USA > Illinois > Macoupin County > History of Macoupin County, Illinois : biographical and pictorial, Volume II > Part 19
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73
As Charles W. Soapes grew to manhood he assisted upon his father's farm and in the district schools of Dorchester township he received the rudiments of an education. He continued at home until twenty-two years of age and then began business upon his own account by opening a butcher shop at Bunker Hill. Later he came to Staunton and for six months worked at a coal shaft. At the end of this time he became clerk in the general store of H. A. Jones, of Staunton, and continued in that position for three years, during which time he gained a practical knowledge of business that has been of great advantage to him in conducting his own affairs. Ten years ago he entered the feed business with which he has ever since been connected. He erected a warehouse on the same grounds as his home, on Main street, and is at the head of one of the most flourishing feed stores in the city, many of his patrons being among the largest buyers of the community.
198
HISTORY OF MACOUPIN COUNTY
In 1900 Mr. Soapes was married to Miss Tillie Hiffmann, a native of Staunton, and they have three children, Ralph, Kenneth and Lorine. Mr. Soapes is not identified with any denomination but his wife is a valued member of the Lutheran church. He is prominently identified with the Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias and the Modern Woodmen of America, and in politics gives his support to the democratic party. He filled the office of highway commissioner for nine years and is now serving his second term as 'a member of the board of county supervisors, and has discharged his duties with a fidelity that meets the warm approval of taxpayers. Having early learned to depend upon himself, he developed a judgment that has greatly assisted in his advancement as a business man and also has proved of material benefit to him in other relations of life. A man of decision of character and knowledge gained by direct contact with the world, he is justly esteemed for his integrity and can claim a host of friends throughout this section.
ALBERT CAMPBELL CORR, M. D.
The symbolic letters which follow the name indicate the professional service to which Dr. Corr devoted his life, but the character of the man is perhaps best told in the words of one who wrote: "He was a Christian gentleman-a type of that pure and noble manhood that elevates and educates humanity to a higher station, and his life was spent in doing good and uplifting his fellow-beings to that higher, nobler and better elevation where God intended his children should be." Such was the man whose life record should call for more than passing attention from the readers of this volume. In it is much food for thought, indi- cating the possibilities for accomplishment in material things, in the intellectual world and in the higher realm of the spirit.
Dr. Corr was born in Honey Point township, Macoupin county, February 10, 1840. The ancestry of the family is traced back to England, although the pa- ternal grandfather of Dr. Corr was a native of Virginia and lived in King and Queen county. His father, the Rev. Thomas Corr, was born in that county in 1800, but when quite a young man became a resident of Kentucky and when nineteen years of age was there married to Miss Preshea Wood, who died in Monroe, Iowa, October 9, 1888, at the age of eighty-six years. It was in 1834 that Rev. Thomas Corr, traveling by steamboat and wagon, came to Illinois, where he resided until called to the home beyond in 1852. He was the father of twelve children, three of whom served in the Civil war.
Primitive methods of instruction, such as were afforded in the pioneer log schoolhouses, gave Dr. Corr his early advantages, but not content with his men- tal training he himself made the plans for his further education. Farm work early became familiar to him and, when his elder brother at the outbreak of the Civil war enlisted, the development and cultivation of the farm largely devolved upon him. In 1863, however, he managed to enter upon a year's course of study in Blackburn University, from which at a later day he received his Master's de- gree. Patriotism supplanted all other dominant qualities in his nature. In May,
DR. A. C. CORR
201
HISTORY OF MACOUPIN COUNTY
1864, he joined Company F, One Hundred and Thirty-third Illinois Infantry, with which he served for four months, having to pay a farm hand twenty-one dollars per month, while he received but thirteen dollars. His brother Frank, being the elder, had claimed the privilege of going first to the field and had been killed in the battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas. Three brothers of the family and two adopted brothers went to the front.
At the close of his military experience Dr. Corr assumed the management of the farm and at the same time utilized every possible moment for the study of medicine. In October, 1865, he entered Chicago Medical College for a three years' course of study and was graduated March 4, 1868, being the first physician in Macoupin county who had such an extended course of preparation. The same year in which he entered college Dr. Corr wedded Miss Lucinda Hall, who con- tinued teaching school nearby that she might look after the interests of and care for his aged mother while he completed his medical studies. A sketch of her life appears below.
The professional services of Dr. Corr and his wife were perhaps the more effective because they were so closely related in other interests as well. He en- tered upon active practice at Chesterfield, where he remained for seven years, and then opened his office in Carlinville. At length the exposure of general prac- tice undermined his health and this led him to prepare for a special work, and after five years' study at home he pursued post-graduate work in New York, Baltimore and Chicago. From 1886 until his death he devoted his time exclu- sively to treatment of diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat, and his skill in this delicate surgery gained for him a merited reputation far and wide. Gifted as a writer, he held the confidence of the medical world and lent valuable aid with his pen in the science of diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat and their treatment, being a contributor to the best known medical and scientific journals of the country. Following his death the St. Louis Clinique said: "He was thoroughly devoted to his profession; and, while engaged in the special field, he was still in touch with modern medicine in almost all its branches. He could discuss with clearness almost any medical topic, and his remarks had an especially practical turn. He was a broad-minded, progressive, scientific physician ; was liberal in his views, but at the same time an uncompromising foe to all forms of fraud and quackery. He had done much toward shaping medical legislation in his state and opposed the adoption of any measures not favorable to the protec- tion of ignorant persons from the medical pretender." The East St. Louis Medi- cal Society in its memorial paper concerning Dr. Corr said: "He was a most genial and versatile man. He was educated and skilled not only in his chosen specialty, but in the general profession and in matters of art, science and litera- ture. Dr. Corr had faith in the medical profession and sought its dignity and elevation. He looked upon it as a sacred calling and indefinitely higher than a mere trade. The elevation of its standard was one of the main objects of his life. To this end he sacrificed every personal interest. He believed that medical organization was the best means to accomplish this end. He was an honored member and faithful attendant of numerous medical societies. He was frequently placed upon the most prominent committees and performed his work without a murmur. Probably not more than two or three men in the state of Illinois did Vol. II-10
202
HISTORY OF MACOUPIN COUNTY
more for medical societies or were better known in the medical profession than Dr. Corr. His contributions to medical journals were numerous, of a high order and usually pertaining to the welfare of the profession. He was deeply inter- ested in matters of public hygiene and wrote many able articles upon this sub- ject. In all the relations of life he performed well his part."
Dr. Corr's contributions to medical literature were many and valuable. His publications include the following: State Medicine and Sanitation, (1890) ; Anomalies in Opthalmic Practice, (1895) ; Medical Aspect of Crime-A Strong Plea for Moral Training, (1896) ; Little Things in Opthalmology, Three Papers, (1891); Vision: Its Physical Defects and Mode of Correction, for Teachers, (1890) ; Trachoma of the Conjunctiva, Not a Disease of Its Own Kind, (1895) ; First Clinic Ever Given in East St. Louis, Illinois ; A Case of Error of Refrac- tion Complicated with Esophoria, Producing Persistent Asthenopia, (1890, July) ; Relations of Opthalmology and Otology to General Medicine, (1901, July) ; Minor Diseases of Nose and Throat that Hinder Voice Culture, (1901) ; Choroiditis and Choroido-retinis in Young Persons, (1898) ; Specialism in Medi- cine : the Relations of the Specialist and General Practitioner, (1899) ; Advance in Opthalmology and Otology, (1899) ; A Resume of Opthalmology, (1900) ; Min- ute and Foreign Bodies Superficially Wounding the Eye, (1901) ; High Myopia, Operations for ; Symptomatic Relations of the Eye in Derangements of the Ner- vous System, (1902) ; The Relations of Catarrhal Conditions of Nose and Nasal Ducts and Errors of Refraction to Corneal, Conjunctival Diseases. Question of Priority Incidentally Involved, (1898) ; Influence of Nasal Diseases Perpetuating Diseases of the Eye, (Illustrated) (1899) ; Cyclitis, (1899) ; Anisometropia, a Case Showing the Necessity of Some Objective Method of Determining Refrac- tion, (Illustrated) (1902).
Dr. Corr was one of the promoters and charter members of the Macoupin County Medical Society, which was organized in 1873 and during the greater part of the time during the first decade of its existence he served as its secre- tary. In April, 1880, he was elected its president and in 1883 he prepared the decennial history to be used and during those years he had not missed a meeting and had contributed more papers than any other member. For more than thirty years he belonged to the Illinois State Medical Society and was its first delegate from Macoupin county. At Ottawa, in 1897, he was chosen its president and the same year was elected president of the Army and Navy Medical Society, which originated in the Illinois Medical Society. In 1893 by appointment of Governor Altgeld he was made a delegate to the Pan-American Medical Con- gress held in Washington, D. C., and later Governor Tanner made him a mem- ber of the Illinois State Board of Health, the governor having requested him to send in his name for appointment. He was then chosen president of the board, the interests of which were greatly promoted by his active and valuable service. He did much to secure legislation that would advance system among medical practitioners and prevent the whole body from having to bear the criticism that resulted from the acts of unscrupulous and unqualified officers.
Dr. Corr was editor of the eye and ear department for the Southern Illinois Journal of Medicine and Surgery, was a member of the local pension board of examiners of Montgomery and Macoupin counties for several years and later
203
HISTORY OF MACOUPIN COUNTY
was expert examiner of eye and ear for the Southern Illinois Pension Bureau, which position he was filling at the time of his death. He was also oculist on the staff of Henrietta Hospital in East St. Louis, and surgeon-oculist to the Air Line Railroad while in Carlinville and maintained a small private hospital at his home. His practical inventive genius was well marked. His schematic eye for use in practice and teaching with the opthalmoscope is the best of its kind even for post-graduate teaching. It is natural size and has the motions and measures for the emmetropic, astigmatic and myopic globe.
In February, 1902, Dr. and Mrs. Corr went to Southern Florida for the bene- fit of his health, which had been failing for several years. The change did not prove availing, however, and on the 2d of April he passed away. Few funeral services had been as largely attended. In the line of march to the cemetery were representatives of the Macoupin Medical Society and delegates from the East St. Louis Medical Society, the Dan Messick Post, G. A. R., and the Modern Woodmen camp, of all of which Dr. Corr was a member. His professional rela- tions extended beyond the local organizations and he was a very active member of the Southern Illinois Medical Association, its interests he did much to har- monize and was also made a member of the North Central Association. He be- longed to the American Medical Association and was active in its opthalmic sec- tion. His political faith was that of the republican party and he never regarded the obligations of citizenship lightly. He also belonged to the Methodist church and there was nothing narrow nor sectarian in his Christianity, but rather that great breadth of spirit which reaches out in sympathetic approval of and co- operation in all Christianizing influences of every denomination.
His fellow-members of the Modern Woodman camp wrote of him at his death : "He has gone in and out among us, faithful to all his vows, with a zeal for the welfare of the order and with a warm grasp of the hand and a word of cheer and sympathy for every neighbor in distress. He has lived an ideal life, exemplifying in a true, tender and loyal manner all that is best in the social, political and religious relations of man. As a friend of the poor and unfortunate, as one whose every motive was based upon a noble principle, as an admirer and friend of all who ever engaged in teaching the youth of our community lessons of wisdom, virtue and patriotism, he will be long remembered." One of his professional brethren said of him: "Dr. Corr was my friend and this means more than the usual term, for it tells the story of more than a quarter of a cen- tury. Beginning as a student and going on through the ups and down of a busy professional life, one unbroken chain of kindly, sympathetic good-fellowship. His qualities of mind and heart endeared him as a brother. To know him was always to know where to find him, true as steel." To Mrs. Corr, following the death of her husband, one who knew him well wrote: "He was a philanthropist in the truest sense of the word, his life being devoted to the elevating of his fellow-men. Lofty and noble in purpose, he was ever fearless in his defense of the right. He followed the light of truth and ever lived an upright, Christian gen- tleman. He was known best in his home life, as those who loved him most can testify. The beauty of his private character was ever uppermost there, and in the sanctuary of home was felt that personal magnetism which held the admira- tion of all. A generous friend, a devoted husband, he was honored in life as his
204
HISTORY OF MACOUPIN COUNTY
memory is revered in death." Such a spirit can never be lost to the world and must have stepped into a greater, more beautiful life when the door closed upon him, shutting him from mortal vision. But such a friend, so dear, so loyal, so great-hearted, can never be replaced to those who were intimately associated with him.
MRS. LUCINDA H. CORR, M. D.
The real value of an individual to his community or to his country is deter- mined by his serviceableness-the extent of his activity as a direct or indirect factor in the world's progress and benefit. Judged by this standard Dr. Lucinda H. Corr well deserves to be numbered among the prominent and representative people of Macoupin county where in the practice of her profession her work has been of great benefit to her fellowmen while in other connections, too, the high standards of life which she has ever maintained in relation to the home and to intellectual and moral progress have had their direct effect upon the public wei- fare.
Dr. Corr was born in Carlinville, Illinois, March 9, 1844, a daughter of Oliver Wiley and Deborah (Redman) Hall, the former a native of North Caro- lina and the latter of Virginia. Her paternal grandparents were James and Mary (Walker) Hall, natives of North Carolina, and her great-grandfather was William Hall, a soldier of the Revolutionary war, who married a Miss Holland. The maternal grandparents of Mrs. Lucinda Corr were John and Elizabeth (Fourth) Redman, the latter of German descent. Both Mr. and Mrs. Redman, however, were natives of Virginia and in that state their daughter, Mrs. Hall, was also born. She became the mother of Lucinda Hall Corr, who was reared in Carlinville and was educated in the public schools, after which she taught in the country and city schools. All through her student days she manifested spe- cial aptitude in her work so that she was able to take up the profession of teach- ing when but seventeen years of age, being first employed at Honey Point and afterward in Carlinville and other places. She was assistant principal in Carlin- ville when there were but three schools there, with a principal for each school, and at one time she taught in the Central Seminary in a building that, destroyed by fire, was the predecessor of the present brick structure. On the 20th of April, 1865, she gave her hand in marriage to Dr. A. C. Corr, who was then a medical student. She continued teaching school near her home that she might look after the interests of and care for the aged mother of her husband while he was com- pleting his medical studies. After her graduation she formed a partnership with her husband and opened an office in her native town. With characteristic unselfishness and a noble lack of jealousy, Dr. A. C. Corr, her husband, entered into all her plans and it was his sympathy that upheld her in her work as, step by step, she climbed the ladder of success, bravely and heroically winning her way, until today she stands triumphant among the best physicians and surgeons in the state. A radical in medicine as in everything else, Dr. Corr keeps well abreast of the times and in her house poor, sick humanity can find all the modern
DR. LUCINDA H. CORR
207
HISTORY OF MACOUPIN COUNTY
inventions and discoveries for its relief and the skill and courage to us them. "Have your plans been successful?" a friend asked not long ago when meeting Dr. Corr after a few years' absence. "Plans," said the doctor; "plans, I never had any plans. These things just grew upon me. You know I love my home and to have my own family in it, but the need seemed so great for a place where sick women and children could come for treatment and care that gradually the house has been enlarged and patients have come and we have really a hospital without intending it." Dr. Corr is an enthusiast in her profession and though a delicate woman, has strength and courage to perform surgical operations, if the case demand, that would try the strength and nerve of the strongest man. It was not for ease that she chose this most laborious of the professions, but because in her generous sympathetic heart she thought she could do the most good in it ; and the long list of those whom her care and skill have raised from beds of hopeless invalidism to health and strength proves her belief to be well founded. In her well-ordered hospital home everything runs smoothly under her guiding hands, while her Christian faith comforts and upholds "those who tarry for the coming of the angel who opens the way to the world whose portals we call death." Her cheery smile and sympathetic words bring strength and courage to those who await the slower coming of "One Who hath healing in His wings."
"While it is true," as the Book says, "A merry heart doeth good like a medi- cine," it is also true that "lightest hearts have often heaviest mourning," but whatever Dr. Corr's personal sorrows may be they are closely locked in her own breast with the secrets and sins of her weaker sisters, and that she "hath learned of sorrow sorrow's cure," hosts of care-sick, sorrowing women can testify. The loving heart that underlies her terse words, either quizzical or severe as the case may be, is too plainly apparent to allow even the disordered imagination of an invalid to be wounded thereby. Of the tender motherliness that is a strong trait in her character, though, alas to her has come no mother's crown, but few who know only of her busy life as author and doctor would have the least idea ; but the troop of wide-awake nieces and nephews who at different times have found a home under her roof can bear most loving witness to her maternal love and care. A younger sister found a mother in her, so also an orphaned giri and boy, the children of strangers. Both these girls are now happy wives and are mothers of children who are at once the torment and pride of their little foster grand- mother. Of the ideal home life of the Drs. Corr how shall we speak? The ten- der companionship and mutual helpfulness that like pursuits have engendered between them is as unusual as it is beautiful. Few men are capable of such living. A gray turbaned son of Arabia would call Dr. A. C. Corr "a brother of girls," a title purer and sweeter far than any that graced a knight of the round table. To an on-looker there would seem to be so many and diverging interests in Dr. Corr's home that no one but a general could keep them separate and make all run smoothly, but the bright-faced little woman who sits at her ease in her rocking-chair, talking on all sorts of subjects between office calls, has them well in hand and finds time besides by word of tongue or pen to aid the nine different societies to which she belongs. Some are for the further advancement of women, others for the elevation of the world at large, but all for the bettering of poor
208
HISTORY OF MACOUPIN COUNTY
humanity and all dear to the doctor's heart. This is a tame picture of the first woman doctor in Macoupin county. To the true woman, tender wife and faith- ful friend this little sketch is but a feeble offering faintly portraying the love and veneration of her character that fills the hearts of
Frances P. Kimball, St. Paul, Minnesota, Virginia D. Pearce, Meridian, Mississippi."
Throughout their married life Dr. Corr was the able assistant and ofttimes the inspiration of her husband in his labors. It has been said of them: "The home life of the doctor and his wife has had a golden thread reaching out from it to many families in this city. Being deprived of children of their own, they were always reaching out to help the orphans and homeless, believing that the childless home and the homeless child should be brought together.
It was her husband's wish that she should study medicine that she might be still more closely associated with him in all of his interests, and after reading with him for a time in 1871 she entered the Woman's Hospital and Medical Col- lege of Chicago, from which she was graduated in 1874 with valedictorian honors. She afterward pursued post-graduate work in New York and Chicago hospitals and in 1874 began practicing in Carlinville, her native town, where she has fol- lowed her profession continuously since. Her husband, then practicing in Ches- terville, joined her in Carlinville in March, 1875. Dr. Lucinda Corr continued in general practice until 1878, when the demand for her services in special lines made it necessary that she concentrate her entire attention upon the diseases of women, at which time she opened her home to receive invalids. She further pre- pared herself for this work at Bellevue Hospital and at the DeMilt Dispensary of New York city and has been very successful in the treatment of many diffi- cult. cases. She is the only physician in the county that has operated success- fully for vesicle calculus, vesicovaginal fistula, trachelorrhaphy and perinae- orrhaphy.
Dr. Corr is the first woman of Macoupin county to graduate from a regular medical college. In attaining her present high professional standing she had many obstacles to contend against that would have discouraged and embittered a woman of less firm character and heroic mold. The chief of these was the prejudice against a woman's entering the professions, particularly that of medicine, as it was thought especially unfit for a lady, and none in this section of the state had ever before thought of defying public opinion on that point by preparing herself for its arduous duties. Her success has vindicated her right to choose her own walk in life and has done much to modify the sentiment that a woman is unsexed or less womanly because she enters a field of labor that in times past was considered man's exclusive dominion, if she attempted to practice the healing art in any other capacity than that of nurse or of wife, mother or sister in the privacy of home.
Dr. Corr has represented the county in state and national medical associa- tions and was twice president of the Macoupin Medical Society of which she became a member in 1874 and of which she and her husband prepared a history called "Twenty Years of Medicine in Macoupin County, Illinois." She is serving her second year as vice president of the Carlinville Women's Club and has just
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.