" . . . . . Among the physicians and
surgeons of Fayette County who have risen to eminence in their chosen field of
endeavor and have won a reputation that has transcended the limits of the county
is Dr. George D. Darnall, of West Union, whose career has been that of a
broad-minded, conscientious worker in the sphere to which his life and energies
have been devoted and whose profound knowledge of his profession has won for him
a leading place among the most distinguished medical men of his day and
generation in upper Iowa. But a perusal of his interesting life record, briefly
set forth in the following paragraphs, will show that he is also a potent factor
in other relations of life, as well.
George D. Darnall was born near
Paris, Edgar county, Illinois, May 28, 1843, and is a son of Capt. William D.
and Eliza J. (METCALFE) DARNALL, the father
having been, for many years, a captain in the Illinois state militia and for a
time a major. Doctor Darnall is descended from one of the oldest and best
families of the United States, many members of which have been prominent in
various walks of life, Col. Henry and John DARNALL (brothers),
who emigrated from England with a company of Lord Baltimore's
colony, in 1665, locating in Maryland, being the first of this name on this side
the Atlantic. Col. Henry DARNALL was the first
surveyor-general of Maryland. Members of the family took a conspicuous part in
the Revolutionary war, and Charles CARROLL of Carrollton, the
last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence, married Mary DARNALL,
a member of this family. Carroll was said to have been the wealthiest of
Maryland patriots, worth perhaps two million dollars when the war began. His
contributions to the cause of the colonies were liberal. He reached the
advanced age of ninety-five years. Doctor Darnall's grandfather, John Darnall,
emigrated from Maryland to Kentucky in 1779, accompanied by his brother, Isaac,
and settled near Paris, where he took up farming. The Doctor's father, William
D. Darnall, was born in Kentucky, November 19, 1812, and removed to Illinois in
1820, the family locating near Paris, Edgar county, and there he grew to
maturity, received his education and worked on the home farm during his youth,
and there he married Eliza J. METCALFE in 1838. She was a
native of Louisville, Kentucky, the daughter of William and Jemimah (REDMON)
METCALFE. The family was of English origin and settled in
Kentucky in an early day. They removed to Edgar county, Illinois, about 1624
<ed: this date cannot be correct>. Four sons and two
daughters were born to Mr. and Mrs. William DARNALL, namely:
Prudy Jane married Alexander MOYER, both now deceased, her death occurring in
Paris, Illinois, in August 1870' John W., formerly a lawyer in Chicago, now
deceased; Dr. George D. of this review; James J., who served nearly four years
in the Civil war, married Eveline GRAHAM, of Pratt county, Kansas; Jacob N. is
married and lives in Paris, Illinois; Sarah Ann, who married James A. KESTER, of
Paris, died January 5, 1889. The father of these children, a man of many
praiseworthy characteristics and influential in his community, was called to his
reward on November 12, 1888, having spent a half century on his farm and in
Paris, Illinois, where he resided at the time of his death. His widow remained
on the old homestead in Paris until her death on October 31, 1906. William D.
Darnall was a patriotic and public spirited citizen, and he served as a soldier
in the Black Hawk war, in the campaigns of 1831 and 1832, in the same command of
which Abraham Lincoln was a captain, they having been old and intimate
acquaintances.
Thus, considering the ancestry of Doctor Darnall, it is
no wonder that he is a man who does things and is a leader in his chosen life
work. He grew to maturity on his father's farm and early in life knew the
meaning of hard work in the fields. Determined to become an educated man, he
walked between three and four miles during the winter months to attend the
subscription schools of those early days, paying a tuition of five cents per
day. He subsequently attended the Edgar Academy at Paris, a Presbyterian
school, and he began life as a teacher, which he followed very successfully for
some time, but, believing that the medical profession offered greater
inducements, he began studying medicine with Dr. Mark Rowe, of Redmon, Illinois.
He made rapid progress and in 1866 he entered upon the regular practice at
Cherry Point, Illinois, and remained there until 1867, when he removed to Solon,
Iowa, and opened an office. The year previous he had begun attending lectures
in the Medical College of Ohio, located at Cincinnati, and was graduated with
honors from that institution with the class of 1872. Fully equipped for his
chosen profession, he then located in Pomeroy, Iowa, where he continued practice
until 1872, which year witnessed his advent in West Union, Fayette county, where
he has remained in continuous practice to the present time, having been
successful from the first, his name long since becoming a household word
throughout this locality, ranking with the leading members of this profession in
the state. He is now the senior physician in active practice in Fayette county.
He has kept fully abreast of the times in all that pertains to the practice of
medicine and surgery and is not only profoundly versed in his chosen line, but
is also acquainted with the best literature of the world and is well posted on
all current topics of the day.
Doctor Darnall's domestic life began on
November 17,1872, when he formed a matrimonial alliance with Sarah C. LAWYER,
who was born in Illinois City, Rock Island county, Illinois, August 1, 1854, the
daughter of L. M. LAWYER and wife, the father born in
Maryland, of German parentage, and the mother, whose maiden name was FISHER,
was also a native of that state. Her death occurred in 1868, being still
survived by her husband, who makes his home in Solon, Iowa. Doctor Darnall's
wife died January 27, 1883, and on May 28, 1896, the Doctor married Cora A.
LAWYER, a sister of his first wife. Politically, Doctor
Darnall is a Republican and he has long taken much more than a passing interest
in party affairs, . . . . . He received the nomination of his party by his
party for representative to the twenty-second General Assembly of Iowa, to which
office he was duly elected, and at the succeeding convention he received a
renomination by acclamation, but was defeated, as were many others of the
Republicans, owing to the combined Democratic, Greenback, Labor and Prohibition
vote of that year. He was also connected with J. B. HOYT in the erection of the
city hall.
. . . Early in life he became a member of Mt. Vernon
Lodge, No. 112, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and upon coming to Iowa he
transferred his membership to West Union. . . . . He is also a prominent
member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, belonging to Round Grove Lodge
No. 41, West Union Encampment No. 57, and West Union Rebekah Lodge No. 97.
Doctor Darnall has been very successful as a business man and is the
owner of valuable property. He owns the splendid brick block at the southwest
corner of the public square, a beautiful residence and other property. . . . . .
. . . . . . . ."
(A picture is included in the source book)