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JOHN F. MCKEE, M. D.
One of the prominent members of the Williamson county medical profession, whose field of practice is the thriving community of Johnston City, has been engaged in practice here since the beginning of his professional career, and has thoroughly established himself in the confidence and esteem of the community, both as a physician and a public-spirited citizen. Dr. McKee was born near Dahlgren, Illinois, August 21, 1873, and is a son of William F. and Jane L. (Forsythe) McKee.
William F. McKee spent his early life in Ohio, where he was fairly educated in the public schools, and there enlisted in the One Hundred and Eighty-fifth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, for service during the Civil war. During that struggle he brought his family to the vicinity of Dahlgren, Illinois, and after the completion of the rebellion he engaged in teaching and farming in that locality, where the remainder of his life was spent, his death occurring in September, 1909, when he was seventy-two years of age. His widow, who survives him, is the mother of these children: Mary, the wife of C. C. Dale, of Dahlgren, Hamilton county, Illinois; Mrs. Minnie Willis, residing in Ewing, Illinois; Dr. John F., of Johnston City; Dr. William A., a dentist of Benton, Illinois; Nathaniel L., of St. Louis; Ollie, the wife of Oscar Bell, of McLeansboro, Illinois; and Robert B., who met death by drowning at the age of thirty-one years.
John F. McKee obtained his literary training in the public schools, at Ewing College and as a student in the Southern Illinois Normal University at Carbondale, Illinois. Teaching in the common schools occupied him for some six years before he began preparation for his life work, and when he did begin it, it was in the Vanderbilt University at Nashville, Tennessee. He graduated there in 1901 and entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons, in St. Louis, completing the course there one year
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later, after which he remained in the city for some months and did hospital work and some practice over the city before coming to Johnston City in 1903. Dr. McKee has been successful in the practice of his profession, and is now the possessor of a large clientele. He is progressive in all matters, and keeps abreast of the various inventions and discoveries of science by membership in the Williamson County Medical Society and the Illinois State and American Medical Associations.
On November 23, 1904, Dr. McKee was married in Johnston City to Miss Maude Burgess, daughter of the late Dr. W. J. Burgess, one of the early physicians of this locality, who married Miss Alzada Dorris and whose family comprised seven children. Dr. Burgess was born in Kentucky, in 1841, and prepared for his profession in the old Missouri Medical College, St. Louis, Dr. and Mrs. McKee have one son, Van Trueman Gerald McKee. The Doctor is a Master Mason and a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, and he and his family are members of the Missionary Baptist church. He has not identified himself with public matters, preferring to give all of his time and attention to his extensive practice, and confines his activities in politics to a good citizen's interest in matters pertaining to the welfare of his community.