Wayne County

John W. Tribe

1884 Biographical Sketches of Barnhill Twp

JOHN W. TRIBE farmer, P. O. Fairfield, was born December 25, 1831, in Edgar County, Ill. His father, John Tribe, was born May 12, 1795, in England, which he left in 1819, landing in New Orleans; from there he ascended the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers till he reached the English settlements on the Wabash. He followed the carpenter's trade in Edwards County, Ill., for three or four years, and then engaged in the milling and wool-carding business for over fifty years, ten of which were only devoted to milling, the other forty to wool-carding. He was a man of considerable intelligence, leading a life worthy of imitation. He died August 24, 1880, surrounded by his loving wife and all his children, nine in number, viz.,

  1. James
  2. Mary A.
  3. William B.
  4. John W. (our subject)
  5. Alfred S.
  6. Jane
  7. Emily
  8. Thomas H.
  9. George

The mother of our subject was Jane (Staley) Tribe born March 1803, in England. She came across the ocean in the same vessel, the " Columbia," that John Tribe did, whom she married in 1822. She is yet living, loved by all who know her, on the old homestead in Albion, Ill.

Our subject worked in his father's woolen mill in early life, and then went into the livery business, which be followed about six years, and then was married in and came to Wayne County, Ill., where he now owns a good farm of 120 acres.

Mr. Tribe was married, April 30, 1862, to Miss Kate A. Funkhouser, born July 21, 1833, in White County, Ill. She was a daughter of Robert R. and Rachel (Cross) Funkhouser, natives of Kentucky. He was a farmer in early life, and afterward merchandised in Shawneetown, and finally became interested in the Saline Salt Works, where Equality now stands. He died in White County, IL and was without a doubt one of the best known men in his day in Southern Illinois. His wife was a grand-niece of the famous hunter, Daniel Boone. The grandfather of Mrs. Kate A. Tribe was Christopher Funkhouser, a native of Germany. She is the mother of five children,viz.,

  1. Mary G., born March 23, 1863
  2. Edith M., born June 8, 1864
  3. George T., born August 13, 1866
  4. Annabel, February 7, 1867
  5. Harry H., born July 3, 1871

Mr. and Mrs. Tribe are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In politics, he is a Republican.



Visit Our Neighbors
Marion Clay Richland
Jefferson Edwards  
Franklin Hamilton White
Search the Archives