Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Wagner, Anthony 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com November 10, 2007, 2:34 pm

Author: Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County

ANTHONY WAGNER, who is living retired in Joliet, has made his home in this 
county since 1846, having come here with his parents when he was a boy of 
twelve. He was born May 31, 1834, in Alsace, which was then a French province, 
but is now a part of Germany. His father, Ignatz, also of Alsacian birth, for 
many years ran a ferry across the Rhine River, but in 1846 emigrated to 
America, crossing the ocean on the sailing-vessel "St. Nicholas," which was 
forty-six days upon the water. After a pleasant, but somewhat monotonous 
voyage he landed in New York. There he transferred to a Hudson River boat, in 
which he sailed up to Albany. From there he traveled via canal-boat to Buffalo 
and thence on the great lakes to Chicago. Pushing on to Naperville he spent a 
few months there, but in the fall of the same year he came to Joliet, securing 
employment on the Illinois and Michigan canal. Later he was engaged in farm 
work, buying some land which is now inside the city limits of Joliet. Prices 
were very low when he settled here, and he paid only $30 for a log house and 
the entire block on which his son Anthony now lives, property that has since 
multiplied in value many hundredfold. On this place the remainder of his days 
were passed and here he died in 1883. He was a lifelong member of the Roman 
Catholic Church, in which faith his children were reared. After becoming a 
citizen of the United States he allied himself with the Democratic party. By 
his marriage to Mary Ann Erhardt he had four children who attained maturity, 
viz.: Mary; Ignatz, deceased; Anthony and Alois. One of the most vivid 
recollections of our subject's childhood was the long journey by water from 
Havre to Chicago. He well remembers, too, the frontier surroundings in this 
city and county, the sparsely settled regions, the unimproved land and the log 
cabins. As soon as he was old enough to guide a plow he was put to work at 
breaking prairie land with an ox-team, and for some years much of his time was 
given to this occupation. When of age he learned the stone-cutter's trade, 
which he followed afterward, being for many years foreman in the large stone 
quarries owned by Charles Werner, of Joliet, from which position he resigned 
in 1888 and retired from active work. Politically he is a Democrat, was 
collector of Joliet Township in 1885 and again elected in 1886. Under the 
administration of Mayor E. C. Akin, 1895-1897, he was appointed to the office 
of superintendent of streets of the city of Joliet. That he was the "right man 
in the right place" was best proven by the following administration of Mayor 
Lagger, 1897-1899, again appointing him to this important position; as a 
Democrat, serving under two Republican mayors, he received indeed a well-
earned compliment. He is also one of the few charter members left of the 
Joliet Sharpshooters Association, which was organized in 1866. In 1860 he 
married Magdalene, daughter of Joseph Klein, of Strassburg, Cook County, Ill. 
Mrs. Magdalene (Klein) Wagner was also born in Alsace, and came to this 
country with her parents in 1846. By their union five children were born, 
namely: Joseph; Mary, wife of William Downey; Louise, wife of John Giblin; 
Rose and Emma.

Additional Comments:
Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County Illinois Containing 
Biographies of Well Known Citizens of the Past and Present, Biographical 
Publishing Company, Chicago, 1900

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