Past & Present

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 his home place now comprises six hundred acres, for as his financial resources have increased he has extended the boundaries of his farm by additional purchase from time to time. He also owns another farm in Martinsburg township and he has thus become one of the large landowners of the county, his business capacity and enterprise being indicated by his realty holdings, for he owes his success entirely to his well directed efforts. His interests have been carefully managed and he has brought keen discrimination and untiring industry to bear upon his business affairs, so that he is now one of the progressive farmers and successful stock-feeders, who occupies a position of affluence in Pike county. He has always voted with the democracy and in 1893 was elected supervisor of Pleasant Hill township. In 1904 he was again chosen for the office and is now serving for the second term as a member of the honorable county board. He is acting as a member of the committee on salaried offices, is chairman of the road and bridge committee, also a member of the railroad committee and president of the board of directors. Matters of local progress are of deep concern to him and elicit his earnest attention and active co-operation and whether in office or out of it he is always loyal to the public good.

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                                         FINIS KILLEBREW

Finis Killebrew, in his farming operations, keeps fully abreast with the most modern methods of farming, using the latest improved machinery and all the accessories which facilitate farm work. Advancement along agricultural lines has been as rapid and pronounced as in any other department of labor, and Mr. Killebrew is a typical representative of this spirit of progress. He resides on section 6, Spring Creek township, where he has eighty acres of land. Mr. Killebrew was born in Calhoun county, Illinois, March 23, 1858, and a son of Levi Killebrew, whose birth occurred in Scott county, Illinois. The paternal grandfather, James I. Killebrew, resided for a time in Missouri, and later removed to Scott county, where his son Levi was reared. Later he went to Calhoun county, where he purchased three hundred and twenty acres of land, which he cultivated up to the time of his death in 1902. He was married to Miss Mary Loper, a native of Green county, Illinois, and a daughter of Daniel Looper. They became the parents of nine children.

   Finis Killebrew, the fourth in order of birth, was reared to manhood upon the old homestead farm in Calhoun county, where he assisted in the labors of the fields and also enjoyed the educational advantages afforded by the common schools. He was twenty years of age when he started out to work by the month as a farm hand, being thus employed for two years, which gave him his start in life.

   On the 1st of September, 1881, Mr. Killebrew was united in marriage to Miss Thursa A. Stark, a native of Pike county and a daughter of John P. Stark, a native of Indiana. This marriage has been blessed with four daughters, all of whom are living: Alta Ester, Bessie Maud, Neva Velma and Amanda Buella, all yet are under the parental roof.

   Following his marriage, Mr. Killebrew purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land two miles east of Nebo and later he bought forty acres more, so that he thus became the owner of a farm of two hundred acres, which he improved by building a good house and also good barns and outbuildings. He set out an orchard, cultivated the fields and continued to develop the property for twelve years, when in 1893 he sold out and bought where he now resides on section 6, Spring Creek township. He at once began the improvement of this farm, has built an addition to the house, has put up a windmill and stock scales, and has added other modern equipments until he now has a model and valuable farm. He raises some stock and feeds hogs for the market, and has been a shipper of cattle, hogs and hay for fifteen years, sending his shipments to various markets. His business views are penetrative, his methods practical. He seems to see readily to the center of things, and from the center to the outermost circumference of possibilities in the line of his business endeavor.

 

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