My Genealogy Hound

W. W. Hipolite, M. D., De Vall’s Bluff. Among the people of Prairie County, as well as surrounding counties, and of the State at large, the name that heads this sketch is by no means an unfamiliar one. For many years he has been actively engaged in the practice of his chosen profession, and during this time his career as a practitioner and thorough student of medicine has won for him no less a reputation than has his personal characteristics as a citizen and a neighbor. He was born in Hornellsville, Steuben County, N. Y., August 3, 1834, and was the son of Casimir Vincent Hipolite, a native also of New York. The father was the son of Vincent Hipolite, a native of France, and at one time a surgeon in the French army. After leaving the army Vincent Hipolite resided on the Island of Hayti, where he was a large property holder, till the insurrection of 1791, when his possessions were confiscated. Owing to the fact that he was a physician his life was spared, in order that his services might be utilized in the hospital. He succeeded in escaping to New York, in one of his own vessels, accompanied by seven of his slaves, who still adhered to him. It was during the residence of Vincent Hipolite in New York that Casimir Vincent Hipolite, the father of the subject of our sketch, was born, September 12, 1796. C. V. Hipolite lost by death two wives and all his children by them, excepting a son who died some years later. He was married for the third time on June 16, 1833, to Nancy Drake, widow of Francis Drake, and whose maiden name was Nancy Parsons a native also of the same State. To them were born three children, Dr. W. W. Hipolite being the eldest; the next, Maria Antoinette, who became the wife of Dr. F. M. Weller, and died at Evanston, Ill.; the youngest, Leverett Anson Hipolite, is now a resident of Kansas. The occupation of C. V. Hipolite was that of a farmer, which he followed in the State of New York till 1851, when he removed to Northville, Mich., and thence, in 1857, to Cook County, Ill., where he continued his occupation till 1861. Owing to their advanced age, and the fact that they were alone, the father and mother of Dr. W. W. Hipolite were then induced to make their future home with him, first in Racine County, Wis., and then in De Vall’s Bluff, Ark., where they died, the mother on June 24, 1870, and the father in November, 1874. The early life of Dr. W. W. Hipolite was spent on his father’s farm, where he regularly attended the public school till the age of fifteen, when he entered the Academy of Fredonia, N. Y., where he remained till the fall of 1851, when he accompanied his father’s family to Northville, Mich. While attending Fredonia Academy, he was, on the recommendation of the faculty, appointed to take charge of the meteorological observations at that point, by authority of the Smithsonian Institute of Washington, D. C. After his removal to Northville, Mich., he engaged in teaching school, and while thus employed commenced the study of medicine under his brother-in-law, Dr. F. M. Weller. In due time, he entered the Medical Department of the University of Michigan, from which he graduated with honor, March 27, 1857. After graduation he spent some months in the office and drug store of Dr. Weller, who had in the meantime removed to Evanston, Ill. He located in Cook County, Ill., in the spring of 1858, where he built up a good practice, and remained there three years, when he removed to Racine County, Wis., and continued to practice his profession. In December, 1862, he entered the army as assistant surgeon of the Eighteenth Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, having been commissioned as such by Gov. Yates, of Illinois. Soon after joining his regiment he was placed in charge of the same, the regimental surgeon having been sent on duty elsewhere. He was constantly with his regiment in its various engagements in Tennessee, and later in the Vicksburg campaign. Soon after the surrender of that stronghold he resigned and returned to his home, owing to the fact that he had become disabled for duty from a severe attack of typho-malarial fever, followed by camp diarrhoea, and his recovery was despaired of. During several succeeding months his recovery was slow and tedious, and he was unable to engage in business. After about one year from the time he left the service, his health being sufficiently restored to enable him to again take the field, he re-entered the service by accepting a commission as assistant surgeon of the Twenty-ninth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. From this time till April 9, 1866, when he was finally discharged with his regiment, he saw much active service, and held many responsible positions. At one time he had charge of all the reserve artillery, Department of the Gulf, with headquarters at Kenner, La. In February, 1865, he was ordered to take charge of the hospital property of his brigade, and convey the same to Fort Gaines, Mobile Bay. In the execution of this order he embarked on board the gulf steamer George Peabody, which had on board in all about 1,000 men and nearly 200 horses and mules. After crossing the bar, at the mouth of the Mississippi River, the vessel encountered the most violent storm known there for many years, and all the horses and mules, excepting four, were put overboard, and eight men were lost. It was deemed a marvel that the vessel escaped destruction with all on board. Upon his arrival at Fort Gaines, Dr. Hipolite found waiting him a commission from President Lincoln, promoting him to the rank of major of cavalry and surgeon of the Eleventh United States Cavalry Troops. Prior to this he had successfully passed the medical examining board, United States army, at St. Louis, before which he was ordered by the surgeon-general of the army. He joined his new command at Little Rock, Ark., and served with it till April 1, 1865,when the Eleventh, the One Hundred and Twelfth and the One Hundred and Thirteenth Regiments, United States Cavalry Troops, were consolidated into a single organization, to be known as the One Hundred and Thirteenth United States Cavalry Troops, and he was retained as the surgeon of the new regiment, and was commissioned as such by President Lincoln. In the fall of 1865 he was made post-surgeon at De Vall’s Bluff, Ark., and took charge of the large hospitals at that post, and continued in charge until his final muster out. He was also surgeon-in-chief of White River District, which embraced a wide extent of territory. Upon leaving the army the Doctor resumed his practice in Wisconsin, where he remained till the spring of 1870, when he removed from Racine, Wis., to DeVall’s Bluff, Ark., where he has continued to practice to the present time. He is regarded as one of the leading physicians of his State, and has held many responsible positions. He is the regularly commissioned surgeon of most of the various life insurance companies doing business there, and also of the Memphis & Little Rock Railway. He is the president of Prairie County Medical Society, a member of the Arkansas State Medical Society, and, by appointment from that organization, has for several years been a member of the board of visitors to the Medical Department of the Arkansas Industrial University; and was a delegate to the Ninth International Medical Congress, which met in Washington, D. C, in 1887. He is a Republican in politics; has been a member of the town council for a number of terms, and is at present president of the school board. While a resident of Cook County, Ill., he was married, in Chicago, to Maria Jane Parker, seven years his junior, a native of Canada, and the daughter of Lott and Roxana Parker, both natives of Massachusetts. The parents settled in Canada East, where the father engaged in farming. In the spring of 1880, being left alone, they left their life-long home in Canada, and removed to DeVall’s Bluff, to be with their two daughters, Mrs. A. W. Socy being a sister of Mrs. Dr. Hipolite. The mother died in 1882, and the father still lives at the advanced age of eighty-five years. To Doctor and Mrs. Hipolite have been born five children. The first, Carrie Lorena, died at the age of five years and seven months, at De Vall’s Bluff, while he was in charge of the post hospital there, the mother and children having gone there to spend the winter with him. The next, Fred A., is attending the Medical College at Little Rock, and expects to graduate in the spring of 1890. The third, Walter H., is a civil engineer and a fine draughtsman. Both sons attended school at Little Rock and at the Arkansas Industrial University, located at Fayetteville. Carrie Lorena, the only daughter now living, was named after the first born, which died as stated. She is now the wife of T. J. Owen, a druggist at De Vall’s Bluff. Charles Edward, the youngest, will be nine years of age on the last day of January, 1890. The Doctor owns a fine residence, and has one of the best equipped offices in his State. He still owns the mare “Dixie,” now twenty-eight years old, on which he rode during the last year of his service in the army.