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Cyrus
Hilary Anderson.
Many of the most skilled physicians and surgeons of Illinois are
devoting their talents and energies to special lines of work connected
with their calling, in this way rendering a better service than they
feel they could do it they confined themselves to a private practice.
The work of the medical men is the highest form of service to
humanity, and those who take their obligations seriously strive to
produce the most lasting results for the greatest number.
Dr. Cyrus Hilary Anderson, late superintendent of the Anna
State Hospital for the Insane, and now associated with the
Watertown State Hospital of East Moline, Illinois, is one of the members
of the medical profession who has given much time and thought to the
treatment of those whose minds are disordered, and his appointment to
these institutions was felt to be a long step forwarding the securing
for them the best of care and treatment.
Doctor Anderson was born at McLeansboro, Illinois, September 15, 1869, a
son of John T. and Martha E. (Patrick) Anderson.
His paternal grandparents were Edmund and Nancy (Turrentine)
Anderson, natives of Illinois, and his maternal grandparents were Hilary
and Martha Patrick, natives of Tennessee. John T. Anderson was born in Hamilton County, Illinois, near
McLeansboro, and his wife was born in Tennessee. They were married at McLeansboro Illinois, and settled on a
farm in its vicinity, where they continued to resident until his death
in 1912. She survives her
husband and makes her home at McLeansboro, where she is held in high
esteem. Mr. Anderson was one of the solid men of his community, and
in his death a good citizen is lost.
Growing up within a strictly Christian environment, Doctor Anderson was
taught habits of thrift and industry which he has never forgotten, and
was sent to the local schools through the high school course.
Early displaying scholarly instincts, he was encouraged by his
watchful parents to develop his talents, and he entered the Southern
Illinois College, where he secured the degrees of Bachelor of Science
and Bachelor of Arts. Subsequently
he took his medical training at the Missouri Medical College, and was
graduated there from with the degree of Doctor of Medicine.
In later years he took two post-graduate courses in New York
City. In 1898 Doctor
Anderson established himself in a general practice at McLeansboro, where
he remained until 1907. In
the meanwhile he had given considerable attention to diseases of the
mind, and contributed papers upon this subject to different medical
JOURNALS. Attention was
attracted toward him because of his success in handling such cases, and
in 1907 he was appointed managing officer of the Chester Illinois State
Hospital, and immediately entered upon the discharge of his duties.
His work in this institution is a splendid record of his skill
and knowledge, as well as his sympathetic understanding of the people
placed in his charge. Kindness,
tempered with judicious firmness, without any harshness, has always
characterized his relations with the mentally diseased, and his patients
have always improved under his ministrations.
In 1913 he resigned his position with the Chester institution,
and, returning to McLeansboro, resumed his private practice.
The need for men of his experience, however, was too great for
him to remain out of the field for which his studies and experience so
eminently fit him, and in 1917 he was induced to accept appointment at
the Anna State Hospital. In
this connection he duplicated his success at Chester, and added to the
laurels already won. Recently
Doctor Anderson was transferred from the Anna State Hospital, Anna,
Illinois, to the Watertown State Hospital, East Moline, Illinois.
The transfer was made May 15, 1926.
Doctor Anderson is an accepted expert along the lines he has been
following, and recently read a much-discussed paper before the meeting
of the Psychological Society at its annual convention at Richmond,
Virginia. He is oftentimes
called as an expert alienist in criminal cases all over the country. On August 16, 1893, Doctor Anderson married Mary E. Williams, who was born in Hamilton County, Illinois, a daughter of Rev. G. W. Williams, also a native of Hamilton County. Doctor and Mrs. Anderson have had the following children born to them: Ruth, who is at home; Winfield Scott, who died at the age of twenty-one years; and Anna, who is the wife of Dr. C. M. Rile, a dental surgeon of Chicago, Illinois. Doctor Anderson has always been very active in the Republican Party, and for years was chairman of the County Central Committee of Hamilton County, and was a member of the Board of Education of McLeansboro. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church. After going to Anna he associated himself with its Rotary Club, in which he took a forceful part. The Hamilton County Medical Society, the Illinois State Medical Society, the American Medical Society, the Southern Illinois Medical Society and the American Psychological Association all hold his membership. Very high in Masonry, he has been advanced in that order to the thirty-second degree. Note: From Legacy of Kin,
Vol. 1, p. 409 |
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