My Genealogy Hound

Thomas L. Pierce, M. D., one of the many eminent practitioners of Clay County, who has ministered to the wants of the sick and afflicted of Clay County, Ark., is a native of Tennessee and went with his father, John J. Pierce, to Illinois in the spring of 1866. The father was a Union man in sentiment, but during the war he remained in Tennessee, and sided with neither the North nor South. After moving to Illinois he settled near Vienna, the county seat of Johnson County, where his son, Thomas L., grew to manhood. The latter received a good practical education in the schools of Johnson County, and in 1878, when twenty-two years of age, entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Keokuk, Iowa. Previous to this he had studied in the office with Dr. T. L. Grissom, of Samoth, Ill., and after returning from Keokuk he commenced practicing with Dr. J. H. Norris, of Metropolis City, Ill. After remaining there one year he came to Boydsville, Ark., where he opened an office in 1879, and has been engaged in the practice of his profession ever since. Aside from the large practice that the Doctor has, he also finds time to pay some attention to his farms lying in the neighborhood. He was united in marriage, in 1880, to Miss Berlinda Betts, daughter of John H. and Martha (Ford) Betts, of Dunklin County, Mo., and the result of this union has been the birth of five children: Norris, Lillie Myrtle, John Edgar, Martha Lena (died at twenty-two months old) and Roy Dwight. In his political views Dr. Pierce affiliates with the Republican party.