Hull, Alexander, MD bio

Portrait and Biographical Album of Fulton County, Illinois: containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county: together with portraits and biographies of all the presidents of the United States, and governors of the state; Biographical Pub. Co., Chicago, IL; 1890; page 191-193; Transcribed by Margaret Rose Whitehurst
Alexander Hull, M. D., of Lewistown, is one of the most eminent members of the Medical profession in Central Illinois, and not only has he been honored and distinguished as a physician and surgeon who has met with more than usual success in his chosen profession, but for his excellent record as a civic officer, and for the part he has always taken in the cause of education and other interests tending to advance the material prosperity of the county. He has also shown himself a business man of more than ordinary ability, and although he has been very liberal and charitable to the poor, and has given largely of his means toward the support of all projects tending to alleviate human suffering and promote their happiness, he has acquired a large competency, and is regarded as one of the wealthy and most influential citizens of this county. Among those inseparably identified with the advance of this count, is Dr. Hull, whose portrait appears on the opposite page, and before giving a more extended mention of his history, it might be well to give briefly that of his ancestry. His paternal grandfather, John Hull, was of English descent but a native of Maryland, from which place he removed to Virginia, near Harper’s Ferry, in 1798. Thence, in 1807, he, with a large family, four sons and seven daughters, removed to Licking County, Ohio, not in wagons, but on pack-horses and on foot, through an unbroken wilderness, inhabited most by Indians, and only now and then a white man to be seen. Here he passed the remainder of his life, surrounded by most of his children, until the time of his death, at the age of eighty-five years.
His son Philip, the father of our subject, was born in Harrison County, Md., in 1795, and was twelve years of age when he accompanied his family from Virginia to Licking County Ohio. He there enlisted in the War of 1812, and by reason of his services drew a pension in his old age. There also in 1820 he married Sarah, daughter of Alexander McCracken who was born in the North of Ireland but of Scotch ancestry. During the Revolutionary War he was brought to this country very much again his will as a soldier in the British Army, was taken prisoner by the Americans and not released until the close of the war, when he returned to his native isle. But so well pleased was he with what he saw in America, that he soon came back and settled near Brownsville, Fayette County, Pa. Shortly afterward he married a Miss Eaton, and they made this their home for many years, and in the meantime reared a large family of children. While yet in Ireland he was converted to Christianity under the influence and preaching of Adam Clark, and soon after he united with the Methodist Church, and became noted as a minister. In 1817 he and family removed from Pennsylvania to Muskingum County, Ohio, where he resided until his death at the advanced age of nearly ninety years. He performed most of the marriage ceremonies and preached the greater number of the funeral sermons within the vicinity of his home for one third of a century in the early days of Ohio, as many of the older people of this county who knew him there can attest.
In the fall of 1838 Philip Hull left Licking County, Ohio, to seek a home in the then Far West, and accompanied by his wife and children made the trip overland in wagons to Fulton County arriving in Lewistown on the 10th of December. In the spring of 1839 he bought and moved on to a tract of land one hundred and sixty acres, near the present site of Smithfield, on which was a log cabin and a few acres of land fenced and broken. After living in the cabin for a short time a comfortable frame house was built, and the farm was otherwise improved; but for many years deer and wild turkeys were plenty in the neighborhood and throughout the county. In the all of 1845 he, in company with many of his neighbors, hauled wheat in wagons to Chicago, two hundred miles distant, taking with them provisions and horse feed, camping out, consuming three weeks in making the trip. They sold their wheat at forty-seven cents per bushel, and bought such articles as were essential to the family and returned, being well pleased wit their trip and the speculation. These were the days of hard times, hardships and perplexities. There were then no railroads, nor were there any for many years afterward. But how changed the scenes, circumstances and conditions since then.
The parents of our subject continued to reside on the old homestead until 1865, when they sold it to Jacob Zigler, who now occupies it, and regards it as the best farm in Cass Township. They however soon bought another, within a mile of Lewistown, where they resided until the time of their death, which occurred in 1884 after long lives - sixty-four years having been spent together in happy married life. The father died at the age of eight-nine years, and the mother at the age of eighty-three, and both are interred in the Lewistown Cemetery. Their children all reside in Lewistown - one, a single daughter, and the other is married to James H. Randall, the father of Dr. R. A. and Philip Randall, who are engage in the drug business in Lewistown, the former being a finely educated physician and a graduate of Rush Medical College.
Capt. W. W. Hull, the only brother of our subject, made an overland trip to California in the pioneer days of that State, and remained there for several years. Returning home a short time before the Civil War he entered upon a mercantile business in Lewistown, but upon the breaking out of the conflict he enlisted in Company H, Seventeenth Regiment, Illinois Infantry, and was chosen Captain of his company, continuing as such until the close of the war. He merited the praise and high esteem in which he was held, as a true patriot and brave soldier. Since the war he has been regarded as one of the leaders of the Republican party, and has filled numerous office of trust and responsibility. In 1866 he was a candidate for Sheriff of Fulton County on the Republican ticket and although his party was largely in the minority he was beaten only two votes by the Democratic candidate, David J. Waggoner. The Captain was appointed Postmaster at Lewistown, serving in this as in other positions, with credit to himself, and it may be said of him that he was the only Republican Postmaster in Fulton County who held over and retained his position through the entire Cleveland administration. The Captain has one child, a son - Edgar - who is in the revenue department at Peoria.
Dr. Hull was but a mere boy when he came with is parents from Ohio to this county in 1838. Being anxious to obtain an education and the opportunities and means being limited, for only occasionally would a common or district school be taught and then only for three months in the year, he labored on his father’s farm in the daytime and studied at night. By dint of hard labor and close application to his studies, he fitted himself for teaching, and at the age of seventeen years taught his first school in his father’s neighborhood with credit to himself and to the satisfaction of his patrons. Thus he continued working, teaching and studying until he acquired a good and liberal education, including to some extent, the languages. His attention was quite early directed to the study of medicine, and as soon as he had earned and laid up a few hundred dollars he commenced to study with his cousin, Dr. Abram Hull, then of this county. After completing the office readings he attended a course of lectures at St. Louis, and the following year entered Rush Medical College, Chicago, from which institution he was graduated with honor in 1850, and in May, thereafter, he located in Cuba, this county, virtually commencing his practice where he was reared, and in a very short time his practice was large, lucrative and quite extended. He has performed numerous and difficult surgical operations; in fact there is scarcely an operation in the whole list but what he has performed, and with uniform success. In the practice of medicine he has always been successful, and always had a large business. For three years prior and up to the time he removed to Lewistown, which was in the fall of 1860, he had in his employ an excellent physician, Dr. LaFayette Gray, uncle to John A. Gray, a prominent lawyer of the Lewistown Bar.
In the memorable campaign of 1860 the friends of Dr. Hull induced him to accept the nomination for the office of Clerk of the Circuit Court and Recorder, to which he was elected. That he discharged the duties of his office in a satisfactory manner was abundantly proven by his re-election to a second term in 1864. The Doctor did not entirely relinquish his medical pursuits and the practice of his profession when elected to the office, as his official labors were performed very considerably by deputies. Yet he never lost sight of the various details of the office, and saw that everything was done in the very best possible manner, meanwhile keeping posted up in the medical literature of the day, and occasionally performing some important surgical operation. In fact it is said that some of the best and most important operations were performed while in office, and after he closed his connection therewith he entered again into the practice with his usual vigor and enthusiasm, and thus he has continued to the present time. Perhaps but few men outside of the large cities have performed more important surgical operations than he, and but few have had a larger experience in the treatment of chronic diseases. His knowledge of the profession and his long continued practice have given him an extended consultation practice.
Dr. Hull, as President; Dr. J. V. Harris, Secretary of Canton; and Dr, J. W. Welch, Treasurer, of Cuba, compose the Examining Board for Pensions at Lewistown, and have acted as such for five or more years. The fact that they are retained by the incoming and adverse administration, is proof that their work has been well and impartially done, and to the satisfaction of the Government and the soldiers as well. Perhaps but few Boards have been more painstaking in their examinations, or have treated the soldiers more considerately, carefully and kindly than this Board.
Politically Dr. Hull has always been identified with the Democratic party. He is a member of the Sate and other medical societies, and in reference to his views and ideas concerning the practice of medicine he is orthodox, liberal, and yet independent. He is a great reader, a deep thinker, broad in views, religious, philosophical and social. He has attained an enviable position as a man of influence in the county, which his course in life has been such as to win for him the admiration and esteem of a large circle of acquaintances. He has written frequently for medical journals, newspaper, etc., and wields a ready and pointed pen. As stated of him, he has always taken great interest in educational matters, and especially in his own town. He is President of the Board of Education in Lewistown, and has been for the last sixteen years. Dr. Hull is not only public-spirited and energetic, but he is social, cordial, and a man of good morals, strictly temperate in his habits, and possessing the manners of a gentlemen. He is well calculated to make and retain friends, and is one of the best known citizens of Fulton County.
Dr. Hull was married in November, 1857, to Miss N. Permelia Heckard, of this county, and they have but one child, a daughter Carrie, now twenty-three years of age and single. And upon her the father has doted and done everything in his power to elevate her socially, morally, and in educational and literary pursuits. Upon her in these directions he has spent thousand of dollars, and she has profited largely by it. She has attended the best colleges in Illinois and in the East, and is perhaps one of the best educated young ladies in this portion of the State. She is now taking musical instruction in Boston. In the case of Dr. Hull the fact is demonstrated that success is attributed to his energy and indomitable perseverance, and those qualities which give him

    “The strength to dare, the nerve to meet
    Whatever threatens with defeat
    At all-indomitable will.”