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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 Coinpany, 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 Monnt 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.