Arthur Frederick Ostrander

Arthur Frederick Ostrander, Sr. (February 14, 1895 – February 1978), was an assistant scientist. He worked with inventor George Poe. In his childhood he worked with Poe (mid-1907 to 1908),[1] who taught him how an artificial respiration device[2] functions. His assistance to Poe was instrumental in the successful development of the respiration device, as he performed the fine detail work and metal fabrication that Poe could no longer do.[3][4][5] His face came to be one of the most well known of the time, having been featured in several large circulation newspapers.[6]

Arthur Frederick Ostrander, Sr.
Born(1895-02-14)February 14, 1895
Schodack, New York
Died(1978-02-00)February , 1978
Chesapeake, Virginia
ChildrenCline Brooks Ostrander
Arthur Frederick Ostrander, Jr.
Parent(s)Abram Cline Ostrander
Harriet Louise Ostrander

Biography

Arthur was the youngest child of Abram Cline (September 12, 1843 – October 2, 1914) and Harriet Louise Ostrander (April 15, 1856 – November 6, 1947).[7] He was descended from The 1679 marriage of Pieter & Rebecca in Kingston, Ulster County, NY. A son, Theunis, born 1691 in Kingston, was ancestor to both Abram Cline Ostrander and Harriet Louise Ostrander. The name "Ostrander" was coined in New York after 1701. Dutch settlers who migrated to the town of New Amsterdam (present day New York City) in the 1660s. He had five siblings: Louis Sherley Ostrander, George Francis Ostrander, Cornelia Elizabeth "Nina" Ostrander Dudley, Faith Wilbur Ostrander Allen Gatling, and Helen Louise Ostrander Smith.[8]

Early life

Arthur was born in the town of Schodack, Rensselaer County, New York, on his family's farm (named "Brookview Farmstead"), which was in the process of being subdivided after the death of his grandfather,[9] Walter Ostrander (September 12, 1806 – September 17, 1880). In the late 1890s[10][11] his father moved the family south to Norfolk County, Virginia, and bought a large tract of land, using contacts gained from his wife's Virginia branch of the family. Arthur was raised to be a farmer, like his father before him. He attended public schools along with his siblings, and worked hard at excelling in the technological fields of study, and labored on the farm during term breaks.

From an early age, he exhibited an interest in science and an aptitude for mechanics. When his family boarded George Poe for several years, he began to assist the inventor with his work. Poe, by then nearly blind and paralytic, soon discovered the boy had both the technical skills and dexterity to perform fine metal work, and could act as his veritable hands and eyes on tasks of minute detail. Poe approached the Ostrander family with a proposition; if Arthur would assist him full-time, he and his two assistants, (J. P. Jackson, M.D., and Francis Morgan, M.D.) would privately tutor Arthur through high school. The family consented, and he exited the schooling system to become a full-time member of the artificial respiration device team at age ten.

He worked with Poe, Jackson, and Morgan for the next several years, and toured with them when they demonstrated the artificial respirator in 1907. In doing so he received a rigorous education in science, in addition to classes in Classical Studies and the arts provided quid pro quo by his tutors. He shared in the patent granted to Poe for the device, on July 9, 1907, but his mother had to be listed as having the share of the credit due to his very young age.[12][13] Even though the device was well received, Poe's health continued to decline, and the device was never successfully marketed.[14] When Poe died in 1914, Arthur had already made plans to enter Apprentice School at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard. He completed training and became a skilled machinist, and later a supervisor.

Arthur Ostrander and grandson Greg Ostrander, 1964

Later years

Arthur married Annie Caribel Campen in 1919, and they had two children, Cline Brooks Ostrander and Arthur Frederick Ostrander, Jr. He lived his life in the Norfolk and Chesapeake, Virginia areas, and after a successful career with the shipyard, retired to his home in Chesapeake, dividing his leisure time amongst fishing, hunting and spending time with his family. He owned land in the so-called "outer banks" of North Carolina, and often vacationed there in his cottage. He died suddenly in February 1978,[15] and was interred in Chesapeake Memorial Gardens beside his wife, who predeceased him in 1971.[16] He was survived by his two sons, four grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

Faith

Arthur was raised an Episcopalian, but later joined the Chesapeake Avenue United Methodist Church, Chesapeake, Virginia where his wife was a member.[17] He was a Master Mason and long-term member of the South Norfolk Masonic Lodge of Chesapeake, Virginia.

Sources
  1. "Bringing the Dead to Life: A Machine that Claims the Miracle", summary of events surrounding the device and its tour in the New York City area in 1907, The New York Herald, Magazine Section, April 7, 1907.
  2. "An Artificial Respirator", Scientific American, June 22, 1907, page 515.
  3. "Rabbit Killed Seven Times Brought Back to Life Each Time With Wonderful Machine", article states: "Not the least interesting feature of Prof. Poe's device is the fact that a mere 10 year old lad, Arthur Ostrander, acted as eyes and hands for the almost sightless and semi-paralyzed scientist in the construction of the device",The Washington Times, Magazine Section, page 4, January 27, 1907.
  4. "This Machine Raises the Dead, Sobers Drunks", article states: "The boy Arthur, of whom the Professor was fond, assisted in assembling the model, and in doing what the Professor's palsied hands and dim eyes could no longer do", The Fort Wayne (Indiana) Journal-Gazette, page 24, March 10, 1907.
  5. "It Raises the Dead", article states: "With the assistance of young Ostrander, he built a working model in line with the construction of the heart", The Newark Daily Advocate, March 11, 1907.
  6. "Rabbit Killed Seven Times Brought Back to Life Each Time With Wonderful Machine", article published first picture of Poe and Arthur Ostrander together, The Washington Times, Magazine Section, page 4, January 27, 1907.
  7. Ostrander, Vinton & Ostrander, Emmett. (1996).Ostrander: A Genealogical Record: 1660–1995, page 448, listing of children of Abram and Harriet Ostrander.
  8. Ostrander, Vinton & Ostrander, Emmett. (1996). Ostrander: A Genealogical Record: 1660–1995, page 448.
  9. Will of Walter Ostrander, executed August 29, 1887, upon the death of Eliza Ostrander.
  10. Arthur Frederick Ostrander and family in the 1900 US Census
  11. Indenture (land sale) from Abram C. Ostrander to Hendrik Privus, Schodack, NY, September 7, 1895.
  12. "George Poe, of South Norfolk, Virginia, assignor of one-fourth to Harriet Louise Ostrander, one-fourth to Thomas Black of South Norfolk, Virginia and one-fourth to Francis Morgan of Berkley, Virginia" U. S. Patent number 859,778, July 9, 1907, Machine for Inducing Artificial Respiration, Specification of Letters Patent.
  13. Statement of Arthur Frederick Ostrander, Sr, to Gregory B. Ostrander, December 24, 1976, explaining that he could not be listed on the patent as a minor, quote "Mother had to be on the patent because Daddy was too sick at that time and I was just a child".
  14. Poe's cure for death.|url=http://www.nemsmf.org/content/articles/george-poe-pdf.pdf%5B%5D (New Scientist, January 13, 2007 pages 50–51)
  15. Social Security Death Index of Arthur F. Ostrander, Jr.
  16. Cemetery records of Chesapeake Memorial Gardens, Chesapeake, Virginia.
  17. List of 50 Year Members of Chesapeake Avenue United Methodist Church, 1969, indicating membership starting in 1919, the year he married Annie Campen in that church. Harper, Raymond L., (2005). South Norfolk Virginia 1661–2005, A Definitive History, page 98.
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