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Compiled by John H. Wheeler Published in 1903 by B. F. Bowen Biography Page 199 - 200 |
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VICTOR F. HUNTLEY, M.D.
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Professional success results from merit. Frequently in commercial life one may come into the possession of a lucrative business through inheritance or gift, but in what are known as the learned professions advancement is gained only through painstaking and long-continued effort. Prestige in the healing art is the outcome of strong mentality, close application, thorough mastery of its great underlying principles and the ability to apply theory to practice in the treatment of diseases. Good intellectual training, thorough professional knowledge and the possession and utilization of the qualities and attributes essential to success have made the subject of this review eminent in his chosen calling, and he stands today among the scholarly and enterprising physicians in a county noted for the high order of its professional talent. Victor F. Huntley is a native of the old Empire state, having been born in Belmont, Franklin county New York, on the 6th of June, 1854. He is descended from English ancestry, though his grandfather, Hiram Huntley, was born in Maine and died near Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1893, at the age of eighty-eight years. Frederick M. Huntley, the father of the subject, was a patternmaker by trade, and, while residing in the state of Wisconsin, also followed the occupation of carpentering for a number of years. In 1863 he removed to Michigan, accompanied by his family, and settled at Grand Rapids. About the time of the outbreak of the Civil war he enlisted in Company D, First Michigan Engineers, with which he served until the close of the struggle. He proved a brave and gallant soldier and participated in much arduous service and at the close of his service he received an honorable discharge. At the completion of his military service he returned to his Michigan home and again resumed the pursuits of peace. He was the father of eight children, of whom six attained years of maturity, the subject of this sketch being the eldest of the number. Victor I. Huntley received his rudimentary education in the city schools of Grand Rapids, and afterward spent one year in Albion College. For a short time after leaving college he was employed at the trade of wood turning, and during the winter seasons was employed at teaching school. The science of medicine had early attracted his attention, and in 1874, finding a favorable opportunity, he went to Goshen, Indiana, where he read medicine under the preceptorship of Dr. William A. Whippy. In due time he matriculated in the Chicago Homeopathic Medical College, from which he was graduated in 1881, and the following year he entered upon the active practice of his profession at Jennings, Missaukee county, Michigan. After remaining there for some time, he became convinced that a better field of labor existed for him in Wexford county, and consequently, on the 1st of May, 1886, he located at Manton, this county, where he has since remained actively engaged in the practice of tlie healing art. He has taken a keen and abiding interest in public affairs, and, under the administration of the late President McKinley, he received the appointment of postmaster at Manton, discharging the duties of the office to the entire satisfaction of all the patrons of the office. He was re-appointed under President Roosevelt, and still holds office. He has also served as a member of the board of United States pension examiners, having served as president of the board for two years. In 1875 Dr. Huntley was united in marriage with Miss Harriet E. Castle, a native of St. Lawrence county, New York. This union has been a most happy and congenial one and has been blessed by the birth of two children, one that died in infancy, and Fred M., a physician, who graduated from the Chicago Homeopathic Medical College, and is practicing his profession with the subject in Manton. He is a member of the Michigan State Medical Society and fraternally is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons, having attained to the thirty-second degree. His political principles are in accord with those of the Republican party, and he takes an active part in local affairs, being a stanch supporter of all movements having for their object the promotion of the welfare of the community in which he lives. As evidence of this fact it is worthy of note that he was one of the numbers to whose untiring perseverance was due the installation of water works at Manton. Mr. Huntley's ability to trace the devious paths of disease throughout the human system and to remove its effects is widely recognized and a mind well disciplined by severe professional training, together with a natural aptitude for close investigation and critical research, have peculiarly fitted him for the noble calling in which he is engaged, and thus far his career has been all and more than his most sanguine friends predicted. He is a careful reader of the best professional literature, and keeps himself in close touch with the age in the latest discoveries pertaining to the healing art. The better to enable him to keep abreast the most modern methods in the treatment of disease, he took a post-graduate course in the Chicago Homeopathic Medical College in 1890, in 1894, in 1899, and again in 1901. Those qualities of mind and heart that do not pertain to the mere knowledge of medical science, but greatly enhance the true worth of the family physician, are not wanting in him. He possesses the tact and happy faculty of inspiring confidence on the part of his patients and their friends and in the sick room his genial presence and conscious ability to cope successfully with the diseases under treatment are factors that have contributed to the enviable standing which he has attained. As evidence of the success which he has attained, he entered into partnership with Williams Brothers in November, 1902, in a general mercantile business, which is incorporated and known as the Williams Mercantile Company, and he is now serving as president of said corporation. He is also an officer in the Manton Development Association, which has purchased a tract of wild land adjoining the village, which has been surveyed and platted, and is now rapidly building up. |