The Legacy of an Iowa Pioneer Physician :: Fayette Community Library

The novel tells the forgotten legacy of Dr. Alexander Wiltse—who, in the mid-1850s, left behind his be-loved ancestral home in Ontario, Canada to establish new roots in Iowa. Initially, he and his family resided with relatives in Colesburg before moving to the Strawberry Point area, where he established his medical practice. His first clients were newly arriving immigrants — Indians, prairie banditti, and
chicken thieves.

When he meets Dr. A. B. Ward from nearby “Oxbow”—a village similar to the author’s hometown of Fairbank—the story begins to weave between the two communities. Together they aid authorities with murder investigations across Bremer, Clayton, Delaware, and Fayette Counties.

Eruption of Civil War in 1860 threatens to destroy Dr. Wiltse’s dream of making a better life for himself and his family in their new homeland.

“I wanted to write a historically accurate account of Dr. Wiltse’s legacy,” Passick added. “Europeans and Canadians were the first immigrants to arrive in Iowa. Two of the pioneer physician’s Dutch-
Canadian ancestors were among my beta readers to review book chapters as I wrote them. Residents
of Strawberry Point and Fairbank, along with a physician, and an expert in the Ho-Chunk language and
culture, were readers, too.”

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