Bio, Pierre de Everett Witherspoon, M.D. PIERRE DE EVERETT WITHERSPOON, M.D., Biography / Harrison City, Clare Co, MI Submitted for use by USGENWEB Clare County, Michigan November 2002 wilkinschw@aol.com MIGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any 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 MIGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the MIGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. Portrait and Biographical Record of Northern Michigan. Chicago: Record Publishing Co., 1895. PIERRE DE EVERETT WITHERSPOON, M.D., who located in Clare in the spring of 1895, was for some years the leading physician and druggist of Harrison, where he made settlement March 5, 1881. More surgical cases have fallen to his share than to any other practitioner in this section. Many persons are injured in the mills, and very few young physicians have had as much emergency surgery practice as he. He has a fine library and a full and complete line of surgical instruments. In order to perfect himself more thoroughly in his profession, he took a special course in operative surgery at the New York Polyclinic in 1892, and also attended the Chicago Polyclinic at another time. He belongs to the Michigan State Pharmaceutical Association, and has conducted his drug business for nine years. The paternal grandfather of the Doctor was a native of eastern Pennsylvania and a descendant of one of two brothers who settled in the United States in very early times. One of the family had the honor of being President of Princeton College. The Doctor's parents, James W. and Nancy (Edgington) Witherspoon, were natives of Pennsylvania and Ohio, respectively. The former was born in Beaver County, and removed to Stark County, Ohio, where he met his future helpmate in life. In 1854 he went to Fulton County, Ind., and settled on a tract of unimproved land, which he cleared and made fit for use. The Indians had not departed for the western reservations, and the country was still very wild. In October, 1862, Mrs. Witherspoon departed this life, an infant child dying at the same time. After selling his Fulton County farm, the father purchased a tract of timber, which he gave to his only son, our subject. He then returned to Pennsylvania, and after marrying a second time settled in Alliance, Ohio, where he became an employee of the Pittsburg, Ft. Wayne & Chicago Railroad. He was killed by a train February 7, 1864. Dr. Witherspoon was born in Fulton County, Ind., April 3, 1857, and after his father's death he went to live with his grandparents, William and Susannah Witherspoon, near Darlington, Pa. He worked on their farm and attended the district schools until 1872. He then hired out as a farm hand for some three years, attending school during the winter. Returning to the county of his birth, he was employed by an uncle at farm labor, and in the mean time attended school, after which he taught for two terms. He next was offered a position as section- man on a railroad in Wabash County, and held the place for one winter. The following summer he worked at farming in Fulton County, but was taken sick and went to Pennsylvania. For a time after his recovery he worked on the farm of a Presbyterian minister. Step by step the boy had worked his way until he was now approaching manhood. Being ambitious, he desired to enter a profession and read medicine with Dr. W.A. Sawyer, of Darlington, Pa. In the fall of 1878 he entered the medical department of the Michigan State University, and was graduated July 1, 1880. In partnership with Dr. U.S. Strauss, he opened an office at Ohioville, Pa., but at the end of a few months located in Newgarden, Ohio. In February, 1881, the Doctor married Emma J. Prye, who was born in Lawrence County, Pa., and was orphaned at an early age. The young couple began housekeeping in Harrison, but hardly a year had elapsed when the wife returned to Pennsylvania on a visit and was stricken with pneumonia, which caused her death. She left a son, Urban V. In 1883 our subject married Lydia J. Hosler, by whom he has a daughter, Grace P. A leading man in the ranks of the Republican party, Dr. Witherspoon was President of the Village Board of Harrison, a member of the Council, and City Health Officer. For six years he served as Commissioner of the Poor, and was also at one time Coroner of Clare County. He is a member of both the subordinate lodge and encampment of the Odd Fellows' society, is a member of the Uniformed Rank of the Knights of Pythias, being Chancellor of Harrison Lodge No. 96, and is also a Knight of the Maccabees. For a time he owned a half-interest in the abstracts of titles of this county.