William Roush, M.D.
William Roush, M.D., one of Spencerville's well established physicians and surgeons, belongs to an old pioneer family of Allen County. He was born on the old home- stead in Amanda township, December 6, 1864, and is a son of Jacob M. and Elizabeth (Holtzapple) Roush.
The family is of Pennsylvania-Dutch extraction. The father of Dr. Roush was born in Pennsylvania in 1816 and came to Ohio in 1848. He lived to be over 77 years of age. He married Elizabeth Holtzapple, who died in 1903, aged over 76 years. They had 12 children, of whom two sons and two daughters still survive.
Dr. Roush received his primary education in the district schools and spent two years at Elida, also two terms at the Ohio Normal University at Ada, following which he taught school for four years in Marion and Amanda townships. He read medicine for 18 months with Dr. S. A. Hitchcock, at Elida, before entering the Cincinnati College of Medicine and Surgery. He was graduated in the class of 1891, receiving a gold medal for his high standing on general examination. He settled first at Elida, but removed in 1893 to Spencerville, where he now controls a very satisfactory practice. At various times he has taken post-graduate courses at Baltimore and Cincinnati. He belongs to all the leading medical organizations of county and State. In 1893, he was appointed pension examiner, and served during President Cleveland's second administration. He has always taken a more or less active part in politics as becomes an intelligent citizen, and he has also shown his interest in public matters by serving on the Board of Public Service, the Board of Education and other civic bodies; he was one of the original trustees of the city electric plant.
In June, 1894, Dr. Roush was married to Vade Wright, a native of Highland County, Ohio, a sister of County Commissioner Samuel W. Wright and a daughter of W. G. Wright, now a resident of Michigan. They have three children, viz: Gerald, Richard and Lucile.
Dr. Roush belongs to Lima Lodge, No. 162, B. P. O. E., and is a past grand of Deep Cut Lodge, No. 311, I. O. O. F., and past chief patriarch of Spencerville Encampment, No. 279.