Isaac W. Leighton, M. D. Biography


	This biography appears on pages 996-999 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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				ISAAC W. LEIGHTON, M. D. 

	Dr. Isaac W. Leighton is one of the most successful and highly 
respected physicians and surgeons of Scotland, South Dakota, his skill 
in treating disease gaining him a large and lucrative practice. He was 
born July 16, 1885, in Wellman, Iowa, a son of Stephen T. and Jane 
(Wellman) Leighton. The latter was born in Indiana in 1853 and 
accompanied the family upon their removal to Washington county, Iowa. 
Her father was an early settler of that state and the town of Wellman 
was named in his honor. 

	Stephen T. Leighton was born in Augusta, Maine, in 1839, a son of 
Isaac and Permelia Leighton, who migrated to Iowa in 1843. He enlisted 
in Company F, Eleventh Iowa Volunteer Infantry, September 24, 1861, and 
served throughout the Civil war, having veteranized after the Vicksburg 
campaign. His regiment was sent to Camp McClellan near Davenport soon 
after his enlistment and then to Benton Barracks, St. Louis, where they 
were given instruction and drilled, but they were soon ordered into the 
interior of Missouri for active service. In the spring they embarked at 
St. Louis for the Tennessee river en route to Pittsburg Landing, where 
they participated in the two days' battle of Shiloh. They subsequently 
took part in the siege of Vicksburg and in the various expeditions 
around Corinth, Iuka and Jackson, Mississippi, under Generals Sherman 
and Grant. After reenlisting Mr. Leighton was given a furlough to visit 
his home and then rejoined his regiment then engaged in an active 
campaign in the vicinity of Atlanta, Georgia. Their first engagement 
was around Kenesaw Mountain, in which the enemy was soon dislodged. 
After a number of almost daily battles or skirmishes around the Georgia 
metropolis, the army started on the memorable march with Sherman to the 
sea. It was during an engagement near Lovejoy station that Mr. Leighton 
sustained a severe wound in the temple while in bivouac with a comrade. 
The ball was extracted in the hospital and as soon as possible he 
rejoined his regiment on the march to the sea. Reaching Savannah, the 
army, after replenishing the commissary, turned north to the Carolinas 
and were north of Raleigh when the news of Lee's surrender reached them 
and a few days later the sad tidings of Lincoln's death. After 
participating in the grand review at Washington-one of the greatest 
military pageants in history-the Eleventh Iowa returned home and were 
paid off and discharged on the 22d of July, 1865, at Camp McClellan, 
where they had been sworn into the military service of the United 
States nearly four years before. Mr. Leighton made his home at Wellman 
the remainder of his life, with the exception of two years spent in 
South Dakota. In 1878 he brought his family to this state and settled 
near Milltown, Hutchinson county, filing on a homestead claim under the 
soldier's warrant. He intended to make his home permanently in this 
state, but the illness and subsequent death of his father called the 
family back to the old home in Wellman, Iowa. He and his wife never 
again left it, although he retained his land in South Dakota until the 
early '90s. He wrote the memoirs of his army career, a document that 
will be treasured by his children's children. He died on the 15th of 
April, 1914. 

	Dr. Leighton attended the schools of Wellman and subsequently 
took a three years' course at the State University of Iowa at Iowa 
City, and then, in the fall of 1907, matriculated in the medical 
department of the Northwestern University at Chicago, being graduated 
from that institution in the class of 1909. A year's experience as 
interne in St. Luke's Hospital in that city further fitted him for the 
practice of medicine and in June, 1910, he located in Scotland, this 
state, his thorough training constituting the basis of his successful 
career. He keeps informed as to the newest methods and discoveries in 
the field of medicine and surgery, and his patients know that he will 
treat their cases in the light of the fullest knowledge of the medical 
profession. He has a large percentage of cures to his credit and in 
cases where complete cure is impossible he has generally checked the 
disease. In the few years in which he has been a resident of the town 
he has built up a lucrative practice which is constantly growing as his 
skill becomes better known. 

	Dr. Leighton was married in Chicago on the 1st of November, 1909, 
to Miss Cordelle Greigg, a native of Wellman, Iowa, and a daughter of 
Palmer J. and Alice (Nicholls) Greigg. They have a little daughter, 
Alice Jana, born May 19, 1915. The Doctor is quite a fancier of good 
dogs and always has one around. He and his wife are members of the 
Methodist Episcopal church, and he belongs to the Masonic fraternity 
and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Professionally he is a member 
of the Yankton District Medical Association and the South Dakota 
Medical Association. He is not only favorably known as a physician and 
surgeon but he is popular in social and fraternal circles, and all who 
know him hold him in high regard.