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WILLIAM HOPE DAVIS, M.D., Springfield, Illinois, was born in Genesee county, New York, September 1, 1835; son of David and Harriet (Wilder) Davis. His father's ancestors emigrated from Ireland, and were noted, for generations, as Protestants and Free-Thinkers. His mother was from the well known family of Wilders, of Massachusetts. When five years old, his parents removed to Michigan, then a vast wilderness. His father worked at the carpenter's trade, and William, as soon as old enough, was engaged with him during the summer, and attending school in the winter, occasionally. It became necessary for him to depend upon himself early in life, and at the age of seventeen, he left home to spend a summer in his native State, and from there he went to Memphis, Tennessee, where he soon became acquainted with many of the best families of the city. In 1854 he commenced the study of medicine under the instruction of Professor Gabbett, who had held a prominent position in the Worcester Eclectic Medical College, of Massachusetts. In the winter of 1854-5, he attended a course of lectures in the Memphis College of Medicine, after which he pursued his studies in Barbus Academy until the spring of 1857, when he removed to Paris, Texas, and there commenced the practice of his profession; remained about two years. During the summer of 1858, he crossed the plains to California by way of Mexico, traveling the whole distance on horseback, and returning in autumn of the same year. In August, 1859, he left Paris, on a Texas pony, for Memphis, some four hundred and seventy-five miles, three hundred miles being through a dense and almost trackless wilderness. Disposing of his faithful pony at Memphis, he proceeded to Hillsboro, Ohio, which place he reached September 7, and on the tenth day of the same month was united in marriage to Miss Rachael Ann Davis, who, although of the same name, was not a relative. In the spring of 1860, he bought a book store in Leesburg, Ohio, but sold it in a month, and returned with his wife to Memphis. Soon after the war broke out, and he returned to Cincinnati, Ohio, and thence to Goodrich, Michigan, where he successfully practiced medicine, and at the same time conducted a drug store, accumulating several thousand dollars, but greatly impairing his health by extensive night practice. Needing rest and a change, it was decided best for him to spend the winter in Cincinnati; meanwhile, he attended a full course of medical lectures at the Eclectic Institute, at which he graduated. Subsequently, he re-commenced practice in Clay county, Illinois; but on account of failing health, he remained only one season, spending the next in traveling through the Eastern States. In the spring of 1867, he located permanently in Springfield, where he has been engaged in an extensive practice up to the present time. In 1869, he procured a charter and organized the Illinois Eclectic Medical Society, of which he has been Secretary for five years. He was unanimously elected editor of journal of the society, and has acquitted himself in this responsible position with honor.