1134
Dr. WILLIS E. LINGLE,
for several years past identified with the medical profession in Union county, is the representative of a family which has been closely allied with the history of that county since its organization. Born April 23, 1872, he is the son of George W. Lingle, who was born in 1850, on the old farmstead in Cobden, Union county, and he still lives in Union county. The father of George W. Lingle and the grandfather of Willis E. Lingle was Henry Lingle, a native of North Carolina and a man of German extraction. He came to Union county about 1820, in company with a number of other homeseekers from the Carolinas. At one time in the early history of that county Henry Lingle owned a tract of one hundred and twenty acres of farm land, which constitutes the present site of Cobden. When the Illinois Central Railroad passed through that region in 1855, Mr. Lingle sold his entire holdings to that company, realizing a handsome profit on the transaction, after which he moved out seven miles northeast of the present town site of Cobden and bought a farm of five hundred acres. Henry Lingle was always a man of action. He was a veteran of the Mexican war, winning for himself a splendid record during his service. He passed away in recent years, but his wife, Elizabeth (Vansel) Lingle, still lives. George Lingle, their son, is the owner of a fine farm of one hundred and forty acres, ninety acres of which are a portion of the old Lingle estate. He was a prosperous man, ambitious and energetic. He married Amelia C. Brooks, a daughter of Larkin Brooks, a native of North Carolina, and who operated a planing mill, the only mill of its nature in Union county for many years. Of the union of Mr. and Mrs. George Lingle four children were born. They are: Willis E., of this review, a practicing physician of Cobden; Fred Lee, of Alto Pass, also a practicing physician; George Melvin, who is on the home farm, married Miss Laura Crawshaw, daughter of Abe Crawshaw, a well known stock farmer of Jackson county; the daughter is Naomi.
Dr. Lingle attended school in his home county and at the Normal at Carbondale; in 1890 he matriculated in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, at St. Louis, Missouri, graduating in March, 1894. He began practice in Makanda, where he was interested in a drug store, remaining there one year. The following two years he practiced at Degonia, Jackson county, and in 1897; came to Cobden.
On January 29, 1896, Dr. Lingle married Miss Mary Estella Patterson, daughter of Gabriel W. Patterson of Makanda, a prominent merchant and grain dealer of that place. Two children have been born to Dr. and Mrs. Lingle, Leland Patterson and Kathryn.