Dr. James Walter Wells was the last rural
physician to practice medicine in Jefferson County. The span of his practice
was from May 1906 until his death October 5. 1960. Except for the first
few months in Scheller. his office was located on the second floor of the
Waltonville State Bank building in Waltonville.
Dr. Wells was born January 27, 1879 in Laur. Blissville
Township, Jefferson County, Illinois, the son of John and Laura Ann Bravard
Wells. After completing the local elementary country school, he attended
Ewing College, Ewing. Illinois for two years. In May 1906, he received
his M.D. degree from Barnes Medical College. St. Louis. Missouri.
In the early days of his practice the work was
rugged. Hospitals were not available and patients who were too ill to come
to his office were cared for in their homes. Few homes had telephones and
this necessitated the doctor making daily house calls to the very ill.
The roads were unpaved and were muddy in the winter and dusty in the summer.
The chief means of transportation were by horseback. buggy, wagon or sled.
The doctor's armamentarium for house calls was contained in two satchels
one for the various pills, powders and elixirs, the other for instruments
and bandages. Patients who were less ill or were convalescing were seen
less frequently and members of their families would report to the doctor
at specified intervals.
The doctor's services were available twenty-four
hours a day, seven days a week, three hundred and sixty-five days a year.
It was not uncommon for him to be up half the night with a home delivery
and then be in his office as usual the following morning for a full day's
Before the development of vaccines. typhoid fever
and other communicable diseases were prevalent. It was not uncommon for
several members of the same family to be ill simultaneously. After the
development of typhoid vaccine. Dr. Wells encouraced the board of directors
of various country schools to sponsor district wide immunization programs.
With the school board's approval and at specified times, the doctor held
immunization clinics at the schools, immunizine anyone residing in the
school district. These programs were very successful and did much to control
typhoid fever in the southwest area of the county. This same procedure
was later followed, prior to the state's requirement for immunizations,
to inoculate aeainst smallpox, diphtheria, measles and whooping cough.
Dr. Wells was married to Bertha Blanche Hartley
in 1912. They had one child, Vivian Wells Allen (Mrs.W. Carl Allen) of
Rantoul. Illinois. Bertha Wells died in 1914. in 1918, Dr.
Wells married Melissa Ann Kirkpatrick. three children were born to
this union: Charles K. Wells. M.D. of Mt. Vernon: Dorothy Wells Hirons
(Mrs. Knox Hirons) of Waltonville: and Helen Wells. Lieutenant Colt'nel.
retired. United States Air Force, of Waltonville.
Dr. Wells 's was active in community affairs.
In 1911 he served as the first president of the newly organized village
board of Waltonville. He was a member of the board of education for the
elementary school for several terms and served as president for one term.
He served one term as a member of the Jefferson County Board of Supervisors.
This was during the time the present Court House was constructed. He was
a member of the Masonic Lodge and the Modern Woodmen of America. During
World War I he seved in the Army Medical Corps and was stationed
In 1946. when the medical staff of Good Samaritan
Hospital. Mt. Vernon organized, Dr. Wells became a member. He was a life
long member of the Jefferson-Hamilton County Medical Society and held various
offices in the Society. He was also a life time member of the lllinois
State Medical Society and the American Niedical Association. In 1956 he
was honored by the Illinois State Medical Society and was received into
the Fifty Year Club for actively practicinit medicine for fifty, years.
He was also honored by the Jefferson-Hamilton Countys Medical Society and
the Sisters of St. Francis (owners of the Good Samaritan Hospital) "for
his outstanding service to the sick in our community 1906-1956."
Dr. Wells believed strongly that every child should
have the opportunity for an education, and to this goalv he financially
assisted many needy students with books clothes and tuition.
SOURCE: Facts and Folks History Of Jefferson County
1978 page 342
Submitted by: Misty Flannigan