Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Jackson, William George 
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Deb Haines http://www.rootsweb.com/~archreg/vols/00003.html#0000719 February 6, 2008, 3:05 am

Author: Past and Present of Will County, IL; 1907

William George Jackson, who is engaged in farming about two miles from 
Lockport, was born in the city of Utica, New York, on the 27th of October, 
1851. He is descended from English ancestry. His parents were William S. and 
Frances M. (Hagbin) Jackson, who were married in Utica, New York. They had a 
family of three sons and one daughter, whom they reared in the Empire state. 
The father was a butcher by trade and conducted an extensive market business. 
He remained a resident of the east from the time of his arrival in the new 
world until his death, which occurred is the city of Buffalo, New York, on the 
8th of November, 1903, when he was eighty-six years of age. William George 
Jackson supplemented his public school course by study in a commercial 
college. Putting aside his text-books when twenty-two years of age, he planned 
to engage in the market business, which has been the regular pursuit of the 
family through five generations. Thinking that he would find better business 
opportunities in the middle west, he made his way to this section of the 
country in 1878 and after visiting various localities located in Joliet. He 
here entered the employ of J. J. Culver, proprietor of a meat market, with 
whom he continued until the latter part of August, 1879, when he established a 
similar business on his own account. As the years passed by he prospered, 
although his business career was not free from the difficulties and obstacles 
which continually confront any man who enters mercantile life, where 
competition is rife. In 1884 Mr. Jackson sold his market business to engage in 
the furniture business. He secured a large and complete stock of goods and 
opened a store, which he conducted until December, 1896. He prospered in the 
new undertaking, many of his old patrons giving to him their support in this 
field, and for twenty years he was accounted one of the leading and 
representative merchants of the city. In the month of December, 1897, however, 
he bought a farm of one hundred and sixty acres in the township of Lockport 
and on the 1st of March, 1898, took up his abode thereon. On the 20th of 
April, 1876, Mr. Jackson was united in marriage in New Hartford, New York, to 
Miss Maggie E. Craig, a daughter of James Craig. She is a lady of culture and 
refinement, her many excellent traits of character endearing her to those with 
whom she has been associated and fitting her to grace the social circles in 
which she moves. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Jackson were born three children: George 
Elliott, whose birth occurred September 18, 1878; Clarence Mason, who was born 
October 20, 1880; and Cleora W., born February 4, 1884. Clarence M. was 
married June 28, 1905, to Miss Lottie Wertzbaugher, the only daughter of 
Wallace L. Wertzbaugher, of Lockport, Illinois, and they reside on a farm five 
and a half miles northwest of Lockport. The daughter, Cleora, was married on 
the 15th of January, 1907, to Leonard Bolton Hutchins, the youngest son of the 
late Thomas H. Hutchins and a member of an old Will county family. In 1906 Mr. 
Jackson was called upon to mourn the loss of his wife, who after a short 
illness passed away on the 8th of June and was laid to rest in Plainfield 
cemetery at Plainfield, Illinois, her death being deeply regretted by many 
friends. Mr. Jackson gives his political allegiance to the republican party 
and is a stanch advocate of its principles and its policy. He held the office 
of township school trustee from the spring of 1902 until the spring of 1905 
and was most loyal to the trust reposed in him. In 1881 he became a member of 
the Masonic fraternity and he also belongs to the Knights of Pythias 
fraternity and to several other insurance societies. When fifteen years of age 
he became a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and his life has been 
shaped by his religious belief. In all relations he has been ever honorable 
and upright, never,taking advantage of the necessities of his fellowmen in any 
business transactions, while in social circles he has displayed those 
qualities which have endeared him to many friends.

Additional Comments:
PAST AND PRESENT OF WILL COUNTY, ILLINOIS By W. W. Stevens President of the 
Will County Pioneers Association; Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing 
Company, 1907

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