Biographical Sketch of Dr. Wilson M. Lenox, Dent County, Missouri

>From "History of Laclede, Camden, Dallas, Webster, Wright, Texas, 
Pulaski, Phelps and Dent Counties, Missouri" The Goodspeed Publishing
Company, 1889.
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Dr. Wilson M. Lenox, a practicing physician and surgeon of Lake Spring,
was born in what is now Phelps county, Mo., in 1843.  He is a son of
Hamilton and Permelia M. (Harrison) Lenox, and grandson of William
Lenox, a Virginian by birth, but who went to Kentucky at a very early
day, and was an intimate friend of Daniel Boone, whom he aided against
the Indians, both in Kentucky and Missouri.  He was also a soldier in
the Black Hawk War, when his son Hamilton was but a boy.  The family
moved from Kentucky to Missouri, and spent a number of years in Calla-
way and other counties of Northern Missouri.  They then came to Phelps
county, at still quite an early period, and here died.  He was of a
migratory disposition, and spent much of his time with the Indians in
the wild Southwest, where he figured prominently in civilizing the 
same.  His father was of Scotch descent; was a soldier in the Revolu-
tionary War, and was wounded at the battle of Cowpens.  The ancestors 
of our subject on the father's side trace their lineage back to three
brothers who were natives of Scotland; two of them came to America and
from them sprang the Lenox families in America.  Dr. Lenox's maternal 
grandfather, James Harrison, was a native of Virginia, and went to 
South Carolina when a young man, was married there, and at a very early
period, about 1820, came to Missouri and settled where the town of
Arlington is now located.  He owned a very large and valuable tract of
land, on which he spent the remainder of his days.  He was one of the
most influential and prominent citizens of Southern Missouri in his 
day.  He served as a judge, was notary public, county and circuit 
clerk, etc.; in fact, he transacted nearly all the business affairs of
the people for years in South Central Missouri, acting as a general
tribunal.  His sons became representative citizens of Missouri.  The
Doctor's great-grandfather, Benjamin Harrison, was a native of Virginia
of English descent, and a Revolutionary soldier.  He is originally of
the same family as President Benjamin Harrison.  Dr. Lenox is the sixth
of twelve children, and was educated at Jacksonville, Ill, and Lebanon
Academy.  At about the age of seventeen he began the study of medicine
with his uncle, Dr. James P. Harrison, of Arlington, who was a graduate
of McDowell Medical College, St. Louis.  He studied with him until the
opening of the late war between the North and South, and then enlisted
in the Confederate army, and was afterward made medical purveyor of
Parson's division of the Confederate army for the remainder of the war,
operating in Missouri and Arkansas.  He was at the battle of Wilson's
Creek, Pea Ridge, Cane Hill, Camden, etc.  After the war he went to
Northeastern Texas, where he practiced with success for nearly two 
years.  He returned to Missouri in 1867, located at Rolla until 1872,
and one year later settled at Lake Spring, where he has since practiced
with his usual success.  He is one of the most prominent physicians of
Dent county.  At different times he has attended different medical
institutions at New Orleans, Camden, Ark., St. Louis, etc., and gradu-
ated from the St. Louis College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1883. 
He was a delegate to the National Democratic Convention at Chicago, in 
1884, which nominated Grover Cleveland.  He was also a delegate to the
State Convention in 1870, and has frequently been a delegate to con-
gressional conventions, etc.  He is a member of the State Medical
Association, and also of the Minor Medical Association.  He cast his 
first presidential vote for Horace Greeley in 1872, and it is hardly 
necessary to add, after reading the sketch so far, that he is a Demo-
crat in his political views.  He is a Royal Arch Mason of Rolla Chapter
and like his ancestors on both sides, is a prominent and representative
citizen.  His first marriage occurred in February, 1876, to Miss Martha
Frances Bradford, a native of Phelps county, Mo., and the daughter of
John D. and Margaret A. (Lenox) Bradford, who were early settlers of
Phelps county.  Mrs. Lenox died in October, 1882, and September 29,
1884, the Doctor married Miss Elizabeth C. Cowen, daughter of Dr. 
Robert B. and Susannah B. (Lenox) Cowen, granddaughter of William B.
Cowen, and great-granddaughter of William Cowen, who was from Scotland,
and was a lawyer in Virginia.  The grandfather of Mrs. Lenox was born
in Bedford county, Va., and came with his father when a boy to St.
Louis, and afterward to Phelps county, where he spent the rest of his
life.  He died in 1869; was a practicing physician at Edgar Springs
for fifteen years, and was a graduate of McDowell Medical College, St.
Louis, Missouri.  His wife, and the mother of Mrs. Lenox, is still
living, and is residing near Edgar Springs.  Mrs. Lenox was educated
at various schools in Dent and Phelps counties, and at the Ursuline
Convent of St. Louis.  She is a refined and educated lady.  Both wives
were second cousins of Dr. Lenox.

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