B. C. TABER, M. D., Mound City. Among the able practitioners of “materia medica" of Pulaski County is Dr. Taber, whose name heads this sketch. He was born in New Bedford, Mass., on the 3d of September, 1813. His father, Benjamin Taber, was also a native of Massachusetts, born February 2, 1766. He was of an old and noted family of his native State, a mechanic by occupation; he died April 2, 1846. He married Rhoda Akins, who died, leaving one child, Henry Taber, who is now ninety years of age. He married a second time, Merab Coffin, who was born August 2, 1782, and died November 17, 1857. She was a daughter of Bartimas Coffin, who was a cousin of Sir Isaac Coffin, Admiral of the British Navy, and a founder of the Coffin school of Nantucket, where his descendants are educated gratuitously. She was the mother of six children, of whom four are now living. Our subject was educated in the schools at Providence, R. I., and after graduating and arriving at his majority, embarked in the drug business at New Bedford, Mass., and afterward engaged in the study of medicine, attended lectures at the Harvard University near Boston, and after receiving his diploma in 1838, came West and engaged in the practice of his profession near Peoria, Ill., and remained there until 1845, when he removed to Hennepin, Putnam Co., Ill., and after the close of the war moved to Cairo, Ill., and in 1875 removed to Bonson, Fla., and in 1880 came to Mound City, where he is at present engaged in his profession. In 1850 he made a dangerous trip across the country to California, with an ox team, being seven months en route, and in 1852 returned via Mexico and Central America. He was married, January 8, 1833, in Massachusetts, to Miss Caroline A., daughter of Rev. John Briggs. She was born January 14, 1809, in New Bedford, Mass. This union has been blessed with seven children, of whom three are now living — John C. B. Taber, born November 27, 1837, who married Julia Meary, of St. Louis, who has borne him eight children; Simpson H., a prominent jeweler, and Elizabeth B., born April 3, 1835, the wife of Joseph J. Thomas, a photographer of Grayville, Ill. She is the mother of the following children — Ellen P., Julian M., Caroline and Simpson. Dr. Taber is a member of the A., F. & A. M., and a stanch Republican.
Extracted 02 Nov 2014 by Norma Hass from 1883 History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois, Part V - Biographical Sketches, pages 279-280.
| Union | Johnson | |
| Alexander |
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Massac McCracken KY |
| Ballard KY |
