My Genealogy Hound

LEVIN J. WOOLLEN, M. D., Vevay, Ind., was born in Dorchester County, Md., June 30, 1834, and had very limited educational advantages in early life. His parents Edward and Anna (Wheeler) Woollen, were natives of Maryland. His father was born February, 1803; his mother in May 1811. The family were among the oldest in the State of Maryland, being identified with its first settlement. They raised a family of six children: William W., Thomas W., Levin J., Edward N., Francis P. and Mary M. In 1845 father Woollen moved with his family to Baltimore, where Levin J. obtained a situation with Edward Wright, the pioneer in canning fruits and oysters. His labors at this period were the hardest of his life, being compelled to be at the establishment from early morn, until 10 and 11 o’clock at night After three years spent in this manner, he engaged on Chesapeake Bay as clerk and hand on a small fruit and oyster schooner. In 1849 the family moved to Madison Ind., where Levin J., was employed as deputy treasurer, his brother W. W. Woollen, then being treasurer of Jefferson County. He was afterward connected with the Madison daily Banner for a short time, and then entered the law office of W. M. Dunn, since Judge-advocate-general of the United States. Finding the law not suited to his taste, after a few months he began the study of medicine with Dr. William Davidson, a graduate of the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and one of the most talented physicians the West has ever known. Dr. Woollen graduated in 1857 in the medical department of the University of Louisville, then in the zenith of its prosperity. He spent the next year in the office of Dr. Joseph H. D. Rogers of Madison, after which he settled in Jefferson County, where he resided some seven years. He then removed to Moorefield, in Switzerland County, remaining there till the summer of 1873, when he moved to Vevay, the county seat. He has been continuously in the practice of medicine since his graduation in 1857. Professionally Dr. Woollen has an enviable reputation, and is considered one of the best, and most successful practitioners in Switzerland and adjoining counties. He is a member of the Switzerland County Medical Society, and the Indiana State Medical Society, and is a contributor to the Louisville Practitioner, and to the Western Journal of Medicine. He is prominently identified with the order of Free Masons, to which he has belonged about fifteen years; has passed the Master’s chair, and been Grand Lodge representative. He is an active member of the Methodist Church, and holds the position of trustee. The Doctor has aspired to political honors, first as Democratic nominee for Congress in the Fourth District in 1876, when he was defeated by Lieut.-Gov. Sexton by a small majority, although he led the ticket in his district In 1878 he was elected to the State Senate from the counties of Ripley, Ohio and Switzerland, defeating Philip J. Seelinger of Ripley County. He has been a Democrat from his youth, and comes from a Democratic family, his father having cast his first vote for Gen. Jackson. He was one of the most active members of the State Senate, evincing a deep interest in all matters affecting the public welfare. His father was a farmer, and died in Indiana December, 1869. The mother is still living, and resides at Indianapolis with her son Hon. W. W. Woollen. Dr. Woollen was married, in March, 1858, to Miss Mary Van Pelt, a niece of Mrs. Amelia B. Welby the poetess. Her name sufficiently denotes her Knickerbocker origin. They have three children, a daughter and two sons. Dr. Woollen is a man of fine physique, a ready and fluent speaker, frank and open in manner, and very popular among his acquaintances, one who has many friends and no enemies. He is in the prime of life, and doubtless is destined to play still more important parts on the stage of public and professional life.