SIMEON F. WILHITE, living on section 3, Rubicon township, is one of the thrifty farmers whose active and energetic labors are well manifest in the splendid condition in which his farm of three hundred and twenty acres is found. More than half a century has come and gone since he located in Greene county, for he was brought to this county in 1852. His birth occurred in Oldham county, Kentucky, on the 3d of October 1849, his parents being Jesse and Martha M. Wilhite, also natives of the Blue Grass state. The father was a farmer of Oldham county and there he continued to engage actively in agricultural pursuits until 1852, when he removed to Illinois and purchased land in Greene county, upon which his son now resides. He began here with a partially improved tract of land, on which was a log house, but his labors soon wrought a wonderful transformation in the appearance of the place. He planted a good orchard, developed rich fields and in course of time erected a substantial frame residence and other good buildings. Active and energetic in his farming labors, success attended his efforts and brought to him a handsome competence that enabled him to spend his declining days in retirement from further labor. He reared his family on the farm but his last days were passed in Greenfield, where he enjoyed a richly merited rest up to the time of his death in December, 1891. His first wife passed away about twenty years before his demise, and he afterward married again.

Simeon F. Wilhite is one of a family of six children, but only three are now living, his sister being Mrs. Lucy Nichols, the wife of J. H. Nichols, a farmer of Rubicon township, while his brother is Samuel M. Wilhite, a merchant of Greenfield. Simeon F. Wilhite was reared to manhood on the old homestead farm and pursued his education in the district schools. He was early trained to the work of field and meadow and continued to assist his father until the father removed to Greenfield, when he took charge of the farming interests.

In Rubicon township Mr. Wilhite was married on the 10th of October, 1874, to Miss Emma Nichols, who was born in Virginia, but was reared in Greene county, Illinois, her father being M. T. Nichols, now a resident of Greenfield. Six children have graced this marriage: Effie, now the wife of Jesse Story, a farmer of Greenfield, by whom she has two children, Mildred and Franklin Story; Charles, a student in a veterinary college in Kansas City, Missouri; Fred, who is married and follows farming in Athens township; Jesse, who assists in the operation of the home farm; Clara, who is a student in the Greenfield high school; and Guy, also attending school.

After his marriage Mr. Wilhite began his domestic life upon the old home farm and has since devoted his attention uninterruptedly to agricultural pursuits. Annually he harvests good crops and at the same time he raises and feeds stock, being prosperous in both branches of agricultural activity. Politically he has been a life-long Democrat, but has preferred to concentrate his efforts upon his business affairs rather than to seek or hold office. His wife is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Wilhite, spending almost his entire life in this county, has witnessed much of its growth and development and has helped to improve and make it what it is today. He can remember when there was much wild game here, including turkeys, geese, ducks and prairie chickens, but with the advent of the farm-yard fowls the wild game has disappeared and all the evidences of frontier life have given way before the advance of civilization. Mr. Wilhite is well known in Greenfield and throughout the county as a man of tried integrity and worth and although his life has been quietly passed it furnishes an example that is well worthy of emulation.