Hugh Penvler, M. D.

Reputed one of the most skilful physicians of Jefferson county, 
Hugh Penvler, M. D., of Ina, pays close attention to his professional 
duties, and by means of his acknowledged skill and high personal 
character has built up a fine practice. A son of the late Dr. H. J. 
Penvler, he was born July 10, 1864, in Mount Vernon, Illinois. Dr. 
H. J. Penvler was born in East Tennessee, in 1837, and died at Mount 
Vernon, Illinois, April 23, 1899, aged sixty-two years. An ambitious 
student and a lover of books he was given excellent educational advantages 
when young, and after his graduation from the old Emory & Henry College, 
where he completed the classical course, he entered the Missouri Medical 
College, in Saint Louis, from which he was graduated with the degree of 
M. D. He subsequently held the chair of physiology in the Missouri Medical 
College for a number of years, during which time he was honored with a 
degree from the University of Nashville, in Nashville, Tennessee. At the 
outbreak of the Civil war, he offered his services to his country, enlisting 
in the Federal army, and for a time was army surgeon at Fort Leavenworth, 
Kansas. In 1862, he located at Mount Vernon, Illinois, and was there actively 
engaged in the practice of medicine until his death. He married Ellen Hawkins, 
a daughter of Samuel Hawkins, who migrated from Indiana to Jefferson county, 
Illinois, in pioneer days, and they reared two children, namely: Hugh, the 
subject of this sketch; and Mrs. Nora Hartzell, of Mount Vernon, The mother 
still occupies the old homestead in Mount Vernon. Receiving his preliminary 
training in the public schools of Mount Vernon, Hugh Penvler subsequently 
attended the Southern Illinois Normal University in Carbondale, and in 1883 
began the study of medicine in Saint Louis, at the Missouri Medical College. 
Going to Nashville, Tennessee, in 1884, he was graduated from the medical 
department of the University of Nashville in the spring of 1885, and during 
the following nine years he was associated with his father in the practice 
of medicine at Mount Vernon. Removing to Spring Garden in 1894, Dr. Penvler 
was there prosperously engaged in the practice of his profession for ten 
years. Coming to Ina in 1904, he has here built up a lucrative patronage, 
being numbered among the leading physicians of the county. He is well 
known in professional circles, and is a member of the Southern Illinois 
Medical Society. Dr. Penvler married, in July, 1894, Maggie McCullough, 
a daughter of James and Susan A. McCullough, and their attractive home 
is always open to their many friends and acquaintances. Fraternally the 
Doctor has been a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows since 
attaining his majority, and he is also a member of the Modern Woodmen of 
America and of the Court of Honor. He formerly had title to ninety-two 
acres of good farming land, but he sold it recently and is not now a 
landholder to any extent, his town property being his only real estate 
holdings. 



Source: History of Southern Illinois George Washington Smith, 
M. A. VOLUME I - III ILLUSTRATED 
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY CHICAGO AND NEW YORK 1912
Page 1495

Submitted by Robert W. Loman