Will County ILGenWeb Biographies..... 
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.

************************************************

File contributed for use by:
Dori Leekly & Margie Glenn

Author: History of Will County IL, 1878

Edmund WILCOX, Justice of the Pease, Joliet; is one of the early settlers of Will 
Co.; he came here in 1836 from Onondaga Co., N. Y., where he was born Sept. 18, 
1816. After receiving a preparatory education at Schenectady, N. Y., he entered 
Hamilton College, Clinton, N. Y., when 15 years of age, graduating in 1835; the 
following year, he came to Joliet, and was employed as a clerk one year, until he 
became of age, when he engaged in the mercantile business in company with Charles 
CLEMENT, and two years later purchased the interest of Mr. Clement, and afterward 
changed to an exclusively dry goods business; in 1858, he sold out and became one 
of the originators of the Joliet Gas & Light Company; was its first President, and 
superintended the erection of the works; he personally superintended the gas works 
for five years, at the end of which time he resumed merchandising, which he 
continued until 1870; he was one of the gentlemen designated by the act of the 
legislature incorporating the city of Joliet in 1852, to lay off the wards and 
organize the city government; he was chosen the first Alderman from the Third Ward 
(now the Fourth) ; served four years, and was again elected in 1870, serving two 
years; in 1854, the year of the cholera, he served the city as Mayor pro tem. in 
the absence of the Mayor; he has been repeatedly solicited to become a candidate 
for Mayor, but has as often doclined; he was a member of the Board of Supervisors 
in 1856, 1857 and 1859; he was prominent in obtaining the charter of the C., R. I. 
& P. R. R., and was one of the committee appointed to confer with Eastern capitalists, 
their efforts resulting in the building of the road by the owner of the Michigan 
Southern Railroad. Mr. WILCOX was elected Justice of the Peace in 1877. He was married 
March 23, 1845, to Miss Sarah M. GREEN, of Washington Co., N. Y., and has three 
children living - William G., Fred C. and Charles C.


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