 H. BIDLE, senior member of the firm of Bidle & Co., merchants in Lerna, Ill., was born Oct. 12, 1861, in Campbell, Coles County, and is the son of Gottlieb and Sophronia (Walker) Bidle. During his boyhood and youth he attended the common schools of the county and the college at Westfield, Ill., and received an excellent business education. He was reared on his father’s farm, but evinced no taste for agricultural pursuits, and in 1881 engaged as clerk in the grocery store of W. A. Snyder, at Westfield, Ill. He remained with them two years, and then returned to the home farm, where he remained until 1887. He then purchased an interest in the business of R. H. Osborn, at Lerna, in which he is now engaged. On the 6th of March, 1883, Mr. Bidle was married to Miss Nellie Horner, of Kokomo, Howard Co., Ind. They have one son, George A. Mr. Bidle is one of the rising young men of the county, and his excellent business qualifications and genial disposition have won a large circle of friends. He is interested in public affairs, and has already served as Clerk and Commissioner of Highways. In politics he is a Republican. His career in life is but just opening, and he is one of whom all may reasonably predict prosperity and success.
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