OKGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any
format for profit or presentation by any other organization or
persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must
obtain the written consent of OKGenWeb State Coordinator.

Presentation here does not extend any permissions to the public. This
material can not be included in any compilation, publication,
collection, or other reproduction for profit without permission. Files
may be printed or copied for personal use only.
=====================================================================

EDWARD M. DOWNS, M. D.
Vol. 5, p. 1886,1887

The world instinctively pays deference to the man whose success has
been worthily achieved and whose prominence is no less the result of
an irreproachable life than of natural talents and acquired ability
in the field of his chosen labor. Doctor DOWNS occupies a position of
distinction as a representative of the medical profession at Hinton
and the best evidence of his capability in his chosen work is the
large patronage which is accorded him.

The-original progenitor of the Downs family in America was a native
of England and he emigrated to this country in the colonial days and
settled in Connecticut, Henry DOWNS, father of the Doctor, was born
at Hamden Connecticut, in 1832, and as a young man he removed to Iowa
City, where he was married and whence he went to Tama County, Iowa,
there farming until 1866. In that year he located on a farm in Jasper
County, Iowa, and there he served as township treasurer and as school
director for many years. He was a democrat in his political
allegiance and in early manhood devoted much of his time to work as a
stationary engineer. He was summoned to life eternal at Baxter, Iowa
in 1910. His wife, whose maiden name was Lucy Maria WORDEN, was born
at Utica, New York, July 10, 1832, and she now maintains her home at
Baxter, Iowa. There were four children born to Mr. and Mrs. Downs, as
follows: Edward W. is the subject of this sketch; Harry owns and
operates a garage at Baxter, Iowa; Horace is a druggist at Baxter;
and Capitola died at the age of four years.

In Tama County, Iowa, just twelve miles north of Toledo, January 22,
1860, occurred the birth of Doctor Downs. He passed his boyhood and
youth on his father's farm and received his preliminary educational
training in the public schools of Jasper County, Iowa. He was a
student in the academy at Newton, Iowa, and in 1879 he began to farm,
devoting three years to that occupation. In 1882 he began to study
medicine under Doctor KNEPPER, of Collins, Iowa, and the following
year he entered the University of Iowa, in the medical department of
which he was graduated in 1885, with the degree of Doctor of
Medicine. In 1901 he pursued a post-graduate course in the Chicago
Clinical School. Doctor Downs initiated the active practice of his
profession at Coon Rapids, Iowa, where he built up a large and
lucrative patronage and where he continued to reside until 1905. In
that year he purchased a farm forty miles south of Winnipeg, Canada,
and there was engaged in agricultural pursuits for one year, at the
end of which he disposed of his farm, on which be still holds a
mortgage, however, and came to Hinton. Here he has built up a
splendid medical practice, being one of the pioneer physicians and
surgeons in this vicinity. He is a member of the Caddo County Medical
Society, the Oklahoma State Medical Society and the American Medical
Association. He is affiliated with the county and the Iowa State
medical societies, likewise, and for years was health officer in Coon
Rapids, Iowa. In a fraternal way he is connected with the Iowa State
Lodge No. 34, Knights of Pythias, in which he is past chancellor.

Doctor Downs has been twice married. June 29, 1898, at Coon Rapids,
Iowa, he married Miss Jessie FLETCHER, a daughter of the late Capt.
John Fletcher, a pensioned Civil war veteran. Mrs. Downs was a
popular and successful teacher in Coon Rapids prior to her marriage
and she died in that city in 1902. She is survived by one child:
Henry W., born February 1, 1902, a pupil in the Hinton public school.
For his second wife Doctor Downs married Mrs. Eliza (CLEARWATER)
JOHNSON, widow of Christopher Johnson, a jeweler at Coon Rapids, and
of a daughter of Reuben Clearwater, a retired business man of
Spaulding, Nebraska. To this union has been born one child: Iowa
Capitola, whose nativity occurred February 10, 1913. Doctor and Mrs.
Downs are popular in the social life of Hinton and they command the
unqualified confidence and esteem of their fellow citizens.

Typed for OKGenWeb by Jeanne M. Misleh, September 23, 1999.

SOURCE: Thoburn, Joseph B., A Standard History of Oklahoma, An
Authentic Narrative of its Development, 5 v. (Chicago, New York: The
American Historical Society, 1916).