My Genealogy Hound

WILLIAM MARVIN BEMUS, M. D. — One who has kept pace with the march of progress which has characterized medical science for the last quarter of a century, is William Marvin Bemus, M.D., a young and rising physician and surgeon of Jamestown, and Chautauqua county. He was born at Meadville, Crawford county, Pennsylvania, September 2, 1855, and is the eldest son of Colonel George H. and Julia (Prendergast) Bemus. The Bemus and Prendergast families were of New England ancestry, and located in the valley of the Hudson river at an early day in the history of its settlement. Dr. Bemus' great-grandfather, William Bemus, was born probably in Massachusetts, and served in the Revolutionary war. His son, Charles Bemus, was born on the historic battle-ground of Bemus Heights, which were named in honor of the Bemus family. He served as captain in the war of 1812. Dr. Daniel Bemus (paternal grandfather) was a graduate of Pennsylvania University, and served as a surgeon in the war of 1812. In one of the battles along the Canadian frontier he was shot through both knees. He lived to be eighty-six years of age. Colonel George H. Bemus was born at Russellburg, Warren Co., Pa. He read law, was admitted to the bar, and in 1855 located at Meadville, Crawford Co., Pennsylvania, for the practice of his profession. When the late war broke out he enlisted in the Ninth Pennsylvania Reserves, and was commissioned as first-lieutenant of Company F, of that regiment. He was successively promoted until he attained the rank of colonel, and was placed in command of the Fifty-eighth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, which made an enviable record for bravery and efficient service. After the close of the war he returned to Meadville, where he has been engaged in the practice of law ever since. During his residence in Crawford county he has been sent twice by his fellow-citizens to represent them in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.

William M. Bemus passed his boyhood years at Meadville, and received his elementary education in the public schools of that place. At sixteen years of age he entered Allegheny college, where he remained two years, and had passed into the sophomore class, when he left to study medicine with the late Dr. William Church, an eminent and highly successful physician of Meadville. After completing a full course of reading under Dr. Church, he entered the University of Pennsylvania, in 1876, and was graduated from that well-known institution in the class of 1878. He then came to Jamestown, where he has practiced his profession ever since. In 1887, he was appointed United States Pension Examiner for the district in which he resides, and at the present time is a surgeon and staff-officer of the Fourth Brigade, of New York. For the last eleven years he has served as health officer of Jamestown, but increasing practice has caused him lately to resign his insurance positions. He is a member of Mt. Moriah Lodge, No. 145, Free and Accepted Masons, of Jamestown.

On April 30th, 1881, he united in marriage with Minnie M. Barrows, daughter of R. J. Barrows, a leading lumber dealer of Jamestown. Their union has been blest with one child: Selden Bemus, born May 9, 1884.

Strongly attached to his profession, and devoting his whole energies to its exacting requirements, Dr. Bemus has deserved the success which he has won by his knowledge and skill as a physician. He has been, during his professional career, an earnest and constant student, and has kept well abreast of the rapid advances of medical science. Of quick perception and sound judgment, he entertains a contempt for all shams and pretences in his profession. He is well read, progressive and successful as a physician and surgeon, and the field of his future distinction and usefulness in the medical profession will by no means be limited to the boundaries of his town or county.