JACOB F. PRICE, M.D. - Dr Jacob F. Price, a man of marked talent and ability, who for many years was one of the most distinguished representatives of the medical fraternity in Springfield, also came to be one of the best loved residents of that city. The physician comes into closer connection with the people in general than the representative of any other department of business and the public therefore quickly recognized his strong and salient characteristics and gave him love, confidence and business support in recognition of his skill, his kindly spirit, his deep sympathy and humanitarian principles.

Dr. Price was born in Woodford county, Kentucky, April 7, 1846. The Price family is of English and Welsh ancestry and in the maternal line the ancestry of Dr. Price can be traced to Jacob Fishback, who was a private soldier in the Virginia Guards. The great-grandfather Fishback was a soldier of the Continental Army at the time of the Revolutionary war. Dr. Price is the youngest son of Rev. Jacob F. Price, D.D., a well known divine of the Presbyterian denomination, and for many years had charge of a church at Pisgah, Kentucky. He died in June, 1847, at which time Dr. Price went to live with his grandmother, who provided him with excellent educational privileges. When thirteen years of age he entered a private school at Nicholsville, Kentucky, where he continued his studies for two years and then matriculated in the University at Normal, Illinois, where he spent three years in the mastery of the branches of a literary course prior to entering upon the study of medicine under the preceptorship of Dr. Sidney Allen, of Winchester, Kentucky. A year's preliminary reading was followed by a course of study in the Louisville Medical University of Kentucky, from which he was graduated in the class of 1867. He had in the meantime also read medicine under the direction of Dr. Charles Ryan, of Springfield, Illinois.

Dr. Price entered upon the practice of his chosen calling in Clark county, Kentucky, and in 1868 he was appointed assistant surgeon at the Soldiers Home in Dayton, Ohio. The following year he opened an office for practice in Charlestown, Cole county, Illinois, and a year later, desirous of attaining still greater proficiency in the field of his chosen labor, he attended a course of lectures in Bellevue Hospital Medical College of New York. He went from there to Philadelphia, where he became a student in Jefferson Medical College, spending a short period in that institution. In 1872 he took up his abode in Springfield and within a few years built up an extensive practice, which made heavy demands upon his time and energies until his death. Which occurred on the 26th of July, 1885. He was very devoted to his profession, his interest therein being prompted by a love of scientific research and of humanitarian principles as well. Those who gave to him their patronage found that he was a friend as well as physician and his big warm heart went out in generous sympathy to those to whom he ministered and won him their devotion and love.

On the 7th of January, 1872, Jacob F. Price was united in marriage to Jessie V. Loose, a daughter of Jacob G. Loose, who was born December 14, 1815, in Washington county, Pennsylvania. Her grandparents, Conrad and Elizabeth Loose, were also natives of the Keystone state and there spent their entire lives. The Loose family is of German lineage, their first American ancestors coming from Prussia. Jacob Loose remained in Pennsylvania until twenty-one years of age, when in 1836 he came to Sangamon county and engaged in merchandising in company with Colonel John Williams and afterward with E. B. Hawley. He also gave his attention to some extent to farming and mining interests and through his varied business affairs he contributed in large measure to the material progress and improvement of the community. He developed the first coal mines of Sangamon county and in many ways benefitted the district in which he lived. He purchased about two thousand acres of land adjoining Springfield and, becoming convinced that the surface soil covered a good coal field, he sent to the coal regions of Pennsylvania for an outfit and in June, 1866, began boring for coal. On sinking his first shaft he found a five-foot vein of coal, from which he took the first product in April, 1867, at a depth of two hundred and thirty-seven feet. The entire cost of opening the mine and outfitting it with necessary machinery was eighty thousand dollars. Jacob G. Loose was a man of unquestionable honor and integrity in business affairs and in public life and he co-operated in many measures for the general good whenever his aid was sought in behalf of the public welfare. He served as a member of the county board of supervisors and in politics was a stanch Republican and a warm supporter and admirer of Abraham Lincoln. Of the Presbyterian church he was a consistent member.

Jacob G. Loose was married December 18, 1845, to Elizabeth Iles, who was born August 4, 1825, in Bath county, Kentucky. The Iles family is of French Huguenot lineage. Her father, Washington Iles, was born and reared in Bath county, Kentucky, was there married to Ann Foster, whose mother married Colonel Mosley, of Revolutionary fame. Ann Foster was a native of Fleming county, Kentucky. In 1826 Washington Iles and his family left Kentucky, locating in Sangamon county, Illinois, where they made their home. He purchased about six hundred acres of land in what is now Woodside township. His death occurred in 1871 and his wife passed away in 1866. They were the parents of ten children, of whom Mrs. Loose was the second in order of birth. By her marriage to Jacob Loose she became the mother of eleven children, of whom four died in early childhood. The record of the others is as follows: Sallie C. Married J. D. Crabbe and resides in Litchfield, Illinois. Jessie V. Is the widow of Dr. Jacob F. Price and lives in Sangamon county. Joseph Iles is now a resident of Chicago. He was formerly engaged in the lumber business as a member of the firm of Spear & Loose, later turned his attention to coal mining and is now employed as route agent for a large packing company of Chicago. He was married in 1879 in New Haven, Connecticut, and has four sons and one daughter. Frank E. Loose was married in 1880 to Fanny Madison, of Tuscola, Illinois, who died leaving one child, Jennie. In 1901 he married Miss Stella Farris, also of Tuscola, and they have a daughter, Helen Louise. George P., who is engaged in the insurance business in Springfield, married Annie L. Butler, daughter of Colonel Speed Butler, and they had one son, Speed Butler, who was born October 10, 1886. Mrs. Annie L. Loose died in 1889 and in 1898 George P. Loose married Catherine Brooks and has one living child by that marriage, Georgiana. Robert Douglas, born in 1865, resides at the old homestead with his mother. Mary Elizabeth is the wife of Francis Beidler, of Chicago, and they have two children, Frances and Elizabeth.

By the marriage of Jacob F. Price and Jessie V. Loose there are four children: Jacob L., born November 27, 1872, is a graduate of the Springfield high school and the Springfield Business College, and for a time was clerk in the Farmers Bank, but is now credit man with Armour's Packing Company, having headquarters at Fort Worth, Texas. He was married in 1898 to Harriet G. Crabbe. Charles Ryan, born October 11, 1874, and residing in Chicago, was married in that city January 9, 1901, to Mildred Glover, daughter of Lyman E. Glover, of Chicago and a granddaughter of Livingston G. Glover, of Jacksonville. She died December 22, 1901, leaving one son, Lyman Glover Price. Jessie Elizabeth, born June 2, 1880, resides in Springfield with her mother. Joseph Beidler, born March 21, 1882, is correspondence clerk in the First National Bank of Springfield. Mrs. Jacob F. Price is a lady of excellent business talent as well as of social prominence. Since her husband's death she has erected a residence, well appointed, on the farm where she spends the summer months, while in winter she maintains her home in Springfield. She holds membership in the Second Presbyterian church of that city.

Dr. Price was a Democrat in his political views and a strong Union man at the time of the Civil war. Fraternally he was connected with the Masonic lodge. He continued in practice in Springfield for thirteen years, but passed away on the 26th of July, 1885. It is said that his funeral was the largest ever held in Springfield save that of Abraham Lincoln. He endeared himself to those with whom he came in contact by bonds of friendship and regard, which naught but death could sever and his memory is yet enshrined in the hearts of many who knew him during his residence in the capital city.