HENRY J DEAVER, M D

Prior to the Revolutionary war two brothers left their home in Wales, preferring to take chances in America than to give the best years of their lives to the military service in their native country. Their names were John and Abraham De Vere. One located in Maryland and the other in Virginia. For some reason an "a" was added to the name, but the name was Devere. Whether divided or not the present generation cannot tell. John De Vere, who spelt his name "Dever," settled in Virginia and his descendants are now found on the Ohio river in Scioto county, one of them being Judge Dever, of Portsmouth, Ohio, and many representatives of the two brothers are now located in Maryland, Pennsylvania and Ohio.

Abraham De Vere and his descendants, with whom this memoir deals, settled on the Potomac river at or near Middletown valley, Maryland. His two sons, Levi and Ruben, were the pioneers and founders of the Deaver family of Ohio. They, descending from Revolutionary stock, were entitled to the land bounties given to the soldiers of the Revolution. These two sons located land, in 1808, in the Muskingum valley. The next spring they returned to the valley and on reaching there they found the Indians were making such incursions they turned aside and went over into what is now the neighborhood of Deavertown and remained. In 1825, having purchased the section where Deavertown is now situated, they laid out the town of Deavertown, calling it New Market.

Four years later Abraham Deaver followed his two sons to Ohio and located New Zanesville. The children of Abraham were Levi, Ruben, Sarah, Walter, Susan, Henry, Eli, James, Nancy, Abraham, Bazil and Benjamin. The remains of Abraham Deaver and his wife, Nancy, nee Lincoln, supposed to be a sister of the father of Abraham Lincoln, were buried in the little burying ground of the Christian church at Deavertown, Ohio.

Dr. Henry J. Deaver, the subject of this biography, is a direct descendant of Abraham De Vere (Deaver), who was his great-great-grandfather, his great-grandfather being Ruben and his grandfather Henry Tilman Deaver. The last mentioned married a Miss Pearl, who died in 1857, leaving the following children: Frank F.; Martha, the wife of William Appleman; Minerva, who married John Weiner; and Mollie, the wife of John Potts. The father of these children was again married and had the following children: Emma, the wife of Perley Wilson, of Columbus, Ohio; Sadie, the wife of Philip Bennett, of Perry county, Ohio; Mrs. Louisa Thompson, of Deavertown, Ohio; and Tillie, deceased. During the Civil war Henry T. Deaver joined the Union army and was killed at the battle of Chattanooga. He had six brothers who also fought in defense of the Union.

Frank F. Deaver, the Doctor's father, learned, during his youth, the blacksmith's trade in Perry county, Ohio, where he was born June 6, 1846, and after arriving at years of maturity was married to Matilda E. Brown, a daughter of Barney Brown, who removed from New Jersey to the Buckeye state. Mrs. Deaver died October 5, 1876, and was buried in Deavertown. The father afterward married Clara Wheeler, of Muskingum county, Ohio, and in 1886 he came to Kansas, his home being now in Sabetha, Kansas. His children are: Henry J., of this review; William B., who married Annie Lichty and is working with his father in the blacksmith shop; Mary E., the wife of Professor St. Clair, of Sabetha; Rilla, the wife of Edward Warfel, of Morrill, Kansas; Annie L., the deceased wife of Dwight Geer; Jesse, a farmer of Brown county; Frances T., who is engaged in teaching in Brown county; Ora, who married Miss Conrad, of Sabetha; and Harvey, attending school. The last two are children of the second marriage.

The Doctor claims the state of Ohio as the place of his nativity, his birth having occurred in Chapel Hill, Perry county, on the 15th of April, 1866, and was a resident of Deavertown, Ohio, at the time he obtained his majority. In his early life he attended the common schools near his home and learned the blacksmith's trade of his father, but as he neared man's estate he became possessed with the desire to enter professional life, and as a step to this end he entered the National Normal University at Lebanon, Ohio, and prepared himself for teaching and taught his first school in his native state. For four years he was also connected with the educational interests of Brown county and for one term engaged in teaching near Reynolds, Nebraska. With the view of making the practice of medicine his life work he began the study in the office of Dr. Ames, of Reynolds, Nebraska, and later continued his reading with Dr. W. A. Haynes, of Sabetha, Kansas, matriculating in the Starling Medical College, of Columbus, Ohio, an institution of the regular school, and was graduated in 1892, having the honor of being secretary of his class, which numbered fifty-eight members. Returning to Sabetha he opened an office, but ere two years had passed he located in Robinson, on the 1st of July, 1893, and has since been a valued and successful representative of the medical fraternity in this place. He belongs to the Doniphan County Medical Society, to the Doniphan and Brown Counties Medical Society, to the Northeastern Kansas Medical Association and the Kansas State Medical Association, and by the last named was sent as a delegate to the American Medical Association at Columbus. Ohio, in June, 1899. He is also a member of the National Association and his connection with those different societies has kept him in touch with the marked progress made by the profession. He is well versed in the science of medicine, is very careful in the diagnosis of a case and in the prosecution of his professional labors he has met with excellent success as the result of his ability, which is acknowledged by the profession as well as by the general public.

On the 17th of March, 1892, occurred the marriage of Dr. Deaver and Miss Dora E. Dilts, a daughter of James Dilts, a farmer of Muskingum county, Ohio. Their children are Carol F. and Ray E. The Doctor belongs to the Masonic fraternity, to the Modern Woodmen and to the Knights and Ladies of Security, and of the last two he is physician. He is also the medical examiner for the Mutual Life Insurance Company, for the New York and Northwestern Life Insurance Companies, the Masonic Mutual Benefit Association and the Kansas Mutual Life Insurance Company. He was reared in the political faith of the Republican party, has always believed in its tenets and has given his ballot in support of its men and measures. He has frequently been a delegate to the local conventions and in 1899 was elected county coroner, a position he is now filling. He has a commendable regard for the ethics of professional life and his standing in the profession and his large practice are an unmistakable evidence of his ability.