Department of Michigan Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War   Frank M. Gier Department Commander 1892-1893

Frank M. Gier - Having practiced his profession in Hillsdale county for a period of twenty years and been eminently successful and attained distinction in it, winning golden opinions from the people and also from his professional brethren, it was learned with regret that Dr. Frank M. Gier has decided to retire from medical practice in this county and devote himself to a different line of activity, notwithstanding the work in which he is engaged is a beneficent one also, full of promise of advantage to suffering humanity. Doctor Gier disposed of his practice and the good will of his office to Dr. S. B. Frankhauser in February, 1902, and at once gave his whole attention to the management of the Abilene Mineral Water Co., of Abilene, Kans., of which he is the president. The company has a capital of $250,000 and its purpose is to introduce the valuable medicinal mineral waters which it controls into the hospitals of the country for general use.

Gier is a native of Hillsdale county, born in Ransom township on January 8, 1859. His parents are Henry W. and Lydia A. (Halleck), the former a native of Ohio and the latter of New York, her father being a cousin to Gen. Henry W. Halleck, of Civil War renown. The doctor's father was by trade a carpenter and joiner, and came to Hillsdale county about 1835, settling in Ransom township. He enlisted in 1863, in Co. I, Eleventh Michigan Infantry, but served less than a year, being discharged on account of a disability; which made him an invalid for life. He was in the Army of the Cumberland and participated in some of its most noted engagements. His wife's people came from New York to this county in 1850 and here passed the rest of their days. The Doctor has three brothers and one sister, two of his brothers being residents of Hillsdale. Their grandfather, Henry Gier was a native of Philadelphia and his parents came from Germany.

Doctor Gier passed his early school days in the county, and, after leaving school was engaged for a number of years in successful teaching. In 1880 he entered the medical department of the University of Michigan, and in 1884 he graduated there from with the degree of M. D., he having worked his way through college by various occupations. He began practicing at Ransom Center in association with Dr. Wilfred Bates, and after some time residence at this place he went to Waldron, where he remained only four months. In 1885 he located at Pittsford, there remaining until 1900, when he came to Hillsdale, which has since been his home and the center of his large and representative practice. In politics he has always been a zealous and active Republican, and for thirteen years he was a member of the pension board for this county. He has also served as the mayor of the city, his term covering the year 1899, he having been an alderman from 1897 to that year; for four years he was health officer and for six he was county physician.

In the organizations belonging to his profession he has taken a warm and helpful interest, holding memberships in the State Medical Society, the Tri-State Medical Society and the American Medical Association, and also serving eight years as secretary of the Tri-State Society and as its president for one term. He is an active working Freemason, having held high offices in all branches of the order up to and through the commander, of which he is now (1903) eminent commander. He also belongs to the Sons of Veterans, and was for a time Colonel of the Michigan Division (1892)and later was made the surgeon-general of the organization for the United States. In 1894 he was married to Miss Harriet G. Ricaby, a native of this county and daughter of the late Col. Richard W. Ricaby, a prominent attorney of Chicago, where he died. They have one child, their daughter, Frances H. Gier. Mrs. Gier's father was the colonel of the Seventeenth Michigan Infantry in the Civil War.

(From the Compendium of History and Biography of Hillsdale County Michigan. Elon G. Reynolds ed. Chicago: AW Bowen & Co 2 Parts - Fully Historical (1903) and Largely Biographical (1903) pg 376-77)