ANDREW J. MEAD is located at Huntsville and is the oldest physician in Schuyler county, as he has been located at this place since March, 1840. He was born in Henry county, Kentucky, April 4, 1815, being a son of William and Mary (Scott) Mead.

He grew to manhood in his native State, passing his boyhood on the farm. At the age of thirteen he commenced to clerk in a store and continued there four years. He then lived with Dr. Gosle, with whom he studied medicine until he was twenty-one and then practiced with him one year. He then went to Indiana, whence he came to Illinois and located at Huntsville. He had been on a visit to Missouri, and on his return stopped in Huntsville, where he met some old Kentucky friends who induced him to locate in this place. He has had a large practice and is well and favorably known.

He married in December, 1843, Mary J. Briscoe, born near Perryville, Kentucky, June 2, 1825, daughter of George H. and Eliza K. (Ewing) Briscoe. She died December 4, 1891. They had four children: Alice, died, aged six years; Richard Homer, see sketch; William B., a physician in Kansas, graduate of Rush Medical College; and Clara, wife of Charles Everson, of Huntsville. Both sons studied medicine with their father and both graduated before they were twenty-one years of age. The Doctor is a Democrat in politics and has always been an active worker in the party. He never accepted any office, as his profession occupied all his time. He is a man who is liberal in his religious views. No one is more highly respected and admired than this same pioneer doctor of Huntsville.