WWI Medical Examing Physician, Dr. B F Hockman

First call of 113 Lawrence County men appeared for physical inspection for the selective service draft for WWI. 

 Headquarters of the local board had been moved from the courthouse to the basement of the Lawrenceville Township High School building, and the first quota of men for the new army were being examined. Doctor BF Hockman of the local board was being assisted by Doctors CP Gore, RL Gordon and JE Cornett.

The physical examination was held in the gymnasium. On entering the basement the applicant was given a blank with his name and number. After answering a few questions regarding his health and history, he was sent to the dressing room where his clothes were checked and from there he went to the gymnasium. Upon entering he was weighed and measured by one of the doctors, then sent to another where the heart, ear, nose and throat were examined. Next the abdomen and extremities were carefully gone over, after which the teeth were looked over by Dr Houchin and finally the hearing and sight were tested.

About ten men were in the examining room at a time and one member of the local board had to be present at all times.  The work was progressing very slowly, but as the examining physicians became more proficient, they moved more rapidly. Wednesday morning the average was about five men to the hour.

The physical examination was made first, after which the men could file their claims for the exemption if they so desired. It was estimated that at least 90% of the men called would take advantage of the exemption clause of the law. Exemptions included married with dependent children under 16 or dependent parents, those employed in agricultural labor essential to war effort, or members of the clergy.   

Dr. Petty had been named by the governor as a re-examining physician. Both the individual and the board had the right to call for another examination if not satisfied with the findings of Dr Hockman and his assistants. Also, both parties had the right of appeal to the district board and from there to the President who was the court of last resort in all manners pertaining to the selective draft.

So who was Dr Hockman who determined the futures of the young men of Lawrence County during WWI?

 Dr. Benjamin Franklin Hockman moved to Sumner, Lawrence County Illinois in 1894. He had married Miss Glencora Bosart, 24, the year before, in Indianapolis on June 15, 1893; he was 29 years old. She was a daughter of Dr Jacob Bosart, who had been a physician in Sumner for many years. Dr Bosart was ready to retire so his young son-in-law, Dr Hockman, took over his practice.

Dr Hockman was born in Virginia according to his death record and the 1870 census on March 18, 1865. His parents were Samuel Rhodes Hockman and Anna Eliza Gochenour Hockman. He was shown living with his parents in 1870 in Mad River Twp, Champaign County Ohio. By 1880 the family lived in German twp. Clark County Ohio where his father was a miller.   After Benjamin’s preliminary education in Clark County, he graduated from the Medical College of Ohio in 1893. He passed his certificate to practice medicine on February 13, 1894 and it was officially recorded on April 18, 1894.

Doctor and Mrs. Hockman had two children, Ruth who was born on December 12, 1895, and died in April 1896, when only a few months old, and Helen Marcella born on February 2, 1904. Helen married Mr. L.D. Fetteroff and lived in Palmerton, Pennsylvania.

Dr Hockman practiced in Sumner from 1894 until he retired after World War I for a total of nearly thirty years.  He had a large practice in that area frequently being mentioned in the newspapers as attending to some medical emergency or another.  He was active in medical circles belonging to the Lawrence County, Illinois State, and American Medical associations as well as a member of the College of American Physicians and Surgeons. He had been president of the Lawrence County Medical Society and was surgeon for the Baltimore and Ohio railroad. His other affiliations  included the Methodist Church and the Masons Sumner Lodge #334 A.F. & A.M. In 1907 to 1908 he was even Mayor of Sumner.

During World War I, Dr Hockman served as medical examiner for the Lawrence County Draft Board before entering the military service himself as a captain in the Medical Officers Reserve Corps. Assigned to Fort Oglethorpe Georgia for duty, he was shortly discharged because of physical disability and returned home to Lawrence County. He was soon admitted to the Weber Sanitarium in Olney for treatment of paralysis. His friends hoped that treatment there would cure his paralyzed left foot.

He died in Springfield, Ohio, on October 8, 1920, at age 55 years 6 months 20 days, of phthisis and was buried  at Tremont Ohio. He had been in failing health for three years.  His wife preceded him in death on October 22, 1919.