Henry W. Miser, MD

Henry W. Miser, M.D., is a successful practicing physician of Lovilia, Iowa, and has gained a leading place among the members of his profession in Monroe county. It is much to achieve success, but it is infinitely more to win the gratitude of the suffering and afflicted. For more than thirty years Dr. Miser has devoted his efforts to his fellow men, and such has been the kindly, cordial manner of this ministration that in the hearts of those who have received it there is a sense of grateful recognition that words cannot express. He is a progressive physician, constantly improving upon his own and other's methods, and has thus kept fully abreast with the times.

Born in Jefferson county, Ohio, October 25, 1830, the Doctor is a son of Henry and Eliza (Barnett) Miser, the former a native of Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, and the latter of the north of Ireland. The grandfather, Henry Miser, was descended from one of the old Knickerbocker families of New York, which was founded by Holland ancestors in the Mohawk valley long before the Revolutionary war. The Doctor's father removed from Pennsylvania to Jefferson county, Ohio, in 1802, and entered from the Government a section of land, upon which he spent his remaining days. He was twice married, his first union being with Drusilla Edginton, who died in 1827, leaving two children,--Alexander and Eliza, the latter the wife of William Woodward. In 1828 Mr. Miser wedded Miss Eliza Barnett, by whom he had five children: Thomas, Henry W., Margaret J., David F., and Samuel. Throughout his life he carried on agricultural pursuits, and his death occurred at his Ohio home in 1834, at the age of thirty years.

Our subject was only four years of age at the time of his father's death. He acquired his literary education in the public schools, and, determining to engage in the practice of medicine as a life work, he entered a medical school of Cincinnati, Ohio, and in the fall of 1863 came to the West. Here he entered the Keokuk Medical College to complete his studies, and was graduated in that institution with the class of 1864. It now devolved upon him to secure a location, and on the 8th of August he came to Lovilia, where he opened an office, and has since been engaged in practice. He soon secured a liberal patronage, and has always done a good business, for his skill and ability command the public confidence.

On the 17th of June, 1869, the Doctor was united in marriage with Miss Mary J. Devereaux, a native of Ohio and a daughter of Lewis and Rosanna (Blodgett) Devereaux. They have no children of their own, but have two adopted daughters, to whom they have given a home, surrounding them with tender care and attention. They are Anna Masters and Jennie Stuart.

The Doctor hold membership with the State Medical Society, also the Des Moines Valley Medical Association, and the Bussey District Medical Society. With one exception he is the oldest physician in years of continuous practice in the county, and stands high in his profession. When he left college he by no means abandoned study, but has continued his research and investigation through all these years, and has therefore won a reputation that is indeed enviable, and which he well deserves. He is entirely a self-made man, having started out in life as a farm hand, working for $8 per month in the county of his nativity. He, however, saved his earnings, and when he had acquired a sufficient sum pursued his college education. Although he has never amassed a large fortune, he is now in comfortable circumstances and has a pleasant home, and a large practice which extends into northern Monroe and a part of Marion and Mahaska counties. Socially he is a Mason and an Odd Fellow. In his religious belief he is a Presbyterian, but his wife holds membership with the Methodist Church. He exercises his right of franchise in support of the men and measures of the Republican party, and feels a deep interest in its success, but has never been a politician in the sense of office-seeking.