History of Lee County, Illinois - Bushnell Historical Society

214 HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY
education, his coiitiuued connection with public office giving evi-
dence of the high regard which was entertained for him by the
general public while a resident of that j)a]'t of the state. Since
coming to Lee county he has not again entered politics, although
he is deeply interested in all measures that are undertaken for
the general welfare, and is ever ready to give his active support
to such objects as will make for progress and advancement along
intellectual, moral and material lines. Fraternally he is a blue
lodge Mason and a popular member of the Grand Army of the Republic,
serving at present as adjutant of William TL Thompson
Post, No. 308. Mr. Gibbs is one of the venerable citizens of Lee
county and the general high regard which is conceded him is well
merited.
E. A. SICKELS, M. D.
Dr. E. A. Sickels, a medical practitioner of Dixon of the
homeopathic school and well versed in all the intricacies and sci-
entific phases of the profession, was born in Lee county in I860,
his parents being E. C. and Caroline (Diuiham) Sickels. The
father came to Lee county in 1862 from Indianapolis and the following
year he brought his family. Representatives of the Sickels
family have lived in Indianapolis since the founding of that city.
Rev. E. C. Sickels was a minister of the Prcsl^yterian church and
for thii'ty-seven years filled a pastorate at Dixon, his labors constitTiting
a most forceful and impfn'tant clement in the moral
progress of the city. He was an earnest and convincing speaker
but taught perhaps no more through precept than by his upright
godly life, which emliodied the tenr-hiugs that he so earnestly
strove to impi'ess upon the minds of his hearers. That he was so
long retained in a single pastorate is proof of the fact that he
was neither denied the full harvest nor the aftermath of his la-
bors. He died in the year 1909 and his memory remains as a
blessed benediction to all who knew him. His widow survives
and makes her home in this city. They had a family of five chil-
dren.
Dr. Sickels, after benefitting by the edncational opportunities
offered in the public schools, entered Dixon College and there
completed his general education, graduating from the scientific
depai'tment. He then served ten years as a railroad postal clerk.