Foxworthy, Oliver W. (M.D)

FOXWORTHY, LESAN, JORDAN, WILIS

Posted By: Mary H. Cochrane, Volunteer
Date: 6/29/2019 at 19:34:02

OLIVER WELLINGTON FOXWORTHY, M.D.
February 08, 1855 ~ October 19, 1935
History of Decatur County Iowa And Its People
Prof. J.M. Howell and Heman C. Smith, S. J. Clarke Pub. Co. 1915

Dr. Oliver Foxworthy, a prominent and able representative of the medical profession in Decatur county, Iowa, has been continuously engaged in practice at Leon for the past thirteen years. His birth occurred in Mercer county, Missouri, on the 8th of February, 1855. His father, Mason Foxworthy, was a native of Kentucky and removed with his parents to Indiana when a youth of about ten years. Subsequently, in 1854, he took up his abode among the pioneer settlers of Mercer county, Missouri, and in 1860 came to Decatur county, Iowa. In 1871 he located at Lineville, Iowa, and there spent the remainder of his life, passing away on the 8th of January, 1902, when eighty-one years of age. His wife still survives at the age of eighty-eight and is well known and highly esteemed throughout the communities in which she has resided. To them were born nine children, as follows: Mary F.; Jane, who died at the age of six years; Amanda, who passed away when four years old; Oliver W. of this review; Victor E.; Louella, the wife of A. L. Lesan; William, who died when a lad of six years; Rosa, who passed away at the age of twenty-one; and Nelly, who gave her hand in marriage to A. E. Jordan.

Oliver W. Foxworthy, who was but five years of age when his parents established their home in this county, acquired his education in the graded and high schools of Lineville, Wayne county, and subsequently followed the profession of teaching for three years. He then entered the State Normal School at Kirksville, Missouri, and was graduated from that institution with the degree of Bachelor of Science in 1881. Having determined upon a professional career, he began reading medicine under the direction of Dr. E. Glendenning, of Lineville, Iowa, and later entered the Physicians and Surgeons Medical College of Keokuk, Iowa, from which he was graduated on the 26th of February, 1884. On the 1st of April following he began practice at Weldon, Decatur county, Iowa, and in 1892 pursued a post-graduate course in the Chicago Polyclinic College, while subsequently, in 1902, he did post-graduate work in the Chicago Post-Graduate Medical College of Chicago. In 1902 he located at Leon, Iowa, and has here remained continuously since, enjoying a large and lucrative practice. With the steady progress of the profession he keeps in close touch through his membership in the Decatur County Medical Society, the Southwestern Medical Association, the Iowa State Medical Society ad the American Medical Association, and for five years he served as councilor for the eighth congressional district of the Iowa State Medical Society. The Doctor is a man of large means and owns several farms which he leases and which return to him a handsome income. On the 13th of April, 1879, Dr. Foxworthy was joined in wedlock to Miss Mary Elizabeth Wilis. Her father was a native of Hanover county, Virginia, and an agriculturist by occupation. Dr. and Mrs. Foxworthy have one daughter, Ollie Elizabeth, who is a graduate of the Leon high school and now attends Drake University.

Dr. Foxworthy gives his political allegiance to the republican party and is an active worker in its ranks, having several times served as a delegate to the state and other conventions of the party. For four years he acted as chairman of the republican county central committee of Decatur county, and he has made a number of campaign speeches, especially in opposition to the liquor traffic. For several years he has served as a member of the school board, acting as its president for one year, and for several years he also held the office of trustee of Franklin township. From 1912 until 1914 he served as mayor of Leon, Iowa, giving to the town a most public-spirited and beneficial administration, characterized by many measures of reform and improvement. In fraternal circles he is prominently known as a Mason, having passed the chairs in the blue lodge and been a representative thereof to the grand lodge and having served as treasurer of Tripolis Commandery No. 60 K. T., for many years. He is also affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias.Through professional, public and fraternal connections Dr Foxworthy has become so widely and favorably known that his record cannot fail to prove of interest to the great majority of our readers.

Transcribed for IAGenWeb's Decatur County site