadow Historical Society.

Henry H. Emerson of Longmeadow donated the clock to the Historical Society in 1942, one year before his death. The Emerson siblings who lived at 476 Longmeadow Street are responsible for much of what we know about old Longmeadow. Paesiello Emerson took hundreds of black and white images of the town, houses, and people that we use to tell our stories; Annie Emerson was an early supporter of and historian for the Historical Society, and Henry donated several items from the family’s home for us to preserve.

The clock as it stood in the corner of the Emerson home c. 1920

Not much is known about the original owner of this 7½ ft tall clock with wooden works. Accession records indicate that it had resided in the “Cooley-Emerson” house since around 1820 when it was made and that perhaps its pine case was made by Longmeadow resident David White.

A few years ago local horologist, David Gallup, examined it and shared his interesting insights: "Connecticut Tall Clock, Wooden Movement, circa 1820. The movement for this clock was made in Connecticut at the beginning of the 19th century by an unknown maker when small water-powered shops were making wooden movement clocks from the forests of Connecticut using oak, cherry, and laurel. Brass movement clocks were very expensive to make and only the wealthy of New England could afford them. The case is a country case made of pine and stained. Some cases were hand grained. This clock is weight powered and runs about thirty hours. It has to be wound every day by pulling up the cords on the weights. The dial is hand-painted on wood. This country clock was affordable for the residents of small New England towns whose economy relied primarily on agriculture." Longmeadow of 1820 certainly was a community of frugal-minded farmers.

Particularly intriguing about the clock is the presence of masonic figures on the face. The original owners of the house, the Cooley family, counted several masons among its members. At least four Cooleys were members in local lodges, including Stephen Cooley, Jr who was a charter member of the local lodge in 1817. Hanan Cooley, his brother, was a mason/gravestone carver.

An antique clock such as this one has watched over the turning of approximately 200 new years. If it is true that it stood in one house for the first century and a half of its life, imagine what stories it could tell about the people and households who made sure to wind it every day to keep it running. How many ordinary days did it keep time for? How many momentous events did it stand watch over?

The Longmeadow Historical Society wishes you a healthy and happy New Year. We look forward to bringing more stories of our town to you in 2024.

Contributed by Melissa Cybulski, Board Member, Longmeadow Historical Society. Support by Al and Betsy McKee.

Originally published December 31, 2020