James Madison Fallis

JAMES MADISON FALLIS, M. D. Among the old time physicians, probably none have more interesting data concerning the experiences of pioneer practice in Western Kansas than Dr. James Madison Fallis of Luray. He has practiced over a wide region in that part of the state forty years. He began his work when there were no telephones, no improved highways, no automobiles, and he practically carried his apothecary shop with him when he made his round of professional visits. He is a man of first class ability and has achieved more than ordinary distinction in his locality.

Doctor Fallis was born in Harrison County, Missouri, May 6, 1848. His paternal ancestors came from Wales and were colonial settlers in Virginia. His father, Stuart White Fallis, was born in Kentucky in 1812. He was reared and married in his native state and in 1847 moved to Northern Missouri, becoming a pioneer settler in Harrison County. He took public lands and developed a farm, and in the early days furnished a varied service to his community, being an export mechanic, a house carpenter and joiner, a furniture and cabinet maker. In 1886, when advanced in years, he moved out to Kansas and bought a place in Osborne County, where he died in 1903, at ninety-one years of age.

Mr. Fallis, Sr., married Emerine Stratton, born in Kentucky in 1814 and died in Osborne County, Kansas, in 1898. Their family consisted of the following children: Ellen, who died at Des Moines, Iowa, wife of Edwin Winburn, a farmer also deceased; W. R., who was a mechanic and died in Virginia; Sarah, who married William T. Farthing, and both are deceased, her death occurring in Russell County, Kansas; E. C., who went to New Mexico in 1916 and no word has come from him since; Dr. James M. the fifth in age; Nancy, who died in Osborne County, Kansas, wife of Elliott Bernard, a laundryman who died in Kansas City, Missouri; Julia, wife of John Guess, a retired cattleman at Osborne; Joseph, who also went to New Mexico in 1916 and has been lost sight of; Amanda, who died in Osborne County, wife of George Elliott, who is now vice president of the First National Bank of Luray; and Addie, who married Jeptha Christy and resides at Portland, Oregon.

Doctor Fallis as a boy attended the public schools of Gentry County, Missouri. For two years he was a student in the Keokuk Medical College at Keukuk, Iowa, then practiced a year in Gentry County and completed his medical training in the Emsworth Medical College at St. Joseph, where he graduated in 1878. He came to Kansas the same year and located near the line between Osborne and Russell counties. His professional practice took him all over both counties, and he attended nearly all the pioneer families in that locality. In 1903 Doctor Fallis moved into Luray, and continues his general medical and surgical practice from that point. He owns his office building on Main Street and on the same thoroughfare he erected a modern home in 1909. He is also interested in agriculture, owning three farms in Osborne County. His farm holdings aggregate 480 acres and two of them are devoted to wheat and one to cattle. Doctor Fallis is a democrat but has never aspired to any official honors. He is a stockholder in the First National Bank of Luray and is a member of Luray Lodge of Masons.

In 1873, in Daviess County, Missouri, Doctor Fallis married Miss Louisa Bush. Her parents were Levi and Elizabeth (Stark) Bush, both now deceased, her father being a farmer in Northern Missouri. Mrs. Fallis died at Luray in 1909, the mother of eight children: Estle O., the oldest, was formerly a merchant and is now a ranchman in California; Pearl was first married to Fred Grammon, a merchant, and after his death she became the wife of Ralph Broderick, a merchant at Osborne, Kansas; Vera lives with her father; Orville is a large ranchman in Osborne County; Earl is on his father's farm in Osborne County; Claude P. is postmaster at Luray; Clyde James is now in the United States army with the overseas forces, and Edrin, the youngest, is still at home.

Page 2151.