McDonough ILGenWeb

NUNEMAKER, John S. — Few men connected with monetary institutions have had a broader general business experience that John S. Nunemaker, for the past twenty years identified with banking in Bushnell, and since he aided in its organization in 1892, Cashier of the Bank of Bushnell. The other officers of the Bank are: E. D. C. Haines, President; S. H. Robinson and James Garretson, Assistant Cashiers. The institution conducts a general banking business and has succeeded in winning the confidence and support of the town and rural community.

Mr. Nunemaker was born in Westminster, Carroll County, Md., May 30, 1850, a son of Samuel N. and Sarah J. (Stevenson) Nunemaker, also natives of Maryland, but who were married in Canton, Ill., in 1846. The parents subsequently returned to their native State, but upon again locating in Canton, in 1856, the elder Nunemaker engaged in milling, turning his attention to farming during the last ten years of his life. His death occurred September 21, 1871, but his wife still lives, and makes her home with two of her sons who are engaged in the banking business in Nebraska. John S. Nunemaker spent the first twenty-six years of his life on a farm, then moved to Ellisville, Ill., where he engaged in the hardware business for a couple of years. Disposing of this business he went to Nebraska with his brother, Samuel, and assisted in the breaking of 300 acres of prairie land, upon which they erected two houses, and which they rented at the end of eighteen months. Returning to Illinois, Mr. Nunemaker traveled for the firm of Colburn & Burk, purveyors of physician's supplies, of Peoria, for four years, and then became identified with the agricultural implement business of James Miner, of Bushnell, for a couple of years. In 1886 he entered upon his banking career as Assistant Cashier in the Bank of Cole & Company, and in 1892, as heretofore stated, helped to organize the Bank of Bushnell, with which he since has been connected as Cashier.

Mr. Nunemaker was married February 20, 1876, to Louisa Crowl, a native of McDonough County, and a daughter of John Crowl, a deceased farmer of the vicinity of Bushnell. Of this union, three children were born: Court, who died in 1883; one child, who died in infancy; and Crete, wife of Fred Sperry, who is engaged in the fire insurance business in Bushnell.

Mr. Nunemaker is an old-time supporter of the Democratic party, but of late years has voted for Republican Presidents, being in reality Independent in his views. He has steadfastly refused official honors save that of Treasurer of the Bushnell Fair Association, and Vice-President of the Central Illinois Bankers' Association of Peoria, Ill. He is prominent fraternally, and is a member of the T. J. Pickett Lodge No. 307, A. F. & A. M., of Bushnell, the Morse Chapter No. 19, the Macomb Commandery No. 6, the Mohammed Temple of the Mystic Shrine, of Peoria, and the Chevalier Lodge No. 101, Knights of Pythias, of Bushnell. Mr. Nunemaker has a genial and sympathetic personality, which, though not an essential in the arid realms of banking, is vastly appreciated by patrons of the institution, and has won him the esteem and good will of the people of his adopted town.

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Source: The Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of McDonough County, compiled by Dr. Newton Bateman, and Paul Shelby, 1907, volume 2, pages 968-969, extracted 17 Mar 2020 by Norma Hass.