Randolph County IL Archives Biographies.....MacKenzie, William R. 1844 - 
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Joy Fisher http://www.rootsweb.com/~archreg/vols/00001.html#0000031 March 1, 2008, 5:42 pm

Author: Biographical Publishing Co. (1894)

WILLIAM R. MACKENZIE, M. D., a native of Nova Scotia, is of Scottish parentage.
His grandfather, Alexander MacKenzie, Sr., was born in Inverness, in the
Highlands of Scotland, and received a liberal education. He was a member of the
Masonic order, and a stanch supporter of the Presbyterian Church. Alexander
MacKenzie, Jr., the father of our subject, was born in Nova Scotia, March 6,
1797, and is now in comparatively good health, bidding fair to become a
centenarian. He still resides on part of the old homestead, where his father
settled just after the Revolutionary War.

  Alexander MacKenzie, Sr., and William McMillan, grandfathers of our subject,
were pressed into the British service during the Revolutionary War and thereby
became British pensioners. Many of the former's descendants, ncluding John and
Daniel, two brothers of Dr. MacKenzie, participated in the War of the Rebellion
on the Union side. John was killed in the battle of Ft. Donelson, February 15,
1862.

  The birth of William Robert MacKenzie occurred February 15, 1844, in
Churchville, Pictou County, Nova Scotia. He was the eighth child in order of
birth. He had five brothers and four sisters, of whom there now survive one
brother, Alexander G., residing at Chester, Ill., and four sisters, living
within a radius of four miles from the old homestead. His early education was
secured in the village schools of his native place, where he afterward became a
teacher. He spent his boyhood days on the old home farm in Nova Scotia, which
was the stopping place of all the preachers of the United Presbyterian Church,
and he was reared under the influences of the sturdy old Covenanters.

  In 1865 our subject came to the United States, landing at Boston. Soon after
his arrival he contracted measles. After over a month's severe illness, during
which, through improper treatment, he suffered a serious relapse, he recovered
only to find the stock of gold which he had brought from home very much
depleted. Something had to be done to mend his crippled finances, so the
advertising columns of the daily papers were scanned. A collectorship for a gas
fitting company caught his eye, and upon making application for the position he
was accepted. Being a Nova Scotian was, in Boston, a sufficient recommendation
for his honesty, and no bond was required.

  After a few months in this position, a better opening was offered in the
employment of William Tidd & Co., leather merchants, on Pearl Street, who also
carried on business in Stoneham, Mass., where our subject was assigned a
position. While there he fell in with a fellow countryman named McLeod, who
induced him to embark on a fishing expedition to the Grand Banks. Fitting out at
Cape Cod, the vessel proceeded to the Grand Banks and began operations. The
schooner, an old one, sprang a leak, and as it became unmanageable, it was
necessary to abandon it. After being looted of everything valuable on board by
the rest of the fleet, she was fired and cast adrift. Each man had his own dory,
and our subject and his partner were taken on board a schooner from Cape Breton
Island, of which Captain Doolan was in command.

  After five months on the Atlantic without the sight of land, the vessel
weighed anchor and started for home; and none too soon, for that same day a
storm struck the Banks, and many of the vessels with their crews went down.
Captain Doolan's craft was more fortunate than many of them; and after scudding
for two days under bare poles the storm abated, and the journey homeward was
begun in earnest. So suddenly did the storm burst upon the fleet, that instead
of winding the sails in the usual manner, the order was given to cut the halyard
and let the sails fall. After a voyage of about two weeks, the vessel, with crew
and cargo, hove anchor safely in the harbor of Provincetown. Expecting nothing
but his rescue and keeping for his labor after boarding the vessel of Captain
Doolan, our young Nova Scotian was surprised when the Captain, taking him to a
bank, poured into his hands $80 in gold.

  Interesting incidents occurred while Dr. MacKenzie was on board Captain
Doolan's vessel at the Grand Banks. One day, about noon, all the dories were out
plying their lines. Suddenly the sky darkened, the waters seethed, and all but
three of the boats started for and safely reached the fleet. Captain Doolan's
two brothers and one other man, each in a separate dory, were so baffled by the
dense fog that they lost sight of the fleet. Not being able to hear the
fog-bell, and finding themselves rapidly drifting, they made preparations to
anchor in the deeper waters. Accordingly, they fastened the three dories
together and occupied but one of them. They then converted the three anchors and
the six leads, used in fishing, and weighing four pounds each, into one anchor,
whose cable was formed by the union of the three cables and the six fishing
lines. Notwithstanding all their precautions, however, the current was so strong
that they drifted until they were unable to touch bottom. Their dories were
tossed about until four o'clock the next evening, when the fog cleared, and just
the tip of the tallest mast in the fleet was visible. Making for this they
finally reached their vessel in an exhausted condition and suffering from want
of food and water. Here they were received with joy, for all on board had
believed them lost, as had been the fate of many who engaged in expeditions of
this kind. McLeod, the companion previously referred to, became quarrelsome, and
shifting from one vessel to another, finally boarded an English ship, was taken
to Liverpool, England, and was returned to Boston by the American Consul.

  During young MacKenzie's absence, his brother, Alexander G., who was then a
prosperous miner in Nevada, sent him a draft for $100 in gold, to assist him in
pursuing his medical studies. During his long absence the letter was returned to
the writer, who did not know but that his brother was dead. Communication being
re-established, the check was again forwarded. William R., bronzed by his life
at sea, of which he had had enough, secured another position, this time with M.
M. Peyser & Co., on Winter Street, Boston. There he remained until February,
1867, when he went to Sparta, Ill., and studied medicine, and also recited in
Greek and Latin to Rev. Mr. Stuart. Shortly afterward he entered the medical
department of the University of Michigan, from which he was graduated March 30,
1870. After a few months at Grass Lake, assisting E. B. Chapin, M. D., his
preceptor, he returned to Illinois for the practice of his profession, locating
at Kaskaskia. After remaining there for five years he removed to Chester, where
he has been in continuous practice ever since.

  A leader in his profession, the Doctor holds a prominent place in many of the
principal societies thereof. He is a member of the Southern Illinois Medical
Association, Illinois State Medical Society, St. Louis Medical Society, and the
Tri-State Medical Society (Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky), now the Mississippi
Valley Medical Association. He was also a delegate to the International Medical
Congress, which met in Washington, D. C, in 1887. During the course of this
meeting he was a guest of the American Medical Editors at a banquet given the
foreign medical editors. He was a representative of the Illinois State Board of
Health at a meeting of the Sanitary Council of the Mississippi Valley, which was
held in the city of New Orleans in March, 1885. At the meetings of the Southern
Illinois Medical Association, he usually has one or more papers on topics of
interest. At the meeting of this organization in January, 1880, he read a paper
which was afterwards published in the "St. Louis Medical and Surgical Journal,"
from which it was copied, translated, and published in the "Paris Medical
Journal," Paris, France.

  June 15, 1883, Dr. MacKenzie was appointed a member of the Illinois State
Board of Health by Gov. John M. Hamilton, to succeed Dr. J. M. Gregory, who had
resigned. He was continued in office by appointment of Gov. Joseph W. Fifer, May
28, 1889. He served as Secretary of said Board from July 3 until December 31,
1891. Near the close of Fifer's term the Doctor sent in his resignation, which
was not accepted until the 10th of May, 1893, several months after the accession
of Governor Altgeld to the executive chair, thus giving the Doctor ten years in
this important position. At the meetings for examination of candidates for
license to practice medicine, his questions have been highly commended for their
thoroughness, comprehensiveness and elementary character.

  July 15, 1885, during Cleveland's first administration, Dr. MacKenzie was
appointed by Commissioner J. C. Black to the Board of United States Examining
Surgeons, at Chester, Ill., and was reappointed by Commissioner Tanner under
Harrison's administration. At the organization of said Board (in 1885), he was
elected Secretary, in which capacity he served until his resignation, December
7, 1893, a term of over eight years. For fifteen years past he has been surgeon
for the Wabash, Chester & Western Railway Company, and has, by his thorough
knowledge of surgery, rendered the company invaluable services. He has held this
position under three successive managements of the road.

  May 17, 1875, Dr. MacKenzie married Miss Nellie M., daughter of Dr. William A.
and Adeline S. Gordon, of Chester, whose biograpical sketch appears elsewhere in
this work. To them were born five children, three of whom are living, William
A., Robert G. and Adeline E., aged respectively sixteen, twelve and seven years.
  Socially Dr. MacKenzie is a member of the blue lodge chapter and council of
the Masonic fraternity of Chester, the commandery of Knights Templar of
Centralia, Ill., and the Chester lodge and encampment of Independent Order of
Odd Fellows. He is a Presbyterian, as are most of his race, while Mrs. MacKenzie
is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

  A no more appropriate closing of this sketch could be made than to quote what
has before been written of him by one who has known him for years. It is as
follows: "Dr. MacKenzie is a careful and indefatigable student of his
profession, and has attained a high reputation for learning among his
fellow-practitioners in Illinois and Missouri. He has an extensive and lucrative
practice and is one of the most highly esteemed citizens of Chester. The same
ability that has placed him in the front rank of his profession is always at the
service of the community in which he lives for the promotion of meritorious
enterprises. He was for nine years a member of the Board of Education of
Chester, and President of that body for two terms. In his social relations Dr.
MacKenzie is as popular as he is successful in his profession."


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

Portrait and Biographical Record of Randolph, Jackson, Perry and Monroe
Counties, Illinois
Containing Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens of the
Counties
Together with Biographies and Portraits of All the Presidents of the United
States and the Governors of the State of Illinois

Chicago: Biographical Publishing Co.
1894

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