J.M. BARSTOW is one of the leading physicians and surgeons of the city. He was born in Fulton County, Illinois, September 10, 1854, son of Samuel and Eleanor (Coulson) Barstow. The latter is of English descent, and a native of Illinois. Samuel Barstow was born in Muskingum County, Ohio. He and his wife came to Mills County, Iowa, October 1855 and settled on a farm twenty miles south of Council Bluffs, and in 1871 came to Pottawattamie County, Iowa purchasing their present farm six miles south of Council Bluffs where they still reside. They had three sons and two daughters, all living: James M., our subject; Rozeltha, wife of Joseph Stoker, farmer of Mills County Iowa; Alice J., wife of Edward McIntyre, farmer of Harrison County, Iowa; Miss Ena H., teacher in Bloomer School, Council Bluffs; Guy E. resides with his brother, Dr. Barstow.

Dr. Barstow was but a year old when his parents came to Mills County, Iowa. He first attended a subscription school in a slab house in Mills, afterward the district and public schools. He also attended the Bellevue High School of Bellevue, Nebraska, two terms; then taught during the summers, and attended school during the winter; also attended college at the Methodist Seminary at Glenwood, Mills County. He then taught four years and accumulated money sufficient to take his first course of lectures at the Keokuk College of Physicians and Surgeons. He continued to earn the money during vacations to pay for his tuition and expenses at the college, from which he graduated in March 1880. While a student at the Medical College he was a very hard worker, pursuing not only the regular course of studies, but also taking private instruction from eminent members of the faculty in diseases of the eye and ear and also in obstetrics. After his graduation he immediately began the practice of medicine in Council Bluffs, but, being very ambitious of taking a high place in his profession, he took the first opportunity of going to Bellevue Medical College, New York City, where he had the advantage of the instruction, both theoretical and practical, of the most eminent physicians and surgeons of the day, and also the immense advantages of hospital practice. He graduated from this college in March 1884 having taken special instruction in practice, surgery, obstetrics and diseases of women and children, aside from the regular course of lectures and hospital processes. After his graduation at Bellevue he again resumed his practice at Council Bluffs where he has been rapidly and steadily working his way into the front rank of the profession in Council Bluffs, which city numbers among the profession the ablest physicians and surgeons in western Iowa.

Dr. Barstow is a member of the Presbyterian Church; is one of the staff of the Pottawattamie County Asylum for the Insane, both visiting and consulting; also of St. Bernard's Hosptal. He enjoys the confidence and respect of all who know him. The doctor has been very successful in his practice, and by reason of his kindly manners and painstaking care he is well liked by his patients. Both he and his wife are popular socially. Dr. Barstow belongs to the State Medical Society, is a member of the Medical Society of the Missouri Valley, and also of the Council Bluffs Medical Society, and has been president of this latter society. He is in vigorous, robust health, capable of a great deal of hard work and study; honest, frank and manly in his character and demeanor, imbued with a generous ambition, and possessed of the advantages of a strong mind and thorough, practical education and training.

Contributed by: Darlene Vergamini