Walter J. Eilerts, M. D., in active practice at El Dorado and associated with Dr. F. E. Dillenbeck, one of the oldest and best known physicians in that part of the state, is a native of Kansas and his people were pioneers in Harvey County.
Doctor Eilerts was born at Annelly in Harvey County, Kansas, December 27, 1881. His father, John Eilerts, was born in Germany, in 1837. The family came to America in 1846, and Grandfather Eilerts spent the rest of his life as a farmer in Illinois. He died at Chapin in that state. John Eilerts was nine years of age when brought to America, grew up and married at Chapin, Illinois, and was first a carpenter and afterward a general merchant. On coming to Kansas in 1880 he located at Annelly and was one of the early merchants of that town. He then moved to Whitewater, Kansas, and was in the mercantile business there for ten years. In 1899 he moved to Oklahoma and died at Nardin, Oklahoma, July 27, 1913. He was a republican from the time he served with the Union forces in the war of the rebellion. He enlisted in 1862, in the One Hundred and First Illinois Infantry, and was in service three years. He was wounded at Gettysburg, but was in all the battles participated in by his regiment. He belonged to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Lutheran Church. Doctor Eilert’s father and mother were both twice married. John Eilert’s first wife died at Jacksonville, Illinois, leaving the following children: Fannie, wife of Dan Rofstetter, of Chicago; Dollie, wife of Will Born, a farmer near Jacksonville, Illinois; and Belle, wife of Gil Main, a resident of Wichita, Kansas.
The mother of Doctor Eilerts was Augusta Schnack, who is now living at Nardin, Oklahoma. She was born in Germany in 1846, and for her first husband married a Mr. Snow, a painter by trade. The children of that marriage are: Lorena, wife of Ed Oldfield, of Chicago; Albert, a physician at St. Louis, Missouri; and Mary, wife of J. D. Snepp, a railroad man at Pueblo, Colorado. Mr. and Mrs. John Eilerts had four children: Charles J., a farmer at Charleston, Oklahoma; Estella, wife of W. O. McClellan, who is now deputy sheriff living at Newkirk, Oklahoma; Dr. Walter John Eilerts; and Elmer, who died at the age of four years.
Doctor Eilerts grew up in Kansas, attended the public schools at Whitewater, and largely through his own earnings at various lines of work gained the means which enabled him to take his advanced training for the profession. He attended the National University of Arts and Sciences at St. Louis, graduating Bachelor of Science in 1911, and then continued his work in the medical department of the University, from which he took the degree Doctor of Medicine in 1915. For one year Doctor Eilerts served as an interne in St. Anthony Hospital of St. Louis and taught anesthesia and anesthetics and was assistant demonstrator in surgery in the National University. He also did private practice in St. Louis from August to November, 1916, and at the latter date came to El Dorado to become a partner with Dr. F. E. Dillenbeck.
Doctor Eilerts is a republican. While living at Anthony, Kansas, he served as a member of the school board. He belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church, to St. Louis Lodge, No. 5, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, to Sherman Camp, Modern Woodmen of America, at St. Louis, and is a member of the St. Louis Medical Society, the Missouri State Medical Society, the American Medical Association and the Kansas Medical Society.
Doctor Eilerts was married at Nardin, Oklahoma, in 1902, to Miss Myrtle L. Robertson, daughter of Jerome and Martha (Kendrick) Robertson. Her father died in 1901, having been a farmer at Nardin, Oklahoma. Her mother still lives at Nardin. Doctor and Mrs. Eilerts have two children, Keith Robertson, born January 1, 1906, and Maxine Joy, born February 19, 1917.