A Wilson Family Tree
Notes for John Bright Grove
"Biographical History of Eminent and Self-Made Men of the State of Indiana", Western Biographical Publishing Co., Cincinnati, OH, 1880, Vol. 1, 5th District, pp. 15-16 (obtained from http://www.archive.org/details/biographicalhist01cinc):
GROVE, JOHN B., of Columbus, was born in Augusta County, Virginia, on the 2d of August, 1829, and is the son of Adam and Anna S. (Rankin) Grove, well-to-do farmers of that state. He received an academic education at Shemariah Academy, in Virginia, and at the age of seventeen began the study of medicine under a private tutor. In 1846 he entered the University of Pennsylvania, and graduated in 1849, receiving a premature examination, to enable him to remove to California. He took his departure on the third day of May, acting as surgeon of the vessel, and sailed around Cape Horn, visiting several of the South American states, and arriving at San Francisco November 6, 1849. Here he immediately entered upon the practice of his profession, which he continued until the next spring. He then accepted the position of inspector in the custom-house at San Francisco; but this proving less lucrative than he had anticipated, he resigned the office in 1850. Allured by the "gold fever" into the interior, he removed to Long Bar, on the Yuba River, in Yuba County, where he engaged in the practice of medicine and in mining operations. In 1851 he was made the Whig candidate for the Lower House of the state Legislature, and, although his party was in the minority by six hundred, his personal popularity was such that he came within eighteen votes of receiving the election. In 1854, the Whig party having attained the majority, its nomination became equivalent to an election, and his friends urged his name for the office of county treasurer. In the convention they were universally admitted to be largely in the majority, but so corrupt were political affairs in those primitive days that one of his opponents, in open market, shamelessly purchased enough delegates to secure the nomination. In the spring of 1856 he received the appointment as resident physician of the Yuba County Hospital, a position of honor and trust, which he held for a period of eighteen months. At the end of that time he resumed the practice of medicine at Marysville, and continued it until the spring of 1858, when he returned to the States, and in the fall of that year settled at Marshall, Saline County, Missouri, where he married his first wife, Miss Kate Wilson, daughter of Judge William A. Wilson. In the spring of 1862 he received the important appointment of post surgeon for the Union army at Marshall, the duties of which position he discharged with skill, and to the entire satisfaction of all who came under his care. That part of the state, becoming the field of operation for both the contending armies, was neither safe nor pleasant as a residence, and in 1864, when General Price overran the country with his devastating army, Dr. Grove determined to seek a more peaceful locality. He accordingly removed to Columbus, Indiana, where he still resides, and where he soon acquired a large and remunerative practice. On the 25th of January, 1866, he met a sad misfortune in the death of his estimable wife, who left two children--Ada and Florence. June 6, 1868, he married Louise Westfall, by whom he has two sons--Albert Sidney and John Clifford. In 1872 he was elected a member of the city council, a position which he so ably filled that, in the spring of 1874, he was nominated as state Senator for the counties of Bartholomew and Brown, by the Democrats of the district. After a hot contest against a combination of Republicans, Grangers, Temperance men, and Greenbackers, in which nearly the entire Democratic ticket was defeated by heavy majorities, he was triumphantly elected. The three sessions of which he was a member were the most important and exciting that had been held for years. At this time the temperance question, which had been an exciting issue among the people, was pacifically adjusted by the repeal of the so-called "Baxter law," and the enactment, in its stead, of the present well devised, closely guarded, and satisfactory license law. In bringing about this result, none were more active and influential than Senator Grove, whose effective speeches were largely commented upon by the press. At this time, also, the gravel road question was attracting considerable attention, and many important measures in regard to it were brought before the Legislature. So conflicting and intense were these interests that the clearest judgment was required to insure just and proper legislation. The responsibilities resting upon Senator Grove were delicate and arduous, and yet, with tact of no ordinary kind, he discharged this duty to his constituents in so able a manner as to receive the warmest commendation of all. Through his instrumentality some meritorious laws were enacted upon this subject, and some very bad measures were effectually defeated. No legislator can do all that he hopes. The selfishness of mankind, the greed of corporations, the sluggishness with which new impressions are received, are so many barriers in the way of a really painstaking law-maker. At the close of his term, his constituents in Bartholomew County were unanimous for his return; but party usages had alternated the office between the two counties composing the district, and, with a magnanimity truly commendable, he refused to break in upon this custom, and peremptorily declined the nomination. Doctor Grove sympathized with the old national Whig party in his earlier days, and up to its abandonment; afterward he supported Fillmore, and, at the next election, Bell and Everett. In 1863 he became identified with the Democratic organization, of which he has since been an earnest and consistent member, taking a deep interest in its welfare, and contributing to its successful management. As a physician he stands at the head of the profession. In religious faith he is an Episcopalian, and gives that denomination his aid and support.
In this biography, it says that he became post surgeon for the Union Army at Marshall, MO, in the spring of 1862. Note that his father-in-law, Lt. Col. William A. Wilson, became commander of the post in the fall of 1862.
There is a great deal of Grove family history in "The History of a Grove Family: The First Two Centuries in America" by Robert Neil Grove (revised edition self-published in 1990), who was a descendant of John Bright Grove by his second wife, Louise Westfall.
1860 census
Image 13 on Ancestry.com (Marshall, Saline Co., MO)
Listed as Dr. J. B. Grove, age 32, born in Virginia. Value of real estate unreadable, value of personal estate listed as $2500. Household consisted of J. B. and Kate Grove and Benj. Sandidge. Married within the year.
Note: Some of the information in these pages is uncertain. Please let me know of errors or omissions using the email link above. ...Mike Wilson
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