Will County ILGenWeb Biographies..... 
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File contributed for use by:
Dori Leekly & Margie Glenn

Author: History of Will County IL, 1878

William WERNER, contractor and stone quarryman, Joliet; was born in Frankfort-on-the-Main, 
in Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, Feb. 5, 1831 ; at the age of 16, he was apprenticed to the 
mason's trade, and, at the age of 20, come to the United States ; he spent three months 
in Stroutsburg, Penn.; when, his brother Charles having come to Chicago, he came West 
and joined in the Hickory Creek Settlement, in the town of Frankfort, in October, 1851; 
the Rock Island Railroad had just begun building and Mr. WERNER began work on it as a 
mason; continuing during the winter as a laborer; in the spring of 1852, he settled in 
Joliet and began business as a contractor, the first building he built being for the 
late Deacon John BEAUMONT; he engaged in the quarry business about twenty years ago, 
and has built nearly all the prominent stone buildings in Joliet, among which may be 
named the Will County Jail, Union Schoolhouse, West Side Presbyterian and St. Mary's 
Catholic Churches, ete.; in 1856, he was elected Commissioner of Highways and Treasurer, 
serving, three years; in 1861, he was elected a member of the Board of Aldermen, and 
served four years; he was chosen one of the Draft Commissioners in 1863, to fill the 
quota of the town; he served on the Board of Supervisors seven years, from 1867 to 
1874. He was married Dec. 7, 1853, to Miss Barbara GOEBLE, a native of Prussia; they 
have four sons living - Frederick Wilhelm, now a medical student at the University of 
Michigan; Frederick Carl, George Washington and Edwart. Mr. WERNER is a leading member 
of the German Lutheran Church in Joliet, of which he has been President for the past 
fifteen years.


Additional Comments:
HISTORY OF WILL COUNTY, ILLINOIS; Chicago: Wm LeBaron Jr & Co, 186 Dearborn Street, 1878.