Wapello County IA Archives Biographies.....Bannister, Murdoch 1868 - 
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 June 28, 2013, 10:49 pm

Source: See Below
Author: S. J. Clarke, Publisher

MURDOCH BANNISTER, M. D.

Dr. Murdoch Bannister, who began the practice of medicine as a hospital interne
in Philadelphia in 1894, is one of the most able and successful physicians of
Ottumwa, where he located in 1895. He was born in Detroit, Michigan, December
25, 1868. His father, Dwight Bannister, who was born in Ontario county, New
York, February 3, 1833, prepared for and engaged in the practice of law as a
life work save for the period which he devoted to military service. He came of a
family in which the military spirit has always been strong. His grandfather,
Lemuel Bannister, was a captain of New York volunteers during the latter years
of the Revolutionary war. His father, Asahel Bannister, was a colonel of New
York troops in the War of 1812, and Dwight Bannister joined the United States
army in 1861, serving for ten years, winning the brevet rank of lieutenant
colonel. It was subsequent to that date that he established his home in Ottumwa,
where he became president of the Ottumwa Gas Company and thus continued in
active business connections with the city until his life's labors were ended in
death on the 30th of January, 1899. He married Lavinia M. Murdoch, who was born
in Springfield, Ohio, November 30, 1839, and survives him at the advanced age of
seventy-four years.

With the removal of the family to Iowa Dr. Bannister became a pupil in the
schools of Ottumwa, from which he was graduated with the class of 1886. He next
entered the Iowa State University, in which he won the Bachelor of Science
degree with the class of 1891. He then took up the study of medicine in
preparation for a professional career and won his M. D. degree at the University
of Pennsylvania in 1894. He was then appointed an interne in the Polyclinic
Hospital at Philadelphia, in which he spent about a year, and in 1895 he
returned to Ottumwa to enter upon the private practice of medicine. Some time
afterward he became connected with the gas business, with which he was
associated for a few years, at the end of which period he sold the gas plant in
1899 and resumed the practice of medicine. He was medical examiner of the
Burlington Voluntary Relief in 1896-7. For eight years he was a member of the
examining board of the United States pension department and has also been a
member of the Board of Control of State Institutions. His knowledge of the
science of medicine is comprehensive and exact and continuous reading and
investigation keep him in touch with the advanced work of the profession. He is
a member of the Wapello County Medical Society, the Des Moines Valley Medical
Society and the American Medical Association, and of the first two he has been
honored with the presidency, indicating his high professional standing among
those most familiar with his career. He is the author of the chapter in this
work dealing with the history of the medical profession in Wapello county.

On the 7th of September, 1904, Dr. Bannister was married, in Ottumwa, to Miss
Keota W. Williams, youngest daughter of the late Morris J. Williams, judge of
the district court. He was one of the pioneer attorneys of Wapello county and
was recognized not only as an able and learned lawyer but also as a man of high
character. Dr. and Mrs. Bannister are parents of two sons, Dwight Morris and
Burn Williams. The family attend the Congregational church, to which Dr. and
Mrs. Bannister belong. He is also a member of the Country Club, and his
fraternal relations are with the Masons, the Ancient Order of United Workmen,
the Royal Arcanum and the Homesteaders. His political allegiance is given to the
republican party, but he has never had inclination for office, preferring to
concentrate his energies upon his professional interests, which are making
increasingly heavy demands upon his attention. His professional standards are
high, and he is most conscientious in the performance of his duties.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:
HISTORY OF WAPELLO COUNTY IOWA
ILLUSTRATED
VOLUME II
CHICAGO
THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY 1914


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