McDonough ILGenWeb

LE MASTER, Benjamin E., Ph. G., M. D. — At no time in the history of the world has the man of extreme youth and comparatively brief experience been received with such acclaim and confidence in the more serious occupations of mankind as at the present. The reason is not far to seek. The many developing agencies which surround the lad outgrowing his childhood, and the splendid facilities- for perfecting himself in some one of the useful avenues of activity which await his maturity, give him an immeasurable advantage over the incomplete and desultory training of his peers of a previous generation. That which was unfolded by years of arduous experience to the older man reaches the student of today in academic halls, and his energy is conserved for such developments as his special aptitude or genius for advancement or invention shall dictate. It is not, therefore, surprising that so recent and so young a recruit to professional circles in Bushnell as Benjamin E. Le Master should already have felt the exhilaration of success, and warmed his heart at the genial fire of hope and encouragement. Before he took to medicine the occupation of farming was an open book to Dr. Le Master. He is thoroughly familiar with its early hours, multitudinous tasks and small opportunities for recreation or diversion. His parents, George W. and Eliza J. (Bosley) Le Master, came to Illinois in 1854, settling on a farm in Fulton County, and in 1860 locating on land five miles south of Bushnell. The elder Le Master was born in Brazil, Ind., and devoted his entire active life to farming. On this later farm Dr. Le Master was born July 2, 1877. For a time he profited by the education dispensed at the country school, and later attended the Western Normal at Bushnell for about three years. His professional training was inaugurated at the School of Pharmacy, in Valparaiso, Ind., and after his graduation, with the degree of Ph. G., in 1900, he entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Chicago, from which he took his degree of M. D. in 1904. In July of the same year he came to Bushnell, and since has devoted himself to the general practice of medicine and surgery, and to his duties as Examining Surgeon for the Pension Bureau for McDonou.gh County.

The marriage of Dr. Le Master and Lucy J. Sperry occurred in Mound Township, near Bushnell, September 24, 1902, Mrs. Le Master being a daughter of Mrs. Priscilla Sperry, living on a farm south of Bushnell. Two children have been born to Dr. and Mrs. Le Master, Helen and Dorothy. Dr. Le Master is a Republican in politics, and fraternally is connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is a wide-awake, progressive young man, counting no obstacle too great, nor any privation too severe, if it brings him nearer to the goal of his ideal achievement. In his professional affiliations he is a member of the McDonough County and the Illinois State Medical Societies, and the American Medical Association.

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Source: The Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of McDonough County, compiled by Dr. Newton Bateman, and Paul Shelby, 1907, volume 2, pages 935-926, extracted 15 Jun 2019 by Norma Hass.