NORMAN W. CONNAWAY, M.D.


Although practically a newcomer to the city of Christopher, Illinois, 
Dr. Norman W. Connaway has already established himself in the confidence 
and esteem of the people here, and has taken his rightful place among the 
leading medical men of Southern Illinois. Like many other of our prominent 
physicians, at the start of his career he decided that the human body was 
too great and too intricate a work, its possibilities for disease and 
imperfection too vast, to make it possible for any one man to completely 
master the causes, symptoms and cures for weaknesses affecting every part 
of it, and early concluded that if he devoted his time to specializing, 
and giving his time and talents to investigations having direct relation 
to certain diseases and their cures, he would accomplish a great life 
work, providing these investigations were successful and their results 
properly applied. His accomplishments in the years following the completion 
of his education are the best proof of his entire success. 

Dr. Connaway was born in Jefferson county, Illinois, August 21, 1870, and 
is a son of Oliver A. and Lavina (Mount) Connaway. 

The Connaway family is of Scotch-Irish descent, and William Connaway, 
the grandfather of Dr. Norman W., was born in the state of Indiana and 
came to Illinois in 1854. He settled on a tract of land in Jefferson county, 
improved and cultivated it, and became one of the leading farmers of his 
district, dying about 1893, with a satisfactory competency. His son, 
Oliver A. Connaway, was born at Montezuma, Parke county, Indiana, and was 
a lad of ten years when he accompanied the family to Illinois. Like other 
farmers' sons of his day, he obtained his education in the public schools 
when he could be spared from the duties of the home place, and for some 
time he attended the schools at Dix. Reared to agricultural pursuits, he 
has been engaged therein all of his life, and still makes his residence 
on the old homestead in Jefferson county, where he is known as a competent 
farmer and sterling citizen. He is a stanch Democrat in his political views, 
and with his wife and children attends the Missionary Baptist church. He
married Lavina Mount, whose father came to Jefferson county, Illinois, from 
Tennessee, dying soon thereafter, and they have had five children, all of 
whom survive. Norman W. Connaway received his education in the public schools 
of Dix, and in his youth purchased a farm, intending to give his life 
to the vocation of tilling the soil. Subsequently, however, he decided a 
career lay before him in the field of medicine, and after considerable 
preparatory study he entered the St. Louis College of Physicians and Surgeons, 
in 1902. Graduating from that well-known institution in 1906, Dr. Connaway 
established himself in practice at Woodlawn, Jefferson county, but in 1908, 
deciding that he needed a larger field, he came to Christopher, where he has 
since remained. Dr. Connaway makes a specialty of women's diseases and 
abdominal surgery, and at present is probably performing more operations 
that any surgeon in the county. He has won his own eminent position in his 
profession through years of close application to his chosen work, and the 
sureness which has come to him stamps him as one of the leading surgeons 
of this section. He finds leisure to keep up his membership in the Odd 
Fellows and the Royal Neighbors, of which latter his wife is also a member, 
but his professional duties have kept him too occupied to actively enter 
the political field. 

On August 7, 1895, Dr. Connaway was married to Miss Ida Phillips, daughter 
of Joseph Phillips, who served with distinction in the Fortieth Illinois 
Volunteers, under General John A. Logan, in the Civil war. He was on one 
occasion badly wounded and captured by the enemy, but made a daring and 
thrilling escape before his captors could place him in prison. After the war
he returned to his farm, and was successfully engaged in the peaceful pursuits 
of tilling the soil until his death in 1908. The three children of Dr. and Mrs. 
Connaway, Glenn, Beatrice and Cleda, are all attending the public schools. 
The family is connected with the Missionary Baptist church. 


Source: History of Southern Illinois George Washington Smith, 
M. A. VOLUME I - III ILLUSTRATED 
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY CHICAGO AND NEW YORK 1912
Page 831 - 833 


Submitted by Robert W. Loman