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WILLIAM THOMSON, M. D. Although among the comparatively young men in professional life, William Thomson, M. D., has attained success by devotion to toil in his profession, and is now in the enjoyment of a lucrative practice and the esteem and confidence of all in the village of Belknap, his chosen field of endeavor. Dr. Thomson is a native of Johnson county, having been born at Simpson, September 4, 1884, a son of John and Mary E. (Cornish) Thomson.

Eli Thomson, the paternal grandfather of Dr. Thomson, was born in Tennessee, and settled in Johnson county, where he took up government land at an early day and became a prominent agriculturist. The maternal grandparents of the Doctor, Eli and Emily Cornish, came from Scotland to America, settling first in West Virginia and later removed to Johnson county. John and Mary Thomson were both born in Tennessee and accompanied their parents to Illinois as children, after marriage settling on a farm, and later moving to Simpson, where they now reside.

The early educational training of William Thomson was obtained in the public schools of his native county, and later he entered the Southern Illinois State Normal School, at Carbondale. In the fall of 1905 he became a student in Barnes Medical College, St. Louis, Missouri, and in 1909 was graduated therefrom with the degree of M. D. Immediately thereafter he started to practice in the village of Belknap, where he has a large and steadily increasing practice. He is a member of several medical associations, and stands as high in the esteem of his fellow practitioners as he does in that of the public. Fraternally he is connected with the Modern Woodmen of America.

In 1908 Dr. Thomson was married to Bertha Marberry, of Simpson, daughter of Wiley and Zue Marberry, and they have one child: William Glen. Dr. Thomson's office is conveniently situated in the heart of the business portion of the village. Constant perusal of numerous medical journals and magazines to which he is a subscriber has made him well read and kept him in constant touch with the recent discoveries and inventions of his profession. He is eminently fitted for his profession, being a close student, a sympathetic practitioner and a lover of the work to which he has decided to give his activities.