WI BIO - Dane Co - VANCE, James W.
Biographical Review of Dane County, WI. Chicago: Biographical Review Pub. Co. 
1893, Vol II, pp 369-371

James W. VANCE, M. D., a physician practicing in Madison [Dane County], 
Wisconsin, was born 15 October 1832 in Wilmington [Clinton, Holmes, or 
Tuscarawas County?], Ohio. His father, Elisha VANCE, was born in 1809 in 
Pickaway County, Ohio. His [James W. VANCE's] grandfather, George VANCE, a 
pioneer, moved from his native State (Delaware) to Ohio and settled on a 
farm, which he cultivated until his death, when Elisha was a small boy.

The father of our subject [Elisha VANCE] was apprenticed to the trade of a 
tin and copper smith. After learning his trade he located in Wilmington, 
Ohio, and established himself in business, where he was very successful. He 
was endowed with a very considerable mechanical genius. The first of his 
many inventions was the first propeller wheel, which he neglected to patent. 
Subsequently he invented a new and ingenious force pump, for which he 
obtained a patent. He engaged for some years in the manufacture and sale of 
the pump and in the sale of county and State rights, traveling extensively 
through Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. He disposed of his pump business and 
engaged in the mercantile business for many years, during [p 370] which time 
he invented and patented two cooking stoves, a self-acting premium and double 
oven stoves. He moved to Cincinnati [Boone, Clermont, or Hamilton County?], 
Ohio, where in 1872 he died from a sunstroke. He was one of the original 
abolitionists, casting his vote for the first anti-slavery candidate for the 
presidency, James G. BIRNEY. On the formation of the Republican party in 
1856 [1854?] he [Elisha VANCE] became an earnest supporter of its policies. 
The maiden name of his [Elisha VANCE's] wife was Rachel WARD, a native of 
Maryland, daughter of William WARD. She died at College Hill [Guernsey, 
Hamilton, or Knox County?], Ohio, at the home of her son, Dr. [Elisha] VANCE, 
in 1875. They [Elisha and Rachel (WARD) VANCE] had three children: James 
W., Mary A., and George D.

The subject of this sketch [James W. VANCE] received his education chiefly in 
the Wilmington Academy. On removing from Wilmington to Cincinnati, he spent 
some years in school, graduating from a mercantile school, after which he 
took the position of bookkeeper in his father's store. He was fond of 
science, and especially that part bearing upon medicine and surgery, and 
while in his father's service he devoted a considerable portion of his 
leisure to that branch of study, being actuated by an earnest ambition to 
become a physician, much against his father's wish that he should devote 
himself to the law.

In 1851 he [James W. VANCE] became a student under the preceptorship of A. 
WHIPPLE, M. D., in Cincinnati. He attended two full courses of medical 
lectures in the Eclectic Medical Institute in 1853, continuing with Dr. 
WHIPPLE until 1855, when he entered upon the duties of his profession. He 
practiced about one year in Lawrenceburg [Dearborn County], Indiana, when he 
was offered an interest in a mercantile business in Chariton [Lucas County], 
Iowa, by a gentleman who wished his brother to learn bookkeeping and the 
rules and principles of commercial life. The Doctor took charge of the 
business and conducted it for about a year, when, owing to the failure of 
crops that year, the business was sold out and Dr. VANCE put out his 
"shingle" again. He subsequently removed back to Cincinnati, where he 
practiced three years and then returned to Lawrenceburg, Indiana, where he 
practiced for fourteen years. In 1875 he moved to College Hill, Ohio, and in 
1881 he came to Madison [Dane County], Wisconsin, where he has since been 
doing an office practice.

During the winter of 1880-1881, Dr. [James W.] VANCE entered Pulte College, 
Cincinnati, and at the close of the course graduated. He was once elected 
to fill the chair of Materia Medica in Pulte, but, owing to sickness in his 
family, was unable to accept the chair. The Doctor is an earnest medical 
student and possesses a large medical library. His practice is quite 
extensive, patients coming to him from every section of Wisconsin, as well as 
from other States of the Union.

Dr. [James W.] VANCE was married twice, the first time in 1856 to Carrie E. 
FLOYD, who was born near Louisville [Jefferson County], Kentucky. Her 
parents were William and Sarah (MOORE) FLOYD, the former a native of Kentucky 
and the latter of Pennsylvania. They spent many years in Kentucky; and later 
in Illinois, residing on the, then, called Floyd's Island, after which they 
removed to Cincinnati [Ohio], where soon afterward Mr. [William] FLOYD died. 
Four daughters were born to Dr. VANCE and his wife Carrie [Dr. James W. and 
Carrie E. (FLOYD) VANCE]: (1) Carrie Floyd; (2) Annie Mary, who died at 
the age of nine [months?]; (3) Sarah Ludlow; and (4) Rachel Whipple, who 
died at the age of one month. Mrs. VANCE [Carrie E. (FLOYD) VANCE, first 
wife of Dr. James W. VANCE] died in June 1879. In 1880 Dr. [James W.] VANCE 
married Mary C. [p 371] SPOONER, who was born in Lawrenceburg [Dearborn 
County], Indiana, daughter of Philip L. and Lydia (COIT) SPOONER.

Dr. [James W.] VANCE is Junior Warden of Grace Church, Madison [Dane County, 
Wisconsin], and a Republican in politics, having supported the policies of 
that party from 1856, when he cast his first ballot at the presidential 
election of John C. FREMONT.

Submitted by Cathy Kubly