Background
Edward Franklin Geers was born on January 25, 1851, in Wilson County, Tennessee. He was the son of William T. and Emily (Woolard) Geers.
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Edward Franklin Geers was born on January 25, 1851, in Wilson County, Tennessee. He was the son of William T. and Emily (Woolard) Geers.
As a mere boy on his father’s farm, Geers became a local celebrity as a trainer and driver of horses. He conducted a public training stable at Nashville in 1875, and one at Columbia from 1876 to 1889.
His first trip North was in 1877 when he gave Alice West a record of 2:26, the first trotter he drove under 2:30. In 1879, with Mattie Hunter, he twice lowered the record for pacing mares, the second time, to 2:163/2.
At both Nashville and Columbia, he was patronized by Campbell Brown, and from 1889 to 1892, he was employed by Brown at Ewell Farm. Thus Geers became interested in the Hal family of pacers which Brown was breeding. Going North in 1889, he took Brown Hal on the Grand Circuit and made him the champion pacing stallion with a record of 2:12/4.
In 1892, Geers was employed to train and drive for C. J. Hamlin of Village Farm, near Buffalo, New York, at a salary of $10, 000 a year, the largest ever received up to that time by one of his profession.
Leaving Hamlin ten years later, he settled at Billings Park, Memphis, which was his headquarters for the rest of his life, his chief patron there being G. Jones.
He was instantly killed while driving in a race at Wheeling, Virginia.
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As a race driver, campaign manager, and turf tactician, Geers was equally notable. Personally, he was modest, generous, and honest. Because of his taciturnity, he was long known as “The Silent Man from Tennessee. ”
In 1880, Geers married Mrs. Pearl (Smith) Neeley.