Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Hood, Samuel 1815 - 
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Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com May 9, 2007, 12:02 am

Author: Portrait & Bio Album, 1890

SAMUEL HOOD, is a retired physician whose home is on a fine farm near the 
village of Crete. When failing health compelled him to abandon the practice of 
his profession he turned his attention to agriculture in which he has proved 
successful, reaching a prominent station among the farmers of the county. His 
home comprises one hundred and fifteen acres on section 16, Crete Township, 
and is well improved and is kept well stocked with good grades of cattle, 
horses, etc. Dr. Hood formerly owned one hundred and fifty acres here, where 
he has lived for almost half a century. Not only on account of his enterprise 
in the vocation which he has adopted, but still more on account of his 
Christian character and cultured mind is Dr. Hood highly esteemed, his 
reputation extending far and wide. Although born in County Tyrone, Ireland, 
Dr. Hood is of English ancestry in both lines, his father, however, having 
been born in the Emerald Isle. Samuel Hood, Sr., was a merchant, he was four 
times married, and in 1840, came to America, settling on new land in Cook 
County, Ill., where he devoted himself to agricultural pursuits. He died when 
eighty-seven years old, having survived his fourth wife twelve years. He was 
successful in worldly affairs and well known in and about Bloom. He was a 
member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The mother of our subject was Maria 
E. Vanhaften, who was born in Bombay and became the wife of a Surgeon General 
in an East Indian Company, named NcNeilens. Dr. McNielens and wife finally 
settled in County Tyrone, Ireland, and there the Surgeon General died and his 
widow subsequently married Samuel Hood. She died a few years later, when her 
son, our subject, was but a child. He is the only survivor of the two children 
born to her and his father. Mrs. Hood belonged to a fine English family, was a 
life long member of the Methodist Church, and the possessor of a bright mind 
and much culture. The natal day of Dr. Hood was June 25, 1815. He received his 
fundamental education in the public schools of County Tyrone, and when 
eighteen years old became a student of medicine, first serving three years in 
an apothecary shop and then entering a medical college in London, England. 
Three years later he was graduated, and going to Liverpool he took passage for 
America. After five weeks and three days spent upon a sailing vessel, he 
landed in Philadelphia, Pa., whence he went to Pittsburg. He afterward 
practiced at different places in the Key Stone State for a number of years, 
removing thence to Gentry County, Mo., where he continued his professional 
labors for four years. He then came to Illinois and after twenty years of 
professional life became a farmer. His reputation as a physician is a 
creditable one and the energy which has brought him success in his later field 
of labor, was equally manifest in carrying into practice the knowledge of 
Therapeutics which he had obtained in a famous school and in adapting it to 
the needs of his patients. One of the most important steps in the life of Dr. 
Hood, was his choice of a life companion, with whom his marriage was 
celebrated in Butler County, Pa. She bore the maiden name of Ellen Stewart, 
was born in County Donegal, Ireland, and came to America with her parents 
about the year 1830. For more than fifty years she has shared in the toils and 
successes, the joys and the sorrows, which have gathered about her husband's 
pathway, proving her worth as wife, mother, and member of society. Although 
now seventy-two years of age, she is still smart and active; she possesses a 
mind of more than ordinary brightness and her intellect has been exercised in 
various lines of thought, her domestic duties not preventing her from taking 
an interest in the world's affairs. To Dr. and Mrs. Hood, nine children have 
been born, but four of whom are now living. The deceased are, an infant; 
Thomas, a smart young man who died unmarried at the age of twenty-one years; 
Samuel, another bright and promising youth, who died when eighteen years old; 
David, who died at the age of seven; and an infant. The oldest of the living 
children is John J., who is now farming in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan; he 
has been twice married. The maiden name of his first wife was Jennie Hunter, 
his present wife having borne the maiden name of Catherine Caldwell. Mary is 
the wife of Nelson Seymour, a farmer at Homewood, Cook County. Maria married 
Henry Seymour, engineer of the Crete Manufacturing Company. Harriet is the 
wife of Roland Hewes, their home being on a farm in Crete Township. Dr. and 
Mrs. Hood belong to the Methodist Episcopal Church, and the Doctor is a sound 
Republican in politics.

Additional Comments:
Portrait and Biographical Album of Will County, Illinois, Containing Full Page 
Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens 
of the County; Chicago: Chapman Bros., 1890

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