Dr. Henry A. Haley
SOURCE: "History of Champaign County, Illinois with Illustrations," 1878
DR. HENRY A. HALEY - DR. Haley, a prominent physician of Somer township, was born at Blandford, in Hampden county, Massachusetts, April 10th, 1830. His father, Tucker HALEY, was from Rhode Island. His education was begun at Blandford, continued at Westfield University, and finally finished at Otis, Massachusetts. His health, in early life, was delicate. At an early age he decided on medicine, as a profession, and devoted all his leisure hours to its study, acquiring a comprehensive knowledge of anatomy, physiology and the difficult classes of diseases. He studied medicine at Blandford, under Dr. J. B. Gifford, formerly a prominent allopathic physician, but who afterward became a homoeopathist. His inclinations naturally adapted him for medical studies, and he pursued them with enthusiasm and energy. His preceptor, Dr. Gifford, had given his adherence to homoeopathy, about the time Dr. Haley began study with him, and the latter became an earnest believer in that particular school. Dr. Haley commenced practice at Blandford in 1855.
He had inherited a weak and defective constitution, and his health being poor, in Massachusetts, he removed to the West, in 1857. He settled on his present farm, section 14, township 20, range 9, intending to devote himself entirely to farming. The people of Somer township, soon discovered, however, that he was a good physician, and his services were called for, occasionally at first, and he soon found himself in the midst of a large practice. He attended lectures at the Hahnemann Medical College, of Chicago, from which he graduated in the spring of 1863. Dr. Haley is the pioneer homoeopathic physician of Champaign county. At the time he came to this part of the state, homoeopathy was scarcely known, and there were no physicians of that school in the county. He has witnessed its principles grow into popularity, and its success demonstrated beyond question. He was married in 1853, to Miss Annette C. FENN, of Otis, Massachusetts. By this marriage there have been three children, of whom one is now living. He is a Republican in politics. His farm of 640 acres, is the finest cultivated and has the best improvements of any in that part of the county.