J. I. Lighthall was born the 19th of January, in the year 1856, in Indiantown, or Tiskilwa, Bureau County, Illinois, where he received instructions, morally and educationally, until he arrived at the age of eleven years, when he left home with a youthful ambition to try his fortune in the west. He went to Kansas and the Indian Territory, where he formed a warm attachment for the Indians, and learned their ways and habits of life. It was a marked feature in his nature, from his infancy up, to be a close observer of Nature in reference to the vegetable kingdom. When but a boy he loved flowers, and wondered what kind of roots they had, and what they were good for; which indicated a natural gift for botany and the herbal kingdom, and when thrown among the Indians his mind was at once diverted by the Indian doctors, from the fact that they were all the time gathering roots, barks, leaves and flowers; consequently he would go with them into the mountains, hills, prairies, and woodlands, and assist them in gathering Nature's remedies and manufacturing them into Indian remedies. He at once observed the fact that the Indian doctors never injured their patients with their innocent remedies, and that they soon recovered without aching bones or a salivated mouth. From this fact he became strongly impressed with the fact that what was good for an Indian certainly was good for a white man, and that it was a duty he owed to civilization to introduce or bring before it the Indian Herbal Theory. Being conscientiously impressed with this fact, he at once began to more thoroughly fit his mind with Indian medical knowledge, and acquaint himself with the roots, flowers, barks, leaves and herbs, from which their medicines are made. To acquire this knowledge took a long time. He was thirteen years in all, gathering his knowledge as time and opportunity would permit him. He, being limited in his means, had to make his livelihood by daily manual labor, while he was, at every opportunity, storing up this knowledge in his mind. He left the sections of country above named and went to Wyoming territory, and from thence to other places in the west, until finally he reached Minnesota with a herd of Indian ponies, there falling in company with a celebrated physician by the name of Dr. Neff, who, upon ascertaining the fact that J. I. Lighthall had studied and well learned the Indian theory of medicine, and had been in Kansas, Indian Territory, Wyoming, and other places of note in the western country, said to him while on a tour of digging ginseng: "Mr. Lighthall you are a botanist, and understand the medical properties of herbs so well, if you will bring them before the people you will do a great many sufferers good and cure them." Taking courage from this physician, he put his knowledge into effect, first by selling his Spanish Oil, or King of Pain, Blood Purifier, Dentrifice, and Indian Hair Tonic, afterwards treating all chronic diseases according to the Indian theory, by which he has cured thousands of cases, and still extends a medical hand of help to all sufferers who may have faith and confidence in God's remedies, that grow in our fields surrounding us, our gardens and our yards. He, knowing that there is a reality in these valuable remedies, has deemed it his duty to his fellow sufferers to publish a work called "The Indian Household Medicine Guide," which he is confident is calculated to accomplish good, and do no harm. The object of the author is to give each one the opportunity of learning how to care for his own system, and rectifying the wrongs that may assail it with harmless remedies, that will do good, and never harm when taken according to directions.

A balm is hidden in the leaf,
That God has given for relief.
The Indians of the Western plains
Have found that they will cure our pains.
So now the author does extend
A helping hand, an honest friend.
He'll cure your aches, relieve your pain,
If you will buy his King of Pain.
It's made of barks, and oils, and leaves,
And seldom ever man deceives.
It never fails to satisfy,
And on it, friends, you can rely.

J. I. Lighthall is one-eighth Indian, his father being one-fourth of Wyandot descent. History will remind you of the fact that there was a war once between the Wyandots and Senecas, originating from the fact that there was once a beautiful squaw, who attracted the attention of the young warriors. Many paid their devotions but failed to find favor. At last a fine-looking young chieftain, who was fair to look upon, gained her favor, and told her that whatever her request might be he would grant it. Her request was that he should bring her the scalp of a young chieftain of the opposite tribe. This he did, for it is a trait of Indian character to keep their word, and do just what they say they will, and this caused the two tribes to war for twenty years.

Unkind words, and acts, and deeds,
To war and bloodshed often leads.
Gigantic oaks from acorns grow,
And wicked acts bring weal and woe.
This war, it sent beneath the sod
Proud warriors with their bow and rod.
The act of one unthoughtful man
Will cause a nation's scowl and scan.