FARRELL, FELIX EPLER , senior member of the banking firm of F. G. Farrell & Company, Jacksonville, Ill., was born in that city October 28, 1868, a son of Felix Grundy and Anna (Epler) Farrell. (A detailed sketch of his father's life will be found elsewhere in this volume.) He received his education in the public schools of Jacksonville and at Illinois College. In 1885 he entered the First National Bank of Jacksonville as collector, and was promoted through the various positions in the bank to the Assistant Cashiership, a post he occupied when the national bank was succeeded by the private institution of F. G. Farrell & Company. In the meantime, however, Mr. Farrell went to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, where, in 1893, he established the private banking firm of Farrell & Mueller. This institution he operated until December, 1897, when he sold his interest to the Banco de Minero and removed to Hermosillo, where he assisted in the establishment of the Banco de Sonora. In the spring of 1898 he disposed of his interests and returned to Jacksonville to become Assistant Cashier of the First National, to which office he was elected March 21st of that year. In this post he remained until he national bank was succeeded by the bank of F. G. Farrell & Company, on January 2, 1899. Upon the death of his father, December 29, 1901, Mr. Farrell and his brother-in-law, Edgar E. Crabtree, who had been equal partners with the elder Farrell in the management of the bank, continued operations under the old firm name as equal partners, an arrangement which has since continued. Mr. Farrell being the senior partner in the firm. The partners have inherited the extensive landed interests of the elder Farrell, which form their chief working assets.

Like his father, Mr. Farrell is unswerving in his devotion to the principles of the Democratic party, but he has never sought nor consented to occupy public office. Upon the death of his father he succeeded him as Trustee and Treasurer of the Jacksonville Female Academy, and as Treasurer of the State Street Presbyterian Church, and is Treasurer of Passavant Memorial Hospital. Fraternally he is a member of the local lodge of Elks, and of Urania Lodge, No. 241, I.O.O.F., in which he has passed all the chairs; also belongs to the Knights of Pythias, the Delaware Tribe of Red Men, No. 72, and Ridgely Encampment I.O.O.F., No. 9. He was united in marriage April 12, 1898, with Isabel Stewart Martin, a daughter of James H. and Sarah (Gray) Martin, of St. Louis. Mr. and Mrs. Farrell are the parents of two children - Felix Martin and Dorothy Isabel.