Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois, Illustrated
1908, Volume II, Schuyler County, by Newton Bateman, LL.D. and
Paul Selby, A.M., Edited by Howard F. Dyson, page 772-773, a
reprinted by Stevens Publishing Co., Astoria, Ill., is sold by the
Schuyler County Historical Society, Rushville, Illinois.
Ball, Amos Willis, M. D. - the qualities which contribute to the
rounding of every successful carrerr - energy, industry, perseverance
and a high aim in life - find conspicuous expression in Dr. Amos Willis
Ball, of whose splendid skill and usefulness the city of Rushville has
been a witness since 1887. Dr. Ball represents that class of
scientists who have an ever widening horizon, and who recognize no
limit to the possibilities of their inexhaustible calling. His
opportunities, largely of his own creating, have been exceptional, and
comparatively few men in the county, and indeed in the State, are
better equipped for exercising the preprogatives of the art of healing.
Dr. Ball comes honestly by his predilection for medicine, as his
father, Joseph T. Ball, who was a native of Morgan County, Ohio, was a
practicing physican for many years both in his home State and at Ipava,
Fulton County, Ill., where the son was born August 21, 1861. The
lad proved an apt and ambitious student, completing his high-school
course in Ipava in 1877 at the age of sixteen years, and in connection
with his preliminaries studies, absorbing much of medical lore from the
books in his father's office. In 1883 he entered upon the three
years' course at the Missouri Medical College, St. Louis, and after his
graduation in the class of 1886, spent a year as his father's associate
in Ipava. During the fall of 1887 he came to Rushville, and the
people of that place were not slow to recognize the promise and ability
of the young practitioner who sought a foothold in the midst of their
increasing population and activities. Twenty years of practical
experience, of unremitting research, and fizity of purpose have
improved a hundred-fold the resources of this successful physician, and
he has left no stone unturned to keep abreast of the progress in his
line of work, and at whatever cost, to become familiar with the latest
developments of medical science.
From time to time Dr. Ball has pursued post-graduate courses at
the foremost centers of professional activity in this county and
Europe, attending courses at the St. Louis Post-Graduate School and
Hospital, studying also in New York; in London, England; in edinburg,
Scotland; and in Belfast, Ireland, and during 1897 availing himself of
the unrivaled opportunities afforded at Heidelberg, Germany. He
has attended clinics of the most famous physicians and surgeons in all
of these places, and it would seem that little remains to tempt his
craving for enlightenment. The Doctor's office is equipped with
the most modern of medical and surgical facilities, including an X-Ray
machine and Vibrator outfit; and he engages in a general practice of
his profession, leaning, however, towards the universal preference for
surgery and, in his case, the diseases of women. He is Secretary
of the Board of United State Pension Examiners, President of the
Schuyler County Medical Association, and a member of the State,
Military Tract and American Medical Societies. In political
affliation he is a Republican, is Chairman of the Republican County
Central Committee, has served as Alderman of the First Ward of
Rushville, was President if the Board of Education for several years;
in fact, has held about all of the local offices in the gift of the
people. Fraternally he is identified with the Masons, in which he
has taken the 32nd degree, and is a member of Mohamet Shrine, of
Peoria; Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, Modern
Woodmen of America, the Mutual Protective League and the B. P. O. E.,
Beardstown Lodge 1007.
The marriage of Dr. Ball and Anna R. Thompson occurred November
18, 1891, and of the union there is one son, John Maurice, born October
18, 1898. The doctor and his wife are members of the Methodist
Episcopal Church. He is a man of dignified and pleasing
personality, possessing tact, consideration, optimism, and many other
fine and almost indispensabel qualities which accompany the rise of the
foremost and most useful men of his profession.
