DR. JOHN I. NOWOTNY, physician and druggist, Hodge's Park, was born in the city of New York July 4, 1833, and is a son of John I. and Eliza (Haskett) Nowotny. The father was a native of Prague, and the mother was a native of South Carolina, but of Irish descent. The father died when subject was but six years old, and he early became able to take care of himself He followed a roving disposition. When quite a boy, he came West and worked on a farm in Warren County, Ohio. In 1847, however, he went back to New York and entered a drug store, where he soon learned the trade of a prescription clerk. He followed that vocation in several States, and finally, in 1857, he graduated from the Keokuk (Iowa) Medical College, and commenced his practice in Southern Illinois. In 1871, he came to Illinois and settled at what is now known as Beech Ridge, Alexander County. He cut the first stick of timber in that section of the country, and besides following his profession, farming occupied a good deal of his attention. In this region, he practiced medicine until 1880, and then went to Minnesota, where he intended to settle down as a farmer. Becoming dissatisfied with the climate, he took a trip West and finally in June, 1883, he came to Illinois again and settled at Hodges Park, where he purchased the drug store of W. W. Ireland. He will also practice his profession there. Mr. Nowotny was married in Brown County, Ohio, May 22, 1856, to Miss Harriet Wall, a daughter of Maj. William Wall (a soldier of the Mexican war), and Elizabeth (Thompson) Wall, a native of New Jersey. She was the mother of four sons — William W. (now in Cairo with the Express Company), Charles (now a farmer in Dakota), John (working for the Commercial Electric Light Company of Cincinnati), and Harry (now assisting his father in the drug store). This lady died April 17, 1876, and he was married on February 14, 1880, to Miss Mary Hodges, a daughter of John Hodges, of Unity Precinct. He enlisted in the Thirty-seventh Indiana Volunteer Infantry, in September, 1861, and was out six mouths. He is a member of Allensville Lodge, No. 81, A., F. & A. M., and a Democrat in politics.
Extracted 29 Mar 2017 by Norma Hass from 1883 History of Alexander, Union, and Pulaski Counties, Illinois, page 242.
| Cape Girardeau MO |
Union | |
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Pulaski | |
| Scott MO | Mississippi MO | Ballard KY |
