My Genealogy Hound

W. A. ELDER, physician and surgeon, Bloomington; every city has its representative men in all professions. Of the great number who represent some profession, and more especially that of the medical, there are comparatively few, who, by hard study, almost constant practice and time devoted wholly to their profession, have reached a degree of eminence placing them in the mind of the public, and by the verdict of their societies among the first. This position has been attained and earned by Dr. W. A. Elder, of Bloomington. He is a native of Waterloo, Seneca Co., N. Y., and was born March 3, 1826, and a descendant of Samuel Elder who came from Scotland in 1740, and settled in Hampden Co., Mass. After pursuing collegiate studies three years, he began the study of medicine with his uncle, Dr. Samuel Elder, of Fairmount, St. Clair Co., Ill; in 1847, he graduated at the Medical Department of the University of Missouri, at St. Louis; after finishing his studies at college he was appointed resident physician to the Marine Hospital of St. Louis; this post he held one year; during the next three years he engaged in private practice in St. Louis and San Francisco, Cal. In 1852, he located at Bloomington, where he has since resided, giving his time exclusively to the practice of his profession. He is one of the original members of the McLean County Medical Society, of which he was elected the President in 1875; he has also made frequent contributions to the different medical journals. In his practice he has been most untiring, working with an energy seldom equaled by one of his profession.