W. A. BRISTOL, M. D., following the practice of medicine and surgery in Denison, was born near Morgantown, Burke county, North Carolina, in 1859, and is a descendant of the Connecticut branch of Bristols, who emigrated from England to the new world at a very early epoch in the colonization of America. His father, William Henry Bristol, was born near Morgantown, North Carolina, and is now living in McKinney, Collin county, Texas, where he is engaged in the drug business. He was a soldier of the Confederate army, enlisting from North Carolina and serving as captain of his company, doing duty with the western division of North Carolina and remaining with his command throughout the period of the war as a loyal advocate of the cause he espoused and as a brave and fearless soldier on the field of battle. He married Miss Jemima A. Johnson, also a native of North Carolina, and they became the parents of nine children, of whom Dr. Bristol is the eldest. Four of the number are still living, the others being: Robert E., who is engaged in the drug business at McKinney, Texas; Myrtle M., the wife of Forest McCorly, who is engaged in the grocery business in Farmville, Texas; and Augustus, who is employed in a wholesale grocery business at Denton, Texas.
Dr. Bristol came to Texas in 1871 with his parents, when a lad of eleven years, the family home being established near Marshall, Harrison county, where they lived for three years. The father was there engaged in the sawmill business and afterward removed with his family to Collin county, where he followed farming. Dr. Bristol assisted him in the care, improvement and operation of the home farm until twenty-one years of age, when he removed to McKinney, where he engaged in the drug business for seven years. On the expiration of that period he entered Louisville Medical College, Kentucky, and was graduated in March, 1893, on the completion of a thorough course in medicine. He then returned to Texas and engaged in practice at McKinney and Rhea Mills in Collin county. On the 24th of December, 1896, he came to Denison, where he has since practiced his profession with excellent success, being recognized as a capable member of the medical fraternity, whose ability has bee manifest in his treatment of many important cases. He is an ardent and devoted student of modern medical and surgical knowledge, ever desirous of improving with the years his understanding of his profession. He has that true love for his work without which there can be no success, and he has always been a progressive practitioner, constantly improving on his own and others’ methods and gaining further encouragement and inspiration from the faithful performance of each day’s duties.
On the 27th of July, 1887, in McKinney, Texas, Dr. Bristol was united in marriage to Miss Emma Warden, a daughter of William Warden, at one time sheriff of his county for eight years. He was born in Missouri but became a pioneer settler of the early progress and development of Collin county and did much to uphold its political status and its high standard of citizenship. His wife, who bore the maiden name of McCarley, was a native of Collin county. To Dr. and Mrs. Bristol have been born five children, of whom four are living but William Warden, their third child, died at the age of seven years. The others are: Eugene Carlisle, who was born in McKinney, Texas; Heloise Alvin, also a native of McKinney; May Floyd, whose birth occurred at Rhea Mills in Collin county; and Elsie Emma, who was born in Denison, Texas.
Dr. Bristol is a member of the Masonic fraternity of Denison, also the Knights of the Maccabees, the Woodmen of the World and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He likewise belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church South, in which he is one of the stewards, having held the office in Denison for three or four years. He is popular with friends, neighbors, patients and the general public and in his profession has won for himself a creditable place.
Source: B. B. Paddock, History and Biographical Record of North and West Texas (Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1906), Vol. I, pp. 633-634.