NORMAN W. CONNAWAY, M.D.  

Although practically a newcomer to the city of Christopher, Illinois, 
Dr. Norman W. Connaway has already established himself in the confidence 
and esteem of the people here, and has taken his rightful place among the 
leading medical men of Southern Illinois. Like many other of our prominent 
physicians, at the start of his career he decided that the human body was 
too great and too intricate a work, its possibilities for disease and 
imperfection too vast, to make it possible for any one man to completely 
master the causes, symptoms and cures for weaknesses affecting every part 
of it, and early concluded that if he devoted his time to specializing, and 
giving his time and talents to investigations having direct relation to 
certain diseases and their cures, he would accomplish a great life work, 
providing these investigations were successful and their results properly 
applied. His accomplishments in the years following the completion of his 
education are the best proof of his entire success. 
Dr. Connaway was born in Jefferson county, Illinois, August 21, 1870, and 
is a son of Oliver A. and Lavina (Mount) Connaway. 

The Connaway family is of Scotch-Irish descent, and William Connaway, the 
grandfather of Dr. Norman W., was born in the state of Indiana and came to 
Illinois in 1854. He settled on a tract of land in Jefferson county, improved 
and cultivated it, and became one of the leading farmers of his district, 
dying about 1893, with a satisfactory competency. His son, Oliver A. Connaway, 
was born at Montezuma, Parke county, Indiana, and was a lad of ten years when 
he accompanied the family to Illinois. Like other farmers' sons of his day, he 
obtained his education in the public schools when he could be spared from the 
duties of the home place, and for some time he attended the schools at Dix. 
Reared to agricultural pursuits, he has been engaged therein all of his life, 
and still makes his residence on the old homestead in Jefferson county, where 
he is known as a competent farmer and sterling citizen. He is a stanch Democrat 
in his political views, and with his wife and children attends the Missionary 
Baptist church. He married Lavina Mount, whose father came to Jefferson county, 
Illinois, from Tennessee, dying soon thereafter, and they have had five children, 
all of whom survive. Norman W. Connaway received his education in the public 
schools of Dix, and in his youth purchased a farm, intending to give his life 
to the vocation of tilling the soil. Subsequently, however, he decided a career 
lay before him in the field of medicine, and after considerable preparatory 
study he entered the St. Louis College of Physicians and Surgeons, in 1902. 
Graduating from that well-known institution in 1906, Dr. Connaway established 
himself in practice at Woodlawn, Jefferson county, but in 1908, deciding that 
he needed a larger field, he came to Christopher, where he has since remained. 
Dr. Connaway makes a specialty of women's diseases and abdominal surgery, and 
at present is probably performing more operations that any surgeon in the county. 
He has won his own eminent position in his profession through years of close 
application to his chosen work, and the sureness which has come to him stamps 
him as one of the leading surgeons of this section. He finds leisure to keep 
up his membership in the Odd Fellows and the Royal Neighbors, of which latter 
his wife is also a member, but his professional duties have kept him too occupied 
to actively enter the political field. 

On August 7, 1895, Dr. Connaway was married to Miss Ida Phillips, daughter of 
Joseph Phillips, who served with distinction in the Fortieth Illinois Volunteers, 
under General John A. Logan, in the Civil war. He was on one occasion badly wounded 
and captured by the enemy, but made a daring and thrilling escape before his captors 
could place him in prison. After the war he returned to his farm, and was successfully 
engaged in the peaceful pursuits of tilling the soil until his death in 1908. The three 
children of Dr. and Mrs. Connaway, Glenn, Beatrice and Cleda, are all attending 
the public schools. The family is connected with the Missionary Baptist church. 





Source: History of Southern Illinois George Washington Smith, 
M. A. VOLUME I - III ILLUSTRATED 
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY CHICAGO AND NEW YORK 1912
Page 831 - 833 


Submitted by Robert W. Loman * rwlmn@aol.com