My Genealogy Hound

George S. Willis, M. D. In the galaxy of prominent men that honor Jefferson County with their citizenship, Dr. Willis stands foremost among the medical profession. He was born in Holly Springs, Miss., on April 17, 1854, and is a son of Dr. P. A. and Emily (Jackson) Willis, of Charleston, S. C., and Sussex County, Va., respectively. The parents were married in Virginia, and soon after their union moved to Holly Springs, Miss., where the father practiced his profession with great success. He was a graduate of one of the leading medical institutions in Georgia, and well known in the South. He was a soldier in the Mexican War, and during the rebellion was a member of the famous Jeff Davis Rifles. After the latter event he embarked in the drug business and combined with it an office practice. In Masonic circles the elder Willis was very prominent and had taken some of the highest degrees in the order. In politics he was a Democrat and an influential man in that party. Both parents were members of the Episcopal Church. The mother’s death occurred when George was only three years old, and after her decease the father was again married, his second wife being Miss Sarah E. Rutherford. His death occurred in 1879, at the age of sixty-two years. Two children were born to his first marriage, Edwin S. and George S., the former a prominent druggist at Holly Springs, Miss., who died from yellow fever in the year 1878, when that terrible scourge was raging throughout the South. George S. was educated in Holly Springs and at Oxford, Miss., and entered his father’s drug establishment after ending his school days. He there learned the business and studied medicine at the same time up to 1874, when he attended the Missouri Medical College at St. Louis, from which he graduated. He next entered the wholesale house of A. Wengler & Co., druggists in St. Louis, as traveling salesman, and from there went to Louisville, Ky., where he traveled for Arthur Peter & Co., wholesale druggists. In 1875 he became interested in the drug business with Mr. Theodore Linthicum, at Helena, Ark., and afterward at Austin, Miss., besides locating at various other places. In the meantime he had diligently kept up his study, and at Harrisburg combined an office practice with his drug business. Six months later he located at Jonesboro and commenced a general practice, but in 1885 moved to Midway Station. The year following he came to his present place where he has established an extensive practice and become one of the leading physicians in the county. On December 24, 1886, the Doctor was married to Miss Ida Moore, of Water Valley, Miss., a daughter of Mr. J. J. Moore, and one son has been born to the union, Edwin C. Dr. Willis is a member of the Episcopal Church, and a liberal contributor to religious and educational matters. He is a member of the Royal Arcanum, and stands well in that order. In politics he is a Democrat, and when occasion requires, his influence is generally enough to turn the tide in favor of that party in local elections.