My Genealogy Hound

W. T. MACLIN, M. D., one of the leading physicians of Du Quoin, who is now enjoying a large and lucrative practice, was born in Williamson County, Tenn., August 9, 1844. His father, W. T. Maclin, Sr., was born in Virginia October 12, 1804, and was a son of Willis Maclin, a native of Kings County, Ireland, who came to this country during the Revolution. Hiding on a British ship, he crossed the Atlantic and joined the Continental army, in which he served until after the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown. He was within a hundred feet of that general when he gave up his sword. Immediately after the war he located near Nashville, Tenn., and from that place entered the army for the War of 1812. He became an extensive planter, but was always opposed to slavery. He was a man of liberal education and was a great reader. In the militia he served as Captain, Major and Colonel. His death occurred in Tennessee in 1851, at the age of eighty-five. His nephew, William Maclin,was the first Secretary of State in Tennessee.

The Doctor’s father was also a well-educated man, was a prosperous farmer and a prominent politician. He died in Tennessee in 1886. He had several brothers, and one of the number, Isaac E., served as a soldier in the late war in the Seventh Tennessee Cavalry. During the struggle he was made a prisoner by Forrest. When the war was over he came to Illinois, and was killed by a train at the depot in Du Quoin.

Mrs. Maclin, mother of the Doctor, was in her maidenhood Anna M. Brooks, and was a native of Philadelphia. Her great-grandfather, Lord Brooks, had two sons, George and Samuel. The former came to America when a boy, but the latter remained in his native land until he had attained his majority, when he crossed the Atlantic to visit his brother, who was a sea captain. While returning to his native land he was drowned. Capt. George Brooks was the grandfather of Mrs. Maclin. While on a voyage he was taken prisoner by the Spaniards, held captive for a period of seven years, and was finally condemned to death, but on making it known to some of the high officials that he was a Mason, he was promptly reprieved. Later he was liberated and his ship and cargo restored to him. He made a fortune on the high seas and died in Philadelphia at an advanced age. The original of the famous painting “Four Seasons” was presented to him by a nobleman and is now in the possession of the Green family. His son George, father of Mrs. Maclin, was a prominent merchant of Philadelphia, and later went to Nashville, Tenn., where he engaged in merchandising. He afterwards owned a tannery at Franklin, Tenn., where his last days were spent. He married Magdaline Green, daughter of Capt. John Green, who was also a sea captain and was of Irish descent. His home was in Philadelphia and he was said to be quite wealthy. In his family were five daughters, of whom four married physicians, namely: Dr. Shelby, Dr. Sims, Dr. McNarry and Dr. Minich. The other daughter, Mrs. Brooks, died in Tennessee in the ‘40s.

Our subject was the second in the family of three sons and three daughters. His sister Mary is now living near Nashville; Columbus C. is a physician of Tennessee; B. F. is a farmer of Tennessee; Cordelia died in 1890; and Julia is the wife of C. K. Mitchell, a prosperous farmer of Tennessee. The Doctor was reared upon the home farm, acquired his education in the common schools and fitted himself for teaching. He began this work at the age of seventeen and continued it through the Civil War, during which time he also read medicine. He attended his first course of lectures in the Nashville Medical College in 1865-66, then entered the Cincinnati Medical College and was graduated therefrom in 1868. In 1881 he took a post graduate course in Memphis Hospital. He began practice in Cairo, Tenn., where he continued seventeen years, when, in 1884, he came to Du Quoin, where he has met with excellent success, securing a most liberal patronage.

The Doctor married, September 1, 1868, Mary E. Harrell, a native of Tennessee, who came of an old North Carolina family. She died on her forty-first birthday, December 16, 1890. They had a family of seven children, of whom five are yet living: Lula A., wife of Clarence E. Blakeslee, of the Blakeslee Manufacturing Company; Anna E., wife of Stephen Rogers, a hotel-keeper of Mt. Vernon, Ill.; W. B.; John A. and Grover C., at home. On the 12th of October, 1893, the Doctor married Mrs. Catharine (Freudenberg) Weger, of Du Quoin, the widow of Adrian Weger. This excellent lady was born in Belleville, Ill., and is connected with some of the oldest and most prominent German families of that city. She has four children, Oscar, Ida, Anna and Walter Weger.

Dr. Maclin is a member of the National Association of Railway Surgeons, of the Southern Illinois Medical Association, and is local surgeon for the Illinois Central Railroad and the St. Louis, Alton & Terre Haute Railroad Company. During President Cleveland’s first administration he held the office of Pension Examiner. He became an Odd Fellow in 1867, has filled all the chairs of the local lodge, and is a member of the Grand Lodge. In 1871 he was made a Mason, joined the chapter in 1874, and is a charter member of the Knights of Pythias. He served for eight years on the Board of Education, is a member of the City Council, and in his political views is a Democrat. In religious belief he is identified with the Christian Church. He is recognized as a valued citizen, one ever interested in what pertains to the upbuilding of the community.