Biographical Sketch of Dr. Francis A. Simmons, St. Joseph, Buchanan
County, MO

>From "History of Buchanan County, Missouri, Published 1881, St. Joseph
Steam Printing Company, Printers, Binders, Etc., St. Joseph, Missouri.
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Dr. Francis Armstrong Simmons was born in Surry County, North Carolina,
on March 17, 1830. His father's name was Peter Pruett Simmons. His
mother's maiden name was Nancy Armstrong. His father was well off,
owned an iron works, and was a merchant. His parents came to Missouri
in 1841. His father died in August, 1841, and his mother in April,
1842. He had four sisters living then: Mary A., Sarah J., Martha D.
and Senah N. All are now living in Nebraska. He also had five bro-
thers: Hugh A., Peter P., who died in 1854, in this city; James I.
and Thomas A. He was married to Miss Lucy A. Holbert, in Platte
County, Missouri, May 12, 1853. Of this union he has had four
daughters, and one little granddaughter. In the order of their birth,
his children's names are: Flora L., now Mrs. Jas. S. Blount; Mary E.;
Nannie A. and Clara Lavinia. All are now living with him, in St.
Joseph. He received a collegiate education at Chapel Hill College,
Lafayette County, Missouri. He studied medicine, and commenced prac-
ticing in 1855. He moved to Cass County, Nebraska, in 1856. He
moved to Rochester, Andrew County, Missouri on April 26, 1864. Then
on March 12, 1879, moved to St. Joseph, where he now lives. While
living at Rochester, he was one of the founders of, and President of
the Andrew County Medical Society. He is a member of the District
Medical Association of Northwest Missouri; was one of its Vice Pres-
idents, and represented it in the American Medical Association, that
met in Farwell Hall, Chicago, Illinois, in 1877, where 760 represen-
tative men convened from all the states, and from Canada. He was a
member of the State Medical Association, and was one of the founders
and incorporators of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, of this
city, and Professor of Physiology and Diseases of the Nervous System,
and Clinical Lecturer on the General Diseases of Women, for nearly
two years, in this institution. After severing his connection with
this school, last January, he became one of the organizers and incor-
porators of the Northwestern Medical College, and is now President
of, and Professor of the Theory and Practice of Medicine, in this
college. While living at Rochester, he urged the necessity of the
publication of a medical journal in this city, and partly through his
influence the St. Joseph Medical and Surgical Reporter was started,
edited by Dr. J. P. Chesney, in July, 1880. He contributed to this
journal articles upon cerebral anaemia of infants, headaches, and
about doctors. He has been a large contributor to other medical
journals, upon various subjects, and has been an active worker in the
transactions of all the medical societies with which he has been con-
nected. He has by earnest work and constant study endeavored to keep
well up with the progress of the profession. He is extensively acq-
uainted throughout the Northwest and with the rise and progress of
the Platte Purchase. He saw this city rise from an Indian trading
post, a mere village, and attire herself in the beauty and gradeur of
the "Queen City of the West".

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