My Genealogy Hound

Michael Wiley, M. D. Health is the most precious gift bestowed upon us by nature, and how to retain it, and how to regain it when lost, are matters of vital moment. Some seek for health in travel, others in physical recreation, and both are beneficial, no doubt, but do not always accomplish the object in view. Medical science must be resorted to, and the best physicians employed. Dr. Michael Wiley, who has been very successful in his treatment of patients, was born in Jasper County, Ill., January 1, 1846, and is the fourth of eleven children born to Alexander and Louisiana (House) Wiley, natives of Cumberland County, Ky., born in 1819, and Monroe County, Ind., born in 1820, respectively. When young, Alexander Wiley went with his widowed mother to Indiana, and there he married Miss House. He and wife then moved to St. Louis, thence to Jasper County, Ill., and in 1858 to Texas County, Mo. About this time the war broke out, and they returned to Illinois, and remained there until 1870, when they came to Polk County, and have made their home here ever since. Both are members of the Christian Church. Mr. Wiley has always been a tiller of the soil, and at this has always been quite successful. He is a Democrat in politics. Dr. Michael Wiley was reared to manhood on the farm, and received a very limited education, not attending more than ten months altogether. Later, by self-study, he has become a well informed man. He followed farming until about nineteen years of age, when he began serving an apprenticeship at the carpenter’s trade, and remained engaged in this for nearly three years in Coles County, Ill. While at Charleston, and while building a house for Dr. Silverthorn, the Doctor said to him that he should study medicine, and that he could make a success of it. He then read all the Doctor’s books, and later went to Newton, where he studied under Dr. Frank, and afterward with Dr. J. H. Holliday, of Alton Junction. In 1869 he began practicing, and has been engaged in this ever since. In 1870 he came with his parents to this county, but with very little means, as all had gone to pay doctor bills. He borrowed a suit of clothes to go and see his first patient, and for some time he went on foot to see his patients. In 1871, November 26, he married Miss Elizabeth V. Gasset, a native of Roane County, Tenn., born June 29, 1853, and six children were born to this marriage, three now living: Alexander, John P., and Perry B. After marriage, Dr. Wiley located in Jackson Township, and in 1882 he removed to his present home, seven miles southwest of Bolivar. He has been very successful as a physician, as his many patients now living can testify, and has, perhaps, the most extensive practice of any man in the county. He is the owner of 122 acres of land, with eighty acres under cultivation, and is a fair sample of what can be accomplished by a young man of energy and industry. He is a Democrat in politics, and he and wife are members of the Christian Church. He is a member of the Masonic order, Odd Fellows’ fraternity, and is also a member of the A. O. U. W.