Grundy County IL Archives Biographies.....Smith, Dr Alanson D 
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/il/ilfiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com March 25, 2006, 5:30 pm

Author: Bio/Gen Record LaSalle/Grundy 1900

Alanson D. Smith, M. D.

For twenty-nine years Dr. Smith has engaged in the practice of medicine in 
Morris, and through this period his skill and ability has been so marked as to 
win him recognition as one of the most careful and conscientious 
representatives of the profession in Grundy county.  He has been a close and 
painstaking student all his life.  There is no calling or business which 
imposes greater responsibility upon its followers, for life and death are in 
the hands of the physician.  An unskilled operation, a drug wrongly 
administered may take from man that which he prizes most – life, and the 
public accords its patronage only to those who merit and deserve its 
confidence.  For the past nine years, he has devoted a good deal of time to 
the study and treatment of the drug habits, namely:  the opium, liquor and 
tobacco habits.  By his methods of treatment patients addicted to those drugs 
are easily and promptly cured, without any suffering or ill after effects; the 
craving removed and the health restored, for those using those drugs to excess 
are both mentally and physically diseased; that being the cause of their 
inability to discontinue their use, until their health is restore and the 
poisons eliminated from the system.  The large practice which Dr. Smith enjoys 
is therefore an indication of his ability and attests his high rank in the 
medical fraternity.

Dr. Smith was born near Watertown, Jefferson county, New York, August 2, 
1845.  His parents, Eleazer and Maria (Derby) Smith, were natives of Vermont, 
the father born in Rutland, September 21, 1807, the mother in Huntington, 
August 28, 1815.  Nathan Smith, great-grandfather of the Doctor, was a native 
of Connecticut and served two years as a soldier in the French and Indian war, 
from 1755 to 1757.  Prior to the Revolution he removed to the Green Mountain 
state, where as captain of a company he joined forces of Colonel Ethan Allen 
soon after the battle of Lexington.  He aided in the capture of Fort 
Ticonderoga early in the struggle for independence and remained in the army 
with Colonel Allen during the war.  The Doctor’s maternal grandfather was also 
a colonial soldier during the Revolutionary war, and her father served during 
the second war with England – the war of 1812.  The parents of Dr. Smith were 
married in New York, where the father conducted a farm and dairy until 1854, 
at which time they came to Illinois.  They first located near Marseilles, but 
purchasing a farm in Saratoga township, Grundy county, they took up their 
abode there April 1, 1856.  There the father carried on agricultural pursuits 
until his death, which occurred June 21, 1886, in the seventy-ninth year of 
his age.  His widow is still living and now resides with a daughter in Iowa.  
This worthy couple were the parents of eight sons and two daughters:  Charles 
C., a resident of Joliet, Illinois; Edwin R., who was killed by a Confederate 
sharpshooter while, as lieutenant, he was directing a squad engaged in digging 
trenches at Petersburg, Virginia, August 12, 1864; Peter B., who died January 
15, 1864, at Chattanooga, Tennessee, while serving in the Union army in 
Captain Cogswell’s battery, from Ottawa, Illinois; William H., a resident of 
Gardner, Illinois; Walter S., of Morris, who loyally served his country in the 
Civil war and died in 1888; George F., who also wore the blue in the struggle 
to preserve the Union and is now a resident and newspaper publisher of 
Keosauqua, Iowa; Frank E., who makes his home in the Hawkeye state; and our 
subject.  The daughters are Mrs. Laura J. Davis and Emma A., of Iowa.

Alanson D. Smith is the sixth son of the family.  During his boyhood he 
accompanied his parents to Illinois and was reared on the home farm where he 
remained until seventeen years of age, when he left the parental roof in order 
to attend school.  He acquired a fair education and learned telegraphy, which 
he followed for four years, being stationed at Polo, Illinois.  Having 
determined to enter professional life, however, he began the study of medicine 
while serving as telegraph operator, and later continued his studies in Morris 
with Dr. John N. Freeman as his preceptor.  Later he went to Brooklyn, New 
York, and became a student in the Long Island College hospital, subsequently 
entering the medical department of the University of the City of New York, in 
which institution he was graduated in 1870.

Thus prepared for his chosen calling, in April, 1870, Dr. Smith located in 
Dwight, Illinois, having an office with Dr. Keeley, after practicing a short 
time with an uncle in his native county and state.  In the meantime, Dr. 
Freeman had moved to Brooklyn, New York, and was succeeded by Dr. S. C. White, 
who, becoming dissatisfied, induced Dr. Smith to come to Morris and take his 
place in the office where he studied, in July following, where he has 
practiced medicine continuously since, having now been in practice in Morris 
longer than any of the physicians connected with the medical fraternity 
there.  Thus it was that our subject became identified with the medical 
fraternity of Grundy county in 1870.  From the beginning he has enjoyed a 
large and lucrative practice and has made judicious investment of his capital, 
now owning valuable property interests in Morris.  Socially he is a Master 
Mason, and in politics he is a Repubican.  His life has been well spent in 
devotion to the duties that have devolved upon him, and he is accounted one of 
the highly respected citizens of his community.

Additional Comments:
Source:  Biographical and Genealogical Record of La Salle and Grundy County, 
Illinois, Volume 11, Chicago, 1900, p424-426


File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/grundy/bios/smith638nbs.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/ilfiles/

File size: 6.3 Kb