Felix G. Campbell was a thoroughly practical and successful farmer before he took up the business of real estate, loans and insurance at Champaign, and in both lines his success has been noteworthy. He is still a farmer through ownership, though no longer a worker in the fields, and he now gives all his time to an extensive clientage in real estate and insurance.
Mr. Campbell was born in Preble County, Ohio, November 11, 1848, and was four years of age when his parents, John W. and Margaret N. (Dooley) Campbell, moved to Peoria, Illinois. His father was a native of Kentucky and his mother of Illinois. John W. Campbell spent his active career as a farmer, largely in Peoria County, and finally, when he and his wife retired, they went to live with their daughter Addie, at that time in Burton, Kansas, where both of them died. They were the parents of seven children: Mary E., David O., Charles L., Samuel, all deceased; Addie, wife of William H. Wilson of Wichita, Kansas; Felix G.; and George W. of Lincoln, Nebraska.
Felix G. Campbell grew up on an Illinois farm, attended district schools, and remained at home until he was twenty-four. At that date he left home and lived on rented farms for about five years, when he bought eighty acres of his own and subsequently another eighty acres, this 160 acres constituting a very fine improved farm in Peoria County. Later Mr. Campbell bought 160 acres in Champaign County. He still owns both farms. In 1892 he removed to Champaign and for a quarter of a century has been handling real estate, insurance and loans. Mr. Campbell is an active Republican and a member of the Presbyterian Church. On September 4, 1872, he married Miss Alice Gilbert, a native of Peoria County. They are the parents of four children: Walter G., deceased; Maude, at home; Kalph M., associated with his father in business; and Leland L. of Champaign.