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
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