HARL L. GEE, M. D.
In thirteen years devoted to the practice of medicine in southern 
Illinois Dr. Gee has made rapid strides in the profession of his 
choice, and is openly recognized as one of the leaders in that 
profession in this section of the state. As a physician Dr. Gee 
enjoys the confidence and esteem of a wide circle of patrons, drawing 
his clientele from all walks in life; while as a man his position is 
no less secure in the hearts of all who have come in contact with him. 

Born March 25, 1874, in Jefferson county, Harl L. Gee is the son 
of Isaac G. Gee, M. D., and the great-grandson of John Sandford Gee, 
an early pioneer of Jefferson county. John Sandford Gee was born on 
January 10, 1777, in Virginia. He married Susan Tudor in 1798, and, 
crossing the mountains in 1803, they settled in Metcalf county, where 
he entered land from the government and engaged in farming, his 
operations in that line being rewarded with a fair degree of success. 
He also conducted a surveying business as a further means of livelihood, 
and was regarded as one of the important pioneers of his time in that 
section of the country. He left one son, William Gee, born 
October 16, 1810, in the old Kentucky home, who in his early manhood 
married Malinda Billingsby, the marriage occurring in 1837. They were 
the parents of five sons. They were: John A., now of Tamaroa, Illinois; 
I. G., the father of Dr. Harl L. Gee; W. S., of Tarkio, Missouri; M. D., 
of Mountain Grove, Missouri; and Henry M., now deceased. In October, 
1852, William Gee moved to Illinois and settled in Perry county. In 
1883 he went to Nebraska, but returned to Illinois in 1886. He and 
his wife were members of the old Paradise Baptist church in Perry 
county for more than forty-eight years, and in dying left the noble 
heritage of beautiful lives well spent in the care and nurture of a 
family of sons who have reflected credit on a good old name. 

Isaac G. Gee, the father of Dr. Harl L. Gee, was born in Simpson 
county, Kentucky, September 19, 1841, and when his parents moved to 
Illinois he was eleven years of age. He worked on the home farm as a 
boy and as he advanced in years taught in the district schools while 
in his teens. His ambition to enter the medical profession was deep-
seated, and no slight difficulties were sufficient to deter him from 
his long cherished purpose. He entered the Eclectic Medical Institute 
of Cincinnati and was graduated from that institution in 1865, 
beginning the practice of medicine at Fitzgerald, in Jefferson county. 

In 1892 Dr. Gee settled in Mount Vernon, since when he has retired 
from the activities of professional life and lives in the quiet 
of a semi-retired life. He has many business interests which demand 
his attention and which constitute a sufficient occupation for a man 
of his years. Dr. Gee is a director of the Third National Bank, president 
of the Waltonville Bank and a stockholder in the Mount Vernon Car 
Manufacturing Company. He has been president of the Royal Building & 
Loan Company, and has served as alderman and supervisor of Mount Vernon 
township. He is a member of the First Baptist church of Mount Vernon 
and is a member of the blue lodge, Royal Arch and Knights Templar in 
Masonry. On December 26, 1867, Dr. Gee was married to Elzina J., daughter 
of J. J. Fitzgerald, a native of Indiana. Five children have been 
born to them: James William, deceased; John Stanton, deceased; Harl L., 
of Mount Vernon; Earl, who died at the age of six years; and Knox, 
cashier of Waltonville Bank. Dr. Harl L. Gee was educated in the Mount 
Vernon public schools and in Shurtleff College. He later entered the 
medical department of the Northwestern University at Chicago in the 
fall of 1894, studying there for three years. He then matriculated in 
the Washington University of St. Louis, graduating therefrom in 1898, 
with his medical degree of M. D. Dr. Gee began the practice of medicine 
in Mount Vernon, and is fast forging to the front in the ranks of his 
profession in Southern Illinois. His consulting room is a part of the 
finely appointed suite of rooms maintained by six prominent physicians 
of Mount Vernon, and known as the Hospital Consultation Rooms. For over 
thirteen years Dr. Gee has been intimately associated with Dr. Moss 
Maxey of the Egyptian Hospital, in both a professional and fraternal 
way, through which time the association has endured without a rupture. 
Dr. Gee is a member of the Jefferson County, Illinois State and American 
Medical Associations, and is active and prominent in all three. In a 
fraternal way he is affiliated with the Knights Templar, Benevolent and 
Protective Order of Elks, the Knights of Pythias, and a member of the 
Baptist church, in which religious denomination his forebears 
held membership for many previous generations. 

On November 2, 1899, Dr. Gee was united in marriage with Nebraska 
Evans, daughter of George W. Evans, who conducted a private bank in 
Mount Vernon for many years, which was finally merged with the Third 
National Bank by purchase. Dr. and Mrs. Gee have one child, Martha Evans, 
now five years of age.



Source: History of Southern Illinois George Washington Smith, 
M. A. VOLUME I - III ILLUSTRATED 
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY CHICAGO AND NEW YORK 1912
Page 1330 - 1331 

Submitted by Robert W. Loman