Oliver N. Ainsworth, M. D. Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1032-1035 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. IV (1915) and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				OLIVER N. AINSWORTH, M. D. 

	Dr. Oliver N. Ainsworth, engaged in the practice of medicine in Spearfish, 
was born in Ogle county, Illinois, October 15, 1850, a son of Andrew and Mary 
(Hemmingway) Ainsworth, the former a native of New York and the latter of 
Pennsylvania. The father removed from the east to Illinois and in that state 
engaged in mercantile pursuits. Later he turned his attention to farming in 
northern lowa, where he spent his remaining days, and in the community where he 
lived he became a man of prominence and influence, his fellow townsmen calling 
him to a number of public offices, the duties of which he discharged with credit 
to himself and satisfaction to his constituents. His wife passed away in 
Illinois. 

	Dr. Ainsworth attended the common schools of Iowa and the Upper Iowa 
University at Fayette. His professional education was pursued in Rush Medical 
College of Chicago and in the College of Physicians & Surgeons at Keokuk, Iowa, 
now the medical department of Drake University. His practice for the profession 
of medicine, however, did not immediately follow his more specifically literary 
education, for at the age of nineteen years he joined a surveying party in New 
Mexico, continuing with them for about three years, his labors taking him to New 
Mexico, Arizona and the republic of Mexico in the survey of Mexican land grants 
and similar work. It was after this that he entered the medical school, in which 
he completed his course in 1878. He then engaged in practice in northwestern 
Iowa, being a member of the medical fraternity at Sloan, that state, for fifteen 
years. He then located in the Black Hills in 1893, settling at Spearfish, where 
he has practiced continuously since. He is now well known as an able physician 
and surgeon and is accorded a good practice. He is very careful in the diagnosis 
of his cases and seldom, if ever, at fault in determining the outcome of 
disease. He also is interested in mining claims and ranches in South Dakota and 
has thus made judicious investment of his funds. 

	In 1880 Dr. Ainsworth was united in marriage to Miss Ellen Ellis, a native 
of Clarke county, Iowa, while her parents were natives of Kentucky. Her father 
was a farmer by occupation and held the office of sheriff in Clarke county, 
Iowa. Both he and his wife have passed away. To Dr. Ainsworth and his wife have 
been born six children: Isabel, now the wife of A. O. Pemberton, a cattleman 
residing at Boise, Idaho; Archie, who is in the employ of an express company in 
Old Mexico; Loraine, the wife of Ernest Town, who is engaged in merchandising in 
Spearfish; Ellis, who is engaged in the cattle business at Boyes, Montana; and 
Ruth and Marion, both at home. 

	Dr. Ainsworth gives his political allegiance to the republican party and 
is a firm believer in its principles. He is a member of the Masonic lodge, the 
Knights of Pythias and the Ancient Order of United Workmen, while his strictly 
professional connections are with the Lawrence County Medical Society, the Black 
Hills Medical Society, and the South Dakota Medical Association. He concentrates 
his energies upon his professional duties and at all times conforms his practice 
to the highest standards of professional ethics.