BIOGRAPHIES:  Isaac G. BABCOCK, MD, Cumberland, Barron County, WI

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Isaac G. Babcock, M. D., practicing physician and surgeon of Cumberland,
and a specialist in the human eye, ear, nose and throat, was born in Afton,
Minn., Feb. 4, 1864, son of Dr. B. F. and Amelia (Van Vleck) Babcock. B. F.
Babcock was born near Camden, N. Y., in 1835, a descendant of early New
England ancestry, the family tradition being that five brothers of the name
of Babcock came to Rhode Island in Colonial times and there established the
family in this country. He studied medicine in Buffalo, New York, and
graduated from the Buffalo College of Physicians and Surgeons. He came west
in 1854, and located in Stillwater, Minn., where he practiced his
profession. From there he moved to Afton, where he practiced until his
death, Sept. 20, 1870. His wife, who came of one of the old Holland
families of New York State, spent her declining years in Cumberland, Wis.,
where she died in 1905. There were four children in the family. Two died
young. Henry C. is a dentist in St. Paul. Isaac G. attended the public
schools of Afton, and also the St Croix Valley Academy at that place,
graduating in 1881. Then for three years he read medicine with Dr. B. J.
Merrill, of Stillwater, walking from the family home in Afton to the
doctor's office at Stillwater, twelve miles away. At the same time he
supported his family by teaching school winters and working as a carpenter
in the summers. In 1886-7 he studied in the old St. Paul Medical College,
in the meantime serving as an interne in the old Stillwater Hospital.
September, 1887, he entered the Bellevue Hospital Medical College, in New
York City, and was graduated March 12, 1888. Thus prepared, he started
practice at Stockholm, Wis., where he remained for nine months. Then he
went to Red Wing, Minn., where he practiced a little over a year as a
partner of Dr. W. A. Jones, still a well-known physician now of Salt Lake,
Utah. Dr. Babcock came to Cumberland in 1890 and here he has since
remained. His thirty years' work here is an integral part of the story of
the northwestern part of the county. He has seen the generations grow up,
and has been the beloved physician, advisor and friend to hundreds of
families. His interest in youth is shown by the excellent service he has
rendered as a member of the school board for many years. He is a Blue
Lodge, Chapter and Commandery Mason, and has been through the chairs of the
local lodge of Knights of Pythias. In politics he is a Republican. Dr.
Babcock was married July 4, 1882, at Hudson, Wis., to Melissa C. Squire.
Mr. Squire settled in Shakopee, Minn., in the early days, and moved from
there to Afton, Minn., in 1880. After the death of Mr. Squire, his widow
married John Carroll, of Lake City. She is now dead. Dr. and Mrs. Babcock
have five children, Minnie, Frank, Florence, Grace and George. Minnie is
the wife of R. F. Donehower, of Lidgerwood, N. D. Frank is a practicing
physician of Cumberland. Florence has charge of the English department at
the Jonesville, Wis., High School. Grace teaches elementary science in the
Cumberland High School. George, a veteran of the World War, is a dentist of
Cumberland.

--Taken from: History of Barron Co., Wisconsin, H. C. Cooper, Jr. & Co.,
1922, pp. 266-267.