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WILLIE ELMER WARREN,
former cashier of the Bank of Sims and now cashier of a bank at West York, occupies a place of considerable importance in the business life of the localities in which he has resided. When the Bank of Sims was organized, October 19, 1909, Mr. Warren was made cashier and manager of the bank, and he continued in that position until recently and in which he acquitted himself with credit to himself and to the shrewdness of the men who installed him in that place in their interests. With his brother Mr. Warren organized a bank at West York, and was made its cashier, he having sold his interest in the Bank of Sims.
Willie Elmer Warren was born October 6, 1868, in Marion county, Illinois, and is the son of Henry and Mary (Nichols) Warren, The father was born in Marion county, in 1846, and was the son of Aca Warren, a native of Kentucky. Mary Warren, the mother of Willie Elmer Warren, died January 6, 1903. Five children were born to this couple. They were: Willie Elmer; Harry L., cashier of the Bank of Kinmundy; Charles, cashier of a bank in Willow Hill; Emma, who died in infancy; and Nettie, the wife of Laurence Stevens, of Kinmundy.
The son Willie Elmer was educated in the public schools of his community, the while he was reared on his father's farm. He remained in
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the family home until he was twenty-four years of age, at which time he began farming for himself in Marion county. He became the owner of his first farm in 1904, when he bought a small place of forty acres, which he recently sold and is now the owner of a home in Sims. His natural ability is better employed in his present responsible position than when engaged in farming, as the high degree of success which has attended his efforts since he became connected with banking interests amply attest. Mr. Warren is a member of the Court of Honor, and of the Free Will Baptist church, in which faith he is an ordained minister, his ordination taking place in 1909. His high character and unqualified sterling worth are in every way consistent with his religious profession, and he is regarded as one of the most valuable men of his community.
Mr. Warren has been twice married. In 1892 he was married to Miss Lillian May Dilman, who died in 1894, leaving one child, Iva May, who is now eighteen years of age. In 1897 he was married to Miss Birdie Harber, the daughter of Charles Harber, of Farina, Illinois. Of this latter union one child has been born,—Comaleta, aged eleven years.