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JEAN HARGRAVE. One of the successful business men of Jonesboro, Illinois, belonging to the younger generation, Jean Hargrave, has illustrated in his career the opportunities that are presenting themselves to the youths of today who are possessed of enterprise, have the ability and are not afraid of hard, persistent labor. Mr. Hargrave is at present a member of the well-known mercantile firm of Hargrave & Linneman, whose operations cover the city of Jonesboro and the surrounding country for a radius of some miles, yet but a few short years ago he began his business career on borrowed capital. He was born in Jonesboro, in 1881, and is a son of E. F. and Julia (Hunsaker) Hargrave.

E. F. Hargrave was born in Union county, near Jonesboro, in 1851, and during the greater part of his life was engaged in operating a sawmill. In 1898 he came to Jonesboro and established himself in a mercantile business, which he successfully carried on until 1905, and in that year retired. His wife, who was born south of Jonesboro in 1854, died in July, 1906. Jean Hargrave attended the public schools in the vicinity of his home, and as a young man worked in his father's sawmill, later becoming a clerk in the store at Jonesboro. In 1905, at the time of his father's retirement, he formed a partnership with Frank A. Linneman, and bought the stock and fixtures of his father's place, and they now have a stock of merchandise worth twenty thousand dollars. Mr. Hargrave has been successful because he possessed the courage of his convictions, and when his opportunity came he was quick to recognize it and not hesitant about grasping it. His confidence in the future of Jonesboro and its commercial interests was pronounced, and this confidence has been justified by the development of the prosperous and rapidly

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growing business of which he is the head. His success, however, has not been a matter of chance, as he is possessed of abilities that would no doubt have enabled him to succeed in whatever line or in whatever locality he found himself.

On January 1, 1905, Mr. Hargrave was united in marriage with Miss Mamie C. Spence, of Anna, Illinois, daughter of J. L. Spence, a brick mason who died in 1908. Mr. and Mrs. Hargrave are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which Mr. Hargrave's father is at present acting as deacon. He is a member of the Jonesboro Blue Lodge, No. 111, A. F. & A. M. In political matters he is an adherent of Democratic principles, but he has been too busily engaged with his business interests to enter the political field as an active participant. Mr. Hargrave is known as one of the rising young business men of his locality, and is very popular with all who know him.