Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Walter, Fred W 
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Deb Haines http://www.rootsweb.com/~archreg/vols/00003.html#0000719 February 7, 2008, 12:00 am

Author: Past and Present Will County IL; 1907

Fred W. Walter, attorney at law with offices at No. 317 Jefferson street, 
Joliet, was born in Lockport in 1870, so that he is a native son of Will 
county. He has found within its borders good business opportunities and in a 
profession where success depends entirely upon individual merit has gained a 
creditable name and place. His father, M. Walter, an old-time resident of Will 
county, who for many years was engaged in the grocery business here, came to 
Illinois about 1854, locating for a time at St. Charles. About 1860 he removed 
to Lockport and while living there enlisted in the Mercantile Battery as a 
defender of the Union cause, serving until the fall of 1864. He then returned 
to Lemont, where he worked for Charles Boyer. About 1870 he embarked in the 
grocery business on his own account at Lockport, where he has since conducted 
his store, being now one of the old merchants of the town and one of its most 
successful and reliable business men. He was born in Germany sixty-eight years 
ago. His first wife, who bore the maiden name of Margaret Pitts, died about 
sixteen years ago. Her father was a great hunter at an early day as was his 
son, Nicholas Pitts, now deceased, and his grandsons have followed in his 
footsteps in this direction, one of them, John Pitts, being now well known as 
a hunter. Mr. and Mrs. Walter had four sons and five daughters: Fred W.; John, 
who is now postmaster of Lockport; Frank and Robert, who are also residents of 
Lockport; Mrs. C. N. Ladd, of Auburn Park, Chicago; Mrs. C. W. Kiplinger, of 
Vicksburg, Mississippi; Mrs. Howard Norton, of Lockport; and two sisters who 
died in recent years. All of the children were born at Lockport. Fred W. 
Walter was reared in his native town and at the usual age entered the public 
schools, passing through successive grades until he had completed the high 
school course. Later he spent two years in pursuing a special course of study 
in Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio, after which he went to Ann Arbor, Michigan, 
where he pursued a law course in the State University being graduated in 1893. 
He was then admitted to the bar of Illinois and immediately opened an office 
for practice in Joliet. In 1896 he became associated as a partner with Messrs. 
Higgins and Akin. On the election of Mr. Akin to the position of attorney 
general of the state of Illinois the firm dissolved and Mr. Walter has since 
been associated with Mr. Higgins as general practitioners of law under the 
firm style of Higgins & Walter. They have been accorded a distinctively 
representative clientage and have been connected with much important 
litigation tried in the courts of this district. In 1905 Mr. Walter was 
elected city attorney of Lockport for a two years' term. Prior to that time he 
served for seven years as village attorney and when Lockport became a city he 
was elected the first city attorney. Mr. Walter was married in Bismarck, 
Michigan, in 1896, to Miss Mildred W. Walsh, of that city. They have two 
daughters, Mildred B. and Lowell, aged, respectively, eight and two years. 
Lowell is a family name, Mrs. Walter's mother having been descended from the 
Lowells of Massachusetts. In his political views Mr. Walter is a republican 
and has taken an active part in support of the principles in which he 
believes. Socially he is a member of the Masonic fraternity, belonging to the 
blue lodge at Lockport, and he also belongs to the Order of the White Cross of 
Joliet and to the Commercial Club. His time and attention, however, are 
chiefly given to his profession and since becoming an active member of the bar 
he has prepared his cases with great thoroughness and care and by reason of 
his thorough understanding of the principles of the law has presented his 
cause with clearness, cogency and force. 

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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