Illinois Civil War Muster and Descriptive Rolls Database:
Danforth, Willis - Cpt - Co F - 13 IL US CAV
Residence, Joliet, Will Co, IL; Join, 20Sep1861; Age 35; Born, Lake Village, NH
Hair, light; Eyes, blue; Complexion, light; Married; Physician
Resigned 7Feb1863
Danforth, Willis - SURG - Co HQ - 134 IL US INF
Residence, Joliet, Will Co, IL; Join 31May1864; Age, 36; Married; Physician
Mustered out, 25 Oct1864
American Civil War Soldiers (ancestry.com):
Willis Danforth
Residence, Joliet, Illinois; Enlistment Date, 31 Dec 1861; Side served: Union; State served: Illinois
Service Record: Enlisted as a Captain on 31 December 1861.
Commission in on 31 Dec 1861Willis Danforth
Resigned on 7 Feb. 1863
Residence, Joliet, Illinois; Occupation, Physician; Enlistment date: 31 May 1861; Distinguished Service
Side served, Union; State served, Illinois; Death Date, 05 June 1891; Death Place, Milwaukee,WI
Service Record: Enlisted as a surgeon on 31 May 1864
Commission in on 31 May 1864
Mustered out on 25 October 1864 in Chicago, IL
Headstone Reading,
Will County Illinois USGenWeb Necrologist Reports (© 2002 The ILGenWeb Project All Rights Reserved):
Published Obituaries:
Additional Biographical Material:
US Census Records:
1850-Oswego, Kendall County, IL (Walter Loucks household)Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, 1763-1900:
Willis Danforth, 24; Physician; b. N.H.
Eliza Ann , 29; b. N.H.
1860-Joliet, Will County, IL
Willis Danforth, 34; Physician; b. N.H.
Nancy , 25; b. N.Y.
Delaskie , 7; b. Ills.
Harry , 2; b. Ills
Groom: Danforth, Willis; Bride: Moore, Nancy A.; Date: 1852-03-03;
License: 00001662; County, WillPolk's Medical and Surgical Diretory 1886:
Danforth, Harry W. Chicago Medical College
Med. Dept. of Northwestern Univ.
Danforth, Willis Rock Island Med. Coll., 1849
Former Prof. of Surgery Hahnemann Med. Coll.
Surg. & Supt. of Hahnemann Hosp. Chicago
Prof. Gynecological Surg., Chicago Homeopathic College
"Homeopathic International" website:
Danforth, Willis, M.D., of Chicago, Ills., was born in Lake Village, N.H., on September 26th, 1826. His father and mother, natives of New England, came of the old Puritan stock. They emigrated to Geneva, Kane County Ills., in 1837. Their son, after receiving a common school education, began studying medicine with George W. Richards, M.D., of St. Charles, Ills., in 1846; attended lectures at Indiana Medical College (allopathic) in 1847-'48; graduated at Rock Island Medical College at the close of the session of 1849-'50.
He started as a physician at Oswego, Ills., in 1850, and two years after was married to the daughter of the Rev. James H. Moore, of that place; removed to Joliet, in the same State, in 1854, and there resided for sixteen years. While there he was converted to homeopathy through being cured of sciatica, which had resisted all manner of allopathic remedies for over six weeks. On recovering he read "Rane's Organon", and most of teh homeopathis text-books, and having felt his his way cautiously for two years, openly espoused the cause in 1860.
In 1861, he entered the army as Captain in the 13th Illinois Cavalry; served for two years; was then appointed Surgeon of the 134th Illinois Infantry; was soon promoted to be Medical Director for the District of Western Kentucky, and did not leave the service until the close of the war. Then returned home and resumed a practice which has now grown to extensive proportions and embraces a large surgical business.
In October, 1869, he was elected Professor of Surgery in the Hahnemann Medical College, Chicago; delivered that winter's course, and located there in the following spring. He was elected President of the Chicago Academy of Medicine; became associate editor of the "United States Medical and Surgical Journal", also, Surgeon-in-chief to Scammon Hospital, Chicago.
Dr. Danforth's lectures are mostly extemporaneous, abound with anecdote, wit, and quotations from standard literary and medical authors. He seizes upon the cardinal points of a subject and presents these in such a manner as to induce not only close attention but after-thought. His writings offer the same features, and are full of practical suggestions. As an operator he is safe and careful, though bold and fearless when there is occasion for the exhibition of such qualities. In practice he is fertile of resource. He receives constant calls from different sections of the country to operate in difficult cases.
Source: "Cleave's Biographical Cyclopedia of Homeopathic Physicians and Surgeons"
by Egbert Cleave
"Mary Todd Lincoln Research Site" website:
At her [insanity] trial a series of witnesses, including hotel employess, salesclerks, and doctors testified about a series of bizarre behaviors attributed to Mary. These included such things as "hearing voices" and paying maids to spend nights in her room (due to her fear of being alone). In all 17 people testified at her trial. Five of these witnesses were doctors. Based on circumstantial evidence (Robert T. Lincoln had written those that didn't know Mary personally about Mary's bizarre behavior), all of the doctors testified that she was fit for an asylum. One of the doctors, Dr. Willis Danforth, had seen Mary on several occasions. His testimony was particularly damaging to Mary. He testified that in 1874 he had been called to Robert Lincoln's house and that he observed Mary's "nervous derangement". Danforth testified that Mary was "possessed with the idea that some Indian spirit was working in her head and taking wires out of her eyes, particularly the left one". Danforth went on and testified that Mary had a delusion about being poisoned. "She said she drank two cups of coffee and believed by this means she received an overdose and vomited it up". According to Danforth, she believed she would die on September 6, 1874, and that her son, Robert, would follow her sometime during the 10th anniversary of her husband's assassination.