Foote, Gerald Alexander (1823–1902)

Gerald (Gerard) Alexander Foote, physician and legislator, was born on September 8, 1823, in Fauquier County, Virginia, son of William Alexander and Jane (Elliott) Foote. He moved with his family to Mississippi when he was eight. Foote attended school at Centennary College. Foote began to study medicine, and in December 1846 when he moved to McKinney, Texas, he was already a practicing physician. He later graduated from Memphis Medical College in 1856. Gerald A. Foote married Eliza J. McGarrah of Collin County on November 11, 1847. In 1848 Foote received a land grant for 640 acres in the Peters Colony. The area was known as a farming and lumbering community, and the town of Foot was named after him.

Dr. Foote served as a surgeon in the Eleventh Texas Cavalry during the Civil War. After the war he turned his attention to learning the pharmaceutical trade and became a druggist. He served in the Texas House of Representatives in 1863 and again in 1874. Foote helped organize the Collin County National Bank in 1880 and served as its first president. He was a Mason and a Democrat. Gerald Foote died on July 23, 1902, in McKinney.