R. O'FERRALL, M.D., a leading physician and surgeon of Piqua, comes of a medical family, inheriting his professional inclinations from an eminent father and grandfather. He was born in December, 1855., at Piqua, Ohio, and is a son of Dr. John and a grandson of Dr. John O'Ferrall.

The late Dr. John O'Ferrall, father of Dr. R. M., was born at Piqua, Ohio, in 1824, a son of Dr. John O'Ferrall, who was a pioneer physician who settled here in 1819. In 1843, Dr. John O'Ferrall was graduated from Louisville Medical College and located at Piqua, but resided in California from 1848 until 1850, when he returned to Ohio, called to Piqua by the death of his father. He engaged in practice until the second year of the Civil War, when he entered the army, becoming major of the Eleventh Regiment O. Vol. Cav., and served two years. He resumed practice after his return and also took a public spirited interest in the development of this section. In 1869 he built a woolen mill and in 1872 was one of the leading organizers of the Lock flouring mill. He was also instrumental in the rebuilding of the car and agricultural works at Piqua, about the same time. His eminence as a physician was recognized, but he was a man of so active a brain and so possessed of foresight that enterprises outside his profession continually appealed to him, with consequent beneficial results to the community.

Dr. R. M. O'Ferrill was graduated from Kenyon College in 1875, then spent a year in Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia. In 1880 he was graduated from the Medical College of Ohio, and was intern in the Cincinnati Hospital for one year. After a short season of relaxation in the West, he located permanently at Piqua, and here he has sustained the medical reputation the name of O'Ferrall has so long enjoyed. He has always shown enthusiasm for his profession and is a valued member of the Miami County, the Ohio State, and American Medical Associations and belongs also to the Association of Surgeons of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. He is a surgeon for the Pennsylvania & C. H.& D. Railroad.

In 1886 Dr. O'Ferrall was married to Miss Pauline Bassett, who was born in the State of New York, and they have two sons: Kirk Bassett, who is a student at Kenyon College; and John Dewight, who is a student in the Piqua High School. Dr. O'Ferrall is junior warden of St. James' Episcopal Church. He is a member of the Piqua Club and of the Loyal Legion military order.