EARL GREEN, M. D. The son and the grandson of able and prominent physicians, Dr. Earl Green, himself a talented exponent of the medical profession, occupies no insignificant place in the professional and social life of Mount Vernon, the city in which he was born and reared, and where in maturer life he has conducted his medical practice. Born on September 1, 1861, Dr. Earl Green is the son of Dr. Willis Duff Green, a native of Kentucky and born near Danville. His father, Dr. Duff Green, was a native of Virginia and was of English parentage.
Dr. Duff Green served as surgeon in Barbee's Regiment of Kentucky Volunteer Infantry in the War of 1812. He practiced medicine in Danville, Kentucky, until 1844, at which time he removed to Pulaski, Tennessee. In 1846 he migrated to Mount Vernon, Illinois, where he spent the remainder of his life, passing away at the age of seventy-three years. His son, Willis Duff Green, followed in the footsteps of the father and entered the medical profession. He was educated in Centre College, Transylvania University at Lexington, and was graduated from the Cincinnati College of Medicine in 1844. He eventually became one of the more eminent practitioners in Illinois, and aside from his professional attainments, was particularly prominent as a citizen of note. He was president of the company which built the first railroad into Mount Vernon, and was connected with various other enterprises of a public nature. He was prominent in fraternal circles, and was grand master of the Illinois Independent Order of Odd Fellows in 1858 and grand representative to the Odd Fellows national convention in 1859. He was prominent, in a political way, being an adherent of the Democratic party, and was a delegate to the Democratic national convention in 1876, which nominated Samuel J. Tilden for the presidency. In 1845 Dr. Green married Corrinna L., daughter of Isaac Morton, a merchant of Hartford, Kentucky, of New England ancestry. Dr. and Mrs. Green were the parents of ten children', six of whom are living at present. They are Alfred M., an attorney in Gainesville, Texas; Inez I., instructor in Southern Illinois Normal University at Carbondale; Laura Reed; Minnie; William H., judge of circuit court, and of whom more extended mention is made elsewhere in this sketch; and Earl, practicing physician of Mount Vernon. The four deceased were Duff, Cora Lee, Maidelyn F., and Lucille. The father, Dr. Duff Green, passed away on September 5, 1905, at the age of eighty-four years.
The youth and boyhood of Dr. Earl Green were passed in attendance upon the public schools of Mount Vernon, and finishing his studies there, he entered the State Normal at Normal, Illinois, following which he entered the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, studying there from 1881 to 1883. He then entered the Bellevue Hospital Medical Schools of New York City, graduating therefrom in 1884. He began the practice of medicine in Mount Vernon, than which no fitter place could be named for the son of the leading member of the medical profession in that city for many years. He has carried on the good works of his honored father, winning to himself an extensive practice, as well as the unqualified respect and esteem of the best citizenship of his native town.
Dr. Green's prominence in the communal life of Mount Vernon is not alone confined to his profession and its practice. He is a stock-holder in the Jefferson State Bank, as well as a member of its directorate. He is a member of various fraternal organizations of a social and other nature, one of them being the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of Mount Vernon, and as an adjunct to his professional labors, he is a member of the County, State and American Medical Associations. Dr. Green is a man widely read and of fine scholarly attainments, and his circle of friends in Mount Vernon is bounded only by the limits of his acquaintance.
Among other members of the family of Dr. Willis Duff Green who have attained a generous portion of prominence in Mount Vernon and Southern Illinois is Judge William H. Green, a brother of Dr. Earl Green of this sketch, and it is not unfit that a few words be said here in connection with the life and accomplishments of Judge Green.
William H. Green was born in Mount Vernon on October 14, 1858. He was educated in the public schools of the city, and following his graduation therefrom he entered the University of Michigan in 1877, pursuing a literary and legal course in that splendid institution in 1878. For two years thereafter he studied law in the offices of a prominent firm and in 1880 he was admitted to the bar. Mr. Green began the practice of his profession in Mount Vernon, his efforts from the first being attended by a pleasurable degree of success. In 1882 he served as master in chancery, and in the same year was elected to the office of city attorney, retaining the office for two years. In 1884 he was elected state's attorney of Jefferson county, filling the office in such a manner that he was re-elected in 1888. From the beginning of his public career honor followed upon honor, and no office within the gift of his fellowmen in Jefferson county and his district has been withheld from him. In 1894 Mr. Green was elected to the House of Representatives in the Illinois Legislature, serving one term, with honor and credit to himself and his constituents. In 1909 he was elected to the office of circuit judge in the judicial district comprising the counties of Hardin, Gallatin, White, Hamilton, Franklin, Jefferson, Wayne, Edwards, Wabash, Richland, Lawrence and Crawford, and is still the incumbent of that office. In 1896 he was a delegate to the national Democratic convention at Chicago, and he was a member of the notification committee which informed William J. Bryan of his nomination. Judge Green has been president of the Jefferson State Bank and is now a member of its directorate and a stockholder in the institution. He served as president of the Illinois Bankers Fire Insurance Company during its life, and has been active in the administration of the affairs of numerous other concerns. Judge Green is prominent as a fraternalist, being a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Knights of Pythias, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, including the Chapter and Knights Templar, and of the Independent Order of Red Men.
Extracted from A History of Southern Illinois, 1912, Volume 3, pages 1352-1354
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