Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Werner, Dr Frederick William 
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Author: Past and Present of Will County, IL; 1907

Dr. Frederick William Werner, who, practicing along scientific lines, has 
become the peer of the ablest members of the medical fraternity in Will 
county, was born in Joliet, February 8, 1858. Realizing that success and 
prominence are the rewards of broad and accurate understanding of the 
principles of medicine and surgery, of close, unremitting and conscientious 
attention to the duties of the profession and of strict conformity to a high 
standard of professional ethics, he has so directed his labors that he has 
long since left the ranks of the many and today stands among the successful 
few. The Werner family has been represented in Will county for more than a 
half century. His father, William Werner, was a son of Charles Frederick 
Werner and was born at Frankfort-on-the-Main in 1831, representing an old and 
prominent family of that city. He acquired an excellent education there and 
after putting aside his text-books learned the trade of a stone mason and 
cutter, so that he was well equipped for an industrial career when he sought 
the new world with its broader opportunities and superior business advantages. 
About 1850 he took up his abode in Joliet and was employed at bridge building 
at the time of the construction of the Rock Island Railroad between this city 
and Chicago. Subsequently he engaged in contracting on the Chicago & Alton 
Railroad and, seeing the opportunity for the development of an advantageous 
business in the line of quarrying stone, he became connected with his 
brothers, Charles and Adams, in opening stone quarries on the west side of 
Joliet, and they were also associated in a contracting and building business. 
Mr. Werner not only figured prominently in connection with the industrial 
interests of the city but was also a supporter of many public interests which 
proved of direct benefit to the city. For many years he was a member of the 
fire department and served as chief for several terms. During the early days 
of his residence in Joliet he was an officer in the state militia, known as 
the Matteson Guards, and as a nominee of the democratic party he was elected 
to the board of city alderman and for six years served as supervisor. His 
religious faith was indicated by his membership in the Lutheran church. He was 
devoted to its work and upbuilding and gave generously for its support. He was 
also connected with the Joliet Sharpshooters' Society. He resided for a number 
of years at No. 603 Jefferson street and there passed away in May, 1887. His 
widow, Mrs. Barbara Werner, was born at Coblentz, Germany, May 5, 1833, and 
became a resident of Joliet in 1846, when a maiden of thirteen years. Her 
father, John Goebel, had followed merchandising in Germany and after removing 
to the new world was connected with agricultural interests in Will county. Mr. 
and Mrs. Werner became the parents of four sons, three of whom yet survive: 
Frederick William, of this review; George W., a graduate of the New York 
college of veterinary surgeons and now a resident of Kansas City, Missouri; 
and Edward H., a successful member of the dental fraternity of Joliet. 
Frederick Charles, deceased, was fire marshal for the American Steel & Wire 
Company, of Joliet. At the usual age Dr. Frederick William Werner entered the 
public schools and passed through successive grades until he had completed the 
high-school course. When fourteen years of age he began work at the trade of a 
stone mason and cutter, serving his apprenticeship under the direction of his 
father and acting for a time as foreman of different jobs in his employ. It 
was his intention in youth to study architecture but his plan was changed 
through the influence of Dr. Heise, of Joliet, who, persuaded him to become a 
medical student, giving to him the benefit of his advice and experience and 
assisting him in his preparatory studies for eighteen months or until he was 
ready to enter the University of Michigan in 1878. After pursuing a course of 
lectures in the medical department of that institution he matriculated in the 
Bellevue Hospital Medical College, of New York city, in 1879 and won the 
degree of M. D. in 1880. Meanwhile he also pursued special courses in the 
University of Michigan and held a position as assistant demonstrator of 
anatomy. Following his graduation Dr. Werner located for practice in his 
native city and entered into partnership with his former preceptor. Dr. Heise, 
the relation being maintained until the death of the older physician, since 
which time Dr. Werner has practiced alone, his professional career being 
characterized by constantly growing success. He has been a thorough and 
discriminating student. He did not regard his education as completed when he 
left college but by reading and investigation has always kept in touch with 
the onward march of the profession and is thoroughly conversant with the most 
scientific methods of practice in both medicine and surgery. He has also taken 
different courses in the Chicago Post-Graduate College under Dr. Byron 
Robinson and made a special study of bacteriology under Professor Klebs, of 
Chicago, in order to keep in touch with every phase of professional work. He 
has made a specialty of gynecology and abdominal surgery, in which lines he 
has gained an enviable reputation for skill and ability. He has also been 
interested financially in other lines of business outside the strict path of 
his profession and for some time was secretary of the Joliet Sheet Rolling 
Mill Company and is now a director of the Will County National Bank, of 
Joliet. Dr. Werner’s political service has always been in the line of his 
profession. He was coroner for five years, from June, 1880, until December, 
1884; was town physician from April, 1884, until April, 1887; was physician to 
the county jail and poor house for six years beginning in May, 1881; and was 
treasurer of the board of United States pension examiners from 1884 until 1888 
under President Cleveland. He entered the coroner's office by appointment and 
at the election of 1880 was the candidate on both the republican and 
democratic tickets. He has always been a stalwart champion of republican 
principles and yet his ability is so marked and his devotion to the general 
welfare so unmistakable that he has received the endorsement of many members 
of the opposition and numbers many of his warmest friends among the supporters 
of democracy. On the 28th of April, 1881, Dr. Werner was married in Joliet to 
Miss Louise Fredericka Staehle, a daughter of Charles W. and Marie Agnes 
(Bertch) Staehle, who were early settlers of Joliet but the father is now 
deceased. Fraternally Dr. Werner is connected with the Masons, his membership 
being in Matteson lodge, No. 175, A. F. & A. M.; Joliet chapter, No. 27, R. A. 
M.; Joliet council, No. 82, R. & S. M.; Joliet commandery, No. 4, K. T.; the 
Oriental consistory of Chicago, in which he has attained, the thirty-second 
degree of the Scottish Rite; and the Medinah Temple of the Mystic Shrine, also 
of Chicago. He likewise belongs to Paul Revere lodge, E. P.; to Mound City 
lodge, No. 112, M. W. A., in which he was the first charter member; and to the 
Supreme Court of Honor. He is likewise identified with the Commercial club and 
is a member of the American Society of Microscopists, an association which 
indicates the scientific trend of his mind. His military service covers 
several years connection with the Illinois National Guard. For some time he 
was a private in a company known as the Joliet Citizens' Corps, which at the 
beginning of the great railroad strike was organized into Company B, Fourth 
Regiment, I. N. G. He served as second sergeant from 1877 until 1889. His 
membership relations in the line of his profession are with the Chicago 
Medical Society; the Will County Medical Society, of which he was president in 
1897; the Mississippi Valley, the Illinois State and the American Medical 
Associations. Endowed by nature with strong intellectuality, he has so 
developed his latent powers and energies that he is recognized as one of the 
learned members of the profession with comprehensive understanding of the 
principles of medicine and surgery when viewed from both a scientific and 
practical standpoint. His study and investigation have been so broad, his 
reading so extensive and his professional service so varied that he is today 
one of the distinguished members of the profession in Will county, with a 
practice second to none either in volume or importance. 

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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