Iman Wisse, M. D.
Iman Wisse, M. D., of No. 18 West Bridge street, Grand Rapids, Mich., was born in the province of Zeeland, Holland, March 7, 1854. He was educated at the academy in Middleburg, in the classics, higher mathematics, language, etc., and in the same city took a course in theology, but later changed his views with reference to a life profession, and entered upon the study of medicine. April 18, 1875, he married Miss Maria Barbara Van Page, to which marriage two sons were born in the mother country, one of whom, Andrew, the younger of the two, died at the age of three years. In 1879 Mr. and Mrs. Wisse, with their remaining child, came to America, and on reaching Grand Rapids had in their possession a capital of eleven dollars.
Although well versed in his native language and in German and French, this knowledge was of little avail where English was the predominating tongue. His professional education had not been completed, yet the laxity of the laws of Michigan justified him in entering upon the practice of medicine, but he did not at first confine himself to this alone. He taught music, did clerical work, or any other that was honorable, chiefly for those who spoke his native tongue, and while his medical practice was his mainstay, it was three years before he felt able to enter a medical college. In 1884 he matriculated at the college of Physicians & Surgeons at Chicago, Ill., graduated with honors in 1886, and returned to his practice, which had been irregularly maintained during his college vacations. Promptness became his watchword, and no day was too inclement or night too dark to preclude his instantly answering a call to the bedside of a sufferer, regardless of the question, "who is to pay?" But this assiduity met with its reward, and now, instead of "eleven," he counts his dollars by multiples of thousands.
Dr. Wisse’s profound knowledge of gynecology has given him a wide reputation, and he has frequently been called to treat chronic female troubles to the states of Iowa, Illinois and Indiana. But the doctor has a hope of soon retiring from active practice, and has recently engaged in a semi-professional business, having established a plant for the manufacture of two of his own specifics-"Angeline" and Iman’s Compound," which have been already generally introduced into the drug trade, and have met with unqualified popularity.
Iman’s Compound is now known as one of the leading medicines of the age and is found in all of the leading drug stores of Michigan, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. This prescription is the result of wide experience and careful research, and is now making his name famous from its good results. Angeline, a toilet preparation in a beautifully decorated bottle, is now known as one of the most desirable articles in that line, and is used by thousand who herald its praises.
Of the doctor’s four children, three still survive, viz: Cornelius, Diana Johanna and Johanna Phebe. The son, Cornelius, completed a thoroughly elementary course of study in the Grand Rapids high school, later graduated from the Illinois Medical college, and is now one of the leading young physicians of South Chicago; the two daughters, both born in Grand Rapids, are accomplished young ladies, and materially aid their father in the detail work connected with the sale of his specifics. The family are all members of the First Presbyterian church of Grand Rapids, and their social standing is with the elite of the city. Dr. Wisse is an active member of the Michigan State Medical society, has been one of the most successful physicians and surgeons of the state, and justly deserves the high esteem in which he is held by the profession and the public at large, and future generations will bless the day that brought him to America.