History of Fulton County, Illinois; together with
Sketches of its Cities, Villages and Townships, Educational, Religious,
Civil, Military, and Political History; Portraits of Prominent Persons
and Biographies of Representative Citizens. Chas. C. Chapman & Co.,
Peoria, Illinois, 1879, page 932, Vermont Township
Dr. W. H. Nance was born in Floyd Co., Indiana, Dec. 24th, 1814,
a son of William Nance. He married Miss Susan, daughter of Joab and
Hannah Lane, April 14th, 1836, and the same year moved with his parents
to Columbus, Adams Co., Ills {Ill.}. He studied medicine under the care
of Dr. D. G. Stewart of New Albany, Ind., but did not complete a full
course of study till after moving to Illinois. In the urgent demand for
physicians at that time in Illinois, he entered into a full practice
without graduating, and continued for several years; but in the year
1848 entered the Medical Department of the University of Missouri,
located in St. Louis, and in 1849 graduated, and again resumed his
practice in Vermont, Ills. {Ill.}, where he had resided for some years
previously. For many years he enjoyed an enviable reputation as a
practitioner, and in the course of his arduous labors succeeded in
accumulating a very comfortable living. His father, William Nance, was
a native of Virginia, brought up on a farm in that State, and about the
year 1802 or 1803 was married to Miss Nancy Smith of Rockingham Co., N.
C. Soon after this they moved to Kentucky and remained one year, and
then crossed the Ohio into the dense wild forests of Indiana Territory,
and settled near the foot of the falls of the Ohio river, a short
distance below where the City of New Albany now stands. In 1811 William
Nance was a volunteer under Gen. Harrison (at that time Governor of the
Territory) in his campaign against the Indians, and was in the noted
battle of Tippicanoe. In 1836 he came to Adams Co., Ills. {Ill.}, where
he died in his 68th year, while Mrs. Nance lived to the good old age of
82 years.
Dr. Nance retired from active practice in 1862 on account of
serious injuries received by a fall from a buggy, and is now with his
good lady and youngest daughter enjoying the comforts of a retired
life, after the heat and burdens and cares and responsibilities of an
active professional career have disappeared in the distance.
