Mathias Hook, one of the leading osteopathic physicians of Hutchinson, Kan., was born in Pendleton county, Kentucky, Sept. 20, 1849, son of James Henry and Sarah A. (Morris) Hook, both born and reared in the same state. The father was descended from the Hook family that located in New England in Colonial days, and subsequently in Maryland, while the mother was of mixed Scoth and Welsh ancestry, and the son has inherited the excellent qualities of both sides of the house. When Mathias was a year old his parents moved to Iowa, when there were few white settlers, and took up land near Keokuk; but in the spring of the following year they moved to Scotland county, Missouri, where they spent the remainder of their lives, rearing a family of sixteen children—nine girls and seven boys—thirteen of whom are living: Phoebe is the wife of John McBride, a practicing osteopath of Guthrie, Okla.; Nancy C. is the wife of A. C. Levengood, of Lewis county, Missouri; Mathias and Henry C., both osteopaths, are located at Hutchinson, Kan.; Susan E., married Jacob Bidleman of Fort Cobb, Okla.; Mary G. is the wife of W. A. Downing, of Kirkville, Mo.; Albert E. is an osteopath at Cherokee, Iowa; John T. is an osteopath at Belding, Mich.; Virgil is an osteopath at Wilksbarre, Pa.; Emma E., widow of Joseph Price, is a graduate of the American School of Osteopathy, with the class of 1901, and practices with her brother, Mathias; Ida M. is the wife of Enoch Jamison, of Green City, Mo.; Rebecca is the wife of Elmer Sanford of Adair, Mo.; and Charles Otis is both a homeopathic and osteopathic physician and surgeon at Fort Worth, Texas. Thus eight of the family are practicing physicians of one of the most modern schools and are doing a great work for suffering humanity.

Mathias Hook remained at home, on his father's farm, until twelve years of age, attending the district school during the winter and working on the farm in the summer, living the usual life of a country boy and growing sturdy and strong. He then became a farm hand and worked until his seventeenth year in the country, when he started to learn the cabinet maker's trade. After learning all branches of wood working he was forced to go to Colorado on account of his health and spent a year in the open, hunting buffalo and making railroad ties. His health practically restored by the out-door life, he returned to North Platte, Neb., where he engaged in railroad work and contracting for fourteen years, nearly always at out-door work. In the fall of 1894 he went to Shawnee, Okla., and was there three years before he went to Kirksville, Mo., to enter the osteopathic school, where he graduated in 1900. Soon after completing his course, he located at Bonham, Tex., but in 1904 came to Hutchinson, Kan., where he has since remained. On July 4, of that year, he located in the Hoke Building. Mrs. Price, who has practiced in Eldon, Iowa, for nine years, is now associated with him and they have built up a gratifying and lucrative practice, as people come from all the surrounding country for treatment. Dr. Hook is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Kansas Osteopath Association, the Mississippi Valley Osteopathic Association, and the Southern Kansas Osteopathic Association. In religious faith he is a member of the Methodist church, and he has always been a strong Prohibitionist.

In April, 1879, he married Margaret Garner, of London, England, and the have one child, J. Henry, an osteopathic physician at Telluride, Col. Dr. Hook received a severe injury in a street car accident, April 22, 1911, and was obliged to give up his practice. He has spent the time since in Manitou, Col., and has recently located in Colorado City, Col., to a nice practice and still take advantage of the climate. He has developed a destroyer of the tubercular bacilli and has put up a guarantee to cure 95 per cent. of all cases treated or refund the money paid.