Dr. William and James Heddens

In the traditions of the medical profession in St. Joseph, no names stand higher than those of the two Doctors Heddens, father and son.

William Irving Heddens was born in Preble County, Ohio, February 14, 1828, the son of James Heddens and Martha Vandiver. James had come to Ohio from Pennsylvania and Martha was the daughter of John Vandiver and Jane Irwin who had moved from North Carolina to Ohio when Martha was born, about 1795. William was educated in the schools of Cincinnati and he graduated from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, about 1850. He began his practice of medicine and surgery in Barbourville, Kentucky, and there married Miss Catherine Adams. In 1853 the family moved to St. Joseph, Missouri. There were six children and Mrs. Heddens died in 1874. In 1877 Dr. Heddens married for the second time Miss Mattie D. Offutt, of Shelbyville, Kentucky. He started the publication in St. Joseph of a medical journal, the first one to be published west of St. Louis. In 1879 he organized the College of Physicians and Surgeons in St. Joseph, of which he was president and dean.

In 1886 Mr. Samuel Ensworth, a leading attorney of St. Joseph, who had been the law partner of Silas Woodson before Woodson became governor of Missouri, was stricken with some obscure illness. He was attended by Drs. Will Heddens, Jacob Geiger, and C. H. Hubbell. Mr. Ensworth was a bachelor and a man of considerable means, a large landowner in Holt, Atchison, and Andrew Counties. During his illness he had many talks with Dr. Heddens, whom he had known when they were both young men starting their professions in Barbourville, Kentucky. As a result of these talks Ensworth made a will leaving his entire estate to five trustees for the purpose of building a hospital and medical college in St. Joseph. The Ensworth Hospital and Medical College was built at the northwest corner of Seventh and Jule Streets. Samuel Ensworth was buried in Mt. Mora Cemetery. His gravestone reads: "Born Canterbury, Connecticut February 27, 1812; Died Andrew County, Missouri August 12, 1886. He labored diligently and with self-denial that others might enjoy the fruits thereof.” The Hospital and College were operated until 19 when the College was discontinued because of limited funds. The Hospital continued until 1924 when the Missouri Methodist Hospital was built. The Ensworth building was then sold and the proceeds placed in a Scholarship Loan Fund which has been used to assist young medical students meet the costs of their education. Dr. William I. Heddens died on July 3, 1891.

Doctor WilliamHeddens had a brother, James Monroe Heddens, born March 20, 1837, at Logansport, Indiana. He moved to St. Joseph with Doctor Heddens in 1853, but in 1855 he moved to Kansas, taking up land in Coffey County near Burlington. When the Civil War came on he organized a company of the Fifth Kansas Cavalry and held the rank of lieutenant. In 1862 he succeeded to command of the company and participated in seventeen battles. When the war was over, he returned to Coffey County to farm and trade in land. In 1871 he moved to Coffeyville and engaged in the grocery business. His firm, Barron & Heddens, was active in trading with the Osage Indian Agency in Indian territory. He married Miss Sarah E. Davisson who had been a teacher at Baker University. He was elected mayor of Coffeyville and served as a member of the Kansas House of Representatives. His business developed into wholesale and retail trade in groceries and merchandise. They bought produce and hides. James M. Heddens died January 14, 1911, at Norman, Oklahoma. One of his daughters, Katherine Louise, born September 7, 1870, married Robert W. McDonald of St. Joseph, Missouri, the son of R. L. McDonald. They had three sons and two daughters. Another daughter, Jennie May, born October 9, 1866, married Samuel P. Felix of Schuylkill Haven, Pennsylvania, in 1915. They lived in Philadelphia and had two sons and a daughter.

James Weir Heddens, son of Dr. William I. Heddens and Catherine Adams, was born in Barbourville, Kentucky, in 1857. He was named for James Weir Mitchell, classmate and friend of his father at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. He graduated from the same institution in 1879. He did graduate work in the Philadelphia hospitals under the celebrated surgeon Dr. Joseph Pancoast. He returned to St. Joseph and taught anatomy at the College of Physicians and Surgeons. He was serving as coroner of Buchanan County in April 1882 when Jesse James was killed and he performed the autopsy. In 1891 he became professor of operative surgery and gynecology at Ensworth Medical College and he was secretary and a trustee of the Ensworth Hospital. He was appointed commissioner of State Hospital No. 2 in St. Joseph and was president of its board of managers. Dr. Heddens was always noted for his outstanding skill in surgery. He died at Pasadena, California, on November 7, 1931.

James W. Heddens was married in 1887 to Miss Marie Barret of Henderson, Kentucky. There were two children: Henrietta, who was Mrs. Kennedy Hamill of Pasadena, and Barret Spencer Heddens, born 1892. His middle name was that of Judge Oliver M. Spencer, close friend of his father. Barret attended the St. Joseph schools and graduated from Princeton University in 1915 where he was a member of Charter Club. He served in World War I as first lieutenant, U.S. Army. In 1919 he went to Kansas City, Missouri, and joined the Western Exchange Bank, serving as assistant cashier and cashier. That bank was merged with the Fidelity National Bank and he became vice-president. In 1933 he joined the First National Bank of Kansas City, rising to the post of executive vice-president and director. He was a director of the Frisco Railroad, the Pittsburg and Midway Coal Mining Company, and the Central Surety and Insurance Corporation. He was treasurer and director of the Kansas City Chamber of Commerce and in 1950 was appointed treasurer of the Kansas City School District. He died May 11, 1966, at the age of seventy-four.

Barret Spencer Heddens married Miss Hattie Lee Barton of Kansas City. They had two sons: Kimber James Heddens who lives at Henderson, Kentucky, and Barret Spencer Heddens, Jr., who became president of the First National Bank of Kansas City and later chairman of the board of directors.