John Baker Atchison

MONTANA ARCHIVES 
May be copied for non-profit purposes. 
History of Montana, by Joaquim Miller, 1894 

Dr. John Baker Atchison, a prominent member of the medical profession of Helena, Montana, was born in 
Clay County, Missouri, April 9, 1843. He came of Scotch-Irish ancestors who located in Pennsylvania in the 
seventeenth century. From Pennsylvania they emigrated to Virginia thence to Kentucky and later to Missouri. 
They were people of the highest integrity and were among the best citizens of the various communities in which 
they lived. Some of the family participated in the War for Independence. 
William Atchison, the Doctor's father, was born near Lexington Kentucky in 1813. He married Catharine Baker, 
a native of Huntsville, Alabama, born in 1817, and in 1842 they removed to Missouri where they reared their 
family of six children, all of whom are still living. Both father and mother were worthy members of the 
Cumberland Presbyterian Church. She passed on in 1857 and he in 1872. He as a planter and large stock dealer 
and during the Civil War suffered greatly in the loss of his property. 

Dr. Atchison was the second son and second child in his father's family. He was a student at Pleasant Ridge 
College and was just merging into young manhood when the Civil War came on. Filled with enthusiasm for the 
cause of the South and the success of his own people, he left college and enlisted in Captain McCarty's Company, 
Hugh's Battalion, which afterward became the Third Volunteer Infantry of Missouri. He served in General Price's 
command. He participated in the battle at Pea Ridge and in all the fights during the whole campaign on the east 
side of the Mississippi, including the battles of Corinth, Hatchis, Farmington, Baker's Creek, Big Block, Port 
Gibson and the siege of Vicksburg. After the siege came the Georgia campaign. He was in the battle of Resaca and 
the battle of Fort Blakeley, his command being captured at the latter place. He was sent as a prisoner of war to 
Ship Island and from there to Jackson Mississippi, where he was paroled. This was shortly after the war closed. 
He had entered the service as a private and when he came out at the close of the war it was with the rank of Orderly 
Sergeant. During his army life he received a few slight wounds, but no serious injuries. 
The war over, young Atchison entered the Canadian Literary Institute where he resumed the studies he had dropped 
at the beginning of hostilities. From there he went to Jefferson Medical College at Philadelphia, completing a 
course there and also one at the Long Island College Hospital graduating at the latter institution in 1867. 
Immediately thereafter he entered upon the practice of his profession at St. Joseph Missouri where he met with 
marked success and where he remained until 1875. From that year until 1879 he practiced in St. Louis and in the 
latter year, on account of failing health he came to Helena, Montana for a change of climate. Here he has since 
continued to reside and the practice of his profession has met with eminent success. The Doctor has also been 
successful as a businessman since coming here having made some valuable investments in real estate. The Doctor 
is a member of the Montana Medical Association, of which he served as president during the year 1893. He is also 
president of the Montana Board of Medical Examiners. 
I
n 1873 Dr. Atchison was married to Virginia Toole, a native of Missouri and a daughter of Judge Edwin Toole, 
a citizen of Helena. They have five sons and two daughters: Nelsine, Edwin A., Ann, Virginia, William, Warren, 
David R and Benjamin P. 

Dr. Atchison's political affiliations are wit the Democratic party. He is a member of the Patriotic Sons of 
America, the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Masonic fraternity having taken all the degrees in the 
latter organization. Like his southern ancestor the Doctor is noted for his genial hospitality. He is 
enthusiastic in his profession and by his close attention he has won the confidence of all with whom he has 
come in contact. 

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