It is edifying to study and to write, even briefly, the life story of a good man who has "fought the good fight" and has gone to his rest after the battle of life. It will be edifying to those who knew Dr. Robert Newton Baughman, of Marseilles, Illinois, to read the few important facts concerning him which are here presented. He was a man whose influence on his day and generation was good, and his works live after him.
Robert Newton Baughman was born at Cincinnati, Ohio, April 22, 1847, and died at Marseilles, Illinois, May 29, 1897. He was a son of Robert and Margaret (Armstrong) Baughman. His father was born in Pennsylvania, his mother in Ohio. Robert Baughman was a painter, and as a child the future dentist naturally became familiar with his work. The lad attended the public schools of Cincinnati, and on completing his English education took up the study of dentistry. He was graduated from the Cincinnati Dental College, and began the practice of his profession in Toledo, Ohio. He located later in southern Illinois, and in 1881 came to Marseilles, where he continued his professional practice successfully until 1892, when he was compelled to relinquish it on account of failing health, and sold his office and practice to Dr. D. F. Cotterman. As a dentist Doctor Baughman was upto-date at all times in his career. He used only the best materials and employed only the best methods, and was a diligent reader of the important literature of his profession, and a frequent contributor to it as well. He was a public-spirited citizen, and his removal in the prime of life was looked upon as a calamity by all who knew him. He was a prominent Mason.
August 11, 1887, Doctor Baughman married Miss Harriet E. Gage, second daughter of Isaac and Lucy (Little) Gage. Isaac Gage came to LaSalle county, Illinois, in 1837, and became one of the prosperous farmers of Brookfield township. There Mrs. Baughman was reared and spent the years of her girlhood. She is a woman of education and many graces and accomplishments, and dispenses a generous hospitality at the family home on West Clark street, Marseilles. She has a son, Isaac Newton Baughman, who was born December 19, 1888.
Extracted by Norma Hass from Biographical and Genealogical Record of LaSalle County, Illinois published in 1900, volume 1, pages 55-56.
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