USA > Illinois > Peoria County > Peoria > Peoria city and county, Illinois; a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Vol. II > Part 11
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Illinois claims Dr. Allison as a native son, his birth having occurred upon a farm in McDonough county. January 16, 1863. His parents are Andrew and Louisa (Russell) Allison, who were farming people of that section of the state. The son was reared on the old home place and his experiences were those which usually fall to the farm lad who divides his time between the acquirement of
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an education and the work incident to the development of the fields. He at- tended the rural schools and afterward became a student in Lincoln University, at Lincoln, Illinois. He was eighteen years of age when he left college and faced a situation which called forth all his latent energies, determination and ambition. He knew that he must depend upon his own labor for advancement and he purchased a run-down creamery, which he operated for two years, placing the business upon a substantial basis. His close application, his unremitting in- dustry and his careful management enabled him to acquire in that time a capital sufficient to pay his expenses while pursuing a course in Rush Medical College of Chicago. He had resolved upon the practice of medicine as a life work and for three years was a student in that institution, being graduated therefrom in 1886. Immediately afterward, he located for practice at Good Hope, Illinois, where he resided for six years, or until he came to Peoria in 1892. Twenty years have since come and gone and each year has seen him at a higher point than he had reached the preceding year. He has been a close and discriminating student of his profession, has been most conscientious and faithful in the per- formance of his professional duties and at all times has held to a high ethical standard in his work.
In 1887 occurred the marriage of Dr. Allison and Miss Carrie Potter, of Macomb, Illinois, and they now have one child. Cora Belle. Extending his social and fraternal connections as the years have passed on, Dr. Allison has become a thirty-second degree Mason and a member of the Mystic Shrine. He belongs also to the Creve Coeur Club. He gives his political allegiance to no party, keeping at all times well informed on the questions and issues of the day, and supporting the men and measures which were in his judgment to the best in- terests of city, state and nation. He has held some local offices, representing the fourth ward on the board of aldermen, and he has served as commissioner of health of the city of Peoria.
As a man and a citizen. he has yet to be viewed from another standpoint. Of large and liberal views in all matters of business, full of enterprise and be- lieving much in push and perseverance, he can always be found in the van of every movement looking toward the accomplishment of real and practical good. Of extensive acquaintance and very popular socially ; charitable to an extent al- together disproportionate to his means; unostentatious in everything; one of the truest men to his friends that ever lived : still in the vigor and prime of a remarkably eventful life, the work before him to do and yet unaccomplished is immense, but to the fulfillment of his destiny he will carry in the future as in the past, the matured and strengthened elements and accessories of a character that ultimately is to triumph over all obstacles and survive to be made stronger and better. He is no partisan. Cultivated and intelligent, he rises to the dignity of true statesmanship ; no narrow, or prejudicial or sectional opinions ever con- trol his conduct. He believes in our American nationality, and in his policies for the development of the physical, moral and intellectual improvement of the country, he embraces the whole of it, and all its parts.
Dr. Allison is an ex-president and was also at one time secretary of the Peoria City Medical Society and he belongs to the Illinois State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. He is now serving on the staff of the Proctor Hospital and is its secretary. This connection indicates plainly his high standing among his professional brethren, as well as in the regard of the public. He certainly deserves much credit for what he has accomplished. He bravely and resolutely met the difficulties and obstacles and overcame these by determined and resolute purpose, thus qualifying for the highest position in his profession and as a citizen, in both of which capacities he has made continuous advancement.
Dr. Allison is still in the vigor of manhood, and it is hoped, will be spared
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many years to witness the prosperity of the city he has already done so much for. His life record finds embodiment in the words of Pope :
"Statesman, yet friend to truth ; of soul sincere, In action faithful and in honor clear ; Who broke no promise, served no private end ; Who gained no title, and who lost no friend."
W. T. SLOAN, M. D.
Records show that early in the history of the ancient Egyptians, there were men of science-priests-who were professed medicine men and certainly their art of embalming demonstrates that they were familiar with methods unknown to us today. The East Indians believed in the virtue of certain amulets worn under direction of the priests. The Mosaic laws gave specific directions regarding med- icine and their being administered, but perhaps the first eminent name that has come down to us today as a synonym for matters medical, is that of the Greek god of medicine, Aesculapius, the son of Apollo and Coronis. Pythagoras, the famous Greek philosopher and mathematician, who lived from about 582-500 B. C., is believed to have promulgated the study of anatomy, but the father of Greek medicine was Hippocrates, who lived from about 460-377 B. C. The greatest Roman physician was Galen, who was born about A. D. 130. From the seventh to the tenth century, the Arabs began the study of medicine as a science, and then progressed no further, their greatest physician being Avicenna (Ibn Sina) surnamed the "Prince of Physicians," who lived about A. D. 1020. Later came upon the field Paracelsus, 1493-1541, the German-Swiss physician and al- chemist, and Vesalius, 1514-1564, the Flemish anatomist and court physician to Charles V. and Philip II., but the discovery of the circulation of the blood by Harvey, 1578-1657, expounded in his chief work "Essay on the Motion of the Heart and the Blood," 1628, gave the first great impulse to medicine as a science.
However, all of this research and study, while it prepared the way for the wonderful discoveries which came later, did little to enlighten the minds of the physicians as to the real causes and effects of disease.
Dr. Sloan whose name heads this biographical record has devoted his life to this profession, and he has been deservedly crowned with its choicest rewards. To attain the success which he has reached, he has never resorted to extraneous means or influences, or any of the arts by which popularity is sometimes pur- chased at the expense of science and of truth. He has risen simply by the same means which would have enabled any other person to have risen to his place, and without which no man, in any of the professions, but especially in that of medi- cine, can hope to achieve permanent distinction. There are heights to which even genius cannot soar, which can only be reached by patient, arduous, unre- mitting toil, unfaltering courage and inflexible determination to succeed. Dr. Sloan is a highly intellectual man, of quick perceptions and sharp discrimination. His being possessed of a thorough classical and medical education in combina- tion with his innate talents, explains also why he is a very successful practitioner. He loves science for science's sake ; is a hard student, and is enthusiastic in his efforts to cultivate and elevate the standard of the medical profession. He is also a public-spirited man, and has by word and deed, done much for the benefit of our city. He is a gentleman and a man of fixed principles-a man in the full sense of the word.
No general practitioner of Peoria is accorded a more extensive or-important practice than is given Dr. W. T. Sloan, a fact at once indicative of his broad skill and ability and his unfaltering devotion to the duties of the profession. He has
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DR. W. T. SLOAN
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practiced medicine in this city since 1894. and previously had twenty years' ex- perience as a general practitioner in Ehnwood, so that he has been connected with the medical fraternity of Peoria county for thirty-seven years.
He was born in Clarion county, Pennsylvania, September 28, 1849, and is the son of John J. Sloan. His boyhood and youth were spent upon his father's farm. where his experiences were those that usually fall to the lot of the farm lad who divides his time between the work of the school room, the pleasures of the play- ground and such tasks as are assigned by parental authority. After attending the country schools he engaged in teaching to some extent in his own county and later resumed his own education as a pupil in summer normal schools. He has always been a student of life's problems as well as of the literature of the different ages, and his knowledge has thus been continually augmented and broadened. Hc took up the study of medicine in Bellevue Hospital Medical College at New York city, from which he was graduated in the spring of 1874. His training was thor- ough and comprehensive and well qualified him for the onerous and responsible duties which have since devolved upon him in general practice. Following his gradnation, he came at once to Elmwood, Peoria county, and opened an office. The early cases which were given him proved him to be capable of solving the intricate problems that continually confront the physician and his practice steadily grew in volume and importance. For twenty years he continued at Elmwood and then removed to Peoria in 1894. His reputation had preceded him and he was not long in becoming well established in business here, having today the largest general practice in Peoria, his patronage coming from among the best families of the city. In addition to his general practice he is now serving on the staff of Proctor Hospital and he has also extended his connections to commercial inter- ests, becoming a director and the secretary of the Allaire-Woodward Company, manufacturing chemists of this city. He belongs to several professional societies, whereby he keeps abreast with the onward march of professional progress, hold- ing membership in the Peoria City Medical Society, the Illinois State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. Of the first named he was at one time president.
In 1876 Dr. Sloan was united in marriage to Miss Bertha Vandervoort, of Elmwood, a daughter of J. A. Vandervoort, and they are the parents of three chil- dren, of whom two are living, John and Helen, the latter the wife of James C. McRae of Indianapolis. Their daughter Eleanor, the wife of S. M. Russell, superintendent of the Toledo, Peoria & Western Railroad, died in 1908. John is a graduate of the Law Department of the University of Boston and was ad- mitted to the bar of Massachusetts. The family is very prominent socially and theirs is one of the attractive homes of the city, justly celebrated for its warm- hearted hospitality.
Dr. Sloan is well known in Masonic connections, having taken various degrees in the York and Scottish Rites and is now a consistory Mason and a member of Mohammed Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He is also a past eminent commander of the Knights Templar commandery, and in his life exemplifies the beneficent spirit of the craft. He belongs to the Peoria Country Club and is a prominent member of the Creve Coeur Club, of which he served on the building committee during the erection of its fine club house. His position as a citizen and in pro- fessional and social relations is a most enviable one, personal worth and acquired ability gaining for him well merited honor and esteem.
It is an appreciable fact that no man is held in higher esteem or nearer and dearer to the hearts of those comprising the home circle than the family physi- cian, and no one is called upon to make greater sacrifices than the medical man. No one who is so compelled to put aside all personal pleasures and convenience than he. It is also true of the family physician that many of his patients have paid him only in love and gratitude for he never stops to ask if his fee is forth-
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coming, but visits the penniless as cheerfully as the millionaire. Such is the record of Dr. Sloan, who has practiced in Peoria county for nearly four decades.
Upon many occasions Dr. Sloan was called in the dead of night to attend a patient who lived many miles away. In those days there were no automobiles, no electric cabs, and many of the roads were in a terrible condition. The physician was forced to trust to the instinct of his faithful horse and left matters blindly with him as the little sulky went swaying along in the midnight darkness. Often- times the good physician worn out with the worries and work of the day would be suffering from nervous headache, his great heart torn over the sufferings of others who needed him so badly. Once arrived at the home of the sick one, he not only was the family doctor, but the family friend, the family confessor and confidant, and oftentimes the family financier. The modern physician who con- fines himself to an office practice has no conception of the hardships of such a pro- fessional life as Dr. Sloan led, in the early days of his practice in Peoria county, nor does he experience the intense joy that falls to the lot of the old physician when he realized how dependent his people were upon his skill and cheering words.
Sometimes his visits led him so far from home that he went on horesback and would be away from his own home and its comforts for many hours and even days at a time. His family dreaded these trips, for he never spared himself, and would return exhausted from overwork and long riding. His sympathy was so great that he always suffered with his patients, fully entering into their lives, and the strain told upon him both in mind and body. Few properly consider what toil. what a wealth of expense, zeal, watchfulness, knowledge and supremacy of skill and talent was required in those olden days. It took patience and persever- ance, backed by estimable character and homely virtues to bring the physician of half a century ago out of the difficulties with which he was beset. What modern physician, fresh from his school and hospital, imbued with all the latest theories regarding germology, fixed in his ideas regarding antiseptics, used to every con- venience and appliance could battle successfully against the odds that confronted this brave pioneer in the medical field? Dr. Sloan had no hospital to which to send his patient when he felt he had exhausted his skill. He had no knowledge of so many recent discoveries to aid him, and yet he has seldom failed to save the life of a patient unless the disease was one no human power could arrest.
To have lived as he, to have done what he did, to have accomplished so much of good and so little of evil, is to have worked out the great problem given all to solve, successfully and brilliantly, and no man can do more.
HERBERT T. LANDAUER.
Among the well established attorneys at law in Peoria is Herbert T. Land- auer, who has offices at 601 Observatory building, having been engaged in gen- eral practice in this city since 1896. He was born in Canton, Illinois, May 15, 1869, a son of Moses and Sarah Landauer. The father was engaged in the mer- cantile business for many years and the mother was a daughter of Squire Thomas M. Hamilton, who was one of the first white men to settle in Fulton county, Illinois. The mother died in 1882 at the age of forty-eight years, being interred at the Greenwood cemetery, Canton, Illinois. The father is now resid- ing in Jersey City, New Jersey.
The public schools of Canton furnished Herbert T. Landauer with his primary education and he was graduated from the high school of that place in 1890. After his graduation from that institution he entered the University of Mich- igan, taking the law course, and after one year was graduated with honors, re- ceiving the degree of LL. B. Upon his return from Ann Arbor he practiced
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law at Canton, Illinois, in partnership with Hon. O. J. Boyer, when he removed to Pine Bluff, Arkansas, for the practice of his profession, which he pursued at that point for three years, after which he returned to Canton, remaining there for a short time, later coming to Peoria with Meredith Walker, with whom he had formed a partnership while in Canton. This partnership was continued in this city for two years and was then dissolved, Mr. Landauer succeeding to the firm's business in Peoria. Since that time he has remained alone in the prac- tice of his profession which he has prosecuted with uniform success. He holds certificates entitling him to practice in Illinois, Michigan, Arkansas and the United States courts. He is a member of the Peoria County Bar Association and by constant reading keeps pace with the constantly changing legal enact- ments and supreme court decisions. His political allegiance is given to the re- publican party and he is at present chief inspector of the city streets and pave- ments under Sherman W. Eckley, commissioner of public works of the city of Peoria. During nearly the score of years which have marked the residence of Mr. Landauer in Peoria he has formed a large acquaintance in this city and throughout the county and has built up a very satisfactory law practice. His clients are representatives of practically all classes and the attention which he gives to business entrusted to him and the success which he has before courts and juries give him an excellent standing in the community where he is greatly respected.
WILLIAM HENRY EASTMAN.
Throughout much of his life William Henry Eastman was connected with public office and the record which he made placed his name high on the list of those who in positions of political preferment have conferred honor and dignity upon the communities which they represented. For fifty years he was a prom- inent and well known citizen of Peoria.
He was born in New York in 1831 and died in this city on the 20th of Janu- ary, 1902, being then about seventy-one years of age. His education was ac- quired in the schools of the Empire state and in 1851, when a young man of twenty years, he came westward, establishing his home in Peoria. The follow- ing year he accepted a position as engineer on the first railroad that entered the city-the old Peoria & Oquawka road, which is now a part of the Rock Island & Pacific Railroad system. He followed that occupation for many years and finally removed to Yates City, where he invested his savings in a mercantile enterprise, continuing as proprietor of that store for several years.
In 1869, however, Mr. Eastman withdrew from independent business con- nections and entered the government service as a gauger, occupying that posi- tion for nine years, or until 1878. The greater part of his life from that time on was spent in public office. He served as alderman of Peoria for one term. representing the first ward in 1891. In 1894 he was elected justice of the peace and continued in that position until 1808. He then retired from active life at the age of sixty-seven years, spending his remaining days in the enjoyment of well earned rest. In all public positions he was loyal, his duties were promptly performed and his faithfulness and integrity were ever beyond question. He was a well known advocate of republican principles, kept well informed on the questions and issues of the day and took a deep and helpful interest in every- thing pertaining to the welfare of his city.
Mr. Eastman was married twice. His first wife died in 1898 and the three children of that marriage have also passed away. On the roth of October, 1899, occurred his marriage to Miss Lydia Knupp, a daughter of Frederick and Ann Knupp, who were natives of Switzerland and on coming to America settled in
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Philadelphia. In 1870 they became residents of Peoria, where the father en- gaged in carpet manufacture.
Mr. Eastman was a great reader and had a well selected library. He also loved music and travel and along those lines secured rest and recreation. He was a prominent Mason, holding membership in Illinois Lodge, F. & A. M .; Peoria Chapter, R. A. M .; Peoria Commandery. K. T .; Peoria Consistory. A. A. S. R .; and Mohammed Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He was likewise a member of Electa Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star and extended his membership relations to the Knights of the Maccabees, belonging to Peoria Tent. His religious faith was that of the Methodist denomination, his membership be- ing in the Madison Avenue church. His life was ever honorable and upright, in harmony with his professions, and he endeavored to choose only that which is best in the development of character, which he recognized as the most highly prized possession that is given to man.
LEWIS M. HINES.
Lewis M. Hines has since 1906 been numbered among the county officials of Peoria county, filling the office of treasurer at the present time. He was previous to that time identified with agricultural interests and in both connections has made a creditable record. Peoria county numbers him among her native sons, his birth having occurred May 30, 1858. His father, John Hines, came from Coshoc- ton county, Ohio, to Illinois, in 1835, when a lad of ten years, making the trip in company with his father, John Hines, who settled in Richwood township, where he spent his remaining days, his time and energies being given to farming. To the same work his son and namesake turned his attention and for a long period was a representative of agricultural interests in Richwood township, where he carefully directed his labors and won a substantial measure of success in tilling the soil. He was a public-spirited citizen, active in support of all the measures and projects which he believed would prove beneficial to the community. In politics he was a stanch republican, never faltering in his support of the party, which he believed was most likely to conserve the interests of good government. Wherever he was known he was held in high regard and a long and useful life brought him to an honored old age, which was terminated by death in 1903. He married Laura Corrington, a native of Hamilton county, Ohio, a daughter of Washington Corrington, who was a farmer by occupation. Mrs. John Hines still survives, as do all of her nine children, namely: Lewis M .; John B., who is living in Peoria county ; Mary E., who makes her home with her mother; Charles W., a resident of Peoria county, Illinois; Walter Sherman, living in Peoria; Gilbert B., who is located in Dunlap, Illinois ; Mrs. Laura A. Sammis, of Chillicothe, Illi- nois; and Everett and Winfred, both of whom are residents of Richwood town- ship.
The public schools afforded Lewis M. Hines the educational privileges which he enjoyed and which qualified him for responsible duties in later life. He worked upon his father's farm when not busy with his text-books, continuing on the old homestead until twenty-one years of age, when he started out in life on his own account as a farmer of Richwood township. He was identified with gen- eral agricultural pursuits until he reached the age of forty-eight years but now leases his land to one of his sons. He became a prosperous agriculturist because his labors were practical and his industry unfaltering. He added to his place all modern improvements and equipments and as he prospered, increased his hold- ings until he was recognized as one of the substantial residents of his community.
Mr. Hines has never neglected his duties of citizenship and at all times has contributed to public progress to the extent of his ability. For nine years he
LEWIS M. HINES
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served as school director in his township and was also school trustee for three years. The cause of education has ever found in him a warm friend, and he did all in his power to uphold the standard of the schools. For two years he filled the office of supervisor and in 1906 he was made the candidate of his party for the office of sheriff, to which he was elected for a four years' term. He dis- charged the duties of that office fearlessly and faithfully and the excellent record which he made in that connection commanded for him further official honors, so that in 1910 he was elected county treasurer and is now the incumbent in that position. He is proving equally faithful as a custodian of the public funds, his record being at all times characterized by faithfulness and promptness in the discharge of his official duties. He has been an active supporter of the republican party since age conferred upon him the right of franchise and keeps well in- formed concerning the salient questions and issues of the day.
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