Dr. Albert N. Earnest, a surgeon of Muskogee, is numbered among the native sons of Oklahoma and his record as a successful member of the medical profession stands in contradistinction to the old adage that a prophet is never without honor save in his own country. Dr. Earnest was born near Webbers Falls, in Muskogee county, September 13, 1890, and is a son of J. T. and Ellen (Carlisle) Earnest. The mother is one-fourth Cherokee and was born in Texas, of which state the father is also a native. He came to the Indian Territory when a boy with his people, the family settling near Webbers Falls, where J. T. Earnest eventually became a farmer and stockman, following the business until 1918, when he retired from active life. For twenty-five years he lived upon a farm near Fort Gibson and when he put aside the work of the fields he removed to Muskogee and now makes his home at No. 1149 Cherry street.
Dr. Earnest was reared and educated at Fort Gibson and also attended the public schools at Wagoner. Later he entered the University of Arkansas, in which he won the degree of Mechanical Engineer upon graduation with the class of 1907. Changing his plans, however, as to his future, he afterward became a medical student in the University of Tennessee at Memphis and was graduated there on the completion of the medical course with the class of 1913. Since that time he has practiced in Muskogee and has made a specialty of surgery for the past four years. He possesses comprehensive knowledge of anatomy and the component parts of the human body and, moreover, is cool and calm in the face of excitement, so that he has many of the qualities of the ideal surgeon.
On August 17, 1917, Dr. Earnest enlisted for service in the World war and was commissioned a captain in the Medical Corps. He served for twenty-three months and during the last year of his service was in hospitals of New York, receiving his discharge at Camp Upton in February, 1919.
On December 17, 1917, Dr. Earnest was, united in marriage to Miss Grace Green and they have one child, Dorothy Elizabeth, who was born in February, 1919. The religious faith of the parents is that of the Methodist Episcopal church and Dr. Earnest belongs to the Masonic fraternity and to the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. His political endorsement is given to the democratic party, but the honors and emoluments of office have had no attraction for him. Along professional lines he is connected with the Muskogee County Medical Society, the Oklahoma State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. He holds to high standards and ideals in his professional work and has made steady progress since taking his initial step as a physician and surgeon.