EMANUEL FORTADO LOMELINO. - The spirit of self-help is the source of all genuine worth in the individual. It is this which influences a man to face difficulties and obstacles, realizing that they are to be met and yet undeterred by them, for he knows that within himself is the power to conquer all ordinary obstacles and to push forward to the goal of prosperity. The career of Mr. Lomelino proves this statement, and today he is connected with manufacturing interests of Springfield, carrying on a successful business.

He was born on the isle of Madeira, a provincial possession of Portugal, November 15, 1844, and in 1850 accompanied his parents to Illinois, a home being established in Morgan county, where the father carried on gardening. The mother died in Jacksonville and the father spent his last days in Springfield, passing away in 1901, at the age of eighty-nine years. The subject of this review attended private and public schools in Jacksonville, and when about fourteen years of age began work upon a farm. He also spent one year as a cabin boy on a ship going from St. Louis to New Orleans on the Mississippi river. When only sixteen years of age he engaged in the restaurant business for himself, remaining in that line in Jacksonville for some time. In 1867 he removed to Decatur, Illinois, where he also conducted a restaurant, which proved a good source of income. In 1870 he came to Springfield, where he has resided continuously since, and after conducting a restaurant business in this city for a time, he accepted the position of head chef in the St. Nicholas Hotel, where he remained for eighteen years, during which time this business grew to large proportions. He afterward served as steward for four years, and in the meantime he spent one year in Denver, Colorado, where he was engaged in the butchering and grocery business with his son. In 1894, about two years prior to the time when he left the St. Nicholas Hotel, he organized his present business, and has since been engaged in the manufacture of flavoring extracts, baking powder, self-rising buckwheat flour, bluing and ammonia. From the beginning the new enterprise has been attended with success, and within two years has grown to such proportions that it claims his undivided attention. He was at first located at No. 104 North Kent Street, but in 1902 he built a plant at No. 1212 South Seventh Street. He does a strictly wholesale business, selling throughout the state, his trade largely coming to him through mail orders and in the manufacturing department he employs six people. While still connected with the hotel he erected a modern home on Jefferson street, and he also purchased his present place of residence, which he remodeled, transforming it into a modern home, and in the winter of 1901 he took up his abode here, and also owns his Jefferson street property.

Mr. Lomelino was married in Jacksonville to Miss Mary Ellen Nunes, who was born on the isle of Madeira in 1845. They have six children: Alice, a successful school teacher who is also a graduate of the high school and a graduate in elocution; George, a graduate of the ward schools of Springfield, who is now married and is engaged in the butchering and grocery business in Athens, Illinois; Minnie, the wife of E. M. Gonsales, of Chicago, who is a graduate of the Springfield high school and the Springfield Business College; Lillie, who is a graduate of the high school, and is now engaged in teaching in this county; and Grace, who completed the high school course in the class of 1902, and is now attending the Northwestern University. All possess natural musical talent and ability, and they were the organizers of the orchestra of the First Methodist Episcopal Sunday school. All are elocutionists, and are before the public in that capacity to a considerable extent. Louis, the fifth child, while attending business college, enlisted as a trumpeter in the war with Spain, becoming a member of Company C, Fifth Illinois Infantry, and was transferred as trumpeter of Company L, Fourth Illinois Infantry. He was in camp at Jacksonville, Florida, where he was taken ill of typhoid fever, and died, his remains being interred in Oak Ridge cemetery in Springfield. The children have all grown to maturity in this city, are highly educated young people, and take a prominent part in the Young People's society of the Methodist Episcopal church.

Mr. Lomelino has been very successful in his business, and is a self-made man. He prepared for this work by study of chemistry and by experiments until he succeeded in producing excellent results in flavoring extracts and baking powder. The quality of his goods has insured to him a large patronage and not only is he connected with the manufacturing interests of Springfield, for nine years he has also engaged in banking. He has been a reader of good literature throughout the period of his manhood and is a well informed gentleman of marked force of character and genuine worth. He and his wife are members of the First Methodist Episcopal church, and he belongs to the Knights of the Macabees and to Prosperity Camp, No. 418, M.W.A. In his political views he is a Republican, save at local elections, where no issue is involved, when he votes for the men whom he thinks best qualified for office. Steady application, careful study of business methods and plans to be followed, close attention to details, combined with an untiring energy, directed by sound judgment - these are the traits of character which have brought to him success and made him one of the foremost men of Springfield.