October 25, 2026
The Champion family left its mark on Belleville through medicine, business, civic life, and a family home that still anchors the story of this house. Their history comes into focus through an 1896 newspaper remembrance of Dr. Federal Champion, read alongside earlier obituaries, local notices, and reports about his children. Those accounts preserve vivid details, while leaving some family dates and identities uncertain.
From New Jersey to Belleville
Dr. Federal Champion was born in New Jersey on December 22, 1800. He studied medicine in New Jersey and Philadelphia, practiced in Ohio from 1835 to 1840, and came west with his wife and children before settling in Belleville in 1840. The sources describe that route but do not explain exactly why the family chose Belleville.
His wife, Patience Ann Treen, was born in Tuckahoe, New Jersey, on March 24, 1804. The 1896 family profile says they married in 1827. Federal practiced medicine and developed a local business selling fever-and-ague and anti-bilious pills. The family's story later spread through the work of their children and through the house B. F. Champion built on Charles Street.
Dr. Federal Champion
Federal died in Belleville on November 3, 1847, after an illness of about three weeks; his obituary says he was in his 47th year. It describes his medical training and practice and names Patience as his wife. The later 1896 account adds a fuller picture of his western travels, his medicine business, and his children.
After his death, executors continued the pill operation for a time. The 1847 obituary places his late residence on High Street. A separate report from 1855 describes B. F. Champion's new family residence on Charles Street. The two locations mark different parts of the family story and should not be confused.
Patience Ann Treen Champion
Patience outlived Federal by more than four decades. Newspaper accounts show her as his widow, an executrix of his estate, and a participant in a Madison County land case. Her obituary appeared in 1892 and gives her birth date as March 24, 1804. It reports her death as May 2, 1892; the 1896 retrospective instead gives May 3. Both accounts give her age as 88, and the one-day difference remains unresolved.
Her obituary says she died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. W. H. Snyder, Jane's married name. It also says Jane was the only child then living. The 1896 retrospective names five children—Mary, Belle, Jane, Maggie, and Frank—but the newspaper accounts do not provide a complete set of birth and death dates for them.
The children
Jane Champion Snyder
Jane is the best documented of the daughters. A 1843 Sunday School report lists Jane and Mary Champion in a class praised for memorizing scripture. Later family notices identify Jane as Dr. Federal Champion's daughter and say she married Judge William H. Snyder in 1857. The notices name their sons William H. Snyder Jr. and Frederick.
Jane's birth date has not been established in the sources reviewed. Her obituary appeared January 12, 1894, and a January 19 notice refers to the will of the late Mrs. Jane C. Snyder, establishing that she had died by then. The sources vary in the middle initial they print for Jane, so it remains unresolved.
Jane's son Dr. Frederick Champion Snyder was born August 30, 1861. His 1887 obituary says his life ended twenty-six years and two days after his birth, which implies September 1, 1887; that death date is calculated from the wording, not printed directly. The matching medical career and family notices strongly suggest he was Jane's son, though the obituary does not name his parents.
Mary Champion
The 1896 profile says Mary, described as Federal and Patience's eldest daughter, married Hiram Padfield. The 1843 Sunday School report also names her alongside Jane. The sources reviewed do not give Mary's birth date or exact death date; Patience's obituary indicates Mary had died by 1892.
Maggie Champion Dill
A December 1860 notice names Miss Maggie Champion on a committee for Belleville's Benevolent Society, which gathered money and clothing for residents in need. The 1896 profile says she married J. M. Dill and had one daughter. A 1892 probate notice names Arabella Champion Dill as Patience's granddaughter and J. M. Dill's daughter, making Arabella a strong candidate for Maggie's daughter, though no single item states the relationship directly. Maggie's birth and death dates are not established; Patience's obituary indicates she had died by 1892.
B. F. Champion and Frank
The 1896 profile names a son, Frank, who became a wholesale druggist in St. Louis. Newspaper reports separately mention B. F. Champion in the St. Louis drug trade, call him Patience's eldest child in the 1854 Kate Kearny coverage, and describe a 1857 pistol accident involving Frank Champion. These details strongly suggest that Frank and B. F. were the same person, but no source reviewed explicitly equates the names. A death notice reports that B. F. C. Champion died on December 31, 1860; it may refer to him, but that identity remains unconfirmed.
The 1857 report says Frank accidentally shot himself in the foot when a pistol fired as he tried to catch it. The Kate Kearny story records B. F.'s narrow escape from the 1854 ferry disaster. Both incidents have their own linked drafts.
Individual birth dates for Mary, Belle, Maggie, and Frank have not been established in these sources. The 1896 profile says Belle died young. The available accounts indicate Mary and Maggie had died before Patience in 1892; if B. F. C. is Frank, the 1860 death notice may provide Frank's death date. These identifications remain attributed to the records rather than treated as settled facts.
Dates recorded in the sources
- Federal Champion: born December 22, 1800; died November 3, 1847.
- Patience Ann Treen Champion: born March 24, 1804; death reported as May 2, 1892 in her obituary and May 3 in the 1896 retrospective.
- Jane Champion Snyder: exact birth and death dates are not established; she had died by January 19, 1894.
- Dr. Frederick Champion Snyder, Jane's likely son: born August 30, 1861; September 1, 1887 is implied by his obituary's wording, not printed as a date.
- B. F. C. Champion: a notice reports death on December 31, 1860; the connection to Federal and Patience's son Frank is likely but unconfirmed.
- Mary and Maggie: the family notices indicate they died before Patience in 1892, but give no exact death dates. No birth dates have been established for them, Belle, or Frank.
These are the dates established or reported in the sources reviewed for this article; calculated and uncertain identifications are marked as such.
The house and the family's Belleville legacy
In January 1855, the Semi-Weekly Advocate reported that B. F. Champion had built an “elegant family residence” on Charles Street: a double, two-story brick house with outbuildings. Later newspaper property notices trace ownership through the lots now associated with 218 South Charles Street, though deed records are still needed to confirm the full chain. The pill factory stood elsewhere, on High Street, before later moves.
The family story is not a single seamless biography. It is pieced together from obituaries, business notices, school reports, civic news, and property references. The linked articles below follow those threads separately and keep open questions visible.
Read more
A Physician Comes to Belleville
The Pills and the Business Behind Them
Two Champion Places in Belleville
Mary Champion and Hiram Padfield
Maggie Champion and the Belleville Benevolent Society
Frank Champion and the Pistol Accident
B. F. Champion and the Kate Kearny Disaster
Remembering a Belleville Doctor, Nearly Fifty Years Later
The Champion Family's Belleville Legacy
Patience Champion and a Madison County Land Case
Read the October 2, 1896 family biography
Read the November 18, 1847 obituary for Dr. Champion