Sumner County Biographies
"Portrait and Biographical Album of Sumner County"
Chapman Bros., Chicago, 1890
Kansas History and Heritage Project-Sumner County Biographies
Sumner County Biographies
"Portrait and Biographical Album of Sumner County"
Chapman Bros., Chicago, 1890
EDGAR D. EASTER, M. D., whose portrait is presented
on the opposite page, is a practicing physician and dealer in drugs at Milan,
and is rightly classed among the most prominent
citizens of that flourishing town. He carries a full
line of drugs, and has the exclusive trade in that
branch of merchandise. He also has a fine practice
in his profession, which he has thoroughly studied,
not only in America but also in Europe. His beautiful residence is built on the same lot with his
drug-store, and is as attractive and cozy a home as
anyone could desire. He also owns residence property and lots in Anthony, Harper County, Kan.,
and considers that city the best for its size in the
State. The prosperity which has attended his
efforts in life is a proof of his natural ability and
his unbounded energy, for, with the exception of
his early education, his extended knowledge and
worldly possessions are due entirely to his own
efforts.
The father of our subject was J. J. Easter, a native of Virginia,
who was educated for the ministry,
and who moved to Pennsylvania during his early
years. When he had grown to manhood he bought
a farm in Fayette County, and gave his attention
principally to raising cattle and horses. He married Miss Mary E. Ebert,
a native of the Keystone
State, who bore him fourteen children. Of this
large family ten are now living. During the Civil
War the two oldest sons served their country as
members of a Pennsylvania regiment. The father
died in 1887, and the mother still survives at the
age of sixty-eight years, and lives on the home
farm.
Dr. Easter was the sixth child born to his parents, and opened his eyes to the light in Fayette
County, Pa., June 7, 1851. Until his thirteenth
year he attended the district schools, pursuing the
elementary branches, and then became a pupil in
the High School, after which he spent two years at
work in a woolen factory. In 1869 he went to
Iowa, and for a short time was employed in a
woolen factory in Fairfield, next entering the office
of Dr. P. N. Wood, now deceased, and spending
a year in medical studies. Fully determined to acquire a thorough knowledge of his chosen
profession, he engaged in the business of selling organs
and sewing machines, as a temporary expedient by
which to acquire means to prosecute his studies,
and in this way saved enough to pay tuition for
three and a half years.
We next find the young student in attendance at
the Keokuk Medical College during nearly two
courses of lectures, following which he bought out
the office, and good will of a physician in Van
Buren County, contracting to pay $1,560, and going in debt for the entire amount. Four years and
five months were spent in that county, whence, in
1878, Dr. Easter came to Kansas, and locating on
a claim two miles south of Milan, built a sod-house and began life as a Kansas citizen, with a
capital consisting of a team of horses and $35 in
money. Eighteen months later he returned to
Keokuk, accompanied by his wife, and both took a
six months' course of lectures. Dr. Easter was
graduated in 1881, while Mrs. Easter returned to
the institution the following year, and won her
diploma also.
Two years after the Doctor's graduation he
crossed the Atlantic, accompanied by his wife, and
in London, England, took a surgical course at St.
Thomas College of Physicians and Surgeons, and a
course in obstetrics at the women's hospital. After
this addition to the theoretical and practical understanding of medical science,
which he had previously possessed, the cultured couple returned to
their home in June, 1884, and there, in December,
1886, the wife breathed her last.
Dr. Easter contracted a second matrimonial
alliance, April 5, 1888, his chosen companion being
Miss Allie M., daughter of Dr. G. M. Walker, of
Rosemond, Ill. She is the older of two children
born to her parents, and her natal day was March
12, 1865. She is a cultured and refined lady, was
the recipient of a collegiate education at Lincoln,
Ill., and is a worthy companion for a man of her
husband's intellect and acquirements. Her mother
died in 1873, and her father is still practicing medicine in Rosemond.
Dr. Easter belongs to the Ancient Order of
United Workmen, and is now one of the Examining
Surgeons of that organization in Milan. He has
also been a member of the Independent Order of
Odd Fellows, in which he has held several offices.
Interested, as all American citizens should be, in
political affairs, he has decided in favor of the
principles of the Democracy, and therefore casts his
vote in their behalf. It is needless to state that he
is not only respected by his fellow-citizens in Milan, but over a wide extent
of country he is favorably known as a successful and learned physician
and surgeon, and as a gentleman of integrity and
honor.
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This website created Oct. 29, 2011 by Sheryl McClure.
� 2011 Kansas History and Heritage Project
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This website created Oct. 29, 2011 by Sheryl McClure.
� 2011 Kansas History and Heritage Project
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