John R. Byers was born in Iowa on April 20, 1876 (gravestone says 1874) and died in Fort Dodge, Iowa, on February 25, 1961. He is buried at Cedar Township Cemetery in Fonda. He was living in South Palmyra, Macoupin County, Illinois, in 1920, and in Fonda, Pocahontas County, Iowa, in 1930. Lake Forest University operated the Rush Medical School from 1887 to 1898. His brother, Dr. Albert G. Byers, died in 1957 in Coggan/Coggon, Linn County, Iowa.