JOHN RHEA, farmer and stock raiser, post office New Berlin, was born in Barren county, Kentucky, July 14, 1817; son of James and Rachel (Jolleff) Rhea. Was reared on a farm and received his education in a log cabin, attending about three months in the winter. He married Miss Julia A. Starks, November 14, 1839; she was born in Rutland county, Vermont, June 21, 1821; was baptized into the fellowship of the Berlin Baptist Church in 1842, and retained her membership in the same church until her death. She was deeply interested in the benevolence of the church, in ministerial education, home and foreign missions; she was a true Christian woman of the noblest type. A large concourse of people attested her worth at her funeral, at Berlin, Rev. J. Bulkley, of Alton, officiating. Mr. and Mrs. Rhea had seven children, four of whom are living, viz: James B., Stephen E., Thomas T., and Martha E. Mr. R. has been identified with the interests of the county all his life; has seen the broad prairies change from their wild and uncultivated state, to one of the best cultivated counties in the State. He can remember when there was but one house in Waverly, and at the time it was called Shurtleff Point. He is a member of the Baptist church, and has been since its organization. He has a fine farm of three hundred acres near New Berlin, where he resides.