Biography - William S. Martin
William
S. Martin, M. D., a well-known physician of Tuscola, was born in Putnam
county, Indiana, August 2, 1837. After leaving the common schools he taught
school for eight years. During the last three years while teaching school he
studied medicine under Doctor Price, of Westfield, Illinois. He then went to
New York and entered the Bellevue Medical College, the recognized leading
school of the United States, taking two full courses, the first in 1871 and
the last in 1877, in which year he was graduated.
His father was William H. Martin, who was born in Bath county, Kentucky, in 1806, and died in 1897. At the age of twenty-one he located in Putnam county, Indiana, where he resided until 1860, when he removed to DeWitt county, Illinois, and there remained eight years, then removing to Tuscola. His life was marked by deep religious sentiment and by the highest sense of Christian duty. When twelve years of age he united with the Methodist church, whose discipline he took at all times as his standard and rule of faith. In about 1827 he was married to Elizabeth Walton Dills. William Martin (grandfather) was a Virginian by birth, removed to Kentucky, and thence to Putnam county, Indiana, where he died. He was a minister in the Methodist church for many years. His wife was Mary Cook, of English parentage, and a relative of Captain Cook. Dr. Martin's maternal grandfather, John Dills, who was a descendant of Holland ancestry, and of a prominent and early settled family in the vicinity of Cynthiana, Kentucky.
Dr. Martin in 1887 took a post-graduate course at the Chicago Medical College, and in 1895 took a post-graduate course in the New York Post Graduate Medical College, giving more particular attention to diseases of the nose and throat. He is a member of the State and the American Medical Associations, and keeps himself thoroughly in touch with the progress and advancement of his profession. Dr. Martin ranks high as a physician and surgeon. His office is the best supplied with instruments for surgical operations of any town in central Illinois, as well as bath rooms and electrical appliances for the successful treatment of chronic diseases, of which for the past few years he has made a specialty.
In 1861 he was united in marriage to Miss Katherine Thompson, of Manhattan, Indiana. To their marriage were born five children, three daughters and two sons, the latter dying early in life. The daughters are: Margaret, single, who resides at home with her father; Catherine, who is the wife of E. A. Link, a piano manufacturer of Chicago, and Nellie, wife of Horace Wortham, who resides in Tuscola. Dr. Martin's first wife died in 1894, and in 1896 he was married to Miss Laura E. Smith, a very estimable lady of Tuscola.
Dr. Martin owns one of the most elegant homes in Tuscola, and has a splendid office; and also owns two farms, one of one hundred and ten acres adjoining Tuscola, and a fruit farm in Marion county. He has served as mayor of the city and is a member of the Presbyterian church. Dr. Martin's splendid intellectual gifts, deeply rooted in his character, shine forth without any effort on his part to display them, and he is a man of fine personal appearance who favorably impresses all who come in contact with him.
Extracted 12 Apr 2017 by Norma Hass from the Historical and Biographical Record of Douglas County, Illinois, published in 1900, pages 138-139.
