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ELMER PEARL EASTERDAY. It was twenty-five years ago, or in 1887, that Elmer Earl Easterday first took up his residence in Mound City, Illinois, and during that period he has been identified with the office of circuit clerk of Pulaski county, first as a deputy, and since 1904 as the incumbent of that office.

He was born at Vandalia, Illinois, July 23, 1866, and at the age of thirteen accompanied his father, Melancthon Easterday, who receives individual mention elsewhere in this work, to Cairo, where the following three years were spent in the public schools of Cairo. He was a high school student when he abandoned his studies to take up practical business life in the office of his father. There he familiarized himself with the land titles in Alexander county and did clerical work as a compiler of a set of individual records until 1887, when, having attained his majority, he separated himself from parental associations and began an independent career at Mound City. He here established himself as an abstracter of titles, having gained a thorough and practical

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knowledge of the business while in the office of his father, and has continued in that line of business to the present time. His training and ability in that direction led to his appointment the year of his advent to Mound City as deputy to B. L. Ulen, then circuit clerk of Pulaski county, and he later served eight years in a similar capacity for C. S. Britton during the latter's incumbency of the circuit clerk's office.

In 1904 Mr. Easterday was himself elected circuit clerk of Pulaski county as a Republican, and in 1908 was re-elected to the office, his last election being without opposition. During this long service, he has compiled a set of records for himself besides doing a vast amount of other work while a deputy, and his acquaintance with the condition of titles in Pulaski county exceeds that of any other of its citizens. He has also served twelve years as police judge and is president of the Board of Education of Mound City. In all of his public service he has proved a faithful, prompt and capable official, discharging his duties with a sense of conscientious obligation, and as a citizen he has so lived as to command the highest respect of his community.

He is a prominent figure in the fraternal circles of his city. For many years he has served as secretary of the Blue Lodge of Masons at Mound City; is a past chancellor commander of the Knights of Pythias, has been a delegate to the Grand Lodge of that order and was made chairman of the committee on necrology in that body; is a past noble grand of the Mound City Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and has served his lodge in the Grand Lodge of the state; is sachem of the local lodge of the Improved Order of Red Men; worthy patron of the Masonic auxiliary order, Order of the Eastern Star; and is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America and the Pythian Sisters. He also holds a membership in the K. M. K. C. of Cairo.

On May 26, 1890, at Mound City, Illinois, Mr. Easterday was united in marriage to Miss Bertie Kennedy, a daughter of William R. Kennedy, whose father served as the first sheriff of Pulaski county. Mr. and Mrs. Easterday have one son, Floyd Easterday, who is now a traveling salesman for the U. S. Gypsum Company of Dallas, Texas.