- JAMES MILLS, M.S., M.D., a prominent and successful physician
and surgeon of Janesville, is
- a native of Rock county, and was born on the 25th day of
July, 1852. His father, Peter MILLS, one of the early settlers
of the county, was born in Perthshire, Scotland, Feb. 7, 1818.
He was reared in his native land, and there learned the miller's
trade. He was the son of Peter MILLS, born in Abernethy in 1761.
On the 7th day of November, 1841, he was united in marriage with
Miss Jane PEACOCK. In 1849 he emigrated with his family to America,
locating in Rock Prairie, Rock county, Wis., were he engaged
in farming. His children were four in number: Mary, the eldest,
born May 3, 1843, is the wife of Alexander McGREGOR; Peter, born
Jan. 18, 1846, enlisted during the Civil war as a member of the
13th Wis. V. I., Feb. 17, 1862, and died at Fort Henry, Tenn.,
Dec. 16, 1862; Margaret, born Nov. 27, 1850, died in infancy;
James, subject of this sketch, is the youngest. The latter was
but four days old when his father died, on the farm in Rock Prairie,
July 29, 1852, from cholera, at the age of thirty-four years.
Though his decease occurred thus early in life, he was naturally
of a robust constitution, possessing great strength and powers
of endurance. He was well educated, refined, industrious and
highly esteemed. His wife, after the death of her husband, succeeded,
by hard work and careful management, in carrying on the farm
and in providing for her family in a thoroughly Christian home.
In 1858 she married John HENRY, and they resided on the old homestead,
where a daughter, Margaret Jane, was born to them March 10, 1863.
The last named is the wife of Robert J. HADDEN, and their home
is on the old farm. The Doctor's mother died Feb. 2, 1891, at
the age of sixty-nine years. She was a devout Christian, and
an active member of the United Presbyterian Church of Rock Prairie.
She possessed those sterling qualities which characterize her
race, and was beloved by all who knew her for her many kind deeds.
John HENRY departed this life March 17, 1891.
- Dr. MILLS grew to manhood on the old homestead in Johnstown.
He worked on the farm with
- unceasing industry, the only relaxation being his attendance
at the district school during the winter months. In 1869 he entered
Milton College, where he attended several terms. His ambition
did not slumber, and, finding himself partly dependent upon his
own energies to secure an education, he began farming for himself
during the summer, attending the college during the winter. In
1875 he taught school in the old school house where he first
attended. He still pursued his college course, and for several
terms was one of the assistant teachers. Milton College graduated
him in 1879, and conferred upon him the degree of Master of Science
in 1890. Immediately after leaving this institution he began
his medical studies in the office of Dr. Henry PALMER (now deceased),
of Janesville, and in 1880 he entered the Chicago Medical College,
now the Medical Department of the Northwestern University, by
which college he was graduated in 1883. During his last year
there he was appointed assistant surgeon of the Chicago &
Northwestern Railway Co., which is a strong proof of the ability
he possessed as a student, and which afforded him a wide experience
in surgical practice. This position he held for one year.
- A few days after receiving his degree of Doctor of Medicine,
he received his appointment of
- assistant physician in the Insane Hospital at Elgin, Ill.,
where he remained two years. His practice there afforded him
valuable opportunity for acquiring knowledge concerning the treatment
of the insane. Deciding to still further extend his medical researches,
and to widen his experience before entering upon general practice,
he resigned the position and went to Scotland, taking a course
in the Edinburgh Medical University. On the completion of his
course he received a diploma from the Royal Maternity and Simpson
Memorial Hospital. Here his advantages for gaining skill in the
attendance upon patients, at their bedside and in the operating
room, were extensive. Going thence to London, he spent several
months making observations in surgery at St. Thomas and King's
College Hospital, under Sir James LISTER and other eminent surgeons;
also in Soho Square Hospital, devoted to the treatment of the
diseases of women; in Brompton Hospital, applying remedies for
diseases of the chest; and in Sir Morrell McKENZIE's Hospital.
He enjoyed exceptional advantages in this school, where he learned
the methods used by many of the most noted and eminent physicians
and surgeons in Europe, and where he gained instruction that
has since proved of inestimable value in his practice. Leaving
London, the Doctor spent some time in Paris, pursuing the same
course, and visiting the principal hospitals. In 1885, prior
to his leaving Scotland, he became a member of the Edinburgh
Obstetrical Society, a long-established and famous organization.
- In the month of August, 1885, Dr. MILLS returned from the
old countries, and began at once the
- practice of his profession in Janesville, where he has since
resided. Both as a physician and a surgeon he has attained an
enviable reputation; his energy and superior ability soon placed
him in the foremost rank of his profession. He has a large and
lucrative patronage, derived chiefly from the better class of
people in both the city and the country. He is a thorough scholar
and a perfect gentleman, and has the unquestioned respect and
good-will of the community. Everything he undertakes bears the
unmistakable impress of energy and sound judgment. Well-equipped
as the Doctor is, careful and painstaking as has been his preparation
for the work of a successful physician, it is not to be wondered
at that he is considered an authority among his fellow practitioners.
His bearing is such as to inspire confidence in his patients;
and his pleasant manner such as to win friends wherever he goes.
- After continuing his practice without interruption for ten
years at Janesville the Doctor again went
- abroad, in 1895, for further study, taking his family with
him. After remaining in Edinburgh for a short time he went to
Dublin, taking a practical course in midwifery in the famous
old Dublin Maternity Hospital. He then proceeded to London, and
revisited many of its hospitals. Leaving that city, he reached
Berlin, Germany, where he at once entered the medical department
of the University of Berlin, taking special courses for six months
in Gynecology and the diseases of women under Prof. A. MARTIN;
in surgery under Prof. VON BERGMAN; on internal medicine under
Prof. D. G. KLEMPERER and others. Returning to New York City
after a year's study abroad, he took a course in the Post Graduate
School. The Doctor is a member of the Wisconsin State Medical
Society; American Medical Association; and ex-president of the
Central Wisconsin Medical Society; and president of the Rock
County Medical Society. He is a well-known contributor to medical
journals. On Feb. 13, 1888, the Rock County Caledonian Society
was organized, and the Doctor was chosen its president, which
office he held continuously for eight years. He is now acting
as secretary of the society. Socially he is a member of the Knights
of Pythias, Odd Fellows, Masons and other societies, and is secretary
of the Palmer Memorial Hospital. In politics he casts his vote
on the Republican side. His ardent and sincere love for the soldiers
of the Civil war prompted him, in 1897, to raise a flag. A great
concourse of people gathered on the lawn and street in front
of the Doctor's residence in Janesville. W. H. SARGENT Post and
the Janesville Light Infantry were present, and assisted in the
ceremonies. The flag was raised in honor of the Grand Army of
the Republic, and as a memorial to Peter MILLS, the brother of
Dr. MILLS, who died at Fort Henry, Tenn., and James PEACOCK,
an uncle, who was killed at Gainesville, Georgia.
- Dr. MILLS was married to Emma F. CHAMBERLAIN, at the home
of her parents in La Prairie,
- Rock county, May 12, 1886. She was the only child of James
A. and Jane (HUMPHREY) CHAMBERLAIN, and was born Jan. 2, 1860.
She attended the home district school and Milton College, from
which she was graduated in 1878, and for several terms was a
teacher in the country schools. Mrs. MILLS has always manifested
an interest in literary and art studies, and is a most amiable
and accomplished woman. Her father was the son of James and Maria
(JACKSON) CHAMBERLAIN. He was born March 2, 1833, in Hartford,
Conn., and with the family moved to the town of Bradford, Rock
county, when but five years old. The father of this son came
West in 1837, and built a log cabin upon his claim in Bradford,
and here suffered in that year many privations and lonesome hours
in a thinly settled country. He was a carpenter and builder,
which trade he learned in England, his native country, where
he was born March 13, 1791, in Hampshire. He emigrated to America
in 1819, remaining in New York State four years, then moved to
Connecticut and in 1837, after fourteen years spent there as
a contractor and builder, he removed to the Territory of Wisconsin,
and took up the life of a farmer. He was delegate to the first
convention, at Madison, for the framing of the State Constitution.
He built the first courthouse in Janesville; the first bridge
across Rock river, in Rock county, at that city; the first bridges
at Beloit and Roscoe; and the first school houses in the towns
of La Prairie and Turtle. He was noted for his excellent habits,
for his care of his family and his upright, honorable dealings
with his fellow citizens. He died at the age of eighty-three,
from an accident. He left four children and his wife, Maria (JACKSON)
CHAMBERLAIN, who survived him only two years.
- James A. CHAMBERLAIN, the father of Mrs. MILLS, grew to manhood
upon the farm in La
- Prairie, and when he was married, in 1856, he brought his
wife there, and they spent over forty years together on the same
farm. Her health failed in 1898, and they left the old homestead
and moved to Janesville. She died Jan. 15, 1899, at the age of
sixty years. Through her mother Mrs. MILLS was a descendant of
Frederick A. and Eliza (YATES) HUMPHREY, both of whom were born
in the State of New York, where they lived until they moved to
Shopiere, Rock county, in 1847. Here they spent the greater part
of their lives, and here both died in the spring of 1896 - she
at the advanced age of ninety, and he at ninety-five. He was
also a contractor and builder. Eliza YATES was a direct descendant
of Col. Peter YATES, of Revolutionary days.
- Dr. and Mrs. MILLS have two children: Wallace C., born in
Janesville April 16, 1889; and James
- Stewart, born in Berlin, Germany, Nov. 22, 1894. The Doctor
and Mrs. MILLS are members of the Presbyterian Church, and he
is one of its elders. They have a beautiful home, an ornament
to the city.
-
- Taken from "Commemorative Biographical Record of
the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette Wisconsin"
(c)1901, pp. 208-210.
-
- Courtesy of Carol
|