John B. Comly, M. D. Biography


	This biography appears on pages 416-419 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. V (1915) and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				JOHN B. COMLY, M. D. 

	Death called Dr. John B. Comly on the 17th day of December, 1914, 
and in his passing Doland and South Dakota lost a citizen who, by his 
ability, had become well established among the foremost representatives 
of his profession in that part of the state. He arrived in South Dakota 
in 1881, when twenty-one years of age, at which time Mitchell was the 
terminus of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad. He came from 
Iowa but was a native of Illinois, his birth having occurred in 
Winnebago county, near Rockford, on the 5th of May, 1860, his parents 
being Charles and Mary (Ludwig) Comly. The father, who was a farmer by 
occupation, settled in Illinois in 1853, at the time when the first 
railroad was being built west of Chicago, and with the material 
development of his community was actively associated for many years. In 
politics he was a stanch democrat. He died in 1901 at the age of 
eighty-seven years, and his wife passed away in 1905 at the age of 
eighty-nine years, their remains being interred in the cemetery at 
Pecatonica, Illinois. The family is of English lineage and the first 
representatives of the name in America came to the new world with 
William Penn, Henry Comly acting as secretary to William Penn, who in 
1682 founded the colony of Pennsylvania. Henry Comly had one son, who 
had sixteen children, and the family is still very numerous in the 
Keystone state.  

	Dr. Comly acquired his primary education in the schools of 
Pecatonica, Illinois, in which he completed the high-school course with 
the class of 1880. In the meantime, however, he had had practical 
business training through the active assistance which he had rendered 
his father. As previously stated, he first came to Dakota territory in 
1881, but in the fall of that year returned to Illinois and entered the 
medical department of the University of Louisville in Kentucky, there 
pursuing the regular course until he was granted his diploma and 
professional degree in 1884. He then located for practice at Ridott, 
Illinois, where he remained for four years, and in 1888 he had broad 
practical experience in the hospitals of Philadelphia. In 1889 he 
located at Mapleton, Iowa, where he remained over a year and then 
removed to Des Moines. He practiced in the capital city until 1891, 
when he settled at Woodworth, Iowa, where he remained in practice until 
he again came to Dakota in 1902. He settled on a farm thirteen miles 
south of Doland and there practiced medicine in connection with 
farming. He it was who demonstrated that alfalfa could be grown in that 
district. He remained upon the farm from 1902 until 1909, when he took 
a pleasure trip to California, returning in 1911. In that year he 
opened his office in Doland, where he engaged in practice until his 
demise, being accorded a liberal and well deserved patronage. All 
through the years he kept in touch with the work of the profession 
through broad reading, and personal experience and investigation 
brought to him many valuable truths concerning the laws of health and 
the best methods to check the ravages of disease. Aside from his 
practice he had business interests as president of the Farmers 
Telephone Company and he was also one of the organizers of the Electric 
Light Company, as well as owning and operating three quarter sections 
of land near Doland.  

	At Des Moines, Iowa, on the 9th of January, 1901, Dr. Comly 
wedded Miss Adah Mitchell, a native of Pennsylvania and a daughter of 
John and Elizabeth (Kelly) Mitchell, who were also born in the Keystone 
state. Both are now deceased, the father being buried at Pittsburgh, 
Pennsylvania, and the mother at Mapleton, Iowa. In Doland the Doctor 
and his wife gained many warm friends. He was independent in politics 
yet not remiss in the duties of citizenship. Fraternally he was a blue 
lodge Mason and along strictly professional lines he had connection 
with the District Medical Society, the South Dakota Medical Society and 
the American Medical Association. Ability in his profession and 
sterling personal worth established him firmly in the regard and 
goodwill of his fellow townsmen, and he had many warm friends who felt 
the deepest and sincerest regret at his passing.