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O. M. KARRAKER.
As president of the First National Bank of Harrisburg, O. M. Karraker is connected with one of the leading financial institutions of Saline county, and is performing the duties devolving upon him in his responsible position with ability, fidelity and to the eminent satisfaction of all concerned.
The Karraker family was first known west of the Alleghanies in 1818, when Daniel Karraker, Mr. Karraker's great-grandfather, migrated from Cabarrus county, North Carolina, to Indiana, settling with his family in the wilderness, from which he redeemed a homestead. Subsequently coming to Illinois, he took up land in Union county, near Dongola, and the house which he erected is still standing on the old homestead. He there spent the later part of his life, dying at the age of seventy-six years.
Reverend Jacob Karraker, Mr. Karraker's grandfather, was a pioneer minister of the Missionary Baptist chuch, in which he preached for three score years. He was a noted trapper and hunter, and as a young man was an expert log roller. He spent his last years in Dongola, Illinois, passing away March 12, 1910, aged eighty-seven years, five months and twelve days.
For twenty-six years W. W. Karraker, Mr. Karraker's father, was engaged in professional work, having been well known as a successful and popular school teacher. His home during all of that time was on the old Karraker homestead in Union county, where he is still living, an honored and respected citizen.
Receiving excellent educational advantages when young, O. M. Karraker was graduated from the State Normal School at Carbondale, Illinois, with the class of 1899. Very soon after receiving his diploma he became principal of the Harrisburg High School, a position in which he served acceptably for eighteen months. He subsequently became assistant cashier of the First National Bank of Harrisburg, and served as such from 1900 until 1906, when he was deservedly promoted to cashier of the bank, and January 1, 1912, he became president, an office for which he is amply qualified and eminently adapted. Mr. Karraker was reared in the Baptist faith, his grandfather, Elder Jacob Karraker, having been especially prominent in the affairs of the Bethany Baptist church in Union county, which he organized, and in which he served as pastor, without pay, for twenty consecutive years.