Biographical Sketch of William E. Lewis, M. D., Doniphan County, KSGenWeb Digital Library

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Biographical Sketch
of
William E. Lewis, M. D.
Doniphan County, Kansas

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The following transcription is from a 750 page book titled "Genealogical and Biographical Record of North-Eastern Kansas, dated 1900. These have been diligently transcribed and generously contributed by Penny R. Harrell, please give her a very big Thank You for her hard work!

William E. Lewis, M.D.

In the subject of this review we have one who has attained to distinction in the line of his profession and has been an earnest and discriminating student and who holds a position of due relative precedence among the medical practitioners of Highland. He enjoys a liberal patronage, which is accorded him in recognition of his skill and ability, and his standing in professional circles is equally
desirable.

The doctor was born in Chester county, Penn., September 1, 1850, and is a son of Reuben E. and Elizabeth (Young) Lewis. The Lewis family is of Welsh origin and tradition says that the American branch was founded by three brothers who crossed the Atlantic in colonial days. Joseph Lewis, the grandfather, settled in Pennsylvania. On the maternal side the doctor is of English lineage. His grandfather, James Young, who was for some years the chief of police in Philadelphia, Penn., married a Miss Kerns. Reuben E. Lewis devoted his time and attention to agricultural pursuits. He was born in Delaware County, Penn., and his wife was a native of Philadelphia.

He was engaged in the mercantile business until 1850, when he became a farmer, and in 1869 he removed with his family to northeastern Missouri, locating in Shelby county, where he resumed farming, which he carried on until his death in 1883.

Dr. Lewis, of this review, spent the first eighteen years of his life in Chester county, Penn., where he pursued his education in the strict schools, later taking a course in the High School at Westchester. He accompanied his parents on their removal to Missouri and then entered Highland University, at which he was graduated in 1875. Determining to devote his life to the practice of medicine he
pursued a course of preparatory reading under the direction of Dr. George C. Brown, of Clarence, Missouri, and later matriculated in the Jefferson Medical College, of Pennsylvania, where he was graduated with the class of 1878.

He entered upon his professional career in White Cloud, Doniphan county, Kansas, where he continued in practice until 1882. In the succeeding winter he pursued a course in Rush Medical College at Chicago and then came to Highland, where he remained until 1892, after which he spent four years in the state of Washington and territory of Arizona, hoping thereby to benefit his wife's health. In 1896 he resumed practice in Highland and now has a very large patronage. He is a close student of the principles which underlie the practice of medicine and keeps thoroughly informed concerning the discoveries which mark the path of progress in the line of his chosen vocation.

On the 2nd of April, 1879, the doctor was united in marriage to Maggie J. Adams, of Pleasant Hill, Missouri, a daughter of John and Minerva Adams. Three children, a son and two daughters, grace their union, namely: Nettie F., Elizabeth C. and Joseph J. The doctor is a member of various social and medical societies. He belongs to the Kansas State Medical Society, the Doniphan county Medical Society, the Brown and Doniphan counties Medical Societies, is an esteemed representative of Highland Lodge, No. 67, I.O.O.F., the Modern Woodmen of America and the Ancient Order of United Workmen.

He has twice been elected mayor of Highland and was also the mayor of Colfax, Washington, a town of about three thousand inhabitants. In the discharge of his official duties he labored earnestly to promote the welfare of the city that had made him its official head and his administration was characterized by practical improvements. For some years he was the secretary of the board of trustees of Highland University and is now the president of that board. The cause of education finds in him a warm friend and he withholds his support from no enterprise which is calculated to prove a public benefit.

Devoted to the noble and humane work which his profession implies, Dr. Lewis has proved himself faithful and has not only earned the due reward of his efforts in a temporary way but has also proved himself worthy to exercise the important functions of his calling through his ability, his abiding sympathy and his earnest zeal in behalf of his fellow men.

Last update: Friday, August 02, 2024 18:40:09

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