Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Stage, William Campbell 1858 - 
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Author: Portrait & Bio Album, 1890

WILLIAM CAMPBELL STAGE. This gentleman was born in Morris, Grundy County, 
Ill., December 11, 1858, but became a dweller in Joliet, in boyhood. His 
father, William Stage, was born in Indiana, December 19, 1831, and his mother, 
Ruth Ann Smart, in Dayton, Ohio. The latter was descended from old 
Knickerbocker stock. In 1856, Mr. Stage engaged in the business of contracting 
and building in Morris, and during the decade following constructed many of 
the most noted buildings of that city. Among them are the Streeter Block, the 
high-school building and the engine houses. He was also engaged in farming at 
the same time, his farm being five miles north of the city. When Joliet was 
having a boom, Mr. Stage saw a chance to exercise his power and he therefore 
in 1868, commenced to operate here but still made his home in Morris until 
1882. He was immediately engaged to superintend the building of the Steel 
Works. After the great fire in Chicago he put up some of the well-known 
buildings of that city, one of which is the Batchelor & Whiting Block, corner 
of Randolph and Clark. The parental family consisted of the following 
children: Will C., Hattie, Alexander, George H., Charles B., Clara, May and 
Maggie, Hattie, Alexander and Maggie are now deceased. After the death of his 
father, William Campbell Stage continued the contracting business at which he 
was very successful. In 1885, he embarked in the manufacture of wire, but the 
business not proving profitable, he returned to contracting and building in 
stone and masonry, which suited the natural bent of his life. In a brief time 
he has shown that he is a true son of his father. He has recently purchased an 
extensive quarry two and one-half miles west of Joliet, which contains stone 
of unsurpassed quality. Mr. Stage was educated first in the schools of Morris, 
afterwards taking a course in the Commercial College, at Dayton, Ohio, and is 
therefore well versed in practical knowledge. He is a member of the Masonic 
Lodge No. 42, of Joliet, and is a most devoted Republican. In religious faith 
he is a Methodist. He is universally esteemed and looked upon as a rising man, 
his energy in business giving promise of a high degree of worldly success and 
his traits of character making him one of the most popular members of society. 
He has an extremely cozy home, among its many improvements being an artesian 
well, three hundred and forty-six feet deep. The pleasant dwelling is presided 
over by a capable and loveable woman who became the wife of our subject 
January 14, 1880. She bore the maiden name of Julia Luella McCowan, and 
belongs to a family which is classed among the pioneers of Will County. The 
happy marriage has been blest by the birth of four children: Nettie Emma, born 
in 1880; Alfred Campbell in 1883; Alma Ethel, in 18S5; and Jesse W. in 1889. 
They form a bright group in whose growing intelligence the parents take great 
delight and the older son already evinces musical talent of a high order.

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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