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FRANK A. SABIN, M. D. Fifty years of devotion to his profession is the record of Dr. Frank A. Sabin, a veteran physician of Anna, Illinois; fifty years of his life given to the calling which he chose as his work in young manhood; a half century of time spent in the alleviation of the ills of mankind. Such indeed is a faithful service, a record of which no man could be ashamed. Beginning his career as a follower of his profession in the East, cheerfully following its call to the West, always giving of his best in its service, never sparing himself that the task to which he had devoted himself might be completed, Dr. Sabin's life has surely been a useful one, and he may now look back over the years that have passed with a sense of duty well done and take a pardonable pride in the accomplishment of a great work. Dr. Sabin was born in 1835, in Berkshire county, Massachusetts, and is a son of Dr. Millen and Millescent Sabin, the former born in 1860 and the latter in 1804, both in Berkshire county, the father dying in Madison county Illinois in 1879, and the mother passing away in 1899, at Anna.
The Sabin family first came to Illinois in 1856, locating in Bond county, where Dr. Sabin was engaged in surveying for three years, and at the end of that time returned to the East, where he studied medicine with his father. Entering the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, he was graduated therefrom in 1860, and in 1861 finished his studies in the Berkshire Medical College. After spending a short time in New York, in February, 1862, he came to Troy Madison county, Illinois, and began practice with Dr. John S. Dewey. Thinking, like many others, that the South would soon be defeated and that the Civil war could not last more than a year, Dr. Dewey enlisted in the Union army, leaving his practice in charge of Dr. Sabin but he was compelled to spend three years in the service. After
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Dr. Dewey's return, Dr. Sabin continued in practice in Madison county for twenty-four years, then going to Vermilion, South Dakota, where he was for four years engaged in his profession. He spent the following two years in Fort Scott, Kansas, and in 1892 came to Anna, where he has since resided. A deep thinker and constant student, Dr. Sabin has ever devoted himself to research and study. His sympathetic nature and kind and gentle personality have aided him greatly in his labors, and have made the aged physician one of the best beloved of his profession.
In 1865 Dr. Sabin was married to Miss Anna E. Lytle, who was born in Tennessee in 1846 and died at Anna in 1901, and they had two children: Edward and Mary. Edward, who was born in 1875, attended the college at Maryville, Tennessee, for two years but was compelled to give up his studies on account of ill health. For five years he was engaged in teaching but since that time has been engaged in the work of the Young Men's Christian Association. He is a member of Masonic Blue Lodge No. 520, Anna. Miss Mary Sabin was born in 1880, attended Beloit (Wisconsin) College, and during 1903, 1904 and 1905 taught in Union Academy, Anna. She is unmarried and resides with her father. Dr. Sabin's brother, Dr. Wallace F. Sabin, who also makes his home with him, is a retired lieutenant of the Regular United States Army, which he joined in 1869 and from which he retired in 1909, having served many years as a surgeon.
Dr. Sabin is a Mason and has been through the chairs, belongs to R. A. Chapter No. 45, and was made a mason in 1863. In 1858 he joined the Odd Fellows, went through the chairs and took the Encampment degree. He is a member of the county, State and Southern Illinois medical associations, and is secretary of the county board of pension examiners. A consistent member of the Presbyterian church, he has been an elder therein for nearly fifty years, and has been a member of the Sunday school since 1841, of which he was superintendent for a quarter of a century. His political beliefs are those of the Republican party, but he has never sought public preferment.