Person:John Antis (1)

The pioneer physician of any county, the first physician to locate permanently within its limits, and who practiced medicine among the original pioneers, riding horseback over the prairies and visiting the sick in the rude cabins of the early settlers, is an important figure in local history. Dr. Antis, one of the best-known early settlers in Grundy county, was born in Montgomery county, New York, March 17, 1817, a son of John I. and Catherine (Durkey) Antis. The Antis family was of the old Holland-Dutch stock which settled New York. The grandfather of Dr. Antis was John Antis, who spoke the language of his native Holland. He was a farmer and landholder, and a soldier in our Revolutionary war. His children were John I., Margaret, Henry, James and Conrad. Mr. Antis died at an advanced age in New York state.

John I. Antis, the father of the immediate subject of this sketch, was born in New York state and married in Montgomery county, New York, to Catherine Durkey, of New England ancestry. Mr. Antis was a blacksmith by trade, of the town of Root, Montgomery county, New York, and there he passed his active life; and in his old age he came to Morris, Illinois, to live with his son, Dr. Antis, and here, both he and his wife died. In politics he was a Democrat, and in every relation of his life he showed himself an industrious and upright citizen and won universal respect.

Dr. Antis received a good common-school education, studied medicine with Dr. Amos Reed as preceptor at Root, Montgomery county, New York, and gained the degree of Medical Doctor at a medical college at Fairfield, Herkimer county, same state. Dr. Antis began the practice of medicine at North Brookfield, Madison county, New York, where he remained three years. He then practiced his profession three years in Allegany county, that state. In 1845 he came to Morris, Illinois, and resumed the practice of medicine in the then pioneer settlement, where no physician had located permanently before him, though one or two doctors from Indiana had tarried there briefly. The entire community had only just begun to develop and the few scattered settlements clustered about the groves and water courses. The prairie lands were wild, wet and unbroken, and few people believed that they would ever be settled. The wolves were numerous and could be heard howling at any time of night and large herds of deer wandered at will over the prairies. While the pioneers were a hardy race of people, there was a great deal of sickness in this vicinity, malaria being the principal cause of disease. There were no supplies of medicine to be obtained at Morris, and Dr. Antis has traveled to Ottawa and Joliet, making the long, lonely journey on horseback to procure medicines, especially quinine, for which he paid frequently seven dollars per ounce. He had a large practice and for a long time was the only physician at Morris, and he was known among the pioneers far and wide. There were no roads across the prairies in those days and in a wet season the mud was something terrible. There being no fences, the Doctor rode across the prairies on horseback and often found the sloughs almost impassable.

Dr. Antis married Nancy A. Sweet, of North Brookfield, Madison county, New York. She was a daughter of Samuel G. Sweet and her father was a well-to-do farmer. His children were Mary, Nancy, Phillip, John, Jeremy and Benjamin. Mr. Sweet died an old man, at North Brookfield, New York. The Doctor came alone to Morris, in the spring of 1845, and his wife came out during the summer of that year. Their children were Eudora A. and Mary. Mrs. Antis, a woman of many virtues, lived to be seventy-two years of age, and died on their home farm in Mazon township, in 1889. The Doctor practiced medicine for many years, and was the best known among the pioneer physicians of the county. In the early days, about 1848, a serious accident occurred to Charles Huston. In pulling his gun out of a sled in which he was traveling he discharged the gun and the charge of buckshot passed through his arm above the elbow, shattering and tearing away the bone and solid flesh for nearly two inches and making a large hole in the arm. It was a terrible wound. At that time the Doctor had no regular case of surgical instruments and to this fact is probably due the salvation of the arm, as, had he been provided with the facilities, the Doctor would have amputated it, according to the usual practice in similar cases. It was with many misgivings and greatly against his judgment that he set to work to try to heal the wound and save the arm; but by skillful and careful treatment through several weeks the wound was entirely healed and the arm saved, and it proved to be for Mr. Huston a good and serviceable arm which he could manage almost as well as before the injury, and continued to do so until his death a few years since. In 1850 Dr. Antis bought his present farm in Mazon township, then consisting of one hundred and sixty acres. He has added to it and now owns one of the finest farms in the township, consisting of two hundred and forty acres of fine land. After the civil war he moved to his farm and has since made it his home.

The Doctor was one of the early gold-seekers to California, crossing the great plains in 1849 and mining for gold at Trinity for two years. In politics he is a stanch Democrat. He is an honored citizen of the county and has held the office of mayor of Morris several times and has been supervisor of his township. A man of broad mind, a clear thinker, of independent views and strong character, he has manifested much determination, and, like most pioneers, he is noted for his sturdy honesty. He has an iron constitution, and at eighty-two years of age he is a strong, hearty and well-preserved man. (Biographical and Genealogical Record of La Salle and Grundy County, Illinois, Volume 11, Chicago, 1900, p. 520-522)

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Morris Herald
   20 Nov 1915.

   Dr. John Antis, 98 year old resident of Mazon, well known Grundy county physician and surgeon for the past half century, died at his home in that city at 8 o'clock last evening. He had gradually been failing for several weeks. For years he had not been active, but his health has been so that he has not been confined to his bed only for a few months prior to his death.
   
   John Antis was born in Montgomery county, New York, March 17, 1817. His parents were John I. Antis & Catherine Durkey Antis, both of early New England parentage and among the pioneers of the New England states. Young Antis spent most of his boyhood days on the farm of his parents in New York and when yet a young man entered the college of Physicians and Surgeons of the University of New York. He graduated from this institution in 1838. He passed examinations and gained his degree at Fairfield, Herkimer county, New York. He practiced medicine at North Brookfield, New York, for four years after this.
   
   In 1840 he was married to Miss Nancy A. Sweet of that city. At this place the first daughter, Eudora A., now Mrs. C. E. Southard, of Mazon, was born.
   
   Dr. and Mrs. Antis moved to Mixville, Alleghany [Allegany] county, New York, and there a second daughter, Mary L., now Mrs. Mary Kelly, of Washington, D. C. was born. In 1855 the doctor brought his family and his father and mother to Morris. The doctor located here and until 1879 followed his practice, then moved to a farm near Mazon. Both his parents died in Morris. During Dr. Antis' practice in Morris, the city was a village yet and only just beginning to develop into a city. The prairie stretches about the town were wild and wolves in the wooded places were common. Large herds of deer also lived about this part of the country. While the people of this vicinity were of a hardy nature, malaria fever was the chief scourge and the doctor, called upon to treat most of the cases, found it necessary to ride on horseback many times as far as Joliet or Ottawa for supplies of medicine, quinine being one of the chief needs. This commodity frequently cost him as high as seven dollars an ounce.
   
   The doctor became well known in the county, as his practice extended to its borders. He was the only physician in Morris at the time he came here.
   
   Mrs. Antis died in 1889 at the Mazon township farm home at the age of 72 years. Dr. Antis is survived by both his daughters, Mrs. John Kelly, of Washington, D. C., and Mrs. C. E. Southard, who has lived with her father since her husband's death, two years ago, and has had the constant care of him. Mrs. Southard is the wife of the founder and first publisher of The Morris Herald. Mrs. E. J. Robinson and Mrs. Flora Oakes, of Morris are related to Mrs. Antis. His grand children include Mrs. Kelly's two sons, Frank and Arthur, both of Washington, and Charles, a son of Mrs. C. E. Southard, and her two daughters, Mrs. C. M. Armstrong and Mrs. Laura Prescott, both of California. The funeral will be held from his farm home, Sunday at 1 o'clock, and burial will be in Evergreen cemetery in Morris, beside his wife.

2.   History of Grundy County, Illinois. (Chicago: O.L. Baskin & Co., 1882)
   p. 62.

   p. 62 Mazon Township
   "John Antis, physician and surgeon, Mazon, was born in Montgomery County, New York, in 1817, and early in life commenced the study of medicine, graduating from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of the Western University of New York, in the year 1838. He practiced his profession in North Brookfield, Madison County, New York, four years and during that time, in 1840, married Miss Nancy A. Sweet, youngest daughter of Samuel G. Sweet. In 1841, they had born to them their eldest daughter, Eudora A.. The same year (1841) Dr. Antis moved to Mixville, Allegany County, N. Y., and lived there four years, during which time his youngest daughter, Mary L. was born. In 1845, the Doctor moved to Morris, where he resided until 1879, when he moved out to his farm in Mazon Township, where he has enjoyed the full possession of health and happiness, and a large circle of friends and acquaintances. ...

3.   Bateman, Newton, and Paul Selby. Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Grundy County: Historical and Biographical / by Special Authors and Contributors. (Chicago: Munsell Pub. Co., 1914)
   755.

   p. 755
   "Antis, John, M. D. (deceased), one of the pioneer physicians of Grundy County, was born in Montgomery County, New York, March 17, 1817, and came to Morris in 1845, continuing in practice for many years. He also became interested in farm lands in Mazon Township, and after the close of the Civil War moved upon his farm. He was one of the courageous men who traveled across the plains to California in 1849 and for two years mined for gold at Trinity. Politically, he was a Democrat. While residing at Morris, he served the city upon two occasions as Mayor, and was a man of great probity and uprightness. Dr Antis married Nancy Sweet, and they had two children, Eudora A. and Mary."