Ionia County MI Archives Obituaries.....Grant, William R. 1925
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Ionia County News, 2 Apr 1925

Dr. Grant of Lyons Buried Last Sunday

Veteran Physician and Surgeon of County Succumbs At Traverse City

Had a Career of Untold Service

Performed First Appendicitis Operation;  Organized First District Graded School.

Dr. William R. Grant of Lyons, veteran physician and surgeon of Ionia county, 
and one of the best known citizens, died Thursday at the Traverse City 
hospital, following an illness of several months.

The funeral was held last Sunday afternoon from the late residence, with Rev. 
R. O. Mather, pastor of the Lyons Methodist church, in charge.  A large number 
of friends and relatives attended.

He was born in Lyons, New York, on November 22, 1854, son of John and Elizabeth 
Grant, both natives of England, who later became residents of Michigan, in 
which their last days were spent.  He was a babe in arms when his parents came 
to this state in 1855 and grew to manhood at Watson, this state.  He was 
trained as a carpenter by his father and he became a proficient builder, but 
his heart was in educational work and he early became a teacher in the public 
schools, organizing at Watson, in 1878, the first graded district school in the 
state of Michigan, his school enrolling seventy-five pupils.  So successful did 
his experiment there prove that in 1882 he was called to take charge of the 
schools at Mancelona, in Antrim county, this state, at that time enrolling two 
hundred pupils.

Dr. Grant had the opportunity in his youth to attend the graded school, but 
from early childhood was a diligent student and assiduously applied himself to 
his studies, becoming an excellent scholar, well grounded in the branches 
taught in the public schools and academies and an expert in several foreign 
languages.

While at Mancelona he was elected school commissioner of Antrim county, in 
which office he served six years, and also established a Normal review course 
for teachers there.  While in that county he was elected county clerk, then 
register of deeds.

During the period of his educational labors he gave considerable attention to 
medical science and early determined to become a physician.  With that end in 
view, he entered the Michigan School of Medicine and Surgery in September, 
1889, and was graduated on March 13, 1891.  At the beginning of his vacation 
period of his junior year he opened an office at Lyons and upon receiving his 
diploma, returned there and started to practice.

In 1908 his health began to fail and compelled him to retire.  He and his wife 
spent some time in Cuba and Isle of the Pines.  They traveled elsewhere 
extensively, both east and west.

Dr. Grant was the first surgeon in Ionia county to perform an operation for 
appendicitis.  He kept himself fully posted on the latest methods and 
discoveries in surgery and was active and skillful with the knife.

His first wife died in October, 1893.  He was then married to Miss Lillian 
Dasham, a school teacher.

He was a Knight Templar, members of B.P.O.E. and of the Lyons Methodist church.


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