Vermilion county Illinois, JOHN W. BOGGESS, M. D ==================================================================== Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives Joy Fisher ==================================================================== p. 221-222 JOHN W. BOGGESS, M. D., stands high in the medical profession as represented in Vermilion County, and he has also acquired a fair reputation as an intelligent, enterprising agriculturalist, owning and managing the farm on which he makes his home, pleasantly located on section 29, Catlin Township, he having retired to this place a few years ago on account of failing health. This, his native township, has good reason to be proud of her son, and he has always exerted his influence to elevate her citizenship. The father of this subject, likewise named .John, was a Virginian by birth, Monroe County being his native place. His mother, Jane G. (McCorkle) Boggess, was born in Green Briar County, W. Va. After marriage his parents settled either in Green Briar County, or in Monroe County, W. Va., where the father was engaged as a farmer and stock raiser. In 1830 he settled up his affairs in that section of the country, and with his family emigrated to the wilds of Vermilion County, and became an early pioneer of Catlin Township, settling in what is known as Butler's Point. About 1846 he removed with his wife and children to Wisconsin, considering this locality, with the newly broken prairie sod and other miasmatic influences, quite unhealthful then. He did not, however, sell his real estate in this township, and after an absence of three years, ho returned to this locality with his family, and settled on the old Elliott place, just west of Catlin, living there for convenience a short time, and then went back on to his farm. In 1856 they went to Danville to reside, and dwelt there four years for the purpose of educating their children. Mr. Boggess then returned again to his farm in this township, and continued to live here till his death, which occurred in February, 1874. His wife had preceded him to the grave, dying in May, 1868. They had eleven children; William, who died in Catlin Township, when about twenty-two years old; Diana M., the wife of Joseph Griffith, died when she was thirty-seven years old; Rebecca M. is the wife of William M. Ray; Elizabeth died when about seventeen years old; Harvey H. died at the age of thirty- eight years; Charles T. is a farmer in Vermilion County; America J. is the wife of James Davis; Enoch P. is a farmer in Vermilion County; Julia died when she was six years old; Melissa died in infancy; John W. The latter, of whom we write, was born in Catlin Township, Feb. 27, 1843, and with the exception of three years spent in Wisconsin, when he was but an infant, and the four years in Danville when he was attending school, he was reared to man's estate in the township of his birth. He was educated partly in the public schools, and in the seminary at Danville, which he attended till he was sixteen years old. After that he became a teacher, and was engaged in that vocation in the winter of I860 and in the summer of 1861. In 1862, ambitious to extend his education, he entered the Illinois Wesleyan University at Bloomington, and was graduated from that institution in 1866, having attained high rank for excellent scholarship. He then took up the study of medicine, and while pursuing his course he taught school to pay his expenses. He was under the tutorship of Dr. A. H. Luce, a well-known physician of Bloomington, and remained with him till the full of 1867. In the winter of that year, he entered the Chicago Medical College, the medical department of the Northwestern University, and pursued his studies with characteristic vigor. In the spring of 1868, he resumed teaching in Catlin Township, in order that up might be at home with his mother, to whom he was devotedly attached, and whose health was fast failing, and his presence soothed her dying hours. In the fall of 1868 he returned to college, and resuming his studies, was graduated in March 1870, with all honor for having attained a high standard in his class. He established himself in his profession in Oconomowoc, Wis. But he did not remain there long, however, as in the fall of that year he heard of a good opening for an enterprising young physician at Coon Rapids, Iowa, and proceeding to that place, he opened an office there, and continued there till the spring of 1872, when he located in Nevada, Iowa, the county seat of Story County, which presented a broader field, and during his ten years residence there, he built up an extensive and lucrative practice, becoming one of the leading physicians of the county. In 1882 he retraced his steps to his native county, and opening an office in Danville, he soon had more patients than he could attend to, as his fame as a successful and skillful practitioner had preceded him to his old home; but under the continuous strain of overwork his health gave way, and he was forced to retire from the arduous duties of his profession, and having a natural taste for out-of door labor, and, as a wise physician fully believing in its health restoring properties, he came to Catlin Township in 1881 and went to farming, and has ever since devoted himself to that occupation, he owns a fine farm of sixty acres, and has it under excellent cultivation. The doctor was married in Carroll County, Iowa, Dec. 29, 1872, to Miss Velora B. Piper, who presides over his home with true grace, and makes it cosy and attractive to its inmates and to their numerous friends, and even the stranger that happens under its roof is kindly made welcome. Mrs. Boggess is a native of Pennsylvania, born in Bedford County, Jan. 8, 1853, a daughter of Thomas A. and Mary (Funk) Piper. The following is the record of the four children born to her and her husband: Charles Wesley, born March 2, 1874, died Aug. 8, 1874; Carrie M., born July 6, 1875; Walter Thomas, April 24, 1879; Genevieve, April 28. 1888. The doctor possesses, in a rare degree, those noble traits of character that mark a man of honor and veracity, one in whom his fellow-citizens feel they may safely put their trust. He is a man of extensive learning and information, and on his retirement from active practice, the medical profession of Vermilion County lost one of its most able members. He is greatly interested in the welfare of his native township, and takes an active part in everything that tends to promote its moral elevation, educational or material status, and is especially active in religious affairs, he and his wife being esteemed members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he has been an active Sunday-school worker, holding the office of superintendent and also being a teacher. He is influential in political matters, being one of the leading Republicans in this vicinity, and a member of the Republican Central Committee of 1888, of his township.