ALBERT J. WILL. Of the many industries centered in and around Herrin
that of the manufacture of soft drinks contributes in a small degree to the
support of the army of labor and in a large degree to the pleasure of that
same army. The father of this business in Herrin and its present head is
Albert J. Will. He is a busy man of affairs, yet he has time from his daily
work to represent his neighbors in the aldermanic counsel, and stands a
ready champion of any progressive measure.
Mr. Will was born on the
14th of November, 1874, in Jackson county, Illinois. After receiving a
thorough education in the district schools he turned to farming, which
pursuit engaged him during his minority. This was the natural course for him
to pursue, since his father, D. R. Will, of Ava, Illinois, born in Jackson
county in 1847 and having spent his youth in the country, early became a
farmer and has devoted his life to the cultivation of the soil and the
improvement of his various crops. The father of this worthy man was Frank
Will, who migrated to this section from Pennsylvania when the country was
yet a wilderness. This sturdy old pioneer and his wife raised a large family
of children, now scattered widely over the United States. The eldest of
these, D. R., is the father of the manufacturer. The other children are
Freeman, a farmer of Jackson county; Cordelia, who married Hardy Gill and
has since died; Kate, who died as the wife of Thomas Holt; Emma, Mrs.
Phillip Fager, now living in Murphysboro; the twins, Ervin and Ollie,
the.former residing in St. Louis, while the latter is the wife of Frank
Friedline and lives in the state of Washington; Berdie is the widow of James
Redd, and now makes her home at De Soto, Illinois; Jane married J. Childers
and lives in Texas; Nora is Mrs. Jo Schroeder, living in Murphysboro; and
Julia is the wife of Samuel Partington, of the same city. At the age of
sixty-five the august founder of this family passed away, his home at the
time being three miles north-east of Murphysboro.
D. R. Will married
Miss Jeanette Elliot, and their children are: Ollie, the wife of Reuben
Kinley, living in Los Angeles, California; Fred, who has remained near home
as a farmer in Jackson county; Frank, living in Los Angeles with his sister;
and Albert J. The latter was only a baby of two years when his mother died,
but he was fortunate in that his father married for his second wife Josie
Elliot, a cousin of his first wife. Three sons were born of this marriage,
Homer, an engineer on the Mobile and Ohio, running out of Murphysboro;
Howard, of Aurora; and Ross now living in Chicago.
Albert J. Will on
attaining his majority gave up the quiet farm life and entered the
manufacturing business at Murphysboro, Illinois, as a member of the
Murphysboro Bottling Company. This business has proved a very lucrative one,
and although he left Murphysboro in 1905 and established the Herrin Bottling
Company, he still remains a member of the former concern. The growth of his
business in Herrin, necessitated the erection of a concrete building for the
housing of the factory, its capacity being two hundred cases per day.
Mr. Will takes a deep interest in politics and is now serving his third
term as alderman from the First ward. He is in the forefront of a movement
to establish a system of water works, thinking thereby to lessen disease as
well as to make the lives of his fellow townsmen more comfortable. Also
believing that the burden of town improvements should be partitioned justly,
he has favored the special assessment policy for the laying of concrete
walks.
The first wife of Albert J. Will was Sophia Sundmacher, whom
he married in Murphysboro, Illinois, on the 1st of July, 1902. She only
lived a few years, dying on August 17, 1906, and leaving a baby daughter,
Jeanette J. Mr. Will married his second wife, Mary Steinle, on October 11,
1907. She was of German parentage, her father being John Steinle, of
Minnesota. Christina, John Albert, and Ervin Ross are the children born of
this union.
Mr. Will is by inheritance a member of the Republican
party, and by choice gives it his warm interest and hearty support. In
religious matters the family are Lutheran, and are prominent in the work of
this church.
The courage to go ahead into untried fields, as was
shown by his giving the comparatively sure success that would have been his
had he stayed on the farm for the risk involved in starting a new business,
has continued to evince itself in Mr. Will's dealings with men, for he will
not swerve from his ideals of justice and fair dealing. It is this trait
which has been one of the principal factors in placing him where he now
stands, high in the respect of the community.
Extracted from 1912 A History of Southern Illinois, volume 2, pages 587-588.