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File contributed to the Fulton County ILGenWeb Project
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Source: The Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Fulton County
Munsell Publishing Co., Chicago, 1908

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The Biography of William M. FIKE 

[Surnames: FEIK, FIKE, FYKE, ONION, SNIVELY, WRIGHT] 

FIKE, WILLIAM M. 

    
He is successfully engaged in the abstract real-estate loan and insurance business in Lewistown, and was born in Woodland Twp., March 20, 1853. He is a son of John M. and Eliza Jane (Onion) Fike, who were married October 27, 1850. John M. Fike, who was a native of Indiana, was born Apr. 27, 1827, and died Dec. 23, 1862. Eliza Jane Onion, a daughter of Joel and Eleanor Onion, was born Dec. 4, 1830, and died Jan. 26, 1901. John M. Fike and his wife were the parents of five children, namely: Martha E., born Aug. 4, 1851, deceased Aug. 30, 1852; William M., born March 20, 1853; Mary Elizabeth, born July 27, 1855; John Jay, born May 14 1857, and Jasper Newton, born Aug. 31, 1860. 
    
The great-grandfather of William M. Fike was of German nativity and spelled his name Feik. His son, who came to the U.S. and located in PA, spelled it Fyke, and the style adopted by John M. was Fike, which orthography has since been used by the family. When a young man John M. Fike cane to Fulton Co., where he met the lady who became his wife. During the Civil War he served in the 3rd Regiment, IL Volunteer Cavalry, and while in the field contracted diseases which finally terminated his life. About the year 1850 he bought a farm in Sect. 10, Woodland Twp., which has since been the home of the family, and where John Jay and his sister, Mary E., still reside. 
    
His father having died when William was but a boy, the responsibility of managing the farm and caring for the rest of the family devolved upon him. He worked on the farm in summer and attended the district school in the winter. After finishing his schooling he entered Hedding College in Abingdon, still teaching winter terms in the district school until 1879. He then attended school at the Gem City Business College at Quincy, after which he taught until 1883 when he was appointed the Deputy Circuit Clerk under W. R. McLaren, holding the office until 1886. He was the regular nominee for Circuit Clerk in the Republican convention and was elected in Nov. 1888. He served until Dec. 1892 and on the organization of the Farmers' State Bank accepted the position of Cashier, which he held one year. In 1893 he resigned and engaged in his present business of mortgage loans and insurance in which he has been very successful. 
    
On Oct. 17, 1889, Mr. Fike was married to Zadie Snively, a daughter of Perrin and Eveline (Wright) Snively, of Cuba, IL. They have three children, namely: Louise, born May 24, 1894; George Lawrence, July 12, 1898, and Evelyn Irene, Oct. 20, 1902. 
    
Mr. Fike has been a resident of Fulton Co., for half a century. Fraternally he has been affiliated with the M.W.A. Camp. Mrs. Fike is a member of the Christian Church, Lewiston.