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Below is a family biography included in The Portrait and Biographical Record of Randolph, Jackson, Perry and Monroe Counties, Illinois published by Biographical Publishing Co. in 1894.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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DR. H. P. HUNTSINGER is the leading physician and surgeon of Pinckneyville, and his reputation is not confined alone to this place, for he is widely and favorably known throughout the county. He was born near Niles, Mich., January 3, 1845, and is a son of John Huntsinger, who was born in Greenville, Darke County, Ohio. The grandfather, Henry Huntsinger, was a native of South Carolina, and was a farmer by occupation. In early life he went to Darke County, Ohio, and subsequently to Michigan. The founder of the family in America was Enoch Huntsinger, a native of Germany, who crossed the Atlantic prior to the Revolution and located in South Carolina, where at one time he was an extensive slave-holder. He lived to be more than one hundred years old, and died near Niles, Mich.

The Doctor’s father was also an agriculturist. He had several brothers who served in the late war, and all were well-to-do farmers. In 1857 he came with his father’s family to Illinois, locating near Greenville, Bond County, where his father died in 1875. He had married Kittie Pettit, who was born near Columbus, Ohio, and who was a daughter of Amos Pettit, a native of the Buckeye State, and an attorney of considerable note, who died in Ohio. He had several brothers who were prominent in the political world. His sons, Henry and Amos, were attorneys, and removed to Iowa, where the former became quite prominent in politics, serving several terms in the Iowa Legislature. Mrs. Huntsinger died in Greenville in 1864. The Doctor was the fourth in her family of seven children. His brother Benjamin F. was a soldier of the late war, who served in the rank of Second Lieutenant, and is now a leading and prosperous farmer of Peoria County, Ill.; John C. is engaged in railroading in Hot Springs, Ark.; Charles A. is a railroad man of St. Louis; Francis B. is connected with the railroads and makes his home in Pine Bluff, Ark.; Mary E. is the wife of F. R. Jones, of St. Louis; Martha A. is the wife of Judge Richard Bran, of Mound City, Kan., who was First Lieutenant in the late war, and has been County Judge for many years in Kansas.

Our subject was a youth of twelve years when his parents removed to Bond County, Ill., where he was reared upon the home farm, receiving such educational privileges as the common schools of the neighborhood afforded. He was a youth of only sixteen when the Civil War broke out, but at the first call for volunteers he tendered his services, and in July, 1861, was enrolled as a member of Company C, Twenty-sixth Illinois Infantry. He participated in many important engagements, including the siege of Island No. 10, New Madrid, Corinth, Iuka, Vicksburg, Jackson, Mission Ridge, New Hope Church, Kenesaw Mountain, Atlanta, and was with Sherman on his triumphal march to the sea. He was also in the last hard fought battle of Bentonville, and at the battle of Dallas, Ga., he received a sabre wound. He was taken prisoner, but was left on the field for dead until after the Union troops had regained the ground, when he was sent to the hospital. A few weeks later he was again able to take his place in the ranks, and was promoted to Sergeant and Second Lieutenant for meritorious conduct on the field of battle. His term of service having expired, he veteranized and served until the close of the war, or for a period of more than four years. During that time he was never absent from his regiment, save when confined in the hospital by his wound. After participating in the Grand Review at Washington, the most brilliant military pageant ever seen in the New World, he was sent to Louisville, Ky., where he was discharged in August, 1865.

Returning to his home, the Doctor engaged in clerking for a time and then spent two years in school in Jacksonville. Later he took up the study of medicine, and was graduated from Rush Medical College of Chicago in 1875, after which he practiced for four years in the West Side Free Dispensary of that city. In the spring of 1879 he came to Pinckneyville, and during the period which has since elapsed he has built up one of the largest practices in southern Illinois, and has won a reputation of which he may be justly proud.

In February, 1883, was celebrated the marriage of the Doctor and Miss M. E. Baird, daughter of A. P. Baird, a prominent farmer of this locality. She is a lady of culture and refinement and presides with grace over their hospitable home. They have one child, Clara D.

Dr. Huntsinger served as President of the Pension Board from 1888 until 1892. He was Chairman of the Republican Central Committee for six years, and does all in his power to advance his party’s interest, for he is a warm advocate of its principles. He was a member of the Board of Education for several years, and is now President of the Southern Illinois Medical Association, and a member of the American Medical Association. He is a Knight Templar Mason, and has been Secretary of the blue lodge, and was also Captain of the Hosts in the chapter. He is also a prominent member of the Grand Army post. He was prominent in the organization of the Pinckneyville Electric Light Company, and from the beginning has been its Secretary. He owns a fine farm and much valuable property in the city, and is numbered among the well-to-do-citizens of Pinckneyville. His career is an honorable and upright one. He is a skilled physician, was a valiant defender of the Union during the late war, and is a prominent and progressive citizen, who well deserves representation in the history of his adopted country.

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This family biography is one of 679 biographies included in The Portrait and Biographical Record of Randolph, Jackson, Perry and Monroe Counties, Illinois published in 1894.  View the complete description here: The Portrait and Biographical Record of Randolph, Jackson, Perry and Monroe Counties, Illinois

View additional Perry County, Illinois family biographies here: Perry County, Illinois Biographies

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