McDonough ILGenWeb

ROARK, M. E., a well-known merchant of Macomb, McDonough County, Ill., who is engaged in the clothing and gents' furnishing business, was born in Chalmers Township, that county, in February, 1871, a son of James and Katherine (McGinnis) Roark, natives of County Down, Ireland. His maternal grandfather, Patrick McGinnis, was also a native of that county. James Roark, on landing in the United States, located first in New Jersey. Thence, in 1858, he came west to Illinois, where he worked about until his marriage, and then purchased a farm. He and his wife were the parents of ten children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the fourth in order of birth.

M. E. Roark received his early education in the public and Macomb normal schools, and completed his studies at the age of twenty-one years. Then after teaching school one year, he worked as a clerk in stores in Macomb for some time. In 1898 he established himself in the clothing and gents' furnishing business, having bought the stock of G. P. Mosser. To this he has added considerably from time to time, and now handles a very complete line of desirable goods, and commands a profitable patronage.

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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, page 992, extracted 29 May 2020 by Norma Hass.