The best teacher, it is said, is experience. C. J. Kribs, circuit clerk of Randolph County, has had varied experiences. He was born February 19, 1867, in Belleville, Illinois. He attended the parochial and public schools, after which he learned the trade of harness maker in St. Louis. After a residence of five years in this city he went to Chicago and worked for four years as assistant store-keeper in the Illinois Steel Works. Then he went to Prairie du Rocher, and after a short stay went to St. Louis, working for the Metropolitan Insurance Co. He was promoted and made superintendent of the Alton district. It was in Alton -that he met his wife, then Miss Susan Elizabeth Bissinger, to whom he was married November 10, 1892. Later they moved to St. Louis and in 1894 to Prairie du Rocher, where he opened a harness store; then added a full line of farming implements and general merchandise. In 1904 G. A. Reifel became a partner, the firm being named C. J. Kribs & Company.
In 1912 he was elected circuit clerk and a year later moved his family to Chester, the county seat, where the family, Mr. and Mrs. Kribs and four sons – Harold A., Lewis J. A., Charles A. and William Kribs reside.
Mr. Kribs was elected on the Democratic ticket as circuit clerk, and was mayor of Prairie du Rocher for four years. In social and fraternal societies he was honored, being president of the Prairie du Rocher Commons; a member of the Knights of Columbus, Modern Woodmen, Mutual Protective League and Chester Fishing Club.
Mrs. Kribs was born in Alton, Illinois, February 10, 1871. She attended the Alton parochial and public schools. She was graduated from the Alton High School in 1890, and is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Louis Bissinger. Mrs. Kribs‘ father has been in the Alton post-office department for the last 20 years; also a member of the school board for 20 years. In 1892 Mrs. Kribs took a teacher’s examination in Edwardsville, Illinois, for the purpose of teaching school, and after passing the examination successfully, and preparing to teach at Alton, Mr. Kribs decided it best for her to teach his little school instead. So her school was given to another applicant.
Harold Kribs was born in Prairie du Rocher, Illinois, Sept. 15, 1894, and graduated from the parochial school there. He was a winner of The State Normal Course. Then he went to Alton and attended the Brown’s Business College and took a general business course, graduating in 1911. After finishing school he was engaged in the office of the United States Radiator Corporation at Edwardsville as Stenographer, and the next year was promoted to inspector of the plant, and a short time after that the company sent him to Dunkirk, N. Y., as an inspector there. Later he was sent to West Newton, Pa., and then back to Edwardsville, Illinois, for a short period, when the company again sent him to Pittsburg, Pa., for six months, and now he is in Detroit, Mich., as office manager at that place.
Lewis J. A. Kribs was born in Prairie du Rocher, Illinois, October 24, 1897. He graduated from the parochial school there and was one of the winners of the State Normal Course. He attended the Chester High School and later on went to Sparta, Illinois. for a business course, and finally finished his stenographic course in St. Louis Brown’s Business College, from which he graduated in Oct. 1915.
Charles A. Kribs was born in Prairie du Rocher, Illinois, September 15, 1899. He graduated from the parochial school in Chester, Illinois, after having gone to the school at Prairie du Rocher until the family moved to Chester, and then finishing at Chester.
William Kribs was born in Prairie du Rocher, Illinois, May 4, 1902, and attended the parochial school at that place until 1912, when the family moved to Chester, where he is now attending the parochial school and is in the eighth grade.
