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DR. DAUSA D. HARTWELL.
As a prominent member of a large and numerous family who have won distinction in many and varied occupations in Marion and Williamson counties, Dr. Dausa D. Hartwell is entitled to all the praise that is heaped upon him. When perhaps he might have been able, through his undoubted ability, to have established himself in a larger city where he would have gained not only a valuable experience, but a more lucrative practice, he has been content to stay in his home town and administer to the needs of his old friends and neighbors. It is a rare gift, that of unselfishness, and one that is little shown by our young lawyers and doctors today.
The grandfather of Dr. Hartwell was the late William Hartwell, who came into Williamson county in 1839 from Tennessee. During the Civil war his brothers to the number of six gave their services and almost their lives to the preservation of the Union. His youngest brother, Lorenzo D. Hartwell, has just retired after years of service at the bar of Williamson county, leaving behind him the enviable record of an honorable career. William Hartwell spent his life as a farmer, and raised a large family of children. His wife was Miss Adeline Phenix, and their children are as follows: Profesor John L. D., of Marion; Flora, the wife of George Moore, also living in Marion; Charles K., of East St. Louis, where he holds the position of government inspector in the National Stock Yards; Caroline, who died unmarried when she was about twenty years old; Sarah, who died at thirty-five, as the wife of Christopher Hanks; George P., of Villa Ridge, Illinois; Joseph A., a farmer near Creal Springs, Illinois; and Dora, who is the wife of Will Stotlar, of Williamson county.
Dr. Hartwell is the son of the eldest of this family, Professor Hartwell, who was born in Williamson county. Brought up in the country, his healthy life gave him a strong body and mind but little in the way of educational advantages. His training was obtained mainly in the common schools and he began his career as a teacher before he attained his majority. Through teaching and through constant application as a student he has developed into one of the most scholarly and cultured men in the county. His work in the school room was so efficient and he had so decided a taste for it that he determined to make it his life work. He carried out this resolve and the thirty-six years which he has given to it have all been spent within the limits of Williamson county. Six years
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ago he was called to take the principalship of the Lincoln school in Marion, and that is his present position.
Professor Hartwell married in Williamson county Miss Lizzie E. Davis. She is a daughter of Allison Davis, who passed his life in Tennessee, where Mrs. Hartwell was born. At the age of sixteen she came to Illinois, where she met Professor Hartwell. Dr. Hartwell is the eldest of three children, the other two being Minnie A., the wife of Berry Proctor, of Marion, and Eddie E,, of the same city.
Like his father, Dausa D. Hartwell was born in Williamson county, his birth occurring in the Williford community, on the 7th of October, 1878. The Doctor graduated from the high school at Creal Springs and then, following in the steps of his father, taught a term of country school. Deciding that teaching was not his vocation, he turned to medicine, entering the College of Physicians and Surgeons in St. Louis, taking his degree from that institution in 1901. He then returned to his home town, where he has built up a large practice. Realizing that in the medical profession modern science is bringing about constant changes, and that a doctor, of all men, must keep abreast of the times, he went to Chicago in 1905 and took a course of lectures in the Post Graduate School, while the following year he took similar work in the Chicago Polyclinic. He thus is endeavoring to give his patients the advantage of all the most recent methods of treatment. He is physician for the modest little hospital in Marion and served two years as president of the board of health. He is also a partner of one of the leading druggists of Marion.
Thinking that the members of his profession derive great benefit from a discussion of their problems, and also that in union his fellow practitioners lose much of that envious spirit which is harmful to the practice of any profession, he is a member of the city, county and state medical societies, and of the Southern Illinois Medical Society, as well as the American Medical Association.
Following the practice of most of the voters of his family name, Dr. Hartwell is a Republican in his political faith. Among the fraternal orders, he is a Master Mason, an Odd Fellow, a Knight of Pythias and an Elk. This long list speaks sufficiently for his strong belief in the efficacy of the principles set forth by these orders. In his religious affiliations, he, together with his household; are active in the work of the Mission Baptist church.
In St. Louis, on the 30th of April 1904, Dr. Hartwell married Rita Drake, a daughter of Mrs. Amy Drake. The Drakes were southern people, coming originally from Louisiana. Mrs. Drake is the mother of Professor Leonard Drake, who has charge of swimming and athletics at the Muegge Institute, in St. Louis; Mrs. Hartwell; and Musa, the wife of Henry Lashley of Home, Missouri.
From the heritage of Dr. Hartwell his success was only to be expected, but his popularity is only the result of his own personality. His kindly manner and heartfelt sympathy make him a welcome guest, and he has not been rendered callous to suffering through much experience with it, as have so many men of his profession.