Francis H. Schoonmaker Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1596-1597 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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	FRANCIS H. SCHOONMAKER, M. D., of Arlington, was born in Gardner, 
Illinois, September 24, 1858, being the oldest in a family of four 
children, whose parents were W. H. and M. E. (Hall) Schoonmaker. The 
father, a native of New York and of German-English descent, went to 
Illinois when a young man and engaged in merchandising in the town of 
Gardner, to which line of business he devoted the greater part of his 
life. He spent some twelve or fifteen years in Joliet, Illinois, where 
he also conducted a mercantile establishment and finished his life work 
in that city, dying about 1891. Mrs. Schoonmaker still makes her home in 
the above place, and of her four children there are still living Francis 
H., Charles F. and Lorise M., the deceased member of the family dying in 
infancy. 

	Doctor Schoomnaker was reared to manhood in his native state, 
attended the schools of Gardner and other places until the age of 
seventeen, spending his vacations the meantime on a farm, where he early 
learned the lessons of industry, which had so much to do in shaping his 
future course of life. Having decided to enter the medical profession, 
he spent one and a half years in preliminary study under the direction 
of Dr. C. B. Alford, of Odell, Illinois, now of Huron, South Dakota, and 
in 1884, at the age of twenty-six, entered the Chicago Medical College 
of Northwestern University, from which he was graduated three years 
later. In the spring of 1887 Doctor Schoonmaker located in Beloit 
Kansas, but not finding a favorable opening at that place, he returned 
to Illinois in September of the same year and the following December 
came to Arlington, South Dakota, where he has since been actively 
engaged in the practice of his profession. 

	Doctor Schoonmaker, in 1892, entered the marriage relation with 
Miss Frances A. Searles, of Joliet, Illinois, daughter of M. E. and J. 
M. Searles, the father for many years a leading grocer of that city, 
also deputy postmaster. One child has been born to this union, a son who 
answers to the name of William F. 

	The Doctor is a member of the Masonic fraternity, belonging to the 
blue lodge and chapter at Arlington, and the commandery at Brookings. He 
is also identified with the Ancient Order of United Woodmen, the Woodmen 
and the Degree of Honor, being at this time grand medical examiner of 
the first named order. He acts in the capacity of medical examiner for 
the leading life insurance companies represented in this part of the 
state, and for some time past has been serving as coroner of Kingsbury 
county, to which office he was elected by the Republican party. Although 
a Republican in principle, he generally votes as his judgment dictates, 
especially in local affairs, where politics should cut but little 
figure. Mrs. Schoonmaker is a member of the Baptist church of Arlington; 
she is also a member of the Eastern Star and Degree of Honor. While not 
subscribing to any creed or statement of faith, the Doctor has a 
profound regard for religion and the church, being a liberal contributor 
to the congregation with which his wife is identified.