Albert
Campbell Cork, A. M., M. D., deceased, was for many
years one of the foremost physicians and surgeons in Southern Illinois,
being located at Carlinville nearly the entire period of his professional
career. Owing to ill health resulting from general practice, he made a
careful study of diseases of the eye, ear and throat and confined his
energies to practice as a specialist. He and his estimable wife, Dr. Lucinda
H. Corr, conducted The Home Hospital, a retreat for invalids, which they
established in 1878. The death of Dr. Corr was an irreparable loss to the
community, in which he was held in the highest esteem.
Dr. Albert
Campbell Corr was born near Honey Point, Macoupin County, Illinois, February
10, 1840, and was a son of Rev. Thomas Corr, whose father was of English
birth and came to this country with his brother, locating in Virginia.
Thomas Corr was born in King and Queen County, Virginia, in 1800, and at a
very early age moved to Kentucky. At the age of 17 years he was united in
marriage with Preshea Wood, who died in Monroe, Iowa, October 9, 1888, at
the advanced age of 86 years. In 1834, Thomas Corr removed to Illinois, and
was residing in Macoupin County at the time of his death in 1852. He and his
wife were the parents of 12 children; three sons made honorable records of
service in the Union Army during the Civil War.
Albert Campbell Corr
during his younger days attended the old log school house in his district,
and while not at school assisted in the work about the farm. He was desirous
of obtaining a superior education and laid his plans accordingly, but he was
destined to disappointment in this ambition. His elder brother enlisted for
service in the Union Army and the care of the paternal acres fell upon the
young shoulders of our subject for the time being. However, in 1863 he
entered Blackburn University at Carlinville. But, imbued with a spirit of
patriotism, he sacrificed his personal ambitions for the time and in 1864
enlisted in Company F, 133rd, Reg., Illinois Vol. Inf. He served for a
period of four months, during which time he paid $21 per month to a man to
take his place on the farm.
After the close of the war, our subject
returned home and devoted his spare time to the study of medicine, pursuing
a three-years' course in the Chicago Medical College. He was graduated from
that institution on March 4, 1868, and was the first in Macoupin County to
take such an extensive course of study in a medical college. In 1865, Dr.
Corr was united in marriage with Lucinda Hall, a native of Macoupin County
who was at that time teaching school. She continued teaching after marriage,
having a school near the home of our subject's mother, in order to look
after the latter until the graduation of Dr. Corr. He was always a firm
believer in equal rights and privileges to women, and it was his wish as
well as Mrs. Corr's that she pursue a course of study in medicine and become
a companion to him in his professional work. She entered the Woman's
Hospital Medical College, and was graduated with honors in March, 1874,
being the first woman from Macoupin County to graduate in medicine.
Dr.
A. C. Corr first engaged in practice at Chesterfield, and seven years
later became established at Carlinville, where he continued in practice
until his death. It was at his instigation that the Macoupin County Medical
Society was organized in 1873 and during the first 10 years of its existence
he served as its secretary. He was chosen president in April, 1880. As a
result of ill health he gave up the general practice of medicine and devoted
his attention to a careful study of diseases of the eye, ear and throat,
taking postgraduate work in New York, Baltimore and Chicago. From 1886 until
his death, his time was devoted exclusively to the treatment of those
diseases, attaining a high degree of success. His wife has been equally
successful in the treatment of nervous diseases and diseases of women. Dr.
Corr was a writer of considerable prominence in the medical world and was
editor of the eye and ear department of the Southern-Illinois Journal of
Medicine and Surgery. He was a member of the Illinois State Medical Society
for over 30 years, and in 1897 was elected president of that body. He was
also elected president of the Army and Navy Medical Society, a society which
originated in the Illinois State Medical Society, and in which he was
associated with Dr. E. P. Cook and many other prominent medical men of the
State. He also was a member of the board of pension examiners for Montgomery
and Macoupin counties. At the instance of Governor John R. Tanner, Dr. Corr
was made a member of the Illinois State Board of Health, serving out the
term of a deceased member, and was elected its president. He was chosen by
Governor John P. Altgeld as one of the delegates from this State to the
first Pan-American Medical Congress. On account of his continued scientific
pursuits and successes, he was given the degree of Master of Arts by
Blackburn University in 1893. He was a man of broad and liberal ideas,
always a friend of the poor and needy, and was welcomed into the best homes
of the county. Portraits of Dr. Albert Campbell Corr and Dr. Lucinda H. Corr
accompany this sketch, being presented on a foregoing page.
Extracted 2018 May 06 by Norma Hass from Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens of Macoupin County, Illinois, published in 1904, pages 150-153.
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