ALBERT E. GESLER, M. D., a prominent physician and surgeon of Saranac, lonia County, has been engaged in the practice of his profession about fourteen years, and enjoyed a large and growing patronage throughout the western part of the county. He was born on a farm near the village of Montville, St. Joseph County, July 17, t850, and removed to Barry County with his parents when about ten years of age. There he received his earlier education in the common school, and subsequently pursued the higher branches at Hastings, the United Brethren Academy at Leoni, Jackson County, and the State Normal School at Ieavenworth, Kan. The educational period of his life was interspersed with school teaching, both in Kansas and Michigan.
The Doctor's father, Lewis C. Gesler, was born in Lancaster County, Pa., May 1, 1820, and is of German descent, his grandfather having been a native of Switzerland. At Mendon, St. Joseph County, this State, September 13, 1841, he was married to Miss Elizabeth Snow. This lady is of American extraction and was born in Boston, Mass., October 12, 1825. In 1880 the Rev. Lewis C. Gesler retired from active participation in the ministry of the United Brethren Church, and he and his wife are now living on their farm in Barry County. They are the parents of ten children, eight of whom are now living.
As our subject had not a natural aptitude for farm life but rather preferred literary work, he was easily persuaded by the family physician, Dr. E. F. Brown, to take up the study of medicine, and in the spring of 1874 he entered the office of that gentleman as a student. In the autumn of 1875 he marticulated in the homoeopathic department of the Michigan University, where he was under the tutorship of such noted men as Profs. L. A. Jones and J. C. Morgan. In the Old School department he received instruction from Profs. Ford, MeLain, Dunster, and others of equal note. Wishing to enjoy the larger clinic advantages obtainable in Cincinnati, Ohio, Dr. Gesler matriculated in Pulte Medical College in that city, in the fall of 1876, and was graduated therefrom in June, 1877. On the 22d of that month he opened an office in Saranac, where he is still actively pursuing his professional life.
For a period of eleven years there has presided over the pleasant home of Dr. Gesler one of the most estimable of ladies, who bore the maiden name of Vesta C. A. Harris. She was born in Macomb County, this State, November 24, 1854, and until 1865 her education was pursued in the common school there. Her parents then removed to a farm one and one-half miles east of Saranac, and for four years she was a regular attendant at the village school. Another removal was made and the vicinity of St. Johns became the family residence, and there she was kept constantly in school until she was seventeen years old. At that age she began teaching, and continued her work either in Clinton or Ionia Counties until 1879, September 10, of that year, becoming the wife of Dr. Gesler. Immediately after her marriage she took up the study of medicine, and in the years 1880-81 attended the Herring Medical College in St. Louis, Mo., receiving her diploma in the spring of the second year. She has since been engaged in practice with her husband. To Mr. and Mrs. Gesler two sons have been born: James Farrand, December 27, 1883; and Carl Grant, November 6, 1886.
In the maternal line Dr. Vesta Gesler is of German extraction, and on her father's side she traces her lineage through several generations of American-born ancestors to one who was a native of England. Her father, Fayette Harris, was born near Saratoga Springs, N. Y., February 2, 18t12, and lived in that State until the fall of 1837, when he removed to Macomb County, Mich. In 1835 he had been married to Miss Margery Forbes, daughter of Bartholomew and Leah (Anguish) Forbes, who was born in Madison County, N. Y., November 27, 1810. Mr. and Mrs. Harris had eight children, of whom Vesta is the youngest. At her home the father died November 1, 1886. The paternal grandparents of Mrs. Gesler were Mason and Roxie (Wells) Harris, of New England, who went to New York during its early progress, and thence came to this State to spend their last years.
Dr. A. E. Gesler is a member of the State Hooeopathic Society, and in the investigations made by its various members and the experiences they relate he is much interested. Through this society and by personal study, and occasional attendance at our large city hospitals, he keeps himself in touch with tile latest theories and discoveries in medical science and those branches which have a bearing upon it, enjoying at the present time the leading surgical practice through the western part of the county. Socially he is a Pythian Knight. Both be and his wife belong to the Congregational Church, and are active in the various departments of its work. Last Modified: 25 Jan 2009