Hamilton H. Wilcox, M. D. Biography


	This biography appears on pages 461-462 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. V (1915) and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

	This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit 
	organizations for their private use. 

	Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval 
	system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other 
	means requires the written approval of the file's author.

	This file is part of the SDGENWEB Archives. If you arrived here inside
	a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at

	http://usgwarchives.org/sd/sdfiles.htm


				HAMILTON H. WILCOX, M. D. 

	Jefferson county, North Carolina, was the birthplace of Dr. 
Hamilton H. Wilcox, the efficient surgeon of the South Dakota State 
Soldiers Home at Hot Springs, and his natal day was December 28, 1850. 
His parents, Samuel and Barbara (Houck) Wilcox, were both born at that 
place, the father on the 7th of March, 1821, and the mother on the 17th 
of May, 1814. Mr. Wilcox was a carpenter and cabinetmaker by trade but 
also followed farming and in 1850 removed with his family to 
northeastern Kentucky, where he resided until he enlisted in the Union 
army in the fall of 1863. He died in March, 1864, as the result of 
exposure while at the front. While a resident of North Carolina he 
served as justice of the peace and also held that office in Kentucky. 
His widow survived for three decades, dying in March, 1894, in the Blue 
Grass state. 

	Dr. Wilcox is the fourth in order of birth of a family of eight 
children and acquired his early education in Kentucky, attending the 
common schools there and a select school at Olive Hill, that state. In 
furtherance of his plan to devote his life to the practice of medicine 
he entered the Medical College of Ohio at Cincinnati, now known as the 
University of Cincinnati from which he was graduated on the 1st of 
March, 1882. He has since taken post-graduate courses in Chicago and at 
other places and never allows himself to feel that he has completely 
mastered the science of medicine and surgery. On the contrary, he 
endeavors constantly through reading and association with other 
physicians and surgeons to keep in touch with the advance that is 
continually being made in those fields of investigation. Before the 
Doctor entered medical college he had already taken his place in the 
ranks of those who carry on the work of the world, for at the age of 
eighteen he began teaching. His father had died in the army four years 
previously and it was necessary for the Doctor to assist in the support 
of his mother and younger brothers and sisters, He taught a term and 
then began clerking in a store at Olive Hill, Kentucky. He subsequently 
taught again and also assisted his brother, who was elected county 
assessor. In 1873 he took a partial course in medicine, resumed his 
professional studies in 1875 and again in 1881, graduating, as before 
stated, in 1882. He located at Glenville, Minnesota, and opened an 
office for the practice of his profession, remaining there until 1883. 
In 1897 he became the owner of a private hospital at Albert Lea, 
Minnesota, which he conducted for nine years and which he still owns. 

	On the 28th of November, 1906, Dr. Wilcox went to the South 
Dakota State Soldiers Home at Hot Springs in the capacity of surgeon, 
expecting to remain but one year. However, he found the climate to his 
liking and other conditions favorable and has since remained there. He 
owns considerable real estate, including valuable city property in 
Minnesota, and is a well-to-do citizen of Hot Springs. 

	Dr. Wilcox was married on the 30th of December, 1875, to Miss 
Mary E. Abbott, of Kentucky, who, however, was a native of Athens, 
Ohio. Three children were born to that marriage. Frank Leslie, whose 
birth occurred October 5, 1876, was graduated from the Rush Medical 
College of Chicago with the class of 1900 and is now a practicing 
physician and surgeon of Walker, Minnesota. Jessie G. and Gussie L., 
twins, are graduates of the Albert Lea Female College, having won the 
degree of B. S. Gussie L, became the wife of Charles D. Howe, a 
resident of Sturgis, South Dakota, where he is engaged in the practice 
of law, and Jessie G. married Dr. C. A. Waterbury, of Waterloo, Iowa. 
Mrs. Wilcox passed away May 3, 1905, and on the 14th of November, 1906, 
the Doctor was again married, Miss Lura Hydorn, a native of Minnesota, 
becoming his wife. To this union has been born a son, Richard Hamilton, 
whose natal day was February 28, 1909.

	Dr. Wilcox is a republican and while residing in Freeborn county, 
Minnesota, served as county coroner and was also mayor of Albert Lea 
for one term. He has also been health officer and a member of the state 
legislative committee. He is a Mason and has taken all of the degrees 
from the blue lodge to the Shrine. He is also a member of the 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Royal Arcanum, the Modern Woodmen 
of America and the Modern Brotherhood of America. Along professional 
lines he holds membership in the Black Hills District Medical Society, 
the South Dakota State Medical Society and the American Medical 
Association. The South Dakota State Soldiers Home is fortunate in 
having as its surgeon such an able and conscientious man as Dr. Wilcox, 
whose work in that institution has earned the high encomiums of those 
in a position to judge of its value.