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Below is a family biography included in The History of Greene County, Illinois published by Donnelley, Gassette & Loyd in 1879.  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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BURNS, Dr. GEORGE W., for ten years a resident of Wilmington, was born in Mercer County, Pennsylvania; his father was Thomas H. Burns, a native of Pennsylvania; there married Miss Sarah Duff; of eight children born of this marriage Dr. Burns was the second child; his preliminary education was received in the district schools of his native place; for some time he became a school teacher, and then entered the Lebanon Academy, where he became versed in the higher classical studies; prior to the war he studied medicine under Doctor T. H. Fulton; when the call came for 600,000 more troops, the young student enlisted in Company A, 139th Penn. Vols., in the service of Uncle Sam; during the war he was wounded at the second battle of Fredericksburg; transferred to the Army Medical Corps as an assistant to some of the most eminent army surgeons, he gained an experience that has helped materially to make of him a skillful physician and surgeon; he was among those detailed to bury the dead after the famous battle of Bull Run; among the more famous battles participated in by Dr. Burns were Antietam and Fredericksburg, where the regiment was seven days under fire; while on duty at Armory Square Hospital he was the student of Professor G. K. Smith, of the Long Island College Hospital; when the war closed he returned to Pennsylvania, where he studied medicine under Dr. White of Harlemsburg; proceeding to Philadelphia, he attended the medical college there for two terms pursuing the higher medical studies; in 1868 he moved to Wilmington, Greene County, where his skill as a physician is well known; in 1872 he returned to Pennsylvania, where he was united in marriage to Miss Helen M. Black, a daughter of A. H. P. Black; returning to Wilmington, he resumed his practice and now ranks among the leading men of the town.

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This family biography is one of 744 biographies included in The History of Greene County, Illinois published in 1879.  View the complete description here: The History of Greene County, Illinois

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

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