J. Thomas, living in Pleasant Hill; W. S., a business man of St. Louis, Missouri; and Clarence C., who is cashier of the Citizens' Bank of Pleasant Hill. Dr. J. Smith Thomas was reared in the village of Pleasant Hill and took up the study of medicine with his father as his preceptor. Later he pursued courses of lectures in college, and was graduated from the Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati with the class of 1872. When he had completed his studies he returned home and joined his father in practice. In 1876-7 he pursued a post-graduate course in St. Louis, Missouri, and he took a second post-graduate course in New York city in 1900-1. In 1884, Dr. Thomas spent the winter in San Antonio, Texas, where he engaged in practice, returning home in the following spring. He has been an active member of the medical profession of this locality for nearly thirty-five years, and during that period a number of young men have studied under him, and later engaged in practice with him. At this writing a nephew, Dr. Wells, who was reared and educated by Dr. Thomas, is now in partnership with him and the firm is a strong and capable one. Dr. Thomas was married in Pike county on the 24th of November, 1874, to Miss Molly S. Wells, a daughter of Perry S. Wells, one of the prominent farmers and early settlers of Pike county, formerly from Kentucky, whence he removed to Missouri, and later came to Pike county, Illinois. Unto the Doctor and his wife have been born five children: Grace, who married Frank Darrow, and is now living in East St. Louis; Blanche, the wife of W. T. Waugh, of Pleasant Hill; Lizzie, at home; Jessie, the wife of Scott Galloway, a business man of Pleasant Hill; and Leslie, at home. Politically Dr. Thomas was formerly a republican but now votes with the democratic party, and is the only member of his family thus affiliated. Religiously he is an active member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He belongs to the Knights of Pythias fraternity, and his position in social circles and as a citizen is a creditable one; but he is best known as a representative of the medical fraternity. His efforts have been of lasting and permanent good, and he enjoys the highest respect of his professional brethren, because of his close adherence to an advanced standard of professional ethics. His study and reading have been comprehensive and his investigation has led to more thorough and accurate knowledge resulting in greater proficiency in his practice. HARVEY W. SWEETING Harvey W. Sweeting, in early manhood a farm hand and now a prosperous farmer, owning a valuable property in Griggsville township, was born May 10, 1869, his parents being Richard and Dorothy (Marshall) Sweeting, both of whom were natives of England. The father, for many years an enterprising agriculturist of Perry township, was born in Knaresboro, Yorkshire, England, near the castle of the same name and was a son of Jonathan Sweeting, a native of West Riding, Yorkshire, where his childhood and youth were passed. Having learned the shoemaker's trade, he followed that pursuit until his death, which occurred when he was in his ninetieth year. Richard Sweeting, the great-grandfather of our subject, was also of English lineage and made his home in Yorkshire, where he followed the occupation of shoemaking and passed away when nearly ninety years of age. He was twice married, while Jonathan Sweeting, the grandfather of our subject, was married three times, his first union being with Miss Mary Greenough, who was born and reared in Yorkshire but in one ancestral kine came of Scotch lineage. She died when her son, Richard Sweeting, was only six years of age. Richard Sweeting remained in his father's home after the latter's second marriage and mastered the trade to which his father and grandfather had given their attention, becoming an excellent shoemaker. He afterward learned the baker's trade, which he followed in England until September, 1846, when, attracted by the opportunities and privileges of the new world, he sailed for America on the General Park Hale, a merchant ship bound for New Orleans. After a voyage of seven weeks he landed at the Crescent