Biographical Sketches
WILLIS PERCIVAL KING, M.D.
The life history of him whose name begins this review most happily illustrates what may be attained by faithful and continued effort in carrying out an honest purpose. It is the story of a life whose success is measured by its usefulness, and it furnishes an example of a man who has risen by his own efforts to a position of prominence in the profession which he chose as the field of his life labor.
Dr. King is numbered among the native sons of Missouri. He was born in Macon county, near where the little town of Callao now stands, on the 21st of December, 1839. His parents were William and Lucy King. The mother in her maidenhood also had the surname of King. By their respective parents they were both brought during their infancy from Madison county, Kentucky, to Missouri, in the year 1816. This was during the territorial days of the state, when Missouri was a frontier region and gave little promise of development. Situated thus on the far western frontier - at old Franklin, in what is now Howard county, opposite the present day of Booneville - the parents of the Doctor were reared in true pioneer style and had the usual experiences of life in far western districts. The following winter after their arrival the King families had to seek protection in forts on account of the incursions of the Indians. The years passed and the two little cousins, William and Lucy King, grew to maturity and were married in 1834. After the Indians had been driven from the country the families removed to the vicinity of the present village of Armstrong, between Glasgow and Roanoke. There were born to Mr. and Mrs. William King a son and daughter. With their little family they afterward removed to Macon county, a new settlement, and again went through the experiences of pioneer life, its hardships and privations.
Something of the primitive condition of the times and locality is shown by the fact that until the Doctor was 10 years of age there was no schoolhouse in the neighborhood. Up to that time he had no mental training save that which his home life afforded. The people of the community were not a highly education class. They were more intent on founding homes and developing this wild region that in gaining knowledge. There were no newspapers and no books. About 1849 a little log schoolhouse was built and therein the Doctor began his education, attending school through the winter months for 3-4 years. This, however, did not content him. With a mind that sought eagerly after better opportunities he made the most of his privileges, but found these far too limited, and his unsatisfied craving for learning caused him to run away from home when 14 years of age that he might go to localities where there were good schools.
He worked for farmers through the summer months and in the winter pursued his studies as well as he could. The obstacles and difficulties in his path he overcame by persistent effort, pressing his way on to the goal of his hopes. When the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad was being built he worked in the pit with the construction gangs, driving a cart, for he was too young to use the shovel and the pick. He hoarded his money, spending not a cent that he could help, for he wished to save it for an education. After a time he returned to Howard county - to the old neighborhood, where his parents had lived - and entered school; for Howard county had by this time (1856-1858) become an old community compared with Macon county, and good schools have been established. Dr. King once more resumed his studies and attended and taught school alternately until 1861. In that year he was teaching in Pettis county, Missouri, south of the river.
One of the most important events of his life occurred in that year - his marriage to Miss Albina Hoss, of Pettis county, who was then a maiden of 16 summers, while the Doctor was little past 21 years of age. Soon after he took up the study of medicine, which he pursued in the intervals of school teaching for sometime. At length he entered the St. Louis Medical College, and after his graduation in 1866 went at once to Vernon county, in southwest Missouri, where he practiced for 2 � years. In November, 1868, he removed to Nevada, the county seat of Vernon county, where he remained for 6 years, and during that time further perfected himself in his chosen profession by pursuing a full course in Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York, in the winter of 1870-1, an ad-eundum degree being conferred upon him in March, 1871. In November, 1874, he removed to Sedalia, Missouri, wishing for a broader field of labor, where greater opportunities would be afforded him for the practice of surgery and genecology, for which departments of the science he was specially fitted. He is extremely competent along these lines and had gained a most enviable reputation.
In 1875 Dr. King was made a local surgeon of the Missouri Pacific Railroad, and has ever since been in the service of the company. In 1884 he went to New York, where he took a post-graduate course in the polyclinic, and again in 1889-90 and 1890-91. In 1885 he was appointed assistance chief surgeon of the Missouri Pacific Railroad and was put in charge of the Sedalia (now Kansas City) division of the hospital department, and in charge of the hospital of said division, then located at Sedalia. In 1888 the hospital was removed to Kansas City, and the name changed to the Kansas City division. This embraces about 3,000 miles of road.
The Doctor is a valued member of various medical organizations. He has served as president of the Pettis County Medical Society; was president of the Missouri State Medical Association in 1881 and 1882, and senior vice-president of the American Medical Association in 1890 and 1891. For 3 years, beginning in 1881, the Doctor was the lecturer on diseases of women in the medical department of the Missouri State University; for 4 years he held a similar connection with the University Medical College, of Kansas City; for 2 years he lectured on orthopedic surgery in the same college; and for the past 3 years he has been the lecturer on railway surgery. He is a fluent and forcible speaker, presenting his thoughts in a clear, concise and interesting, as well as instructive manner. His contributions to medical literature have also been of great value to the profession. Among them is an article entitled �Ligation of Common and External Carotid and Superior Thyroid Arteries for Aneurism of Internal Carotid within the Brain: Recovery;� also an article on �Wiring the Fractured Symphysis Pubis, Supplemented by a Steel Clamp.� He is also the author of a book of 400 pages entitled �Stories of a Country Doctor,� 10,000 copies of which have already been published.
This page was last updated August 2, 2006.