h/o Emeline Denison
Name: Selim Newell
Event Type: Marriage
Event Date: 12 Jan 1835
Event Place: Burke, Vermont, United States
Spouse's Name: Emeline Denison

St. Johnsbury Caledonian. volume, November 02, 1910, Page 7, Image 7

GIFTS TO HOSPITAL.
A Memorial to Mary J. McLeod
and Another in Memory of
Selim Newell.
Brightlook hospital has recently received from friends gifts which substantially
and eloquently tell that many people are standing back of a work they believe in.
The mention of these gifts is made in these columns not alone to publicly express
a gratitude the officers deeply feel but also to remind many of the hospital's
constant need,in its ministry to the sick and suffering.
This mention may also serve as a gentle reminder to many as to just how
substantial aid may be rendered.
Mr. Angus H. McLeod has given the hospital the sum of $250 in memory
of his wife, Mary J. McLeod. This sum has been added to the "Memorial
Free Bed Fund."
In memory of Selim Newell, M. D., his children have presented the hospital
with a stately, solid mahogany clock of the old fashioned type. This
modern "old clock on the stairs"-"week in, week out" begins its service of
memory and practical use under peculiarly happy circumstances.
Through "the children" the clock and the memory of a man whose
ministrations brought relief, health and cheer to many of an earlier day, one
can see that the man and his deeds are alive to-day.
What better way is there to keep alive the noble traits of those once and
always loved?
On the clock is a tablet on which is inscribed the following:
"In memory of Selim Newell, M. D.
Presented to Brightlook Hospital
by his children in loving remembrance."

The following has been prepared :
Sketch of Dr. Newell.

Dr. Selim Newell was born in Burke, Vt;, August 3rd, 1803. He came of
good Revolutionary stock, his father, Capt. Daniel Newell, having served
in the War of the Revolution and serving among the troops that rallied
against Gen. Burgoyne's army. Selim was the youngest of a
large family of children. His early days were spent in the town of his birth.
In 1834 he married Emeline Denison, only daughter of Judge George
Denison, a physician of Burke. Soon after his marriage he moved to Lyndon
and later in the fall of 1853, he came to St. Johnsbury and here he continued
in active practice until the time of his death. In 1864 he was appointed by
Gov. Erastus Fairbanks to hospital service, in Fredericksburg, Va., caring for
wounded soldiers of the Civil War. The following year, with health impaired,
he went abroad in company with Rev. E. C. Cummings, his pastor and valued
friend, and here the time that was planned for rest and recuperation was
spent in study in the larger hospitals of Edinboro and elsewhere, acquiring
the further knowledge in surgery which was of so much benefit in his later
practice, as there were at that time, no hospitals in St. Johnsbury
or vicinity. He died August 23, 1871, in his home now the North Church
Manse and his funeral, by request of many friends, was held in the old North
Church. Perhaps there could be no more fitting tribute to his life and
character than that which was given at the time of his death as follows:

The funeral services of the late Dr. Newell were held at the North Church,
on Saturday last at 10.30 a. m. Rev. Mr. Cummings, late pastor of this
church spoke of his unusual aptitude for, and enthusiasm in his profession,
of his profound and ready insight, of his accuracy and breadth of professional
knowledge, of his high professional conscientiousness, of his tenacious and
tender devotion to his patients, especially of his remarkable fitness for great
and extreme emergencies.
He spoke also of his marked and unique character as a man, not faultless,
but always generous in his impulses, forgetting his own interests in his
professional and humanitarian zeal, highly regardfull of the welfare of his
family, always respectful of sacred things. These last months he seemed
drawn towards the higher things, and at last, as of the man of Tarsus, it
could be said,"Behold he prayeth." , Altogether it was such a delineation
of the man as commends itself to the public judgment. We were made to
feel our loss. When shall we see his like again?

Death of Dr. Newell.
Selim Newell, M. D., died at his residence in- this place on Wednesday
afternoon, August 23rd, aged 68 years. Although struggling against disease
and increasing infirmity for several years past, his last sickness was very brief.
Dr. Newell was a remarkable man. With great powers of perception, sound
judgment, a steady and skillful hand, and an earnestness and enthusiasm
for his profession, he acquired a place among the learned
and skillful physicians and surgeons of his day which all admitted, and multitudes
gratefully remember. Self-denying, self-sacrificing, and devoted to his patients,
even to great personal discomfort, and risk of health and even life, he went about
doing good, when, in these last few years, he was in such a state of physical
incapacity and exhaustion as to be a marvel to all who knew him. For forty
years Dr. Newell had practiced his noble profession in this country, of which
he was a native; and hundreds of people who see this paragraph will mourn for
him as for one who has been a friend to them in their sorest need, and will
cherish his memory with the deepest affection.