My Genealogy Hound

ANDREW JOSHUA ALLEMAN, M. D., of MacDougall, was born September 27, 1828, the day on which Andrew Johnson was elected President, and is consequently a Democrat. A native of Seneca County, he stands eminent among the many sons of that section who have achieved fame and fortune. His parents, Jacob and Nancy A. (Newstetter) Alleman, were both from Pennsylvania, the former from the neighborhood of Harrisburg. They settled in the town of Fayette in 1807, upon a farm about four miles south of Waterloo.

Jacob Alleman did not confine his energies to the farm, but in company with a Mr. Lucas built and operated the Fayette Mills, although he resided upon the farm, where he died in 1835, aged fifty-four years. Mrs. Alleman survived her husband until her eighty-fifth year, her death occurring in Waterloo. This worthy couple were charter members of Zion’s Lutheran Church in Fayette, of which they were steady supporters until their death. Ten children blessed their union, all of whom attained maturity, but only one of them is living besides the Doctor, Joseph D. Alleman, of South Waterloo. The others died at varying ages, consumption causing the death of most of them.

The Doctor, who lived at home until twenty-one years of age, was educated at Waterloo Academy under Mr. Gibson, who was then Principal, but who later became pastor of the Episcopal Church at Utica. From 1850 until 1853 he staid with Dr. Phelps, of Rochester, N. Y., until the death of that skilled physician from cholera, in the year last mentioned. Later he studied with O. S. Patterson, of Waterloo, and subsequently took a course in Jefferson Medical College, at Philadelphia. He took another course at Geneva Medical College, it being the last year of that institution at Geneva. In the latter part of 1854 he received his diploma from the University of New York City, and immediately commenced to practice at Fayette. In 1858 he hung out his shingle here, and here he has since resided. His practice has constantly grown, and honors have been showered upon him. He is ex-President of the Seneca County Medical Society, a member of the Western New York Medical Society, and has been the subject of eulogistic articles in the Medical County History and the Medical Men’s History of the County.

In 1860, when the diphtheria epidemic ravaged the country, the Doctor attained national fame by his success in treating the disease. After the battle of the Wilderness he was in charge of the Government hospital at Alexandria. Of late years Dr. Alleman has devoted his spare time to the scientific raising of fruit upon his ninety acre farm, where a variety of small fruits bear testimony to the success of his efforts in that direction. There, in his commodious and substantial brick mansion, he can cast a retrospective eye over many years of usefulness, and look forward with anticipation to many more.

Dr. Alleman was married, December 13, 1859, to Ruby Palmer Woodruff, daughter of Lewis and Wealthy Woodruff, of Fayette, where she was born. Their only child, Lewis Arthur Welles Alleman, received his early education at Hobart College, and is also a graduate of Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia, Class of ‘88. Since then he has taken a two-years special course in ophthalmology, and has opened an office in Brooklyn, where he has a large and increasing practice. Dr. Lewis Alleman is happily married to Miss Frances Dudley, of Geneva, and they have two children, Dudley and Marion.

Although a Democrat, Dr. A. J. Alleman is anti-Tammany in his views, and takes no active part in politics. He is a member of the First Presbyterian Church of West Fayette. It is worthy of mention that the church building, which was erected in 1824, is the same as when first constructed, with the exception of a few repairs. Socially the Doctor is a Mason and an Odd Fellow of high rank.