John Wieting
John Manchester Wieting was an American lecturer and philanthropist. He spent his early years as a teacher and then as an engineer and grader. After moving to Syracuse, New York, he read medicine to become a physician. After purchasing anatomical models he began giving lectures across upstate New York, gradually expanding the reach and the size of his lectures. They were extravagant affairs, and Wieting became known as one of the era's most prominent anatomical lecturers.
He retired from lecturing at the age of 45 in 1862, and spent his remaining years traveling the world and engaging in philanthropic efforts, mainly aimed at the development of Syracuse. Wieting funded construction of the Wieting Opera House in the city, which was open until 1930 and became a place for Broadway plays to be tried out.
Biography
John Manchester Wieting was born in Springfield, New York, on February 8, 1817, to Peter Wieting and Mary Elizabeth Wieting. His grandfather, John Christopher Wieting, had immigrated to the United States from Prussia or Germany and fought with the colonists in the American Revolutionary War. After the war, John Christopher became an American citizen and moved to Minden, New York, where he was pastor of the Lutheran Church.Wieting started teaching at the public schools of Deerfield, New York, when he was fourteen years old, after his father's business failed. He reportedly spent his summers as a student at the Clinton Liberal Institute. He worked on a survey of the Erie Railroad in 1835 and two years later moved to Syracuse, New York, where he found employment as a civil engineer, working on construction of the Syracuse and Utica Railroad. Wieting surveyed Rosehill Cemetery and graded streets around the city. When not working, he studied medicine with Hiram Hoyt, a local physician, and was a physician's apprentice for a time.
Wieting eventually switched careers and become a physician. He also embarked upon a career as a lecturer, after purchasing the "lecturing apparatus" used by Austin Flint, chiefly a manikin and anatomical charts. He began lecturing across upstate New York in 1843, gradually expanding his performance in the years that followed. Ten years later, he owned six life-sized manikins which he could take apart and use to show over 1,700 body parts. He also owned models of organs and human skeletons. Wieting gave his lectures primarily about anatomy and physiology. While his wife maintained that these lectures were "modest and quiet", others such as Frederick Hollick criticized his talks as including "generally erroneous" and misleading explanations, specifically about contraception. Hollick also argued that Wieting had stolen portions of his work. In 1994 the scholar Janet Farrell Brodie wrote that Wieting's lectures were aimed at "shock and titillat audiences" and providing information on contraception information. His scientific lectures were very popular. They were also known for being dramatic affairs, with the stage carefully arranged and "dramatic lighting." In 1850 a Boston newspaper wrote of Wieting's lecture series at Tremont Temple: "such an immense rush was never caused in Boston before by any lecturer on scientific objects." Wieting gave over one hundred lectures in Boston alone. He retired from lecturing when he was forty-five years old in 1862.
Wieting also gained a reputation as a philanthropist working to develop Syracuse. He funded the construction of the Wieting Block and Wieting Opera House near Clinton Square, and its rebuilding twice after being destroyed by fire. In the late 1860s, Wieting became involved with the Cardiff Giant, a local archaeological hoax then believed to be authentic, attempting to purchase it for $25,000. A consortium of local businessmen including Amos Westcott, Amos Gillett, and David Hannum, emerged to challenge Wieting's bid. They soon joined forces with another group consisting of Simeon Rouse and Alfred Higgins. The owner of the Cardiff Giant eventually accepted their offer of $30,000 for ownership over Wieting's. Wieting reportedly became involved in arguing that the giant was a fraud after his offer was rejected.