Thomas J. Billion Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1454-1455 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	THOMAS J. BILLION, M. D., one of the prominent physician and 
surgeons of Sioux Falls, is a native of Iowa, having been born in the 
town of Sibley, on the 25th of October, 1878, a son of Henry and Mary 
(Rooney) Billion. When he was a child of three years his parents removed 
to Minnesota, where he received his early educational discipline, the 
family continuing to reside in that state until he had attained the age 
of ten years, when they came to South Dakota and took up their abode in 
Sioux Falls, where the Doctor continued his studies in the public 
schools, eventually entering the Sioux Falls Normal School. His parents 
still reside in this city, his father being a commercial traveler by 
vocation. In 1895 Dr. Billion was matriculated in St. Thomas College, at 
St. Paul, Minnesota, where he pursued a classical course, remaining in 
the institution until 1897, when he entered upon the technical work of 
preparing himself for the profession to which he had determined to 
devote his life. He became a student in the John A. Creighton Medical 
College, in Omaha, Nebraska, where he completed the prescribed course, 
being graduated as a member of the class of 1901 and receiving his 
coveted degree of Doctor of Medicine. Shortly after his graduation the 
Doctor returned to Sioux Falls, where he established an office, and here 
he has since been engaged in the general practice of his profession, in 
which his efforts have been attended with gratifying success, indicating 
a popular appreciation of his professional talent and his devotion to 
his noble and humane vocation. He is a close student of his profession 
and keeps in constant touch with the advances made in the sciences of 
medicine and surgery. The Doctor is a member of the State Medical 
Society of South Dakota, and is serving as county physician of Minnehaha 
county. In politics he is found staunchly aligned in support of the 
principles and policies of the Republican party, and fraternally is 
identified with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.