Ten years of successful practice in this vicinity have entitled Dr. Cecil Charles Whittemore to his position among the leading medical men of Ilion. Dr. Whittemore came to this village in 1915, immediately after finishing his medical course and in the care of the patients that have come to him he has given proof of his marked ability in his chosen line of work. Born in Prospect, Oneida county, New York, June 7, 1877, Dr. Whittemore is the son of Edwin E. and Ellen May (Myers) Whittemore, who are now living in Ilion. His mother, the daughter of Isaac Myers, a farmer of Prospect, and his wife, Julia (Bunce) Myers, was born in Prospect, March 3, 1852. Through his father the Doctor is descended from a line of Massachusetts and New York farmers. His great-grandfather, Jonathan Whittemore, who was born in 1800 and died in 1889, was a farmer in the Bay state. He married Elizabeth G. Chesmore, who was born in 1804 and died in 1864, and their son, George M. Whittemore was born in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, January 25, 1826. He died in Prospect, Oneida county, New York, November 29, 1891, while on a visit. Three of his brothers, Henry F., Harvey and Nathaniel G. Whittemore, served in the Union army during the Civil war. George M. Whittemore married Sara Ann Loomis, who was born in New York Mills, New York, February 25, 1827, and died in Blossvale, New York, in April, 1891. Their son, Edwin E. Whittemore, born in North Bay, Oneida county, November 26, 1850, is the father of the subject of this sketch. He taught school in Oneida county for a number of years and at one time was also connected with the Remington Arms Company for some five years as shipping clerk. Mr. Whittemore is a Mason, belonging to Remsen Lodge No. 677, of Trenton, New York.
Cecil Charles Whittemore was educated in the Holland Patent high school and Colgate Academy. He took his professional training in the Albany Medical College, from which he was graduated with the Doctor of Medicine degree in the class of 1914. The following year he spent as an interne in the General Hospital of Utica, after which he came to Ilion to open an office for the private practice of his profession. In a calling where advancement depends entirely upon individual merit and ability he has made steady progress, owing to his comprehensive study, his thoroughness and his commendable ambition to make his service of the greatest value to his fellowman. Dr. Whittemore belongs to the Herkimer County and New York State Medical Societies and is a member of the Volunteer Medical Corps. In his political views he is a republican. As a Mason he takes considerable pleasure in his fraternal associations, belonging to Ilion Lodge, No. 591, F. & A. M.; Mohawk Valley Consistory, of Utica and Ziyara Temple of Utica. He is likewise a member of Golden Star Lodge, I. O. O. F., of Ilion, while religiously he is identified with the First Baptist church of this village. In the line of sports the Doctor is particularly fond of fishing.
Dr. Whittemore was married on July 11, 1905, in Utica, to Miss Florence Peek, daughter of William and Elizabeth (House) Peek, who was born August 7, 1880. Her father, a native of Little Falls, New York, is connected with the New York Central Railroad, while her mother is an Englishwoman by birth. Mrs. Whittemore is also a member of the Baptist church of Ilion. In addition to his immediate family the Doctor has one brother living, Ernest M. Whittemore, born February 18, 1884, a resident of Ilion. He married Miss Minnie Monroe of Utica and they are the parents of two sons, Harold and Robert. Another brother and a sister are deceased: Irving Eugene, born April 13, 1882, died August 13, 1917; and Vera Ida, born June 3, 1880, died February 2, 1903.