Memorials › Dr Joel Selman Willis

Dr Joel Selman Willis

6 Oct 1849 – 6 Jul 1886

Birth6 Oct 1849
Death6 Jul 1886
CemeteryOakwood Cemetery
Waco , McLennan County , Texas , USA
Added byOld Waco / T. B. Willis on 28 Nov 2017
FaGhttps://www.findagrave.com/memorial/93082909

Bio

From the History of The Waco Medical Association by William O. Wilkes, M.D.: Dr. Joe S. Willis was born in Barnesville, Georgia, October 6, 1849. When Joe was eight years of age his father, Dr. J. M. Willis, moved to Texas and located in Cass County. After the Civil War he moved to Waco, in the fall of 1865. Dr. Joe, as he was later known to every one, attended Waco University, and then went to Randolph-Macon College in Virginia. While there he took a medal for scholarship. He next went to Washington and Lee University under General Robert E. Lee, and when he left there to take up the study of medicine General Lee gave him a personal letter of commendation to the University of Virginia, where he took his first course of medical lectures. The next year he went to Bellevue Hospital College and graduated there in 1872. While at Bellevue, those of the highest class standing were put on the hospital staff, and Dr. Joe was one of this number. After his graduation he returned to Waco and entered partnership with his father. A few years later his father took up the exploitation of the Wootan Wells waters and went there, and Dr. Joe formed a partnership with Dr. W. H. Wilkes, about 1877. I do not know how long this partnership lasted, but Drs. Wilkes and Willis were still jointly County Physicians in 1880. In 1874 Dr. Joe was recording secretary of the Waco Medical Association, in 1876 he was vice president and in 1877 he was elected president. In this same year, 1877, he was Worshipful Master of Waco Lodge, and also an officer in both the Chapter and Commandery. At a meeting of the State Medical Association held in Waco in 1881 he was elected a vice president of that body. Dr. Joe had a brilliant mind and excellent opportunities, of which he took every advantage; in addition he was genial, sociable and friendly-a good mixer-and he was therefore very successful in practice. He was called into consultation far and near, and accumulated quite a fortune in the fourteen years of his practice. He was a high tension hard worker and go-getter, full of energy and enthusiasm, working day and night far beyond his physical strength, which was not really great. He suffered a nervous breakdown in 1886; which was not surprising when we consider his various outside duties and interests in addition to keeping up with the largest general practice any doctor in Waco had enjoyed up to that time. He died of an overdose of bromidia, accidentally administered, on July 6, 1886, in his thirty-seventh year. If he had conserved his strength and energy there is no estimating to what heights he might have risen in a normal span of life. He married, November 12, 1874, Miss Nannie Baldwin Davis, at Cold Springs, Texas, and five children were born to this union, three of whom are now living, J. D. Willis, Mrs. Mattie D. Willis, and Nannie Shell Waldrop. Mrs. Willis is still living. Dr. Joe was fond of music, poetry, art and travel. He traveled extensively in this country and in Europe. He was a fine conversationalist and an entertaining companion, and he made friends very readily. He was progressive in his ideas and kept abreast of the times. He was very public spirited, and did all in his power for the advancement of Waco and his profession; and he was courteous and kind to all classes, and much beloved, as is evidenced by the large number of namesakes he had in the homes of his clientele. +++ From A Century of Fraternity, Waco Lodge No. 92 A. F. & A. M., by Roger N. Conger: ...Gifted with a brilliant mind he was very successful in his practice, and was called for consultation from far and near. He was a high strung hard worker, full of energy and enthusiasm, working day and night far beyond his physical strength. His practice was the greatest of any of the Waco doctors of the day. J. E. Elgin records that two teams of horses were required by Dr. Willis in his heavy practice; that he would return to his home at evening time for a meal and brief rest, and go out again with a fresh team for another round of calls. Elgin says, in his memoirs, " I would get in the buggy with him and take the reins and he would drop off to sleep. I would drive him to his appointments...and he would sleep between visits and on the way home. This constant strain was a severe tax on his health, and I believe was the principal reason for his finding an early grave."

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