C.F. Demsey who is now engaged in the practice of his profession at Warrensburg, was born at Portsmouth, Scioto county, Ohio, on the 13th of April, 1839. The family from which he is descended was of Irish origin. It is said that his great-great-grandfather lived in Ireland and was educated for the Catholic priesthood. Renouncing the Romish faith, he left Ireland and came to Jamestown, Virginia. The family name had been "McDempsey", which he changed to the present form of Demsey. Dr. Demsey's grandfather, whose name was Samson Demsey, moved to Ohio shortly after the opening of the present century. He was then young and unmarried. He taught school for several years. He married Sarah Nevin, who was also of Irish descent. She was born in Virginia, but when six or eight years old had come to Ohio with her father, who was one of the early settlers of the state. Samson Demsey was a man who stood well in the community in which he lived. He was a democrat, and took an active part in politics. He was chosen to several positions of trust and honor. He served as circuit clerk, and for a number of terms was a member of the Ohio legislature. He had five sons. The oldest, C.F. Demsey, practiced law at Cincinnati for a long number of years. The youngest, Adam Demsey, was a soldier in the Mexican war and settled in Indiana, where he died. The second was John N. Demsey, father of the subject of this biography.
John N. Demsey was born in Fayette county, Ohio, in the year 1813. About the year 1832, he was married at Chillicothe, Ohio, to Tabitha Duncan, a native of Jackson county, Ohio, and a daughter of General John Duncan. General Duncan was born in Tennessee, and was connected with the family of that name who settled in Middle Tennessee, where a considerable number of the descendants still reside. During the Indian troubles, connected with the war of 1812, he raised a regiment in Tennessee, with which to fight the Indians, and after having served in Ohio settled at the Salt Springs, in Jackson county, of that state, where he lived for many years. John N. and Tabitha Demsey, were the parents of eight children, of whom Dr. Cyrus F. Demsey was the second. In the year 1853, the family moved from Ohio to Illinois. After spending the winter of 1853-4 at Woodburn in Macoupin county, the following spring they came to Decatur. In January, 1855, they went to Clinton, DeWitt county, and in the spring of 1856 moved on a tract of five hundred acres of land, in Austin township, of this county. Dr. Demsey's father improved all of this land and began the business of raising wheat. Wheat growing in Macon county with the farmers was at that time an experiment. Several crops were raised with considerable profit, but the business in the end proved unremunerative, and many farmers lost large sums by successive bad yields. This was the case with Dr. Demsey's father. The enterprise proved disastrous, and swept away almost his entire means. While living in Ohio he had studied medicine, and he began again the practice of his profession; moving to Hickory Point township, seven miles north-west of Decatur. In those days when the settlements away from the timber, were few and far between, the physician practicing in the country, led by no means an easy life. He was obliged to undergo hard travel, much discomfort, and had little opportunity for leisure. He was a successful physician, and remained in active practice till his death, which occurred in March, 1874.
Dr. C.F. Demsey was about fourteen years old, when he came to this state. He had laid the foundation of a good English education in the schools of Portsmouth, Ohio, previous to his removal from that place. After coming to Illinois he attended school at Woodburn, Decatur, and Clinton. At the last place he went to a high-school, kept by a Dr. Haskell. He left home in the year 1858 and began life on his own account. In the spring of 1859 he went to California, sailling from New York, and reaching San Francisco by way of the Isthmus of Panama. He was in the navy on the Pacific Coast. He was in California at the commencement of the war of the Rebellion, and in the fall of 1862 enlisted in a private company raised in California, consisting of a hundred men, and known as the "California Hundred." This was an independent cavalry company; the men furnished their own horses and equipments; and it was their intention to take part in the war without regularly entering the United States service. On reaching the East they found the government unwilling to receive them as an independent organization, and accordingly, the company (which was said to be one of the finest that at any period of the war entered the service) was consolidated with the second Massachusetts cavalry. In the spring of 1863 the regiment was sent to the Peninsula, and placed under General Stoneman's command. It formed part of the force which made the celebrated raid around Richmond. The regiment was called to Wahington at the time Lee made his movement through Maryland and Pennsylvania, and reached Gettysburg in time to take part under General Custer's command in that decisive battle. The regiment followed the Confederate forces into Virginia, and at Fairfax Court-House Dr. Demsey was made a prisoner by the rebel General Mosby. He had a long experience of confinement in Southern prisons. He was captured August the 23d, 1863. He was taken to Richmond and confined in Libby prison till October, and then at Belle Island till February, 1864, when he was moved to Andersonville; the following September he was sent to Savannah, and from there to Milan, Georgia. In December, 1864, he was exchanged and sent from Savannah to Annapolis, Maryland. He was subsequently on detached service at Washington, Harper's Ferry, Port Tobacco and Baltimore, till the close of the war.
He returned to Macon county in 1865, and began the study of medicine at
Decatur, with Drs. W.J. Chenoweth and S.T. Trowbridge. In the fall of 1866 he entered
Rush Meical College, at Chicago, at which he subsequently attended a second
course of lectures, and from which he graduated. He began practice with his father in
1867. In January, 1868, he went to Cass county, Missouri, where he practiced his
profession till 1875, when he came back to Macon county, located at Warrensburg,
and has since been engaged in active practice as a physician. He has also carried
on the drug business, since 1876. His first marriage was in January, 1868, to Eliza A.
Gouge, a native of Macon county. She died on the 31st of May, 1872. His second
marriage took place in March, 1873, to Clarind Gates, who was born in Monroe
county, Ohio. She was then a resident of Cass county, Missouri, to which place her
father had moved from Ohio. He has three children, one by his first and two by his
second marriage. He is a republican in politics.
History of Macon Co, 1880, p. 217
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any
format for profit or presentation by other organization or persons.
Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain
the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative
of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof
of this consent.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by
Pat Hageman