Dr.  William E. Settle

 
More Info added April 2012 by Sandi Vines

My Grandpa's name was Whitt Elmo. He is the 1st one on left back row of the picture. As far as I know there was no Elmore, just Whit Elmo Settle.
Father Francis Marion Settle, lived and died in Garvin, OK. He lived with his son William in his later life. Francis Marion was in the CW and buried at Oak Lawn Cemetery, Wynnewood, , OK, Quarter Master Sgt., Bates Regiment, Texas Artillery, CSA,
Thanks
Sandi Vines

 

William Eugene Settle was born Christmas morning, 1867, to Francis Marion Settle and Sarah David Settle.  Francis, a Missourian, was the youngest child of John Settle, A Virginian who served during the revolution under another Francis Marion.  After the revolution he and his brother Sam went West.

Sam settled in Kentucky and John in Missouri.  The center of the Missouri Settle clan seems to be near Orrick.  John reared a large family of children, a hardy, long-lived bunch.  Lydia Ann died in childhood, but the others lived to be 100, 110, and 115.  His father was the short-lived one of the family.  He only lived to be 94.

Francis Marion Settle, father of Dr. William E. Settle, joined the Confederate Army and served in skirmishes in Kentucky and Tennessee, the Battle of Pea Ridge being one.  He was a saddler.  After the war he settled in Texas where he met Miss Sallie David, the daughter of a planter who had moved from Georgia, where Sallie was born, to Alabama and then on to Texas.  A slaveholder and a farmer, he was impoverished by the war.

Frank Settle married Sallie David in 1866 and they settled on a farm near Stephenville, Texas.

Their first son, Dr. William Eugene, was born at David's Mill, December 25, 1867.  This was a little settlement on a Mr. David's land near Dew on the Houston road between Corsicana and Mexia.  Frank and Sallies other children were David, who died in infancy, James, Frank, Warner, Whittick, Elmore and Mabel.  
(See note on Left)

Even as a child William Eugene wanted to be a doctor as there were many doctors in his mother's family and his favorite book was a volume on anatomy.  He worked his way through the academy at Mexia, Texas, for his secondary schooling.  His uncle, Dr. David, was a dentist in Corsicana, and he spent some of this vacations there.  While William E. stayed with his uncle he worked in a pharmacy to earn winter tuition.  

After graduation in pharmacy from the academy, he went to work for the Santa Fe Railroad and eventually became a weigh master.  While he was stationed in Paola, Kansas, he went on a skating party where he met a pretty, brown eyed school teacher, Florence Brown.  He had already decided to go to medical school and after he became engaged to Florence, he left Paola and enrolled in Louisville Medical College at Louisville, Kentucky. He earned his way through school and was president of the senior class when he graduated in 1894, receiving honors in bacteriology.  In 1898 he did his post-graduate work in Chicago.

On a trip South he had seen the Washita River country in Indian Territory and he decided to set up his office in the most promising town of that time that was located on the Santa Fe which happened to be Wynnewood, the main point for shipping of cotton and cattle for that area.

On Christmas day, 1894, he married Florence Brown.  After the wedding, they came to Wynnewood and lived in an apartment in the home of Mrs. Hotchkin, an early-day Presbyterian teacher in Indian Territory.

Dr. and Mrs. William E. Settle had four children:  Elizabeth Alden, Dorothy David, William Eugene, and Newell Duncan.  The Settles became one of the group to organize the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Wynnewood.  

Dr. Settle's first partner was Dr. John A. Winfrey.  Later, they set up offices in Mineral Wells, Texas, but since they did not consider that town as promising as they had hoped, Dr. Settle returned to Wynnewood and Dr. Winfrey went to Fort Worth.

With the exception of a few years, Dr. Settle practiced in Garvin County from 1894 until his death in Wynnewood in 1935.  Florence passed away on Christmas day, 1931.

Dr. William Eugene Settle was a 32nd degree Mason and took his Scottish Rite degrees at McAlister Consistory.