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PAST AND PRESENT OF THE CITY OF SPRINGFIELD AND SANGAMON COUNTY ILLINOIS
By Joseph Wallace, M. A.
of the Springfield Bar
The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, IL
1904



LEVI S. CORRELL, M.D. - Dr. Levi S. Correll, of Chatham, was for many years actively engaged in the practice of medicine in Sangamon county, but has now put aside his professional labors and is giving his attention to the management of his farm near the town in which he makes his home. He was born near Mechanicsburg, Illinois, August 14, 1843, and represents one of the old pioneer families of Kentucky. His grandfather, Levi Correll, was a native of that state and came to Illinois in 1830, settling in Sangamon county, near Mechanicsburg, where he became the owner of a large farm of several hundred acres. Thomas Correll, the Doctor's father, was born in Harrison county, Kentucky, in 1808, and in 1830 was married there to Sally McDaniel, who was also born in that county. Removing to Illinois at the time of his father's emigration, Thomas Correll settled near Mechanicsburg upon a tract of land of eighty acres which he purchased. Additional purchases increased his property until it amounted to nine hundred acres. He spent his entire life on the old homestead farm which he developed and improved, and there his death occurred in 1894, when he was nearly eighty-eight years of age. He divided his estate among his children and had just completed the business on the day before his demise. His wife had died about a year and a half previous, at the age of eighty-three years. In their family were six sons and two daughters, and Doctor Correll was the seventh in order of birth. All of the children are living and have reared families of their own.

Dr. Correll spent his boyhood days on the home farm, pursued his preliminary education in the common schools and afterward completed a full course in medicine in the Michigan State University, at Ann Arbor, where he was graduated with the class of 1870. He located at Pleasant Plains and commenced practice previous to completing his course of study, and after his graduation opened an office at McLean, Illinois, where he continued for a number of years. About 1875 he located in Springfield, where he remained in active and successful practice for nearly twenty years. On the expiration of that period he removed to Corinth, Mississippi, where he remained in practice for a time. He was away from Illinois for about four years and then returned to Springfield, where he resided until 1901, when he purchased a farm adjacent to Chatham, and abandoning his profession has since given his supervision to his land and its further development. He was quite successful as a medical practitioner and a liberal patronage was accorded him during his residence in Springfield. He belonged to both the County and State Medical Societies, and always kept abreast with the progress of the profession, constantly endeavoring to make his labor more effective in coping with disease and checking the ravages of ill health.

Dr. Correll was married about 1893, in St. Louis, Missouri, to Miss Anna McDonald, who was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, a daughter of Hugh McDonald and a granddaughter of Hugh McDonald, of Virginia, who fought under General Nathaniel Green in the Revolutionary war. He was captured by the Indians, but later was ransomed. He had been born in Scotland and became one of the colonial residents of the Old Dominion. The father of Mrs. Correll came to Sangamon county, purchasing a farm near New Berlin. Subsequently he went to Texas and died in Dallas, that state, in 1860. His wife, Mrs. Martha Correll, survived him for a year and a half and then returned to this county, where her last days were passed. She was a native of Kentucky. In their family were four sons and four daughters, all of whom reached mature years, but Mrs. Correll is the only one now living. She was largely reared and educated in Texas and after attending the State Normal School of Illinois, she became a teacher and successfully followed that profession in Illinois for a number of years before her marriage. The Doctor is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, his wife of the Presbyterian, and in politics he is a stanch Democrat. He belongs to the Masonic fraternity and is a man of strong purpose, honest in his views and fearless in defending his principles. His career has been crowned with prosperity because he has earned it, and he stands today strong in his honor and good name, as well as in his success.



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