Rocking Chair

Image of Windsor-style rocking chair that belonged to Conrad Will, namesake of Will County.
Image of Windsor-style rocking chair that belonged to Conrad Will, namesake of Will County.
If the furniture could talk

This Windsor-style rocking chair belonged to Conrad Will, a co-author of Illinois’ 1818 constitution and the namesake of Will County.

Will was born in Pennsylvania in 1779 and settled in southern Illinois in 1815. A trained physician, he practiced medicine but also worked as a merchant, miller, tanner, and salt manufacturer. A respected citizen, Will was chosen as a delegate from Jackson County to the Constitutional Convention in 1818. When Illinois became a state, Will was named the first state senator from Jackson County. He served in the Illinois General Assembly until his death in 1835 from tuberculosis. Six months after Will’s death, a new county was created from the southern part of Cook County and named Will County in his honor.

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