HOLMES, J. STEWART (deceased), formerly an extensive farmer and stock raiser in the vicinity of Jacksonville, Morgan County, Ill., was born on his farm there August 26, 1836. He was a son of J. T. and Jane V. Holmes, natives of Kentucky. In boyhood our subject assisted his father on the homestead farm and attended the district school in his neighborhood, afterward pursuing a course of study in Illinois College. He then applied himself to farming on the family homestead, on which he made many fine improvements. Besides general farming he devoted his attention to stock-raising on an extensive scale. He was very successful in all his undertakings, and at the time of his death, June 14, 1880, was the owner of 444 acres of land, comprising the home farm.

On February 10, 1864, Mr. Holmes was united in marriage with Julia Hitt, a daughter of Jesse and Julia (Parker) Hitt, natives of Lexington Ky. Five children resulted from this union, namely: Sallie H., who was educated in the Jacksonville Female Academy; James T., who lives on the home farm; Jessie; Louisa Bernice; and Clarence, who died at the age of eighteen months. The parents of Mrs. Holmes came to Illinois by wagon in 1836, and settled on the place where Mrs. Holmes was born. Afterward her father made a trip to New Orleans with horses and mules, and there he died of typhoid fever. Her mother died when Mrs. Holmes was three years of age, and the latter was reared to maturity by her uncle, Elisha B. Hitt. After her husband's death, Mrs. Holmes remained on the home farm, ten miles east of Jacksonville until 1897, when she moved to Jacksonville, where she has since resided. She is a very estimable woman, possessing many graces of mind and heart and is the center of a most interesting family circle.

In politics Mr. Holmes was a supporter of the Republican party. His religious connections were with the Presbyterian Church, to which Mrs. Holmes also belongs. Fraternally, he was affiliated with the A. F. & A. M. As before mentioned, he was a successful man, and possessed those qualities which merit and insure substantial progress, notably, energy, perseverance and strict integrity.