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:

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.

Portrait And Biographical Album of Hillsdale County, Mich., …. Chicago: Chapman brothers, 1888., pp. 694-695

FRANK M. GIER, M. D. an enterprising and successful young physician of Pittsford Township, was born in Ransom Township, this county, on the 8th of January, 1859, and is the eldest son of Henry W. Gier, a well-known resident of this county. The latter, a native of the Buckeye State, was born in Medina County, and was the son of Henry Gier, Sr., a native of Philadelphia, Pa., and one of the pioneers of Ohio. He there cleared a farm, where he lived the greater part of his life, but came to Michigan finally, and with his estimable wife spent his last days among his children here.

 
The father of our subject came to this county when a young man, and settled in Ransom Township. He had learned the trade of a carpenter, which he followed here for a time, but soon purchased a farm near the village, which he occupied and cultivated until about 1860. He then took up his residence in Spencer, Medina County, but in 1863 returned to his farm in Ransom. In 1864, during the progress of the Rebellion, he enlisted as a Union soldier in Company I, 11th Michigan Infantry, and served a few months, when he was taken ill, confined in the hospital, and finally discharged on account of disability. He did not regain his health until about three years afterward. He then resumed work at his trade, and in 1872 removed to the village of Allen, but four years later returned to Ransom, where he farmed three years, then sold out and removed to Quincy, in Branch County. Two years later he sold his property there and invested in a stock of furniture, but after two years came to Pittsford, where he continued in the furniture business until December, 1887. His store was then destroyed by fire and he has not again resumed. He still makes his residence here, together with his excellent wife, who in her girlhood was Miss Lydia A. Halleck. She was born in the State of New York, and is the daughter of Israel and Laura Halleck, natives of Ohio and New York State respectively, and long since deceased.

 

The parental household of our subject included four sons, three of whom are now residents of Hillsdale County: Will II. is a dentist in Los Angeles, Cal. Frank M., at the age of nineteen, having received a good education, commenced teaching, in which he was employed three terms. He then took up the study of medicine in the office of Dr. Bates, of Ransom, then became the pupil of Dr. II. Wood, of Quincy, Later he attended medical lectures in the State University at Ann Arbor, from which he was graduated in June, 1 884. He practiced with Dr. Bates for a short time in Ransom, and then in April, 1885, located in Pittsford. He belongs to the Southern Michigan Medical Association, and socially, is a member of Leonard Lodge No. 266, A. F. & A. M.,of Waldron; Camp No. 85, Sons of Veterans, and is Surgeon of the Michigan Division of the order. He has distanced some of the older competitors in his profession, and the outlook is fair for a prosperous future.