Humphrey, Samuel A.

Born: 1823-05-03 Nelson County, Kentucky

Died: 1864-08-12 Danville, Illinois

Flourished: Danville, Illinois

Samuel A. Humphrey was a farmer, businessman, and a pioneer physician in Danville, Illinois. At the age of twenty-one, Humphrey moved from his home in Nelson County, Kentucky to Vermilion County, Illinois. In 1845, he married Mary Milton, with whom he would have one daughter. Humphrey purchased a farm on the Blue Grass prairie and farmed for a year before taking up the study of medicine. He moved to Cincinnati to continue his medical training at the Medical College of Ohio, graduating in 1848. He returned to Danville and opened a medical practice, at the same time establishing a pharmacy and dry goods store. He also acquired 160 acres of public land near Blue Grass in the northwest portion of county. In the 1850s, Humphrey moved his family to Louisville, Kentucky, where he practiced medicine and operated a drug store. In 1860, he was working as a "Botanic Druggist" and owned real property valued at $8,000 and had a personal estate of $800. By 1864, Humphrey had returned to his medical practice in Danville. Humphrey was a Republican and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Lottie E. Jones, History of Vermilion County Illinois (Chicago: Pioneer, 1911), 1:175-76; The Past and Present of Vermilion County Illinois (Chicago: S. J. Clarke, 1903), 752-53; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Vermilion County, 8 May 1845, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; Illinois Public Domain Land Tract Sales, Vermilion County, 229:18, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Danville, Vermilion County, IL, 304; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Ward 5, Louisville, Jefferson County, KY, 164; Illinois State Gazetteer and Business Directory, for the Years 1864-5 (Chicago: J. C. W. Bailey, 1864), 762.