Medicine & Family

Medicine Is All In the Family

By Tory Stroshane

Dr. Dodd & Dr. Sandin

Although Dr. Edwin Ellis is considered “the father of medicine in Ashland”, Ashland has a history of many wonderful doctors. Among them are the Harrison and Sandin doctors whose families are noted for each having three generations of doctors to practice in Ashland.

One of the first doctors to settle in Ashland was Dr. George W. Harrison. He was born in England, but raised and educated in Wisconsin, receiving his medical training in Chicago. He came to Ashland from River Falls, Wisconsin in 1879 to help out during a spinal meningitis epidemic. He liked the community so well that he decided to stay. Dr. Harrison became one of Ashland’s most distinguished citizens. He was instrumental in establishing the foundation of the Ashland Lighting Company, which brought electricity to Ashland in 1887. He became Ashland’s second mayor in 1888. He also was the president of two banks and the manager of the Ashland Street Railway Company. The home he built on Lake Shore Drive is still owned by the Harrison family.

Dr. George W. Harrison II was born in 1885 and raised in the Harrison home on Lake Shore Drive. He also received his medical training in Chicago, and returned to Ashland to practice in 1912. He served as a battalion surgeon during WWI, and was decorated by the French Government with the Croix de Guerre for his service. He passed away in 1934, after many years of unselfish and tireless service to the people of the area.

Dr. George W. Harrison III was born in 1909 and grew up in the family home. He graduated from Ashland High School, the College of Notre Dome, and went on to graduate from Hahnemann Medical College in Pennsylvania. He served as a doctor in the Army during WWII. Dr. Harrison served as a president of St Joseph’s Hospital in Ashland, and was a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Knights of Columbus and St Agnes Catholic Church. He passed away in 1960.

Dr. Nils V. Sandin was born in Sweden in 1886, but came to Minnesota as a young man. He put himself through Gustavus Adolphus Academy in St. Peter, Minnesota by running a boarding house. He attended medical school at Marquette University in Milwaukee and finished his training at the Chicago College of Medicine in 1914. In 1929, he came to Ashland to practice with Dr. J. W. Dodd. In 1936, Dr. Nils V. Sandin became the Ashland City and County physician. While in this capacity, he made a house call to a home in Benoit during the blizzard of 1936, arriving by snowplow. County workers Ed Woodhead and Peter Swiderski drove the plow seventeen miles one way. On the way back, Mr. Swiderski had to hang onto the outside of the truck in order to tell the driver where to drive. Dr. Sandin passed away in 1941, before his son could join him in practice.

Dr. Howard V. Sandin graduated from Ashland High School in 1934 and Gustavus Adolphus College in 1938. He graduated from the St. Louis University School of Medicine in 1943. He served as a medical officer in Patton’s Third Army in the European Theater during WWII. After the war, he worked with Dr. J.W. Prentice for eighteen months before going back to medical school to complete his residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology. He started the first OB-GYN practice in Ashland in 1950. Dr. Howard V. Sandin served on several medical boards at the state and local level. He passed away in 1975.

Dr. Howard N.V. Sandin was born and raised in Ashland, graduating from Ashland High School in 1965. He graduated from Gustavus Adolphus College in 1969 and the University of Wisconsin Medical School in 1973. He returned to Ashland in 1977 and set up his practice of obstetrics and gynecology with Dr. Edward Vernier. Dr. Sandin is currently associated with the Ashland Clinic, and has served on several local boards.

The Harrison family has six generations of Ashland residents. The Sandin family has four generations of Ashland residents. Families who have lived continually in Ashland for one hundred years or more are invited to stop by the Ashland Museum and pick up an Ashland Ancestral Family Registry form to complete and return. This registry is being compiled in conjunction with Ashland’s Sesquicentennial.