Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Erb, William 1843 - 
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Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com May 6, 2007, 2:53 pm

Author: Portrait & Bios Album, 1890

WILLIAM ERB, Treasurer of the People's Loan & Homestead Association at Joliet, 
is also engaged as a money loaner and dealer in real estate. He is a man of 
unquestioned business ability, and in years is still on the sunny side of 
forty, having been born May 26, 1843. His native place was on the other side 
of the Atlantic in the Grand Duchy of Baden, Germany, and he comes of 
unadulterated German stock. He inherits from a substantial ancestry the 
qualities which have made this nationality one of the best on the face of the 
globe. Pantale Erb, the father of our subject, emigrated to America in the 
fall of 1845, locating in Louisiana, and four years later sent for his family, 
which consisted of the mother and two children, William, our subject, and 
Hannah, now Mrs. Kaffer, of Joliet. The family remained residents of Louisiana 
until the spring of 1856, then came to this county and located in Joliet, 
where they lived until the death of the father, which took place February 9, 
1887. Two more children in the meantime had been added to the family circle, 
viz: Louisa, Mrs. Peter Beirschiet, whose husband is an Alderman from the 
Third Ward, and Anthony, who died in Joliet March 27, 1889. The mother is 
still living, making her home with her daughter, Mrs. Beirschiet, in Joliet, 
and is now seventy-seven years old. Mr. Erb acquired a good, practical 
education in the common school and at an early age imbibed the habits of 
industry which have been the secret of his success in life. When leaving 
school he employed himself at whatever he could find to do to earn an honest 
dollar, and with the thrift and prudence which is, almost without exception, 
characteristic of his countrymen, he was soon enabled to store away a snug 
little sum of money. He remained unmarried until a man of twenty-eight years 
and was then wedded, June 7, 1871, to Miss Sophia Trabing, of Joliet. Soon 
afterward he embarked in the coal business at which he continued successfully 
until the spring of 1876, when he sold out and established himself in the 
retail grocery trade of Washington Street. This enterprise also proved 
successful, he building up a fine trade, and he was thus occupied until 
September, 1885. Then selling out he embarked in his present enterprise. He is 
now in the enjoyment of a competency with the prospect of sufficient means to 
defend him against want in his old age. Mr. Erb, in the spring of 1883, was 
elected to his present position as Treasurer of the Loan & Homestead 
Association, in which he has been a Director since 1878. He was one of its 
first stock holders and has always been warmly interested in its success. He 
owns and occupies one of the finest houses in the city and has large real 
estate-interests aside from this. To him and his estimable wife there have 
been born three children—George, Louise and Edwin. They are all under the home 
roof, and it is the intention of their father to give them the best advantages 
within his power. Mrs. Erb was born in the German Province of Hesse-Darmstadt, 
in 1853, and came with her parents to the United States when a child of twelve 
years. Her parents, Jacob and Louisa Trabing, were also of German birth and 
ancestry and are now residents of Will County. The People's Loan & Homestead 
Association was organized in April, 1875, largely through the instrumentality 
of Edwin B. Mason, and having for its first President, James G. Elwood. Its 
second President was Charles Pettigrew. Upon his retirement F. W. Plant was 
elected President and is still serving. The other officials are: I. C. 
Norton,Vice President; William Erb, Treasurer; Horace Weeks, Secretary. The 
Directors are: Henry Pohl, John Lyons, William Ireland, and G. N. Reistad. The 
capital stock at the present time aggregates $3,000,000, while the twelve 
hundred depositors make a monthly deposit of $25,000. The institution is thus 
in a most flourishing condition, which speaks admirably for those in charge, 
among whom Mr. Erb is no unimportant factor. Its loans at this writing amount 
to over three-fourths of a million dollars. 

Additional Comments:
Portrait and Biographical Album of Will County, Illinois, Containing Full Page 
Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens 
of the County; Chicago: Chapman Bros., 1890

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