SPENCER, JOHN H., M.D., a physician and surgeon conducting a successful practice at Murrayville, Morgan County, Ill., was born on his father's farm five miles south of that place, November 1, 1867, the son of B. F. and Mary C. (Peyton) Spencer. The father of Mrs. Mary C. Spencer, who was a farmer, moved from Kentucky to Hancock County, Ill., where he was one of the early settlers. B. F. Spencer, the father of John H., was born in Morgan County, a son of William and Parthenia Spencer, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter, of Indiana. They came to Morgan County at an early day, and there became successful farmers. He was a soldier of the Black Hawk War. William Spencer's father, Elisha, great-grandfather of John H., came with his family to Illinois and died in Morgan County at the age of one hundred and four years. William Spencer had four sons in the Union Army during the Civil War, including B. F., the father of John H. They all enlisted in Company I, One Hundred and First Volunteer Infantry, and all returned. After the war B. F. Spencer engaged in farming. He and his wife Mary C. Peyton, were married in Morgan County, and became the parents of ten children - five sons and five daughters - John H. being the second in the family. Both parents are yet living on their homestead of 160 acres.

The boyhood days of John H. Spencer were spent upon the farm and in the public school. He later attended the American Medical College at St. Louis, Mo., graduating therefrom in 1902, and at once commenced the practice of his profession at Franklin, Ill., where he remained one year, when he removed to Murrayville and established a good practice. He is a member of the Morgan County Medical Association, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Modern Woodmen of America. Politically he is a Republican and frequently serves as a delegate of his party to State and County conventions. He was elected Coroner in 1896 for a term of four years, was reelected in 1904, and is the present incumbent in that office. He was also elected President of the Village Board of Trustees in 1904, and is now filling that position in a satisfactory manner. He is equal partner with his brother I. F. Spencer, in 420 acres of land in Greene County, Ill., where they are successfully and extensively engaged in feeding and breeding cattle, hogs, and goats.

Dr. Spencer was married December 21, 1899, to Ellen Strang and they have two children: Margaret L. and Clarence Strang.