(Information in this article was taken from The Advocate Messenger archives, Lincoln County History by the Lincoln County Historical Society, History of Kentucky by Charles Kerr and Ancestry.com.)

 

By BRENDA S. EDWARDS

Contributing writer

Dr. Edward Alcorn was a physician in Hustonville for many years in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

He first practiced in Liberty for a short time and was a surgeon for Southern Railway.

Dr. Alcorn was educated at Centre College where he received a master of arts degree. He studied at Kentucky School of Medicine which later became University of Louisville where he earned his medical diploma in March 1867. He also studied with his father, Dr. David J. Alcorn (1812-1865) and Dr. George Hunn.

Dr. Alcorn was active in other businesses and associations locally and in Kentucky.

He was president of the Lincoln County Medical Society and Central Kentucky Medical Society, and treasurer of Kentucky Medical Association.

He was county health officer, member of the Lincoln County Board of Health, and the American and Southern American medical associations.

He also belonged to the Southern Railway Surgeons Association.

 

Begins practice

 

He began his practice in Hustonville in 1867 in a small office building at the corner of his yard adjacent to his family home on Main Street.

He served as president, clerk and director of Hustonville National Bank which he helped organize in 1883.

In addition to his work with the Hustonville bank, he was a stockholder in banks in Danville, Liberty, and Lexington, Kentucky, and Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee.

Besides his house and offices on Main Street, he also owned the Hustonville bank building, the Opera House and a residence in McKinney.

He was a Democrat and served as town trustee and Hustonville Lodge No. 184 F&AM.

 

Wrote for The Advocate

 

Dr. Alcorn also was also a weekly correspondent for The Advocate Messenger.

In 1887, The Advocate called Dr. Alcorn, “One of our most esteemed correspondents and probably the one with the longest service.

“He has an eye single for news and a style that is wholly his own. He represents a constituency that has not a superior of any section of any state.”

 

Marries in 1871

 

Edward and Anna Catherine Givens of Turnersville were married Sept. 13, 1871, in Lincoln County. She was a daughter of R.H. and Amanda Walker Givens.

The Alcorns were the parents of six children: Mattie Walker, Lucille Masterson, Ada Amanda, Ann Catherine, John Griffin, Edward Joseph and Robert.

Dr. Alcorn was born August 10, 1843, died March 21, 1924, at the age of 80. He is buried in Hustonville Cemetery. Amanda died in 1890.

The Alcorns originated in Scotland and Ireland and migrated to Virginia. Edward’s grandfather James Lusk Alcorn came to Kentucky as a child.

Edward’s father, David Jesse, also was a physician. He graduated in 1838 from the University of Kentucky Medical School. He also graduated from Transylvania University. He was a member and vice president of the Kentucky Medical Association.

Dr. David Alcorn lived east of Hustonville with his wife, Lucy Jane Masterson, of Boyle County, and their five children.

The Alcorn families were longtime members of Hustonville Presbyterian Church.