Biography - J. B. Hamilton
DR. J. B. HAMILTON was born in Jersey county, Illinois, December 1, 1847. He is the second of a family of nine children of Rev. B. B. and Mary A. Hamilton. Rev. B. B. Hamilton was a native of Monroe county, Illinois, and his wife of Washington county, Ohio. Their ancestors were English. The subject of this sketch was educated in the common schools of Jersey and Greene counties. In 1862 he became a clerk in the drug store of his uncle, Dr. J. O. Hamilton, of Jerseyville, and afterward clerked in the drug store of J. M. Israel, M. D., at Whitehall. When about the age of seventeen he commenced the study of medicine, under the instruction of Dr. J. O. Hamilton. From Whitehall he removed to Bunker Hill, where he sold goods in the store of C. C. Campbell, until February, 1864, when he returned to Jerseyville and resumed his studies. Soon after this his father purchased an interest in a drug store at Manchester, Illinois, and in September, 1865, the subject of this sketch went to Manchester to conduct the store, where he remained till February, 1867. While there he devoted his leisure hours to the study of Latin, under the tuition of John Grant, A. M., and in the winter of 1867-8 attended lectures at Rush Medical College, Chicago. He spent his vacation at Jerseyville, in study, and in the winter of 1868-9 attended the same College, and in February of the latter year graduated. That session in college he was assistant to Dr. R. L. Rea, professor of anatomy. In March, 1869, he settled at Jerseyville, in partnership with Dr. J. O. Hamilton, and in December following purchased the practice of Dr. O. K. Reynolds, of Kane, where he has since resided. Besides enjoying a good practice, he is proprietor of a drug store at that place. In May, 1869, he became a member of the State Medical Society, and at that meeting was appointed a member of the Committee on Surgery. In the session of 1871 Dr. Hamilton wrote the memorial of the late M. F. DeWitt, M. D., of Whitehall, which was read before the State Medical Society, by Prof. J. H. Hollister, of Chicago. At the meeting of 1872 he was appointed by the same society a member of the Committee on Surgery. Since 1868 he has been a member of the Jersey County Medical Society. ON the 4th October, 1871, Dr. Hamilton was married to Miss Mary L. Frost, daughter of the late John S. Frost, of Jersey county, and grand-daughter of Judge Lowe. He is an efficient worker in the order of Freemasons. In politics he is a staunch republican. The Dr. is a young man of considerable promise, and those who know him best predict for him a prominent position among the leading physicians of Illinois.
Extracted 05 Jan 2017 and 11 Jul 2018 by Norma Hass from Atlas Map of Greene County Illinois, 1873, page 42.
