Wayne County
History & Genealogy
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Information from:
ILLUSTRATED AND DESCRIPTIVE SKETCH BOOK
OF
Wayne County, Illinois
By Paul F. Campbell 1903
Transcribed by Laurie Selpien
1903 Doctors of Wayne County
Physician of Fairfield, Illinois
Was born in Athens County, Ohio, February 15, 1845. He is the third of a family of twelve children of Archibald and Adeline (WOODWORTH) Bean, both of whom were natives of Ohio. Francis Bean was reared upon a farm and educated in the public schools of his native county, where he qualified himself for the profession of teaching. In June of 1862 he enlisted in Company H. of the Eighty-seventh, Ohio Regiment, and in September of the same year was captured at Harper’s Ferry, Paroled and sent home. After remaining at home for eighteen months he again volunteered, this time in the One Hundred and Forty-first Regiment, Company C, from which he was discharged in the fall of 1864. In 1865 he came with his father’s family to Wayne County, Illinois and settled in Lamard Township, near Jeffersonville. In April of 1870, he commenced the study of medicine, performing the usual preparatory reading under Dr. S. W. Vertreese at Fairfield Illinois. He graduated from the Medical College of Ohio in 1875, having previously practiced two years at Jeffersonville. He located at Fairfield in 1875, where he still remains. Dr. Bean was married in Fairfield, Illinois November 6, 1867, to Miss Nancy J. Koontz, daughter of Simon and Esther Koontz, of Lamard Township. She was born in Wayne County March 19, 1849. They have four children, three of whom are deceased. Ida may was born January 26, 1869 and died October 7, 1873; Ira O., was born August 25, 1872 and died November 28, 1891; Charles I., was born August 27, 1876 and resides with his parents and Wilsey R. was born October 28, 1878 and died November 28, 1897.
George Bean, grandfather of Dr. Bean, was born in 1789 and died on the 15th of May 1861. His grandmother Mrs. Ann TUCKER Bean was born in 1791 and died February 1, 1867. His grandparents on his mother’s side were Zebina and Mary BARKER Woolworth, the former was born in New Hampshire and died at the advanced age in Wayne County in the year 1873. The later was born in Boston and died in this county in 1864. Archibald Bean was born in November 1815 and died May 21 1870 They were married April 16, 1840 and had a family of twelve children, three of whom are now residence of Wayne County, five of whom are deceased, one Dr. Geo. Bean, living in Rutland, Ohio, one in East St. Louis and one in Oklahoma. Dr. Bean is a member of the G. A. R. and the I. O. O. F. orders and he and his family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Fairfield, he having been a member of this church since march of 1861.
Located in Fairfield
The doctor is the youngest son of Caleb and Lucy Hall. He was born October 4, 1851, and is a native of the state of Kentucky. When quite small his parents removed to Nashville, Illinois, where he received the principle part of his early education. Dr. Hall began the study of medicine in 1875 and graduated in 1878 from the Missouri Medical College of St. Louis, Missouri. He began practicing medicine the same year in Clinton County, and came to Fairfield the following year – 1879. He was married January 24, 1877 to Miss Phoeba Todd, of Clinton County, Illinois. They have two daughters living and lost one boy in infancy. The doctor owns 200 acres of land near Fairfield and a nice home residence in town. His office is located on the west side of Public Square and he does a general practice of medicine.
Fairfield, Illinois
Was born April 6, 1838, near Glasgow, Kentucky. He is the son of Caleb and Lucy Hall and came to Washington County with his parents at age fifteen years. He was married in 1860 to Miss Mary Wheeless, who died in 1865, leaving one daughter. The doctor was married again in 1867 to Miss Seddie Reynolds, who is also a native of Kentucky. They have one son T. R. Hall, who is also a resident of Fairfield. Dr. Hall, after completing common school education, attended the Presbyterian College in 1856. He attended medical school in Michigan at Ann Arbor in 1862 and in 1863 took a coarse in the Chicago Medical College. He began practice in Marion County, Illinois the same year that he finished the medical coarse in Chicago and early in 1864 moved to Fairfield where he enjoyed an extensive practice for thirty-nine years, with the exception of the winter of 1868-69, when he attended the Missouri Medical College of St. Louis, from which he graduated with a degree of Addendum. Dr. Hall conducted a drug store in Fairfield for a period of twelve years in connection with his practice but the store burnt in 1888 without insurance. The Doctor makes his residence at Grand Central Hotel, of which his wife is proprietress.
Located in Ellery
Dr. Harwood was born October 8, 1862, in the city of New York. His fathers name was Thomas H. and his mother’s given name was Addie. He was raised and educated in New York and was married October 21, 1881, to Miss Mary E. CONNELLY, of Philadelphia. To this union have been born three children, two boys and a girl, one of whom is now living- a boy, the others having died in infancy or when quite young. The doctor began his medical education at the Eclectic College of Bowdoin, Main, from which he graduated in 1883. He graduated from the University of New York in 1885 and from the University of New York City 1888-89. He was house surgeon of the Belleview Hospital of New York City in 1890. He attended the University of Berlin, Germany during the years of 1891 and 92, practiced in Paris, France from 1892 to 1894 and spent a part of 1894 in the New York City Hospital. In the later part of 1894 the Doctor came to White Heath, Illinois, where he remained until 1897, when the Spanish-American War broke out and he enlisted in the 2nd Illinois Volunteers, as a surgeon in the rank of Lieutenant. After the close of the War Dr. Harwood located at Ellery, of this county, and is enjoying a prosperous and extensive practice.
Located at Johnsonville
Dr. Johnson is a native of Tennessee. He was born in Wilson County, of that state, near Lebanon, June 29, 1829. his father, W. B. and his mother Mrs. Matilda Johnson, left Tennessee and came to Illinois in 1831. The doctor was raised and received his early education in Mt. Vernon, Illinois. He was married in 1857 to Miss Galbraith of this county, and located at Johnsonville in 1862. He has eight living children four sons and four daughters. Two of his sons are practicing physicians and two horticulturists. All of his daughters but one are married. Dr. Johnson received his medical education at the American Medical College of Cincinnati, Ohio, and has been in active practice for forty-eight years. He is one of the earliest settlers of Johnsonville and among the oldest practitioners of the county. He is a member of the National, State and Southern Illinois Medical Associations and was for years Vice-president of the Wayne County Medical Association. Dr. Johnson has a well equipped, office in Johnsonville and a pleasant home beautifully located in a fine maple grove. It was the doctor’s intention to have his residence appear in this book, but through some over sight we failed to get a photograph in time to have a plate made for printing it.
Physician and Surgeon, Located at Rinard, Wayne County, Illinois
Dr. Latham entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons of St. Louis, Missouri, in 1892, graduated in 1896 and in 1897 located in Rinard, of this county, where he has since been engaged in the practice of medicine. His business is strictly limited to his profession and his time is wholly devoted to his practice.
Located in Ellery
Among the most venerable practitioners in the medical profession of Wayne County we present the name of Dr. N. P. Merritt, of Ellery. The doctor was born December 26, 1826, in Breckinridge County, Kentucky. He received his early education in the city of Indianapolis, Indiana. Began the study of medicine in 1847, and to practice in 1851. He was first married in 1851 to Miss Eliza Chenneth, of Indiana, and the second time to Miss Nellie Nickolson of Kentucky. In 1864 Dr. Merrit enlisted in the army as surgeon. September 6, 1864, he received an appointment in regular army in which he served until January 1866. He moved to Wayne County and began the practice of medicine in 1871. He graduated from the Eclectic Medical Institute of Cincinnati in 1877, and located at Ellery in 1881, where he has been constantly engaged in an active practice since that time.
Eye, Ear, Nose, and Throat Specialist
Of Fairfield
Was born at Pittsfield, Illinois July 19, 1866. he is one of a family of doctors, both his father and his older brother being physicians in active practice at the present time in Pittsfield, the place of his birth. The subject of this sketch received his general education at Harvard University, from which institution he received his degree of Bachelor of Arts cum laude. His medical degree he received from the University of Vermont, taking with the ordinary diploma, which conferred the degree, a special diploma of examination honors. To equip himself for the work of a specialist, the doctor then proceeded to Europe, spending a short time visiting the hospitals of London and Edinburgh, and finally entering the University of Vienna, where he studied the eye, ear, nose and throat for two full semesters, and received hand written certificates of great skill. The doctor setting aside the glamour of practice in the larger cities, located for the practice of his chosen profession in his old home and birthplace of Pittsfield, Illinois and nothing speaks better for his reputation for intefgrity and fair dealing than the fact that in this his old home, he was able at the very onset, to fill his offices with patients. In a very few years, however the doctor’s health failed, the cause being chronic intestinal trouble, and he was obliged for a time to cease practice. Disposing of his practice to his older brother (who came to Pittsfield for the purpose of taking charge of it) the doctor rested for a time at Galesburg, Illinois. Here too his practice was very large from the first. Here again, his health failed, and from the same cause as before. After three years of unvarying success the doctor was once more compelled to abandon his practice. “ At this time” Says Doctor Shastid, “I was not expected to live very long. I was thin as a fence rail, and I weighed but 104 pounds. For a time I would be comparatively well, and then I would suffer severely from intestinal colic, accompanied by diarrhea. In this state of affairs it was obviously impossible to practice medicine, as I could never tell a day in advance whether I should be able to be on my feet the next day or not. However it was not all impossible to study; and as soon as I could, I went to the University of Michigan and entered Law school at that place and though I frequently lost from one to sixteen days at a time, I always made the time up, and so completed not only the law coarse but also the graduate-literary coarse for the A. M., and received the two degrees in the three usually required for the law degree alone. I studied however, not with the intention of practicing law, but simply because, next to medicine the law had always most interested me, and, further, because, at the time when I entered upon the study of law, I was fit for nothing else than to attend school. During the last year of my law work I completely out wore the disease which my friends and specialist had said would kill me. Today I am sound and hearty.” The doctor had been a frequent contributor to scientific journals. Two of his articles in particular attracted wide-spread attention. One was “Some observations made during a Treatment of Chronic Catarrhal Deafness” This was read by him before the American medical Association in 1896, and was afterward published by the “Journal of the American Medical Association” The other article was “A New Myringotome.” This was published in the “Archives of Otology” The doctor does not regard himself as in any sense a lawyer, never having practiced law a day, and saying, as he does, that the lawyer is not made in law school but in the mighty contests of the courtroom. He is proud, however, of his law-school connection with the law, and possesses many legal friends and acquaintances. Dr. Shastid is a member of The American Medical Association, of the American Academy of Medicine and the New York Medico-Legal Society. After all his vicissitudes, the doctor may be found now well and hearty, and enjoying a large practice, in his commodious offices over the First National Bank Building at Fairfield.
Located at Cisne
If there is any profession on which one can feel along with his work, a pleasure in doing good to his fellow man, it is the practice of medicine. The physician finds a fascination in administering that which will save life, relieve pain or mitigate suffering. It is a profession that may well command the best talents and the highest motives and incite the best efforts of a man for a whole lifetime, requiring a skill and education acquired by only a few years of labor and study. Practical experience added to these qualifications is very helpful to the practitioner. Among these successful physicians of long experience in Wayne County we present the name of Dr. C. T. Taggart, of Cisne. Dr. Taggart was born December 28, 1846, at Nashville, Indiana, where he spent his boyhood days. He is the son of Jas. And Mrs. Jane Taggart. He was married November 19, 1865, to Miss Emarine WILLIAMS, of Nashville, Indiana, his native home. To this union four children have been born, three of whom are yet living. Dr. Taggert attended the Central College of Physicians at Indianapolis, Indiana and graduated with the class of 1879. He began his practice at Nashville, his home and continued there until April of the year 1885, when he came to Wayne County and located at Cisne, where he has been engaged in active practice since that date. Dr. Taggart has also figured prominently in public affairs. He served four years in the army, during which time he received two severe gunshot wounds; he is a leading Democrat, has been a member of the County Central Committee and represented this district in the thirty-eighth General Assembly of the state of Illinois. The doctor is a leading spirit in the local lodges. He is a Mason, and Odd Fellow and a member of the G. A. R. post, the latter of which he is Commander. He has passed the chairs of all these orders and is a strong believer in the benefits of secret organizations. The doctor’s office is located on the east side of his residence on the north side of Public Square in Cisne.
Cisne, Illinois
In few professions do men endear themselves to their patrons as in the practice of medicine, and in this respect the subject of this sketch is no exception to this universal rule. Dr. Truscott is, by birth a native of this state and practically a life long resident of Wayne County. He is the son of Dr. William and Mrs. Jacinthia R. Truscott and was born at Elkton, Washington County Illinois, on the 26th day of September, 1861. His father moved to this county when our subject was only one year of age and from that day Wayne County has been his home. After completing his common school education he decided to teach and accordingly took the teachers’ coarse of Central Normal College located at Danville, Indiana, after which he spent four years teaching school before he began to prepare himself for the profession of his father, who served as an assistant surgeon in the army during the Civil War. Dr. Truscott attended the Miami Medical College, of Cincinnati, Ohio, and graduated with the class of 86’ as winner of first prize. After receiving his diploma the doctor returned to Cisne, where he swung his shingle to the breezes and began the practice of medicine. Success has been his portion and today he is numbered among successful practitioners of Wayne County. During ex-president Harrison’s administration, from 1888 to 1892, Dr. Truscott was a member of the Pension Board of Examining Surgeons at Fairfield, and is also a member of the Southern Illinois Medical Association. He has filled the office of Postmaster at Cisne since July 16th, 1897. The affairs of the post office are in the hands of competent assistants and unless out on a call, Dr. Truscott, is usually found at his office, located west of the schoolhouse in Cisne. Besides several pieces of town property the Doctor has acquired 540 acres of land in Wayne County, containing 25 acres of fine young orchard in bearing. Dr. Truscott has done more, during the last ten years in the way of building up Cisne, possibly, than any other man in town. He even built eleven new residences and one business house, besides remodeling others since and including and including a part of the year 1892.
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