1895: Another Buchanan expert in Jargon…from Grand Ronde and Tulalip
This Edwin Buchanan was the uncle of Charles Milton Buchanan, who preceded him as the physician at Tulalip Indian Reservation.
Both are remembered as knowledgeable about Chinuk Wawa.
STRUCK BY PARALYSIS
Dr. Edwin Buchanan Found
Dead at His Home.CUT DOWN IN PRIME OF LIFE.
Formerly With the War Department
and Government Physician for In-
dians[…]One of the most popular medical prac-
titioners of the city passed away yester-
day afternoon with a suddenness that was
pathetic. Dr. Edwin Buchanan was a
man of charming personality, with that
perfection of form and outline and clear
skin rarely met with except in men under
the middle height, an eye long in shape
and soft as a woman’s, a nose prominent
and exquisitely chiseled, and a firm,
rounded chin. He had been practicing
here but little over a year, and yet had
many patients, and was exceedingly well
known. He was known, in fact, before
he came here to settle, from the position
he held for years as government physi-
cian of the Puyallup. Lummi, Swinomish,
Port Madison and Muckleshoot Indian
reservations.G.A. Burch, the insurance agent, has
been a bosom friend of Dr. Buchanan for
the last fifteen years, part of which time
they spent in Washington City together.
Yesterday afternoon, as was his Sunday
custom, Mr. Burch rang the bell at his
friend’s vine-embowered cottage, No. 916
Third street. Mrs. Buchanan, to open the
front door, passed the sitting room and
saw that her husband had rolled from the
sofa, where a few minutes before she had
seen him reading and smoking, on to the
floor. Intuitively, and from his position,
she divined something was wrong. She
knew who was at the door. She nervous-
ly tore it open.“Come in, come in; I think Edwin is
sick.”Mr. Burch rushed past her, raised his
friend to the sofa, remedies were hurried-
ly applied, but — his old friend had passed
away while he had been sitting on the
pretty porch waiting for the door to open.Edwin Buchanan was born in Alexan-
dria, of one of the old families of Virgin[i]a
in the New Year of 1858. In his youth he
worked in a drug store there, and later
entered Georgetown college, where he
passed with the highest honors of his
class. President Hayes had his atten-
tion directed to the bright young man,
and he made a personal appointment for
him in the war department, the portfolio
of which was then held by Robert T. Lin-
coln, who in time also became a warm
friend of young Buchanan. The position
was really given to him, not for any po-
litical reasons, but as a mark of encour-
agement to one who had already distin-
guished himself, and to afford him an op-
portunity to continue his medical studies.He continued in the war department and
in the study of medicine under Lincoln
and his successor, Endicott, and was then
appointed to the Indian service, first at
Grand Ronde, Or., where he remained
two years, and from where he was re-
moved to Puyallup. He became an expert
in Chinook dialects, and his Indian col-
lections from time to time have been nota-
ble.The sad death of Dr: Buchanan occurred
about 2 o’clock . Drs. Montgomery Rus-
sell, William Shannon and H. D. Kline
were called in and decided that the cause
of death was heart disease. The doctor
sat up with patients on Thursday and
Friday nights, and was also busily occu-
pied with patients until far into the night
of Saturday. Yesterday he breakfasted
between 11 and 12 o’clock and ate a hearty
meal. Then he lounged on the sofa to re-
view his cases, and after that took up
the Post-lntelligencer and his cigar. He
was a man of as regular habits as his
profession permitted, of good health, and
was bright and in good spirits half an
hour before he passed away: he was as
bright and cheerful as was his habit. His
wife had often seen him place his hand
to his heart after walking up hill, but he
had never complained.
— from the Seattle (WA) Post-Intelligencer of October 28, 1895, page 8, column 3
