Having by long practice and wide experience gained knowledge and skill
in his professional career, Newton J. Benson, M. D., of Goreville,
occupies a position of note among the more successful physicians of
Johnson county, while as a druggist he has established a substantial
business and is closely associated with the advancement of the
mercantile interests of this part of the state. He was born March 6,
1848, in Gallatin county, Illinois, on the farm of his father, James M.
Benson.
His paternal grandfather, Charles R. Benson, was born in
Virginia, a son of Babel Benson, who migrated with his family to
Kentucky in the early part of the nineteenth century. In 1821 Charles R.
Benson came to Illinois, settling in Sangamon county when the country
round about was in its virgin wildness. On account of the prevalence of
malaria and other sickness, he soon returned to Kentucky, and was a
resident of Logan county until 1831. He then started for Sangamon
county, Illinois, with his family, but stopped en route in Gallatin
county, where he entered one hundred and sixty acres of land from the
Government. Clearing a space in the midst of the deep, wild woods, he
erected a log cabin, and there resided until his death, which was
caused, in 1848, from exposure incurred while on a hunting expedition.
James M. Benson was born February 6, 1822, in Sangamon county,
Illinois, near the present site of the city of Springfield. He spent a
few years of his childhood in Logan county, Kentucky, afterwards living
on the home farm in Gallatin county until 1851. Moving then to
Bloomfield township, Jackson county, he purchased two hundred and
forty-eight acres of wild land, and on the farm which he improved lived
and labored many years, it being the estate now owned and occupied by
James S. Benson. In September, 1861, he enlisted in Company K, Sixtieth
Illinois Volunteer Infantry, under command of Captain William C. Goddard
and Colonel Toler, being commissioned first lieutenant of his company.
On November 30, 1862, on account of serious illness, he was honorably
discharged from the service. While in the army he took part in several
skirmishes. He was at Island No. 10, in the Mississippi, from there
going with his comrades to Pittsburg Landing, thence to Corinth,
Mississippi, and from there marched to Tuscumbia, Alabama, thence to
Nashville, Tennessee, traveling on foot all the way and there being
discharged. In 1907, having by dint of industry and wise management
accumulated a competency, he disposed of his farm, and having given each
of his heirs five hundred dollars retained the remainder of his wealth
and took up his residence in Goreville.
On April 10, 1845, James
M. Benson was united in marriage with Selinda Slack, a daughter of
William and Mary (Finney) Slack, natives, respectively, of Kentucky and
Virginia. She died April 17, 1900. Four children were born of their
union, namely: Newton J., the subject of this brief sketch; Maggie A.;
A. G.; and James. Maggie A. became the wife of a Mr. Carson and to them
two children were born, as follows: Mrs. Maud Whittenberg, who died in
early womanhood, leaving one child, George W. Whittenberg; and Cora, who
married a Mr. Nave, and at her death left one child Ellen Nave. A. G.
Benson married and has seven children, namely: Mrs. Eva Kuykendall, who
has two children; John, who is married and has two children ; Mrs. Mary
Hudgens, who has one child, Earl Hudgens; Arthur, the oldest son;
Robert; and Charles and Frank, twins. James Benson is married and has
two children, Eugene and Daniel.
Growing to manhood on the
parental homestead, Newton J. Benson began teaching school when eighteen
years old, and five years later, with the money which he had saved from
his scant earnings, he bought a farm of forty acres. From 1866 until
1874 he taught school, farmed and studied medicine. In 1873 he sold his
land, and with the proceeds entered Rush Medical College, in Chicago,
where he studied faithfully for eighteen months. In the spring of 1875
he was graduated from the University of Louisville, Kentucky, with the
degree of M. D. Beginning the practice of his profession in Johnson
county, Illinois, Dr. Benson was associated for three years with Dr. "W.
A. Looney, of Vienna, and the ensuing three years was there in
partnership with Dr. George Barton. For nearly a quarter of a century
longer the Doctor continued his residence in Vienna, where he built up a
good practice, and where, from 1896 until 1907 he was secretary of the
County Pension Board. In 1907 he opened a drug store at Nashville,
Illinois, and conducted it a year, when, in 1908, he came to Goreville,
where he is carrying on a profitable business as a druggist and has a
large practice as a physician. He has accumulated a fair share of this
world's wealth, owing a farm of twenty-five acres near Goreville, and
having in addition valuable residential and business property.
Dr. Benson is a member of the Southern Illinois, the Johnson County, the
Illinois State, and the American Medical Societies. He is a man of good
executive and professional ability, and from 1890 until 1894 served as
assistant superintendent of the Anna Hospital for the Insane.
Fraternally he is a member of Vienna Lodge, No. 150, Ancient Free and
Accepted Order of Masons, at Vienna; and of Gethsemane Metropolis
Commandery, No. 41, Knights Templars, of Metropolis. Religiously he
belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church.
On April 22, 1879, Dr.
Benson was united in marriage with Mrs. Emma F. (Beal) Cole, a daughter
of Stephen and Eliza Beal, who migrated from Pennsylvania, their native
state, to Southern Illinois in 1857 when she was a child of three years.
Her first husband, L. W. Cole, left her a widow with one child, Mrs.
Margaret A. Keithley, whose husband is connected with the Wheeling
Canning Company, at Wheeling, West Virginia. Mrs. Benson is an active
and prominent worker in the Order of the Eastern Star, being a member of
the Grand Chapter of Illinois, and having served as a delegate from
Vienna to the State conferences.
Extracted from 1912 A History of Southern Illinois, by George W. Smith, volume 2, page 693.