Biographical Sketch of Dr. Robert Z. R. Wall, Johnson County, Missouri, Chilhowee Township. >From "History of Johnson County, Missouri," by Ewing Cockrell, Historical Publishing Company, Topeka, Cleveland, 1918. ********************************************************************** Dr. Robert Z. R. Wall, a late prominent highly respected physician of Johnson county, Missouri, was a native of North Carolina and an honored pioneer of Missouri. He was born in 1810 and at the age of 29 years came with a company of emigrants to this state. Dr. Wall had just com- pleted the medical course in the University of Pennsylvania at Phila- delphia the year previous, 1838, and with a brave band of 700 pioneers from North Carolina came West to make his home. The company came in wagons and "carryalls" and they were three months on the way. In 1840, Dr. Wall settled on a large tract of land in Chilhowee township, John- son county, a farm comprising nearly ten thousand acres which he purch- ased for twenty five cents an acre. Dr. Wall was the son of Richarad and Mrs. Wall, the former a native of Scotland and the latter, of Wales Great Britain. The doctor was a gifted linguist and an exceptionally skillful physician and surgeon. He was highly intellectual and having an education far above the average for those early days, Dr. Wall easi- ly became a leader of men in the new Western community. He began the practice of medicine in North Carolina and continued in the work of his chosen profession after coming to Missouri. He called his office "the shop" and, as was the custom in that day, kept a complete line of drugs and filled his own prescriptions. Dr. Robert Z. R. Wall was widely known throughout the state as a very able and competent physician and not only were his services as doctor in great demand but he was also a tutor and under his instructions many young men learned the study of medicine. There were no regularly established medical schools then and the usual method of acquiring a knowledge of medicine was to study with a learned man. Dr. Wall was well known as a scholar. In North Carolina Dr. Robert Z. R. Wall and Mary Jane Cobington were united in marriage. To this union were born thirteen children, six of whom are now living: Mrs. Cornelia J. Hubbard, Denton, Missouri; Mrs. Mary S. Simpson, Den- ton, Missouri; Mrs. Mary A. Rush, Blairstown, Missouri; Mrs. Frances L. Hughes, Denton, Missouri; Robert, Jr., Denton, Missouri; and Mrs. Dora A. Roberts, Denton, Missouri. The Wall home was the social center for the entire community and there are yet living many men and women in Johnson county who, in the days long past, enjoyed the kind, southern hospitality of Dr. and Mrs. Wall. In addition to "the shop," Dr. Wall conducted a general store and he perhaps came in contact, through his mercantile business and the practice of medicine, with more men and women in this section of Missouri than any other one person and he was universally esteemed by all who knew him. Like all the pioneers, Dr. Wall was a skillful hunter and fisherman. It was no easy task for him to visit his patients, many calls for his assistance coming from a dis- tance of a score or more miles. Often times the roads would be almost impassable, but he was always brave and cheerful and often could be heard singing hymns as he went on his lonely way through the thick brush, forests, and muddy swamps. Dr. Wall traveled on horseback and carried his gun and blanket with him. Sometimes at night he would be far from any settlement and then he would wrap himself in his blanket and spend the night on the ground near his camp fire. He needed his gun at times to protect himself from unfriendly Indians and to kill game for food. He invariably took with him punk, flint, and tow, that if necessary he could build a fire. Dr. Wall enjoyed fishing and in the last years of his life, he spent much time indulging in this simple pleasure. For many years, Dr. Wall was superintendent of the Liberty Sunday School and a tireless worker in the cause of Christianity. Though not a member of any denomination, he was a noble, Christian gentleman and in his own home observed many devotional ceremonies. Every night, the family were gathered together to listen, while the father read a chapter from the Bible and to take part in family prayer. It was his greatest desire that his family of children should not drift apart from and lose interest in one another and to keep them near him and united he gave each child a large, fully equipped, and well stocked farm. When Dr. Wall realized that he was nearing the Valley of the Shadow, he urged his boys and girls to so live that when the last sum- mons came they might be a happy, reunited family once more "Up There." Dr. Wall died in 1894 and five years later, he was joined in death by his noble, faithful wife. ==================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. 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