W. B. Van Note
W. B. Van Mote, M.D., president of the Allen County Medical Society, a member of the Ohio State Medical Society, the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Ophthalmology and Oto Laryngology, is one of the eminent men of his profession in Northwestern Ohio, and the leading specialist at Lima, in diseases of the eye, ear and throat. He was born at Lebanon, Warren County, Ohio, in 1867, and is a son of the late W. H. Van Note. He comes of Revolutionary ancestry. His great-grandfather, Jacob Van Note, served in the American Army and died in Monmouth County, New Jersey, from wounds received in the service.
W. B Van Note secured his early education in the Lebanon schools and spent one year in the Lima High School. He then passed a few months as clerk in a jewelry store, prior to entering the Chicago Ophthalmic College, from which he graduated in 1888. For a short time he engaged in practice, in connection with the jewelry business, but in 1891 began the reading of medicine under Dr. Brooks, in 1892 entering the medical department of the University of Southern California, at Los Angeles. He opened an optician's office at San Diego, but in 1893 returned to Lima, and shortly afterward entered the Medical College of Ohio, Cincinnati, where he was graduated with his full medical degree in April, 1895.
Dr. Van Note then went to Europe to pursue advanced studies along the special lines in which he was most interested, and in May, 1895, became a student in the medical department of the Frederick Wilhelm University, at Berlin. During his stay there he became a member of the Berlin Anglo-American Medical Society. Going thence to London, during 1896 he was junior assistant in the Royal London Ophthalmic Hospital, subsequently becoming one of the fortunate students accepted by Professor Hayek, at Vienna, who is probably the most skilled instructor in diseases of the nose and throat in the world. During his years of residence on the Continent he visited the various clinics in the great cities and also studied various phases of disease in Italy, France and Switzerland. His devotion to his profession has resulted in making him one of its leaders and his reputation is not confined to his native State. Although skilled in every branch of medicine and surgery, following the professional methods of the day, he devotes himself exclusively to diseases of the eye, ear and nose. Dr. Van Note is consulting oculist to the Lima hospital and the U. S. pension Bureau, and lecturer on the eye in the Lima Training School for Nurses.
Dr. Van Note was married April 11, 1899, to Margaret B. Ellis, who was born at Randolph, New York, and is a daughter of Col. L. F. Ellis, an officer in the Civil War and a man prominent in military life. They have a beautiful home on Lakewood Avenue.
Dr. Van Note is one of the city's public- spirited citizens, a member of the Lima Progressive Association and one of the capitalists who donated Faurot Park to the city. He is a member of the Shawnee Country Club, and is identified with the Masons and Knights of Pythias.