Edward Franklin Gaines (1886 - 1944)

Born 12 Jan 1886 in Avalon, Livingston, Missouri, USA

Ancestors

Husband of Xerpha Mae (McCulloch) Gaines — married 6 Jun 1912 in Othello, WA, USA

Descendants

Died 17 Aug 1944 at age 58 in Colfax, WA, USA

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Biography

Edward Franklin Gaines was born on Jan 12, 1886 in Avalon, Missouri.^[1] He married Xerpha Mae McCulloch on June 6, 1912, in Pullman, Washington.^[2] He died on Aug 17, 1944, in Pullman, Washington.^[3]

Edward F. Gaines (1886-1944) was born in Missouri and moved as a teenager with his family to a farm near Chewelah, Washington. Edward F. Gaines graduated from the State Normal School at Cheney (now Eastern Washington University) in 1907. He then worked as a public school principal and teacher in Ritzville, where he met Xerpha Mae McCulloch, who graduated from high school there in 1910. Edward left Ritzville in 1909 to continue his education at the State College of Washington (now Washington State University) in Pullman where he earned his bachelor and master of science degrees in agronomy in 1911 and 1913, respectively. Throughout his career, Edward was associated with several plant genetics pioneers, as a student, colleague, and mentor. One of his students was Karl Sax, who received his bachelor's degree in agriculture from WSC in 1916 and became a leading cytologist and plant geneticist, and National Academy of Science member. Sax credited Edward Gaines for introducing him as an undergraduate to research in plant breeding, and encouraging his pursuit of graduate studies, and they remained correspondents throughout Gaines's lifetime. Another lifelong correspondent was Harry B. Humphrey, who had been Edward's botany professor at WSC and became long-time phytopathologist with the Bureau of Plant Industry of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). In an obituary for Edward in the journal Phytopathology, Humphrey wrote that his most important contributions centered on his genetic studies of bunt resistance in wheat and smut resistance in wheat and oats. Gaines developed the Triplet, Ridit, and Albit wheat varieties to increase both yields and smut resistance. Orville Vogel, renowned wheat breeder at WSU with the USDA, named two wheat varieties for Edward Gaines: Gaines (1961), the first semidwarf winter wheat for commercial production, and NuGaines (1965). Married in 1912, Edward F. and Xerpha McCulloch Gaines made their home in Pullman as Edward continued in his position as Assistant Cerealist and Instructor of Agronomy. Edward spent a semester at Harvard University in 1915 studying genetics and plant breeding under Dr. Edward M. East at the Bussey Institution for Research in Applied Biology. He returned in 1920, and received his Doctor of Science degree in 1921. At the same time, he continued on the faculty at WSC, rising to Cerealist in 1917 and serving as Assistant Professor of Farm Crops from 1918 to 1926, Associate Professor from 1926 to 1930, and as Professor of Genetics in Agronomy from 1930 until his death in 1944. ^[4]

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Sources

1. ↑ US WW II Registration Card, 1942, U2962
2. ↑ Washington State Marriage Certificate, Whitman County
3. ↑ Washington State Death Record, Whitman County
4. ↑ Gaines and McCulloch Family Papers 1902-2008, Washington State University Libraries, Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Cage 750

See also:

• Find a Grave Memorial 25609261
• US Census 1900, Chewelah, Stevens, WA
• US Census 1910, Chewelah, Stevens, WA
• US Census 1920, Pullman, Whitman, WA
• US Census 1930, Pullman, Whitman, WA
• US Census 1940, Pullman, Whitman, WA