By the census of 1860, Augustus had completed his medical training and is found living in the Marion School District (inside city limits). He is boarding in the home of J.M. Lewis, a local 30 year old doctor and his wife Eliza V., 36, and their son Decatur aged 2. There are three other additional boarders in the home. Augustus is a 29 year old physician and under his real estate value the figure 100.000 is given and under personal estate value the figure given is $5.00. I haven’t figured out what the real estate value means, $100,000 would have been a tremendous amount then so it is likely $100 written incorrectly.
In late 1860 or early 1861, Augustus married Pauline Allen, the daughter of Willis Allen. Willis Allen was a U.S. Congressman from 1851 to 1855 and died in 1859. After Willis Allen’s death the couple bought the Allen house at 514 S. Market St. from Paulina’s father’s estate. Dr. Lodge established a successful medical practice which he ran from his office in a separate building located on what is now the driveway of the Allen house.
The pawpaw trees which still grow around the back of the house and bear sweet fruit in the summer are credited to Augustus Lodge. It is said that he sat on the back porch eating papaws and threw the seeds into the backyard where they took root.
By January 15, 1862, they had a daughter of their own named Estelle on census records but later the name resolves to Stella Elizabeth, likely named after his sister Stella Tamora. When Augustus registered for the Civil War Draft in June 1863 he was a 32 year old married doctor. His name was listed under that of J.M. Lewis.
In 1862, A.N. went into partnership with Francis M. Sparks and the Hon. James M. Washburn. Sparks and Washburn had opened a grocery store at 605 Public Square two years earlier and Augustus would provide the store as a druggist. The partnership ended one year later when Augustus was bought out in 1863. The location mentioned would later become William H. Bundy’s drug store, and later Campbell’s Walgreen and even later Park’s Pharmacy next to the Orpheum Theater in the southwest corner of the square.
In 1864, when the M.E. South church was forming up, Augustus and his wife Pauline became charter members. He would be a major contributor to the building of the first M.E. South church in 1866. In that year, the IRS levied a $9.17 tax on his doctor’s practice for the previous 11 months.
On June 26th, 1869, Augustus was admitted by card to the Williamson Lodge #392 of the I.O.O.F., Odd Fellows. In the same year, he became the Williamson County School Superintendent, which he held until 1877. Of his service to the school system, Milo Erwin wrote in his History of Williamson County, “We want better talent in our teachers and more of it. A. N. Lodge, the present superintendent, has lifted up the sick form of our system, renovated and infused new life and destiny in it, until it is in a better condition than ever before; but it still needs talent.” During his term he helped to establish a Teachers Institute to establish better qualified teachers in the county.
The Federal Census of 1870 captures Augustus at the age of 39 and his wife Paulina 36. They list one daughter, Estella 8 born in 1862 and Stella, his sister born February 23, 1841 in Indiana, 29 years old. Augustus claims a real estate value of $1,200 and a personal estate of $300. They have two additional people living in the home. One is Allen Berts, a 29 year old black male from Mississippi and Augustus Hundley, a 19 year old white male from Illinois. The occupations of both are indecipherable but appear to be farm hands.
While serving as County School Superintendent in 1871, he was secretary of the Williamson County Agricultural Society. An Agriculture Census taken in July of 1870 reflects that Augustus owned and was having worked a fairly substantial farm holding.
Simultaneously in 1874, Augustus held the office of Marion Alderman under the term of J.W. Hartwell as Mayor of Marion, Illinois. If that wasn’t enough for a normal person to handle, he was also Secretary of the Carbondale and Shawneetown Railroad under President Samuel Dunaway. His signature is reflected as such on an 1872 Stock Certificate for the company.
Milo Erwin in his history of Williamson County wrote, “The Medical Association of this county was organized May 16th, 1875, by Drs. H.V. Ferrell, S. H. Bundy (father of William H. Bundy) and A. N. Lodge, three of as learned and classic gentlemen as live in Southern Illinois. The Society now has a membership of twenty-eight, and is highly calculated to banish quacks and ignoramuses from the profession, and bring talent and science to the bedside of our sick.”
In the 1880 census, Augustus is now 49 and Paulina 46. They still have their daughter and his sister living with them. Estelle is now 18 and Sister Stella is 39. Stella would marry a local by the name of John Marshall Springs the next year on November 22, 1881. On February 18, 1885, their daughter was wed to Edward J. Mitchell, born August 8, 1859.
In 1882, Augustus was an unsuccessful candidate for the state legislature.
Dr. Lodge delivered daughter Stella and Edward’s twin children, born in the upstairs back bedroom of the Allen house, on July 2, 1888. Stella died on December 12th of the same year. The boy, Augustus “Dan” Lodge Mitchell, was a lifelong resident of Marion and served in the U.S. Army in World War I. He never married. He passed away on April 6, 1963 and was buried at Rose Hill cemetery. His twin sister preceded him in death.
Paulina Lodge died December 20, 1891 of paralysis and in 1893; Dr. Lodge sold their home on S. Market St. to Nelson and Mollie Boles.
Augustus died May 10th 1893. It is believed that he was buried next to his wife in the Allen family cemetery behind the home. His remains were later exhumed along with those of the other occupants due to a new city ordinance concerned with disease control. In 1904 the family graves were reburied at New Rose Hill Cemetery. His tombstone says, “He fed his fever patients.” No one has an explanation for the significance of that cryptic memorial.
(Data and pictures compiled from Backyard Archaeology, The Willis Allen House, by Bernard A. Paul, James Ross and Tracey Sandefur; Federal Census Records; Ancestry.com; Marion, Illinois Cemetery Records; Illinois Regional Archives Repository Records; 1905 Souvenir History, WCHS; Milo Erwin’s History of Williamson County; compiled and written by Sam Lattuca on 02/04/2013)