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Below is a family biography included in Book of Biographies: Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens, Cortland County, New York published by Biographical Publishing Company in 1898.  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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D. E. ENSIGN, M. D., a popular physician of McGrawville, is a son of Zebe S. and Betsey (Grover) Ensign, and was born December 17, 1859, in Madison County, N. Y. The family of Ensigns originated in England.

The paternal grandfather, Zebe Ensign, came from Vermont and settled at Nelson, Madison County, this state. He was a mason by occupation, and spent many years at the trade. He had seven sons and three daughters.

The father of Dr. Ensign was a native of Nelson, Madison County, and was born in 1816. He was educated in the common schools, and still further in the high school. He then engaged in farming and also dealt in lumber on a small scale in his native county; this business he continued until the latter part of his life, when he came to McGrawville, making his home with his son, our subject, until his death, which occurred November 23, 1895. He was a Republican and a member of the Baptist Church. His wife, Betsey Grover, was a woman who, in her girlhood, had received an education in the common schools and then learned the trade of a tailoress, an occupation she followed until her marriage, in 1849. She died in 1872, leaving two children, D. E.; and Nettie.

Dr. Ensign attended the common schools and the Union School of Morrisville, Madison County, N. Y., and then entered the Cazenovia Seminary, where he prepared for college. He graduated from the Eclectic Medical Institute of Cincinnati, June 5, 1888, came to McGrawville and opened an office, where he has been practicing ever since. His early life was spent on his father’s farm, and there it was that he first entertained the notion of entering the medical profession. His time was well employed, three terms being spent with this object in view, in teaching in his native county. December 6, 1888, he was married to Miss Emma J. Towne, of Sauquoit, N. Y., to whom were born two children; Harold G. and Bessie E. Dr. and Mrs. Ensign have been most desirable acquisitions to the society of McGrawville; they are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, taking a leading part in all its functions. Dr. Ensign has been a trustee of that body for the past eight years, and has acted as superintendent of the Sabbath School for eight years, doing much to build up the school and place it in its present flourishing condition. He is a member of the State and Central New York Eclectic Medical Societies, and a member of McGrawville Lodge, No. 320, I. O. O. F. He is a Republican in his political affiliations. At present he is health officer of the village of McGrawville and the town of Solon. But in nothing is his success more pronounced than in the practice of his profession, enjoying as he does a large and lucrative practice. It does not often fall to the lot of so young a physician to control so large a business, but Dr. Ensign has worked hard and earnestly for his success, and deserves the reputation and confidence with which he has been rewarded.

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This family biography is one of numerous biographies included in Book of Biographies: Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens, Cortland County, New York published in 1898. 

View additional Cortland County, New York family biographies here: Cortland County, New York Biographies

View a map of 1897 Cortland County, New York here: Cortland County, New York Map

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