RATFORD F. CHILDS, M. D.
The forces which influence a life of ceaseless activity and large professional success are not apparent on the surface and it is difficult to explain or analyze them satisfactorily--the innate knowledge belongs to the individual and he alone can explain why it is that his life has moved along certain well defined lines and in all probability can give some reason for his success. Success professionally is usually attributed to pronounced ability and energy, coupled with intellectual attainments of a high degree. The biographer cannot do more than note the manifestation of the underlying forces in the individual. In view of this fact, the life of the able physician whose name appears above affords an example of well-defined purpose, with the ability to make that purpose subserve not only his own ends but the good of his fellow men as well. He has attained prestige in a calling which requires for its basis sound mentality and intelligent discipline of a higher order, supplemented by rigid professional training and mastery of technical knowledge, without which one cannot hope to rise above mediocrity in administering to human ills. In his chosen field of endeavor Dr. Ratford F. Childs is achieving success and has won excellent standing among the professional medical men of his community.
Ratford F. Childs was born on July 27, 1874, in Council Bluffs, Iowa, son of Frank L. and Margaret (Dewey) Childs, natives of Vermont and England, respectively. The history of the Childs family begins with the earliest New England days. Labon Childs, grandfather of Doctor Childs, was an early pioneer settler in Cook county, Illinois, and owned forty acres of land now included in the heart of the great city of Chicago. He sold this land for a song and came on westward to Pottawattamie county, Iowa, and settled on a pioneer farm about eighteen miles from Council Bluffs. Ratford F. Childs was born on a farm near Council Bluffs and while he was still a youth, his father removed to Council Bluffs and engaged in the real estate business. Frank L. Childs has retired from active pursuits for some years and has attained the age of seventy-three years, having been born in 1842. His wife, whom he espoused in Iowa, is seventy years of age. When a child she crossed the ocean with her parents, en route to America.
Ratford F. Childs was educated in the public and high schools of Council Bluffs and studied medicine in the University of Nebraska. He was graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1897. He began practice in Audubon, May 18, 1897, and has been eminently successful as a practitioner, whose skill in the art of healing is recognized by a large clientele.
Ratford F. Childs was married in October, 1902, to Myrtle Frick, daughter of Edward Frick, of Audubon. To this union have been born two children, Edward, aged eight years; Ollwene, aged ten years.
Doctor Childs is a member of the Audubon County, the Iowa State and the American Medical societies. The Doctor is a member of the Episcopal church. He is fraternally allied with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and the Knights of the Maccabees.
|
Transcribed from History of Audubon County, Iowa Its People, Industries and Institutions With Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families, by H. F. Andrews, editor, Indianapolis: B. F. Bowen & Company, 1915, pp. 871-872.
|
|
